Spirit Realm Chapter 597-598

Chapter 597: The Die Is Cast

“Miss Xue, is it really you?”

A strange expression covered Xing Shengnan’s face. She looked at Qin Lie. Then she looked at Xue Moyan, suddenly recalling the incident from a few days ago.

That day, she had pushed Qin Lie into enjoying fleshly pleasures with his wives. She had even been able to clearly sense him become one with Song Tingyu.

Since that happened, and if all three women really were Qin Lie’s wives just as they had claimed in the beginning, did that mean Qin Lie shared a physical relationship with the direct disciple of Illusory Demon Sect’s sect master as well?

—That’s what Xing Shengnan wanted to know about the most.

“Yes, I am.” Xue Moyan smiled brightly.

A realization struck Xiang Xi. “You’ve… returned from the Graveyard of Gods?”

“That’s right.” Xue Moyan laughed softly and pointed at Luo Chen and Du Xiangyang. She introduced them, saying, “These two are the trial participants as well. They are Luo Chen and Du Xiangyang of Heavenly Sword Mountain.”

“Luo Chen?!”

Everyone collectively gaped in surprise, their expressions growing incredibly solemn. As they watched these youths, their hearts grew heavy as well.

Like Xue Moyan, Luo Chen was an illustrious prodigy known throughout the Land of Chaos. In fact, he had an edge against Xue Moyan—

—Luo Nan was his grandmother.

Xiang Xi slowly gave in to his fate. “I guess we really can’t get away anymore.”

“I suppose I no longer have to put on this act.” Qin Lie started to feel his consciousness blur, a clear indication that he had lost too much soul energy. A bloody gleam flashed through his eyes as he quickly directed the Blood Progenitor’s body to fly back to his actual body.

His True Soul was just in the Netherpassage Realm after all. He had a limited amount of soul energy that he lost every second his True Soul stayed inside of the Blood Progenitor’s body.

Forcefully controlling the body of an elite was extremely difficult for a weaker soul to begin with.

In exchange for extraordinary power, Qin Lie would inevitably lose soul energy and experience extreme discomfort.

He couldn’t unleash the true potential of the Blood Progenitor’s body like this, but if a stronger soul were to possess a weaker body, it would be a whole different story.

The soul of an expert would be able to increase a body’s capacity for power, displaying strength far beyond what its owner was originally capable of.

For example, if Xue Li took over the body of a Netherpassage Realm martial practitioner, he would be able to use it to unleash the power of a Fulfillment Realm martial practitioner!

This was because Xue Li’s soul was in the Nirvana Realm!

But Xue Li would ultimately find such a method pointless and absolutely undesirable. Even if he could use a Netherpassage Realm martial practitioner’s body in such a way, such strength paled in comparison to the level he desired to reach.

The Blood Progenitor’s body, on the other hand, was different.

If Xue Li managed to merge his soul with the body of the Blood Progenitor, he wouldn’t necessarily be able to unleash all of its power—he might be able to use sixty, maybe just thirty percent of it.

—Even that much would be beyond the level of power that he would’ve been capable of at his peak!

However, Xue Li needed time to truly merge his soul with the Blood Progenitor’s body. He also would never be able to surpass the realm that the Blood Progenitor reached before death.

That was the price he would have to pay.

Even in an ideal situation where a weaker soul dominated a stronger body, the best-case scenario would be for that soul to reach the realm of the body’s previous owner.

The possibility of a weaker soul exceeding the realm of the body it possessed was basically nonexistent.

Qin Lie gave up on the Blood Progenitor’s body for two reasons. First, his soul was far too weak. There was no way it would be able to merge into a such powerful body. Second, Qin Lie still had his youth. His future was still limitless. With enough time, he might even be able to surpass the realm that the Blood Progenitor had reached. He had no intention of prematurely restricting his growth and putting a cap on his future.

“Whoosh…”

Qin Lie’s True Soul emerged from the Blood Progenitor’s body and flew back into his own. As the Blood Progenitor’s eyes closed, no longer rippling with soul energy, Qin Lie awoke on the Wavebreaker.

He took in his surroundings with a weary gaze. Seeing that Xing Shengnan, other Xing Family clansmen, Guo Yanzheng, Qi Jing, and other Gold Sun Island experts had gathered around him, he sat down, took out two soul crystals, and began replenishing his soul energy.

Xiang Xi, Xu Changsheng, and Xu Jiadong floated nearby as well, they just hadn’t disembarked from their crystalline war chariot yet.

Xing Yao stood off to the side, the look in her eyes infinitely more conflicted than ever before. She felt as though a stone were inside of her heart.

In the beginning, she wholeheartedly sought Qin Lie’s death. She had no doubt in her mind that Qin Lie had ulterior motives for posing as a Xing Family clansman and believed that those motives only involved harming the Xing Family. She wanted to prevent him from manipulating her aunt and taking advantage of her trust.

Yet Qin Lie was the one to stand up and save the Xing Family when it was on the verge of destruction.

This was why she currently had no idea how to treat Qin Lie.

“Little brother… this body possesses astonishingly powerful blood energy…” Xing Shengnan said. The longer she looked at the Blood Progenitor’s body, the more she felt as if she had heard about it a long time ago. “Who…?”

“That is the body of the Blood Progenitor,” Xue Moyan said, her voice ringing out from the side of the ship.

Everyone trembled at her words, their eyes shining with disbelief.

“Th-the Blood Progenitor?” Xing Shengnan asked in a shaky voice.

Xue Moyan nodded slightly, thinking to herself, then said, “This is the progenitor of Blood Fiend Sect, the creator of the Blood Codex. He… is also one who created the spirit art I cultivate.”

“The spirit art that… you cultivate?” Xing Shengnan cried out.

“That is correct,” Xue Moyan said. Blood energy coursed through her as she channeled the Blood Spirit Art, her eyes slowly turning a glossy sanguine. The thick stench of iron emanated from her body.

This time, everyone was shocked to their very cores. They couldn’t believe that the direct disciple of Illusory Demon Sect’s sect master cultivated the Blood Spirit Art.

What in Spirit Realm was going on?

In the eyes of Xiang Xi and his men, today’s event just kept becoming stranger and stranger.

“My mother’s name is Mo Lingye,” Xue Moyan said calmly. “My father’s name… is Xue Li.”

Since Yu Men, Feng Yiyou, and Jiang Tianxing had left the Graveyard of Gods alive, she knew that it was only a matter of time before her identity was exposed. Even if she tried to hide it, they would still expose her at an opportune time. It wouldn’t be long before all of the Land of Chaos knew that she cultivated the Blood Spirit Art and condemned her as a remnant evil of Blood Fiend Sect.

That was precisely why she decided to reveal it herself.

“I can’t believe it,” Xing Shengnan said, the information weigh heavily upon her heart. “You? A member of Blood Fiend Sect? Not only that… you’re the most genuine successor there possibly could be.”

She paused for a moment, thinking to herself, then said, “Would it be possible for us to discuss this after big brother and second brother come back?”

“I understand.” Xue Moyan nodded, a sympathetic smile spreading across her face.

“The Setting Sun Islands are your domain, Enforcer Xiang,” Xing Shengnan said. “Would you mind taking care of matters here?”

Xiang Xi smiled bitterly. “Alright.”

And just like that, Xiang Xi’s men and the other Gold Sun Island martial practitioners followed Xiang Xi’s commands, getting to work cleaning up the islands and surrounding region of the sea.

Some people cleaned the area of debris and traces of battle, some collected corpses strewn across the islands and littering the sea, and some gathered the wealth from those corpses.

Others directed each of the three Flowing Gold Fire Phoenixes to land in empty sections of certain islands, and the five ships made port one after another and weighed anchor.

Qin Lie’s companions stayed by his side and waited for him to recover his soul energy as fast as possible.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and not a single trace of the great battle that had occurred could be seen. The evening sun bathed the Setting Sun Islands in golden light. They looked extraordinarily calm and peaceful.

Qin Lie spent the past two days absorbing energy from the soul crystals to replenish everything he had used controlling the Blood Progenitor’s body.

The Xing brothers worked with the eight god corpses and continued fighting throughout those two days. They would briefly communicate with Qin Lie every so often and inform him of their situation.

Xiang Xi kept his subordinates on a short leash, forbidding any of them from leaving the Setting Sun Islands or spreading any information.

Xing Shengnan kept in constant contact with her brothers. She took note of all the latest developments as she waited for the situation to stabilize.

On the third day after the battle, early in the morning, Qin Lie sat atop a reef that protruded just above the surface of the sea near a small island.

The Demon Sealing Tombstone hovered in the air before him, traces of bloody light connected them both.

Since the god corpses continued to move further away from him, he needed to use the Demon Sealing Tombstone to give them orders.

“Whoosh!”

The Demon Sealing Tombstone slowly shrank until it completely vanished into his spatial ring.

Qin Lie had learned that the hunt for Jiang Hao, pavilion master of Heavenly Sea Pavilion, had finally come to an end. The Xing brothers and the eight god corpses would take no more than a day to return to the Setting Sun Islands.

Qin Lie had everything under control.

Then, all of a sudden, Gao Yu arrived. He spoke to Qin Lie, making his intentions known in a clear, concise manner.

“I’m leaving, Qin Lie.”

Chapter 598: Subdue!

Gao Yu had come to Qin Lie using a crystalline war chariot.

Crystalline war chariots were just small-scale flying spirit artifact. Neither their speed nor carrying capacity could compare to those of the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenixes.

The cost between them obviously couldn’t be compared either.

However, even the lousiest flying spirit artifact was still a flying spirit artifact. They were more precious than most ships and also moved a lot faster.

Crystalline war chariots consumed the energy inside of spirits stones for fuel. Technically speaking, as long as Gao Yu had enough spirit stones, this crystalline war chariot would allow him to fly forever.

Gao Yu now possessed a vehicle he could use to travel across the sea.

“Have you truly made up your mind?” Qin Lie stopped communicating with the god corpses so he could focus on the discussion at hand. He simply looked at Gao Yu and asked, “What do you plan to do in the future?”

“I will first find Jia Yue and later collect the soul fragments of the Evil God,” Gao Yu said. “Then I’ll do my best to get stronger.”

“I can help you with everything except your search for Jia Yue,” Qin Lie said sincerely. “We just need to do it together.”

“It’s fine,” Gao Yu said with a shake of his head. “There are things… I must do alone.”

“You still have three bodies of ancient elites here.” Qin Lie frowned.

“Keep them safe for me,” Gao Yu said calmly. “I currently have no use for them. Just subduing the Evil God and absorbing all of his inheritance will take a huge amount of time and spirit energy.”

Seeing that Gao Yu had made up his mind, Qin Lie finally stopped trying to get him to stay. He sent Gao Yu off with a heavy heart and helplessly watched him head east on his crystalline war chariot.

Gao Yu already possessed formidable strength in the first place. He was cruel, tenacious, and had the body of the Evil God to do his bidding. At the very least, Qin Lie didn’t need to worry for his safety.

He believed that, even in a place as conflict-ridden as the Land of Chaos, Gao Yu would live well and be able to find his own way.

The god corpses returned the following evening, quietly approaching the Setting Sun Islands like demons in the dead of night.

They eventually appeared by the island that Qin Lie was at, standing waist-deep in the sea. They gathered before him and stared at him with their enormous eyes that resembled lanterns. The glow of their eyes and the potent energy that radiated from their bodies struck fear into the hearts of numerous Gold Sun Island martial practitioners, making them tremble in fear.

Upon sensing the tremendous energy of the god corpses, Song Tingyu, Du Xiangyang, Luo Chen, Xue Moyan, and Xing Shengnan rushed over.

“It’s fine,” Qin Lie reassured them. “The god corpses have returned.”

Upon seeing the god corpses, everyone calmed down and nodded in acknowledgment.

In the meantime, Qin Lie examined them with his soul consciousness.

Tiny sparks of electricity that held his consciousness slipped into the eight god corpses, and he inspected their spirit and blood energies.

The potent aura of each god corpse transformed into electrical feedback that traveled to Qin Lie’s True Soul and informed him of their condition.

Qin Lie’s eyes slowly lit up with excitement.

The god corpses were gradually getting stronger!

There was no doubt about it!

Ever since Qin Lie had found them in the stony valley of that island and used the Demon Sealing Tombstone to forge a soul connection with each one, he had already become acutely aware of their condition.

The previous conditions of their life forces and auras simply couldn’t compare to the level they were at now.

However, as soon as Qin Lie calmed down and seriously examined the changes within the god corpses, he discovered that each god corpse had experienced different degrees of growth!

Considering how powerful the god corpses were, the amount of growth they experienced frankly wasn’t that spectacular, but it was definitely growth!

These god corpses used to be the people that served the supposedly extinct Heaven Fighting Race. As they were now, they could be considered soulless. They had no souls, and their soul fragments were nowhere to be found.

Corpses that could move and fight were already bizarre, so how in Spirit Realm could they still grow stronger?

This revelation completely shocked Qin Lie.

As he pondered about the changes that had occurred to the god corpses and considered what had happened recently, he slowly came to the conclusion that the cause for all of this was the huge amount of flesh and blood they had eaten!

After Qin Lie’s group escaped the Graveyard of Gods, they first fought the Pan Family. During that battle, Qin Lie used the eight god corpses to slaughter the Pan Family clansmen, and most of them ended up deep within the stomachs of the god corpses.

In their most recent battle against Black Cloud Palace and Heavenly Sea Pavilion, the god corpses once against turned the situation around and killed scores of enemy martial practitioners. Again, they devoured a large amount of the enemy.

All of these martial practitioners had been in the Manifestation Realm and above. Their bodies had been tempered with spirit energy, their life forces were strong, and they contained huge amounts of spirit energy as well.

This was how the god corpses grew stronger!

This realization completely astonished Qin Lie.

A thousand years ago, every force in the Land of Chaos had treated Blood Fiend Sect like monsters just because a minority of the sect consumed human blood to cultivate.

Wouldn’t the direct consumption of martial practitioners that the god corpses used to grow stronger be an even more extreme method of increasing strength?

“Whoosh, whoosh…”

As Qin Lie struggled to process his thoughts, several war chariots glided into view, slowly approaching the area under the soft glow of moonlight. He could see Xing Yumiao and Xing Yuyuan aboard one each.

After thinking for a moment, Qin Lie silently transmitted orders to the god corpses. They immediately dove into the sea and traveled to the hiding place where the remains of the ancient elites had been stored. Unless Qin Lie summoned them, they wouldn’t resurface.

Only then did Qin Lie notice that both Xing Yumiao and Xing Yuyuan were covered in blood. Xing Yuyuan seemed severely wounded in particular, blood gushing from wounds in his left shoulder and abdomen.

“Help! Somebody, help!” Xing Yumiao shouted.

His cries resounded throughout the surrounding islands, waking up many Gold Sun Island martial practitioners.

Panic creeped into Xing Shengnan’s voice as she yelled, “Big brother! Second brother!”

“Little sister!” Xing Yumiao cried in response. “Take second brother and get a healer to treat his wounds!”

A couple of Gold Sun Island martial practitioners escorted Xing Yuyuan’s chariot, escorting him to a specific island.

At the same time, Xiang Xi, Xu Changsheng, and Xu Jiadong rushed over as well, and soon enough, everyone had tacitly gathered at the reef where Qin Lie was.

“Jiang Hao is dead,” Xing Yumiao said in a grim, quiet voice. “Almost all of his subordinates are dead as well. Only a few small fries are being hunted down as we speak. This region of the sea is Gold Sun Island’s territory, and I’ve already given the order for all of them to be hunted down. None of them should be able to escape.”

He paused for a moment, then continued, “…but it may not be possible to completely suppress the appearance of the eight god corpses.”

The moment he said this, deep frowns twisted the expressions of everyone present. All of them realized that they had a difficult problem before them.

Hundreds of martial practitioners of Black Cloud Palace and Heavenly Sea Pavilion had seen the god corpses. There was no telling if any of them carried transmission stones with them. If they did, they would have been able to instantly transmit any messages whenever they had a moment to spare.

If that were the case, the appearance of the eight god corpses would be revealed along with Qin Lie’s name.

In fact, every force in the Land of Chaos could already know what occurred at the Setting Sun Islands. Some could even use that information to infer that the bodies of ancient elites that had escaped destruction in the Graveyard of Gods were in the same place. Once that happened, the territory of Gold Sun Island would flare to life on everyone’s radar.

“First island master,” Qin Lie suddenly exclaimed. “As things are now… what is your opinion of Blood Fiend Sect?”

Instead of answering Qin Lie, Xing Yumiao looked at Xue Moyan and asked, “Are you truly the daughter of Senior Xue Li and Mo Lingye, Miss Xue? My little sister informed me of everything a few days ago, this news astounded me. Tell me, Miss Xue. Are your mother and father… still around?”

Sincerity tinged Xue Moyan’s voice as she explained everything to Xing Yumiao.

“They’re alive,” she said. “However, they aren’t doing well at the moment. My father only has half of his soul left, and my mother…”

Xing Yumiao glanced at Qin Lie. “What about that body? The Blood Progenitor’s body?”

“I will bring it to Senior Xue Li so that he can merge with it,” Qin Lie declared. “Furthermore I will use the remains of the ancient elites that I brought back from the Graveyard of Gods to strengthen Blood Fiend Sect!”

Xue Moyan pursed her lips tightly, feeling a hint of gratitude as her eyes shone brightly.

She knew exactly what Qin Lie’s declaration meant for all of Blood Fiend Sect.

Qin Lie then exclaimed, “The eight god corpses will be the guardians of Blood Fiend Sect as well!”

Xing Yumiao stared long and hard at the two of them. After a long while, he finally gritted his teeth and nodded deeply.

“That settles it!” he said. “I am willing to have us serve Blood Fiend Sect. From today onward, the Xing Family shall once again assume its identity as a vassal force of Blood Fiend Sect!”

A moment later, he looked to Xiang Xi and said, “I can only speak for the Xing Family. I do not represent Gold Sun Island.”

Xiang Xi smiled bitterly. “There is no longer any difference between the two.”

Xing Yumiao’s eyes widened as he registered what Xiang Xi said.

“What about you, Enforcer Xiang?” Qin Lie asked.

“I don’t have a choice.” Xiang Xi sighed. He bent down to one knee, head bowed, and spoke in a solemn voice.

“I swear to serve Blood Fiend Sect and become a vassal for it to command!”