Chapter 56: The Blood Path (1)

Demonic Beasts, unlike cultivators, did not have individually named realms for each stage of their growth.

Instead, they were simply ranked by grade.

First Grade was equivalent to the Qi Refinement Realm.

Second Grade was equivalent to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

The ranking continued upward in the same manner.

The mission Gu Yuan received required their team to kill 100 Second Grade and 10 Third Grade Demonic Beasts.

Could they kill more?

This was something Gu Yuan had asked the disciple working in the Mission Hall.

After all, the materials that could be obtained from the corpses of Demonic Beasts were quite precious.

Literally nothing would go to waste. Their meat could be eaten, while their bones, Demonic Cores, and other materials could be used for all kinds of things, including forging.

The answer was simple.

If they could kill more, they were free to do so.

Back then, Gu Yuan hadn’t understood what that meant. But as they moved deeper into the Demonic Beast Garden and the Demonic Beasts gradually became stronger, he noticed something he had missed before.

The Demonic Beasts seemed to become increasingly agitated as they killed more of them.

Some Demonic Beasts that still had the marks on their bodies would suddenly have those marks erased after catching the scent of blood, causing them to attack the group just like the others.

Even so, with Zhou Yucheng’s strength, they had already progressed smoothly and killed more than half of the required number.

Everything had been fine until now.

But perhaps it wasn’t meant to last.

Ye Chen suddenly stopped.

"I can’t continue like this."

"You’re killing all the Demonic Beasts. I want to kill some myself too."

Ye Chen was clearly dissatisfied.

The corpses of the Demonic Beasts they killed were divided according to each person’s contribution.

Zhou Yucheng had been quite fair in his distribution, even though he could have taken more for himself. If some other Black Desolation Sect disciple had been leading the team, Gu Yuan wouldn’t have been surprised if they had done exactly that.

Actually, considering Zhou Yucheng’s bloodlust expression, the last thing Gu Yuan had expected was for him to be this calm, reasonable, and fair.

But Ye Chen was still dissatisfied.

After all, he was only getting the leftovers.

"Yes, actually, I think this is the best idea."

Qin Bofeng, the Inner Sect disciple who had come with Ye Chen, seemed to have been waiting for this moment. He immediately showed his strong support.

What were you two, the weakest people in the team, complaining about?

Gu Yuan found both of them quite ridiculous.

Of course, by weakest, he meant their actual cultivation.

Despite only having encountered Ye Chen a few times, Gu Yuan already had a decent understanding of his personality.

But what about Qin Bofeng?

He was only displaying cultivation at the peak of Foundation Establishment, yet Gu Yuan had a strong feeling there was more to him.

Growing suspicious, Gu Yuan quietly activated his ability.

[Threads of Providence]

Name: Qin Bofeng

Age: 230

Cultivation: Golden Core Realm, Ninth Stage

Spiritual Root: Mixed Fire and Wind Root (First Grade)

Providence: Ordinary

Special Note: Qin Bofeng, a disciple of the Crimson Flame Sect. In order to take revenge against the Black Desolation Sect and expose the current condition of the Heavenly Twin Stars, he has been assigned the mission of planting blood seeds inside the Demonic Beast Garden.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Reading that Qin Bofeng was a disciple of the Crimson Flame Sect, Gu Yuan frowned slightly.

Unlike Su Leishan, whose hidden cultivation he could detect, Qin Bofeng had managed to conceal his cultivation completely. And unlike Su Leishan, who seemed to only be gathering information, Qin Bofeng’s mission clearly promised trouble.

Naturally, Gu Yuan still didn’t expose him.

There were already two spies in his team who were at the Ninth Stage of the Golden Core Realm, after all.

He remained silent and simply used his ability on Ye Chen as well, confirming that at least he wasn’t a spy.

This was simply his personality.

"Then, let’s vote on whether you want to move separately or not," Zhou Yucheng said, not arguing with Ye Chen at all.

The result was two in favor, one against from Gu Yuan, and two who didn’t care.

"Then, you can all move as you want. We will meet back here three days later at the entrance of the Demonic Beast Garden."

"If you are not there by then, I will consider you dead and return with the others."

He spoke each word in a hoarse, slow voice. After saying that, Zhou Yucheng didn’t linger and was the first to move away.

Ye Chen was next, followed by Gu Yuan and the other two.

Gu Yuan pretended to be afraid of going deeper inside alone and lingered around the area they had already cleared.

But after he was sure that the others had gone far enough, he suppressed his aura as much as possible with the Silent Dust Art. Then, he used his Thousand Forms Ring to change his appearance and displayed cultivation before following the traces left by Qin Bofeng.

He was going to kill him.

Qin Bofeng might be four stages above him, but Gu Yuan was not afraid.

Yes, that was his plan.

However, halfway there, Gu Yuan suddenly sensed a battle ahead.

Not against Demonic Beasts... two cultivators were fighting.

Zhou Yucheng and Qin Bofeng.

"Senior Brother, why are you attacking me?" Qin Bofeng asked in panic as he barely blocked a saber strike from Zhou Yucheng.

"Then why did you hide your cultivation?"

"I only did it as a precaution. The Black Desolation Sect is full of dangers, and I didn’t see any reason to reveal my true strength to everyone. Keeping a hidden card is hardly a crime. Su Leishan is doing the same thing."

"If you think I have done something wrong, you can report me to the Elder Hall after this mission."

Qin Bofeng’s explanation sounded reasonable enough, but Zhou Yucheng clearly wasn’t buying it.

"I will go after Su Leishan later too. Don’t worry."

His voice was cold, and the killing intent within it was not concealed in the slightest.

"Senior Brother, what are you going to tell the Mission Hall? You can’t possibly kill a fellow disciple without consequence!"

"Fellow disciple?" Zhou Yucheng snorted. "What a nice thing to say, considering you are from the Crimson Flame Sect."

His saber swept across the clearing.

Blood-red light surged along the blade as his strike descended, forcing Qin Bofeng to retreat. Qin Bofeng countered with a burst of blazing fire that swept toward Zhou Yucheng, the flames illuminating the surrounding trees, but Zhou Yucheng cut straight through them with his saber.

The two clashed again and again.

Gu Yuan stayed some distance away, concealing his aura as much as possible as he watched the battle.

It was eye-opening.

Especially Zhou Yucheng’s movements.

Every swing of his saber seemed simple at first glance, yet there was a strange feeling of completeness behind each strike. His blood-attribute power flowed naturally through his saber, sometimes erupting violently and sometimes condensing into a sharp, oppressive force.

Just watching him swing his saber was inspiring.

Feeling that this was such a good opportunity, Gu Yuan immediately used his Heart of Comprehension and focused on the battle, trying to glean whatever he could from Zhou Yucheng’s movements.

Before long, Qin Bofeng stopped hiding his identity and began fighting Zhou Yucheng in earnest.

The battle became even more intense.

Fire and blood collided repeatedly, filling the clearing with violent bursts of power. Qin Bofeng’s flames were powerful enough to scorch the surrounding ground, but Zhou Yucheng’s saber seemed to grow stronger the longer the battle continued.

The fight appeared intense and relatively even at first, but the upper hand clearly belonged to Zhou Yucheng.

Eventually a decisive saber arc cut through Qin Bofeng’s defenses, sending him crashing to the ground.

The spy died, but Zhou Yucheng didn’t stop. He waved his hand toward the corpse.

The blood inside Qin Bofeng’s body suddenly surged outward, then transformed into countless streams that flew toward Zhou Yucheng. In the blink of an eye, all the blood was extracted from the corpse.

Not even a single drop remained.

Zhou Yucheng’s aura, which had weakened during the battle, quickly recovered.

In fact, Gu Yuan could faintly sense that his cultivation had even advanced.

So this was the reason for his high cultivation despite having a Second Grade Mixed Five Elements Root... Gu Yuan finally understood.

The Blood Path.

Having learned what he could from the battle, Gu Yuan quietly prepared to leave, his mind still replaying the saber moves he had just witnessed.

But he had barely taken a step when Zhou Yucheng’s cold voice suddenly rang across the clearing.

"You watched the battle from the shadows, and now you want to leave? Show yourself."