Chapter 1016: Unexpected

# The Winds of Kyushu Rise

Even before approaching this place, the scent of blood assailed his nostrils. This was a visible sign of the Blood River within the Blood Refining Realm.

The Blood River is an underground river, hidden deep beneath the surface, not flowing above ground. The blood pools scattered throughout the Blood Refining Realm serve as the Blood Race's means of access and entry points into the Blood River.

Lu Ye stood beside the blood pool, observing intently, his brows deeply furrowed. Although he had obtained some information about the blood pools from the memories of a deceased Blood Race member, information was one thing; seeing it with his own eyes was another.

At first glance, the blood in the pool looked exactly like real blood in terms of form, color, and smell—it was truly bizarre. Bubbles of various sizes continuously rose from below the surface of the blood pool, then burst, sending blood splashing.

Upon reaching this place, Zhang Julai's expression grew increasingly solemn. A step forward meant facing his own fate, life or death. However, as Lu Ye's soul slave, if he wished to remain by Lu Ye's side long-term, he had no choice but to take that step.

Taking a deep breath, he turned, performed a Blood Race salute, and said, "My lord, I'm going." Lu Ye nodded slightly.

Zhang Julai then hesitated no longer, leaping directly into the Blood River, not even a single splash of blood rose.

Lu Ye activated his divine sense, intending to investigate Zhang Julai's situation, but to his surprise, his divine sense couldn't penetrate the blood within a few meters of the surface. The blood in this pool clearly had a suppressive effect on divine sense.

However, Lu Ye wasn't overly concerned. Although Zhang Julai was his soul slave, as a Blood Race member, he must have taken human lives before meeting Lu Ye; some humans must have fallen victim to him. Therefore, even if Zhang Julai died here, Lu Ye wouldn't feel any remorse. Soul slaves could be easily acquired again. His cultivation had already recovered, and no Blood Race member below the Divine Sea Realm could possibly be his opponent.

He bent down, channeling his spiritual power to envelop one hand, and dipped it into the blood pool, feeling the mysteries of the blood. He quickly showed a surprised expression. The blood was undoubtedly highly corrosive, as the spiritual power protecting his hand was rapidly depleting, accompanied by crackling sounds. Having encountered the Blood Race in the Dragon Soaring Realm, he wasn't surprised by this. What surprised him was that the blood seemed to contain an extremely powerful energy, which reminded him of Kyushu's earth veins.

He had felt such overwhelming power when absorbing the earth veins of the nameless secret realm, but the energy in the Blood River was undoubtedly richer than that of the nameless secret realm's earth veins. The only difference was that the energy in the nameless secret realm's earth veins was more suitable for cultivation and absorption, while the energy in this blood was not. If human cultivators were to recklessly absorb it, there would be immense danger. The corrosive power alone was something human cultivators couldn't withstand. If forcibly absorbed into the body, it would cause significant damage to the spiritual orifices and meridians. This Blood River... could it be the earth veins of the Blood Refining Realm? A hypothesis suddenly sprang into Lu Ye's mind.

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. The earth veins of a realm must spread throughout its entire domain, which explained why there were such peculiar blood pools everywhere in the Blood Refining Realm, and each blood pool connected to the underground Blood River. Indeed, the vast world holds countless wonders.

"Stay here; I'm going down to take a look," Lu Ye instructed Lan Qiyue, turning his head.

Since the blood in this pool contained such powerful energy, it would undoubtedly be of great help to his cultivation. Being in this Blood Refining Realm, he couldn't connect to the Heavenly Dao to exchange for golden spirit tokens for cultivation. Although he still had many cultivation resources and consuming blood crystals was also a method of cultivation, nothing compared to the convenience and speed of using spirit tokens. However, if he could cultivate by utilizing the earth veins of the Blood Refining Realm, while still not as fast as using spirit tokens, it would be significantly quicker than ordinary methods. He had been in this realm for over a month, and his cultivation, from being suppressed to fully recovered, had also been a process of settling. His True Lake Seventh-stage cultivation realm had relatively stabilized, so continuing to improve his cultivation naturally posed no major hidden dangers. Being in this foreign realm, he had to acquire as much power as possible; he couldn't always rely on that simpleton Dao Shisan for everything.

"Senior Brother, be careful," Lan Qiyue said, somewhat worried but not stopping him. Lu Ye nodded slightly, activated his spiritual power to envelop himself, and leaped down. Blood splashed, and Lu Ye vanished from sight.

Immediately, crackling sounds came from all directions, and his spiritual power was rapidly depleting. Lu Ye tried to disperse the protective spiritual power, and the moment the surrounding blood touched his skin, he felt a prickling sensation. It felt like countless needles pricking various parts of his body. Fortunately, it was still within tolerable limits. The surging energy in the blood didn't even require Lu Ye to consciously absorb it; it seemingly had a will of its own, drilling into his body through the pores all over him. The pain grew more intense.

Suddenly, an anomaly occurred on the Talent Tree. Lu Ye focused his mind to observe, and saw a large expanse of dense gray mist burning on the Talent Tree. This undoubtedly indicated that the blood contained a large amount of harmful substances, which were burned away by the Talent Tree after entering his body. Lu Ye quietly observed for a moment, confirming there was no major danger, only the needle-pricking sensation that needed to be endured. This was the marvel of the Talent Tree.

It was important to remember that the Blood River was an extremely dangerous place even for adult Blood Race members, with survival being a slim chance due to the horrors contained within its waters, let alone for a human like Lu Ye. However, after being incinerated by the Talent Tree, all those horrors transformed into gray mist and dissipated, leaving Lu Ye with only a prickling sensation all over his body.

He released his divine sense to perceive his surroundings, but it was still blocked within a few meters of him. There was no sign of Zhang Julai, and he didn't know where he had gone. Lu Ye sank deeper, and after several dozens of meters, dark currents suddenly began to surge around him. He remained still for a moment, but dared not go any deeper. Here, divine sense was useless, and if he were caught in a dark current, it was highly likely he wouldn't find his way back.

Moreover, he discovered that while cultivating with the Blood River's aid was feasible, it wasn't sustainable. This was because it consumed too much fuel for the Talent Tree. He had stored a lot of fuel for the Talent Tree. For instance, in the Sword Sect secret realm, he had activated the Talent Tree to draw in geo-fire for a full two months; all that energy was stored within the Talent Tree to act as fuel for burning impurities. However, the blood in the Blood River contained far too many impurities harmful to him. Lu Ye had never seen such dense gray mist burning on the Talent Tree before.

At this rate, Lu Ye estimated that if he cultivated here for just one or two months, the Talent Tree's fuel would be exhausted. This was undoubtedly a very unprofitable deal. The Talent Tree was his greatest asset, and Lu Ye absolutely could not allow it to lose its ability to burn impurities, especially in this Blood Refining Realm, where he currently had no way to replenish its fuel. So, although he felt it was a pity, he could only reluctantly give up.

Activating his spiritual power, he ascended. In moments, he shot out of the blood pool. With spiritual power protecting his body, he didn't get any blood on him.

Upon landing, Lu Ye immediately turned his head to the side, his gaze dropping. Lan Qiyue was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a strange Blood Race member stood by the blood pool. That Blood Race member was carrying a blood embryo, seemingly bringing it here for incubation. When Lu Ye emerged, the Blood Race member was peering curiously into the blood pool. Lu Ye's appearance startled him.

After recognizing Lu Ye's appearance, the Blood Race member was greatly astonished, then roared, "Audacious blood-food! How dare you trespass into our Blood Race's forbidden grounds!"

The Blood River was the foundation of the Blood Race, the incubator for blood embryos, so the Blood Race naturally valued it immensely. In the Blood Refining Realm, humans were not qualified to set foot in the blood pools. Therefore, seeing Lu Ye actually emerge from the blood pool greatly enraged the Blood Race member.

"Where is she?" Lu Ye's voice was low.

There were no signs of a struggle or blood nearby, yet Lan Qiyue was gone. Lu Ye already had a suspicion about her whereabouts. He just hadn't expected such an accident to occur during his brief descent into the Blood River, and he couldn't help but feel a pang of self-reproach. Had he known this, he would have taken a detour to send Lan Qiyue back after she had settled the two human pregnant women. But at the time, thinking it was on the way, he had brought Lan Qiyue along, intending to return together after investigating the Blood River, thus saving time. Now, however, it seemed certain that Lan Qiyue, upon realizing the Blood Race member's arrival and having nowhere to hide, had directly jumped into the blood pool to find Lu Ye. A place like the Blood River was extremely perilous even for pure-blooded Blood Race members, with survival being a near impossibility, let alone for a human like Lan Qiyue, whose cultivation was only at the Spirit Stream Realm.

"You'd best look after yourself first!" the Blood Race member snarled, raising a hand and clawing at Lu Ye, his five fingernails sharp and chilling.

A clang rang out, a blade flashed, and the Blood Race member froze in place, still in the posture of clawing, yet his arm had been severed at the elbow. The blade's flash was too fast; he didn't even feel pain for a moment, nor did blood have time to flow. But he clearly realized what had happened, staring at Lu Ye in bewilderment, unable to fathom how a mere 'blood-food' dared to strike him. Another flash of the blade, and the Blood Race member's body completely stiffened. How could a Cloud River Realm Blood Race member possibly withstand Lu Ye's attacks?

Lu Ye turned and leaped back into the Blood River, releasing his divine sense to its maximum extent to search for Lan Qiyue.

Only after Lu Ye left did the Blood Race member sway, and his head suddenly rolled from his body. Blood spurted skyward from his neck, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

Less than half an hour later, Lu Ye burst out of the blood pool again, his face so grim it looked as though water might drip from it. He hadn't found Lan Qiyue. The environment beneath the blood pool was too harsh; not only were there numerous dark currents, but divine sense was also greatly suppressed. In such conditions, finding someone was incredibly difficult. When Lan Qiyue jumped down, he should have been in the blood pool himself, yet he hadn't noticed any trace of her at that time, let alone searching for her afterward. A Spirit Stream Realm cultivator falling into the Blood River was practically a death sentence.