Chapter 275.3: Lu Changsheng Cuts Down a Demon King! Upheaval in the Jing Dynasty as the Old Emperor Is Converted into a Blood Descendant! (III)

There was something naive in his words that were forced out through clenched teeth, but the resolve behind them was enormous. He had no idea how strong demons were, but what of it? He meant to kill every demon under heaven, and nothing was going to deter him from it.

"Good! With resolve like that, there's something here worth shaping. I'm going to convert you into a blood descendant. Once you are one, your strength will have no limit and your vitality will be remarkable. Your life will run long, and you'll be able to face a demon directly, because your flesh can kill one. Bear with it now, as this will hurt a little."

He put out a finger and a drop of blood sank into the young man's forehead in an instant. The young man clenched his teeth hard and shook from head to foot with the pain of it. However bad it got, he never made a sound, which showed well enough how firm his will was.

Several hours later, he came slowly back to himself. Instantly, he felt the difference. Strength! Matchless strength! He had the sense that he was now stronger than his ninth uncle, the strongest man in the village.

Over the next three days, the young man came back to ask the outsider about the ordinary facts of being a blood descendant, and about ways of killing demons. The outsider explained each of them in detail.

In those three days, more than one person came up the mountain. There were five in all, four men and a woman, and the outsider converted every one of them into a blood descendant.

When the three days were up, the outsider prepared to leave, but none of the five wanted him to go.

"We still don't know your honored name, sir. For a kindness this great, we would hope to repay one day," the woman among them said.

The outsider shook his head. "There's no need for my name. What I've done here is a very small thing. If you want to thank someone, thank the progenitor.

"The Flesh and Blood Progenitor converted the first blood descendant and put the power to kill demons into an ordinary person's hands. I came here to the demon nation as a spark and nothing more."

"The same holds for you. You're blood descendants now, so don't stay in this village. Do what I do. Walk the demon nation, find the people who think as you do, and convert them.

"Every blood descendant converted is another spark. The five of you are all sparks. Convert another and five becomes ten, ten becomes twenty, twenty becomes forty, and on to a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand."

"With enough sparks, a single fire would take the whole plain. When that happens, the demons will see their last day."

With that, the outsider headed down the mountain and was out of sight in moments.

The outsider was one of the blood descendant Divine Guards Lu Changsheng had sent into the demon nation. He was a blood descendant at Third Growth, and there were a great many more like him.

All of them were quietly walking the demon nation and converting blood descendants wherever they went, genuinely scattering sparks as they went.

One day, those sparks would take the plain and rise into a roaring fire, burning all demons into ash.

***

Another half year went by in no time, and the Temple of Flesh and Blood expanded like mad throughout those six months. With Lu Changsheng placing no restrictions on it at all, the expansion did indeed bring demon plants into his hands.

However, there were different levels of effectiveness for demon plants. A strong one was worth fifteen percent of progress in a month, while a weak one only provided five to eight. Taken together over the half year, it amounted to something like ten percent a month.

Boom!

A shudder went through Lu Changsheng's whole body. He had broken through his limits again from Fourth Growth into Fifth Growth!

Fifth Growth in this world put him essentially at the summit of ancient demons, which made him a match for them. There were still the Demon Progenitors, of course, but the last time a Demon Progenitor had shown itself openly was a thousand years ago.

In the demon nation and the human dynasties alike, what stood at the top of the visible order were the ancient demons. In realm at least, Lu Changsheng now stood level with them. With him at the helm of the Temple of Flesh and Blood, they genuinely had nothing left to fear.

He called up the Status Panel.

[Status Panel]

Host: Lu Changsheng

Title: Flesh and Blood Progenitor

Flesh and Blood Martial Dao: Fifth Growth (1%)

Just as he had thought, he had achieved Fifth Growth. However, having reached it, he found that demon plants now did him very little good for him. Getting from Fifth Growth to Sixth Growth was going to be difficult, and it was going to take a very long time.

It's been a little over two years, and I have a little more than seven years left. That's enough time to climb up slowly.

He was in no hurry about it. Short of a Demon Progenitor appearing, who could do anything to him? He could let the temple grow at its own pace, catch his breath, and raise his Flesh and Blood Martial Dao.

Bzz!

Suddenly, Lu Changsheng raised his head.

"Is that... a Martial Dao?"

Shock went through him as he looked into the sky. What had he just seen? A Martial Dao! This world had condensed a Martial Dao out of itself.

No, it's not a true Martial Dao. It's only the embryo of a Martial Dao. Even an embryo is extraordinary, though. It still takes the will of the multitude gathered together before an embryo can condense at all. The temple has only expanded to one province so far, and the blood descendants of a single province could never be enough to do it.

Something has happened in this world, and it very likely involves the blood descendants. What, though?

Lu Changsheng sank into deep thought.

Then, he sent for Chen Ping. "Chen Ping, go and find out what has happened in the Jing Dynasty or anywhere else. Something large, anything connected to the blood descendants above all."

"Yes, Progenitor."

Chen Ping went off and mobilized a great many people to ask questions.

Ultimately, it was a wasted effort, as the thing had taken place inside the imperial palace of the Jing Dynasty, and it was a genuine secret.

In the palace at that moment, a withered old man's eyes flew open. He had just swallowed a drop of blood, and that blood had come from a blood descendant.

His wasted body was visibly getting healthier. Moreover, his listless spirit had grown incredibly vigorous, and light had returned to his eyes.

An old eunuch knelt on the floor, knocking his head against it over and over with tears running down his face. "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations! Your Majesty has been reborn, and the glow of health is back in you.

“May Your Majesty's realm stand for ten thousand years!"

The old man was none other than the old emperor of the Jing Dynasty. He was still alive, but his illness had gone past any cure, which left him nothing to do but pass the throne to his young son and withdraw into a sealed chamber of the palace to wait for his end.

By any reckoning, he was supposed to be dead. However, the old eunuch who was deadly loyal to him had gone round and round to come up with a single drop of blood from somewhere nobody could say. He had heard it was a blood descendant's blood, and taking it was said to drive out any sickness and pain and could lengthen a man's years.

The old emperor had been at the point of death anyway. He was desperate, so as a last resort, he swallowed the drop of blood. Then he was reborn out of it, converted into a blood descendant, with every sickness and pain gone without a trace.

"So this is what it feels like to be a blood descendant. This strength, this feeling... it is very good indeed! The blood descendants... This is the road out for our Jing Dynasty."

The old emperor was sharp enough to see how formidable a thing it was.

The Jing Dynasty had suffered under the demon race for far too long, and the blood descendants were a thread of hope. It was just that there was only one thing that mattered urgently at the moment, and that was taking the throne back and reigning over the realm again.

"Go, make contact with my old ministers. I am returning to court," the old emperor said. Fire had returned to the old emperor, and his tone of voice sounded as sharp as a blade, leaving no room for anyone to question his authority.