Blood Pool

Xie Jinghan's expression remained calm. With a flicker, he turned into an afterimage and stepped into the dark passage in an instant. The bluestone slab behind him swiftly closed.

He concealed every trace of his aura and moved with steps as light as air, steadily advancing deeper into the passage.

The stone steps were wet and slick, winding downward layer by layer.

The deeper underground he went, the stronger the stench of blood became, and the more piercingly cold the air grew. Even the surrounding air seemed thick and stagnant.

As he neared the end of the passage, faint footsteps suddenly reached his ears. Xie Jinghan instantly darted aside and silently slipped into the shadows of the passage.

Two figures in dark crimson robes slowly approached from ahead, conversing in low voices.

"Did you hear something? There seemed to be a strange noise just now."

"What noise? Don't make a fuss. This place is full of mechanisms and hidden extremely well. No outsider has broken in for more than ten years. The Protector truly made thorough arrangements."

"Exactly! Exactly!"

"But it never hurts to be cautious. Better stay alert."

"Understood! Understood!"

The other man answered absentmindedly and nodded carelessly, clearly not taking the warning to heart.

Suddenly, a figure descended before them. Before the two could cry out, their necks were tightly seized. Two faint cracks sounded, and their bodies went limp as they silently fell dead.

Xie Jinghan concealed himself once more and quietly made his way to the end of the passage.

The end of the passage suddenly opened up, revealing an underground cavern several zhang wide. Its interior had been artificially divided into several separate areas, arranged in an orderly yet deliberate fashion.

The two blood-robed martial artists from earlier had emerged from the cavern's outer section. At present, more than a dozen blood-robed martial artists were scattered around the perimeter. Some sat in pairs drinking, some closed their eyes to regulate their breathing, and some rubbed and polished their weapons. Their cultivation ranged from the Lower Third Grade to the Middle Third Grade.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xie Jinghan flitted about like a ghost. Wherever he passed, the blood-robed martial artists collapsed dead, without making the slightest sound.

His expression remained indifferent, and his steps never halted as he headed straight toward the deeper reaches underground.

He moved as though through an empty land.

A quarter-hour later, Xie Jinghan stopped before the door of a stone chamber. Before he even approached it, a surging, blazing stench of blood had already seeped through the cracks and spread through the surroundings.

This stone chamber lay at the deepest part of the underground cavern. The surrounding rock walls were dark and blackened, soaked in layers of bloodstains. The accumulated bloody stench had penetrated deep into the stone crevices and lingered for years without dispersing.

At the center of the chamber was a scarlet Blood Pool roughly a zhang wide.

The blood within was murky and boiling hot, constantly bubbling with fine crimson bubbles that gurgled softly. As the bubbles burst, hazy specks of bloody light drifted into the air, while threads of pure blood essence rose and filled the entire stone chamber.

This blood essence contained the vital blood of martial artists, as well as traces of Baleful Intent.

Around the Blood Pool, more than a dozen figures in crimson robes sat cross-legged. Their auras were sinister, savage, and oppressive. They were the masked assassins who had fled in panic from the Xie Household birthday banquet that day.

They now sat with their eyes shut in concentration, their hands forming strange seals as they greedily absorbed the crimson essence rising from the Blood Pool. The auras around their bodies slowly grew more condensed.

After a moment of silence, a blood-robed man on the western side of the Blood Pool was the first to open his eyes. A trace of impatience and anxiety flashed through them as he broke the chamber's silence in a hoarse voice thick with malice. "The essence in this Blood Pool has thinned by more than half again. We've been absorbing it for days with barely any effect. It simply can't support everyone's cultivation. In just a few days, it will run dry. It seems we must go out once more to hunt martial artists, seize their vital blood, and replenish the Blood Pool's losses."

Once he finished speaking, a blood-robed man across from him, whose aura was somewhat stronger, slowly raised his eyes. His tone was cautious and grave, carrying a hint of apprehension. "Keep yourselves in line. Do not court death. The former branch master, Wu Hen, was eager to use the Xie Household's vital blood to break through to the Innate Realm. He underestimated the enemy and acted rashly without learning the Xie Household's true strength, and he died there. The authorities of Central Province and the major sects are investigating relentlessly now. The situation is extremely tense. If we carelessly go out and cause trouble at a time like this, then once this stronghold is exposed, none of us will escape annihilation. We only need to lie low, guard the Blood Pool, and wait for the sect's new branch master to arrive and take over. We can make plans after that."

"A new branch master?" The blood-robed man who had spoken first furrowed his brow and muttered impatiently, "It has already been seven days, yet there has been no word from the sect, and the replacement still hasn't arrived. We're trapped in these barren mountains, barely clinging to life on a Blood Pool that is drying up by the day. How long is this supposed to last? Wu Hen was defeated and killed, and decades of secret planning were destroyed in one stroke. The sect will surely vent its anger on us. We likely won't escape accountability in the future!"

"Silence!"

The middle-aged blood-robed man barked sharply, his piercing gaze sweeping across everyone. "Black Tiger Stronghold is a hidden pawn planted by the holy sect. It endured in secret for decades solely to throw the martial world into chaos and gradually consume the righteous path's forces. Wu Hen is dead. Our only path to survival is to hold this stronghold to the death, conceal our tracks, and await the sect's orders! Whoever dares act rashly and ruins the greater plan will not need to wait for anyone from the sect to arrive. I will personally kill them!"

After those words, the remaining blood-robed men all restrained their agitation and did not dare voice another objection. The area fell into dead silence once more, leaving only the gurgling bubbles of the Blood Pool and strands of blood essence slowly drifting through the air.

Hidden in the darkness, Xie Jinghan's gaze turned cold as he quietly surveyed the scene, understanding the chain of events.

So that was it!

Black Tiger Stronghold was a hidden pawn planted by the Devil Dao Sect, the Blood Slaughter Sect!

What a wicked cultivation art!

Xie Jinghan recognized the origins of this sinister method.

According to secret accounts from the martial world, this sinister Blood Pool was a core secret art of the Blood Slaughter Sect. It used the vital blood of martial artists as a sacrifice, refining baleful and vicious energies to temper the body. It could rapidly elevate a martial artist's cultivation, but its methods were tyrannical, poisonous, and utterly inhumane. It was also because they practiced such evil arts year-round that disciples of the Blood Slaughter Sect were easily corrupted by murderous malice, becoming ruthless and merciless, slaughtering without restraint.

Suddenly, Xie Jinghan's gaze locked onto a corner at the innermost edge of the Blood Pool.

That spot stood several feet above the Blood Pool. An iron cage rested there in silence, covered in thorns, with three indistinct figures faintly visible inside.

The three figures were tightly bound and imprisoned by the sharp thorns. The slightest movement would cause the thorns to pierce their flesh, sending blood trickling down into the Blood Pool below. Their auras were weak and frail; they had long since been tortured to the brink of death.

One of the young figures was especially striking. His long hair hung in disarray, and his clothes were torn to rags. His head drooped against his chest, his entire body soaked in blood. His right arm was gone, leaving only a bloody severed stump. The dark-red scab that had long since congealed over the wound was a horrifying sight. His aura was so weak that his chest and abdomen rose and fell only almost imperceptibly, as though his life would be extinguished the very next moment.

Yet even with his body broken and battered and his life hanging by a thread, his back remained straight as a pine, and not the slightest trace of pride had bent from his bones.

When he clearly saw the contours of that face, Xie Jinghan's eyes turned utterly cold, and killing intent surged within them.

It was Xie Jinlin!