Chapter 375: Bloody Smell

"I know of a lead that might be related to cultivators from the Great Yu Dynasty," said Vice Cult Master Shi. Seeing Lu Yang agree, he felt that their chances of success against the Great Yu cultivators had significantly improved, making him willing to cooperate further with Lu Yang.

Lu Yang acknowledged with an "oh," relaxing his body and leaning back in his chair.

"Tell me about it?"

"There are two reasons why Great Yu cultivators are not tolerated by Great Xia," Vice Cult Master Shi said, holding up two fingers.

"The first point is self-evident: Great Yu cultivators do not acknowledge the existence of Great Xia and demand the restoration of the Great Yu Dynasty's rule. Naturally, Great Xia cannot tolerate this."

"The second reason stems from the conflict between righteous and demonic paths."

"According to historical records, blood sacrifice incidents frequently occurred during the Great Yu Dynasty. To consolidate their rule and recruit powerful experts, the Imperial Advisor and Emperor Yu tacitly condoned such events. For instance, 'Calamity Venerable' was known for bringing suffering to the people, yet Great Yu did nothing about it—this was precisely why."

"Great Yu believed that sacrificing a few cities to win over a Tribulation Transcender cultivator was a very worthwhile trade."

Vice Cult Master Shi scoffed at Great Yu's methods. Although their demonic sect also killed people, they did so with a belief—to propagate the existence of the Nine Underworlds. This was a world apart from someone like Calamity Venerable, who took pleasure in killing.

"If Great Yu had done this in ancient times, my Heavenly Court would have long since eradicated them," Lu Yang said indifferently. Blood sacrifice by cultivators was rare even in ancient times.

Before the Five Ancient Immortals achieved immortality, ancient order was chaotic, and blood sacrifices were not uncommon. However, if such events occurred after the Five Ancient Immortals became immortals, it would mean a blatant disregard for them.

This can be seen from Immortal Unrestrained's attitude.

Immortal Unrestrained was naive, not foolish; she would never tolerate blood sacrifices.

From this, it can be inferred that if the other four Ancient Immortals, who were close to her, were mass murderers, Immortal Unrestrained would not have befriended them.

"Newly revived Great Yu cultivators are in a weak state. What's the quickest way for them to recover? Blood sacrifice and blood nourishment. With Great Xia Dynasty's strict rule, it's difficult for them to openly perform blood sacrifices as they did over a hundred thousand years ago."

"By using rules or other hidden methods to secretly perform blood sacrifices, it would be very difficult for Great Xia to discover."

Lu Yang recalled the incident at Buyi Town, which was a method used by Great Yu cultivators to recover their strength.

"My Nine Nether Sect has informants spread across the entire continent. While we can't compete with Great Xia in overt matters, when it comes to covert information, Great Xia knows far less than we do!" Vice Cult Master Shi chuckled. His Nine Nether Sect had existed for tens of thousands of years; without intelligence channels, it would have long since perished.

"A few days ago, I happened to receive a report of a suspected blood sacrifice. It doesn't seem to be the work of the Blazing Sun Sect or the Ruthless Sect, making it very likely to be ancient cultivators!"

"Suspected blood sacrifice?"

"Yes, suspected. It's not confirmed yet."

"What are the specifics?"

"My subordinate reported to me that he passed a small village called Huai'an in Liangzhou. From a distance, he saw that the village was deserted, with no signs of any living people. His cultivation technique is somewhat special, making him very sensitive to the smell of blood, and he caught a faint scent of it."

"To smell blood from such a distance means a large number of people died in the village!"

"He was afraid that the village might be protected by rules set by a Body Integration stage cultivator, so he dared not approach. After learning of the village's abnormality, he immediately reported it to me."

Tao Tianye felt a slight shock. This matter was indeed eerie.

Lu Yang frowned, "The small village is deserted. Has the government taken no action?"

"The stranger part is this: the government hasn't paid any attention to this village, as if they're completely unaware of its existence! Or perhaps the villagers only disappeared recently, and the government hasn't been informed yet!"

"I speculate that it's highly probable ancient cultivators performed a blood sacrifice in the small village and used certain methods to obscure people's perception, or perhaps specifically righteous cultivators' perception!"

Lu Yang's index finger tapped rhythmically on the table. This matter was highly bizarre, and Vice Cult Master Shi's explanation didn't quite add up.

However, regardless of the explanation, they still needed to investigate this small village.

Lu Yang wasn't worried that Vice Cult Master Shi was setting a trap for him. The Heavenly Court Sect had already demonstrated its power; even after his incident with the Fifth Elder's shuttle, Vice Cult Master Shi wouldn't dare try to deceive the Young Cult Master.

"Then let's go take a look," Lu Yang said, preparing to depart for Liangzhou.

Vice Cult Master Shi was surprised by Lu Yang's decisiveness. He had expected Young Cult Master Lu to first return to seek the Heavenly King Protectors before investigating Liangzhou.

Would they really dare go to Liangzhou, a place suspected of ancient cultivator activity, with just two prodigies?

Either they possessed remarkable life-saving abilities, or the Heavenly King Protectors were already covertly accompanying Lu Yang, unnoticed by him.

"Does Vice Cult Master Shi intend to accompany us?"

"Of course I will," Vice Cult Master Shi readily agreed. Since he had brought up the matter, there was no reason for him not to go.

His flying boat was docked outside Yanjiang Commandery. The three of them boarded and departed.

Vice Cult Master Shi wanted to say more to Lu Yang, but seeing Lu Yang close his eyes to meditate after boarding the flying boat, clearly unwilling to speak further, he decided not to press the issue.

Tao Tianye also remained silent. She knew that her Senior Brother Lu closed his eyes because he had acrophobia and was afraid to look outside.

Three days passed, and the flying boat arrived at Liangzhou.

Liangzhou is located on the western side of the Central Continent. Due to the climate, it is mostly grasslands with few forests. Further west lies the Golden Buddhist Kingdom, a land of endless yellow sand where greenery is rarely seen.

"This is the place."

Vice Cult Master Shi stopped the flying boat in mid-air, cross-referenced the location from the report, confirmed that the strange small village was directly below, and then leaped down.

Lu Yang, having acrophobia, dared not simply jump down. He had already prepared.

"Junior Sister Tao, cast an illusion on me so I believe I'm standing on solid ground."

Tao Tianye covered her mouth with a light laugh, then raised her hand to envelop Lu Yang in an illusion. The two then leaped down.

Golden Core stage cultivators can fly freely.

The three landed about a *li* from the small village.

Fearing to alert anyone, Vice Cult Master Shi refrained from using his spiritual sense to scout the village.

"There don't seem to be any traces of rules being used," Vice Cult Master Shi said after circling the small village. He made his judgment, being highly experienced and almost infallible in this regard.

"That makes it even stranger. Where did all the villagers go?" Lu Yang and Tao Tianye were also puzzled; it didn't make sense.

The three attempted to enter Huai'an Village. They stepped inside the village without being affected by any rules.

Vice Cult Master Shi's nose twitched, and his expression turned grave. "The smell of blood here is even stronger than I imagined!"

"Is there a smell?" Tao Tianye also sniffed but smelled nothing.

Vice Cult Master Shi explained, "You two are different from me. You cultivate orthodox Heavenly Court techniques. Our demonic cultivators' techniques are more or less related to blood sacrifices. Only someone who cultivates the demonic path like myself can sense the abnormality here."

Lu Yang asked, "Is the blood smell very strong?"

"Extremely strong. Even if everyone in this small village were killed, there likely wouldn't be this much!"

"This place is highly likely an altar established by ancient cultivators, where they gathered captured mortals and cultivators for blood sacrifice!"