Emperor Blood

After leaving Lingxu Grotto-Heaven, Lu Zhou rode a rainbow toward the ancient ruins bordering it.

Flying through the sky, stretches of mountains and rivers, scene after magnificent scene, sped swiftly past behind him.

At that moment, he felt the heroic ambition of a bird soaring through boundless skies and a fish leaping through vast seas!

He sped onward, continuously heading deeper into the Primitive Ruins.

Suddenly, as he flew over a cliff, a clear, piercing cry rang out from beside him.

Then, a fierce gale swept toward Lu Zhou. It was a pair of sharp claws that seemed forged from refined steel, glinting with a cold, razor-sharp light.

Lu Zhou had no doubt that if those claws caught him, he would be severely wounded.

Dao patterns flickered beneath his feet. Stepping on the Xingzi Secret, he walked through the void. It was as though a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, so fast it reached the extreme. Lu Zhou easily evaded the claws lunging at him.

Only then did Lu Zhou look at the owner of those claws. It was a gigantic black eagle with a wingspan of more than ten meters.

Its feathers were pitch-black, as if cast from black gold, flowing with layers of dark radiance.

Its gaze was sharp and intimidating, flashing with cold light as though it could freeze a person's soul.

It glided through the air, let out another cry, and charged at Lu Zhou once more.

From the look of it, it had treated Lu Zhou as a tasty meal.

While still some distance from Lu Zhou, the black-gold feathers on its wings stood erect. Vast demonic power surged from its body, and feather after feather shot out like sharp swords, carrying terrifying force as they slashed toward Lu Zhou.

Judging by its aura, Lu Zhou sensed that this giant eagle was also a demonic beast at the Life Spring realm.

"Perfect. I'll use you, beast, to test my Qiankun Pearl!"

With a thought, Lu Zhou brought forth a Qiankun Pearl about the size of a quail egg, its surface dull and grayish.

The Life Spring within him churned, spewing radiant essence. In an instant, the Qiankun Pearl swelled from the size of a quail egg into a giant sphere roughly five meters in diameter.

Lu Zhou raised a hand and gently pushed the Qiankun Pearl toward the giant eagle.

Like a rocket, the Qiankun Pearl burst forth at a jaw-dropping speed. It tore through the air with a thunderous sonic boom, carrying the great terror of annihilation. It was like heaven and earth rumbling in reverse, like a massive millstone capable of crushing all things. Everything in its path was pulverized into nothingness.

The sound of metal clashing rang out, but in an instant, it turned into the sound of weapons snapping and shattering.

Those were the giant eagle's feathers that had slashed toward Lu Zhou. After colliding with the Qiankun Pearl, they broke apart inch by inch and were crushed into nothingness.

The sight filled the giant eagle with terror. It trembled so hard its soul nearly fled its body.

It flapped its wings, intending to escape.

Unfortunately, the Qiankun Pearl was simply too fast. The moment the thought of fleeing arose, the Qiankun Pearl had already slammed heavily into its body.

After a loud bang, blood rained from the sky.

With just one strike, it was smashed apart by the Qiankun Pearl. A mist of blood mixed with shattered bones and flesh danced through the air, like a firework of flesh and blood blooming in the void.

After crushing the giant eagle, the Qiankun Pearl flew back to Lu Zhou of its own accord, spinning as it returned before him. It rapidly shrank back to the size of a quail egg and was caught in Lu Zhou's hand.

Looking at the Qiankun Pearl in his hand, Lu Zhou's eyes shone brightly and a smile spread across his face. Clearly, he was very satisfied with its power.

He could tell that although the giant eagle had been in the Life Spring realm like him, it had already traveled far along that path and was about to break through into the Divine Bridge realm.

Moreover, demonic beasts generally excelled in physical strength.

Yet even such a giant eagle could not withstand a single strike from the Qiankun Pearl.

This gave Lu Zhou a rough understanding of his current combat strength.

He thought that with the Qiankun Pearl and the Xingzi Secret protecting him, he could probably fight and defeat even a Divine Bridge realm cultivator.

If he faced a cultivator in the Other Shore realm, Lu Zhou felt that even if he could not kill them, he should still be able to use the Xingzi Secret to retreat unharmed with ease!

This level of strength was roughly equivalent to Ye Hei's when he had first broken through to the Life Spring realm.

With that thought, Lu Zhou felt even more confident about his upcoming journey.

He did not remain there any longer.

Nor did he ride a rainbow again.

This was the Primitive Ruins, the location of Azure Emperor's Tomb.

Many demonic beasts lurked here. Flying through the air on a rainbow would ultimately make him too conspicuous a target.

He had only come to see whether he could sign in. If he could, he would check in and leave. To avoid running into trouble, it was better to keep a low profile.

He descended into a dense forest and, using the Xingzi Secret beneath his feet, continuously darted through the mountains and woods.

Three days later, he had already ventured deep into the Primitive Ruins. Standing atop a mountain peak, he saw a live volcano in the distance, erupting from time to time.

If he was not mistaken, that volcano should be Azure Emperor's Yang Tomb.

Here, he sensed the auras of many demonic beasts.

He used a method from the Dao Sutra to conceal his aura, striving to hide himself even more thoroughly.

After resting briefly and restoring his depleted energy, Lu Zhou used the Xingzi Secret again and stealthily made his way toward the volcano.

In the end, he arrived safely at the foot of the volcano.

After arriving, however, he could no longer sense the aura of a single demonic beast.

No demonic beasts occupied this place.

That made things even more convenient for Lu Zhou.

He began climbing the mountain. An hour later, he stood at the volcano's crater.

He looked down into it and saw only a sea of crimson magma, endlessly bubbling.

He did not see any palace within the crater.

It was not yet time for Azure Emperor's Yang Tomb to emerge.

Lu Zhou sank his consciousness into the system and found that the current location field on the system panel indeed displayed that sign-in was available.

Without delay, Lu Zhou silently recited, Sign in.

Then the system's stiff electronic voice sounded in his mind.

Ding! Host has successfully signed in at Azure Emperor's Yang Tomb. Host has obtained one drop of diluted Emperor Blood, with all killing intent erased. It has been stored inside the host's Qiankun Pearl!

With a thought from Lu Zhou, his figure vanished from the place, leaving only a dull gray Qiankun Pearl the size of a quail egg quietly falling to the ground.

Ever since he had refined the Qiankun Pearl into his primary weapon using the One Weapon Breaks Ten Thousand Techniques method recorded in the Dao Sutra,

Lu Zhou had not only been able to store other items within the Qiankun Pearl in his daily life.

Even his physical body could freely enter and leave the Qiankun Pearl with a thought.

After entering the Qiankun Pearl, Lu Zhou indeed saw a drop of Emperor Blood floating within it. It was dazzlingly vivid, crimson as agate, and brilliantly translucent.

From that drop of Emperor Blood, Lu Zhou sensed an incomparably dense power of blood and qi. It surged with immense Vital Energy, bathing this Qiankun Heaven and Earth in a crimson glow.

It was as though a boundless red sunset had draped itself over this Qiankun Heaven and Earth.

It was merely a drop of blood no larger than a fingernail, yet it gave Lu Zhou the feeling of something boundless and vast, like an ocean of blood.

It was as if what lay before him was not a drop of blood, but a limitless, endless sea of blood.

And this was only a drop of Emperor Blood that had been diluted who knew how many times!

Lu Zhou was overjoyed. At once, he carefully drew out one percent of that drop of Emperor Blood.

He was not Ye Hei and did not possess a Sacred Body. Though this Emperor Blood had been diluted, he still did not dare refine an entire drop at once.

He opened his mouth and swallowed that roughly one-percent portion of Emperor Blood.