Chapter 21 Turned into Blood Food!
Before him lay not a narrow mine vein awaiting excavation.
Instead, it was an open ritual ground. Several bizarre skulls hung high upon the sacrificial altar.
Six figures in wide black robes sat cross-legged in six positions, absorbing the blood energy from the surrounding pools. The blood-stained altar held countless victims.
Encircling the altar was an expansive artificial blood pool. Directly opposite stood four peculiar statues, each with distinct expressions. Yet their eyes seemed to harbor vicious glares, fixed angrily upon the central altar.
The blood pool teemed with corpses—both demonic beasts and humans. The bodies were shriveled yet emanated dark red energy.
From Li Xingtian's feet, a path wide enough for two people stretched straight to the altar's center, then traversed the entire altar to the opposite side.
His pupils shrank in shock. He glanced around at the others, yet no one seemed to notice anything unusual.
They still appeared to believe they were in a cramped tunnel, squeezing through the narrow mine passage toward its depths.
This... was a large-scale illusion?
Could Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators resist such illusions? Or what else allowed him to perceive this environment?
Li Xingtian suppressed his unease, deciding to temporarily follow the crowd. He needed to understand what the Qingfeng Sect was truly doing and what existence lurked behind this.
His plan might need complete abandonment upon witnessing this scene.
Could the Qingfeng Sect truly be an evil cult?
Li Xingtian kept his head down, cautiously following the crowd as they slowly walked across the central altar.
Beyond the altar lay a normal mine where everyone gripped excavation tools, ready to work.
The mine appeared genuine for now, but... what was this ritual truly about?
The answer struck Li Xingtian the moment the first miner swung his pickaxe.
With every strike, faint dark red energy drifted from the miner's crown, flowing toward the blood pool.
All miners were identical—threads of dark red energy gradually converged into a formidable force.
Li Xingtian fixed his gaze on one miner, suddenly realizing this energy was being extracted from their spiritual roots.
It consumed not just flesh, blood, and spiritual energy, but even eroded the spiritual roots—the foundation of cultivation.
No wonder the miners appeared so emaciated. Working daily while being drained of blood and flesh—how could they not be skeletal?
This was purely demonic cultivation technique, unprecedented in scope and scale!
Li Xingtian dared not excavate. Observation showed the blood energy provided depended on spiritual root quality and cultivation level.
If he excavated, his own cultivation and spiritual roots would be drained. He wouldn't produce mere threads of dark red energy—it would be arm-thick at least.
That would make him far too conspicuous among this group.
He needed to escape and notify his master.
As for Ning Qingqing's father, following his master's instructions—self-preservation was paramount when circumstances were unclear.
He could only pray for the man's safety.
Li Xingtian sensed the six black-robed figures were at the Foundation Establishment Realm.
If the given necklace was reliable, fighting his way out might be wise—especially since he felt confident of success.
On the day Li Xingtian achieved Foundation Establishment, his master had also gifted him a divine ability perfectly suited to him.
Moreover, it was an exceptionally high-quality ability, as if prepared long ago, awaiting his breakthrough.
This made Li Xingtian, who thought he had seen through some of his master's mysteries, feel the man had become enigmatic once more.
Such thoughts were secondary. To his lifesaver, as long as his master hadn't truly wronged him—unlike the Qingfeng Sect—Li Xingtian would remain loyal to the sect and repay the debt of saving his life...
But during this time of contact, this tiny sect of only three people made Li Xingtian feel an incomparable warmth.
Though the senior sister was somewhat mischievous, she treated him, her junior brother, like family.
Truly capturing beasts for his cultivation daily and earnestly urging him to practice diligently.
Though her eyes sometimes held a hint of disdain, her actions were genuinely sincere.
As for his master—needless to say. Though occasionally appearing frivolous and lacking maturity, he possessed an extraordinary charisma. In this cultivation world, he seemed somewhat out of place yet remarkably easy to trust.
Except for that sinister alchemy technique learned from who-knows-where.
But toward Li Xingtian himself, the master was undeniably sincere. From their first meeting, he had willingly handed over opportunities within his grasp. Later, rather than Li Xingtian contributing anything, it was the master who gave selflessly.
If initially he stayed only out of obligation for the life-saving grace, now after these days together, Li Xingtian truly felt he had willingly joined this family-like sect.
From cultivation techniques to divine abilities—Li Xingtian naturally regarded these as priceless treasures. But high-quality divine abilities also meant extreme difficulty in mastering them.
After all... not everyone possessed the heaven-defying comprehension of his senior sister.
Still, merely borrowing some of their power, combined with his past-life divine abilities, his combat strength should be considerable.
He refused to believe these six black-robed figures before him possessed divine abilities too.
After scanning his surroundings, Li Xingtian stuck to his principle: strike first, strike hard! Those who hesitate suffer!
He tightly gripped his pickaxe, suddenly turning back toward the sacrificial altar.
A watching Qingfeng Sect disciple immediately noticed him and sharply shouted: "What are you doing?!"
Li Xingtian put on a timid expression, seemingly weak-kneed as he shuffled toward the yelling disciple: "I... I need to relieve myself."
"The deadline is urgent! You'll soil yourself and keep working! Get back!"
When close enough, Li Xingtian erupted. In an instant, he appeared before the disciple, spiritual power surging within him.
Past-life divine ability—Nine Heavens Mysterious Luo Blade, combined with the crudely studied divine ability—Soul-Slaying Nine Nether Blade.
Both being blade techniques, simple imitation was achievable.
The pickaxe in Li Xingtian's hands morphed into a greatsword. Dark red energy carrying boundless might slashed toward the disciple's head.
The disciple reacted too slowly, especially against a divine ability's blinding speed!
He felt his entire body immobilized, his soul trembling before that aura.
Only able to wear a terrified expression before Li Xingtian shattered his skull with one blow.
After the strike, Li Xingtian cursed inwardly. Damn, the consumption is excessive.
He felt nearly half his spiritual energy depleted by that single attack! Unexpectedly, merely borrowing some power and trajectory, the actual consumption doubled compared to his original divine ability.
But the effect was devastatingly potent.
What Li Xingtian didn't expect was that while mobilizing his spiritual energy... he seemed to faintly sense the pool's energy.
Before he could perceive further, the six black-robed figures abruptly rose, their bodies turning toward him.
One of them roared in a hoarse, genderless voice: "Where did this whelp come from to cause trouble?!"
"Foundation Establishment too? Today you shall become our blood food! Let you learn the true meaning of cultivation!"
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