Chapter 723: Blood Realm Characteristics

The remaining Blood Race members were all brought out. Under the direction of the Little Medical Immortal, each guarding cultivator took responsibility for one, holding them firmly to prevent any movement.

Looking at the beautiful, well-proportioned woman before them, all the Blood Race members showed expressions of disdain. Huang Liang's harsh methods hadn't managed to subdue them; what could such a gentle woman do?

The Little Medical Immortal walked up to one of the Blood Race members and spoke softly, "In the past two days, I took some time to study a few Blood Race corpses. I discovered that the physical structure of the Blood Race is not significantly different from that of our Dragon Ascendance cultivators. They are also flesh and blood; they bleed when injured and die from severe wounds. Although they are extraterrestrial beings, it now seems they are merely a species from a different world, similar to us yet with some distinctions."

As she spoke, she suddenly raised her hand and pointed at the Blood Race member in front of her. A cold glint flashed and disappeared. Lu Ye and the others, standing nearby, clearly saw that the fleeting glint was a needle even finer than a strand of hair. The Little Medical Immortal's fingers trembled as she flicked them across various points on the Blood Race member's body, implanting one fine needle after another into their flesh.

The Blood Race member's expression remained unchanged, though they frowned deeply. "What did you do?" they asked. They could feel foreign objects inside their body but experienced no discomfort, so they had no idea what the Little Medical Immortal was truly doing.

"Don't rush," the Little Medical Immortal said, giving him a slight smile before moving to the second Blood Race member. Her delicate hand trembled again, and soon, the second Blood Race member also had many fine needles implanted within them. She continued this process, implanting mysterious methods into all the living Blood Race members.

Only then did the Little Medical Immortal step back, her eyes curved in an innocent smile. She addressed the Blood Race members, "Among you, whoever speaks first will have a quick death."

All the Blood Race members scoffed, the first one even mocking, "Wishful thinking!" "Don't be so absolute," she replied, her gentle tone sounding less like a threat to an enemy and more like coaxing someone.

The moment her words fell, the first Blood Race member on whom she had used her methods suddenly changed color. As if enduring unimaginable torment and pain, they let out a sudden shriek. The cry was so dreadful it startled the Dragon Ascendance cultivator guarding them. Immediately after, the Blood Race member clutched their head, collapsed to their knees, their eyes instantly bloodshot, and their screams became continuous.

Another shriek rang out as the second Blood Race member, on whom the methods had been used, reacted. Then came the third, the fourth...

Even Huang Liang and the others, who had witnessed many great storms, couldn't help but feel their scalps tingle. When he had tortured these Blood Race members with lightning magic, they hadn't reacted this strongly. What methods had the Little Medical Immortal, renowned across the land for healing and saving lives, used to silently inflict such agony upon them? In that moment, the gaze of the elder cultivators towards her shifted.

Lu Ye, however, was already mentally prepared, thinking to himself, "Just as I thought... Any woman who is beautiful, well-proportioned, and usually gentle like water, possesses another side to her nature!" Frightening! Terrifying! The Medical Cultivator faction truly concealed their depths; they understood how to save lives, and naturally, they understood how to harm others better than anyone else. Lu Ye secretly warned himself that if he ever encountered an enemy Medical Cultivator in Kyushu again, he must never be complacent; heaven knew what unknown methods they might possess.

The screams grew louder and louder, drawing the attention of many passing cultivators, none of whom knew what was happening. However, after seeing the figures of Huang Liang and the others, they vaguely understood and did not approach to disturb them.

Before the containment formation, the Little Medical Immortal's voice rang out again: "Remember what I just said. I won't repeat myself." As soon as her words fell, two Blood Race members eagerly cried out, "I'll speak! I'll speak!" From the moment the Little Medical Immortal acted, in less than a quarter of an hour, these Blood Race members, who had rendered Huang Liang helpless, had their psychological defenses shattered by endless torment and pain! Huang Liang and the others were all utterly astonished! At the same time, they felt immensely relieved, thinking, "Fortunately, this is the Little Medical Immortal, a Dragon Ascendance cultivator. If the Blood Race possessed such methods, it would be truly terrifying."

"Then you speak," the Little Medical Immortal said, pointing at the first Blood Race member who had spoken. "Tell us everything you know about your Blood Race and the Blood World. Do not conceal anything!" As she spoke, she suddenly raised her hand and pressed it against the Blood Race member's chest. When she withdrew it, there were more than a dozen fine needles in her palm. It wasn't out of pity; it was simply that under such torture, the Blood Race member would be unable to speak coherently.

The boundless pain quickly subsided, yet the screams of their companions continued unabated. Recalling their recent ordeal, the Blood Race member couldn't help but shiver. Without further hesitation, they spoke in a dry voice, "The Blood World is a flowing realm that thrives on plunder..."

Amidst the endless wails of the other Blood Race members, this Blood Race member recounted everything they knew, truly daring not to conceal anything. Their companions nearby were listening, and if they hid anything, another companion would surely interject, forcing them to endure that torment again.

Time passed, and as they gained a deeper understanding of the Blood World and the Blood Race, the expressions of Huang Liang and the others became grave. The information revealed by the Blood Race was indeed quite incredible.

Everyone was already prepared for the fact that the vast void contained more than just the Dragon Ascendance Realm. Even before the Blood Race, the Dragon Ascendance Realm had encountered extraterrestrial objects like the Dragon Seat. The existence of such objects indicated the presence of other realms.

The Blood World was one such realm in this vast void, but unlike most realms which generally remained fixed in a particular cosmic location, the Blood World was a flowing realm. And the defining characteristic of the entire Blood World was plunder!

As it flowed, if it encountered another realm, the Blood World would attach itself to it, plundering and siphoning the encountered realm's essence to strengthen itself.

Every world possessed its own essence. The strength of a world's essence directly correlated with the strength of the beings living within that realm. This essence could also be described as the world's foundation or its origin.

For example, the Myriad Beast Domain secret realm, which Lu Ye had entered, didn't have a very strong essence, as the strongest cultivators within it were only at the Cloud River Realm. However, the Myriad Beast Domain secret realm was not the weakest realm in terms of essence; perhaps in the vast, boundless void, there were even weaker realms where no civilization had ever emerged, or where the cultivator group didn't exist, and only ordinary mortals lived.

The Dragon Ascendance Realm's essence was undoubtedly stronger than that of the Myriad Beast Domain, comparable even to Kyushu, as cultivators of the Divine Sea Realm had once emerged here. If things had remained unchanged, the Dragon Ascendance Realm would not have experienced significant alterations. However, a dramatic change occurred when the Blood World drifted near the Dragon Ascendance Realm eight hundred years ago.

In the far north, an eternal, never-dissipating Celestial Rift appeared. The Celestial Rift emerged precisely because the Blood World had attached itself, its power tearing a rift in the Dragon Ascendance Realm, much like a leech attaching itself to a person.

For eight hundred years, the Blood World, like a leech, continuously siphoned and plundered the Dragon Ascendance Realm's essence, causing its foundation to steadily diminish. As a result, the cultivation limit for Dragon Ascendance cultivators continuously decreased, from the Divine Sea Realm to the True Lake Realm, and then from the True Lake Realm to the Cloud River Realm. In another few hundred years, perhaps only the Spirit Stream Realm would remain...

The siphoning and plundering of a world's essence were never simple matters, often taking hundreds or even thousands of years. Although the Dragon Ascendance Realm's essence would completely dissipate in just a few more centuries or millennia, the Blood Race still invaded because their invasion could accelerate the plunder process.

This was the standard process the Blood World and Blood Race had always used to plunder other realms. First, the Blood World would attach itself and siphon, weakening the beings in the plundered realm. Then, a forceful invasion would accelerate the plunder. By the time they chose to invade, the plundered realm essentially had no power left to resist.

In fact, if Lu Ye hadn't set up the grand formation in the Medicine Valley this time, saving the Dragon Ascendance cultivators' allied army, everyone in the previous battle would have died. And once those cultivators were dead, what power would the Dragon Ascendance cultivation world have had to resist the Blood Race?

However, it was not simple for the Blood Race to invade other realms. The heavens and earth possessed a spirit, especially in realms like Dragon Ascendance that could nurture cultivator groups. The will of the heavens and earth was omnipresent; perhaps this will lacked sentience, but when the world suffered severe damage and was in peril, there would inevitably be some stress reactions.

This was also the root of heroes emerging in turbulent times; those heroes were invariably endowed with great fortune, a manifestation of the heaven and earth's will responding to great calamities. Disasters in the world itself could trigger the heaven and earth's stress response, and if there were foreign enemies invading, it would likely be even more intense. Therefore, for the Blood Race to invade other realms, they needed an inside accomplice! Without one, they couldn't forcefully descend.

In the Dragon Ascendance Realm, the Celestial Rift Sect played this role. Its leader, Heavenly Sage, had spent decades studying the secrets beneath the Celestial Rift, thereby establishing some unknown connection with the Blood Race. The Great Blood River Formation was a technique passed down by the Blood Race, used to guide their descent into this realm.

Even so, after the Blood Race descended into the Dragon Ascendance Realm, they were affected by this world's influence. Even True Lake Realm Blood Race members could only exert power equivalent to the peak of the Cloud River Realm here. This was similar to the rules of the Spirit Stream Battlefield in Kyushu. The suppression by the heavens and earth could not be resisted by individuals; only a heaven and earth of equal standing could counteract it.

Now that the Blood Race had invaded, their lack of action and failure to return in the past two days wasn't because they didn't want to avenge their fallen kin, but because they had something more important to do. They were currently building special altars to draw the complete descent of the Blood World. Once the Blood World fully descended, the Dragon Ascendance Realm's essence would be plundered completely in a very short time. At that point, any grievances could be settled.