North of Blood Emperor City by dozens of miles, the canyon stretches endlessly, with mountains and rivers tinged with a mysterious hue of blood. Atop the cliffs, ancient and majestic buildings stand in eerie silence, exuding a stifling sense of gloom.
Around the cave mansion that faces north with its back to the mountains, a blood fog lingers, painting everything in a scarlet hue.
Amidst the crimson array formation, ghostly white bones faintly appear and disappear, with haunting wails echoing in the distance.
Three cultivators at the Yun Dao Realm and over twenty cultivators at the Condensation Realm, donned in blood-red robes, sit cross-legged at various array points. Acting as conduits, they control the refined Essence Blood, channeling it into the cave mansion.
As deputy sect masters and elders of the Blood Emperor Sect, their faces are pallid, their cheeks sunken, as if deprived of sunlight for a long time.
This is related to their cultivation with the Blood Emperor Scripture.
This cultivation technique enables rapid enhancement of strength by absorbing others' blood. While Lu Jin'an considers this method full of flaws, it is quite an impressive technique in a small place like the Nanzhuo Domain.
Across the entire Nanzhuo Domain, only the Blood Emperor Sect can gather such a large number of Yun Dao Realm and late-stage Condensation Realm experts.
Lu Jin'an, hidden in the sky, glanced casually but found no Ice Soul Frost Flower outside, then directly entered the cave mansion.
The secluded retreat of Blood Emperor Sect Master Li Huangquan reeked of a nauseating blood stench, with countless corpses piled around the stone platform, some desiccated, others still fresh.
Blood flowed upward along the groove leading to the stone platform and into the blooming Blood Lotus at the center. A middle-aged man, bare to the waist, sat cross-legged, eyes closed, casting spells. Refined blood continued to enter his body, with veins writhing like worms on his skin.
Evidently, the Blood Emperor Scripture cultivated by the late-stage Yun Dao Realm Li Huangquan was much more refined than what the elders practiced, at least giving him an appearance indistinguishable from an ordinary person.
This is because he discovered the opportunity to perfect his cultivation technique and achieve a breakthrough from the recent emergence of the True Monarch Ancient Tomb.
"Not enough, still not enough, just a little more..."
Li Huangquan, opening his blood-red eyes, clenched his fists: "Right now, I'm merely half a step into Sitting and Illuminating, still far from enough..."
"Sitting and Illuminating is Sitting and Illuminating, Yun Dao Realm is Yun Dao Realm, where does this half-step talk come from?"
The sudden voice made Li Huangquan's expression change. He raised his hand and unleashed a burst of blood-colored spiritual power towards the source of the sound: "Who?!"
The unleashed blood-colored spiritual power dispersed like mist, as Li Huangquan stared in shock at the young man floating in front of him. With just a meeting of gazes, he felt a chilling sensation through his body, as if plunged into an icy abyss.
His cultivation in the Blood Emperor Scripture made him more sensitive to death than ordinary cultivators, so he knew he was no match for the youth before him.
As a prominent figure in the Nanzhuo Domain, Li Huangquan had been fortunate enough to witness True Monarchs outside the domain, only to scurry back in haste...
And the youth before him was far more unfathomable than any True Monarch he had seen from afar, so...
"Greetings to the Immortal!"
Li Huangquan immediately prostrated in the Blood Pool, his face submerged, not daring to move.
Across the Yunding Continent, the Nanzhuo Domain is like an impoverished village. Influenced by the 'Information Cocoon Room,' it remains trapped in fossilized perceptions. To them, a Sitting and Illuminating Realm True Monarch is the pinnacle of what they can understand, with no knowledge of higher levels.
So Li Huangquan naturally assumed Lu Jin'an to be the legendary Immortal.
To a legendary Immortal, one must naturally show reverence and awe.
"You acquired a flower from the ancient tomb..."
Before Lu Jin'an finished speaking, Li Huangquan promptly offered his Storage Ring: "It's inside, please kindly accept it, Immortal."
Lu Jin'an immediately extracted the Ice Soul Frost Flower with seven leaves, resembling an ice sculpture, from the Storage Ring. Without delay, he performed a spell to preserve the flower, whose medicinal potency was beginning to dissipate, within a barrier.
Fortunately, this rare treasure, beneficial even to Harmonization Realm cultivators, possessed strong vitality and had been picked not long ago, so its potency hadn't diminished much.
'A seven-leaf Ice Soul Frost Flower, that's enough.'
Tucking away the Ice Soul Frost Flower, Lu Jin'an looked at the still-kneeling Li Huangquan and placed his hand over the back of his head, giving him some guidance.
Li Huangquan's body stiffened, sensing the spiritual power circulating via the Blood Emperor Scripture within him becoming smoother, and gaining insight into advancing his cultivation further.
With a face full of ecstasy, Li Huangquan looked up, only to find no trace of the Immortal remaining.
"Tomorrow... I have a premonition, tomorrow I will break through to the Sitting and Illuminating Realm!"
"Thank you, Immortal, thank you!"
In a state of excitement, Li Huangquan heavily kowtowed several times to the air, before pouring his full concentration into refining blood with the now more complete Blood Emperor Scripture, aiming for a breakthrough.
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On his way back from the Blood Emperor Sect to Blood Emperor City, Lu Jin'an, after contemplating the Time River for a while, opened his eyes, his expression revealing nothing amiss.
In the previous timeline before reversing the Time River, Li Huangquan was set to break through and emerge, dealing with the sect's besiegement crisis and confronting the secluded Lin Mu at the ancient tomb. At the critical moment, Lin Mu completed his breakthrough and engaged fiercely with Li Huangquan, and after...
Before this battle could end, he was pulled back along the Time River by Zhu Nanzhi, who revealed her yandere nature, returning to the present.
This time, he preemptively accelerated Li Huangquan's attack timeline.
Lu Jin'an initially didn't want to become involved in this Nanzhuo Domain Qi Fortune Competition because he didn't want to entangle himself with the cause and effect of a cultivator named 'Lin Mu.'
The cultivator with the Seven-star Channeling Body, named 'Lin Mu,' holds a more significant position in the Time River compared to ordinary cultivators. Engaging in non-standard Qi Fortune Competition, acquiring others' cause and effect could be problematic.
Lin Mu currently possesses only Yun Dao Realm cultivation; when encountering him with no prior connection, bullying is simply taking advantage of the weak—engaging in peer competition among individuals with great destiny is known as letting those with the means (strength) obtain it, whereas, under these circumstances, taking advantage of the weak is akin to bullying, which implies breaking the rules and can bring unnecessary troubles.
It's said that Heaven and Earth are impartial, treating all things equally like straw dogs, but this impartiality only applies to 'birth' and 'death.' The journey from birth to death, however, is far from equal.
If it were, there wouldn't be differentiation into different levels and hierarchies.
So engaging in a trade with Li Huangquan, Lu Jin'an feels somewhat inauspicious at the moment.
But to avoid being turned into a Sword Spirit himself, while Lu Jin'an feels unlucky, he harbors no regrets.
Fortunately, the Immortal Fate associated with the Ice Soul Frost Flower hasn't yet commenced, so the entangled destiny isn't too significant.
With Lin Mu's breakthrough to the Sitting and Illuminating Realm almost guaranteed, once he achieves it, he can dispel the unwanted implications he acquired—his purpose for staying here over a year.
Lu Jin'an has no intention of seizing and inheriting Lin Mu's destiny, not because he can't bear it but because he dislikes doing so.
Because he has his own Dao, and also because his aim is the Seven-star Channeling Body.
Returning to the medical hall by noon, Lu Jin'an went straight into seclusion for a nap as he had done for the past year, so even the demon cultivators present did not object and obediently left.
Shutting the doors, Lu Jin'an headed to the backyard, instructing Xia Ming: "Make sure no one disturbs me, I'm refining a pill."
"Got it!"
Transforming back to his original form, Xia Ming flew out the window, landing on the eaves to diligently monitor the surroundings.
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