Blood Trial (I)

Lu Shang was now inside the Blood Trial. Black rocks covered the surrounding terrain, and an unpleasant smell lingered in the air.

After a moment, Lu Shang identified it as sulfur.

Lu Shang seemed to remember seeing this place in the original novel, but even after thinking for a while, he could not recall a thing.

"Forget it. I'll stop thinking about it and finish the mission first. Forty spirit plants to find."

That was right. Besides participating in the Blood Trial, the system had issued another mission before he entered.

"Disguise yourself as a disciple of Spirit Beast Mountain and gather forty spirit plants before the trial ends."

To ensure the mission went smoothly, System Sis had even shown a rare streak of generosity. Inside the Blood Secret Realm, where he could normally only wield peak Qi Refining Stage strength, the system had forcibly raised his limit to the early Foundation Establishment Stage. No wonder System Sis was called all-powerful!

With early Foundation Establishment Stage strength available to him, what danger could there possibly be inside? Even facing the Ink Flood Dragon would be no problem.

Lu Shang searched the surrounding area.

Just as Lu Shang focused all his attention on finding spirit plants for the mission, everything around him seemed to grow scorching hot.

Using the divine sense available only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, Lu Shang also detected the abnormality around him.

Lu Shang grew alert and carefully watched the changes in his surroundings.

Suddenly, a Fire Lizard lunged at him from behind.

"Hmph!" Lu Shang gave a contemptuous smile.

Then Lu Shang leaped up, twisting sideways to deliver a swift backward kick.

Lu Shang activated the Wild Desolation True Demon Art for this side kick, and the blow broke the giant lizard's body clean in two.

When his foot landed, Lu Shang saw that the Fire Lizard's head section seemed to have been reduced to a bloody mess, while he himself remained untouched by even a drop of blood and felt no discomfort.

This was Lu Shang's first time killing such a large creature. Before transmigrating, the largest creature he had ever killed had been a Black Striped Snake.

Still, it was only a lizard, so Lu Shang felt little discomfort, even after kicking it into a bloody mess.

Besides, even if Lu Shang did have some psychological issues, this was not the time to address them.

Only moments after Lu Shang finished off that Fire Lizard, he discovered that four or five more had gathered around him without his noticing.

"Hmph! A pack of beasts."

With that, Lu Shang immediately rushed toward one of them.

The four or five Fire Lizards also raced toward Lu Shang.

But at the end of the day, they were only a pack of Fire Lizards. Against Lu Shang using the True Demon Art, they fell with practically one punch apiece, every blow thudding into flesh.

Dealing with these Fire Lizards took only a few breaths and posed no real obstacle to Lu Shang's gathering of spirit plants.

After finishing them off, Lu Shang stared at the traces of blood on both hands and actually sank into thought.

"Hey! Don't tell me killing a few demon beasts has sent your bleeding heart into overdrive, you small-fry host."

"You should know you'll have plenty of people to kill in the future, too."

System Sis was right. Having come to this cultivation world, bloodshed would be inevitable if he wanted to keep surviving. If even this stirred his bleeding heart, what would he do in the future?

"Tch! Of course not! It was just my first time seeing something like this, so I froze for a moment."

Although Lu Shang was somewhat softhearted, he was not so softhearted that killing a few demon beasts would trigger that problem.

For someone with Lu Shang's temperament, at most, it would be difficult to strike the first time. But if he could attack swiftly and annihilate his opponent in an instant, he probably would not feel the slightest pang of misplaced compassion.

To avoid seeing blood, I suppose I'll reluctantly have to use my full strength! Lu Shang told himself inwardly.

But that could not escape System Sis. Even his inner voice was audible to System Sis, though hearing it did not stop System Sis from pretending to know nothing.

With all that done, Lu Shang resumed his search.

Two or three quarters of an hour later, Lu Shang unwittingly left that forest of black rocks and entered a stretch of woodland.

But the moment Lu Shang entered the woodland, he noticed something was wrong.

There were quite a few signs of traps being laid around him.

The instant Lu Shang released his divine sense, he understood what was happening-disciples of Spirit Beast Mountain planned to set an ambush here.

"Seriously? A bunch of little Qi Refining Stage cultivators think they can ambush me!"

From more than a dozen zhang away, Lu Shang listened to the two Spirit Beast Mountain disciples discussing their plans.

"He's a Spirit Beast Mountain disciple too. Should we attack, Brother Li?"

"If he hasn't received the message, we make no exceptions. Just consider it looking out for ourselves!"

"Yes!"

The two turned to look toward Lu Shang.

But Lu Shang had already vanished during the brief moment when their discussion distracted them. How could these two Qi Refining Stage disciples possibly notice?

"Wait, where's that disciple? Senior Brother Li, did you see him?"

"No. Something's wrong. Look more carefully."

As they spoke, the two looked back at the spot where Lu Shang had been standing.

"Hey! Hey! I at least disguised myself as a disciple of your sect, and you still want to kill me?"

As it turned out, Lu Shang had quietly approached the two during that brief moment of distraction.

Hearing Lu Shang's words, the two reacted instantly.

But how could Lu Shang allow these two Qi Refining Stage disciples to attack?

To avoid seeing blood, Lu Shang drew his Life-Bound Magical Treasure, the Frost Dragon Halberd, in the instant the two turned to strike.

With one slash of the halberd, the two vanished like mist. The nearby trees were also cleaved through their middles, a layer of frost covering them the moment they were cut.

An icy chill filled the surroundings.

"It's so powerful!"

Even Lu Shang could not help being astonished by that Halberd Strike.

Although Lu Shang had used his life-bound magical weapon, he had never expected such tremendous power. A single forceful swing had not merely cut through everything around him, but frozen it as well.

"That was enough to shock you? Human, this was produced by the system. Of course it's the finest of the fine. Being a little stronger is only natural. But your cultivation has been suppressed to the early Foundation Establishment Stage. If you keep swinging that hard, you'll probably run out of spiritual power after only a few uses!"

"You need to control how much spiritual power you use. Understood, host?" System Sis warned with rare seriousness.

"Yes, yes, yes! I get it! But honestly, you could've warned me earlier that this Magic Treasure sucks up so much spiritual energy when I use it." Lu Shang turned the blame back around.

"What did you say?! Try saying that again! You were the one who failed to control the flow of spiritual energy."

"All right! I get it! It was me, it was me!" Faced with another rebuke from System Sis, Lu Shang had no choice but to admit it. After all, getting by here without System Sis's help was simply impossible.

After this incident, Lu Shang understood the power of this Life-Bound Magical Treasure. Besides, he was only at the early Foundation Establishment Stage now. How could he possibly wield a Core Formation Stage Life-Bound Magical Treasure at full power?

And after attacking humans for the first time, Lu Shang also realized that he had been slowly adapting ever since he arrived in this world. So much so that killing his own kind had not brought the guilt he would have felt in his original world-at least, not when killing people who intended to kill him.

"Wait! This is nine parts wrong out of ten!" Lu Shang seemed to remember something.

"Did that halberd strike destroy their Storage Bags too?"

After searching for a while, Lu Shang discovered that these Storage Bags really were remarkable things. Not even scraps of the people remained, yet their Storage Bags were merely battered and torn. Quite a few things inside were still intact, too. Lu Shang had no idea whether those items were simply that sturdy or whether the Storage Bags truly possessed the power to ward off all magic.