Obtaining the Kui Bull's Blood Essence

"Fool, now is the best time to fight for the blood essence."

Lin Tian chuckled, his voice full of disdain.

This was precisely the moment he had been waiting for.

Li Shangjue could completely suppress one Kui Bull on his own.

Anyone who tried to seize its blood essence would be killed instantly by Li Shangjue.

If Lin Tian tried, he would simply be courting death.

But a second Kui Bull had appeared.

Li Shangjue would fall into a disadvantage.

Then, the Kui Bulls would be intent on killing Li Shangjue.

Li Shangjue would have no attention to spare for anything else either.

Wasn't that his opportunity?

"Be a little bolder, and you can have anything."

Lin Tian sneered, his face full of madness.

Sure enough, inside the city.

Li Shangjue was caught between the two Kui Bulls, attacked from front and rear.

His expression turned cold and sinister, and five sword cases suddenly appeared.

More than a dozen extraordinary longswords shot out.

They formed a sword formation around him.

Moo!

The two Kui Bulls bellowed into the heavens, sending countless bolts of lightning toward Li Shangjue.

They kept him firmly suppressed.

The battle pushed ever deeper into the city.

More civilians were fleeing there.

A battle this terrifying would probably slaughter over a hundred thousand mortals.

"I bet I won't die this time."

Grinning savagely, Lin Tian turned into a white blur and flew toward the spot where the Kui Bull's blood essence had spilled earlier.

Boom!

Now at Mystic Core Sixth Layer, he covered a hundred meters in a single breath.

A long afterimage trailed behind him.

Beneath the city wall.

More than a dozen deep-blue drops of blood containing lightning floated slowly in the air.

This blood essence had not fallen to the ground, but hovered a meter above it.

Every drop flashed with lightning.

From time to time, azure snakes of electricity shot out.

Lin Tian took out the two medicine bottles Ziwei had given him earlier.

He poured the pills from one bottle into the other.

Holding the empty bottle, he collected the blood essence.

Soon, Lin Tian had gathered more than a dozen drops of blood essence into the medicine bottle.

Only the final drop remained.

"Zhenwu of the Extreme Realm, put down that bottle. That doesn't belong to you!"

A woman's cold shout rang out.

Lin Tian frowned and looked over.

She actually knew his identity.

A pretty woman stood a dozen or so meters away, clutching a severed arm, her body battered all over.

Lin Tian remembered her. She was one of the people who had lurked nearby earlier to steal the blood essence.

Under pressure from Li Shangjue, she had been forced to enter the city and fight.

Now that Li Shangjue was entangled with two Kui Bulls.

She had hurried straight out.

Judging by her wounds, when the second Kui Bull appeared.

This woman had suffered quite a few injuries.

She really had never wavered from her original goal.

Lin Tian sneered.

"In your current state, can you beat me?"

The woman's eyes narrowed, the sword in her hand pointing diagonally toward the ground.

"I saw you killing Thunder Bulls earlier."

As she spoke, her presence grew sharp.

"Your strength is at most Void Insight First Layer. Even seriously injured as I am, killing someone at Void Insight Fifth Layer would still be more than... hmm!"

The woman was shocked.

Lin Tian had simply attacked with his sword.

A dazzling ray of sword light shot straight toward her.

Azure light blazed.

Bearing terrifying Sword Momentum, it struck in an instant.

"Damn it!"

Shocked, the woman hurriedly raised her sword to block.

Her longsword met the sword light, abruptly bursting into a shower of sparks.

Her skin split open, and she was driven rapidly backward.

A moment later, the sword light dissipated.

Another sword wound had been added to her injuries.

When she looked toward the blood essence again, Lin Tian had already disappeared.

Even that final drop of Kui Bull blood essence had been taken by Lin Tian.

"Damn it!"

The woman growled, her expression turning exceedingly ugly.

She had nearly met her end here tonight.

All for the Kui Bull's blood essence.

She had never expected the blood essence everyone coveted to end up snatched away by the newly appointed Zhenwu of the Extreme Realm.

Although the title of Zhenwu of the Extreme Realm carried great renown.

This particular Zhenwu was clearly a junior.

"Not even one drop left for me, you bastard!"

The woman kept cursing coldly, then fled with her wounded body.

Meanwhile.

In the Extreme Realm, above the lake.

Ziwei's figure appeared.

The Azure Emperor and Xihe looked over, both somewhat surprised.

"Ziwei, you actually survived. Not bad, not bad."

The Azure Emperor spoke with a faint smile.

Xihe said nothing, her thoughts unknown.

"Big Brother Azure Emperor, did you think I'd die there?"

Ziwei was clearly displeased.

What did he mean, "actually"?

Were they that surprised he had survived?

"Haha."

The Azure Emperor laughed awkwardly, then spoke in a slightly somber tone:

"Has the newly appointed Zhenwu already died? He was only at the Body Opening Realm. For his very first mission to be so difficult-this is a first for me too."

Ziwei's expression beneath his mask turned somewhat strange before he said:

"I never said Zhenwu died."

At Ziwei's words, the Azure Emperor froze. Xihe also turned toward Ziwei and asked:

"Did you lead Zhenwu to victory?"

Xihe had never fought alongside Ziwei, so she did not know how strong he was.

"No..."

As Ziwei spoke, he paused briefly, then burst out laughing.

"Of course it was me!"

"I'm a prodigy of my lineage. I've suppressed my peers since birth, and today I learned a powerful martial technique."

"I charged into the Thunder Bull herd and slaughtered them left and right."

"Zhenwu instantly looked up to me!"

"First I went like that, then like this, overturning mountains and seas, with gongs and drums clamoring!"

As Ziwei spoke, he waved both arms, beginning to describe the peril they had faced and his own prowess.

Xihe listened in silence.

The Azure Emperor wanted to smack him as he listened.

The Azure Emperor had undertaken missions with Ziwei before, so naturally, he knew.

"Tell the truth!"

At the Azure Emperor's cold shout, Ziwei immediately wilted.

Then he told them what had really happened.

A long while later.

"To think there were two Kui Bulls. The Sword Capital will probably suffer a devastating blow this time. But where I live is too far from the Sword Capital. What a bitter shame!"

The Azure Emperor sighed.

"Is Zhenwu really as formidable as you say?"

Xihe looked at Ziwei and asked.

"It's true. He looks so quiet and refined, but when he fights, he's a complete madman!"

Ziwei spoke, still feeling somewhat shaken.

"No wonder the Extreme Realm bestowed the Zhenwu Mask on him. He really is another sword prodigy!"

"I underestimated him earlier."

The Azure Emperor sighed in admiration.

"I wonder which lineage Zhenwu is an heir to."

Xihe murmured, seemingly analyzing Zhenwu's true identity.

"Zhenwu is really poor. He doesn't even have a storage ring, or pills for his injuries."

Ziwei added.

Xihe's eyes lit up, and she said:

"Could he be a prodigy from the Wilderness?"

"Possibly."

The Azure Emperor nodded. The Wilderness was notoriously poor.

At the same time.

Lin Tian appeared inside an empty room.

Everything in the room was very simple.

A wooden chair and a table.

On the floor stood an hourglass half a person's height.

The hourglass seemed to have only just been reset.

Fine golden sand flowed into the glass vessel below.

It made a faint rustling sound.

"This is your private room within the Extreme Realm."

"You may only stay for the duration of one hourglass."

"During that time, you may choose to return directly or enter the lake."

"Your mission will be issued in one month. During that month, you will receive one opportunity to enter the Extreme Realm each week."

"Since you participated in the mission with Ziwei, the Extreme Realm Mask has added Ziwei as your friend by default. You may communicate through your masks."

"Zhenwu, you have successfully completed your first mission."

"Evaluation: A+."

"Rewards will be issued according to your needs."

"Accordingly, the following rewards are issued:

1. One healing jade talisman: after undertaking a mission, no matter how serious your injuries are, it can restore you to full health as long as you return to the Extreme Realm.

2. One mission jade talisman: negates the death penalty for one failed mission, and grants you half the rewards for a successful mission.

3. Three Advancement Jade Talismans: Can be used on pills, spirit herbs, and other items to advance them, producing greater effects.

4. One spatial ring containing clothes that fit.

Note: These jade talismans cannot be taken out of the Extreme Realm, but may be stored here."

The grand voice resounded through the room.

Five jade talismans appeared out of thin air on the wooden table in front of Lin Tian.

They were precisely the three jade talismans the Extreme Realm had rewarded him with.

There was also a spatial ring.

Lin Tian felt this was the Extreme Realm's twisted sense of humor.

Lin Tian examined the jade talismans.

Of the three kinds of jade talismans, what he could use

was just the Advancement Jade Talisman.

Lin Tian took out three medicine bottles.

One held the two kinds of pills Ziwei had given him, and another held medicinal liquid for external application.

As for the last bottle, it contained the Kui Bull's blood essence.

Using an Advancement Jade Talisman on the pills or medicinal liquid

would be a waste no matter how he looked at it.

"Blood essence..."

Lin Tian sat in the chair and removed the stopper.

Crackle.

Several tiny serpents of lightning darted out of the jade bottle.

A powerful, ancient presence instantly washed over his face.

Excitement involuntarily stirred in Lin Tian's heart.

He picked up an Advancement Jade Talisman and held it against the mouth of the bottle of blood essence.

"Use the Advancement Jade Talisman to advance the Kui Bull's blood essence."

Lin Tian spoke softly.

Buzz!

In an instant, the jade talisman turned into a streak of azure light and sank into the blood essence.

"It really works!"

Lin Tian exclaimed in delighted surprise.

Crack!

With a crisp sound, the medicine bottle shattered.

Lin Tian's heart sank, and he instinctively moved to catch the blood essence with his hands.

Crackle.

Terrifying lightning exploded with a roar.

A glob of blood, radiating a glasslike azure glow, floated before Lin Tian.

The azure light formed by the jade talisman intertwined with the Kui Bull's blood essence.

Soon, the blood essence's presence became purer, and the blood grew thicker.

The ancient presence within it became even more terrifying.

Delight appeared on Lin Tian's face.

He immediately picked up the remaining two Advancement Jade Talismans.

"Use them all. Keep advancing."

He murmured.

This jade talisman instantly turned into azure light and merged into the blood essence.

Crack!

Lightning flickered within the blood essence.

Terrifying lightning rampaged through the room.

Several bolts struck Lin Tian, causing him intense pain.

After all, because Lin Tian had slain the Thunder Bull,

the power of lightning within his body was not weak.

Yet the lightning spilling from this glob of blood essence still made Lin Tian feel pangs of pain.