Drinking Blood

The spiritual energy of the world circulated like the tides, much like a rising and falling wave.

And the highest point of that curve was the Golden Age.

During the Golden Age, geniuses shone like countless stars, while powerful martial artists, cultivators, demonic beasts, and others appeared in endless streams.

However, when the curve slid to its lowest point, the Age of Dharma Decline descended.

In the Age of Dharma Decline, spiritual energy withered away like a dried-up river.

The creatures in the mountains that relied on spiritual energy for cultivation knew that advancing their cultivation would be difficult.

Thus, they sought another path, choosing to feed on turbid qi and transform themselves into demons and monsters that brought calamity upon the world.

The era Xia Qi'an lived in stood at the historical juncture of depleted spiritual energy and the Five Turbidities Era.

And in the Age of Dharma Decline, the reason martial artists were able to dominate alone

was that martial artists cultivated their own blood qi, focusing on developing the potential of the human body. Their dependence on spiritual energy was far lower than that of demonic beasts and cultivators.

"Damn beast... Guh..." Xia Qi'an suddenly burst out of the water and roared angrily.

In the blink of an eye, the giant serpent dragged him back into the pool.

The once-calm pool churned violently, like boiling water.

Underwater, Xia Qi'an grappled with the giant serpent, like two flood dragons battling in the depths of the sea.

The giant serpent had failed to swallow him in one bite, so it could only rely on its enormous body to coil around him, attempting to crush him to death.

However, Xia Qi'an had already mastered Bronze Skin and Iron Bones. His body was as hard as a lump of iron, and no matter how the giant serpent coiled around him, it struggled to crush him.

At that moment, though, Xia Qi'an had been dragged underwater and was having trouble breathing. For a while, he found it difficult to break free of the giant serpent's coils.

Yet the more perilous the situation, the more it stirred the ferocity buried in Xia Qi'an's bones.

He had always lived by the principle: if you were vicious, he would be even more vicious!

Underwater, Xia Qi'an suddenly spread his five fingers and drove them into the gaps between the giant serpent's scales like eagle talons.

Then he gritted his teeth, summoned all his strength, and tore with all his might.

He ripped off a chunk of snake flesh still covered in red scales.

A sheet of blood-filled bubbles immediately surged up through the dark-blue water.

"Hiss..."

The giant serpent, overcome with pain, thrust its head above the surface and let out a hissing cry.

Taking advantage of this, Xia Qi'an underwater broke free of the serpent's body and burst from the surface, gasping for air like a fish returned to water.

"You damn beast, you still dare to run wild... Today, I'll show you what I'm capable of!"

With that, Xia Qi'an drew a deep breath and plunged underwater like a flood dragon entering the sea, heading toward the wound he had torn open.

However, the snake's blood had spread through the water by then, blinding his eyes with crimson. He could not see a thing.

Xia Qi'an had no choice but to give up and swim toward the bank instead.

Seeking fortune and avoiding danger was the nature of wild beasts.

The red serpent had been torn open and lost a chunk of flesh. The pain made its body convulse, and a trace of fear appeared in its snake eyes as it continuously shrank its barrel-thick body and retreated toward the mountain forest.

However, after drinking several mouthfuls of pool water mixed with snake blood, Xia Qi'an felt heat raging through his body. The blood qi throughout him rolled like boiling water.

He immediately understood that the flesh and blood of this scarlet serpent was a rare and potent tonic for martial artists.

Moreover, his Crimson Pupils revealed that turbid qi was overflowing from its body, telling him that it had surely eaten many people.

And the giant serpent had attacked first and injured someone of its own accord. Such a vicious beast could absolutely not be allowed to leave just like that.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Xia Qi'an's roar rang out like thunder, shaking the leaves all around him with a rustle. He wrapped his arms around the serpent's vat-thick body and clamped down tightly like an iron vice.

He repeated his previous trick, brutally ripping off several palm-sized scales.

At once, a fountain of bright-red snake blood gushed out, splattering Xia Qi'an's entire face.

Knowing that the snake blood was a potent tonic, Xia Qi'an gritted his teeth, opened his mouth, leaned close, and began gulping it down greedily.

"Hiss..."

Seeing this, the scarlet serpent's fear deepened. Its body rolled wildly, trying to throw Xia Qi'an off.

But Xia Qi'an's ten fingers were hooked like claws, firmly digging into its scales. No matter how violently the giant serpent rolled, he clung on like a parasite burrowed into its bones and refused to let go.

Xia Qi'an understood that the giant serpent was simply too large. Killing it was not very realistic.

So he abandoned the idea of killing the giant serpent and turned his attention to its flesh instead.

With that thought, he immediately drew the saber at his waist and stabbed viciously at the wound. He did not stop until he had cut off a large, bloody chunk of snake flesh.

By then, the giant serpent no longer dared to run wild. It only wanted to burrow into the mountain forest and escape.

Xia Qi'an knew he could not keep it there, so helplessly, he could only let it go.

After the giant serpent retreated, the area beside the pool lay in complete disarray. Snake blood stained everything red, making it look like an asura hell.

That tranquil beauty was gone without a trace.

A thought suddenly surfaced in Xia Qi'an's mind. To verify what he suspected,

he gazed into the dark pool once more, and sure enough, that strange sensation assaulted him again.

This time, however, he had learned his lesson. He only glanced briefly before swiftly withdrawing his gaze.

At this point, he concluded that the earlier sensation of his spirit leaving his body had not been caused by the giant serpent.

However, there was clearly something strange about the pool itself.

With that thought, he decisively activated his Crimson Pupils, drew a deep breath, and leaped into the water.

Once inside, Xia Qi'an's body continued sinking. He swam toward the bottom of the pool like a fish returned to water.

Sure enough, among the pebbles at the bottom of the pool, an unknown object emitted a sinister, dark-blue radiance.

If Xia Qi'an had guessed correctly, this deep pool had been dyed dark blue by the reflection of that object.

And the earlier sensation of Xia Qi'an's spirit leaving his body and being unable to move had also been caused by this object.

Without giving it much thought, Xia Qi'an grabbed the mysterious object and turned to swim toward the surface.

Once he returned to the bank, the pool instantly returned to normal.

Xia Qi'an carefully examined the mysterious object.

It was dark blue throughout, crystal clear, and radiated a faint blue glow, like a blue crystal.

Xia Qi'an studied it for a long while but could not figure out what it was.

Since he could not find any clues for the time being, he casually put it into his storage pouch.

The Burial Ridge Mountains were extraordinarily dangerous. Even in the outer regions, demonic beasts like the scarlet giant serpent roamed.

If he ventured farther in, who knew what dangers he might encounter?

After much hesitation, Xia Qi'an decided that he could not continue deeper.

After all, he was only at the late stage of the Late Blood Refining Realm, and his martial cultivation was far too low.

If he continued deeper, his life might well be in danger.

Xia Qi'an then decided to return to Jinling and report his findings.

Since zombies had already ventured deep into the Burial Ridge Mountains, they were beyond what he could handle at present.

It would be better to leave the matter to the Wei Dao Si and have them send martial artists of a higher realm to investigate.

Besides, Xia Qi'an had gained quite a lot from this trip into the mountains, and he was eager to find a place to refine it all.

The flesh and blood of the scarlet giant serpent was a potent tonic.

He vaguely sensed that if he ate more of the giant serpent's flesh, he might be able to complete his final blood exchange and achieve nine blood exchanges.

Once he had made up his mind, Xia Qi'an did not delay any further. He turned around and followed the same route toward the foot of the mountain.