In that second as he asked Xiao Ye, he had a conversation with Yue.
"Hou, my disciple, that ring... I couldn't recognise it initially but now I'm sure. That's one of my rings back when I was an active spirit master, before Yao Tian. I don't know how it still works but if I'm right, it should have a spirit inside it!"
"This ring, but it's so simple. If it had a spirit shouldn't it be easily detected?"
"Well I'm not sure if it has a spirit in anymore, according to what you learned before with Yao Tian it might not. If you remember, it was said Yao Tian destroyed all spirits and released their laws."
"That makes sense, so it might not work anymore... but it could still work. Maybe it missed this spirit like the spirits in my land? Or maybe the laws from the spirit were directly given to the ring, perhaps it's changed into a treasure?"
"There's only one way to check, I was a blood cultivator so it won't work without a certain blood based technique."
"If I do get it to activate, what does it do, or what did it do?"
"Well what the ring was used for was to use blood and turn it into slashes. It could cleave and also had another effect. Any other spirit used at the same time would give the blood slash an effect. And it had one extra ability, it could switch dimensions."
"Switch dimensions, what do you mean?"
"It could slice the physical but also the 'spirit world'. Back then nobody knew about the astral world, but they did know of a world where spirits lived, a separate realm. This could cut through those realms and fight spirits more directly."
"And if I apply this with knowledge of laws and the astral world!" Hou was already thinking of different applications. He could think while having this instant discussion with Yue.
This was all due to the extra mental energy he got when assimilating with Cang Ying. Once he used it though, it wouldn't go this high again. Although, Hou's consciousness will be stronger now from containing all the mental energy.
"Yes, it's very amazing. When I was alive, I was extremely famous. This was one of my strongest abilities, this ring is called Bloodbane Dimensional Severing Ring!"
"Bloodbane...Dimensional Severing Ring..."
"Yes, my strongest creation. Although now, I do not know how it will be. First, let me use your body and activate the ring, then we should be able to sense the inside. Let us hope that the spirit is alive or that the laws were assimilated..."
"I'm ready do it,"
Yue took control of Hou's body, or more accurately since Yue was Hou's body, he relinquished his control over it.
Then Yue circulate the blood within the body, starting to form a unique pattern. Then he used mental energy, wills, to generate a pass that would activate the ring.
Once it was created his ejected the blood through his fingertips and into the ring. The red blood turned to its true Celestial form as it left Hou's disguised body.
It covered the ring and then the mud and grime shattered, the once in ordinary ring transformed before Hou's eyes.
The ring became a shining red band, with a coiling dragon design around it. Then, the information of the ring was transferred to Hou's blood and he could intuitively sense the ring's condition.
Hou's palm tingled where the ring rested, its hunger whispering through his veins...
Yue was the first to react, and spoke to Hou,
"It's there! But... as we suspected, it's not how it was before. It seems the spirit was split into laws which then assimilated with the ring. And I can feel that despite this change it will still work...but...."
"But what? Is it broken or...?"
"No, it's fine, it's just one thing. It seems to be in a sealed state, I can sense that it would have little effect right now. Though, luckily, it seems it can be fixed. The more varied blood it absorbs, the more it will unseal!"
"That must be why I felt it was 'hungry'! Does it want my blood, as a part of unsealing?!"
Yue had completely absorbed the ring's information and deduced an issue. It was sealed but Yue was experienced and with True Sage of Celestial Ink's knowledge combined, he figured that it was in a sealed state.
It's main laws were made of blood laws, and it required many different and varied blood to unseal. This meant blood from different species, ages, gender, and type of cultivator.
Every cultivator had different blood, slightly influenced by the laws they cultivated. This was true even in Yue's time with spirits. The spirits would accidentally influence the laws in the blood.
This might be seen in a water cultivator through the blood becoming transparent or less vicious. What Hou needed was to work on the Dao.
The Dao in general is everything, all the laws. But there are also specific Daos, such as the blood Dao. This would include all types of blood and all laws that are sovereign under 'blood'.
This was why the Bloodbane Dimensional Severing Ring needed different types of blood. It required a more complete blood Dao in order for it to function in its entirety.
That was the mental energy ran out, Yue said one final thing before leaving,
"Be careful with that ring..."
Then on the other side, as Hou was talking with Yue, Xiao Ye saw the ring shatter in an instant and transform. It was once an imperfect but unique-looking ring, but then before her eyes it shattered and became a stinking red ring.
She screamed aloud as it shattered, the flakes of metal and stone flying off the ring. She stared at the ring a second before replying to Hou's question,
"I...don't know. This looks way too special for me. But we're probably going to attract some attention now so....follow me!"
The action of an item unsealing after buying was a known thing to happen. She had heard stories of sellers killing those who do it or of thieves. She decided to run as soon as she reacted properly.
Shadows detached from nearby stalls when the ring was unsealed, even before Xiao Ye reacted. A flood of calculating gazes watched as the couple had bought a seemingly useless ring and it transformed.
Some reached for hidden weapons, they began looking before the guard station's torches came into view. The scent of greed thickened the air.
She took Hou's hand and ran towards the end of the market. Some of those watching, reached for hidden weapons, they tracked and followed, some even attempting to intercept.
She barged through the gathering crowds and shady figures, bursting through to the main street. She ran straight towards the Guard Station in order to avoid any danger!