With the three paths shown, they knew the decision could not be made so quickly, even if Cattaleya was interested in one.
"We’ll discuss this with the Patriarch as well as the Abbot of the Silent Loutus Temple. It would be foolish to rush in, without checking all factors." Grand Elder Huo stated.
"That’s right." Daoist Chu couldn’t help but agree.
"We’ll discuss this after that then." Lin Mu nodded.
Cattaleya and ng Bai’s opinions here didn’t matter, as they would go with whatever Lin Mu and Grand Elder decided anyways.
Grand Elder Huo eventually shifted the discussion, his sharp eyes turning back to Lin Mu. "What else did you uncover in the cult leader’s spatial ring?" he asked.
Lin Mu leaned back slightly, recalling the inventory he had already gone through."Nothing beyond what we expected. There were resources, a few records that confird what we already knew, and so cultivation manuals.
One of them, however, stands out... The technique the cultists were using to boost their power so rapidly. It’s called the Rise of the Drowned Crescent."
At those words, Grand Elder Huo extended a hand. Lin Mu passed him the jade slip without hesitation. The elder closed his eyes, imrsing his immortal sense into the slip. After a long silence, his brows furrowed deeply.
"This is indeed an evil art," he declared, voice grim. "Worse than I anticipated. Its very foundation depends on Human Blood Essence Crystals... and those can only be created by killing immortals."
ng Bai, who had been listening intently, paled. "How... how does it even work? To make soone’s strength rise so fast... it shouldn’t be possible."
Lin Mu answered patiently, though his tone carried an edge.
He explained how the crystals condensed an immortal’s life force and blood essence into a concentrated core, which was then forcefully assimilated into the cultivator’s body. The process was unstable, violent, and riddled with backlash... but if it succeeded, it granted a terrifying surge of strength.
ng Bai shuddered, unable to hide his disgust.
Cattaleya, however, rely scoffed. "What a crude technique."
She had taken the jade slip from Grand Elder Huo and skimd through it herself.
Shaking her head, she let out a low chuckle. "Wasteful. Inefficient. There are at least a dozen cleaner ways to achieve the sa outco."
Her words made Lin Mu, Daoist Chu, and ng Bai exchange startled looks.
The chamber was quiet for a few monts after Cattaleya’s words.
Her tone had been even and casual, but the implications ran deep. She was not simply offering a critique... She was offering a possible path to dismantle or neutralize one of the Hidden Cave Sect’s most insidious thods.
Grand Elder Huo stroked his long beard thoughtfully, his immortal sense still wrapped around the jade slip as though trying to squeeze more truth out of it. "You may be correct. The structure of this technique is not wholly original.
In fact, it borrows heavily from ancient bloodline assimilation practices. The difference is... here, it has been twisted into sothing malicious, intentionally corrupted with resentnt to fuel rapid gains." His voice was low, like the distant rumble of a storm.
Daoist Chu let out a faint sigh and shook his head. "Such things are always tempting. Quick power, instant leaps in cultivation. It is no wonder the cultists could push themselves into higher stages so abruptly. But every shortcut leaves scars. If they keep using this, their foundations will shatter sooner or later."
ng Bai, who had been staring nervously at the jade slip glowing in Grand Elder Huo’s hand, finally spoke.
His voice wavered but carried a note of curiosity. "Senior... if it can be stripped down, like Senior Cattaleya says, does that an... it could be changed? I an... could it be used in a way that doesn’t... doesn’t require slaughtering immortals?"
The boy’s question made the others look at him with mild surprise.
Lin Mu in particular was slightly impressed at the earnestness in his tone. He had expected ng Bai to recoil from the very idea of tampering with such a wicked technique, yet here he was, trying to imagine a way to reform it.
Cattaleya leaned back in her seat, one hand raised in a slight gesture. "In theory, yes.
The so-called Human Blood Essence Crystals are crude to begin with. They’re ford by compressing the vitality and blood essence of immortals, but because of how they’re created, they carry with them massive amounts of resentnt and instability.
Think of it like rotten wood; you can build a fire out of it, but it will smoke, crack, and collapse on you. It is unstable fuel."
Her tone was instructive now, almost like a tutor. "It’s not much different from Bloodline Essence Crystals, which many clans and sects already use. Those crystals contain the power of beasts, but the problem is that their spirits remain.
The beast’s lingering will fights back, resisting assimilation. That is why cultivators often struggle or fail when absorbing them. The risk is always there."
Lin Mu gave a slow nod, his mind drifting to the days he had forced himself to absorb the marrow of the Tyrant Bull, and later, the bloodline essences he had used to save Lady Kang.
He rembered the resistance, the alien will that fought against his own, and the imnse strain it placed on his body and soul. What Cattaleya was describing resonated deeply with his own experience.
"That is why," Cattaleya continued, her eyes glinting faintly, "the current technique is not only evil but terribly wasteful. The resentnt it gathers corrodes the cultivator’s ridians and foundation.
They burn bright for a short while, but sooner or later, their bodies collapse under the strain. If one were to strip the structure of the technique down, however, the skeleton of it is no different from other blood assimilation arts.
It could be modified to channel energy from different sources. Rare herbs, beast marrow, spirit liquids—there are dozens of more stable alternatives. The gain might not be as dramatic or imdiate, but it would be far more sustainable."
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