Blood beasts, just like soul beasts, cloud beasts, snow monsters, and mud monsters, were “Dao Beasts” of specific schools.
Powerful Dao Beasts would all transform into “Dao Cores” after death.
And the blood core was precisely the “Dao Core” of a blood beast, the place where the entire essence of the blood beast resided.
It was an extremely rare Blood Path treasure material, usually used as an auxiliary ingredient for high-grade recovery pills.
“This is the blood core of a Golden Core blood tree. At the very least it is worth several tens of thousands of mid-grade spirit stones!”
He Shu was overjoyed and hurriedly stuffed the blood core into her storage bag.
***
Outside, inside the True Yang Palace.
Lin Bufan sat before a writing desk, handling the affairs of both the clan and the court.
“Tsk~ That boy Lin Chang has caused trouble again. His guts have grown fat. He actually dared to openly tease the young lady of Constable Fang, and in the end was beaten until he lay flat on the ground.”
“Hmph. Truly useless. He cannot even defeat a passing rogue cultivator. First punish him with three months of confinement!”
Just at this moment a rapid knocking sounded upon the door, accompanied by the urgent voice of a servant.
“Enter. What has happened this time?”
Lin Bufan was both puzzled and curious. Thus he set down the brush in his hand and opened his mouth to inquire.
“Speak. What has happened? Could it be that someone wishes to sabotage the wager again?”
“No, it is not! The matter this subordinate must report is several times more serious than that!”
“Speak in detail.”
Lin Bufan crossed both hands and adopted an appearance of serious listening.
“According to the latest investigation of Lord Lin Youliang, a new change has occurred in the painted world. The Grief Valley City Lord and Hen Xiu have already begun fighting!”
“Right now countless blood beasts are rampaging through the painted world. At present a large number of cultivators who participated in the wager have reported that the immortal-crafted mechanical puppets they sent in were torn into fragments by blood beasts before even entering the range of Five-Light Mountain.”
The servant reported all the intelligence from the frontline investigation to Lin Bufan and respectfully waited for Lin Bufan’s decision.
Lin Bufan’s fingers rhythmically tapped the armrest of his seat as he pondered for a long while.
The wager treaty stipulated that the four Void Refinement great powers were not permitted to step onto the field personally and could only select at most one proxy to participate in their place.
The wager was a points system.
The final victor would be the one with the highest total points.
Lin Bufan continuously deduced within his mind, contemplating how to handle the present situation in order to maximize his own side’s interests.
The servant waited a full half a quarter of an hour before finally hearing Lin Bufan issue orders.
“Within the painted grotto-heaven there are large numbers of low-level cultivators and ordinary people. Right now blood beasts are rampaging and the losses are tragic.”
“Transmit the order. All cultivators may obtain contribution points by killing blood beasts. The stronger the blood beast killed, the more points obtained.”
After Lin Bufan had instructed the specific details, he had the servant make the matter widely known, stirring up a violent response.
And so, inside the painted world, He Shu and the others as well as the Grief Valley City Lord saw such a scene—
Within the blood mist, large numbers of immortal-crafted mechanical puppets suddenly emerged from thin air like bamboo shoots after rain and, as if gone mad, slaughtered blood beasts and hunted blood cores.
“Could it be that the distress letter previously sent to His Majesty has taken effect?”
The originally one-sided situation gained a new turning point with the addition of the massive numbers of immortal-crafted mechanical puppets. The Grief Valley City Lord could not help but indulge in some flights of fancy.
From a certain aspect, he had truly guessed a portion of the truth correctly.
“Hahaha! Heaven does not wish me dead! Hen Xiu, your blood beast army is no longer an obstruction. Today you will leave your life behind!”
The Grief Valley City Lord laughed loudly three times and issued harsh words toward Hen Xiu.
Yet what surprised him was that Hen Xiu not only showed not the slightest panic but even laughed lightly.
“Grief Valley City Lord, you have fallen into the trap. Do you know why I never made a move against you throughout and instead released the blood beast army to slaughter the ordinary people?”
“Hehehehe. The Thousand-Li Flourishing Landscape Chart has fallen into your hands for so many years. Have you truly not discovered the strange points?”
Hen Xiu’s words were simply like a bolt from the blue.
The Grief Valley City Lord instantly stiffened.
At first he had been bewildered by Hen Xiu’s behavior and had not detected the deeper intent. Only at this moment did he finally realize that something was wrong.
The Grief Valley City Lord’s pupils contracted sharply to the size of needle tips.
He discovered in horror that his control over this grotto-heaven world was gradually weakening, and even the painting spirit showed signs of struggling free.
In an instant the Grief Valley City Lord’s back was covered in cold sweat.
“Jie jie jie jie. It seems you have finally discovered it. The more blood beasts and cultivators die, the weaker your control over the painting spirit becomes.”
“Want to know why? Hehe. The so-called ‘Thousand-Li Flourishing Landscape Chart’ does not exist at all! The true name of this painting is the ‘Thousand-Li Blood Sea Burial Chart’!”
“Thousand-Li Blood Sea Burial Chart!”
The moment the Grief Valley City Lord suddenly heard this name, his heart gave a sudden thud. A strong sense of impending misfortune filled his chest.
“Hmph. Demonic words to confuse the public. Only a ghost would believe your words!”
The Grief Valley City Lord forcibly suppressed the unease in his heart.
Moving as swift as lightning, he flashed before Hen Xiu.
His form transformed into a ferocious Rakshasa Ghost King, bloody maw gaping wide with fangs bared.
Before the Rakshasa Ghost King, Hen Xiu was like an egg the size of a human fist, as if he would be swallowed into the belly in the next second.
“Old thief of Grief Valley, you are merely a false Soul Transformation. Before this seat, you are not even enough to look at!”
As he spoke, Hen Xiu struck a palm through the air upon the body of the Rakshasa Ghost King transformed by the Grief Valley City Lord, forcing the latter back a hundred zhang.
While fiercely battling the Grief Valley City Lord, he revealed still more secrets.
“Do you know why the two of us turned against each other back then? Because this Thousand-Li Blood Sea Burial Chart was once an object of Hen Jiliao, and I am precisely one of his direct bloodline descendants.”
“Therefore this Void Refinement spiritual treasure originally belonged to this seat. Coming to demand it today is merely returning the object to its original owner…”
In the sky the two combatants of Soul Transformation power exchanged blows.
Every move and form possessed the force of plucking stars and seizing the moon.
The residual waves of the battle shocked to death who knew how many ghost spirits and blood beasts.
Dozens of soul spheres more than a person in height smashed into the groups of blood beasts upon the ground.
After successive silent explosions, the unfortunate blood beasts’ bodies were directly annihilated into ash, leaving only round blood cores rolling upon the ground.