The Duke's Vital Blood (Part 1)

In the northeast corner of the Blood Clan's city-state, a black and red metal city wall hundreds of meters high, along with a moat equally as wide, enclosed a luxurious estate spanning a thousand acres. Magnificent halls, exquisite gardens, upturned eaves, and flowing water features, along with dozens of towering pagodas and buildings, were all nestled within. From any perspective, this estate rivaled a famous ancient imperial palace in the East.

Numerous young men and women, clad in crimson robes, busied themselves within the estate, carefully familiarizing themselves with and tending to it. Dozens of teams of Yin Clan warriors in full armor patrolled the surroundings, while many tamed demonic beasts moved about, making the estate impenetrable.

This manor was the courtyard Yin Tianjue had ordered to be bestowed upon Yin Xuege for his residence. It had a rather fitting moniker: 'Blood Show Palace'.

Blood Show Palace, Moon Radiance Hall – this was the residence Yin Xuege had personally chosen. It was an exquisite hall situated on a lake island, surrounded by lush greenery. Its three-tiered courtyard structure was sufficient to house Yin Xuege and over a dozen personal maids.

In one corner of Moon Radiance Hall stood a pagoda, three hundred meters tall. This tower was reinforced with a permanent array that gathered spiritual energy from heaven and earth, the 'Great Yin Moon Radiance Array'. On moonlit nights, this grand array could draw in the essence of moonlight from a radius of six miles. Cultivating at the top of the pagoda was more than ten times as efficient as in other places. This array was also the origin of Moon Radiance Hall's name.

Eight middle-aged men and women, dressed in scarlet robes, stood solemnly at the entrance of the pagoda, their heads tilted upwards, gazing at the moonlight shimmering above. A half-crescent moon hung in the sky, casting its watery light. All the moonlight within six miles was drawn to the pagoda, leaving other areas shrouded in darkness, with only this tower bathed in rippling radiance.

These eight middle-aged individuals hailed from collateral branches of the Yin Clan. Their seniority was twice that of Yin Jihuang and Yin Jiwu, and they were all masters of the Yin Clan's 'Wu' generation. Four of the men were known by the names 'Wind Flower Snow Moon', and the four women were known by the titles 'Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum'. All eight came from four influential halls of the Yin Clan, serving as chief stewards with considerable authority.

Individually, their power did not match that of direct descendants like Yin Jihuang and Yin Jiwu, who held the position of 'Hall Master'. However, when their authority was combined, the collective strength they wielded was enough to make Yin Jihuang and Yin Jiwu keep their distance!

With their assistance to Yin Xuege, or rather, with them acting as Yin Xuege's 'stewards', coupled with the orders issued by Yin Tianjue, Yin Xuege had now established his own faction within the Yin Clan, no longer fearing the malicious suppression from Yin Jiwu and others.

At the pinnacle of the pagoda, Yin Xuege sat cross-legged on a blood-red cushion.

This Blood Flame Cushion was woven by the elders of the Yin Clan, who had gathered an extremely rare Earth Fiend Blood Silkworm Silk and refined it with the vital essence of millions of people into Blood Soul Thread. The cushion was incredibly sinister, but as extreme yin gives birth to yang, precisely because of its extreme yin and evil nature, it nurtured a strand of magnificent, righteous, and sun-like blazing Innate True Yang Fire.

When cultivating on this cushion, ordinary inner demons were shattered by the cushion's inherent supreme yin and evil aura. They could not withstand the corruption of the yin and evil energy and were annihilated before they could cause trouble. As for truly powerful demonic thoughts, they also could not resist the refining power of that strand of Innate True Yang Fire. They were born and died in an instant, with all thoughts being smelted into a resilient strand of mental power, constantly replenishing the cultivator's soul.

This was an extremely peculiar yet remarkably potent and powerful spiritual artifact. Whether in the East or West, only a few elders of the Yin Clan could refine Blood Flame Cushions; other forces could not even dream of obtaining such a treasure that could refine demonic thoughts and nourish oneself.

Even within the Yin Clan, the number of Blood Flame Cushions did not exceed twenty. If not for Yin Tianjue's intervention, forcibly taking this cushion from an elder of the 'Di' generation, Yin Xuege would not have such a treasure to aid his cultivation.

Seated on the cushion, a mass of supreme yin and evil energy enveloped his body. The moment small, chaotic thoughts arose, they were shattered by the evil energy. A strand of robust and gentle flame flickered within Yin Xuege's brow. If a powerful demon were to invade, or if strong obsessions or stray thoughts were to arise within his body, this flame would simply engulf them, transforming all demonic thoughts into streams of clear and pure divine consciousness, which were then absorbed and digested by Yin Xuege's soul.

When cultivating on this cushion, even with countless distracting thoughts or a constant influx of demons, Yin Xuege merely needed to circulate his cultivation technique without paying attention to these disturbances. His soul naturally strengthened and expanded, and his cultivation proceeded smoothly without any obstacles.

Within his heart, a drop of Farnburg's vital essence pulsed gently. At the core of this drop of vital essence, which resembled a glazed jewel, an ancient and profound Archaic Demonic Script faintly flickered, occasionally releasing an aura of antiquity, vastness, and primordial remoteness.

Yin Xuege seemed to see endless plains where mountains ten thousand miles high were commonplace. Countless ferocious and immensely powerful beasts engaged in bloody battles within the mountain ranges, causing mountains to crumble, rivers to reverse their flow, and the very earth to crack open with immense fissures.

Suddenly, a Purple Gold Bat with a wingspan exceeding a thousand miles descended with an arrogant and domineering aura. Following a mysterious trajectory filled with the beauty of heaven and earth's rhythm, the Purple Gold Bat swept across the mountain ranges. Wherever it passed, the beasts, tens of thousands of meters tall, roared and wailed in agony. All the vital essence within their bodies uncontrollably sprayed from their pores, pouring into the bat's gaping maw.

The sky was filled with blood, countless torrents of blood flew from the ground into the sky, and countless massive desiccated corpses plummeted heavily to the ground, shattering into countless pieces. The Purple Gold Bat let out a sharp cry. In the blink of an eye, all living beings within a radius of tens of thousands of miles had their blood and essence drained, dying. With a light flap of its wings, it stirred up dozens of whirlpools tens of thousands of miles high, gathering winds and clouds for thousands of miles, roaring straight into the heavens, and disappearing into the vast sky in an instant.

Powerful, majestic, evil, terrifying!

Within the layers of illusions, the Purple Gold Bat's infinite pressure washed over Yin Xuege. Even though it was just an illusion, it almost caused his bones to fracture, forcing sweat to pour down his body. The acupoints within him surged madly like a tsunami.

Farnburg's drop of vital essence quietly dissolved, transforming into countless points of dark golden light that permeated Yin Xuege's blood.

Yin Xuege's entire bloodline suddenly condensed. The endless moonlight essence from the outside continuously poured into his body. His bone marrow, with abnormal vitality, crazily generated new, viscous blood plasma, and the newly generated blood contained several times the power of his previous blood.

The newly formed blood plasma filled his blood vessels. Yin Xuege's every blood vessel expanded, and his aura became scorching hot, with the heat he exhaled leaving visible white trails in the air. However, within this scorching aura, the unique cold and evil energy of the Blood Demon race was also present. With every breath he exhaled, the temperature around Yin Xuege's body quietly dropped.

The blood plasma filling his body underwent a miraculous change. The various blood cells in his blood became tougher, and the maximum energy capacity of each cell more than doubled. The azure light within his blood grew increasingly dense. With each powerful beat of his heart, the azure energy circulated throughout his body. Yin Xuege could clearly perceive that his entire bodily functions were undergoing earth-shattering changes.

This was the precious vital essence from a 'Blood Demon Duke'. It not only contained immense power but also the entirety of an ancient Blood Demon Duke's experience in body forging and power control. Yin Xuege's physique was evolving towards a higher, more perfect Blood Demon form; in other words, his bloodline was rapidly recovering, heading towards the ultimate form of that golden bat.

With a 'drip' sound, the large azure blood bead within Yin Xuege's heart collapsed inwards. The originally pale azure light intensified, turning into a deep azure color with a hint of mysterious blue light. Drop by drop, deep azure vital essence continuously generated within his heart. Ten drops, twenty drops, fifty drops – in the blink of an eye, it surpassed a hundred drops!

Two hundred, three hundred, five hundred!

After digesting just one drop of the Duke's vital essence, Yin Xuege's heart had generated a full thousand drops of deep azure Blood Demon vital essence. Moreover, each drop of Blood Demon vital essence was crystal clear, lustrous, and radiant like a jewel, containing powerful life force and blood energy.

As his heart beat, these thousand drops of Blood Demon vital essence flowed lightly through Yin Xuege's blood vessels. Wherever this vital essence passed, his body felt a surge of heat. Cracking sounds of muscle and bone growth emanated from within Yin Xuege. His slender body gradually became fuller and more robust. With a tingling sensation at his joints, his height also visibly increased by about an inch.

However, the magical power contained within that single drop of the Duke's vital essence had only been utilized by slightly more than half. The formation of a thousand drops of Blood Demon vital essence, containing even greater power, signified that Yin Xuege had successfully attained the peak strength of a Moon Warrior. But before Yin Xuege could adapt to his surging power, stimulated by that drop of the Duke's vital essence, after circulating nine major cycles within his body, all thousand drops of vital essence returned to his heart.

The thousand drops of deep azure vital essence merged into one, forming a large, deep azure blood bead that spun rapidly.

Yin Xuege's heart continuously absorbed the life force and blood energy from this deep azure blood bead, gradually becoming stronger and more powerful. Every muscle fiber contained several times the vitality.

Powerful heartbeats echoed continuously. Dark golden-red blood light gathered from all around his body and instantly rushed into the deep azure blood bead.

His heart beat violently 360 times. With each intense beat, a large amount of grayish-brown viscous sweat flowed from Yin Xuege's body. The chilling sweat was filled with a strong, fishy odor, and visible grayish-black dust-like impurities could be seen mixed within the sweat. (To be continued)