Chapter Seventy-Three: Sea of Blood

  Throughout the ages, the demand for elixirs among cultivators has always been the greatest. Whether it's the Linghuo Dan that increases spiritual power or the Duosuo Dan used to heal wounds, in this world of cultivation where battles occur at every moment, these life-saving elixirs are constantly being consumed. As a result, the price of elixirs has always been very high, making them unaffordable for small sects and low-ranking cultivators. Since the formation of the Danxiu Alliance, this situation has become even more severe, leading to an increase in the status and prestige of alchemists. To put it simply, a five-star alchemist at the Yuan Ying stage is often more respected than a ordinary cultivator at the Houtian stage. It can be said that alchemists are the most privileged group in the world of cultivation. However, where there are people, there will be conflict and competition. Even among alchemists, who live such comfortable lives, there is still competition and rivalry.

  If the Alchemist's trial is the Spiritual Fire, then the Dan-refiner's trial is the Dan Ding. With demand comes supply, and in the Cultivation Realm, there are several schools of instrument repair that specialize in refining the Dan Ding, one of which is the Sacred Alliance's Instrument Repair Lineage.

  The refinement of Dan Ding is extremely meticulous. To begin with, the array method is extremely complex, and the selection of materials is different from that of ordinary magical artifacts. Moreover, regardless of how precious the materials used to refine the Dan Ding are, the grade of the Dan Ding cannot be guaranteed, which entirely depends on the skill level of the refiner. Therefore, when choosing a refiner, the alchemists are particularly cautious. Although it is possible to refine elixirs without a Dan Ding, it would be much too slow.

  As for the Dan Ding, the Xianmeng repair is undoubtedly the most powerful in the Xiuzhen world. Even the Zongmen Qilings of Sun Ming can't compare to it (of course, if you mention Yu Xu Palace, I have nothing to say). Therefore, Xiaoxuan coming here to refine the Dan Ding is undoubtedly the best choice.

  "Ah, what a pity, I rarely dabble in alchemy, otherwise I could have refined a good Dan Ding for you." Sun Ming said with some helplessness, after all, he really didn't know anything about Dan Ding.

  "It doesn't matter, this time I came to Shengmeng to cultivate, one is to see the refining techniques of the Shengmeng Danxiu, and the second is to refine a dan furnace in this place." Xiaoxuan explained with a smile.

  "It seems I was over-worried, Brother Xiaoyan, when will you come to our Qilingshan Sect as a guest? Let me fulfill my duty as the host too." Sun Ming said with a smile.

  "Take your time, after I finish my training here, if there's a chance, you must go and take a look at the 'Heavenly First Instrument Repair School' that is on par with us."

  The sky seemed to have been dyed a faint red, and wisps of bloody aura were rising, the entire ground was filled with a bloody smell. Along this smell, large and small blood pools were scattered all over the island. In the air, demonic heads condensed from the demonic aura kept flying over from the mainland on the other side of the island. The air seemed to be accompanied by bursts of mournful wailing and screaming. Upon closer inspection, each of these demonic heads had a living person in their mouths.

  When these demonic heads flew over the large and small blood pools, they opened their mouths wide, accompanied by an even more mournful cry. These living people were thrown into the blood pool. The people who fell into the blood pool had not yet struggled to dissolve alive into a mass of flesh and bones. The skeleton sank directly, while the fresh flesh and blood slowly replenished the blood pool. Then, one by one, the vengeful spirits filled with demonic energy flew out. As they flew, the last bit of conscience in these vengeful spirits was swallowed up by the demonic energy, turning them into one of the many demonic heads in the sky. This is a picture of hell on earth, and this scene actually appeared in the territory of the Orthodox Cultivators, which is truly ironic to the extreme.

  The crimson sky flickered with the glow of this treasure, as if a cultivator was riding it and flying over. The people who were being held in the demon's mouth seemed to have seen their savior, and their cries of despair turned into cheers.

  These demonic heads have always liked to treat cultivators as food, as if they had an instinctive consciousness guiding them to devour cultivators. Therefore, in the great wars between Taoism and demons, these demonic heads formed from the vengeful spirits of humans collected by demonic cultivators were the most common cannon fodder. However, even as cannon fodder, there was a time when one demonic head swallowed too many cultivators, its energy reached an extreme limit, and it actually triggered a demon calamity. After safely passing through the demon calamity, this demonic head unexpectedly formed its own consciousness and became a powerful figure in the world of demonic cultivation.

  And when a group of demons discovered a lone cultivator, what was going to happen next was probably something that even an idiot could figure out.

  These demons threw away the living people they were holding in their mouths and flew towards the cultivator like they had been injected with stimulants. It was quite a chaotic scene of demons dancing wildly.

  Although this cultivator had a righteous and majestic aura, for some reason, a thick and gloomy atmosphere could be seen in his expression, with a hint of cunning. This cultivator, who had just been entrusted with great expectations by these ordinary people, saw the big and small demon heads flying towards him with their teeth bared and dancing, and slightly furrowed his brow. With a wave of his large hand, he killed one of the demon heads that had flown right in front of him with a fairly decent flying sword. Apparently, these demon heads were emotionless and acted according to their instincts, all excitedly flying towards this side.

  "What a hassle, the demonic path is indeed the demonic path." The cultivator said with some dissatisfaction as he looked at the flying demon head. He quickly took out a blood-red spirit tablet from his storage ring.

  This spirit tablet, with its bright red color, seems to be condensed from fresh blood. A thick and intense bloody aura rapidly emanates from the tablet, causing those excited and eager demon heads that wanted to devour the cultivator to quickly scatter like frost-bitten eggplants, as if they had seen their arch-nemesis.

  "Things of evil and heresy will never see the light of day." The cultivator said with disdain.

  "Haha, evil demon outside the path? Lan Qing daoyou is wrong to say that, evil demons and outsiders are also paths. Since they are all paths, what's the difference?" A clear and bright voice came from the horizon.

  "Hmph, since our paths are different, we won't work together. We're all just in it for the benefits anyway. Why must you, Bloodhai, engage in this verbal dispute with me here?" Lan Qing said somewhat displeased.

  "Haha, never mind, never mind, fellow daoist don't be angry. But I don't know what you came for this time? This Blood Spirit Essence has been brewing for a long time, but it won't be brewed so quickly?" Xue Hai asked doubtfully.

  "This poor monk understands that this time you came not for this matter, but for another reason." Lan Qing put away the blood-stained spirit tablet in his storage treasure and explained with a slightly changed expression.

  The Blood Spirit Essence is an extremely precious spiritual medicine, although it's not a Dan medicine, its effects far surpass those of ordinary products. If a cultivator absorbs a Blood Spirit Essence using the correct method, their body's Qi and blood will greatly flourish, and the benefits are self-evident. However, the formation of this thing has a rich bloody connotation, often occurring when the mortal world's two armies clash, resulting in countless deaths and injuries, with fresh blood and vengeful spirits gathering together to condense into being. Every Blood Spirit Essence is born with over 10,000 lives lost, so the killing intent on it is extremely heavy. Without the correct method, even a cultivator in the merging stage wouldn't dare to lightly draw out the blood energy within. But in the eyes of demonic path cultivators, this thing is a great tonic, after all, they cultivate the evil and malevolent Qi between heaven and earth. Wars in the mortal world are rare, so some demonic path cultivators got it into their heads to capture living people to refine Blood Spirit Essence. Later on, this behavior was banned by the leader of the demonic path, the Heavenly Demon Palace, as even demonic path cultivators cultivate the truth, and the foundation of the cultivation world is the mortal world; shaking the foundations would be eliminated no matter where it occurs. As a result, some demonic path cultivators secretly ran to these cultivators' territories to capture people, which is also why the struggles in the cultivation world never cease. But refining like this on a planet under the jurisdiction of cultivators, with such fanfare, has a deeper meaning.

  "Do you still remember the last time you took that immortal sword?" Lan Qing asked with a smile.

  "Of course I remember, that sword was quite good. I'm currently using the Nine Underworlds' demonic fire to temper it in hopes of getting a magical artifact soon, haha, what's this good news about?" Blood Sea Old Dao laughed rather unrestrainedly.

  "Hmm, this time it's on behalf of the Alliance Master that I'd like to ask Brother Blood Sea for help with something. This matter is still a bit inconvenient for us to take action." Lan Qing called out somewhat awkwardly to Brother Blood Sea.

  "Just shout 'Lao Fu Xue Hai' directly, and you, Xue Hai, don't be so twisted when you shout it, I also feel a bit awkward listening to it." Xue Hai said with a smile.

  Lan Qing was a bit embarrassed by Xue Hai's teasing and smiled.

  "Hmm, this time I want Brother Blood Sea to help me kill someone."

  "Kill? Last time, one of my disciples died in battle for that sword. Kill? Are you still hiding behind a pile of swords? If so, go find someone else." The Blood Sea seemed to be quite resentful about the previous incident and waved his hand impatiently, as if wanting to send them away. Lan Qing immediately smiled and explained.

  "This time, there's absolutely no protection from Sword Rest, it's just letting you kill a small Jindan cultivator!"

  "Golden Core stage? When did your Alchemist Union become so depraved? Not even sparing a Golden Core stage cultivator! Your actions are almost as ruthless as ours in the demonic path." Blood Sea laughed, his laughter still carrying a hint of disdain.

  "Heh, if this guy were a Golden Core stage cultivator, that would be great. Brother Xuehai, have you ever mentioned a Golden Core stage alchemist who can refine top-grade spiritual equipment?" Lan Qing asked with a smile.

  "Jindan period? Top-grade spiritual tool! Indeed, this guy's innate talent is quite astonishing. I suppose you want to strangle the threat in its cradle again, huh? Haha, I'm increasingly fond of how Lan Xian truly does things."