Chapter 30

"Haha, Brother Luo, you think far too highly of me."

Chen Ju hurriedly laughed it off and made a few casual excuses.

"I don't have any silver. I was planning to buy on credit."

Then he immediately changed the subject and started chatting about the various girls in the establishment.

Luo Qingchen naturally understood and didn't bring it up again.

The two of them patrolled once around the courtyard wall, then returned inside.

"Well, I won't keep you from catching up with Miss A-Yun, Brother Luo."

Chen Ju seemed afraid he would bring up borrowing money again. As soon as they returned inside, he hurried off.

Luo Qingchen went up to the second floor and patrolled outside each private room. Seeing nothing amiss, he went to the corner of the corridor and continued resting with his eyes closed.

As for A-Yun, he didn't go to see her again.

In such a crisis-ridden place, he couldn't get too close to anyone.

The night passed without incident.

After daybreak, he greeted Chen Ju, then returned to the rear courtyard.

After eating the breakfast that had been brought to him, he continued cultivating.

He had to refine all the medicinal energy remaining in his body as soon as possible.

After he left, Chen Ju made another round of the first floor. Once he saw that no one was watching, he went up to the second floor and soon disappeared into a private room at the end of the corridor.

"That guy just won't take the bait. Seduction and threats clearly won't work. What do we do?"

"Hmph, that kid really is sharp. No wonder he's survived this long. But I'm in no hurry now. I just finished a medicinal bath yesterday. Give it some time, and I'll think of another way."

"But the thing you promised me..."

"Don't worry. Once you help me break through to the Blood Changing Realm, I'll find a way to take you up there."

"Hmph, you'd better not lie to me. If you dare, I'll tell everyone what you've been doing to those customers!"

"Heh, I couldn't have done it without you. Don't worry. We're grasshoppers tied to the same rope: if one of us dies, we both die, and if one of us flies high, we both fly high."

The conversation in the room soon fell silent.

When Chen Ju emerged from the room, his face hidden in the corridor's shadows, the ingratiating smile on his face gradually turned cold.

Three days later.

The medicinal energy in Luo Qingchen's body had finally been completely refined.

His cultivation progress had now reached [150/1000]!

Though the speed didn't seem slow, he was still far from breaking through to the Blood Changing Realm.

By then, the blood in the second reserve Blood Bar inside his body had dwindled to just 15%.

He had only one medicinal bath left.

That was nowhere near enough.

He needed more blood for more medicinal baths if he wanted to break through to the Blood Changing Realm faster.

Other people could afford to wait. He couldn't.

The Ten-Soul Banner had been repaired with the poorest materials. He didn't know just how poor they were.

No one could guarantee it would last half a year.

So he had to get upstairs as soon as possible, find better materials, and repair the Ten-Soul Banner properly.

Otherwise, he would never feel at ease.

Besides, he had to break through to the Aperture Opening Realm soon if he wanted to see his little sister's soul with his own eyes and confirm for himself that she was truly by his side.

But where could he get more blood?

He could buy it if he had money, but he had none. Not only that, he was deep in debt.

He had even pawned his soul.

So he had only one path left.

To drink blood.

"Drink blood..."

After leaving his room, he ate the steamed buns a maid had brought him while brooding. Before he knew it, his gaze had drifted toward the rooms of Wang Long and Wang Hu.

The establishment had been peaceful these past few days.

Everyone else was busy with medicinal baths and cultivation, while Wang Long and Wang Hu focused on healing and resting.

Both had sturdy constitutions, and as cultivators, they had access to good wound medicine. By yesterday evening, they had been able to hobble outside.

Still, they were very weak.

They would need at least a month to recover completely. After all, a great deal of their blood had been taken that night.

"Even so, if the two of them fought with everything they had, they still couldn't be underestimated..."

Luo Qingchen slowly withdrew his gaze.

Only then did he suddenly realize that without noticing, he had become just like "Chen Ju," coveting the blood of other living people.

"Perhaps this is what a Demon Sect cultivator is really like."

He thought to himself.

"Brother Luo!"

Zhang Jiu's voice suddenly rang out from the stone bridge in the distance.

Luo Qingchen swallowed the last piece of steamed bun and put his thoughts aside. He was just about to greet Zhang Jiu when Zhang Jiu called, "Brother Luo, come to the front. Senior Brother Tian is here and says he wants to see you."

Tian Feng?

Luo Qingchen's heart skipped a beat. What's he here for? It hasn't even been half a month. He isn't here to...

"Senior Brother Tian must be here to take blood again."

Zhang Jiu stopped at the end of the bridge and looked at him sympathetically.

Luo Qingchen's pupils contracted, but he showed no other emotion. He walked over in silence.

"Ah..."

Zhang Jiu sighed and followed behind him, lowering his voice. "It's only been a few days, and he's here to take blood again. He really doesn't treat us like people. Good thing we're cultivators, so we're sturdier than ordinary Blood Medicine. Otherwise, with blood being taken this often, we'd have fallen ill and died long ago."

Luo Qingchen remained silent.

Zhang Jiu glanced at him with concern. "Brother Luo, you hadn't fully recovered from the last bloodletting, had you?"

Luo Qingchen paused, then nodded slightly. "I'm still a little weak."

"Ah..."

Zhang Jiu sighed again, his voice full of helplessness and sorrow.

Luo Qingchen soon reached the front courtyard.

Tian Feng wore a black robe and stood in the same place as that day. When he saw Luo Qingchen, he said at once, "Come here. I need some more blood."

As he spoke, he took out a dagger and a blood bowl.

Luo Qingchen lowered his head and walked over. After pausing for a breath, he said respectfully, "Master, my blood was taken just a few days ago, and I still feel a little dizzy. Could it... could it wait a few more days?"

Zhang Jiu watched him from beneath the corridor nearby.

Sun Ping and two other girls watched him from the windows of the first-floor hall.

It seemed there were people peeking from the second-floor windows as well.

The air fell silent for a moment.

Tian Feng's previously indifferent gaze turned cold, and his voice chilled as well. "What does your dizziness have to do with me? I came down the mountain today to take blood. If you're unwilling, fine. I'll take your flesh and skin instead. How does that sound?"

Luo Qingchen lowered his head and held out his arm. "This disciple is willing."

Tian Feng fixed him with his cold gaze for a moment, then raised the dagger and cut his wrist.

Bright red blood gushed out, flowing into the bowl below.

The rich scent of blood spread through the morning air.

There were many figures all around, and many eyes, but now they were all silent.

Luo Qingchen kept his head bowed, just as silent.

The blood soon filled the large bowl.

This time, Tian Feng didn't sprinkle any clotting powder on the wound. He put away the bowl and turned to leave.

When he reached the doorway, he suddenly turned back. "I heard you even sold your soul. Remember, apart from your soul, everything you own belongs to me, Tian Feng. If there's a next time, you know what the consequences will be."

With that, he strode away.

Luo Qingchen stood there for a while longer, then slowly rolled down his sleeve and headed toward the rear courtyard.

His face was pale, his legs weak.

After walking some distance, he staggered and leaned against a large tree. He rested for a while before continuing toward the rear courtyard.

At some point, Chen Ju, Wang Long, Wang Hu, and the others had appeared nearby, watching him with cold eyes.

"Ah, what a pitiful sight..."

Someone sighed.

But in the eyes of many others, greed gleamed as they looked upon their prey.