Dao of The Demonic Cultivator

In Chen Zhaofeng's storage bag, Chu Xuan found treasures too numerous to count. The first things to catch his eye were small spiritual stones piled into a small mountain, roughly totaling over four thousand pieces. Even medium spiritual stones formed a little mound, numbering at least thirty.

These stones, if used as energy sources for arrays, could maintain normal operation for up to ten years under typical circumstances, far surpassing the output of small spiritual stones.

Next, he discovered the top-grade magic tool. It was palm-sized and resembled a beehive, entirely crimson in color with only the residual imprint of Chen Zhaofeng.

Chu Xuan sensed the nature of the imprint with a click of his tongue, "A soul blood mark, truly a waste of my time."

The soul blood mark, compared to spirit soul and blood essence marks, was more firmly ingrained and made manipulation as natural as moving one's own limb, second only to a life-bound mark.

Eradicating the soul blood mark was naturally the most time-consuming task. Despite Chu Xuan's soul strength far surpassing Chen Zhaofeng's, it took him four full hours to erase it.

Following that, Chu Xuan sanctified the magic tool with his own blood essence, finally bringing it under his control.

After a while, he opened his eyes, now fully aware of the magic tool's unique capabilities.

"The top grade magic tool, the Blood Beehive, contains a millennium-dormant Blood Bee Queen egg... if the Blood Beehive is cultivated as a life-bound magic tool, then the Queen Bee will also become a life-bound Gu. The Blood Bee can differentiate into various tribes.

The Warrior Bees possess a strong desire for battle and feast on flesh, while the Worker Bees, though not suited for combat, can extract energy from the flesh to produce highly pure blood honey.

As the Queen advances in rank and her bloodline strengthens, the types of Blood Bees it can differentiate into will increase. This treasure demands a powerful spirit; without sufficient soul strength, one cannot fully control it."

Chu Xuan marveled at the Blood Beehive's virtues. It was indeed a valuable item, though it required a strong soul to manage.

The Thousand Insects Sect, unlike the long-established major sects of the righteous path, lacked secret techniques for soul cultivation. Only a few within the sect could wield the Blood Beehive.

No wonder the Hundred Gu Daoist made Chen Zhaofeng his chief disciple upon learning he could control the Blood Beehive. And no wonder Wan Wuying, despite treating Chen Zhaofeng well, was betrayed.

Chu Xuan's smile deepened. Who wouldn't covet the Blood Beehive lying before him?

As for it being a life-bound magic tool... Many cultivators mistakenly believe one can only refine one in a lifetime. If one's soul is robust enough, and one has ample blood essence to spare without hampering cultivation, then as many life-bound magic tools as desired can be crafted.

Chu Xuan was exactly the type of cultivator who feared neither soul nor blood essence depletion. For him, cultivation resources were plentiful, and any deficits in soul strength or blood essence could be quickly replenished through various demonic techniques and forbidden arts.

With the Blood Beehive set aside, Chu Xuan continued to explore the contents of the storage bags.

"The 'Thousand Insects Tome' records the accumulated knowledge of the Thousand Insects Sect on the nurturing and cultivation of thousands of different insects throughout generations of cultivators."

"The 'Blood Bee Scripture' was bestowed upon Chen Zhaofeng by the Hundred Gu Daoist. Authored by the previous master of the Blood Beehive, it contains secret methods specifically for breeding blood bees."

"The 'Six Extreme Gu Technique,' a superior Foundation Establishment stage technique, is a closely guarded secret of the Thousand Insects Sect. It involves nurturing six types of insects within the cultivator's skull, torso, and limbs to enhance physical defenses. Impressive, impressive... Damn, I've never even heard of these six insects..."

"The 'Green Wood True Formula,' also a superior Foundation Establishment stage technique, is one of the main methods practiced by the Imperial Spirit Mountain. Ah, so it was the Chen family who stole this technique from Imperial Spirit Mountain, no wonder they were annihilated by them. This technique is quite balanced and fair; unfortunately, my main cultivation technique is already the 'Blood Evil Demon Refining Scripture,' which makes it difficult to switch."

Chu Xuan marveled as he flipped through these texts. After safely storing the books, he found some metal ores in the corner of his storage bag, likely gathered by Chen Zhaofeng for crafting tools. His eyes lit up upon discovering a dark, sinister iron ore almost as tall as a person.

"Such a large piece of Ghost Evil Steel. It will be perfect for incorporating into my Evil Soul Chain!"

When originally forged, the Evil Soul Chain was already equivalent to a mid-grade magic tool. Incorporating this Ghost Evil Steel would elevate it directly to a high-grade magic tool. No wonder, being a descendant of a cultivator family does have its perks.

Chu Xuan looked at his haul with a satisfied smile. Indeed, plundering always brings wealth the fastest.

Having sorted the treasures, Chu Xuan next turned his attention to the Blood Beehive, beginning the process of refining it into his second life-bound magic tool. This required merging a small portion of his soul and blood essence into the magic tool.

Within a day, he successfully integrated his life-mark into the Blood Beehive, transforming it into his own. He then felt the queen egg at the heart of the Blood Beehive, rapidly awakening under the nourishment of surging spiritual Qi.
In just a few moments, a pale, tender young Queen Bee emerged from the egg.

For now, Chu Xuan needed to nourish the young Queen with blood pearls. Once matured and after producing its first batch of Worker Bees, it would command them to gather flesh and produce blood honey to sustain its existence.

As the number of Worker Bees and the stored blood honey increased, Chu Xuan could leverage this to accelerate his cultivation. After all, the energy contained within the same volume of blood honey far surpassed that in blood pearls and large blood pearls.

Moreover, at this critical juncture, many were willing to pay dearly for such treasures that could directly enhance one's strength.

Seizing this opportunity, Chu Xuan fired up his furnace and began integrating the Ghost Evil Steel into his Evil Soul Chain. Reforging a magic tool required immense effort, but Chu Xuan was unlike other cultivators; he had ample time.

Moreover, with the immense merit he had accumulated, his lifespan had already been significantly extended by the fates.

...

One day later, the disappearance of seven Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Thousand Insects Sect spread like a storm across the battlefield. After all, these were seven cultivators of considerable standing. Their vanishing significantly weakened the defensive capabilities of the Thousand Insects Sect across various regions.

The cultivators of the Heavenly Seal Sect could easily surmise that they must have perished. The demise of seven Foundation Establishment cultivators within a single day was an exceedingly rare occurrence. Even late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't typically dispatch so many at once—it must have been the work of two or three late-stage cultivators acting together!

Speculation was rife about who could have slain these seven cultivators, and in the meantime, regardless of who had struck the blow, the morale among the Heavenly Seal Sect cultivators surged tremendously.

Within the span of seven days, they overran two subordinate factions of the Thousand Insects Sect—the Blood Bee Cave and the Centipede Manor—and pushed the frontline over a thousand miles inward, nearly reaching the gates of the Thousand Insects Sect itself!

This advance unsettled not only the native cultivators of the Thousand Insects Sect but also those who had been covertly fanning the flames of this war, inciting further conflict. Now, they too could no longer sit idly by.