Boom!
The instant his fist struck the altar, the blood patterns on it suddenly lit up.
After the two forces remained locked in a stalemate for three breaths, one corner of the altar exploded.
Flying rubble, carrying an Ancient Demon Remnant Limb with it, overturned Ji Wujue's war chariot and sent it flying a hundred meters away.
The boiling blood pool abruptly stilled, and the ancient demon's phantom dissipated amid a roar.
Han Qingxue seized the chance to slash apart the chains with her sword. The spiritual energy of the rescued cultivators converged into a torrent, scattering the remaining Blood Puppets in all directions.
"Retreat!" Before Blood Owl fled with the remaining blood mist, he cast Lu Chen a venomous glance.
"Are you all right?" Han Qingxue landed and coldly asked Lu Chen, who was half-kneeling on the ground and gasping for breath.
Lu Chen looked back at her, then suddenly smiled. "Even when you're concerned about someone, you sound this cold?"
Han Qingxue's expression darkened. Just as she was about to turn away, she suddenly swung her sword at Lu Chen's back.
Clang!
The bone arrow was blocked.
A figure flashed across the distant cliff.
Lu Chen threw out the Bone Furnace. The phantom of a war general roared as it plunged into the blood mist, then swiftly returned. Within the Bone Furnace lay the scorched corpse of a Golden Core cultivator.
The other cultivators from Myriad Bone City, along with those who had been rescued, drove off the Blood Spirit Sect members and King Yanbei's men from the camp and took possession of it.
"Young Master Lu!" As Lu Chen swept the corpse into the Devouring Furnace, a figure suddenly approached and respectfully bowed.
It was one of the rescued cultivators.
"You have saved me twice already. The last time was at the Chixiao City beast arena. I am Bu Hai. Many thanks, Young Master!"
Lu Chen smiled. "I merely happened to be there. By the way, how is Zhou Yan doing now?"
"That is precisely why I came. Xiao Jin and Young Master Zhou Yan formed Dark Moon together. They said that if we ever encountered you, we were to make sure you visited Dark Moon's headquarters in Chixiao City. We will never forget your great kindness!"
"Oh? You even created an organization?" Lu Chen's eyes lit up. "What about Yun Niang? Is she there?"
Bu Hai shook his head in confusion. "There is no one named Yun Niang!"
"What? Is she so worth remembering that you keep asking about her? This is already the second time I've heard you inquire after her!"
Han Qingxue walked over as she spoke.
Lu Chen gave an awkward laugh. "She's a friend. We ventured through Chixiao City together, so I thought she ought to be there!"
He then patted Bu Hai on the shoulder and said, "I'll visit when I have time. If I can't make it, tell them that I'm at Tianyan Academy in Yanjing!"
"Understood!" Seeing that Han Qingxue seemed to have something to say to Lu Chen, Bu Hai bade them farewell and left with his companions.
The others also came over in twos and threes to offer their thanks before leaving.
Han Qingxue likewise sent her team back. At last, she pointed at the altar and said to Lu Chen:
"The Demon Den should be beneath this. Do you want to go in and take a look?"
Lu Chen nodded.
The two worked together to destroy the altar, and flames rose at Lu Chen's fingertips.
The firelight illuminated the densely packed inscriptions on the rock walls, which extended all the way into the depths underground.
"These inscriptions are absorbing the yin energy of the Earth Vein."
Han Qingxue lightly tapped an inscription with her sword tip. Frost spread three inches before exploding with a bang. "We need something of pure yang to destroy them!"
With a thought from Lu Chen, a Blood Jade Shard appeared in his palm.
Under Han Qingxue's dumbfounded gaze, it slowly transformed into a drop of liquid and fell onto the inscription.
Like a lit fuse, the drop of liquid raced down along the inscriptions and disappeared deep into the Demon Den.
"You... what a waste!" Han Qingxue watched the scene with aching regret.
Lu Chen paused, then flipped his hand and took out a fist-sized chunk of blood jade, tossing it to Han Qingxue with a smile.
"Take it and play with it!"
Pfft!
No matter how aloof Han Qingxue was, she was still so shocked that her lovely face lost color.
Play with it?
"That's too—"
She had just opened her mouth when she saw Lu Chen take out two more fist-sized chunks of blood jade and fell silent.
"Did you overturn the blood pool in Nether Blood Valley?" Han Qingxue asked speechlessly.
"I really did!" Lu Chen smiled. Without touching the inscriptions, he walked ahead.
Han Qingxue's heart trembled.
Could it be true?
She truly dared not believe it!
Half a day later, the two stood before a massive bronze door.
Its surface was covered in densely packed inscriptions.
The door knocker was carved in the form of two entwined Nine-Headed Blood Pythons. Eighteen snake eyes suddenly glimmered with blood-red light.
Bang!
Lu Chen fiercely hurled the two chunks of blood jade in his hand.
The blood jade exploded, splattering across the bronze doors.
The inscriptions upon them rapidly melted away like snow meeting boiling water.
Boom!
Yet no matter how fast they melted, they could not outpace the blood python's revival.
The phantom of a Nine-Headed Blood Python rose from the door knocker.
"What the hell is this?"
Lu Chen was greatly startled.
He had thought they were two giant snakes, but they were actually one.
It had nine heads at each end.
A thick python body connected them in the middle.
Even Han Qingxue turned pale with fright.
The two retreated sharply at the same time.
Rumble...
Eighteen mouths sprayed venom of different attributes, crashing toward them like enormous waves.
"Take it!" Lu Chen roared. The Devouring Furnace expanded with the wind, swallowing all the venom.
"Go!" Lu Chen sharply waved his hand, and three clones used Wind and Thunder Steps to suddenly appear atop the python's body.
Three flashes of saber light appeared and vanished in an instant.
Roar, roar, roar...
All eighteen heads let out furious roars at once.
At the same time, they opened their mouths and bit toward the three clones.
Thud, thud.
All eighteen heads suddenly went dark before their eyes.
Every one of them had been stuffed into the suddenly expanded furnaces.
One was the Bone Furnace, one was the Asura Furnace, while the Devouring Furnace clamped down over the wound on the python's body.
The three furnaces moved together.
Boundless refining power instantly smelted the eighteen heads until they were utterly unrecognizable.
A massive pit also caved in at the center of the python's body.
The Devouring Furnace abruptly shrank and drilled into its body.
Boom, boom, boom...
The "head" and "tail" ends thrashed so violently that they left afterimages, smashing into the walls with tremendous roars.
The muffled roars made Lu Chen and Han Qingxue feel oppressed in their chests.
The two exchanged a glance, then sprang into action at the same time as though sharing a tacit understanding.
Sword light and saber light erupted at once.
They slashed down from the head and tail ends of the nine-headed python respectively.
Pfft, pfft!
The head and tail ends separated from the python body at the same time. Amid miserable shrieks, they were finally all swallowed into the furnaces.
The python body in the middle was likewise wholly devoured by the Devouring Furnace.
A fourth-rank demonic beast, a Fierce Demon equivalent to the Nascent Soul level or Void-Shattering realm, had actually been killed in such a suffocatingly miserable manner.
"Quick, your hand!" Lu Chen suddenly blushed.
"What are you doing?" Han Qingxue abruptly hid her hand behind her back, dodging the hand Lu Chen extended toward her.
"The energy will go to waste!" Lu Chen's face reddened. He could not care about anything else.
He suddenly wrapped Han Qingxue in an embrace.
Killing intent surged in Han Qingxue's eyes, but she suddenly let out a muffled groan. The boundless energy slammed into her so hard that her energy nearly went berserk.
"Focus and refine it, quickly!" Lu Chen's voice sounded beside her ear.
Han Qingxue's heart quivered violently, and she hurriedly circulated her cultivation technique.
At the fifth level of the Golden Core realm, she absorbed it extremely quickly.
Lu Chen felt as if he had found an outlet—and four of them at once.
Besides Han Qingxue, the other three furnaces had also become outlets.
After a while, he exhaled in comfort and muttered, "Damn it, I nearly ex...ploded!"
After saying that, he hurriedly stepped away.
Those icy eyes felt as though they could freeze him solid.
"This... well, wasn't it because I didn't want to waste it?" Even Lu Chen himself did not believe what he said.
"If there's a next time... hmph!"
The frigid aura made Lu Chen shudder violently.
"I'll give you something!" At Lu Chen's words, Han Qingxue staggered.
She was truly about to die of anger.
She was still angry at him, and now he came out with this!
"No... need!"
She snatched the blood-red liquid from Lu Chen's hand.
If it had been blood jade, she absolutely would not have accepted it. But Blood Marrow...
It was far more important than her pride.
Lu Chen stared blankly, then muttered, "You said you didn't want it, so why did you snatch it?"
Han Qingxue pursed her lips and glared at him. That expression was something Lu Chen truly could not handle.
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