The Mad Dragon's Provocation, a Blood Sacrifice to the Demon Tide

However.

"Boom--!!!"

Without wasting any words, Hong Gui unleashed her newly broken-through cultivation level without reservation!

A violent, condensed, and terrifying surge of true energy erupted within the study!

Moreover, a layer of deep purple protective energy, almost tangible, clearly appeared on the surface of Hong Gui's body!

"What?!"

Li Canghai's eyes widened instantly, and he stood up from his chair in a daze, his face full of disbelief!

"This true energy... and this unusual phenomenon of Inner Qi, Outer Gang Qi..."

"Upper-Tier Meridian Opening Perfection?!"

Li Canghai was so shocked that his voice trembled!

Yesterday evening, this girl was clearly only at the Meridian Opening Eighth Level! How could she have skipped two minor realms overnight and directly soared to the Upper-Tier Perfection?!

This is simply impossible!

"You... did you take some kind of powerful, life-draining banned drug?!"

Li Canghai suddenly realized something, his face instantly turning ugly, even showing a hint of extreme heartache and anger, "Hong Gui! You're foolish! Just to spite someone, you actually did something so foundationally damaging!"

"Banned drugs?"

Hong Gui gave a disdainful sneer.

"Old man, look carefully."

She confidently displayed the abundant, inexhaustible, and even purer internal energy within her body than before.

Far from feeling hollow or superficial, it feels solid and stable!

"This..."

Li Canghai carefully sensed it for a moment, and the anger on his face was instantly replaced by extreme shock.

It's really true! A perfect breakthrough with absolutely no side effects!

This overturned his decades-long understanding of Martial Dao!

Faced with her father's blank stare, Hong Gui didn't offer any explanation. She couldn't possibly tell him that she had been forcibly "fed" into womanhood by a man in bed.

"Now, am I qualified to take that True Power technique?" Hong Gui stretched out her hand again.

Li Canghai took a deep breath. He understood that his daughter must have encountered some kind of extraordinary opportunity!

Without further hesitation, he walked to the back of the bookshelf, opened a hidden safe, and solemnly handed a jade slip emitting a faint fluctuation of True Power to Hong Gui.

The core inheritance of the Li Family: "The Ziwei True Power Art" (Profound Grade).

However, when Hong Gui accepted this Profound Grade True Power technique, which was enough to drive countless rogue cultivators in the Demon Capital City mad, she did not show any particular desire on her face.

She casually tossed the jade slip into her storage bag.

After all, Dongfang Yueming had not only reached the terrifying Top-Tier True Power Perfection, but had also generously taught her one Heaven Grade and two Earth Grade True Power techniques!

This Profound Grade cultivation technique is now practically useless to her, like a chicken bone that's neither here nor there.

Her return to demand the cultivation technique was merely a pretext; her true purpose was another insane test.

"Old man, now that I've already reached the Meridian Opening Perfection..."

Hong Gui narrowed her eyes and cautiously probed, "Then could you perhaps show me that technique in our family that only the heads of the family and the ancestors of each generation can access... the [Sea of Consciousness Realm] method?"

"Nonsense!"

Li Canghai was still immersed in the joy of his daughter's breakthrough when he heard these words. His expression instantly turned stern, even showing a hint of fearful awe.

"Hong Gui! Don't aim too high!"

"The Sea of Consciousness Dharma Gate has always been personally guarded by the Ancestor in the forbidden area! That's a dangerous realm!"

Li Canghai solemnly warned, "The Sea of Consciousness Realm involves the development of a fragile brain and spiritual soul! It's not something you can break through with just cultivation techniques! A slight mistake can lead to mental derangement, or even turning you into an idiot!"

"You've only just Meridian Opening Perfection, and haven't even stepped into the True Power Realm yet, how dare you dream of the Sea of Consciousness Dharma? It's utterly delusional!"

Seeing her father's stern, even slightly frightened, reaction.

Hong Gui nodded obediently and left the study.

But in her heart, she didn't think so.

"Danger? Threshold?"

The image of that incredibly powerful man who had tormented her in bed was now flashing through Hong Gui's mind.

"That kind of thing probably doesn't even exist for that monster, right?"

at the same time.

Inside the presidential suite of the Cloud Hotel.

Dongfang Yueming was sitting cross-legged on the messy bed, steadily regulating the vast True Power within his body.

"Once I've calmed down a bit, I'll go to the Li Family's forbidden area tonight."

"The methods for the Sea of Consciousness Realm..."

"I'd really like to see it for myself."

In the heart of Demon Capital, there was once a massive underground spiritual mineral trading market belonging to the Pan Family.

Now, this place has been taken over by the three major families. However, at this moment, outside the gate of the trading market, a group of arrogant martial artists dressed in gold-embroidered robes have gathered.

"Bang!"

A guard from one of the three major families was blasted away by a powerful golden aura, crashing into a stone pillar and spitting out blood.

"What does the Long Family want?! This is Demon Capital, not Capital! This spirit ore market is already a property jointly managed by the three of us!" A Tang Family elder at the Meridian Opening Realm, who was in charge of guarding the area, pointed angrily at the group of uninvited guests.

"Joke."

The core elder of the Long Family, Long Batian, who was leading the team, stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes full of disdain.

"The Pan Family resells contraband and colludes with underground criminal gangs; their business is illegitimate from the start. Have you three families consulted the Great Xia government or our inspection team before trying to take it all in one fell swoop?"

Long Batian sneered and took a step forward with extreme domineering manner.

"I suspect that some members of the Pan Family have escaped their net and that this mine still contains contraband. Today, the Long Family is taking over the search! Anyone who dares to obstruct us will be treated as an accomplice!"

"You've gone too far!"

The guards from the three major families gritted their teeth in anger, but faced with the terrifying pressure of Long Batian's Half-Step Sea of Consciousness Consciousness realm, none of them dared to take a step forward. The Long Family was clearly trying to forcibly tear open a gap in the Demon Capital and seize profits.

However.

Whether it's the arrogant and domineering Long Family or the three aggrieved families.

They didn't know.

In that dark underground warehouse in the Demon Capital of Shanghai, a terrifying upheaval, capable of upending the entire Demon Capital and even threatening the safety of the Great Xia Dynasty, is unfolding silently!

An abandoned warehouse in the south of the city, with an extremely deep basement.

The air here still carries the heavy stench of blood left from the massacre of the Pan Family last night.

The area where the Wu Family's Variants were originally imprisoned was now enveloped in an extremely eerie and deathly silence.

"What's going on? There's not a sound at all."

The Chu Family steward, who was in charge of guarding this group of high-level Variants, frowned slightly and, with a few subordinates, carefully opened the heavy alloy isolation door.

Logically, having devoured so much high-quality martial artist flesh and blood, these Purple-Winged Demon Bat should be frantically digesting energy and even tearing each other apart.

"Buzz..."

As the isolation door opened.

The guard froze on the spot, his pupils contracting to their limit in extreme terror!

The vast underground space did not contain the ferocious Variants that had grown to enormous sizes as one might have imagined.

All that remained was a ground littered with desiccated corpses!

Those were the corpses of dozens of the Wu Family Variants! Their once-hard purple scales had lost all their luster, becoming like Kumu. It was as if, in an instant, some unknown and terrifying force had completely drained them of all their blood, Vitality, and even... their souls!

At the center of these Variants mummies, a massive, malevolent array, carved from extremely viscous, pungent, dark red Variants blood, was emitting faint yet incredibly high-dimensional energy fluctuations!

"A sacrifice... a offering?!"

The guard trembled violently; he finally understood what these high-level Variants had done before they died!

Instead of evolving to be harvested by humans, they resolutely sacrificed all their power and life force, launching some kind of evil ritual that transcends space!

"Quick! Something terrible has happened!!!" the butler screamed hoarsely, scrambling towards the communicator.