Chapter 40: The More That Die, the Better!

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At the foot of Cloudrise Peak, inside a pitch-black mountain cave.

In the gloomy cavern, a figure sat cross-legged at its center, eyes tightly shut. Dark-red vapor swirled around him.

A corpse lay before him, and the dark-red vapor was unmistakably rising from it.

As the man circulated his cultivation art, the vapor entered his body with every breath he drew.

The eerie scene, combined with his disheveled white hair, made the cavern seem especially sinister and terrifying.

Just then, the man abruptly stopped cultivating and turned his gaze toward the mouth of the cave.

A figure appeared, carrying a corpse over his shoulder.

“Branch Leader, this is bad! Something terrible has happened!”

Zhao Wu placed the corpse before the old man. Had Liang Chuan been there, he would certainly have recognized it as the body of a disciple from the Sunborn Sect.

“What has you rushing about in such a panic?”

The old man’s narrow, triangular eyes flicked toward Zhao Wu, and his voice held a trace of impatience.

If he had not been short of suitable candidates, why would he have chosen a useless wretch like Zhao Wu?

“Branch Leader, I don’t know where Liang Chuan found an alchemist, but the sect suddenly has a great number of Foundation Establishment pills! The White Sword Sect now has more than twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators!”

Whenever Zhao Wu thought of what was happening in the White Sword Sect, terror seized him. He could not even understand how it had been accomplished.

He had never imagined that the White Sword Sect could develop so rapidly, much less that more than a hundred thousand spirit stones would be poured into the spirit chambers every day.

“A mysterious alchemist?” The old man pondered for a moment, his brow faintly furrowing. “Have you discovered anything about the alchemist’s origins?”

Zhao Wu shook his head, his expression darkening. “That place has already become a forbidden area within the sect. Although some disciples are inside, there’s no way to extract any information from them.”

After all, the disciples Liang Chuan had recruited had already sworn soul oaths. There was no way to coax anything useful out of them.

Zhao Wu had wanted to obtain some information from Liang Chuan, but Liang Chuan had sent him out to sell goods, leaving him no opportunity to ask. Even if he had, Liang Chuan would never have told him.

It might even have aroused Liang Chuan’s suspicions. His instincts told him that Liang Chuan was no longer the easily deceived fool he had once been.

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“Then do your best to investigate and see whether you can uncover anything else. Ideally, find out the identity of that alchemist.” The old man knew very well how much a mysterious alchemist could contribute to a sect. “Aside from this, is there anything else?”

“Branch Leader, Liang Chuan took men to ambush disciples of the Sunborn Sect. Apparently, they even killed a Core Formation cultivator. The Sunborn Sect has already learned what happened here, and I’m afraid they’ll soon bring people to attack the White Sword Sect!”

That was the real reason Zhao Wu had come to find the branch leader. The Sunborn Sect was no minor power, and he did not want to be dragged into the conflict when the time came.

“They offended the Sunborn Sect, and that boy actually managed to kill a Core Formation cultivator?”

This truly exceeded the old man’s expectations. A Foundation Establishment cultivator faced immense difficulty killing someone in the Core Formation stage. Although Liang Chuan possessed an unheard-of magical artifact, it should not have been impossible for a Core Formation cultivator to resist.

“Yes. I’m not entirely sure what happened. It seems he threw out some sort of spirit treasure, causing the Core Formation cultivator to be poisoned…”

“Then there’s no need to mention it. Spirit treasures like that are exceedingly rare, and in any case, they pose no threat to me.” The old man waved his hand. He had assumed it was that weapon called a gun again. If it was a single-use artifact, there was no need to take it seriously.

“But what about all those Foundation Establishment cultivators…”

Zhao Wu’s scalp prickled at the thought of the Foundation Establishment cultivators within the sect.

The branch leader, however, let out a ferocious laugh.

“The more Foundation Establishment cultivators, the better! It may be troublesome, but they are all excellent blood offerings. They will certainly help my cultivation advance even further!”

With that, he slowly rose to his feet. His body was emaciated to the point of looking skeletal. He lifted the corpse before him and walked toward a bend in the cavern behind him.

Beyond it lay a blood pool, within which numerous corpses churned and floated.

“Boy, in view of your performance, you may come and behold my treasure!”

The old man suddenly turned to look at Zhao Wu.

Hearing this, Zhao Wu hesitated before rising to his feet and walking toward the bend.

He had been deeply curious about what was hidden within.

But the moment he saw the blood pool, his face turned deathly pale.

Many human bodies floated within it, and several belonged to people he knew.

They were clearly the elders, sect masters, and even direct descendants of the other three sects.

Most of them had already melted beyond recognition. Had it not been for the scraps of fabric clinging to their bodies, Zhao Wu might not have identified them at all.

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Staring at the grotesque scene, he instinctively staggered back two steps. He had never witnessed anything so horrifying.

The old man stripped naked and stepped into the blood pool. The instant his feet touched the blood, countless streams of fresh blood swiftly climbed up his body.

As though endowed with life, they surged into the old man’s flesh. As the blood was absorbed, his skeletal body gradually began to fill out.

The wrinkles on his face also started to disappear. In the span of a few breaths, the old man had transformed into a middle-aged man.

“Now you see? This is the secret art of our Bloodthirsty Cult. It allows us to absorb the flesh and blood of others for cultivation. As long as we have enough flesh and blood, our cultivation will never encounter a bottleneck. The Core Formation stage? That is nothing at all!”

As he spoke, the old man stepped out of the blood pool and casually produced a Daoist robe, slipping it over his body.

These corpses were the finest elixirs for his cultivation. The Bloodthirsty Cult’s techniques relied on using one’s own flesh and blood for cultivation while replenishing the resulting losses through the bodies of other cultivators.

That was why he so often reverted to the appearance of an old man. Now, however, he could feel the abundant blood surging through his body.

Zhao Wu did not dare meet the man’s gaze and could only bow his head deeply.

Yet his heart began to pound faster.

He obeyed this man not merely because he was under his control, but also because the man’s strength was simply too terrifying.

And today, despite witnessing such a ghastly sight, Zhao Wu had instead grown increasingly excited.

That meant he, too, could use this method to cultivate rapidly and grow stronger and stronger!

This was the Core Formation stage! In the past, he had not even dared to dream of it. But now, by following the man before him, he could actually step into that realm.

“I have already reached the peak of the Core Formation stage. Before long, I will enter the Nascent Soul stage. If you perform well, I will permit you to cultivate this art as well!”

Zhao Wu’s eyes lit up at once. He clasped his fists and asked, “Branch Leader, what should we do about the Sunborn Sect?”

The branch leader gave a cold laugh.

“Go back for now. The more people the Sunborn Sect loses, the better.”