Spirit Realm Chapter 452-458

Chapter 452: Controlling the Crux!

The voodoo insect successfully escaped from his hand at the cost of eight wings that had been left behind.

There was clearly blood of the voodoo insect on the eight wings. The fresh blood was one of the antidotes to the voodoo toxin!

Qin Lie paused only for a second.

In the next moment, he reacted. He immediately took out a jade bottle from his spatial ring and carefully picked up a wing.

There were some drops of blood that had yet to dry on this wing. He carefully moved it to the mouth of the bottle and shook slowly to tip the drops of blood into the bottle.

One drop, two drops, three drops, four drops…

There were only four drops of blood on this wing, and also a portion of sticky dried blood that would not come off. Qin Lie didn’t know if it had any value so he did not touch it.

He picked up the second wing and continued to harvest the blood carefully. His expression was unusually serious.

He knew better than anyone else that each drop of blood represented a life, it meant that he could rescue one person who had been poisoned.

Because of the voodoo insect’s escape, the voodoo toxin that covered this area did not shift or thicken.

It was gradually dissipating.

“Qin Lie! How is it?”

“The voodoo toxin has not moved and there isn’t any sound from inside, what happened?”

“Qin Lie, are you still there?”

Many people on the outside saw the signs and started to ask. They wanted to know what had happened inside.

Focused on harvesting the voodoo insect’s blood, Qin Lie did not immediately respond. With a grave expression, he carefully and cautiously collected the drops of blood on the wings.

He gathered them into two jade bottles.

“Seventeen drops! There are seventeen drops in total!”

Moments later, he looked at the two jade bottles in his hands. The careful and nervous expression on his face eased slightly.

Seventeen drops of blood. Seven of those were prepared for his side, Song Tingyu, He Wei, and the three martial practitioners of Terminator Sect. All five were poisoned and needed the blood of the voodoo insect.

One of the extra drops was for Xie Jingxuan and the other was for Gao Yu.

Even though he heard He Wei say that Xie Jingxuan had not lasted and was going to find a quiet place to wait for death and also thought that Xie Jingxuan was most likely not alive… they hadn’t seen Xie Jingxuan’s corpse.

As long as there was a thread of hope, a drop of the voodoo insect’s blood could save her life.

As for Gao Yu, he didn’t know if Gao Yu was able to escape if so many people got afflicted with the voodoo toxin.

So, as an insurance, he left a drop for Gao Yu.

He put the other ten drops in a new jade bottle and prepared to have a good discussion with the people outside.

He sat down where he was with the eight wings of the Eight-winged Centipede Queen in front of him. The blood on these eight wings had turned sticky and congealed. He didn’t know if he could use this. He was waiting for the voodoo toxin to dissipate.

“I’m still here.” After planning in his mind, he shouted in response to the urgent calls of the martial practitioners outside.

“Friend, did you kill the voodoo insect?” a martial practitioner from Heavenly Artifact Sect inquired.

“Did you get the blood?” someone from Ten Thousand Beast Sect spoke.

“Qin Lie, are you alright?” That was Chu Li’s voice.

“Haha, you really are lucky, you survived even that!” Du Xiangyang laughed strangely.

There were great differences in the words said by different people in Qin Lie’s ears.

Chu Li was firstly concerned if he was alright, and did not mention the voodoo insect and the blood.

Du Xiangyan was alone and was not poisoned. He did not have much interest in the life and death of the voodoo insect and was purely bantering.

The people from Heavenly Artifact Sect and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain were clearly more concerned about the voodoo insect and its blood. They clearly wouldn’t be interested in him if he didn’t get the voodoo insect’s blood.

Through these simple questions, Qin Lie judged and had his own thoughts.

“The Eight-winged Centipede Queen sacrificed his eight wings and managed to escape from me. However, I did get some fresh blood. After the voodoo toxin dissipates, you guys can come in and we can chat,” Qin Lie responded calmly.

“Good! As long as you have got the blood!”

“Great!”

“Cousin can be saved!”

“Qianqian can be saved!”

Many people became excited.

Even Chu Li had an expression of joy. He clearly was relieved. He said, “Brother Lie! Great!”

Many people discussed heatedly around the dissipating voodoo toxin with joyful smiles on their faces.

Among these people, only Luo Chen had an awkward expression. He stood there silently and his gaze was also strange.

Of all the people present, only he had disagreements with Qin Lie.

Zhang Zhendong and Zhao Yuan had come with him at his invitation. He had promised the two that he would do his best to protect them.

Right now, the two were poisoned, and desperately needed the voodoo insect’s blood.

But the blood was under Qin Lie’s control.

Consequently, everyone would fawn over Qin Lie. Xue Moyan, the people of Heavenly Artifact Sect and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, Chu Li and Du Xianyan were all on Qin Lie’s side.

Even if he wasn’t wounded gravely now, even if he was at full power, he probably wouldn’t have a chance of stealing from Qin Lie under the eyes of these people.

Then what should he do now?

Luo Chen’s expression changed. He stood there along with a great conflict inside. His expression turned from twisted to depressed and was changing constantly.

Inside the area of dissipating voodoo toxin, Qin Lie sat with his legs in lotus position. He was adjusting himself and inspecting his wounds before the voodoo poison dissipated.

He found to his wonderment that his injuries were not as serious as he had imagined. The blood spirit energy in his body clearly was of great benefit to his injuries at his lungs and at the bottom of his foot.

At this time, he used his mind to feel and found that the holes in his chest and foot had already scabbed over. Also, his cells and fibres were coming back together!

The power of blood was quickly healing the wounds of his physical body. His freakish body possessed an extraordinarily strong healing power.

When the abilities gathered together, it caused his heavily injured body to heal at a fantastic speed.

His mood was stabilized and he relaxed after his inspection.

One hand was channeling blood spirit art, while the other was holding several pieces of spirit stones. As he recovered his spirit energy, he had the three drops of Fire Qilin blood absorb fire power.

In this manner, he waited for the voodoo poison to dissipate.

It took a full hour for the voodoo toxin to dissipate. In this hour, the people that had fled after being poisoned were summoned back by their friends and relatives using the tokens in their possession.

Pan Qianqian, Zhao Yuan, Zhang Chendong, and the other five martial practitioners from Heavenly Artifact Sect and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, eight in total, came back.

These people quickly familiarized themselves with the situation. They learned that Qin Lie had the antidote to release them from the corrosive pain of the voodoo toxin. This caused all eight of them to become excited.

“Sister Xue.” Pan Qianqian looked piteously at Xue Moyan.

Xue Moyan nodded. Her clear and beautiful face was serious. “Do not worry. No matter what, I will ask this person to give you a drop of blood!”

“Sister Xue, d-didn’t we offend him earlier? We misunderstood him and Chu Li, and chased him for such a long time. He probably won’t forgive us so easily…” a young female from Illusory Demon Sect said worriedly.

“Ah, that was our mistake, it’s bad.” Another young female sighed.

Pan Qianqian also panicked. “Then, then what do we do?”

“We will pay the price!” Xue Moyan gritted her teeth. “If he is willing to give a drop of blood, no matter what condition he raises, I will agree! At most, at most, we will all kneel down and beg him!”

“Sister Xue…” Pan Qianqian’s eyes turned wet.

“Brother Luo.” On the other side, Zhao Yuan and Zhang Chendong were dispirited. “Is it that guy that has the voodoo insect blood?” Zhao Yuan asked.

Luo Chen’s complexion was gray like a defeated roost. He lost his past pride and his head was lowered. He said, “Yes.”

Zhao Yuan and Zhang Chendong looked at each other and wanted to cry.

Luo Chen had targeted Qin Lie and they were his accomplices. Even at Scarlet Tide Continent, the roles they had played were not good.

But now Qin Lie had the antidote that could decide their life and death. What should they do now?

Chapter 453: Quarrel!

The voodoo toxin slowly dissipated.

The martial practitioners of various factions had waited for a long time. When the last wisps of the black mist dissipated, they rushed towards Qin Lie’s location.

“Are you really alright?” Chu Li came over and looked closely. He could not see any signs of serious injury on Qin Lie’s body and couldn’t help but ask for confirmation.

Qin Lie smiled as he shook his head. “I’m fine!”

“Good! Very good!” Chu Li grinned.

“Calamities last for a thousand years as expected.” Du Xiangyang tsked in wonder. “You are a calamity and didn’t die. Ye Yihao, that calamity, escaped. Even that voodoo insect escaped. It seems that being good does not pay off and evil people live longer.”

He was putting Qin Lie among the ranks of evil people.

“You got the blood from the Eight-winged Centipede Queen?” The eyes of a martial practitioner from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain were bright as his gaze was locked at the jade bottle in front of Qin Lie.

The half-filled bottle contained ten drops of blood.

Everyone’s gazes focused on that jade bottle. Their expressions changed slightly and their gazes were curious.

“Inside this bottle are ten drops in total.” Qin Lie reached out to grab the jade bottle.

“Only ten drops?” Chu Li’s mind was alarmed.

“Ten drops?” The martial practitioner from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain who had inquired first stilled. He turned back to look at the people behind him and suddenly said. “That’s enough, There are eight people in total that are poisoned. There are even two extra drops.”

“Until now, Qin Lie and I have been fighting for the death of the Eight-winged Centipede Queen and its blood. The two of us will require at least five drops!” Chu Li snorted coldly.

When these words were spoken, the group that had thought there was more than enough voodoo insect’s blood immediately became silent.

“Qin Lie himself is poisoned, and needs a drop. This way…” Du Xiangyang dragged out the world and said, “There is only four drops left for other people.”

Pan Qianqian, Zhao Yuan, Zhang Chendong and the other five that were poisoned had a desirous glint burning in their eyes.

They were staring unwaveringly at the jade bottle in Qin Lie’s hand.

Chu Li’s expression suddenly became serious. He shouted, “Qin Lie! Keep a firm grip on the jade bottle!”

“Heh!” Du Xiangyang started to laugh strangely.

Qin Lie gripped the jade bottle tightly in one hand and sat motionlessly on the ground. He glanced at everyone and used his gaze to indicate a wing of the Eight-winged Centipede Queen. He said, “There is some concealed blood on its wings. Can that blood be used as an antidote to the voodoo poison?”

“No.” Xue Moyan was the first to speak. “The congealed blood is not fresh enough and cannot attract the voodoo poison from the soul. Only liquid blood, even just one drop, can take out the voodoo toxin from inside a person’s soul. Once the blood is permeated with poison, it cannot be used twice…”

She furrowed her brow, sighed inside and said, “Ten drops of fresh voodoo insect blood can only heal ten, and not one more.”

Everyone became even more quiet.

At this time, their eyes burned with an ever greater desire as they looked at the jade bottle in Qin Lie’s hand.

The atmosphere became tense, almost hostile.

Especially the martial practitioners of Heavenly Artifact Sect and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain whose eyes betrayed their murderous intent. Even their bodies started to exude a cold presence.

There were only ten drops of fresh voodoo insect blood. Taking the six drops of Qin Lie and Chu Li’s side into consideration, there were only four drops to be divided.

But there were eight people here that were poisoned, how could this be divided?

Those that did not get one would slowly walk towards death. Their life and soul power would slip away. They would have to watch as their relatives and friends leave them.

Thoughts of stealing or attacking arose in their minds.

At this point, after a battle, Chu Li was injured and his spirit power was used up. Luo Chen was even worse off. Qin Lie was poisoned and his cultivation was low…

In their view, only Du Xiangyang and the people of Illusory Demon Sect were of any threat to them.

Du Xiangyang was not poisoned, but he was alone. They did not need to pay too much attention to him.

There was only one poisoned among Illusory Demon Sect. If they reached an agreement with them, and gave them one drop of blood, it would be enough to take care of the others.

Thinking this way, there were not many present that could threaten them.

They could take all the voodoo blood for themselves!

“Miss Xue, I am Niu Shaojun of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain. I have a suggestion, what do you think?” that martial practitioner from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain suddenly said.

He only looked at Xue Moyan.

“What suggestion?” Xue Moyan said neutrally.

“There are ten drops of Eight-winged Centipede Queen’s blood. Our Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect will take five drops.” Niu Shaojun smiled slightly and looked at the person beside him.

That person was called Situ Tong, a martial practitioner from Heavenly Artifact Sect. He smiled and nodded as well.

Niu Shaojun had an unspoken agreement with him already. Seeing the other nod, Niu Shaojun was even more confident. “Illusory Demon Sect can do as you please with the remaining five drops. We will not have any opinions. Miss Xue, what do you think?”

When the words were spoken, the battle that had just settled down seemed as though it would start again.

At this time Luo Chen was bandaging himself, swallowing pills and medicines to recover. Zhao Yuan and Zhang Chendong were standing to the left and right of him.

Luo Chen’s ashen and handsome face turned icy. His eyes were intimidatingly murderous. “Niu Shaojun! Situ Tong! You dare to dismiss me? Even if Feng Yiyou was here, he would not disregard me so, who do you think you are?”

“Young Master Luo Chen, if this was in the past, we naturally would not dare to disregard you. In fact, in the past, we would have avoided had we seen you.” Situ Tong chuckled and looked disdainfully at him. He said, “But the present is not the same as the past. You are heavily injured, and cannot reach even three-tenths of your usual power. Hah, we can actually ignore the present you!”

“The two next to you are not martial practitioners of Heavenly Sword Mountain and are infected by the voodoo toxin. They cannot help you.” Niu Shaojun looked mockingly at him and said, “Your current combat ability is not enough to make us nervous, so you do not qualify to receive the blood.”

The duo’s words were painfully direct and self-serving.

They were as ruthless as a blade and crushed the temporary alliance that everyone had formed to face Ye Yihao to pieces.

“Damn it! I’m a dying tiger that’s being bullied by a dog. I can humiliate little people like you usually. I would have never thought that I would be ignored now!” Chu Li smiled in anger.

“Hah, Boss Chu, don’t be angry. The words that we just said to Luo Chen are also suitable for you. We also … want to say it to you.” Situ Tong’s eyes were narrowed and he was not polite at all.

“Du Xiangyang, this has nothing to do with you. You can not interfere,” Niu Shaojun said with a frown.

He was still careful when facing Du Xiangyang. Du Xiangyang was only lightly injured and was still a strong fighter. If he really became enemies against them, he could cause significant trouble.

So he hoped that Du Xiangyang would stay out of this and not interfere. This way, their chance of success would be higher.

The two of them inquired about Xue Moyan’s opinion, humiliated Luo Chen, challenged Chu Li and urged Du Xiangyan. The only thing they did not do was ask Qin Lie’s opinion.

And Qin Lie was actually the person who had risked his life and did everything he could, even at the price of being poisoned, to get the ten drops of blood.

They chose to dismiss Qin Lie’s opinion!

Because Qin Lie wasn’t just poisoned, he was wounded. Also, in their view, he was weak in cultivation—unable to be of any threat to them.

“Miss Xue, please give an answer,” Situ Tong said.

All gazes gathered on Xue Moyan.

Even the young women of Illusory Demon Sect had nervous and anxious expressions. They also wanted to know what Xue Moyan’s stand on the matter was.

Her position would decide the direction of further developments.

There were six young women from Illusory Demon Sect. Other than Pan Qianqian, none of them were poisoned. Xue Moyan had not been wounded heavily in this battle and was still in her best condition.

It could be said the present Xue Moyan was the strongest person present.

Illusory Demon Sect was not a faction that Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect could face individually.

Even if the two factions teamed up, they would not have a hundred percent chance of achieving victory against the Illusory Demon Sect young females led by Xue Moyan.

Because of their great wariness, they expressed the appropriate respect all this time and inquired for Xue Moyan’s opinion.

“Give me one drop, I will take my sisters and immediately leave this place. I only want one drop!” Xue Moyan suddenly shouted at Qin Lie.

“No.” Qin Lie coldly responded.

Chapter 454: I Won’t Give!

Qin Lie’s refusal caused everyone to look in bewilderment.

Xue Moyan’s delicate face was filled with astonishment. She looked at him with question marks in her eyes.

She thought that her demand was not a high one.

Compared to Heavenly Artifact Sect and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, she was already very friendly. Her Illusory Demon Sect was so strong in combat. She was just asking for a drop of blood, was it still too much to ask for?

A drop of blood in exchange for the six of them from Illusory Demon Sect to leave. Having such a strong opponent leave, why did he not agree?

She could not understanding Qin Lie’s reasoning.

Chu Li, Luo Chen, Du Xiangyang and the others also could not understand and had astonishment written all over their faces.

Xue Moyan and Illusory Demon Sect were who they were all most wary of.

In their eyes, Heavenly Artifact Sect and Ten Thousand Beats Mountain were not as great a threat as Illusory Demon Sect.

“Qin Lie!” Chu Li shouted.

His expression was one of strong urging.

“One drop of blood to have one less opponent like Illusory Demon Sect, it is worth it.” Du Xiangyang rubbed his chin and said.

Niu Shaojun, Situ Tong, and the martial practitioners of Heavenly Artifact Sect and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, including those poisoned, also wore serious expressions.

They hadn’t expected that Xue Moyan of Illusory Demon Sect was not greedy for more of the voodoo insect blood and just wanted one drop.

This came as a surprise to them.

Yet even more unexpected was Qin Lie’s response; Qin Lie had directly refused such a beneficial transaction!

It puzzled them, and also had them sighing in relief.

If Qin Lie agreed, Xue Moyan would get the drop of voodoo insect blood and leave with the young females of Illusory Demon Sect. With the people they had, they should be able to kill Luo Chen, Chu Li, Du Xianyang, Qin Lie and the others, but it would not be easy.

They would definitely have to pay a price!

—That was not an outcome they wanted to see.

The best outcome was that they would ally with the strongest group, Illusory Demon Sect, and divide the ten drops of blood. They would have the absolute advantage and achieve their goal without any cost; that was what they wanted!

“I will ask one more time! The last time!” Xue Moyan’s expression turned icy. Her clear eyes showed a hint of undisguised anger. “Just one drop of voodoo insect blood, and all of Illusory Demon Sect will leave. Will you give it or not?”

“Qin Lie!” Chu Li shouted.

“Kid, be a bit tactful, will ya?” Du Xiangyang put away his playful attitude and called out with a stern face.

Qin Lie suddenly became silent.

He had put away the other jade bottle and said there were only ten drops of blood. This was to cause the illusion that the resource was rare. He was going to use this to bargain with the others, to force Luo Chen to put down his pride, kneel and beg him. It was to get enough spirit materials and benefits from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect.

Of course, because of Xue Li’s connection, he had planned from the start to give a free drop to Xue Moyan.

But he would not be so polite to other people, and had the plan to take them for all they were worth.

These ten drops of voodoo insect blood had been obtained by him and Chu Li risking their lives.

There was no reason to give them to others for free!

He hadn’t expected that when he said there were only ten drops, Niu Shaojun and Situ Tong’s expressions would change and so did their auras.

In that moment, he realized that the two had intention of killing him.

After that, the words the two had said angered him!

Originally, he had planned on scalping Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Mountain for spirit materials, force Luo Chen to kneel down and apologize before giving the ten drops of blood.

Now he did not plan on doing that.

He was very angered by the attitude of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heaven Artifact Sect. It ignited the mad fire inside of him.

“I will not!” Qin Lie refused Xue Moyan again.

Just like before.

“Alright.” Xue Moyan took a deep breath and nodded slightly. She said, “Our Illusory Demon Sect, Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, and Heavenly Artifact Sect has reached an agreement.”

“Good!”

Niu Shaoyun and Situ Tong laughed at the same time. The martial practitioners of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect also had excited expressions.

These people took out spirit artifacts, their bodies rippling with spirit energy that unconsciously spread. They were about to surround Qin Lie and the others.

“Du Xiangyang! What do you say?” Situ Tong shouted coldly.

Du Xiangyang grimaced. He first looked at Luo Chen and then at Qin Lie. He felt extremely vexed and cursed, “Are you f*cking insane?”

“Aren’t I poisoned?” Qin Lie pretended to be dumb.

“Prepare to fight. I hope that you don’t die too quickly and embarrass Heavenly Sword Mountain!” Du Xiangyang cursed but he still took out his sword.

He would still fight for the glory of Heavenly Sword Mountain!

Now Qin Lie understood everyone’s attitudes.

“Whoosh!”

A flame shaped like a Fire Qilin suddenly appeared above the hand that was holding the jade bottle. His fingers that were holding the bottle loosened.

The jade bottle holding the ten drops of voodoo insect blood was exposed like this under the Fire Qilin shaped flame. If the flame came down, the ten drops of blood inside the jade bottle would immediately evaporate.

“Xue Moyan, you and your sisters from Illusory Demon Sect will help us kill the martial practitioners from Heavenly Artifact Sect and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain.” Qin Lie’s voice was unusually calm. “Otherwise, I will immediately boil the voodoo insect blood in this jade bottle.”

Xue Moyan was stunned.

The young females of Illusory Demon Sect also stilled. They bit their lips and looked in surprise at the jade bottle.

The martial practitioners of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect also had expressions of alarm. They were intimidated by this sudden change.

“Qin Lie! Don’t mess around, Song Tingyu and He Wei are both poisoned!” Chu Li shouted.

“Are you crazy?” Du Xiangyang shouted.

“I don’t believe that you will burn all of the voodoo insect blood.” Three seconds later, Xue Moyan recovered her calm. “For that woman, you charged into the area covered in voodoo toxin without a care. You wanted to kill the voodoo insect at the cost of being poisoned yourself to get the blood antidote. If you burn this bottle of blood, she will also die. I don’t believe you can bear to abandon her.”

“Hm! I also don’t believe the boy will dare to do that!” Niu Shaojun snorted and said.

“He’s just pretending!” Situ Tong’s expression was impatient. “He isn’t even afraid of death for that woman. Would he waste the woman’s last hope for life? He definitely doesn’t dare!”

Everyone thought that Qin Lie was just threatening them.

“Oh? You really think that I don’t dare?” Qin Lie looked around and his gaze swept across the expressions of the people. Then, he screwed open the cap and poured out a drop of blood.

“Poof!”

The drop of voodoo insect blood flew into the Fire Qilin fire with a flick of his finger and evaporated immediately.

“That was the first drop, next will be the second!”

Before everyone could react, Qin Lie poured out another drop to burn it. Then he said coolly, “If Illusory Demon Sect does not act, then I will continue to burn them until you start to attack.”

As he said this, he went to pour out the third drop.

Xue Moyan finally crumbled and screamed, “Kill the people of Ten Thousand Demon Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect!”

The mental defenses of the Illusory Demon Sect females had been destroyed by Qin Lie burning the two drops of blood.

They screamed and shouted. All of them moved their spirit artifacts. They vented their displeasure, depression, discontent, and anger onto the people from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect!”

“Luo Chen, if you can kill two people from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect, I will give you two drops of blood for Zhao Yuan and Zhang Chendong!” Qin Lie shouted.

Luo Chen met his gaze again.

From Qin Lie’s eyes, he saw true viciousness and savagery. For the first time, he felt that this little martial practitioner from Scarlet Tide Continent had traits that made people fear and respect him.

“Alright!” Luo Chen agreed.

“Du Xiangyang!” Qin Lie smiled viciously. “You kill as well! For everyone person you kill, I will give you ten pieces of Heavenly Flame Crystals!”

As he spoke, the spatial ring on his hand lit up. Piece after piece of Heavenly Flame Crystal appeared in front of him.

When Du Xiangyang saw the enormous number of Heavenly Flame Crystals, he put them away again.

“Alright!” Du Xiangyang’s eyes were already burning as he started to howl with laugher.

“Big Brother Chu, you can tolerate those people who were humiliating you just now?” Qin Lie grinned and stood up first. He raised the Astral Thunder Hammer and said with a snarl, “If it was me, I definitely would not stand for it!”

“I won’t tolerate it!” Chu Li immediately howled.

Chapter 455: Curing the Voodoo Toxin!

“Then let’s kill them all!”

Qin Lie stomped heavily on the ground as an immense power of the earth immediately penetrated deep beneath the ground, causing its internal gravity to change abruptly.

Situ Tong and Niu Shaojun’s group immediately paled when they saw the tide turning against them instantly.

Just when they were ready to do something and turn things around, Xue Moyan’s clear eyes abruptly shone with sharp killing intent. She actually became the first person to charge towards the front.

“Thousand Threaded Illusory Demon Hands!”

Many thin, long arms stretched out of the Illusory Demon Orb. These arms were snow white, translucent and shiny. Thousands of threads flew out tip of every finger.

In a moment, a sky full of arm shadows and silver threads enveloped every Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect martial practitioner inside it like a cloth cover.

The bright silver threads were entangled with white mists. It created a dream-like realm that could confound one’s mind, causing a martial practitioner great difficulty when attempting to arouse their fighting will.

Fear glinted through Situ Tong, Niu Shaojun and the others’ eyes. They were very worried on the inside as well.

It was at this moment gravity abruptly changed and dropped a terrific burden on them. They felt as if they were carrying a heavy mountain on their backs, and they found it difficult to even move as they wished.

These people grew more and more afraid.

“Half Moon Slash!”

The sword beam brimming inside Luo Chen’s sword transformed into a half moon’s shape before it landed right on top of the enemy like a cold crescent moon.

“For the Heavenly Flame Crystals!”

Du Xiangyang grinned and laughed loudly before he switched his sword art and conjured three gigantic fire pythons into existence, directing them with a roar right towards Situ Tong’s direction.

“Starfall!” Chu Li laughed sinisterly.

As if summoned into reality, the brilliant stars and light dots on his clothes fell from the sky with terrific impact after being mingled with Chu Li’s spirit energy.

After Qin Lie had changed gravity with a single stomp, he too raised his Thunder Hammer and joined the battle while his body was entangled with thunder and lightning, laughing harshly in the process.

Three Fire Qilin flames also roared and locked onto three different targets.

He did not feel the slightest bit of good will towards either Situ Tong or Niu Shaojun. Both of these people were complete snobs who immediately attempted to join forces with Illusory Demon Sect to kill them and snatch the voodoo insect’s blood after they realized that his cultivation was weak, and Chu Li and Luo Chen both were severely injured.

These people absolutely deserved to die for their sins!

“Boom! Boom boom boom!”

When the combined strength of the group, when the violent and forceful spirit arts and spirit artifacts were tossed towards the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect martial practitioners, they had collapsed under the pressure instantly.

“Run!”

“Retreat!”

“Let’s escape this place first! We’ll find a chance to take revenge later!”

The martial practitioners of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect all cried out in shock and reminder as they executed all sorts of extraordinary escape techniques to outrun the devastating power that was about to fall on them.

Some of them had transformed into rainbow lights and vanished from view in a single breath. Some of them dove head first into the ground and hid underground. There were also some people who suddenly turned invisible and were gone like they never existed…

However, not everyone was lucky enough to escape.

When the group’s combined attack had fallen, those who were unable to escape in time or lacked the necessary escape spirit arts to escape in the first place were immediately flooded.

Amidst the gigantic sounds of explosion and brilliant shockwaves, the sounds of breaking ribs, bursting chests and roars of pain instantly erupted all at once.

Three people had died instantly from the attack.

Another two people had their bodies penetrated and wrapped completely by the silver threads conjured by Xue Moyan’s Thousand Threads Illusory Demon Hands.

Although the duo had not died instantly, they were trapped and were unable to escape. When Luo Chen came close, he swiped his sword across their necks and killed them both amidst blossoms of blood as well.

“Burn!”

Another person was caught by Du Xiangyang’s orange flames and was now burning intensely.

Both Qin Lie and Chu Li had charged to the front with angry yells, but they found that their targets had escaped through the use of some escape techniques.

“Heh, thank goodness the Illusory Demon Sect martial practitioners decided to help you. Otherwise, it would not have been this easy.” Du Xiangyang arrived behind Qin Lie and grinned with an open mouth, saying, “If they had joined hands with Illusory Demon Sect then we would have been the unlucky ones instead. Their downfall may have very well been our downfall…”

“Both Niu Shaojun and Situ Tong managed to escape. They are not actually weak, you know. They are both at the peak of Netherpassage Realm.” Chu Li frowned.

“I would not have given small fries like them a second glance if this was any other day!” Luo Chen exclaimed with a cold expression, “Once my strength has recovered, I will kill those two bastards with my own hands!”

“Small fries, tsk tsk, everyone is a small fry in your eyes.” Du Xiangyang ridiculed him.

Luo Chen frowned, but surprisingly, he did not retort Du Xiangyang’s words.

This was not how he used to be.

Even Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong were looking at him with a strange look in their eyes.

They knew very well how prideful a person Luo Chen was.

“You’ve only killed one person.” Qin Lie waved the jade bottle in front of Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong’s faces, “So, you can only get one drop of blood. Only one of them may continue to live…”

Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong’s expression changed at the same time.

“Give me two blood droplets. On my name, I swear that I’ll never cause you trouble again from here on out!” Luo Chen exclaimed softly.

“Hahahaha!” Suddenly, Qin Lie was amused.

He laughed so hard that he was rocking back and forth and tearing up.

He pointed at Luo Chen and said, “Since Sea Moon Island, you, Luo Chen, are the one who has been causing me trouble. Consider me curious; Just when the hell have I offended you? After the matter at Sea Moon Island, it was also you who had proclaimed that you would kill me inside the examination. Earlier just now, when you and I both encountered each other, it was again you who had attacked me first. Hah. From the beginning to the end, it was you, Luo Chen, who provoked me again and again!”

The smile on Qin Lie’s face faded bit by bit. When he was finished speaking, his expression was already ice cold.

“And now, you’re telling me that you will not cause me trouble any longer if I give you an extra drop of blood?” Qin Lie’s face was completely void of any temperature, “Have you ever considered that I would turn around and give you trouble instead? Have you ever thought how I plan to deal with you?”

Luo Chen’s eyes darkened.

“You’re at the end of your strength, man, what the hell are you acting so arrogant for?” Chu Li scolded without any politeness in his tone at all, “If Qin Lie, Du Xiangyang, and I were to join forces to kill you, it would not actually be too difficult at all!”

“Oh no, please count me out of this!” Du Xiangyang waved his hands repeatedly, “This is the internal strife within Heavenly Sword Mountain. At best, I would stand by and watch, but I would not interfere with either side.”

“Kneel on one knee and beg me to give you this blood droplet.” Qin Lie said coldly while gripping the jade bottle, “Originally, you’d have to kneel on both knees to get two droplets of blood, but since you did kill one person, I will only ask you to kneel on one!”

“You dare!” Luo Chen’s eyes shone with a powerful sense of humiliation.

“It’s up to you whether you want to kneel or not.” Qin Lie shrugged his shoulders, “I guess it’s understandable. Both Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong are not your brothers. You, Luo Chen, may not necessarily be willing to put down your pride just for their lives I guess.”

Both Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong suddenly bowed their heads and did not look at Luo Chen in a quiet sign of defiance.

“Make your choice.”

Qin Lie no longer bothered with them and beckoned Illusory Demon Sect’s Xue Moyan.

Xue Moyan and a hungry-looking Pan Qianqian walked over and looked at the jade bottle in his hands.

“Get a bottle. I’ll pour you a drop of blood right now.” Qin Lie said.

Pan Qianqian hurried passed over a jade bottle with hope in her eyes. Even her hands were trembling a little.

With every moment and every passing second, her life and soul were fading away bit by bit.

She could sense this clearly.

This pain and fear couldn’t be described with words.

Even in her dreams, she wanted to obtain a drop of voodoo insect blood.

“Here!” Now, Qin Lie was giving her the blood she desired in order to help her escape this agony.

Pan Qianqian accepted the jade bottle and immediately sat down on the ground. She carefully dropped the voodoo insect blood onto her forehead.

The crowd’s attention was instantly focused onto Pan Qianqian. They were all looking at the voodoo insect blood on top of her forehead.

Everyone at this place had more or less heard about the voodoo toxin’s secrets. They all knew that they must acquire a drop of blood from the mother insect or kill the mother insect directly to cure the Black Voodoo Cult’s voodoo toxin.

Everyone knew that the mother insect’s blood could be used to cure the voodoo toxin. But no one had actually seen it in effect before.

They all wanted to confirm this through Pan Qianqian right now.

Qin Lie’s eyes lit up. He was also staring at Pan Qianqian’s forehead closely.

The blood from the Eight-winged Centipede Queen was like a cinnabar mole on Pan Qianqian’s forehead. Its color was so vivid that it was a little eerie.

Pan Qianqian’s eyes were currently entangled with many black threads. Then, the black threads actually seeped out of her eyes as if they sensed something at once and slipped into that blood droplet one after another.

Everyone could see that the gray color and paleness of Pan Qianqian’s face was fading bit by bit.

What replaced the darkness was a luster that was gone a very long time ago and an encouraging mind fluctuation.

Pan Qianqian was recovering swiftly!

“It’s working!”

That was the thought in everyone’s hearts right now.

About ten minutes later, the blood on Pan Qianqian’s forehead turned into a black lump that fell on the ground.

Pan Qianqian’s gray dark eyes had regained its light.

“All of the voodoo poison had been absorbed by that blood. I’m fine now!” Pan Qianqian exclaimed in joy like a bird.

“Burn that congealed blood now!” Xue Moyan instructed.

“Yeah, got it.” An Illusory Demon Sect girl who was well versed with fire spirit arts summoned a clump of light blue flames and burned the black blood lump completely.

“Sister Xue, I’m fine now. I’m completely healed.” Pan Qianqian said cheerfully.

Xue Moyan’s eyes also gleamed with joy as she nodded lightly and said towards Qin Lie, “I’ve misunderstood you and Chu Li last time.”

“It’s nothing.” Qin Lie waved his hands and pondered for a moment before saying, “In reality, I have planned to gift you a drop of voodoo insect blood from the beginning. I’ve never actually thought to coerce you, Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, and Heavenly Artifact Sect with the voodoo insect blood. I hadn’t expected them to be this vicious either…”

“As long as Qianqian is healed, all is well.” Xue Moyan was indifferent now that it was over and said, “Let’s just leave it at this. Since we, Illusory Demon Sect, are fine now, we will be departing here.”

“I think that it is best if we stick together.” Du Xiangyang suddenly said.

The girls in Illusory Demon Sect all looked at him in surprise. They did not understand why he had suddenly said this.

“Ye Yihao isn’t dead. The Eight-winged Centipede Queen is still alive. The core members of the three great families are safe and sound as well.”

Du Xiangyang sighed, “In this forest, Ye Yihao has the land advantage. When he recovers and reconvenes with them, we will probably be in a disadvantage once more. Alone, none of us may stand a good chance against him. For example, both Luo Chen and Chu Li were almost killed by him this time. If it wasn’t for Qin Lie destroying Ye Yihao’s control over the infected with his flames, everyone here would have been killed by him already!”

Once he said this, the crowd suddenly turned silent once more.

The Illusory Demon Sect girls were no longer in a hurry to leave. They were obviously deeply wary of Ye Yihao and his people.

……

Chapter 456: Luo Chen Kneels!

“Sister Xue?”

Pan Qianqian stared at Xue Moyan while her face was riddled with worry and seriousness.

Huang Zhuli and the few other Illusory Demon Sect girls looked worried and solemn as well.

They were all scared of running into Ye Yihao and the three great families’ martial practitioners in this lush forest. It was obvious that Ye Yihao and Ling Dongxing’s group had formed an alliance. In this case, it wasn’t really smart to go against them with Illusory Demon Sect’s power alone.

They also thought that it was for the best if they do not leave for now.

After thinking for a moment, Xue Moyan nodded slightly under the girls’ expectant gazes, saying, “We shall stay with them for the moment.”

The five girls all let out secret sighs of relief.

Chu Li rubbed his chin while staring back and forth between Xue Moyan and Qin Lie with an odd gaze. He was obviously delighting over the misfortune he foresaw would fall onto Qin Lie.

“That is hell in front of you, kid…” Chu Li thought on the inside.

He thought that Xue Moyan was Qin Lie’s fiancée, but Qin Lie had gone through heaven and hell to save Song Tingyu. The second Xue Moyan realized Qin Lie’s identity, would she fly into humiliated rage? How would she treat Qin Lie?

Chu Li was starting to feel a headache for Qin Lie.

“Over there!”

The battle’s over there!”

It was at this moment He Wei’s voice came from afar.

Chu Li suddenly turned spirited at the voice as he yelled, “We’re over here!”

The crowd turned towards the direction of the voice.

Before long, He Wei, Song Tingyu, Ren Peng and the others had appeared one after another.

“Chu Li, are you fine?” He Wei cried.

“Qin Lie, how are you doing?” Song Tingyu exclaimed.

The gazes of the Illusory Demon Sect’s girls suddenly shot towards Song Tingyu all at once. Their eyes were filled with curiosity.

They knew very well just how heavy the price Qin Lie had paid in order to save this woman, to the point where he nearly lost his life in the process. They wanted to know what kind of woman she was to be able to make Qin Lie willing to sacrifice his own life.

The second the glanced at Song Tingyu, they immediately understood why. They all exclaimed inside their hearts, “What a beautiful woman!”

Although she was infected with the voodoo toxin and looked both haggard and spiritless, Song Tingyu’s perfect proportions and extraordinarily beautiful face were undeniable.

No one could deny that she was a beauty who could capture every man’s heart if they took even a single glance at her.

“Qin Lie has acquired the voodoo insect’s blood!” Chu Li exclaimed.

He Wei, Song Tingyu and the other infected people looked like they had lit up and become several times spirited the moment they heard the news.

“Here, five voodoo insect blood droplets. You will take one drop each and put it at your forehead. The blood will automatically suck out the toxin…”

Qin Lie smiled and took out another jade bottle. He poured five blood droplets into that jade bottle and passed it swiftly to Chu Li so he could help cure his friends’ ailment.

Chu Li accepted the jade bottle and glanced once at the final two droplets of blood. Suddenly, he let out an odd chuckle.

On the other side, Luo Chen, who had been quiet all this time suddenly looked towards this side.

He stared straight at Qin Lie’s hands.

There were a total of ten blood droplets inside the jade bottle. In order to coerce Xue Moyan to go up against Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect, he had burned away two blood droplets and passed one to Pan Qianqian later on.

Now, he had taken out another five blood droplets to cure He Wei, Song Tingyu and the others.

Now, he only had two blood droplets left in the jade bottle in his hands.

He had promised one blood droplet to Luo Chen as a reward for him killing a Ten Thousand Beast Mountain martial practitioner.

The other blood droplet would only be given if Luo Chen knelt to Qin Lie on one feet.

However, Qin Lie himself had been poisoned by the voodoo toxin. Didn’t he need a voodoo insect blood to cure himself as well?

There were plenty of people who came to realization…

“This guy is so bad. He’s obviously just playing Luo Chen. There’s no way he’s not using a blood on himself.” An Illusory Demon Sect girl muttered and rolled her eyes at Qin Lie from afar.

The rest of the girls also thought that Qin Lie was purposely toying with Luo Chen.

Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong also thought that they figured out what was going on as their expressions abruptly turned dark.

They thought that even if Luo Chen was willing to kneel and beg the voodoo insect blood for their sake, Qin Lie would never pass the two blood droplets to Luo Chen.

This meant that one of them was going to waste away slowly due to the voodoo toxin.

No one here realized that Qin Lie still had another jade bottle containing seven unused voodoo insect blood.

“Qin Lie! Are you toying with me?” Luo Chen suddenly yelled.

Qin Lie went blank for a moment before he suddenly coming to realization when he stared at the two remaining voodoo insect blood droplets in his hand. After a frown, he shook his head and laughed coldly, “I am not toying you. As long as you’re willing to kneel on one knee, as long as you’re willing to beg me, then I will pass the remaining blood to you. I only have one question. Will you do it, or not?”

“You obviously only have two blood droplets left, and you are infected by the voodoo poison as well!” Luo Chen roared angrily.

“You don’t need to worry about me.” Qin Lie chuckled oddly, “I am simply asking if you’re willing to kneel to me for their life? Are you willing to put down your so-called pride?”

“Give me the two blood droplets first! Then, I’ll kneel!” Luo Chen sucked in a deep breath and exclaimed in a cold tone.

“No problem!”

To their surprise, Qin Lie agreed to Luo Chen’s proposal and raised his hand amidst the people’s shocked gaze, saying, “You shall all be my witnesses!”

Illusory Demon Sect’s Xue Moyan, the five girls, Du Xiangyang, Chu Li, and the late coming He Wei and Song Tingyu’s group all froze at once.

Their gazes were instantly focused onto Qin Lie, and the jade bottle he was lifting in the air. They saw the two blood droplets inside the jade bottle.

“I will pass this to you first.”

Under their gaze, Qin Lie actually walked closer to Luo Chen and pass the jade bottle to Luo Chen.

Once he was done, he even said, “You can pass this to Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong first and cure them to test if this voodoo insect blood is real or not.”

Everyone froze.

Luo Chen’s gaze was indescribably odd as he held the jade bottle in his hands and froze on the spot, at a loss as to what he should do.

“Brother Luo, Brother Luo!”

Luo Chen was awakened from his daze by Zhao Xuan’s soft cries, and after he came to, he subconsciously passed the jade bottle in his hands to Zhao Xuan and said, “Test and see if this is the real thing.”

Both Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong had never let their eyes move away from the jade bottle in Qin Lie’s hands. They dared say that Qin Lie absolutely did not switch it with something else, and these two blood droplets were definitely the cure to the voodoo toxin.

Both of them were incredibly excited.

Carefully, they put the two voodoo insect blood drops onto their foreheads.

Following He Wei and Song Tingyu’s posture, they sat down on the ground and used their True Souls to sense the activity inside their own bodies.

The group could clearly sense the voodoo toxin toxin exiting from their pupils like strings and flowing into the blood at their foreheads.

The effects were exactly the same as what was going on with He Wei and Song Tingyu right now.

This proved that the blood droplets were real.

Qin Lie had honored his promise beforehand and gifted them both drops.

The group subconsciously looked towards Luo Chen. They all wanted to know the decision this core ringer of Heavenly Sword Mountain, the heaven blessed son, the genius of the sword way would make.

Would he kneel?

No one could figure out the answer immediately.

They could all see the struggle, the difficulty, and the embarrassment in his eyes…

Song Tingyu’s gray eyes slowly brightened as she cured the poison inside her body. An odd light rippled through her eyes as her heart was filled with extraordinary feelings.

Not long ago, back at Sea Moon Island, Luo Chen was given great regards by Blue Star Association’s president and served greatly as the core ringer of Heavenly Sword Mountain.

Meanwhile, they were discovered by them just before they were about to leave Sea Moon Island and forced to surrender the blank tombstone.

For their sake, for Tang Siqi, Lian Rou, Yi Yan, Mo Hai and everyone else, Qin Lie had chosen to endure the humiliation and submit the blank tombstone obediently.

A long time had passed since then, and Qin Lie never brought that matter up again. He was also silent for quite a while.

Song Tingyu knew very well that that incident was a huge humiliation for Qin Lie.

She thought that it would take Qin Lie another ten years or so to experience a giant leap in his realm and status before he could reclaim his pride.

He would never imagine that Qin Lie was going to clean up his shame in the Trial in just a few months time.

The humiliation to Luo Chen by asking him to kneel on one knee was probably no lesser than the humiliation he subjected on Qin Lie.

“This person will probably go back on his promise, won’t he? He is the sword genius of Heavenly Sword Mountain, and the strongest of his generation. Can he really put down his pride?” Song Tingyu shook her head slightly.

Chu Li was smiling coldly, and Du Xiangyang’s expression was cheerful. Meanwhile, Xue Moyan and the other Illusory Demon Sect girls wore odd gazes.

They were all waiting for Luo Chen’s decision, but deep inside their hearts, they did not believe that Luo Chen would kneel to Qin Lie.

After all, once today’s matter was spread out, Luo Chen would never be able to lift his head in front of Qin Lie again.

How could Luo Chen possibly duo such a thing?

However, what happened in the next moment shocked everyone in the area.

“Thump!”

Luo Chen bowed his head and knelt on one knee heavily in front of Qin Lie.

“It was I, Luo Chen, who had acted rudely. I apologize!” He gritted his teeth and exclaimed word by word.

No one saw that Luo Chen had bitten his lips so hard that they were bleeding. No one knew how terrible it was for Luo Chen to kneel either.

He was the only one who understood it.

By kneeling to Qin Lie, it meant that Qin Lie had completely torn his pride to shreds!

From here on out, he, Luo Chen would not hold the slightest bit of pride when he was before Qin Lie.

As long as Qin Lie was alive in the future, he would be a soundless badge of humiliation for Luo Chen!

“Ah!”

Pan Qianqian covered her mouth and lost control of her voice. Her face was filled with astonishment.

The Illusory Demon Sect girls had also cried out in surprise.

Chu Li, Du Xiangyang, He Wei and even Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong had frozen suddenly with shock written on their faces.

Everyone knew about Luo Chen’s pridefulness, and that he was a miracle in swords since the moment he was born. They knew that he was raised as the future leader of Heavenly Sword Mountain.

He had never let down anyone’s expectations before!

He Wei and Du Xiangyang were both talented people and sword geniuses in Heavenly Sword Mountain among the same age group. However, they were both suppressed by Luo Chen from the beginning to the end!

When Heavenly Sword Mountain was brought up, among the young generation, Luo Chen had always been the brightest and most powerful person of them all.

No one could deny this point!

However, today, this proud and bright figure had actually put down his pride in front of a nameless small fry.

Luo Chen had actually knelt down to his knee!

Chapter 457: New Lease on Life

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Even Qin Lie was caught a little off guard. He also did not expect that Luo Chen would actually kneel before him.

“Then this is the end of this matter!” Qin Lie exclaimed in a low tone.

“I hope to see you alive next time!”

After throwing down this line, Luo Chen abruptly went zipped far away like a sword beam.

He did not allow anyone to see his facial expression.

Both Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong froze and wanted to leave immediately as well. However, the voodoo toxin on their bodies was not completely cured yet.

Therefore, they did not depart immediately.

“He wants to see me alive next time…”

Qin Lie shook his head while rubbing his chin with an odd expression.

“Hehe.” Chu Lie also smiled.

He knew that Qin Lie could live even without the voodoo insect blood despite being poisoned.

He Wei, Song Tingyu, and the others also wore relaxed expression on their faces.

Du Xiangyang and the confused Illusory Demon Sect girls were the ones who were still in shocked and doubtful.

“Actually, I still have seven voodoo insect blood drops with me.”

Qin Lie grinned at Du Xiangyang, Xue Moyan and the others with a great deal of satisfaction. He seized the moment to take out the other bottle containing the other voodoo insect blood.

“At first, I merely wanted to coerce Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect to give us some valuables, but I didn’t think that they would harbor malice in their hearts and attempt to rob us when they see that we’re weak.” Qin Lie explained.

When the Illusory Demon Sect girls saw that he still had a bottle of voodoo insect blood with him, they were all unsure whether to laugh or cry at the outcome.

“You are such a bad person!” Pan Qianqian curled her lips and rolled her eyes at him, “You brought this upon yourself. If you haven’t thought to extort them a ridiculous sum of valuables, would they have been driven into desperation?”

“Why should I give someone else for free something I literally fought with my own life to obtain?” Qin Lie snorted coldly, “If those people from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect wanted to get the voodoo insect blood, why haven’t they charged into the voodoo toxin area themselves?”

Pan Qianqian was instantly at a loss for words.

“I simply wanted them to pay a price, that’s all. But who would think that not only did they try to get away for free, they even tried to join hands with your Illusory Demon Sect to kill me and forcefully snatch away my voodoo insect blood!”

“That is true.” Pan Qianqian nodded.

“Qianqian, let us find a place to recover our spirit energy.” Xue Moyan beckoned her.

The Illusory Demon Sect girls chose a spot with tree leaves not far away from Qin Lie’s group and sat down.

They took out their spirit stones to recover their spirit energy and maintain peak condition.

“Here, the Heavenly Flame Crystals I promised you.” Qin Lie raised his hands.

Ten fiery red crystals flew out of his hands like beautiful meteors towards Du Xiangyang.

Du Xiangyang was overjoyed. While laughing loudly, he stretched his hands to withdraw the ten Heavenly Flame Crystals and said, “Qin Lie, oh, Qin Lie, you sure are an interesting fellow.”

“Du Xiangyang, you know this guy?” He Wei said doubtfully.

“Of course, of course!” Du Xiangyang said with a cheerful expression, “When I first met this guy I almost tried to kill him, but I was the one who got played instead. After that, every time I encounter this malefic lunatic I would avoid him. Haha, thank goodness that he and I are not enemies now though.”

The enmity was finally in the past after recent developments.

“I still owe you a favor.” Qin Lie pondered and said suddenly while rubbing his spatial ring, “If possible, I would like to return this favor through the Heavenly Flame Crystals. Give me your price.”

When he was attacked by Su Yan and the others, Du Xiangyang was the one who jumped out and defended him for a moment so he could recover smoothly.

He had acknowledged Du Xiangyang from the bottom of his heart, and realized that this guy was actually not a bad person.

“Oh no, let’s have you owe me for now.” Du Xiangyang waved his hands hastily, “There may be a time when I, Du Xiangyang, would have need of you in the future. Let’s have you owe me for now so you can repay me in the future.”

“Sure.” Qin Lie smiled.

“Everyone, go get some good rest. As long as Ye Yihao isn’t dead, we haven’t truly escaped danger yet.” Chu Li said solemnly.

He was the first to sit down and swallowed a couple of Terminator Sect’s pills in a gulp. He suddenly looked towards Qin Lie and asked, “Do you need some pills to recover your spirit energy faster?”

“It’s fine, the spirit stones are sufficient.” Qin Lie turned him down with a smile.

Chu Li did not force the issue either. The pills he took were refined for him specifically by the Terminator Sect. they might not necessarily have been one hundred percent compatible with Qin Lie.

While conversing, the crowd sat down one by one on this former battlefield and began recovering their strength through the spirit stones.

Before long, Zhao Xuan and Zhang Chendong had finished curing the voodoo poison in their True Souls with the help of the two drops of voodoo insect blood.

Without a word, the duo simultaneously stood up and took out their Heavenly Sword Mountain sword tokens. After confirming Luo Chen’s direction, they rushed over to him.

After they left, the Illusory Demon Sect girls were the only ones left nearby who were recovering their combat strength.

“Prak prak prak!”

Lightning shot out of Qin Lie’s body and entered his brain instantly.

Once again, he shattered his True Soul with thunder and lightning!

The shattering of his True Soul caused his soul threads, imprints and thought origin to become scattered once more.

Two Fire Qilin blood essences seized the moment to enter his mind. The second they went in, the voodoo poison immediately noticed something amiss and was about to exit his body through his pupils.

However, there was another Fire Qilin blood essence that was suspended in front of his eyes and waiting for these voodoo toxin to come out.

“Swoosh!”

This ball of burning Fire Qilin blood instantly wrapped around the voodoo toxin and refined them with crackling sounds.

The voodoo poison was refined completely.

The voodoo toxin discharged by the Eight-winged Centipede Queen was destroyed by him just like that without leaving behind even a bit of residue.

On a floor of scattered leaves, Xue Moyan had opened her eyes while surrounded by the Illusory Demon Sect girls without anyone noticing and stared curiously at Qin Lie.

After Qin Lie had refined the voodoo toxin and opened his eyes, he noticed her gaze and subconsciously gave her a bright smile.

Xue Moyan nodded slightly as a hint of understanding appeared within her clear eyes. She seemed to realize that Qin Lie had unwittingly cured the voodoo poison just now.

Qin Lie smiled again and did not explain anything. He simply returned a nod of respect.

Xue Moyan no longer paid attention to him and bowed her head, concentrating on absorbing the spirit energy inside the spirit stones.

Qin Lie had become quiet as well.

The group of people gripped their own spirit stones and absorbed the spirit energy inside them to replenish their own powers.

The stronger one’s realm, and the worse their injuries, the harder and slower it was to recover.

For example, Chu Li and Xue Moyan’s process of recovery was much slower and difficult compared to the others.

This was especially true for Chu Li.

Not only did he exhaust most of his strength, his injuries were not light as well. It was nearly impossible for him to become fully revitalised in a short period of time.

If Ye Yihao led the three families’ martial practitioners and returned during this period, then it would be extremely difficult for them to resist.

This was also why the Illusory Demon Sect girls did not leave in a hurry. Although Luo Chen was gone, he too hadn’t gone too far away from this place.

Everyone was wary of Ye Yihao.

“The feeling of being free of voodoo poison is so good, so relaxing, so comfortable.”

Ren Peng, who was poisoned the longest let out a long sigh of relief after the voodoo toxin was fully cured. His expression was incredibly relaxed and comfortable.

He had a feeling that he was reborn into the world again.

“Yeah, it feels as if the countless shackles on our bodies were released all at once. It is instantly relaxing.” He Wei also let out a smile.

Song Tingyu nodded slightly in agreement.

An attractive luster appeared on her beautiful and seductive face once more. Every move and every smile she made was now charming again.

Suddenly, she looked deeply at Qin Lie while her eyes flowed with a dazzling, attractive luster.

Four hours later.

Everyone opened their eyes one after another. Most of them had recovered their spirit energy. Chu Li was the only one who hadn’t fully recovered because his exhaustion was too great and his injuries were pretty serious.

“This is a Heavenly Sword Mountain sword token for you Illusory Demon Sect. If you run into Ye Yihao again, you may summon us within fifty kilomters.”

Du Xiangyang was full of energy since a while ago, and when he saw that Xue Moyan was about to leave, he willingly searched a token from a Heavenly Sword Montain martial practitioner’s body and tossed it to Xue Moyan.

Xue Moyan grabbed the sword token and touched it for a moment. Then, she hung it at her waist and nodded towards Du Xiangyang, saying, “If you ran into Ye Yihao, please notify us as well. We have lost two our sisters to the voodoo insects.”

“No problem.” Du Xiangyang agreed immediately.

“Let us leave now.” Xue Moyan stood up.

The five Illusory Demon Sect girls moved along with her and slowly disappeared before the crowd’s eyes.

“The Graveyard of the God’s Trial has just started not long ago. Before the end is over, anyone can become our enemies!” Chu Li suddenly said this.

The group had turned silent once more.

That’s right. The Trial at the Graveyard of the Gods lasted for an entire year. This was just the beginning.

If they were to experience any conflicts of interest in the future, there was no telling if they would clash against Xue Moyan and the others.

“But no matter what happens in the future, I, Chu Li, and you, Qin Lie, will never clash against each other!” Chu Li promised solemnly.

Qin Lie opened his eyes and grinned at him.

The words need not be said.

Chapter 458: Recovery

The cured Song Tingyu, He Wei, and others had recovered their spirits, and currently only needed a short period of recuperation to nurture their souls and strengthen their physical energy before they could make a full recovery.

Even though Luo Chen’s three-man group and Illusory Demon Sect’s disciples led by Xue Moyan left Qin Lie’s side, they weren’t too far away.

All three sides had a tacit understanding with one another and never stayed more than fifty kilometers away from each other.

They were able to form a connection with each other easily and exchange information through the Heavenly Sword Mountain sword tokens.

This was so that they could deal with Ye Yihao’s counter-attack at any moment.

Three days later.

With an exception of Chu Li, everyone had recovered their spirit energy. Even Qin Lie had almost fully recovered except for his lung injuries.

In combat, this injury would no longer greatly affect him, nor would it decrease his combat strength by too much.

Beneath an ancient tree so big that it would take ten people to hug it.

Qin Lie was seated beneath the tree while tendrils of bright silver lightning entangled his body like thick chains.

“Boom boom boom!”

Many violent and intense thunderous rumbles roared from inside his chest. They were incredibly deafening.

Song Tingyu, dressed in bright colored clothes, was leaning lightly against the thick tree’s trunk with half of her body. Her beautiful eyes gleamed with an attractive luster as she watched Qin Lie with interest.

An hour later.

The violent energy of thunder on Qin Lie’s body gradually faded. He opened his eyes while intimidating tendrils of lightning zipped through them. “After the soul shattering, my True Soul’s endurance towards thunder and lightning has significantly improved.”

“To temper one’s soul with thunder and lightning. Your spirit art is pretty rare, so it must contain some amazing power.” Song Tingyu drew a beautiful curve with the corner of her lips as she asked cheerfully, “Chu Li, Du Xiangyang and He Wei are all people that we can connect with. As for that Heavenly Sword Mountain Luo Chen, his relationship with you is subject to change after this incident… That Xue Moyan is Xue Li’s daughter, right?”

“Mm.” Qin Lie nodded while pondering. Suddenly, he asked, “Why have you brought up so many people in a sudden?”

“The Graveyard of the Gods’ Trial lasts for a whole year, and no one can predict what will happen in the future. I’m planning ahead for you as fast as I’m able to so that we can avoid some unnecessary risks in the future. I hope that both of our futures will be a little easier if I do this.” Song Tingyu sighed quietly.

Since she was inflicted with the voodoo toxin, Song Tingyu had become depressed for some time. She had fallen into despair and helplessness, thinking that she was dead for sure.

Now that the voodoo toxin was cured, she seemed to have returned to the Song Tingyu from the Scarlet Tide Continent once more. She was once again filled with confidence, intellect and coolness.

“Luo Chen and Xue Moyan had maintained a level of tacit understanding with us because of the threat Ye Yihao represented. However, this tacit understanding is not firm…” Song Tingyu’s expression was solemn as she said seriously, “The moment Ye Yihao dies or becomes severely injured, the moment he is no longer a threat to them, the tacit understanding you share will no longer exist. As for Xue Moyan, whether or not she would believe in the relationship between you and Xue Li, whether or not she would acknowledge and befriend you because of Xue Li is also a predicament. As for Luo Chen, well that’s a moot point. He is huge trouble.”

Qin Lie nodded again and said, “What suggestions do you have?”

“From the moment Ye Yihao and the three great families became united, from the moment Ten Thousand Beast Mountain and Heavenly Artifact Sect joined hands, we could see that the great forces had in fact come to a tacit understanding with each other in secret a long time ago.” Song Tingyu sighed on the inside and said, “Only by uniting as many strengths as possible can we survive in the Graveyard of the Gods till the end.”

“Mm. I understand.” Qin Lie said.

While speaking, he tapped the spatial ring lightly with his finger and with a thought, summoned the blank tombstone from it.

The tombstone stood vertically in front of him while seven rays of magical rainbow light shone vibrantly from the inside.

“I’m going to cultivate for a little longer.” Qin Lie’s finger slowly approached the tombstone.

Song Tingyu looked to the surroundings and listened for a moment. Hearing nothing, she quietly sat down and began nurturing her body and soul with pills and medicine.

“Zzt!”

When Qin Lie’s finger was about to touch the tombstone, a terrific blood energy suddenly emerged.

The energy flooded through his finger and into his entire circulatory system like a broken dam.

It was far more intense than ever before!

Qin Lie hastily condensed this terrific blood energy with the blood spirit art to hide it within his blood vessels. He also used his mind to probe around.

His eyes exploded with scarlet light that was as red as blood and looked incredibly terrifying. The pores of his body were permeating with a thin red mist and unleashing a powerful stench of blood and bloody energy with him as the center point.

“Blood Weeping Ghost Claw!”

Qin Lie executed the Blood Fiend Sect spirit art and conjured many ghastly Blood Weeping Ghost Claws in midair. They were incredibly terrifying.

A violent and bloodthirsty desire shot up uncontrollably from the bottom of his heart bit by bit. It was as if it would take him to the abyss of evil.

Beside him, Song Tingyu, who was cultivating felt her expression change as she looked somewhat surprisedly at Qin Lie.

Qin Lie reacted and hastily suppressed the powerful blood energy inside his body so that it would not be overly obvious.

Two and a half kilometers away.

Beside a clear, small river winding amidst the forest Xue Moyan was keeping watch on her lonesome. She allowed the five Illusory Demon Sect girls to bath inside the river and wash the dirt off their bodies.

While leaning against a rock by the shoreside, she narrowed her eyes and quietly cultivated a spirit art that required her to show her back to her people.

There was a trace of blood color deep inside her clear eyes. It added a seductive charm to her quiet and exquisite face.

She was secretly cultivating the Blood Spirit Art.

Her mother was Mo Lingye, and her father was Xue Li. Her grandfather was the former sect master of Blood Fiend Sect, and her bloodline belonged to Blood Fiend Sect.

Her attainments in Blood Spirit Art was in fact not too far behind her attainments in Illusory Demon Sect spirit arts. In reality, before she entered Illusory Demon Sect, she had always been cultivating Blood Fiend Sect’s spirit arts and spirit techniques.

It was just that Blood Fiend Sect’s spirit art had now become a taboo.

For her own growth, after she joined Illusory Demon Sect, she had no choice but to spend most of her energy on cultivating Illusory Demon Sect’s spirit arts and spirit techniques.

However, she did not give up cultivating Blood Spirit Art.

She had always thought of herself as a part of Blood Fiend Sect.

Abruptly, shock flashed across Xue Moyan’s eyes.

She abruptly looked towards where Qin Lie was and exclaimed in a low tone, “What a powerful stench of blood! Someone is cultivating the Blood Spirit Art! Who is it?”

The first person she thought of was Jiang Tianxing.

She knew about Jiang Tianxing and Jiang Zhuzhe’s relationship. Jiang Tianxing had represented Heavenly Artifact Sect and participated in this term’s examination in the Graveyard of the Gods. Logically speaking, there was a possibility that she would run into Jiang Tianxing.

However, after sensing seriously for a moment, she immediately rejected the idea, “It’s not him!”

This terrific stench of blood was incredibly pure!

This was the purest form of Blood Spirit Art!

The Blood Spirit Art Jiang Tianxing and Jiang Zhuzhe cultivated had already mutated, so there was no way they could produce such a pure stench of blood. This person was most definitely not Jiang Tianxing.

Who could it be then?

“There’s actually someone who cultivates the same orthodox Blood Spirit Art as I do!” Xue Moyan suddenly grew excited.

For the past year, most of Blood Fiend Sect’s disciples had either died or ran away. The ones who did survive had also chosen to conceal their identity and very seldom walked out in the open.

While she was taking care of a portion of her mother’s Blood Fiend Sect disciples, she was also searching for more in secret wherever she went. She hoped that she could gather everyone of the Blood Fiend Sect once more. However, the actual results were subpar.

“You guys watch over yourselves for a bit. I’m going to take a walk. I’ll be back pretty soon.” Xue Moyan suddenly said to the girls bathing in the river.

Then, she quietly left and swiftly ran towards the rough direction she had sensed the blood stench earlier.

“How strange. It actually comes from the direction of Chu Li’s group. It’s one of them.” The closer Xue Moyan went, the more curious she grew.

Xue Moyan was like a forest spirit, and when her snow white figure ran the forest zipped behind her like an illusion.

Unfortunately, when she was about halfway there, the clear wave of blood energy suddenly vanished completely.

Xue Moyan froze in an instant.

“Why did it suddenly disappear? What’s going on? Why did he stop?”

While holding various doubts in her mind, Xue Moyan slowed down her footsteps but still headed towards the direction where she sensed the blood stench earlier.

Fifteen minutes later.

Xue Moyan finally arrived at that huge ancient tree. She did not see anyone around here, nor did she notice anything amiss.

This caused her to grow more and more confused.

Unwilling to give up, she searched around the area once more and even inspected the gaps between the tree leaves carefully.

But she still didn’t find anything.

Finally, Xue Moyan helplessly gave up and left completely dejected. Along the way, she had been glancing backwards again and again.

……