At Blood Lake Bone Mountain, everything was as it had always been.
Only, at some point,
Blood Ghost, Bloodbone, and the third Void Refining cultivator stopped going out or cultivating. Each day, they sat where they were, staring blankly into space. Only when a disciple came to pay respects would they suddenly snap awake and return to normal.
They received disciples and subordinates as usual. In front of outsiders, nothing seemed amiss.
But whenever they were alone, they became dull and witless again, without noticing it themselves.
It was eerie and yet perfectly ordinary, enough to make one's hair stand on end.
That strange quiet lasted for more than a decade.
One day, a thin, formless streak of light, faint as blood mist, flew in from afar. As it neared the sect gates, it revealed a woman of breathtaking beauty, her features as delicate as a painting.
She was Blood Tide True Venerable, a Void Refining cultivator renowned throughout the Thunderflame Domain.
"Why was Senior Brother Blood Lake in such a hurry to summon me?"
"Could he be planning to attack the Nine Firmaments Divine Thunder True Sovereign as soon as the Attendant Envoy left, in defiance of his ban? Or is there some other reason..."
Blood Tide True Venerable frowned, and wariness rose in her heart.
Among Devil Dao Sects, fellow disciples were hardly harmonious, loving, or eager to help one another. Even tens of thousands of years of acquaintance could not build any deep affection.
Every devil dao cultivator knew that, if the need arose, their fellow disciples would devour them or refine them into treasures without the slightest hesitation.
Blood Tide True Venerable wanted to leave.
Yet Blood Lake Ancestor, nearly invincible within the Thunderflame Domain, was no one to cross. If she offended him and the