Chapter 2796: Earnest Guidance

"No, that's not right!" Xue Jiu frowned suddenly. "If that poison came from the power of a supreme treasure, it shouldn't have been so weak!"

The power of a supreme treasure is immense. Even if Lu Ye couldn't fully unleash its potential, he shouldn't have been able to suppress it so easily. Yet, he had indeed managed to suppress the severe poison in his body back then, and after arriving in the Source Realm, he even expelled the poison completely using a secret Blood Race technique.

Lu Ye casually explained, "The Myriad Poison Pearl's spiritual essence was damaged, so its power was incomplete!"

Xue Jiu's eyes lit up immediately. He finally understood what Lu Ye had meant by "unless."

If the Myriad Poison Pearl, with its incomplete power, already had such effects, what would it be like if it fully recovered? It could certainly be used to deal with Xue Tianxing!

"Is there a way to restore it?" Xue Jiu asked eagerly.

"There is a way, but..." Lu Ye looked troubled, "The cost would be too great!"

"What kind of cost?"

Lu Ye opened his mouth, hesitated, then shook his head. "Never mind. That's a price neither you nor I can afford. Blood Lord, don't even think about it."

The more he acted this way, the more impatient Xue Jiu became. He grabbed Lu Ye's sleeve. "Whether the cost is great or not, you at least have to tell me."

Lu Ye slowly said, "It requires many subordinate treasures!"

"What does that mean?" Xue Jiu looked bewildered.

Lu Ye explained, "The Myriad Poison Pearl is very peculiar. It can devour subordinate treasures to repair itself. So, if there are enough subordinate treasures for it to consume, it should be able to fully recover."

Xue Jiu stared fixedly at Lu Ye, unsure whether to believe his nonsense. The main reason was that this matter was too bizarre, something he had never heard of before.

"To be honest, Blood Lord, I've recently acquired some subordinate treasures and let it devour them. Compared to before, the Myriad Poison Pearl's power has significantly increased, but it's still far from full recovery."

Xue Jiu narrowed his eyes, looking as if he was saying, "I'm well-informed, don't try to deceive me."

Lu Ye scoffed, "If Blood Lord doesn't believe me, then so be it."

Xue Jiu quickly said, "Alright then, let me verify it myself. I'll make my own judgment!"

Lu Ye looked at him. "How does Blood Lord intend to verify it?"

Xue Jiu raised a hand. "I, too, have been poisoned by that Myriad Poison Pearl!" The implication was that he only needed to make a slight comparison to discern the truth of Lu Ye's words.

"Alright!" Lu Ye nodded. He immediately channeled his Dao power into the Myriad Poison Pearl fruit, preparing a dose of poison. Moments later, a faint green glow appeared on his fingertip. Lu Ye flicked his hand, and the glow drifted towards Xue Jiu.

Xue Jiu cautiously took it and began sensing it. A moment later, his eyebrows rose, and a hint of delight appeared on his face.

He found that Lu Ye was right: compared to the poison he encountered in the Blood Race territory back then, the current poison's power was indeed significantly stronger.

However, this only proved that the Myriad Poison Pearl's power had increased compared to before; it didn't necessarily mean that everything Lu Ye said was true.

Perhaps there were other ways for the Myriad Poison Pearl to recover.

He suppressed his thoughts, cast the poison aside, and asked, "Roughly how many subordinate treasures would it take for it to fully recover?"

"Dozens? Hundreds?" Lu Ye answered casually, "I don't know either."

Xue Jiu's face turned green upon hearing that.

If it were just two or three subordinate treasures, he might be able to help figure something out. But dozens, even hundreds? Where would he get them?

"It's fine even without subordinate treasures. If there's a supreme treasure, I feel it should recover quickly," Lu Ye slowly continued. "Blood Lord, you seem to possess a Sky Mirror?"

Xue Jiu's face turned even greener. He decisively flicked his sleeve. "Don't you dare covet my Sky Mirror!"

To think that he, one of the dignified Ten City Lords, only had one supreme treasure in his possession. How could he possibly hand it over? This was his ultimate trump card!

He suddenly felt a chill. "You mean the Myriad Poison Pearl can devour supreme treasures?"

"Haven't tried, but it should be able to! Blood Lord, would you like to try?"

"No!" Xue Jiu refused without thinking. Then he suddenly said, "Don't you also have a Starry Chessboard?"

Lu Ye looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Sacrifice one supreme treasure to restore another? Does Blood Lord think I'd do something so foolish?"

Xue Jiu was so annoyed he chuckled. "If you're not foolish, then am I foolish?"

Lu Ye shook his head. "That's not how it works. It's not me who's targeting Xue Tianxing and wants to seize his bloodline. If Blood Lord wants to gain something, you must first be willing to part with something. If you want my help, you'll have to give me some benefits!"

Xue Jiu remained silent.

Lu Ye patiently coaxed him, "Furthermore, external power is just that—external. What if it's a supreme treasure? If Blood Lord can truly achieve a Half-Saint body, wouldn't acquiring a supreme treasure be simple then? The Blood Race in the Source Realm surely possesses more than one supreme treasure, right? That Sky Mirror isn't inherently linked to you, so letting it go wouldn't be a great loss. If it can grant you a Half-Saint body, that's a very worthwhile trade."

Xue Jiu scoffed, "Kid, stop with your sweet talk. If you can guarantee this will succeed, I wouldn't mind parting with it. But can you truly give me such a guarantee? Even if you did, I might not believe it. Also, do you know why I've been targeting Xue Tianxing?"

"I haven't had the honor of being told."

"Because among the Blood Race Half-Saints, he's the only one without a supreme treasure, making him the easiest to deal with."

The other Blood Race Half-Saints all possessed their own supreme treasures. Xue Jiu knew that even if he poisoned them, he wouldn't be able to defeat them, which was why he could only target Xue Tianxing.

Although Xue Tianxing had acquired a supreme treasure through this sacrifice, it would take a long time to refine and nurture it. Thus, he wouldn't be able to unleash the treasure's power in the short term.

As he spoke, Xue Jiu glanced sideways at Lu Ye. "After all that talk, you're still coveting my supreme treasure."

Lu Ye adopted an indifferent attitude. "I was just stating the facts, given the situation."

Xue Jiu rolled his eyes, then suggested, "How about this: you let the Myriad Poison Pearl devour your Starry Chessboard first. After the matter is settled, I'll give you the supreme treasure from Xue Tianxing as compensation, what do you say?"

Lu Ye immediately scoffed.

Not to mention that the Starry Chessboard had already been devoured by his Talent Tree, even if it hadn't, Lu Ye wouldn't have done that. The power of the Starry Chessboard, as a supreme treasure, could be put to great use on many occasions. In contrast, the supreme treasure Xue Tianxing had acquired was merely an unconventional offensive item; how could its value compare to the Starry Chessboard?

Xue Jiu was clearly overestimating his chances by trying to get something for nothing.

"Blood Lord should consider it yourself." Lu Ye was too lazy to waste any more words on him.

Anyway, Lu Ye wasn't in a hurry about this. A person like Xue Jiu couldn't possibly misunderstand the hierarchy between external power and one's own strength. If it could truly help him assassinate Xue Tianxing, he would definitely be willing to sacrifice a Sky Mirror.

His figure flickered as he flew forward.

A moment later, Lu Ye frowned and looked behind him. "Why are you following me?"

Xue Jiu said, "Currently, your public identity is my blood slave. Of course, we must advance and retreat together. If I don't follow you, where else would I go?"

Lu Ye knew what he was thinking but couldn't be bothered to expose him. Since he couldn't shake him off, he simply let him be.

Xue Jiu suddenly flew over and walked beside him. He solemnly asked, "Kid, how much of what you just said was true, and how much was false?"

Lu Ye gave him an exasperated look. "About what?"

"The part about the Myriad Poison Pearl being able to devour subordinate treasures or supreme treasure power to repair itself."

Lu Ye said impatiently, "Haven't you already verified it yourself?"

Xue Jiu replied, "The poison is indeed stronger than before, but I didn't witness it with my own eyes, so how can I know what caused this change?"

"So if you give me your Sky Mirror, you'll be able to see it for yourself."

"Let's try a different approach!"

"What are you going to do?"

Xue Jiu glanced around. "Whose territory is this?"

Lu Ye replied, "The Feather Race!"

The map Si Shengya gave him had markings for this. The place he needed to go required passing through the Feather Race's territory.

If he were alone, it would certainly be inconvenient, but with Xue Jiu accompanying him, it was different. The Blood Race was arguably the most favored, highest in status, and most powerful race in the Source Realm.

Among all the races, the Blood Race had the highest number of Half-Saints.

"It was the Feather Race that attacked Changyun Island earlier, wasn't it?" Xue Jiu asked.

Lu Ye nodded. "That's right!"

"The one leading them was that Feather Race Grand Elder, Fei Heng?"

"You know him?"

Xue Jiu smiled. "I came to the Source Realm at the same time as you. How could I know him after such a short time? I've merely heard of him."

"Then why are you asking all this?"

Xue Jiu chuckled, "How about I help you vent your anger?"

"What do you mean?" Lu Ye frowned.

"Never mind that, just give me the map and find a place to wait for me."

Lu Ye looked at him, bewildered. He had no idea what this mysterious guy was up to, but it certainly didn't look like he was planning anything good.

Lu Ye handed the map to Xue Jiu. After a brief look, Xue Jiu immediately transformed into a streak of blood-red light and flew into the distance.

Lu Ye extended his divine sense and found a nearby spot to hide.

This wait lasted for several days.

Just as Lu Ye was starting to grow impatient, his heart suddenly stirred, and he turned his head to look in a certain direction.

He sensed the aura of Liao's Power and traces of the Myriad Poison Pearl's poison!

That Xue Jiu… he actually managed to lure Fei Heng here. Lu Ye had no idea how he did it.

Earlier, Lu Ye had fought Fei Heng. If Si Shengya hadn't intervened at a crucial moment, Lu Ye would have already slain Fei Heng with his blade. However, at that time, Fei Heng held the Heavenly Origin Astrolabe, and Si Shengya was wary, which was why he stopped Lu Ye from killing him and taking his treasure.

Because if Lu Ye were to truly seize this supreme treasure of the Feather Race, their Half-Saints would never let the matter rest. At that point, Lu Ye would have no place to stand in the entire Source Realm and would eventually be hunted down to his death.

Although Fei Heng had narrowly escaped, the Liao's Power that Lu Ye left in his wounds still lingered, as did the poison he had been afflicted with. In such a short time, he evidently hadn't managed to neutralize either.

At this very moment, tens of thousands of miles away from Lu Ye's location, a streak of blood-red light was rapidly flying towards them.

Within the blood-red light, two figures were faintly visible.

One was indeed Xue Jiu, but he wasn't displaying his true appearance at the moment; instead, he was in the form of another Blood Race member.

He didn't know Fei Heng personally, and approaching him abruptly would certainly arouse suspicion, so he could only use another identity.

The other figure was Fei Heng.

However, the Feather Race Grand Elder had long lost his former vigor. Compared to just a few days ago, he seemed to have aged decades; not only had his vitality and spirit waned, but even his aura was slightly unstable.