Chapter 68 Refinement

The cave was dimly lit and filled with the thick stench of blood. The atmosphere was silent and oppressive, broken only by droplets of water occasionally falling from the ceiling, their faint echoes spreading through the cave.

At the center of the cave rested an enormous blue-green tortoise shell filled with blood. It was five meters long and three meters wide, while the patterns covering its surface resembled countless flourishing plants intertwined together, giving off a strange sense of vitality. This was the shell of a Hawksbill Turtle, an exceedingly rare species related to the Rock Hawksbill Turtles commonly found throughout the Southern Border.

Hawksbill Turtles were extremely rare among their kind, with perhaps only one appearing among several hundred Rock Hawksbill Turtles. Such rare beasts possessed strength comparable to a thousand beast kings and could contend with Rank Four Gu Masters. However, both the Hawksbill Turtle and the ordinary Rock Hawksbill Turtle shared the temperament of mountain tortoises. They were lazy, slow, and extremely poor at fighting. In exchange, their defenses were astonishingly powerful, and ordinary Rank Four Gu would find it extremely difficult to break through their shells.

“All that effort wasn’t wasted. With this Hawksbill Turtle shell serving as the vessel, the success rate of my killer move should increase considerably.” Lin Feng wiped the sweat from his forehead. His appearance had changed greatly. His previously strong body had become gaunt, his cheeks were slightly sunken, and even his hair had grown dry and brittle.

After leaving Chiyang Mountain, Lin Feng had gone searching for the other blood slaves he had secretly lured onto the Blood Path. Much like Yang Kang, however, these blood slaves had developed surprisingly well. Each had reached at least Rank Three, and several had even created entirely new Blood Path Gu of their own. Although these Gu were not particularly high ranked, their abilities gave Lin Feng quite a surprise. Some possessed unusual effects, others displayed unexpectedly great power, while a few required remarkably little primeval essence to activate.

Lin Feng naturally obtained all of these results through soul searching. Only then did he realize that he had previously underestimated the capable people of this world. Even Gu Masters with mediocre cultivation could occasionally produce remarkable ideas when given the right opportunity and enough pressure.

Of course, acquiring these gains had come at a considerable price. Lin Feng had already been injured beforehand, and after killing the last blood slave, he was discovered by the local righteous clan. They pursued him relentlessly for more than ten days, placing him in danger several times. In the end, Lin Feng managed to escape, but only after sacrificing several of his own Gu along the way.

Afterward, Lin Feng spent considerable effort gathering the materials required for his killer move. Now, after months of preparation, everything was finally ready.

Slowly exhaling a breath of stale air, Lin Feng opened his storage gu worm and took out dozens of Gu Master corpses, all accumulated over the past few months. Among them were the corpses of the Tie Clan Gu Masters, Yang Kang and several other blood slaves, as well as the Chijia Village Gu Masters whom Lin Feng had secretly killed.

Lin Feng selected the corpses of several former blood slaves and threw them into the blood filling the tortoise shell. The moment their bodies touched the blood, their flesh began dissolving at a visible rate. Skin, muscle, and organs gradually melted away, merging into the surrounding blood until their bodies had been completely consumed.

This killer move involved five or six Gu Worms, with Blood Devouring Gu and Blood Tax Gu being the most important. It used the corpses of blood slaves as its main material, supplemented by large quantities of other Gu materials, ultimately converting everything they had accumulated through Blood Path cultivation into nourishment for the Gu Master’s own cultivation.

Ghostflame Gu!

Lin Feng snapped his fingers, and a ghostly blue flame silently rose beneath the tortoise shell. The flame burned fiercely, yet instead of heat, it emitted a sinister chill that seemed capable of penetrating directly into the soul. Ghostflame Gu was originally used to attack a Gu Master’s soul, but here Lin Feng was using it purely as a supporting Gu worm for the killer move.

Half an hour later, the thick blood inside the enormous tortoise shell boiled violently, releasing continuous popping sounds. Dense crimson mist rose from the surface and gathered above it, slowly forming a thick cloud of blood qi. As the heating continued, traces of the mist spread outward and began corroding the surrounding vegetation. Grass withered, flowers shriveled, and before long, both crumbled into ash. Lin Feng paid it no attention. He had already arranged Gu around the area beforehand, sealing the surroundings so that none of the blood qi could escape.

“Next, the hundred year bitter clam.”