Return

A quarter of an hour later, a hundred miles away from the towering city walls of the Great Berlin City-State.

Since the spiritual veins had reconnected and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had gradually become more abundant, the plants and trees in the world had also become more vigorous and lush. Taking this stretch of Black Pine Forest, spanning three to four hundred miles, as an example, the shortest pine trees in the forest were nearly a hundred meters tall, while the tallest, ancient hundred-year-old pines, reached over two hundred meters.

Tree trunks as thick as several people embracing, topped with dense, light-blocking canopies, their bark like dragon scales covered in countless vines and moss. Not a single weed could be seen in the forest; instead, there were wide open spaces between the pine trees. Thick layers of pine needles covered the ground and climbed over the exposed roots, with countless precious fungi and similar growths flourishing.

Two paper figures floated, supporting the pale-faced jailer.

Jiang Tuochen smiled as he looked at the jailer, the Azure Steel Sword flashing before the jailer's eyes. A three-foot-long yellow paper talisman flew out from nowhere, spewed out a flame, and then adhered tightly to the sword's body. Jiang Tuochen recited an incantation, and the Azure Steel Sword lightly touched the jailer's forehead. The jailer suddenly let out a shrill scream, a foul odor assailed the senses, and with his eyes rolling back and pupils completely unfocused, he soiled himself.

"This Daoist priest keeps his word. I will naturally spare this fellow's life!" Jiang Tuochen said with a brilliant smile, looking at the withered old man leaning against an ancient pine tree. "However, I never said I wouldn't erase all of his memories!"

The old man, thin and shriveled, wrapped in a tattered, gold-trimmed crimson robe, let out a cold, mocking laugh. He rolled his eyes at Jiang Tuochen and gently shook his withered arm. "But you don't seem very proficient with that Soul-Shattering Curse of yours, so you ended up erasing all of this person's intelligence as well?"

Jiang Tuochen sheathed his sword and sighed at the old man with a look of pity for all beings. "My cultivation is lacking, I am ashamed, truly ashamed! Although this fellow has had all his intelligence erased, he is at least still alive. I haven't broken my promise!"

Wumu, brimming with excessive energy, zipped around dozens of ancient pine trees at high speed. He created hundreds of afterimages, leaping and darting about as if driven mad, occasionally diving headfirst into the meter-deep layer of pine needles on the ground, his silver fur inevitably getting mixed with countless dry yellow pine needles.

Hearing Jiang Tuochen's words, Wumu let out a cold snort. He leaped up, landed on a branch fifty meters off the ground, and squatted there, looking down at Jiang Tuochen from above. With a 'pfft,' he spat out a mouthful of saliva.

"Hypocritical Daoist! I hate guys like you who say one thing and do another. Lord Wumu never does such hypocritical things!"

Yin Xuege rubbed his face and, with an incredibly bright smile, slowly walked up to the old man who called himself the Blood Demon Duke. He extended a hand in front of the old man and beckoned forcefully with his finger. "Respected Duke, you promised me your conditions, and you should fulfill them, right? Twenty drops of the Duke's Essence Blood, and an oath never to seek revenge for today's events in any form. You just took that oath!"

Yin Xuege remembered this old man's voice vividly.

When he was first imprisoned in the Blood Prison, he heard the sounds of this old man being tortured. He also heard the torturers questioning the old man about the whereabouts of the 'Blood Chalice.' That was a sacred artifact passed down through the Blood Demon clan, one of the thirteen most important treasures of the Blood Demon race.

This old man's origins were definitely not simple! But Yin Xuege knew clearly that something like the Blood Chalice was not something he could covet! If the ancestor of the Yin Clan, Yin Tianjue, were here, he would have the right to question about the Blood Chalice, but Yin Xuege wisely only wanted to obtain the benefits that belonged to him.

He wasn't greedy, not at all! He was currently just a weak Star Warrior, and he only pursued what was rightfully his!

The old man looked at Yin Xuege and then spoke with genuine emotion. "A Sunwalker! I must say, our Blood Demon clan has produced a remarkable young fellow! Hmm, when I return to my own clan, I'll probably have to have those youngsters pay more attention to your movements!"

Yin Xuege looked directly into the old man's dim, lifeless eyes and said coldly, "That is a matter for you and your clan. I don't care about that! I am merely a weak Young Disciple. I fulfilled my promise and rescued you from that damned Blood Prison, and for that, I owe Mr. Jiang Tuochen a favor! Therefore, I hope you will give me what you promised, and it would be best if we never see each other again!"

Jiang Tuochen stood by, smiling kindly. He was happy to see such a situation unfold!

Although Yin Xuege had the physique of a Sunwalker, possessing extraordinary potential and talent, he was currently just a Young Disciple. It might take a long time for him to grow up! However, the Essence Blood of a Blood Demon Duke would be enough to greatly accelerate Yin Xuege's growth.

If it weren't for the Blood Demon Duke's identity being so intimidating, which made Jiang Tuochen hesitant to act rashly, he would have even considered killing the old man and extracting all his Essence Blood to give to Yin Xuege. Yin Xuege was an investment target chosen by Jiang Rusheng, and Jiang Tuochen didn't mind doing a little more for Yin Xuege. It was all 'favors,' wasn't it?

It was just that, for a Blood Demon Duke, even one severely weakened and appearing on the verge of death, Jiang Tuochen was unwilling to act against him rashly. The Blood Demon clan was skilled in all sorts of strange curses and spells. Even with his sufficient confidence, Jiang Tuochen had to consider the safety of the younger generation of his family around him.

Dozens of younger generation members of the Jiang family stood loosely around, forming the Eight Directions Heaven-Enveloping Formation intentionally or unintentionally, encircling this forest area. Various colored lights flickered between their fingers, their auras connected as one, ready to unleash a world-shattering strike at any moment.

The old man leaning against the pine tree trunk smiled and nodded. He glanced at Jiang Tuochen, who stood by looking calm but actually on high alert, and then at the Jiang family juniors surrounding him who had already formed their formation. He immediately grinned, baring his teeth.

"Members of the Stuttgart Family are never ungrateful. We repay kindness with kindness and enmity with enmity!" The old man stood up shakily, smiling as he patted Yin Xuege's head. "You should know the reputation of the Stuttgart Family. Among the countless dark families in the Western world, the Stuttgart Family is one of the most noble."

Wumu let out a loud whistle. He looked at the old man with feigned astonishment and shouted, "The Stuttgart Family? The Stuttgart Family, rumored to have produced seven Blood Emperors and three Blood Gods, known as the foremost royal family of the Blood Demons? Old man, you've truly disgraced your ancestors by being captured alive by a bunch of humans and thrown into the Blood Prison!"

The old man's body trembled slightly with anger. He glared fiercely at Wumu, then threw his head back and exhaled deeply.

"Rude and barbaric big dog! An old man comfortably sleeping in a secret lair, with less than a tenth of his peak strength, besieged by twenty-three Grand Arbiters from two super city-states, leading two thousand five hundred elite Hunters! Do you think I wanted to become a prisoner?"

Flicking his little finger disdainfully at Wumu, the old man took a deep breath, then extended his right index finger. His fingernail, half a foot long, dug forcefully into his own heart. With a grating sound like rusty steel ingots rubbing against each other, the old man pried open his chest, revealing a heart that was golden-red in color, its surface inscribed with dozens of bean-sized blood-red demonic characters.

He carefully touched his heart, and the old man's body trembled violently. His aged face contorted. With low gasps, a drop of dark golden-red blood seeped from his heart. As the old man chanted, the blood seeped out faster and faster.

After a full half-hour, twenty thumb-sized, perfectly round, crystal-clear blood drops, like red agate beads, floated before Yin Xuege. The old man rubbed his chest forcefully with his palm, and the gash on his chest immediately vanished without a trace.

"Youngster, what is your name?" The old man looked at Yin Xuege sternly. "I am Faenborg Emple Stuttgart. You will inherit my blood, and therefore you will inherit my name. Your glory will be shared with me, and my radiance will protect you!"

Yin Xuege looked at the old man Faenborg in confusion, shook his head, and took a deep breath, unsure of what was happening, absorbing the twenty drops of blood containing immense essence blood energy into his body. The unique innate secret technique of the Blood Demon clan activated, and these twenty blood drops quietly seeped into Yin Xuege's heart, gradually releasing pure and resilient blood energy that he slowly absorbed.

"Alright, Lord Faenborg, let's not waste any more time!" Yin Xuege scratched his head and shook his head at Faenborg, whose appearance had instantly aged considerably. "You swore a soul oath, and don't bother me again in the future! I am Yin Xuege of the Yin Clan, an insignificant Young Disciple! I still believe it's best if we never meet again!"

Faenborg's aged face twitched. He widened his eyes and stared blankly at Yin Xuege.

After a long while, Faenborg pointed at Yin Xuege, trembling, then shook his head helplessly. He cast a deep glance at Jiang Tuochen, who stood by, fully prepared, and suddenly burst into a brilliant smile.

"Alright, alright, I will take the soul oath now. I will not bother you, Yin Xuege!"

"The Stuttgart Family repays kindness with kindness, and enmity with enmity! Yin Xuege, I remember your name! You wish for us not to meet again in the future, but I think that wish might be hard to fulfill!" He rubbed his nose forcefully, and Faenborg, holding onto a sliver of hope, stared at Yin Xuege with wide eyes. "Hmm, did your elders not tell you what the Blood Codex Ritual is?"

Yin Xuege looked at Faenborg blankly.

Wumu, perched on the branch, looked at Yin Xuege with stunned shock.

Jiang Tuochen and the descendants of the Jiang family looked at Faenborg, who was full of hope and whose face kept twitching, without understanding.

After another long silence, Faenborg sighed with a touch of helplessness. He rubbed his face forcefully, then shook his head gently. He wasted no more time and, according to the agreement between himself, Yin Xuege, and Jiang Tuochen, took a vicious soul oath. Then, his figure flickered, and a mass of viscous blood mist quietly rose, enveloping his body.

The bright moon hung high in the sky. A large bat, the size of a washbasin, entirely dark golden-red, with countless extremely fine golden runes filled with a noble, sacred aura on its wings, burst forth from the blood mist. It circled Yin Xuege's head thirteen times, then transformed into a streak of bloody light and flew rapidly towards the west.

Faenborg's flying speed was astonishingly fast. Even Jiang Tuochen only saw a few faint afterimages flash by before Faenborg disappeared from his sight. Seeing Faenborg's incredible speed, Jiang Tuochen couldn't help but gasp.

Fortunately, he hadn't acted rashly. This old fellow's strength had likely exceeded Jiang Tuochen's estimation.

Waving his horsetail whisk, Jiang Tuochen walked slowly to Yin Xuege's side and then, smiling, took out a scroll of oath from his sleeve. It was a magical scroll, a foot and two inches long, with a purple-gold axis, and enveloped in purple qi.

"Let's get down to business!" Jiang Tuochen smiled at Yin Xuege. "Having obtained twenty drops of Duke Faenborg's Essence Blood, young friend Yin Xuege, your future ascent is promising. Our Jiang family is very pleased to have an ally like you!"

Yin Xuege took the oath scroll and, without hesitation, bit his finger and wrote the terms of his agreement with Jiang Tuochen on the scroll with his blood. As each word landed on the scroll, a deep and majestic voice sounded in the ears of everyone present, reciting each word. The voice penetrated directly into their minds, as if resonating from the depths of their souls.

After writing down all the terms, Yin Xuege signed his name at the end of the scroll.

Jiang Tuochen also bit his finger and signed his name on the scroll with his blood.

The scroll suddenly dissolved into the wind, transforming into a swirling mass of purple mist that hovered before Yin Xuege and Jiang Tuochen. The purple mist then writhed rapidly for a moment before finally solidifying into two fist-sized runes, which shot out in streaks of light and merged into the foreheads of Yin Xuege and Jiang Tuochen.

Yin Xuege immediately felt a new constraint within his soul. He looked at Jiang Tuochen, noticing a subtle, peculiar connection forming between them. It wasn't just with Jiang Tuochen; Yin Xuege could also sense a faint connection with the other Jiang family members present.

"I'm curious, do you, or rather, the Jiang family, truly see potential in me?" Yin Xuege asked Jiang Tuochen, his eyes filled with curiosity.

"That's the way my Jiang family survives!" Jiang Tuochen replied with a smile, looking at Yin Xuege. "The Jiang family loves signing these ally agreements with young people who have boundless potential! We sign these ally contracts when these promising youths are still very weak, and the price we pay is utterly insignificant!"

"But once they grow, they will bring endless rewards to the Jiang family!" Yin Xuege said, looking at Jiang Tuochen. "A very wise approach! Just like today, I am deeply grateful for your kindness. In the future, when I have sufficient strength, I will repay you!"

Jiang Tuochen smiled and shook his head. He gently patted Yin Xuege's shoulder and said slowly, "It's not to repay me, but to repay my Jiang family. Of course, it's not about repayment, but mutual benefit! The ancestral teachings of the Jiang family are the 'Path of the Saint King.' We hope all our allies can gain benefits from cooperating with us."

Smiling at Yin Xuege, Jiang Tuochen lowered his voice and quietly asked, "Young friend Yin Xuege, once you have enough strength, you won't let the people of the Great Berlin City-State off, will you?"

Yin Xuege's expression instantly turned cold. He slowly nodded, a faint mist of blood subtly rising around him.

Jiang Tuochen burst into laughter. He smiled and bowed to Yin Xuege, then vigorously shook his whisk. The surrounding Jiang disciples quickly gathered. The group began chanting spells in unison, and a white mist rose, carried by a gentle breeze as it rapidly swept towards the Great Berlin City-State.

Yin Xuege touched his heart. Twenty drops of 'Duke's Essence Blood' were hidden within his heart, awaiting his absorption and integration.

For powerful Blood Demon Dukes, every drop of their essence blood was incredibly precious. Each drop of Duke's Essence Blood could be used to create a powerful Blood Demon warrior. Now, Yin Xuege possessed twenty such drops, enough to bring about earth-shattering changes in his strength in a short period. For the Blood Demon clan, devouring the essence blood of higher-ranking Blood Demons was itself the ultimate shortcut to rapidly increasing their power!

Thinking of the unfortunate Faenborg, who had been imprisoned in the Blood Prison, Yin Xuege couldn't help but look towards the west.

"Old man, I really don't want to see you again! I don't have the power to get involved in matters concerning the Blood Chalice!"

High in the sky, hundreds of miles away from Black Pine Forest, Faenborg, flying rapidly westward, grumbled incessantly.

"Young disciple of the Yin Clan, Yin Xuege! May the great Ancestor forgive the sins of the Yin Clan. They don't even know about the Blood Codex Ritual? Upstart outsiders are still upstart outsiders. Don't they know the most ancient and traditional secret codex commandments?"

"Yin Xuege, little fellow, having inherited my essence blood, I believe it won't be long before we meet again with great surprise!"

"Alright, the most pressing issue now is to first recover my peak strength, and then find out why those scoundrels from the Great Berlin City-State and the Milan City-State managed to find my secret sleeping lair! Moreover, how did they know about the Blood Chalice and its connection to me?"

"Damn traitor, I will drain your blood and refine your bone marrow into oil paste to make long-burning candles!"

Two nights later, at the location where Yin Xuege and two Yin Clan warriors had left their Flying Magic Chariot three days prior, a Flying Magic Chariot arrived as scheduled.

Yin Xuege walked silently into the waiting chariot and then spread his hands towards an attendant from the External Affairs Hall inside.

"The mission failed. Humans discovered our tracks, and Yin 9937 and Yin 9938 were separated from me."

Looking at the stunned face of the External Affairs Hall attendant, Yin Xuege let out a cold, triumphant laugh.

"I escaped the human pursuit with the help of a friend. Hey, Lord Wumu!"

With a flash of silver light, Wumu, who was over three meters tall, darted into the chariot, kicking away two Yin Clan warriors who tried to intercept him.

******

Pig Head is going out today to buy lip balm and other small trinkets for his wife!

So, today's update is being posted all at once. I don't know when I'll be back tonight! (To be continued)