Blood Devour, Soul Seizure (Please Follow, Please Vote)

Jade Dynasty World, somewhere within the Qingyun Mountain Range.

A winged figure soared through the mountain forest, his gaze sweeping over the terrain below as though searching for something.

No one knew how long this figure had searched. At last, one day, he found a secluded valley shrouded in dense mist and filled with all manner of wild shrubs and trees.

On the other side of the valley stretched an endless Black Bamboo Sea. Several dozen li away stood Dazhu Peak, one of Qingyun Sect's Seven Peaks.

Gu Yi looked down at the valley. After pondering for a moment, he decisively dove down, heading straight for the depths of the mist-filled valley.

After flying for the time it took to brew one or two cups of tea, Gu Yi heard the sound of rushing water. Then his vision suddenly opened up, revealing a broad clearing.

At the center of the clearing lay a small emerald pool, its waters rippling as they flowed westward into a winding stream.

Within three zhang of the emerald pool, not a blade of grass grew. Yet beyond that range, the forest flourished in dense abundance, making for an extremely strange sight.

"Found it!" A sharp gleam flashed through Gu Yi's eyes as the Purple Cloud Wings on his back swiftly shrank and were put away.

He looked at the emerald pool nearby. After a moment of contemplation, the Spatial Storage Ring on his hand flashed, and he took out a dark purple pearl.

This pearl was none other than the Blood-Devouring Pearl, one of the Demonic Sect's four great treasures in the Jade Dynasty World!

This third Jade Dynasty World had been opened by Gu Yi one year ago, when he was eleven. The Blood-Devouring Pearl in his hand had also been obtained at that time.

Back then, the location connected by the Myriad Worlds Gate had been outside Caomiao Village, at the foot of the Qingyun Mountain Range.

Thus, after quickly learning the language from the villagers, Gu Yi immediately recognized that this was the world of Jade Dynasty.

Moreover, Gu Yi discovered that Zhang Xiaofan and Lin Jingyu were about the same age as him at the time, both eleven or twelve years old.

This meant that, unlike the other worlds, the Jade Dynasty World's timeline was not several years before the plot began. The story of Jade Dynasty was about to commence!

Sure enough, less than a month after Gu Yi traveled to the Jade Dynasty World, the massacre that wiped out Caomiao Village took place!

That day, Daoist Cangsang of Qingyun Sect and Divine Monk Puzhi of Tianyin Temple fought fiercely outside Caomiao Village.

During the battle, Daoist Cangsang used Lin Jingyu as bait and arranged for the Seven-tailed Centipede to ambush Divine Monk Puzhi, leaving him poisoned and close to death.

However, Pu Zhi truly deserved his status as one of Tianyin Temple's Four Divine Monks. His strength was formidable, and despite being severely poisoned, he still forced Daoist Cangsang back.

Afterward, Pu Zhi, who should have awaited death, was influenced by the Blood-Devouring Pearl he carried with him and actually went mad, slaughtering the entire Caomiao Village. Only Zhang Xiaofan, Lin Jingyu, and Uncle Wang Er, who had been frightened insane, were left alive.

His sole purpose was to let Zhang Xiaofan, who had inherited his Buddhist cultivation art, Great Brahma Prajna, enter Qingyun Mountain and cultivate Daoist techniques, thereby raising a successor who cultivated both Buddhist and Daoist arts and could seek immortality.

Gu Yi witnessed everything from the shadows. He watched the crazed, demonized Pu Zhi slaughter all forty-two households of Caomiao Village, a total of two hundred and forty-seven people, until the entire village was filled with the stench of blood.

Fortunately, Gu Yi had the Myriad Worlds Gate. Seeing the situation, he decisively returned to the Cloud Sea Sect through it, avoiding detection by Pu Zhi.

As one of Tianyin Temple's Four Divine Monks, Pu Zhi was considered one of the strongest experts in the Jade Dynasty World.

At the time, Gu Yi was only at the eighth level of the Qi Martial Realm. He was no match for Pu Zhi.

Gu Yi waited several hours in the Cloud Sea Sect. After calculating the time and determining that it was likely around five in the morning in the Jade Dynasty World, when Pu Zhi had most likely left, he traveled back to Caomiao Village.

Sure enough, Pu Zhi had long since departed from Caomiao Village. While the effects of the Three-Day Death Pill remained, he needed to hurry back to Tianyin Temple and settle his final affairs.

Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaofan and Lin Jingyu lay unconscious in the ruined temple outside the village.

Gu Yi therefore reached directly into Zhang Xiaofan's robes and took the Blood-Devouring Pearl that Divine Monk Puzhi had left for him.

The Blood-Devouring Pearl was a magical treasure refined eight hundred years ago by Old Man Black Heart of the Blood Refining Hall. It was the fated nemesis of Tianya, Qingyun Sect's divine weapon.

It possessed the ability to absorb the vital blood of living beings to nourish itself.

If any living creature approached it, within the time it took to brew three cups of tea, it would have its vital blood drained by the Blood-Devouring Pearl, leaving behind only an empty husk.

It could be said that the Blood-Devouring Pearl was an excellent match for Gu Yi's Blood Martial Soul. It could deepen Gu Yi's understanding of the blood path and give him an additional Blood Devour method.

Naturally, Gu Yi would not let such a treasure slip away.

After all, cultivation centered on one word: contention.

Contend with heaven, contend with earth, contend with others!!

Without contention, how could one obtain the various resources needed for cultivation? Without contention, how could one reach the pinnacle of cultivation?

What Gu Yi pursued was the peak of cultivation and invincibility throughout the Myriad Heavens and Worlds. Naturally, he had to seize every opportunity to grow stronger.

As for whether those original "protagonists" would be unable to recover or climb to the pinnacle of cultivation after having their opportunities taken from them—

Gu Yi did not care.

He even looked forward to such things happening, because if they truly did, he could instead gain more source power and become even stronger!

Yet in the year since obtaining the Blood-Devouring Pearl, Gu Yi had never removed the seal placed on it by Divine Monk Puzhi and unleashed all of its power.

As an object of supreme ferocity and evil, the Blood-Devouring Pearl was incomparably vicious. It was not so easily subdued and refined.

Even though Gu Yi possessed the Blood Martial Soul and had considerable understanding of the blood path, a single misstep could result in him being drained dry by the Blood-Devouring Pearl.

Even if the user was powerful enough to resist the Blood-Devouring Pearl's blood-draining force—

It also possessed the ability to stir the evil thoughts in a user's heart, causing them to suffer a deviation in cultivation and fall into demonic madness.

Pu Zhi was an example. Guided by the Blood-Devouring Pearl, he developed inner demons and slaughtered the villagers of Caomiao Village.

This was despite the fact that, after obtaining the Blood-Devouring Pearl in the Western Great Swamp, Pu Zhi had spent thirty years sealing it with a Buddhist demon-suppressing secret art.

Therefore, if Gu Yi wanted to use the Blood-Devouring Pearl, he had to suppress most of its ferocious, evil power.

And Gu Yi, who knew the plot well, happened to know a method.

That was to use the power of another object of supreme ferocity from the Jade Dynasty World—to fight poison with poison.

This other object of supreme ferocity, the Soul-Devouring Staff, lay beneath a deep pool in a secluded valley within the Qingyun Mountain Range.

That was why Gu Yi had come deep into the Qingyun Mountain Range.

Gu Yi had spent more than half a year searching the Qingyun Mountain Range for this secluded valley.

It was not because the Qingyun Mountain Range was vast and had too many places to explore.

Rather, it was because the Qingyun Mountain Range was Qingyun Sect's territory, not to mention that the valley was not far from Dazhu Peak in the original story.

Thus, Gu Yi could not make too much of a commotion while searching for the valley, lest he attract the attention of Qingyun Sect's experts.

That was why it had taken him so long to finally find this valley.

Gu Yi clenched the Blood-Devouring Pearl in his right hand and strode toward the emerald pool.

The moment he entered the three-zhang range, he immediately sensed an invisible wave rushing into his mind and straight toward his soul.

This was the power emitted by the Soul-Devouring Staff, capable of directly attacking the soul.

Yet Gu Yi merely snorted coldly and blocked the Soul-Devouring Staff's power.