Blood Refinement Hall

Kong Sang Mountain, Ten Thousand Bats Ancient Cave

Jiang Ming charged into the cave under the protection of his Protective Qi Shield. The moment he entered, he found the ceiling packed with swarms of bats, while the ground was covered in a thick layer of bat droppings. The depth of it, the length of it—who knew how long it had been accumulating? It was as though the floor had been paved with shit. The uppermost layer even looked soft, as if it were still giving off heat. All sorts of smells mingled within the cave, producing a peculiar stench beyond description.

Only then did Jiang Ming understand that the greatest attack of Ten Thousand Bats Ancient Cave was this shit-covered path. The impact on any normal person was imaginable. If someone with trypophobia or a germ phobia came here, they would probably collapse on the spot without needing to fight at all. Could anyone imagine what it felt like to stand on shit?

Jiang Ming did not dare imagine it any further. The more he thought about it, the more nauseated he became. He immediately sealed off his nose and mouth, circulating all the power of his Celestial Human Middle Stage cultivation. Like a streak of light, he shot toward the end of that filthy path, unwilling to remain there for even a moment longer.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Ming noticed something unusual about the ground ahead and knew that he was finally about to make it through. Still, just to be safe, he fired a finger force at the ground before him. With a bang, a small hole appeared in the earth.

Jiang Ming knew he could finally relax. The instant he stepped onto that clean, hard ground, he suddenly felt that this was the happiest moment of his life. After a sigh of emotion, he looked up. The bats overhead had long since vanished. At the far end of the ceiling, however, a thin red line ran across the rock, looking as though it had grown directly from within it.

With that red line as the boundary, countless bats were blocked outside. Not a single one dared cross it, all of them as obedient as well-trained dogs.

Standing on this side of the red line, Jiang Ming immediately spread his senses to check for anything unusual. From what he remembered of the story, although Blood Refinement Hall had been destroyed, remnants still remained. The leader of those Blood Refinement Hall disciples seemed to be someone called Oldest Nian. He had been bent on restoring Blood Refinement Hall to its former glory and wanted to find the Blood Drop Cave. Unfortunately, his abilities were mediocre, yet his ambitions soared higher than the heavens. A man with a paper-thin fate, indeed.

Finding nothing unusual nearby, Jiang Ming headed deeper into the cave. As his pace quickened, darkness once more closed in around him. The farther he went, the narrower the cave became, and its twisting, winding passages seemed bottomless. Jiang Ming suspected that Black Heart Old Man had dug straight through all of Kong Sang Mountain. They had descended at least several hundred meters underground. If not for Jiang Ming's extraordinary senses, which detected the increasing moisture and humidity in the air as well as the passage's constant downward slope, he might have wondered whether he had been walking in circles and returning to where he started.

Relying on senses that surpassed those of ordinary cultivators, Jiang Ming continued onward. After an unknown length of time, the previously twisting path finally changed and suddenly opened up. Before him, two branching paths appeared, deep, dark, and pitch-black, leading who knew where. Between them stood a stone stele as tall as six men. Four blood-red characters were carved upon it: Heaven's Path is Within Me!

Jiang Ming looked at the stele and let out a scornful laugh. "What utter nonsense. Cultivators like us seize the creations of heaven and earth and walk against the heavens. As the saying goes, follow the path and remain mortal; defy it and become immortal. Yet a demonic cultivator who has not even achieved the Immortal Dao, who has not even reached Taiqing, dares to claim that Heaven's Path is Within Me. Even mortals know to build high walls, stockpile grain, and bide their time before claiming the throne. Black Heart Old Man, you were so high-profile. If no one destroyed you, then who would they destroy? You deserved it!"

Looking at the fine cracks beneath the stele, split into four sections, Jiang Ming thought, It seems Oldest Nian's group is beyond these paths. If they had obediently stayed hidden, they might have preserved their lives for Zhang Xiao Fan and the others to deal with. Otherwise, they will probably be going down to meet Black Heart Old Ghost.

Jiang Ming then walked toward the left branch. It was even narrower than the passage before it. Seeing this, he cursed inwardly, Could Black Heart Old Ghost not have made the road wider? Wouldn't it have been easier for his own people to pass through? Or did he not know that making things convenient for others is making things convenient for yourself?

Just as Jiang Ming continued deeper inside, a yellow streak of light suddenly shot toward him. He casually sent out a Three Points Divine Finger. After a collision rang out, Jiang Ming used the light to see that the yellow streak was a three-foot treasure sword. He immediately understood that the remnants of Blood Refinement Hall under Oldest Nian had made their move. Judging by this, they had clearly laid an ambush here long ago.

Jiang Ming did not care in the slightest. To him, they were simply rushing to reincarnate. He took out the Soaring Frost Sword with his right hand, ready to kill with a single blow, but deliberately provoked them aloud. "Looks like Blood Refinement Hall really has no one left. Just a bunch of lowlifes who cannot bear to see the light of day."

After the flying sword collided with the finger force, it flew back into the hand of a tall, thin man with a gaunt face and vicious gleams in his eyes. Seeing that his sneak attack had failed, and hearing Jiang Ming's words, the man stopped hiding and appeared before him. He could not help saying, "What family's little brat are you? Didn't you ask around what place this is before mocking Blood Refinement Hall? When Blood Refinement Hall was at its height, your grandfather probably had not even been born yet!"

Jiang Ming saw that the enemy who had revealed himself was a tall, thin man. He did not look like Oldest Nian or Wild Dog, so he was probably just another lackey. Jiang Ming did not want to waste words. Ever since entering Kong Sang Mountain, all he had encountered were bats and shit. After all the circling and twisting, it felt like crawling through a rat hole, and a stifling frustration burned in his chest. He directly drew the Soaring Frost Sword with his right hand and unleashed the Sword Drawing Technique. This sword art was perfectly suited to such a cramped cave. A cyan flash, swift as lightning, streaked past. The man was just about to raise his magic treasure to block it, but before he could even form a hand seal, the light had vanished, and Jiang Ming had already sheathed his sword.

"H-how...?" The man wanted to say something, but then he suddenly saw the bloody hole in his chest. Realizing what had happened, he unwillingly uttered the last three words of his life, as though he could not believe it.

Draw the sword, sheath the sword; a man died and his lamp went out. It was that simple. Jiang Ming was frustrated to the extreme and would not give anyone the chance to spout more nonsense. In his eyes, that was simply a waste of time. Since they were enemies, there was no need to hold back. Jiang Ming had always believed that anything was fine in daily life, but once battle began, one had to be fast, precise, and ruthless. No dawdling, and certainly no endless chatter. Jiang Ming knew well that villains died from talking too much. Though he was not a villain, he needed to remember it even more firmly: do not put on airs, do not posture, and crush threats in the cradle.