Chapter 68: Decrypting the Secret【Blood·Demonic Script】

The air immediately fell silent.

Wang Yu slightly raised his left hand, brazenly unleashing the aura of his late-stage Qi Cultivation. Semi-liquefied spiritual power rapidly gathered towards his left arm.

With such an ostentatious display, Situ Hong finally couldn't bear it. "Wang Yu, wait... let's talk this through," he said.

"Heh heh—I was just joking," Wang Yu said. "There are only four of us on Mystic Bone Mountain right now, so how could we let our harmony be broken? It's just that the other two seem to look down on me, their junior, and are unwilling to talk to me."

As the dense spiritual energy fluctuations dissipated, Situ Hong opened the formation and the stone door, looking at Wang Yu with some trepidation.

"No, no, no, Junior Brother Wang must have misunderstood," Situ Hong said. "Senior Sister Liu and Junior Brother Gu must have been delayed by other matters; it's not that they didn't want to see you."

Wang Yu quickly approached and said with a smile.

"Then I, your junior brother, will believe Senior Brother Situ."

"Yes... yes..."

As he welcomed Wang Yu into the temporary cave dwelling, Situ Hong was plagued by a headache. In truth, when the three of them had first escaped from the underground palace, they hadn't harbored much hostility or wariness towards Wang Yu. After all, he was only at the fifth layer of Qi Cultivation; how formidable could he possibly be in a fight? Therefore, they hadn't made any move to return for reinforcements.

However, as time passed, they realized they were ultimately cultivators of the same generation and status, only half a level lower than Liu Jinxian. There was nothing that couldn't be reasoned out. Liu Jinxian had gained the most benefits, and she wasn't the type to be unforgiving even when in the right, or to insist on becoming enemies just to feel comfortable. After some time, their original relationship was restored.

As a result, during the days Wang Yu was in seclusion, they re-evaluated the situation several times and finally discovered some discrepancies. Specifically, when Situ Hong and Gu Zhengshun had cooperated, their entry into the underground palace was indeed quite slow. They had intentionally let Liu Jinxian lead the elite of Gu Poison Peak to scout ahead, while they reaped the benefits from behind.

However, as a result, Gu Zhengshun greedily sought out the long-buried cultivator corpses in the underground palace ruins, wanting to collect some corpse qi, and consequently provoked a second-tier Poisonous Bee King. This, in turn, triggered a series of subsequent events. Because of this incident, all ten late-stage Qi Cultivators from Five Yin Peak he had brought with him were killed by the Poisonous Bee King. It was also at this point that a rift formed between him and Gu Zhengshun.

Considering Liu Jinxian's side had a numerical advantage, they first briefly escaped the Poisonous Bee King's entanglement, intending to hunt down some of the Gu Poison Peak elites to weaken Liu Jinxian's power. There was nothing wrong with this. The problem was, they only killed two, and when the Poisonous Bee King pursued, it killed four. But what about the remaining ten-plus people? Did they just vanish into thin air?

This point of doubt could reasonably be attributed to the Foundation Establishment Corpse Demon. But the situation outline provided by Liu Jinxian pushed the matter towards a different conclusion. The corpse demon was rampaging, yet its body wasn't stained with any blood. Furthermore, it charged directly towards the Congealed Moon Palace, catching Liu Jinxian off guard. Therefore, someone must have deliberately diverted the trouble. And looking at the four who survived, besides the smiling Wang Yu, who else could it be?

This was just one point of doubt, but this single point was enough to warrant caution towards him. In just one year, over five hundred people were wiped out; how much of a role Wang Yu played in this still remained a question mark. With their preconceived notions, the three immediately perceived Wang Yu as the classic image of a cruel and tyrannical demonic cultivator. They didn't want to offend him, nor did they want to interact with him. In such a remote place, if someone were killed, the sect might not even react in time. They were not Liu Jinxian, so they were even more resistant to Wang Yu and avoided contact with him whenever possible.

Inside the temporary cave dwelling.

Situ Hong said with a forced smile, "Junior Brother Wang, are you looking for me to...?"

"Just a small matter," Wang Yu replied, taking out a few prepared characters and handing them to Situ Hong for examination. "Senior Brother Situ, with your profound background and extensive knowledge, you must recognize these blood runes from the ancient demonic script, right?"

After taking the jade slip and examining it carefully, Situ Hong finally spoke. "I do recognize some ancient demonic scripts. The Blood Sect of Inverse Spirit has many ancient texts that record blood runes. However, I have less knowledge about bone runes, nether runes, and demonic runes."

The implication was that Wang Yu had found the right person. The Blood Sect of Inverse Spirit had indeed conducted very deep research into the blood runes within ancient demonic script.

"This character that resembles a snake expresses the meaning of winding and twisting," Situ Hong explained. "In blood runes, it also signifies circulation, and sometimes it is used to describe meridians."

"This character that resembles a mountain..."

Situ Hong explained them one by one. Often, a single character could imply three to five different meanings and had to be read in context to be understood correctly, making it very easy to misinterpret. Furthermore, as his understanding of blood runes deepened, his cold and quiescent body surprisingly felt a long-lost surge of excitement. It was as if his blood had come alive, eagerly wanting to move!

"Do you feel it?" Wang Yu asked.

"What do you mean?" Situ Hong asked.

Situ Hong sighed, "You've probably heard that ancient scripts contain mysterious power; it's true. The more you understand blood runes, the greater the anomalies in your blood will be. The Blood Demon Hall lineage of our sect cultivates ancient blood demon cultivation techniques. The entire texts are written using 'blood runes' and require this power to vitalize the blood. If one is not careful," he warned, "they will lose their human form and transform into pure slaughtering fiends, causing havoc in the region."

Words contain power. It's not just ancient demonic scripts; Innate Cloud Seals, Immortal Dao Jade Talismans, Dragon Script Phoenix Patterns, and other textual inheritances buried in ancient history all contain special powers. For junior Qi Cultivators like them, it was too early to delve into such things, and Situ Hong himself didn't know much either.

After Wang Yu expressed interest in this area, Situ Hong took out three jade slips and handed them to him. They contained deconstruction information related to 'blood runes'. They were like a popular science text.

"When studying ancient demonic script, do not deeply contemplate or comprehend it in your mind, as its power will become very weak. I've said all I can say," Situ Hong concluded.

With that said, Situ Hong gave Wang Yu a deep look.

Wang Yu had nothing more to say about this. He had no conflict with Situ Hong, and since he had received help today, he would acknowledge this favor.

"Many thanks," Wang Yu said.

By the time he returned to the temporary cave dwelling he had opened, it was already close to dusk.

The strange nature of the ancient demonic script seemed to indicate that the mysterious silk scroll had an extraordinary origin and possessed a certain degree of danger. Xu Jiaojiao's mountain-like, corpulent physique might just be a side effect of comprehending the silk scroll. After all, who would grow into that shape with normal development? This also aligned with some rumors about her.

So, could one cultivate the contents of the silk scroll without comprehending it? Perhaps not before, but now it was possible.

Wang Yu removed the Profound Yin Hand from slot number four and sequentially placed the three jade slips containing the blood rune analyses he had obtained. This kind of pure knowledge was absorbed very quickly. After only three days, he had mastered all the content. With this, he then took out the mysterious silk scroll and, maintaining a state of detachment, observed it with unfocused eyes. As expected, a placement option appeared in slot number four. He wouldn't comprehend it himself; he would let the placement slot handle it.