Blood Sea Sign-In

Chapter 32: Blood Sea Sign-In

The air in the side chamber was always thick with that cloying, fishy stench. Breathing too much of it made one's head feel heavy.

Taiyi sat cross-legged, his back ramrod straight like a stone tablet planted in bloody mud. Before him lay three things—the bowl of viscous Blood Dew, the Bone Fragment covered in ghostly runes, and the semi-transparent Strange Fruit with swirling mist inside.

The Blood Slave drifted away after delivering the items. The blood-red curtain at the entrance closed again, shutting out even the deathly silence of the palace beyond.

Time flowed slowly here, like congealed blood.

Taiyi did not touch any of those things. He first closed his eyes and extended his divine sense like the finest spider silk, "feeling" through the side chamber inch by inch. The seams between the bone panels on the walls, the faint patterns on the floor, the shifting halo atop the blood crystals... even the drifting paths of the particles carrying that sweet, fishy stench in the air.

He found no obvious spying restrictions. But this was Styx's lair. Not finding any did not mean there were none. Perhaps the entire palace—every bone, every strand of bloody light—was that old bat's eyes and ears.

He opened his eyes, his gaze settling on the three "gifts," his expression as calm as a deep pool.

He could not rush.

Styx had just sent these things. On the surface, it was a gesture of goodwill, but in truth, it was also a test—a test of his reaction, his attitude toward the Blood Sea path, the severity of his injuries, and the urgency of his needs.

He had to give a reaction, but it had to be useful.

Healing and recovery were the priority, but he could not let Styx understand his condition and recovery progress too clearly. That bowl of Blood Dew looked highly nourishing, but their attributes clashed. If he really swallowed it, his stomach would probably turn into a battlefield of ice and fire, giving that old bat a free show.

The runes on the Bone Fragment might truly contain some insight. An old monster like Styx had lived for countless years and surely had his own understanding of "harmonizing conflicts." Even if it was merely scraps of knowledge, it would be enough for Taiyi to reference. But directly studying it was too risky—who knew whether there was a trap hidden inside? If his divine sense entered it, would it be tampered with?

As for the fruit... Taiyi reached out, picked it up, and brought it before his eyes. Beneath its semi-transparent skin, the dark-red mist churned even more violently. Fine lightning patterns flickered within, crackling like a living creature trapped inside.

This thing reminded him of the several forces fighting each other inside his dantian. All equally chaotic, equally unstable, equally... full of contradictions.

He stared at the fruit, and a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Then he made an apparently casual yet extremely careful move—he lightly scratched the fruit's membrane with a fingertip.

He did not use much force, only cutting a slit thinner than a strand of hair.

In an instant, an exceedingly faint trace of energy leaked from the slit, mixed with contradictory auras such as blood fiendishness, vitality, and evil-breaking yang force. The aura was so faint that it was nearly imperceptible, but the moment it appeared, the stagnant air in the side chamber seemed to come "alive" ever so slightly.

Taiyi immediately inhaled that trace of energy through his nose and guided it into his body—not into his dantian, but deliberately into a relatively "clean" branch of meridians reinforced by "cement."

The energy entered his body like a spark falling into dry grass.

Though it was only a trace, the conflict between its various attributes immediately erupted. It resonated with the residual earth-vein fiendish energy and violent blood remnants in his meridians, triggering a small-scale disturbance.

Taiyi immediately mobilized the bit of "ruling will" he had comprehended from the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint. Like a master craftsman, he neither suppressed nor extinguished it, but guided, observed, and analyzed this "miniature conflict" of chaos.

This time, he "saw" it more clearly. How forces of different natures repelled one another, under what threshold they were forced to "coexist," where conflicts erupted, and what subtle signs preceded energy conversion...

It was like watching a miniature battlefield sandbox running at high speed.

A moment later, that trace of energy was exhausted, and the chaos within his meridians settled. Taiyi slowly opened his eyes, a faint flash of realization passing through them.

Useful.

This fruit was like a natural "conflict model." Its value in helping him understand his own condition and refine that crude "internal order maintenance method" surpassed the Blood Dew and Bone Fragment combined.

However... inspiration alone was not enough.

He needed something practical, something that could quickly be converted into strength. He needed... to sign in.

Signing in at a place like the Blood Sea would surely carry a high degree of defiance. But what counted as defiance? Smashing this side chamber? Cursing Styx's ancestors? That was seeking death, not defiance.

Defiance... had to mean touching certain "lines" while ensuring that, for some reason, the other party could not or would not immediately turn hostile.

His gaze swept over the three things before him again, over this cold bone chamber, and finally through the blood-red curtain, as though he could see the boundless, nauseating Blood Sea outside.

A plan slowly raised its head from the depths of his heart like a venomous snake.

He needed to perform.

What sort of person should he play?

Someone heavily injured and not yet recovered, proud and arrogant, fallen from the clouds yet still unwilling to bow his head, someone who viewed everything with criticism and dissatisfaction... a fallen emperor.

Someone trapped in a filthy and dangerous place, inwardly restless and anxious, who needed to belittle his surroundings to preserve his self-respect... a pitiful wretch.

This image could both explain what he was about to say and do, and lower Styx's guard—who would truly regard a loser who could only rage helplessly and vent verbally as a major threat?

And it could perfectly trigger "defiance."

Having made up his mind, the calm, unreadable expression on Taiyi's face began to change. His brows furrowed, the corners of his mouth drooped, and irritation, impatience, and a strained, blustering arrogance slowly crept into his eyes.

He took a deep breath, then spoke in a deliberately raised tone filled with obvious displeasure and criticism.

His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough to carry through the curtain.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue at the air first, as though he had smelled something unbearable.

Then he looked at the bowl of Blood Dew on the floor, open disgust on his face. "Fellow Daoist Styx... isn't this a little perfunctory?" He shook his head, his tone carrying a lofty judgment. "You dare use such filthy, reeking filth to heal this emperor's injuries? Do you think this emperor has reached the end of his rope and would swallow any rubbish?"

He extended the tip of his foot and lightly kicked the edge of the stone bowl. The clang rang especially harshly through the silent side chamber.

"True Sun Fire is supremely yang and supremely pure. This sort of bloody, fiendish filth is no different from arsenic to this emperor. Could it be that Fellow Daoist does not know?" The suspicion and displeasure in his tone deepened.

After speaking of the Blood Dew, his gaze shifted to the Bone Fragment. He picked it up, casually flipped through it twice, then sneered and tossed it back onto the floor.

"And this thing... you carve a few pretentious runes and expect this emperor to study them? To regulate conflicts among various forces?" The mockery at his lips became more obvious. "This emperor's path has its own way. Why would minor internal ailments require borrowed external methods? It would only take some tedious effort. If Fellow Daoist truly has sincerity, send something substantial instead."

He no longer looked at the Bone Fragment, as though it were worthless trash.

Finally, he stood, clasped his hands behind his back, and began pacing through the cramped side chamber. His steps appeared heavy and sluggish because of his "injuries," but his spine remained straight and his chin raised high. He surveyed the surroundings with the critical gaze of one inspecting his own territory.

Looking at the cold bone walls, the dim blood-crystal light, and the surging blood-red curtain at the entrance, the disgust and impatience on his face finally accumulated to their peak.

"This place..." He stopped, his voice carrying a genuine irritation he could not suppress—this time, it was not entirely an act. "Really isn't fit for people."

He paused, as though struggling to endure something, but in the end, he could not hold back. His voice abruptly rose, filled with venting malice:

"Cold! Reeking! Deadly silent! There isn't even any decent spiritual energy, only filth and turbid qi everywhere! Fellow Daoist Styx placed this emperor in such a ghostly place? Is this how the Blood Sea treats its guests?"

He spoke faster and faster, his voice taking on Eastern Emperor Taiyi's innate domineering certainty and fastidiousness:

"They say the Blood Sea is one of the Great Wilderness's extraordinary places. This emperor thought it was some blessed grotto-heaven! Seeing it today, it truly lives up to its reputation... No, seeing it is even worse than smelling it!"

"Other than endless filthy blood, bones strewn across the ground, and a pack of neither-human-nor-ghost Asuras that only know how to shriek, what else is there? Huh? What is there?!"

He fiercely swept his sleeve, though it was tattered beyond repair. His voice was firm and absolute, carrying complete rejection:

"Compared to this emperor's Sun Star Sun Palace, this place... is not even worthy of carrying shoes! No, it does not even compare to the dust swept from before the gates of Sun Palace! Staying here is simply an insult to this emperor's eyes and a pollution of this emperor's Dao Heart!"

"If not for... hmph!"

He ended with a cold snort, forcibly cutting himself off. Yet his utter contempt and humiliation toward the entire Blood Sea environment had already been poured out in full.

Silence.

Deathly silence.

Only his slightly heavy breathing from "agitation" remained in the side chamber.

Amid that silence—

[Detected that the host is in a special forbidden location: Blood Sea Core (Styx's Palace)]

[Detected that the host is carrying out an extremely defiant act: within the dojo of the Blood Sea's master, after just forming an alliance and accepting gifts, publicly adopting an extremely arrogant attitude to completely reject and humiliate the Blood Sea's environment, resources, and derived race, severely provoking the foundation and dignity of Styx's Great Dao]

[Danger Rating: High Risk (Host is currently severely injured and weakened, within the opponent's absolute home ground, and acting in an extremely suicidal manner)]

[Defiance Level: Extreme (The act itself has touched the bottom line, but due to the host's image as a severely injured "weakling" and the framework of the alliance, the defiance assessment has received a special dramatic bonus)]

[Reward calculation formula activated... calculation complete]

[This sign-in reward: Blood Sea Origin Imprint (Fragment) ×1, Taboo Points +85]

It worked!

Almost at the exact instant the system notification sounded—

"BOOM...!!!"

It was not a sound, but a dull roar that directly struck the level of the soul!

The entire side chamber—no, the entire bone palace—began to shake violently! It was not swaying from side to side, but a dizzying tremor like rising and falling in waves!

The dark-red blood crystals embedded in the walls instantly blazed with blinding light. The light twisted like blood-red tongues about to devour someone! Thick dark-red liquid seeped from the cracks between the cold bone slabs on the floor, hissing as it released a sweet, rotten stench a hundred times stronger than before!

The blood-red curtain at the entrance abruptly swelled and warped, transforming into an enormous ghostly face formed from countless agonized, wailing visages. It opened its silent maw toward the side chamber, releasing terrifying killing intent that froze the soul!

An indescribably heavy pressure crashed down like hundreds of millions of acres of filthy blood falling from the heavens, crushing in from every direction and every corner! The air became iron plates, and space groaned beneath the unbearable burden!

Taiyi felt the bones throughout his body creak, as if his organs were about to be ground into pulp! The remnant shadow of the Chaos Bell and the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint within his sea of consciousness reacted instinctively, releasing faint light to protect his true spirit. Yet that all-pervasive pressure of extreme hatred and cold intent still blackened his vision, filled his throat with blood, and nearly made him spit out a mouthful!

Styx... was enraged!

Truly, fundamentally enraged!

This was not the probing pressure from before. This was the fury of the Blood Sea's master, enough to crush the souls of ordinary Grand Unity Golden Immortals!

Taiyi gritted his teeth so hard that blood seeped from his gums. He forced himself to remain standing—not kneeling, not collapsing—even as his body shook violently beneath the pressure and his injuries, like a dying candle in the wind. The critical arrogance he had deliberately put on was nearly impossible to maintain beneath such terrifying pressure, yet he still raised his chin with all his strength. His eyes held fear and pain, but also a faint, weak stubbornness that refused to go out!

He was gambling with his life!

He was betting that Styx would not immediately tear apart an alliance that might concern the greater course of the calamity just because an "ally" who was "badly injured and out of his mind, speaking without restraint" uttered a few mad words!

He was betting that after weighing the gains and losses, that old monster would find him more valuable alive than dead!

Every breath felt as long as a century.

The ghost-face curtain nearly lunged into the chamber. The blood-crystal light scraped against his skin like blades, and the crushing pressure made him feel as though his Primordial Spirit was about to be squeezed apart.

Just as Taiyi felt that he truly could not hold on any longer and was prepared to recklessly ignite some Taboo Points in one final struggle—

Everything abruptly stopped.

The ghost-face curtain suddenly contracted and returned to normal.

The blood-crystal light dimmed.

The blood seeping from between the bone slabs flowed backward and vanished.

That towering pressure retreated swiftly like the tide, leaving behind only the cold wreckage of the side chamber and a lingering, terrifying aftertaste in the air that made one's heart tremble.

Taiyi's legs weakened, and he nearly fell. He caught himself against the nearby bone wall in time—the cold touch jolted him awake—and barely managed to steady himself. He panted heavily. Every breath carried the taste of blood and a burning pain in his lungs. His face was as pale as paper, and cold sweat had long soaked through his tattered robes.

But he had survived.

His trembling right hand rose, and he looked at his palm.

A dark-red point of light, the size of a grain of rice and as crystalline as the purest blood diamond, had silently appeared at some unknown moment. Then it soundlessly merged into the flesh of his palm, leaving behind only an extremely faint "imprint" within the depths of his mind—one that resonated mysteriously with the boundless Blood Sea outside.

Blood Sea Origin Imprint, Fragment.

On the system panel, his Taboo Points had jumped to 319.

He had won the gamble.

Though it had been perilous beyond measure, though that old bat's fury had nearly crushed him into dust... the sign-in was complete. The reward was his.

Leaning against the cold bone wall, he slowly slid down to sit on the ground. He closed his eyes and calmed his wildly pounding heart and surging blood qi.

The defiant arrogance and critical disdain he had forced onto his face completely faded, leaving only bottomless exhaustion and a trace of cold sharpness.

He knew that after this incident, Styx's "evaluation" and "positioning" of him would certainly change. There might still be contempt, but caution would undoubtedly be raised to the highest level. That old bat was surely lurking in some dark corner now, staring at him with those scarlet eyes, trying to determine how much of his performance just now had been real and how much false.

Allies? Hah.

They were merely two old foxes with their own schemes, testing each other as they danced on a blade's edge above the tightrope of the calamity.

After resting for a while, Taiyi opened his eyes again, his gaze returning to the Strange Fruit on the ground.

Now, he could properly "enjoy" the Blood Sea's "gift."

He reached out and picked up the fruit. This time, he exerted force with his fingertips and completely crushed open its semi-transparent membrane.