The Old Man

Jing, the only ancient savage beast said to dwell on mountains of corpses.

It had two stomachs, one on each side. The left was tangible and fed on corpses, while the right was intangible, surrounded by a halo of light, and fed on corpse spirits. One was yin and the other yang, one real and the other unreal.

Jing had to find a way to keep both stomachs full at once, or it would starve to death.

If either stomach stayed empty for too long, its life would be in danger.

And most importantly...

Jing were social creatures, often gathering in places with many corpses.

In a flash, the Jing had already charged right up to Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran furrowed his brow. Dragon-Tiger Phantoms suddenly appeared around his arms, and Crimson Blood-Qi Wolf Smoke rose into the air.

Just as the Jing's antlers were about to gore him in the face, his right fist shot out like a cannonball.

BANG!!!

A muffled impact exploded through the tomb chamber.

Flesh and blood flew everywhere.

The Jing's charge came to an abrupt halt. Its head burst like a watermelon under Jiang Ran's punch.

Its enormous body swayed twice, then crashed to the ground.

All that remained were several grayish-white Spirit Crystals rolling across the floor.

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

Rumble... rumble...

A series of rapid tremors suddenly came from the bend in the tomb passage ahead.

Jiang Ran looked up. Several Jing of similar size were crowding into the narrow passage, scrambling to charge toward him.

"So there really are more."

Jiang Ran furrowed his brow, but didn't immediately charge at them.

He retreated behind the black-lacquered coffin, calmly observing the oncoming herd.

He wanted to confirm one thing.

Were the Jing coming for him, or for the corpse inside the coffin?

The answer came quickly.

The two Jing in front charged straight at the coffin. They lowered their heads and used their antlers to pry at the coffin, trying to devour the headless corpse inside.

The other seven or eight Jing, however, bypassed the coffin and lunged straight at Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran's mouth twitched at the sight.

Had they run out of corpses to eat and decided to turn him into one?

If so, there was no need to think too much about it.

Eight-Step Cicada Chase sprang into action, and blood-qi surged through the meridians in his legs.

Jiang Ran didn't retreat. Instead, he charged straight at the herd.

These ancient savage beasts looked terrifying.

But in reality, they were even weaker than the Bone-Spike Cat Monster he'd encountered before.

To Jiang Ran, they were nothing more than walking Spirit Crystals.

Jiang Ran plunged into them like a tiger among sheep. Every punch he threw shattered a Jing's skull.

Flesh and blood flew through the tomb chamber.

The Jing's wails and the thuds of their falling bodies rang out without pause.

Just as he finished clearing them out,

Manager Sun's voice suddenly came through the radio at his waist.

"We were attacked by savage beasts in the central passage. The monsters came flooding in from behind us, and there are a lot of them."

His voice was calm, so the situation didn't sound too dire yet.

Jiang Ran thought for a moment.

He also told them about encountering Jing in the right passage, along with his theory about them.

The other end of the radio fell silent for two seconds.

Then Manager Sun's voice came through, tinged with surprise.

"From your description... the creatures we encountered here are the same ones you mentioned."

Jiang Ran's brow furrowed sharply.

If that was the case, the Jing's appearance was probably no accident.

Before Jiang Ran could say anything else...

A third wave of tremors came from behind him in the passage.

In the darkness, more and more grayish-white eyes appeared. The white glow of their antlers joined together, illuminating the narrow passage as if it were broad daylight.

But Jiang Ran didn't retreat deeper inside.

Instead, he took a deep breath and stood at the entrance to the tomb chamber, feet slightly apart and weight lowered.

Crimson Blood-Qi Wolf Smoke burst forth.

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

"Come."

Jiang Ran murmured to himself.

He would hold this passage for now.

The next second, the Jing surged forward like a tide.

Jiang Ran charged to meet them.

The roar of Dragon-Tiger Fist rang through the passage. Every punch was accompanied by the muffled sounds of cracking bones and bursting flesh.

Before long, the passage was soaked with blood, and Jing corpses piled up like a mountain.

Jiang Ran even had to divert his attention to put some of the bodies into the Heavenly Net Pouch, so they wouldn't pile up too high and interfere with the fight.

Even so, the remaining bodies quickly filled the passage.

Half an hour later.

When Jiang Ran smashed the head of the last charging Jing with a punch,

the entire passage had become a tunnel of flesh and blood.

Fortunately, no more Jing came afterward, giving Jiang Ran a little room to catch his breath.

Jiang Ran jumped down from the mound of corpses and walked into the tomb chamber.

Then, with a thought, two Jing nearly twice the size of their kin appeared, lying quietly inside the chamber.

The herd had attacked in roughly five waves.

The fourth wave onward had been led by Blood Sensing Realm Jing.

But even the Blood Sensing Realm Exotic Beasts still couldn't cause Jiang Ran any trouble.

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

With practiced ease, he dug the Blue Spirit Crystals out of their skulls.

There were fourteen of them. Not bad.

Then Jiang Ran dissected the two Jing, even cutting off their antlers...

Unfortunately, no fusion prompt appeared on the panel.

Jiang Ran considered this, then dragged one of the corpses to the entrance of the tomb chamber and used it to block the doorway. When he saw there was still a little space left, he even stuffed two smaller ones into the gap.

Once he was sure the blockade was airtight,

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

Then he found an open space and sat down.

Ever since the first Jing had charged at him from behind,

he'd felt that something was off.

If a herd of Jing really lived in the tomb,

they should have been gathered deeper inside, where there were piles of corpses, and attacked explorers from the front.

But in reality, the Jing had flooded in from behind—from the direction they had come.

It was like making your way through a game,

only to have a wave of monsters spawn behind you, forcing you forward with no way back.

Considering that Manager Sun's group had also been attacked from behind,

Jiang Ran's doubts only deepened.

This didn't seem like a naturally occurring danger. It felt more like someone was driving them onward.

Someone, or something, didn't want them staying in the outer area or turning back the way they came.

Instead, it wanted to push everyone who entered the passage farther in.

"Are they trying to use one enemy to destroy another? Or... lure us into a trap?"

Jiang Ran murmured to himself, his gaze calm.

Whichever it was, blindly following the route laid out for them would be the stupidest choice.

Of course, he was willing to go for the Divine Ability Seed.

But unless he figured out where the Jing had come from, he wouldn't be able to rest easy.

Before that, though,

Jiang Ran needed to cultivate first.

He had been late that morning because, on the way, he'd spent the remaining 2 Profession points on the Blood-Qi Circulation Method, raising it to level 3.

Absorbing the Spirit Crystals he'd collected at dawn had also taken a little time.

He was currently only one step away from the Blood-Circulating Stage.

And he happened to have more than ten Blue Spirit Crystals on hand.

Might as well put them to use.

Cool, surging energy poured out of the Spirit Crystals, several times purer than the grayish-white ones.

The Blood-Qi Circulation Method ran at full force. Blood-qi in his dantian surged as if drawn by the energy, actively welcoming this outside force.

Half an hour later.

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

It spun rapidly around his body, emitting a low hum.

A few seconds later, the phenomenon abruptly drew inward.

All the visible blood-qi vanished into Jiang Ran's body.

Jiang Ran slowly opened his eyes.

A flash of crimson light passed through the depths of his pupils and disappeared.

He sensed the state of his body.

A hint of surprise showed in his eyes.

The Blood-Flow Chapter had mentioned that once someone entered the Blood-Flow Realm, their blood-qi would flow like a mighty river.

But it hadn't said it would flow like this.

Besides the huge increase in the strength and total amount of his blood-qi, and its ability to form a small cycle within his body,

Jiang Ran found that he had reached a whole new level of control over his blood-qi.

With a thought, his blood-qi could instantly surge to any part of his body, with almost no need to build up first.

That meant he could call on his blood-qi more quickly in battle to activate his divine abilities.

More specifically...

The time it took to charge up his ultimate move, Lotus Brilliance, had grown shorter.

It had dropped from three seconds to two.

The increase in his combat strength after breaking through to the Blood-Flow Realm

was more comprehensive than he'd imagined.

Jiang Ran got up and moved around to familiarize himself with his current strength. Then, without further delay, he headed for the entrance to the tomb chamber they had come through.

He removed the Jing corpses blocking it and headed back the way he'd come.

It was only two hours later

that the passage Jiang Ran had drenched in blood finally showed signs of movement.

"The smell of blood... It's strongest here, Captain Zhou." One of the Inspection Team members covered his nose and spoke in a low voice.

Hearing this, Zhou Yuan immediately whispered, "Stay alert."

At once, the fully armed squad at the front raised their rifles. The tactical flashlights mounted on their muzzles brightly illuminated the way ahead.

The blood-qi of the Transcendent team members beside Zhou Yuan also stirred faintly around them.

They were ready to handle any sudden threat.

But when they cautiously reached the bend in the passage and their flashlights fully illuminated what lay ahead...

Everyone couldn't help but freeze.

The passage before them was completely filled with flesh and mangled corpses. It was almost impossible to make out what it had originally looked like.

Several seconds passed before one of the Transcendent team members swallowed and murmured, "If I remember right, the person who took the right passage was... that one!?"

Elsewhere,

Jiang Ran was finally about to reach his destination.

After heading back, he hadn't needed long to find traces of what had happened before and after the herd of Jing appeared.

There was a hidden mechanism passage in one of the tomb passage's walls.

At first, the passage was narrow enough for only one person to get through. But the farther in he went, the wider it gradually became, and a strange smell began to fill the air.

Jiang Ran couldn't identify the smell.

Only the smell of blood and the bitter scent of burnt herbs reached him.

There was also an aroma like old incense ash.

And this tunnel was much deeper than Jiang Ran had imagined.

Jiang Ran gauged the distance and direction, feeling that he might have already gone deep into the heart of the mountain.

Fortunately, some light finally appeared ahead.

Jiang Ran softened his steps and crept closer.

The space before him wasn't very large, only about a hundred square meters.

At its center was a blood pool.

Red drops of blood kept dripping into it from above.

Beside the pool stood a crude thatched hut.

And around the hut, along the edge of the blood pool, a dozen or so figures knelt prostrate.

They wore tattered ancient clothes, their heads bowed. Each wore a Nuoxi Opera Mask in a different color, and none of them moved.

But what drew Jiang Ran's gaze most...

Was the person seated on a smooth blue-gray stone in front of the thatched hut.

An old man with a hunched figure, dressed in a loose, old-fashioned shaman's robe.

He wore a Nuoxi Opera Mask whose color had almost completely faded.

When Jiang Ran's figure appeared at the entrance to the underground space,

the old man slowly turned his head.

Beneath the mask, he seemed to look toward Jiang Ran.

"You're here."