Everything just now had probably been my full firepower!
Facing five Outer Sect Disciples whose strength was at least at the mid Qi Refining Stage, I had killed three in return. That was a decent record.
At the brink of death, Shen Fan even felt a flicker of pride in himself.
"Azure Steel Sword! Go!"
The flying sword let out a piercing sword cry and slashed down at Shen Fan.
However, at this very moment of life and death.
A thick stench of blood rushed straight at him.
It was like someone wandering the desert, parched beyond endurance after days without water, suddenly catching the scent of a moist water source.
A glance from the corner of his eye.
Shen Fan saw that the Outer Sect Disciple he had just killed was bleeding steadily after death.
That blood stimulated Shen Fan's taste buds like a delicacy from the mortal world, stirring his primal desires.
Even the Blood Spirit Qi that had already returned to his dantian was roused once more at that instant.
"Boom—!"
The two strands of Blood Spirit Qi within him activated again, forcibly setting his blood and qi ablaze.
A powerful force surged through his entire body once more.
If he used it like this and failed to replenish his blood and qi sufficiently, then once his strength ran dry, not even immortals could save him.
The next moment.
Shen Fan shot forward, forcibly evading the flying sword's slash.
Then he threw himself onto the slain Outer Sect Disciple.
He viciously bit down on the man's neck.
The man had only just died, and his blood and qi were still warm.
"Glug! Glug—!"
Shen Fan gulped down the man's blood in great mouthfuls.
This bloody scene made Li Qingshan and the remaining Outer Sect Disciple widen their eyes.
"Blood-drinking... You brat, you're from the demonic path!"
Seeing this, Li Qingshan pointed at Shen Fan and shouted in a trembling voice.
Blood gushed forth and poured into Shen Fan's mouth, entering his body and frantically replenishing the blood and qi that had been burned away.
It made the Blood Spirit Qi coursing through his body grow even wilder.
The blood-drinking method from the latter half of the Blood Spirit Unification Art restored vitality to the exhausted Shen Fan.
Even the chest that had been struck by the golden seal earlier was rapidly recovering.
"Next! It's your turn!"
Shen Fan raised his head indifferently, blood streaming from the corners of his mouth.
Then the corners of his lips curved slightly upward as he sucked a smear of blood from his finger into his mouth.
After that, he dropped onto all fours and darted out at high speed.
He pounced directly upon the Outer Sect Disciple beside Li Qingshan.
The blood of the living was even more like a fountain.
"Pshh—!"
The blood was like mercury, making Shen Fan's physique boil ever more fiercely like a furnace.
"Boom—!"
The next instant, a powerful force erupted from within his body.
Another strand of Blood Spirit Qi unexpectedly condensed within his dantian.
Third Layer of Blood Refinement!
The Blood Spirit Unification Art had broken through again!
Shen Fan suddenly opened his eyes, and they had turned completely blood-red.
Everything around him seemed to have become a world of blood.
Li Qingshan, gleaming with golden light all over, looked like a fragrant prey in Shen Fan's vision as he retreated again and again.
Then he turned around, activated the Wind Riding Technique, and fled at high speed.
"Trying to run?"
In his current state, Shen Fan seemed to have pushed the Blood Spirit Unification Art to its limit.
In an instant.
Among the final five layers of the Blood Spirit Unification Art, aside from the blood-drinking method.
Another technique was activated by Shen Fan.
"One qi charged through Laogong, crimson shuttles tore the long rainbow!"
Shen Fan gave a low shout.
The three strands of Blood Spirit Qi in his body swiftly gathered along his spirit veins. The spirit veins were like racetracks, making the Blood Spirit Qi circulate even faster.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—!"
The next moment, Shen Fan flicked his hand.
The three strands of Blood Spirit Qi condensed into three blood swords and shot out from his palm.
The blood swords formed the shape of the character pin. At tremendous speed, they struck Li Qingshan, who had already fled a hundred meters away.
What surprised Shen Fan even more was that the three strands of Blood Spirit Qi did not pierce through the other man's body.
Instead, after entering his body, they swiftly traveled through his spirit veins.
They crazily devoured his essence blood.
"Return!"
Shen Fan's mind stirred.
The three clearly strengthened blood swords burst out of Li Qingshan's body.
They then returned to Shen Fan's body, traveled through his spirit veins, absorbed all the essence blood they had brought back, and returned to his dantian.
"Awesome!"
Shen Fan was utterly stunned by this power of replenishment.
"Boom—!"
His blood and qi churned like a long rainbow.
Power exploded within Shen Fan's body.
The essence blood that had been drawn back condensed once more, becoming Shen Fan's fourth strand of Blood Spirit Qi.
"Blood Refinement... Fourth Layer!"
A bright gleam flashed in Shen Fan's eyes, and he could barely contain himself.
A long while later, the blood and qi subsided.
As though nothing had happened, Shen Fan was merely somewhat disheveled. There was not a single sign of injury anywhere on his body.
He looked around.
The sky was pitch-black, and the surroundings were utterly silent.
Recalling everything that had just happened, Shen Fan trembled with excitement.
"This Blood Spirit Unification Art is actually this powerful. Among its final five layers, there's even a ranged attack spell!"
"What crooked and heretical path? This is the true path of immortal cultivation! Such a technique was meant to be used by me!"
After marveling for a while, Shen Fan immediately began cleaning up the battlefield.
He then collected the five men's Universe Pouches.
But immediately afterward, Shen Fan began thinking carefully.
"There are five of them! Five Outer Sect Disciples!"
"If they just vanish without a trace, it will definitely cause a tremendous uproar."
"Li Qingshan came to silence me at Bai Qianyu's orders. Bai Qianyu must know Li Qingshan's movements. Once Li Qingshan dies, Bai Qianyu will suspect me first thing!"
"What should I do?"
Originally, Shen Fan had planned to destroy the corpses and erase the evidence, while taking their magic artifacts for himself.
But now that he thought about it, this was a disaster waiting to happen. He could not leave them behind!
Looking at the corpses scattered across the ground, Shen Fan grew increasingly anxious.
These corpses could neither be burned nor left here.
"Or should I also fall to the ground and make it look like we both suffered losses? Then I could say that Li Qingshan came to kill me under Bai Qianyu's orders. They have the Soul Searching Technique anyway—they'll know as soon as they examine him!"
"But... what decent person joins the outer sect and immediately kills five Outer Sect Disciples?"
If he said that aloud, wouldn't they dissect him for research?
Especially when he only had a Grade One Five-Element Mixed Spirit Root.
However, just as Shen Fan was at a loss.
A deep, hoarse voice came from the narrow path leading toward the Waste Elixir Chamber.
"Shen Fan?"
Shen Fan, who had been deep in thought, reflexively cast a Flame Serpent Art upon hearing the voice.
Boom!
Flames soared into the sky, illuminating the surroundings.
In the firelight, a familiar old face, wrinkled and furrowed like tree bark, appeared before him.
"Old Man Duan?"
"Good brat!"
Old Man Duan waved his hand, and a corpse puppet appeared out of thin air. After blocking the Flame Serpent Art, he came before Shen Fan in disbelief.
Then, looking at the corpses strewn all around, he asked.
"These... were all done by you?"
Shen Fan stared blankly at Old Man Duan, a wicked smile appearing at the corner of his lips. "No! You did this!"
"What do you mean I did it? Your grandpa only just got here!"
Old Man Duan cursed with a laugh, utterly baffled.
"There's no time to explain. Hurry and have your corpse puppets go up and finish them off. Leave corpse puppet traces behind, then make it look like you did it. Let's go!"
Shen Fan hurriedly urged Old Man Duan.
"You're making me take the blame again!"
Though Old Man Duan said so, his hands did not hesitate.
He immediately controlled six or seven corpse puppets into action.
However, Old Man Duan did not have the corpse puppets finish them off. Instead, he put away all the corpses.
"Such excellent corpse-refining materials would be a pity to waste!"
Hearing this, Shen Fan suddenly understood.
Indeed!
He also cultivated the Nine Nether Corpse Refinement Art, and these Outer Sect Disciples had decent talent.
If they were refined into corpse puppets to feed back into his cultivation, the speed of improvement would be unimaginable!
Moreover, if the corpses were left behind, they would still bear traces of having fought him.
For example, the two corpses whose blood had been drained dry, as well as the marks left on Li Qingshan after his essence blood had been absorbed by Blood Spirit Qi.
In the eyes of Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, such traces would have nowhere to hide.
Leaving corpse puppet traces behind while taking the corpses away was the best choice.
After finishing everything, Shen Fan and Old Man Duan hurried toward the Waste Elixir Chamber.
"What are you here for? Turning yourself in?"
Along the way, Shen Fan asked in a low voice.
"Get lost. An Icefire Sect disciple was captured. There's a bounty outside: one hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Dead or alive, they want to see the person. I came to gather some information!"
"Leng Ningshuang?"
"You know her?"
Old Man Duan's eyes immediately widened.
"I've met her. That woman isn't a good person!"
"What happened?"
Shen Fan immediately told Old Man Duan what had happened last time.
"Damn it!"
Old Man Duan muttered a curse. "Those bullshit righteous immortal sects aren't any better!
"You don't know this, but after I left the Heavenly Xuan Sect, I heard quite a few things we'd never heard before.
"Now that I've joined the Nine Nether Corpse Puppet Sect, one of the sect's deacons told me that this damned Heavenly Xuan Sect was formed three hundred years ago by a bunch of trash.
"Those damned Four Great Immortal Sects of the Great Li Kingdom—the Icefire Sect evolved from the former Joyous Union Sect. As for this damned Heavenly Xuan Sect, after the three immortal sects besieged the Nine Nether Corpse Puppet Sect three hundred years ago, it was established by disciples and elders from those three sects!
"Back then, it was to suppress the Corpse King of the Nine Nether Corpse Puppet Sect. After she was sealed, those people did not return to their respective sects. Instead, they used the Nine Nether Corpse Puppet Sect's resources to establish the Heavenly Xuan Sect!"
As Shen Fan listened to Old Man Duan's account, disbelief filled his face.
He had never expected there to be such a story behind the Four Great Immortal Sects.
Before you continue