Dying Breath, Abyssal Undercurrents
Jinling City, northern suburbs.
Unlike the cold, underground manor of the Xiahou Family, the Han Family is nestled against the mountains and beside the water, covering a vast area.
To outsiders, the Han Family is the unshakeable pillar of righteousness in Jinling City, a sacred place in the hearts of all ordinary martial artists.
However, sunlight can never illuminate all the dark corners.
Deep within the Han Family lies a heavily guarded, ancient ancestral hall whose gates are always closed.
Inside the ancestral hall, the light was dim, with only a few ever-burning lamps swaying in the night breeze.
The current head of the Han Family, the legendary figure known throughout Jinling City as "Old Master Han" and possessing the Qi Gathering Realm, Han Changfeng, was sitting cross-legged on a futon.
He looked extremely old, with age spots all over his face, and exuded a strong sense of decay, like a piece of rotten wood that could be blown away by the wind at any moment.
But lurking within his hunched body was an extremely terrifying and immense "true energy" capable of destroying the entire ancestral hall!
"Cough cough cough..."
A violent cough shattered the silence of the ancestral hall. Han Changfeng abruptly covered his mouth, and a shocking trickle of dark red blood seeped from between his thin, bony fingers.
"Is this broken body finally about to give way?"
He looked at the blood on his palm, a flicker of extreme resentment and fear flashing in his cloudy eyes.
Thirty years ago, he was severely injured, and would never have the hope of breaking through to the next realm—[Meridian Opening Realm]!
If it weren't for external forces, it would have turned into a handful of dust long ago.
This "external force" was the shame he could never erase from his heart, and it was also the beginning of him personally pushing the Han Family into the abyss.
He slowly turned his head and looked down at the shrine in the ancestral hall.
There, on the table, sat an exquisitely crafted jade bottle. Inside the bottle was not some miraculous elixir, but rather... purified, Variants blood essence!
"Gulp."
Han Changfeng's thin Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and an uncontrollable bloodthirsty desire surged in his eyes.
This feeling has been coming more and more frequent lately.
"I am human..." He closed his eyes in pain, desperately trying to suppress the instinct that was almost devouring his reason.
But that restlessness deep within his blood was like a leech, causing every muscle in his body to tremble slightly.
He compromised.
Or rather, from the moment he drank that bottle of Variants blood for the first time in order to survive, he was no longer the indomitable Old Master Han.
He tacitly approved of the core members of the family accepting "conversion," tacitly approved of the cruel acts of Han Luosheng and other younger generation members who used common martial artists as food, and even... became their biggest protector.
"As long as I can live, as long as the Han Family's banner stands... the sacrifices of those ordinary people will be worthwhile!"
Han Changfeng suddenly opened his eyes, and a chilling crimson flashed in his previously cloudy pupils!
It's as if they're no longer human.
Like a starving old wolf, he grabbed the jade bottle, uncorked it, and drank the Variants blood inside, which emitted a strong, sweet and pungent smell, in one gulp!
"Boom!"
The essence of blood entered his throat, transforming into an extremely violent force of Vitality and evil, instantly engulfing his entire body!
His once-shriveled muscles began to bulge slightly, the age spots on his face faded rapidly, and even his full head of white hair showed a faint tendency to turn black!
"Call..."
Han Changfeng exhaled a long breath, feeling the power returning to his body, and a sickly satisfaction curled at the corner of his mouth.
"The Meridian Opening Realm... I will definitely reach it..."
Outside the ancestral hall, in another hidden underground martial arts training ground.
The atmosphere, however, was completely different.
Dozens of powerful figures stood silently in the center of the martial arts arena. If any martial artists from Jinling City were here, they would be horrified to discover that these core members of the Han Family, who were highly respected and powerful outside, all had eyes that revealed a cold cruelty devoid of any human emotion!
Everyone's Variants!
Standing at the very front were seven powerful figures radiating terrifying pressure!
They were all experts who had reached the [Blood Transformation Realm]!
"Those brats from Capital and Demon Capital actually dared to come to Jinling and cause trouble."
Among the seven, a burly, bald, strong man with a face full of scars sneered. His name was Han Pojun, Blood Transformation Realm Sixth Level expert, and the second most powerful person in the Han Family after the old man.
"I heard from Luosheng that they shocked the entire Jinling Martial University as soon as they arrived?"
"Hmph, so what?"
Another woman, with a voluptuous figure but strangely purplish-black lips, smiled charmingly. She was Han Mei, the Law Enforcement Hall of the Han Family, at the Blood Transformation Realm Second Layer.
"At most, including their instructors, there are only a few of them. Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake! This is Jinling, our territory!"
Han Mei stuck out her scarlet tongue and licked her long, slender nails.
"Moreover, the old man's craving for essence blood has been growing stronger lately. The quality of the essence blood of ordinary civilian martial artists is too poor to satisfy his appetite."
She looked at everyone present, a deep greed gleaming in her eyes.
"If... we could 'devour' these peerless geniuses from Capital and Demon Capital without anyone noticing..."
Upon hearing this, the air in the training ground instantly became scorching hot!
"Eat them?"
"Hiss--! Those are the geniuses from the most prestigious academy in the Great Xia! Their flesh and blood are definitely a great tonic!"
"If we can drain them dry, not only us, but even the old man might be able to break through his limitations and reach the legendary [Meridian Opening Realm]!"