The Old Man

The Jing, a legendary ancient beast said to be the only creature dwelling upon mountains of corpses.

It possesses two stomachs: the left is tangible, feeding on physical remains, while the right is intangible and haloed, feeding on corpse-spirits—one yin, one yang; one solid, one void.

The Jing must find a way to satiate both stomachs simultaneously, or it will starve to death.

If either remains empty for too long, its life is threatened.

And the most crucial point is...

Jing are pack animals, often congregating in places where corpses are plentiful.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the Jing charged right in front of Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran frowned slightly as the Dragon-Tiger Phantom suddenly manifested over his arms, and Crimson Blood-Qi Wolf Smoke surged upward.

The moment the Jing's antlers were about to pierce his face, he launched his right fist like a cannonball.

BANG!!!

A dull, heavy impact exploded throughout the tomb chamber.

Flesh and blood flew everywhere.

The Jing's forward momentum came to an abrupt halt, its head exploding like a watermelon under Jiang Ran's punch.

Its massive body swayed twice before crashing to the ground.

Only a few grey-white Spirit Crystal rolled out.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran was about to bend down to pick them up.

Rumble... Rumble...

From the corner of the tomb passage ahead, a series of dense, rhythmic vibrations suddenly echoed.

Jiang Ran looked up to see several Jing of similar size squeezing through the narrow passage, scrambling over one another as they charged toward him.

"As expected, there are more."

Jiang Ran frowned, but he did not engage immediately.

He retreated, pulling back behind the black lacquered wooden coffin, his gaze calm as he observed the charging pack of Jing.

He wanted to confirm one thing.

Were these Jing coming for him, or were they after the corpse inside the coffin?

The answer was revealed quickly.

The two leading Jing lunged straight for the coffin, lowering their heads to pry at the lid with their antlers, attempting to gnaw on the headless corpse inside.

Meanwhile, the other seven or eight Jing bypassed the coffin entirely, rushing straight at Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran's mouth twitched at the sight.

Since there were no corpses left to eat, they intended to turn him into one?

In that case, there was no need to overthink it.

He activated Eight-Step Cicada Chase, his blood-qi surging through the meridians in his legs.

Instead of retreating, Jiang Ran advanced, taking the initiative to charge into the pack of Jing.

These ancient beasts looked terrifying.

But in reality, their strength was not even equal to the Bone-Spike Cat Monster he had encountered earlier.

To Jiang Ran, they were nothing more than mobile Spirit Crystal.

Jiang Ran moved like a tiger into a flock of sheep; with every punch he landed, the head of a Jing would shatter.

Flesh and blood splattered across the tomb chamber.

The mournful cries of the Jing and the sound of their bodies hitting the floor were incessant.

Just as he finished clearing them out.

The radio at his waist suddenly crackled with the voice of Manager Sun.

"We are under attack by beasts in the central passage. The monsters are pouring in from behind, and there are many of them."

The voice was calm; it sounded like the situation was not yet dire.

Jiang Ran pondered for a moment.

He then recounted his encounter with the Jing in the right passage and shared his theories regarding the creatures.

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the radio.

Then, Manager Sun's voice returned, tinged with surprise.

"Based on your description... the creatures we are facing are the same ones you mentioned."

Jiang Ran's brow furrowed tightly.

If that was the case, then the appearance of the Jing was likely no accident.

Before Jiang Ran could continue speaking...

A third wave of tremors echoed from the back of the tomb passage.

In the darkness, more and more grey-white eyeballs emerged, the white light from their antlers merging into a single sheet, illuminating the narrow tomb passage as if it were broad daylight.

However, Jiang Ran did not choose to retreat deeper inside.

Instead, he took a deep breath, stood firm at the entrance of the tomb chamber, feet slightly apart, and lowered his center of gravity.

Crimson Blood-Qi Wolf Smoke erupted with a roar.

Dragon-Tiger Phantom coiled around his arms, and black flames rose from the Underworld Binding Gauntlets.

"Come."

Jiang Ran whispered to himself.

He intended to hold this junction for the time being.

The next second, the herd of Jing surged forward like a tidal wave.

Jiang Ran met them head-on.

The whistling sound of the Dragon-Tiger Fist exploded continuously in the tomb passage, each punch accompanied by the dull thuds of shattering bones and bursting flesh.

The tomb passage was soon soaked in blood, and the corpses of the Jing piled up like a mountain.

Jiang Ran even had to divert his attention to store some of the corpses into his Heavenly Net Pouch to prevent the pile from growing too high and hindering his combat.

Yet even so, the remaining corpses quickly filled the tomb passage.

Half an hour later.

When Jiang Ran shattered the skull of the last charging Jing with a single punch.

The entire tomb passage had completely turned into a corridor of flesh and blood.

Fortunately, no more Jing surged in afterward, giving Jiang Ran a moment to catch his breath.

Jiang Ran jumped down from the mountain of corpses and walked toward the tomb chamber.

Then, with a slight movement of his consciousness, two Jing that were nearly twice the size of their kin lay quietly in the tomb chamber.

The Jing herd had attacked in about five waves.

Starting from the fourth wave, there had been leaders at the Blood Sensing Realm.

However, even Exotic Beasts at the Blood Sensing Realm could not cause Jiang Ran any trouble at the moment.

Jiang Ran walked up to these two Blood Sensing Realm Jing.

He skillfully extracted the Blue Spirit Crystal from their skulls.

There were fourteen of them; not bad.

Jiang Ran then dissected these two Jing and even cut off their antlers...

Unfortunately, no fusion prompt popped up on the panel.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran pondered for a moment, dragged one of the corpses to the entrance of the tomb chamber, and used it to block the doorway. Seeing there was still a small gap, Jiang Ran even grabbed two smaller ones to stuff inside.

After ensuring it was airtight.

Jiang Ran used the same method to block the entrance to the tomb passage leading deeper inside.

He then found an empty spot and sat down.

From the moment the first Jing charged at him from behind.

He had felt that something was wrong.

If a herd of Jing truly inhabited the tomb.

They should have been entrenched deep within the tomb chambers where the piles of corpses were, launching attacks on explorers from the front.

However, the reality was that the Jing herd surged from behind, the direction they had come from.

It was like playing a game.

A monster wave spawned behind you, forcing you to move forward with no way to retreat.

Combined with the fact that Manager Sun had also encountered an attack from the rear.

Jiang Ran's doubts deepened.

This did not feel like a naturally occurring danger, but rather like a deliberate act of herding.

Someone, or some kind of existence, did not want them to stay on the periphery or return the way they came.

Instead, they wanted to push everyone who entered the tomb passage deeper inside.

"Driving the tiger to swallow the wolf? Or... inviting the guest into the urn?"

Jiang Ran whispered to himself, his eyes calm.

Regardless of which it was, blindly following the route set by the other party was the most foolish choice.

Of course, for the sake of the Divine Ability Seed, it was not entirely out of the question to go.

However, he would not be able to rest easy without figuring out where these Jing appeared from.

But before that.

Jiang Ran needed to cultivate first.

The reason he was late this morning was that he had invested his remaining 2 Profession points into the Blood-Qi Circulation Method on the way, raising it to level 3.

At the same time, he had been delayed by absorbing the spirit crystals he had harvested in the early hours.

He was currently only one step away from Blood-Flow.

He happened to have over a dozen Blue Spirit Crystal in his hand.

It would be a waste not to use them.

Cool and majestic energy surged out from the Blue Spirit Crystal, several times purer than the gray-white spirit crystals.

The Blood-Qi Circulation Method operated at full capacity, and the blood-qi within his dantian surged as if attracted, actively welcoming this influx of external energy.

Half an hour later.

A dense plume of blood-qi smoke suddenly appeared around Jiang Ran, who had his eyes closed.

It swirled rapidly around Jiang Ran's body, emitting a low humming sound.

A few seconds later, this phenomenon abruptly retracted.

All the manifested blood-qi smoke submerged into Jiang Ran's body and vanished.

Jiang Ran slowly opened his eyes.

A flash of crimson light flickered deep within his pupils.

He felt the state of his body.

His eyes held a hint of surprise.

The Blood-Flow Chapter had previously mentioned that once one stepped into the Blood-Flow Realm, blood-qi would flow like a rushing river.

But it didn't say it would be this kind of rushing.

Beyond the significant increase in blood-qi strength and total volume, and the ability for blood-qi to form a small circulation within the body.

Jiang Ran discovered that his control over his blood-qi had reached a new level.

With a single thought, blood-qi could instantly surge to any part of his limbs and bones, requiring almost no buildup.

This meant that in battle, he could call upon blood-qi to drive his divine abilities much faster.

To put it more intuitively...

The charging time for his finishing move, Lotus Brilliance, had become shorter.

It had been reduced from three seconds to two.

The increase in combat power after breaking through to the Blood-Flow Realm.

Was more comprehensive than he had imagined.

Jiang Ran then stood up to stretch his body, and after familiarizing himself slightly with his current strength, he did not delay any further, rising to head toward the entrance of the tomb chamber where he had arrived.

He took down the corpse of the Jing again and headed back the way he came.

It was not until two hours later.

That the tomb passage, which had been bloodied by Jiang Ran, finally showed some signs of movement again.

"The smell of blood... it's strongest right here, Captain Zhou." A member of the Inspection Team covered his nose and whispered.

Hearing this, Zhou Yuan immediately said in a low voice, "Stay alert."

Upon hearing this, the fully armed squad at the front immediately raised their rifles, and the tactical flashlights on the barrels illuminated the area ahead brightly.

The Transcendents beside Zhou Yuan also had blood-qi smoke faintly circulating around their bodies.

They were ready to deal with any sudden situation at any time.

However, when they cautiously walked to the corner of the tomb passage and the flashlight beams completely illuminated the scene ahead...

Everyone couldn't help but be stunned.

The passage before them was completely filled with flesh and broken corpses, making it almost impossible to recognize its original appearance.

After several seconds, one of the Transcendent members swallowed hard and whispered, "If I remember correctly, the one who went to the right was... that person!?"

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Jiang Ran was finally about to reach his destination.

After turning back, he didn't spend much time finding the traces left before and after the appearance of the Jing herd.

On the wall to one side of the tomb passage, there was a hidden mechanism passage.

The passage was narrow at first, only wide enough for one person to pass through, but as he went deeper, the space gradually widened, and a strange odor began to permeate the air.

Jiang Ran could not identify what the smell was.

All he could perceive was the scent of blood and the acrid bitterness of burnt herbs.

And a lingering aura, much like the smell of aged incense ash.

This secret passage was far deeper than Jiang Ran had imagined.

Calculating the distance and direction, Jiang Ran felt he might have already penetrated deep into the heart of the mountain.

Fortunately, a glimmer of light finally appeared ahead.

Jiang Ran lightened his footsteps, approaching stealthily.

Before him lay a space of modest size, no more than a hundred square meters.

In the center of the chamber sat a pool of blood.

Crimson droplets fell incessantly from above.

Beside the blood pool stood a crude thatched hut.

Surrounding the hut, along the edges of the pool, knelt a dozen figures.

These figures were clad in tattered ancient garments, their heads bowed low, each wearing a Nuoxi Opera Mask of a different color, remaining perfectly still.

Yet, what drew Jiang Ran's gaze most...

Was the person sitting upon a smooth bluestone in front of the thatched hut.

An old man with a hunched frame, draped in wide, archaic shaman robes.

He wore a Nuoxi Opera Mask with colors that had almost entirely faded away.

As Jiang Ran's silhouette appeared at the entrance of this underground space.

The old man slowly turned his head.

From beneath the mask, he seemed to be looking directly at Jiang Ran.

"You have come."