Blood Burning Spirit Sacrifice

Yang Lingrui clapped as well and said, "It still has to be Sister Qing. Your analysis was so thorough."

Seeing how clearly Yang Lingqing laid everything out, Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu could not help showing approving looks and nodding repeatedly.

To produce a junior like Yang Lingqing, one with a quick mind and a steady temperament, was something countless lineages could only dream of.

"Lingqing is right. No wonder only you can communicate with that spirit stone."

After the battle against the Beast Tide, the Yang Family had changed how they addressed Chen Yang.

If anyone outside asked, they would still call him an Exotic Stone, but in private, they had already begun calling him a spirit stone.

Everyone's gazes returned to the ancestral hall in the Forbidden Ground.

Yang Guanfeng led the other four inside. Chen Yang was quietly placed in the very center at that moment.

Once the five had taken their positions, Yang Guanfeng respectfully cupped his hands toward Chen Yang. "In this Beast Tide, we thank you, senior spirit stone, for protecting the Yang Family and keeping us safe. For this life-saving grace, the Yang Family is endlessly grateful!"

He then led the other four in bowing to Chen Yang.

His words were earnest and heartfelt, without the slightest falsehood.

That was indeed the truth. Without Chen Yang, they would never have lived to see the fox demon appear. That Fourth Layer of Qi Gathering ape Demon Beast alone could have wiped out all three hundred members of the Yang Family.

After confirming that Chen Yang might possess intelligence, Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu carefully reviewed everything from beginning to end.

When they first entered the Lesser Treasure Realm, they had found the Four-leaf Spirit-Nesting Grass. As they were leaving, Elder Yu sensed a trace of spiritual energy fluctuations, which was why they noticed Chen Yang in the corner.

Afterward, they brought him home. Wang Lie used a lodestone to destroy the formation, and Chen Yang released another fluctuation, awakening Yang Lingqing and preventing Wang Lie's sneak attack from succeeding.

Later, once the Beast Tide began, he repeatedly warned Lingqing and Linghu of the approaching Demon Beasts. At the most critical moment, he even killed that fox demon in a single strike, saving the two children's lives.

Looking at it now, none of what had happened could possibly have been a coincidence.

Perhaps this spirit stone had possessed intelligence from the very beginning!

In other words, it was not they who brought the spirit stone out of the Secret Realm. It was the spirit stone that chose their Yang Family!

Elder Yu even imagined further twists and turns, concluding that the route they had taken after entering the Secret Realm might also have been guided by the spirit stone!

Once they confirmed this, the Yang Family did not dare delay. They hurriedly moved Chen Yang from the high platform in the courtyard into the ancestral hall, granting him the same standing as their ancestral forebears.

The other four also tried to communicate with Chen Yang, but unfortunately, only when Yang Lingqing spoke to him did he occasionally respond. When the others tried, he was no different from a dead object.

After discussing it, everyone felt that it was likely because Lingqing often communicated with the spirit stone and had earned its recognition.

Within the ancestral hall, the Yang Family cultivators decided to use a special method to repay Chen Yang for saving the entire Yang Family.

As Yang Guanfeng finished speaking, he took a fire talisman from his sleeve and placed it in his palm.

With a flicker of thought, the fire talisman burst into blazing flames.

He then extended his other hand and gathered spiritual power to pierce through his fingertip.

A drop of blood glowing with spiritual light flew out.

Behind him, Elder Yu and the three children followed his example and each drew out a drop of blood.

This was no ordinary blood. It was the unique essence blood within a cultivator's dantian after Condensing Qi Mansion, and it was exceedingly precious.

For every drop lost, they had to spend a great deal of time condensing it anew.

Insufficient essence blood would prevent a cultivator from using techniques, while severe depletion would even cause their cultivation to regress.

Yet now, each of the Yang Family's five cultivators took out one drop of this thing that was as precious as their very lives.

They activated their spiritual power and guided the essence blood at their fingertips toward the flame in Yang Guanfeng's palm.

The instant the essence blood touched the fire, it erupted with an incomparably dazzling orange glow, illuminating the entire Forbidden Ground.

Had the formation not isolated it, the mortals at the foot of the mountain would have thought a second sun had appeared.

The five drops of essence blood fused and steamed within the light. As they transformed into a wisp of crimson spiritual energy, the radiance faded as well.

Then, that strange wisp of spiritual energy slowly drifted toward Chen Yang.

"Hm? This aura... smells so good!"

The scent of the crimson spiritual energy sent Chen Yang into a daze. He immediately activated his spiritual power to draw it in and absorb it into his body.

Seeing Chen Yang absorb the crimson spiritual energy, Elder Yu's face showed boundless excitement. "It truly is an object with divine intelligence! Excellent! Excellent!"

This method was called the Blood Burning Spirit Sacrifice Technique.

Elder Yu had once been a sect disciple and learned of this method in the library pavilion.

It was a secret art for refining spirit treasures, most often used on supreme treasures meant to safeguard a nation or sect.

Cultivators offered their essence blood to wash the marrow and cleanse the body of a spirit treasure, removing impurities. At the same time, blood would serve as the medium that established a connection between the two.

Whenever a cultivator who had offered essence blood broke through a realm, the spirit treasure could receive a portion of their cultivation as feedback.

It was said that if a spirit treasure developed intelligence, it would actively absorb the crimson spiritual energy produced by this technique.

Otherwise, a cultivator would need to guide it into the treasure.

The delight on the Yang Family members' faces was impossible to hide.

A spirit treasure that developed intelligence on its own was a treasure that existed only in legends!

Not even sects such as the Myriad Transformation Sect and Solitary Moon Mountain could possess one, let alone the Tiger Chasing Dynasty.

Yet their Yang Family had obtained such a supreme treasure through a chance coincidence.

Yang Guanfeng had just begun to smile when his expression suddenly darkened.

"To obtain such a great treasure is the fortune of my Yang Family, but it may also become the calamity that destroys us," he said in a low voice.

The three children all turned pale with fright upon hearing this, while Elder Yu nodded in sudden understanding. "The Patriarch is right. The fate of the Yang Family rests upon this one stone. If a great cultivator discovers this treasure, not only will we perish body and soul, but the entire Yang Family, along with the mortals' village at the foot of the mountain, may all be reduced to ashes and scattered to the wind!"

Yang Lingrui and Yang Linghu both looked solemn, as though facing a formidable enemy.

At that moment, Yang Lingqing said, "In Lingqing's humble view, the two elders need not worry so greatly. Time and fate are what they are. The elders once said that cultivators like us are gamblers who wrest their lives from Heaven. Since the Yang Family has obtained this treasure, then naturally we must fight for it!"

Lingqing's words eased the two elders' expressions somewhat, and both nodded approvingly.

"Indeed. Since this spirit stone chose our family, there is absolutely no reason to hand it over with both hands. But from now on, this matter must be kept absolutely secret. It concerns the survival or destruction of the Yang Family!"

Yang Guanfeng immediately led the other four in swearing a blood oath, using the lifeline of their Dao Paths to guard the secret of the spirit stone.

As they spoke, movement came from Chen Yang's side as well.

As the crimson spiritual energy circulated through his body, Chen Yang discovered in astonishment that it seemed to be raining inside his White Space. Drop after drop of pure spiritual power fell within it.

In merely a quarter of an hour, the spiritual power produced was equal to five years of his breathing exercises!

This alone showed just how precious a cultivator's essence blood was, and how excellent the refinement effect could be.

And these were only five Qi Gathering Cultivators. If the Yang Family grew stronger in the future, with more cultivators and higher realms, the effects of the Blood Burning Spirit Sacrifice would multiply severalfold.

A few more breaths later, the crimson spiritual energy dissipated.

At that instant, Chen Yang felt a comfort he had never experienced before, as though he had received a complete restorative treatment. His entire body felt much lighter and more nimble than before, while the circulation of spiritual power within him became smoother as well.

Using inner vision, Chen Yang discovered five clusters of red soul fire inside his body.

Two large and three small, each with subtle differences.

Of the two larger soul fires, one burned bright and vigorous, while the other flame swayed and appeared somewhat dim.

Chen Yang immediately understood what he was seeing.

"The brightly burning one is Old Yang. The old man is advanced in years, so although his soul fire is the same size as Old Yang's, it is much dimmer by comparison."

"Of the remaining three, the one with the fiercest flickering flame should be Linghu. The one with a calm, steady flame is Lingrui. The last one, constantly throwing off sparks, belongs to that little girl Lingqing."

Chen Yang later confirmed all of it by identifying their auras.

With this, his connection to the five members of the Yang Family became even closer. By observing the soul fires within his body, he could monitor their condition at any time.

Moreover, through this connection, Chen Yang could directly link his consciousness to the five people's divine senses and convey information, without needing to release spiritual energy fluctuations as before.

"The spirit sacrifice is complete. Lingqing, use the method I taught you and hurry up to try it!"