Chapter 1035: Blood Clan Dao Soldiers

"Junior Brother, could you be responsible for refining that array disk?" Feng Wujiang asked.

"No problem, I already intended to."

"Good," Feng Wujiang replied cheerfully. "I'll have someone send all the necessary materials to you later." He had just seen Lu Ye refine an array disk effortlessly, requiring almost no effort. One array disk was completed quickly, meaning at least two hundred could be refined in a day, which would be sufficient time-wise.

Feng Wujiang headed in another direction. Before long, they arrived at a cave entrance at the foot of the Sacred Mountain. Several cultivators were guarding the entrance and bowed respectfully upon seeing Feng Wujiang, exclaiming, "Sacred Lord!"

Feng Wujiang nodded and led Lu Ye inside.

They initially walked straight, then followed a branching path downwards for a hundred *zhang* into a vast cavern. The cavern was lit by flickering firelight and was not dim.

Lu Ye looked around and saw large, water-vat-like containers placed every few paces inside the cave. Each vat held round objects.

At first, he couldn't clearly make out what the round objects were, but as his vision focused, he was slightly startled. "Senior Brother, these are..."

"Dao Soldiers!" Feng Wujiang replied softly, standing beside Lu Ye with his hands clasped behind his back.

"So many!" Lu Ye exclaimed in surprise.

There were nearly a hundred vats in the cavern, and the round objects he saw were indeed heads!

Crucially, these heads had long, pointed ears, indicating that these Dao Soldiers were clearly not human but Blood Race members!

Over the past few decades, the Sacred Land had fought the Blood Race multiple times. Each time, the Blood Race suffered heavy losses, and naturally, many of them were captured alive by the Sacred Land.

The captured Blood Race members had all been refined into Dao Soldiers by Feng Wujiang, exactly what Lu Ye was now seeing.

The method for refining Dao Soldiers was something he had obtained from a certain place in the Nine Provinces years ago. Taishan also learned how to refine Dao Soldiers from him, so if Taishan could do it, he naturally could as well.

However, back then, he believed that refining Dao Soldiers was too harmful to natural harmony, so he had never attempted it.

But he was clearly not rigid or inflexible. While refining human Dao Soldiers was harmful to natural harmony, refining Blood Race members presented no such issue.

In recent years, he had selected many Blood Race members with good aptitudes from among those captured and began refining them into Dao Soldiers.

However, the casualty rate for refining Dao Soldiers was incredibly high; only one in a hundred Dao Soldiers would successfully emerge. After several decades, only these hundred or so Dao Soldiers had been created.

Lu Ye stepped forward to inspect the nearest vat, discovering it was filled with a peculiar, strongly fragrant medicinal liquid, whose composition he didn't know. A Blood Race member sat upright within it, eyes closed, with only his head exposed above the liquid surface.

His breathing was almost imperceptible, yet Lu Ye could sense that he was not dead.

"These are all finished Dao Soldiers," Feng Wujiang explained. "However, because they are Blood Race members, even though they were successfully refined, they inherently possess a rebellious streak. Under normal circumstances, there's no major issue, but if they are attacked or experience extreme pain, there's a high possibility they would turn against us in battle. Therefore, they cannot be used in warfare and have been sealed here."

Lu Ye immediately realized, "Senior Brother, you want me to enslave them?"

Feng Wujiang nodded. "Originally, I thought these Dao Soldiers wouldn't be of much use, but since Junior Brother possesses the ability to control minds, perhaps these Dao Soldiers can be entrusted to you."

When he heard about Lu Ye's ability yesterday, Feng Wujiang immediately thought of these sealed Dao Soldiers. It was truly a pity that the Dao Soldiers, refined with such effort, couldn't be used due to concerns.

"No problem," Lu Ye readily agreed.

"However, Junior Brother," Feng Wujiang cautioned, "are you certain that method of yours will be effective on these Blood Race members? This is not something to be careless about. Every Dao Soldier here has a higher cultivation than yours. If one were to turn on its master, it would be no laughing matter."

"They are Divine Sea Realm?" Lu Ye asked, astonished.

Feng Wujiang nodded. "All of them are Divine Sea Realm!"

The Blood Race members he selected were all highly suitable for refining into Dao Soldiers. With secret techniques to catalyze and exploit their potential, it was no problem for them to advance to the Divine Sea Realm over several decades. The cost, however, was that these Dao Soldiers' intelligence was damaged, and they had no further potential for improvement, just like Dao Thirteen.

Lu Ye looked up, observing. A hundred Dao Soldiers meant a hundred Divine Sea Realm cultivators. Even if these Dao Soldiers weren't at the highest echelons of the Divine Sea Realm, Divine Sea was still Divine Sea.

Such a force, once deployed, would undoubtedly be a significant aid to the Crimson Blood Sacred Land.

"Therefore, I need to be certain that your method, Junior Brother, will not fail."

"Absolutely not," Lu Ye assured him. "Senior Brother, you might not know this, but my method is actually a spirit tattoo. For a Divine Sea Realm cultivator with normal intelligence, there might be a risk of them turning on their master, but for these Dao Soldiers with impaired intelligence, I have absolute control and suppression."

"Spirit tattoo?" Feng Wujiang was surprised. "Isn't that..."

Although he wasn't a Spirit Weaver, he knew what spirit tattoos were. They could only be constructed by activating divine sense, and Lu Ye was clearly only in the True Lake Realm.

Mid-sentence, Feng Wujiang sensed a wisp of divine sense emanating from Lu Ye.

"Junior Brother, you actually possess divine sense!" Feng Wujiang was truly astonished now. Even he had never witnessed anything so extraordinary.

How could someone in the True Lake Realm manifest divine sense? Even if his junior brother was already at the eighth layer of the True Lake Realm, there was no precedent in this world for a True Lake cultivator nurturing a soul body.

"I once had the fortune of acquiring a significant amount of Soul Cleansing Water. After long-term consumption, my soul became robust. Later, by chance, I nurtured a soul body and developed divine sense."

There was no need to hide too much from his senior brother, especially since his second senior sister and Nian Yuexian also knew about this. Besides, once he used his method to enslave these Dao Soldiers, his senior brother would surely notice.

Feng Wujiang was at a loss for words. He had thought his own life experiences were extraordinary enough, but he never expected Lu Ye's to be even more so.

Composing himself, Feng Wujiang said, "Then let me see your method, Junior Brother."

Lu Ye smiled, raised his hand, and pointed at the Dao Soldier's forehead, activating his divine sense.

The Dao Soldier was in a deep sleep, clearly due to Feng Wujiang's method, similar to how he had rendered Dao Thirteen immobile and asleep with a single touch the day before.

Naturally, the Dao Soldier had no power to resist Lu Ye's method. Coupled with the Dao Soldier's inherent lack of intelligence, the Soul Control Spirit Tattoo was successfully constructed without a hitch.

After only a few breaths, Lu Ye withdrew his hand.

Feng Wujiang turned, his face questioning. Lu Ye said, "It's done. Senior Brother, wake him up."

Feng Wujiang walked behind the Dao Soldier, raised his hand, and pressed it on the back of its head. As he channeled spiritual power, the sleeping Dao Soldier abruptly awoke.

In the dim environment, its opened eyes glowed like two streaks of blood-red light. It then stood up, its spiritual power surging uncontrollably. The large vat it had been in shattered, and the medicinal liquid inside spilled onto the ground.

Feng Wujiang watched silently, ready to strike and eliminate the Dao Soldier if it made any untoward move.

However, the Dao Soldier merely glanced left and right before obediently standing before Lu Ye, its head bowed, appearing respectful.

Its chaotic spiritual power also gradually subsided.

Only after confirming the Dao Soldier was fine did Feng Wujiang relax.

Lu Ye had already moved to another large vat, repeating the process.

As he went along, one by one, the sleeping Dao Soldiers awakened.

In less than half an hour, over a hundred Dao Soldiers had been implanted with the Soul Control Spirit Tattoo by Lu Ye.

Almost every Dao Soldier was somewhat disoriented upon waking, a lingering effect of prolonged slumber. They instinctively felt restless and uneasy.

With this, their cultivation levels became clear to Lu Ye.

Senior Brother was correct; these Dao Soldiers were all in the Divine Sea Realm, with none below it.

Their cultivation levels were also quite balanced, mostly concentrated between the second and fourth layers of the Divine Sea Realm. Those at the fifth layer were few, only about five.

Dao Thirteen was also at the fifth layer of the Divine Sea Realm.

From this perspective, while this method of refining Dao Soldiers was useful, its flaws were too great, and the failure rate was extremely high. Failure meant death.

The number of Dao Soldiers before him alone showed that. Although Lu Ye didn't know how many Blood Race members Feng Wujiang had captured over the years, there were only about a hundred standing before him in total.

"These Dao Soldiers will be entrusted to you from now on, Junior Brother," Feng Wujiang said.

"Don't worry, Senior Brother. I will ensure they fulfill their intended value."

"Let's go out."

Three individuals had entered, but a vast procession exited.

Feng Wujiang still had matters to attend to, so he departed first.

Lu Ye led the large group of Blood Race members back to the peak of the Sacred Mountain, startling the green-robed attendant, who instinctively thought the Blood Race had launched an attack.

Inside the room, the green-robed attendant nervously walked in, holding several storage bags. "These are what the Sacred Lord instructed me to give you," he stammered.

Lu Ye reached out and took them. "Thank you for your effort."

"No effort at all," the green-robed attendant mumbled, forcing a smile. Gathering his courage, he retreated and quickly disappeared.

He couldn't help it; a hundred Divine Sea Realm Blood Race members stood silently outside Lu Ye's door, all with grim expressions, which was indeed quite frightening.

Inside the room, Lu Ye inspected the contents of the storage bags. Two of them were filled with various materials for refining array disks, while the other two were packed with blood crystals.

Lu Ye poured out one bag of blood crystals, and they immediately formed a small pile beside him.

Looking at the blood crystals, Lu Ye let out a long breath. Now, he wouldn't lack resources for advancing to the ninth layer of the True Lake Realm.

Not only were these blood crystals extremely numerous, but their quality was also excellent. Lu Ye picked one up, felt the surging power contained within it, and immediately determined that it was a blood crystal from a Divine Sea Realm Blood Race member.

He had never before obtained a blood crystal from a Divine Sea Realm Blood Race member.

Many Blood Race members had died in battle around the Sacred Land's surrounding islands, naturally including many from the Divine Sea Realm.

He directly popped it into his mouth and began chewing.

It had the same crunchy texture, but still no taste.

Feeling the energy within the blood crystal, Lu Ye was utterly satisfied.

He directly leaped up, settling on the mountain of blood crystals. Activating the power of his Talent Tree, invisible roots extended, penetrating the blood crystals beside him, and began to devour them without restraint.