Blood Refinement

The Jiang Household's hall.

Song Yan and Li Qingfeng returned to Qin Ying's side and sat upright.

"Was it an illusion technique?"

Li Qingfeng stared at the paper figure in Song Yan's hand, his face full of astonishment. "Could it be a Demon Beast?"

Among humans, cultivators who specialized in illusion techniques were rare.

"I don't know."

Song Yan shook his head. "I encountered this sort of paper figure on a mission once before..."

"But that time, there were three Devil Cultivators. The paper figures only appeared after I killed them."

"This time seems a little different..."

Xiao He, inside his sleeve, seemed to have heard something novel. She slipped out through his collar, her blue-gold snake eyes peering outside.

Suddenly, the people in the hall broke into a commotion.

"The auspicious hour has arrived!"

Someone in the hall shouted, and the sound of suonas rose from the village outside.

Gongs and drums beat, reed pipes and flutes rang out together. It was a lively scene indeed.

Qin Ying suddenly stood and headed outside. Song Yan and Li Qingfeng naturally followed close behind.

At some point, mist had begun to gather over the village.

The moss on the eaves and in the corners of the walls grew damp. Dew gathered on the creeping vines, faintly tinged with red.

"..."

Silhouettes shifted in the mist. A group of villagers in festive clothes approached slowly, each carrying a suona, gong, or drum.

Every face bore an exaggerated look of joy.

The musicians led the way, followed by eight bearers carrying a bridal sedan chair on their shoulders.

Behind them came the village women accompanying the procession.

The eight-bearer sedan chair settled steadily before the Jiang Household's gate.

"Huh?"

Xiao He gave a soft exclamation and tilted her little head, blue-gold light shifting in her eyes.

The bridal sedan's curtains stirred without wind, and scarlet mist seeped from beneath it. Frost gathered at Qin Ying's fingertips as she shielded Song Yan and Li Qingfeng behind her.

Viscous blood trickled slowly down from the top, actually dissolving the entire bridal sedan!

Seated inside was not a bride, but a massive blood-colored cocoon.

"Yanyan, there's a girl in there. Her scent is familiar... we might have met her before."

"..."

Song Yan looked toward the blood-colored cocoon, his expression grave.

Given Qin Ying's account that Gu Qingqing had come here alone on a mission and vanished without a word, the girl inside should be Gu Qingqing.

Swish-

The frost at Qin Ying's fingertips turned into an ice blade and sliced toward one corner of the enormous blood cocoon.

A corner was cut from the blood cocoon, revealing what lay inside.

Densely packed blood-colored threads extended inward, adhering to a solid layer of blue-white Spiritual Qi.

Gu Qingqing's eyes were closed, her lashes trembling slightly. Her gentle, serene face looked utterly out of place amid the blood-red surroundings.

"Junior Sister Gu..."

The surrounding villagers closed in on the three, their expressions savage as they muttered, "Just as we thought..."

"We knew you were here to cause trouble..."

Several middle-aged villagers opened their mouths stiffly, a few hoarse notes rolling from their throats.

"Urgh..."

Irregular tumors and lumps bulged on the middle-aged villagers' foreheads, cheeks, and necks.

"Peach Blossom Hollow..."

"Immortals'... homeland..."

It was as though something were writhing beneath his skin and blood vessels.

"..."

"Ascend to immortality..."

"Watch out!"

Boom!!!

Blinding flashes of fire erupted in the night, followed by deafening explosions that resounded through the heavens above Peach Blossom Hollow.

The roaring surged like a tide, spreading wildly in every direction.

"..."

Li Qingfeng spread his hands, and a searing stream of fire-aspect Spiritual Qi enveloped the three of them.

The surrounding houses could not withstand the explosive impact and collapsed with a crash, bricks and rubble flying everywhere.

Song Yan looked around through the transparent, flowing Spiritual Qi.

Every villager in Peach Blossom Hollow was approaching them slowly like the walking dead, their eyes brimming with blood-red color.

Strangely, the sudden transformation had not stained a single spot here with blood.

Song Yan's gaze sharpened. Two paper figures lay where those two people had stood.

Several wisps of pure Blood Qi drifted slowly toward Incense Burner Peak.

Blue frost surged in Qin Ying's palm.

Hum-

Her hand opened slightly, and cold light spread in every direction.

As the frost swept past, every villager was frozen by the chill, collapsing and coming to a halt where they stood.

There was not even a single scream.

Qin Ying's brows knitted tighter as she gazed toward Incense Burner Peak in the distance.

Amid the thick smoke and firelight, two figures slowly approached them.

"I am Jiang Xiao. Greetings, fellow Daoists."

Jiang Xiao's clothes were disheveled and loose. He hardly looked like some so-called True Person or exalted immortal...

Beside him, Bai Yulu wore revealing clothes, the tip of her index finger between her lips as she gently licked something.

"On such a joyous day, why would you attack the villagers without cause? Could it be... you mean to steal the bride?"

Hum-

Qin Ying no longer concealed the immense pressure of her Spiritual Qi, instantly sweeping it across all of Peach Blossom Hollow. At the same time, spiritual power rapidly gathered beside her, and two icy-blue streaks of sword light shot toward Jiang Xiao's face.

Jiang Xiao's smile faded, but he did not panic. A mass of foul blood gathered in his hand, and blood-red light flashed at his fingertips.

The foul blood wrapped around one streak of blue sword light, circled beside him, then shot back in the opposite direction, colliding with the other strand of Sword Qi and dissipating with a bang.

"Oh dear, the Dongyuan Sect is a great and reputable sect, too. How could you be so bloodthirsty..."

Jiang Xiao suddenly gave a cruel smile. "But don't worry... I can still bring the villagers back to life."

He lightly formed a hand seal.

"..."

The bodies of the villagers sprawled on the ground suddenly began to tremble. Then, one after another, they began writhing across the ground in extremely bizarre postures.

The sounds of bones grinding against one another and flesh shifting rose and fell.

Before long, all the villagers had stood up again.

Their skin gradually split open, and their bright red blood began to burn.

A dangerous smile curled at the corners of Jiang Xiao's mouth.

Bang!

Amid the crowd, one villager's body suddenly burst apart.

The instant the explosion spread, the bone and blood began to contract.

Qin Ying frowned, still having no inclination to speak. Several icy-blue streaks of sword light shot toward Jiang Xiao together.

Jiang Xiao raised his hands slightly. The blood drifted over and gathered in his hand into a dense bead of blood, like a pill.

A towering surge of Blood Qi suddenly erupted around him. Foul blood swirled around his body like quicksand, swallowing all the frosty Spiritual Qi.

The towering blood-red light was filled with oppressive force, and a bloody stench engulfed all of Peach Blossom Hollow...

A Foundation Establishment cultivator!

At that moment, all the villagers, like the walking dead, suddenly dropped the weapons in their hands and knelt in worship toward Jiang Xiao.

Round, scarlet drops of blood emerged, one by one, from between the brows and over the hearts of every prostrate villager, drifting into the surroundings.

Jiang Xiao tapped lightly with a fingertip.

A Flying Sword wreathed entirely in waves of black flame flew from the bottom of the ancient well and hovered beside him.

"..."

Blood-red light erupted from four directions at once, and a great Blood Qi formation enveloped all of Peach Blossom Hollow.

At the center of the formation stood that ancient well.

"Blood Refinement of the Mortal Realm..."

His eyes were scarlet, brimming with an unbridled smile.

"Bear me aloft to immortality!"

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