Blood Spirit Ruins

The Great Asura Lord arrived with world-ending might, accompanied by the appearance of the Red Fire Dragon Venerable.

The red fire descended upon the heavens, annihilating three rivers and sixteen domains. Flames blazed, dragon might spread, and with its own power, it suppressed all Devilish Heresy.

"That's the Great Asura Lord, an existence nearing the third rank. They only lack the foundation for enlightenment to become a Buddha and achieve sainthood. Perhaps this trip to the Dragon-Raising Temple is to find that foundation."

"Unfortunately, it was casually destroyed by that True Dragon."

Xuan Ye sighed repeatedly.

Hearing this, Su Qingqiu rolled his eyes. This guy was really washing his hands of his own responsibility.

The Great Asura Lord going to the Dragon-Raising Temple wasn't your idea?

Su Qingqiu feigned a sigh and said, "I never expected such a powerful being to reside within the Dragon-Raising Temple. Regardless of whether it was a True Dragon or not, for me, this foundation for enlightenment is unobtainable."

"What can be done?"

Xuan Ye's eyes flashed, and he pretended to ask with concern, "Senior, what is the relationship between your foundation for enlightenment and that True Dragon? If it's a secret and inconvenient to discuss, you don't have to say. However, my Zhaoyang Country is vast and rich. Perhaps the item you need isn't necessarily found in the Dragon-Raising Temple?"

Xuan Ye's true intentions finally surfaced. He wanted to recruit the Qingqiu Daoist before him.

Su Qingqiu frowned and remained silent for a moment before finally sighing, "Very well, it's not a significant secret. What I need is the bone of a True Dragon, the more the better... Well, actually, spiritual bones or devil bones over ten thousand years old would also work. Preferably, spiritual devil bones with attributes. It doesn't necessarily have to be True Dragon bones."

Ten-thousand-year-old spiritual bones or devil bones?

You might as well say you want the bones of an Earthly Immortal. Everyone wants those.

Xuan Ye was taken aback, then said, "What a coincidence! My Zhaoyang Imperial Court enshrines a Dragon Bone... However..."

He showed a hint of difficulty, then gritted his teeth and said, "Forget it. If this True Dragon Bone can help our Human Race gain another Earthly Immortal, even if I have to grovel, I will beg for this Dragon Bone for you, Senior."

What he was referring to was the massive serpentine skeleton unearthed from Mount Fu years ago, which was at least tens of thousands of years old.

However, due to the powerful devilish qi contained deep within its marrow, it had been impossible to utilize effectively, and it had been stored in the Imperial Court for a long time.

Of course, he wouldn't tell Su Qingqiu the specifics.

Xuan Ye didn't know that this was precisely Su Qingqiu's goal. As early as at the Dragon-Raising Temple, after seeing Xuan Ye's rare books detailing the secret history of dragons, he had already set his sights on this Dragon Bone.

At that time, he couldn't scheme against Xuan Ye without a devil pill. Today, if he couldn't trick Xuan Ye completely, he wouldn't be human!

"Is that true?" Su Qingqiu put on an act of extreme excitement.

"Absolutely!" Xuan Ye nodded with a smile.

"This... this is wonderful." Su Qingqiu excitedly stood up and paced, before finally managing to sit down and continue, "If I obtain the Dragon Bone, I shall serve Your Highness for a hundred years. Not only that, but Your Highness's future descendants will also receive my protection."

An Earthly Immortal had a lifespan of 300 years. A promise of a hundred years of service was more than enough.

"Good, good, good!"

Xuan Ye nodded repeatedly, filled with joy.

What followed was a feast of hospitality and toasts. Unfortunately, none of those present knew that Su Qingqiu hadn't touched a single drop of alcohol throughout the entire event.

It was all just a Shape-Shifting Illusion.

In Snake Abyss, after retrieving the devil pill, Su Qingqiu's massive snake face split into a grin.

He had only intended to test the controllability of the devil pill, but he hadn't expected such a great accidental gain.

Not to mention the Dragon Bone in the Imperial Court, using the identity of the Qingqiu Daoist to secretly connect with Xuan Ye was the most valuable gain.

After all, no matter how wealthy the Dragon-Raising Temple was, it couldn't compare to the Zhaoyang royal family that ruled a nation. As Su Qingqiu grew stronger, he would inevitably need other treasures and resources.

These could all be obtained through the identity of the Qingqiu Daoist, via Xuan Ye.

"I've agreed with Xuan Ye to meet on the fifteenth of the third month, three months from now, in Chiyang City. I also told him to find more rare books about dragons... I hope I can find a method for dragon transformation."

Su Qingqiu looked at his massive body and sighed.

To this day, he still showed no signs of shedding his skin. Although he possessed the spine and horns of a Red Fire Dragon, in essence, he was still a Spiritual Python.

The inability to shed his skin meant he couldn't evolve further into a higher life form, and his dream of dragon transformation was thus shattered.

Therefore, he had to find a way for the Spiritual Python to continue evolving.

To this end, he not only accelerated his exploration of the second level of Snake Abyss but also arranged for Ling Fa to secretly consult the relevant records of the Dragon-Raising Temple, hoping for a breakthrough.

But he had found nothing so far.

However, Ling Fa did uncover a historical rumor: over three hundred years ago, a high monk and several thousand-year-old Spirit Lords had jointly researched the path of Spiritual Snake cultivation in the Spiritual Market of Snake Abyss. For some unknown reason, the research was forced to a halt.

The research site was eventually sealed within the Spiritual Market.

"Spiritual Market?"

Su Qingqiu frowned.

After the bloody incident at the Dragon-Raising Temple, Snake Abyss had transitioned from an open state to a sealed state.

It was said that the missing Bodhisattva was responsible.

Therefore, in the span of three hundred years, not only had Snake Abyss grown by one layer, but this layer had also undergone earth-shattering changes.

He couldn't find the location of the Spiritual Market at all.

After obtaining the residual memory information from Puzhi, Su Qingqiu had secretly searched Spiritual Market but failed to find it.

He did, however, discover the locations of several Spirit Ruins nodes. At the time, he felt his strength was insufficient and didn't explore them.

Now, after devouring Great Asura Lord, Su Qingqiu not only gained more powerful equipment, the Fire Dragon spine, but his Spiritual Essence also surged to an equivalent of fifteen thousand years of Daoism Cultivation.

With his Spiritual Essence unfurled, all evil retreated. Coupled with his physically augmented body, he was equivalent to a Third-Rank Arhat.

So...

"Let's check out Spirit Ruins?"

Su Qingqiu's thought flashed and was gone.

He acted on impulse. Spotting a direction, he followed the Eight Extraordinary Meridians of the Dragon Bone and burrowed in.

As he advanced, only the rustling sound of his slithering was heard. Occasionally, chaotic Demons appeared in the surroundings, but upon seeing him, they fled in terror.

These Demons were negligible to Su Qingqiu, so he couldn't be bothered to pursue them.

About an hour later...

He crawled to the vicinity of a massive, dark spring.

The spring was boiling with blood-red water, and pale, illusory human faces flickered within it. Simultaneously, two Eight Extraordinary Meridians passed through this spot, with a node falling precisely into the Pond.

The blood-red liquid was flowing from the node, filling the Pond and showing signs of spreading outwards.

The surrounding rock walls were stained a blood-red, covered in lumpy, tumor-like growths that were exceptionally eerie.

This was one of Snake Abyss's Spirit Ruins.

Su Qingqiu named it: Blood Spirit Ruins.

Su Qingqiu wasn't sure what this blood was, nor why the Eight Extraordinary Meridians were bleeding.

To understand, he had to enter the Pond and investigate.