Sage of Humanity

As soon as the words were out, he saw the Boulder Mountain Saber dripping with blood in Lu Ye's hand, and couldn't help but be taken aback: "You killed him?"

This was truly an astonishing matter, mere Blood Food actually daring to kill a Sacred Race member? In all his years, he had never seen such a thing.

However, he had just sensed the fluctuation of spirit force from Lu Ye; merely a human race cultivator of the Spirit Stream Realm, presumably a villager from nearby. How could one with such cultivation kill a Sacred Race member?

After all, that Sacred Race member was at least in the Cloud River Realm.

While he was still in a state of shock and uncertainty, his brow suddenly furrowed, and he fixed his gaze on Lu Ye: "What are you eating?"

Lu Ye looked at him, chewing with a crackling sound, a noise incredibly familiar to the Blood Race.

He, too, had eaten a fellow blood crystal before...

What horrified him even more was that these two Blood Food, upon seeing him, were not even the least bit frightened but seemed rather eager to try something.

The Blood Race member finally realized something was amiss. His figure spun, ready to flee, but the next moment his mind was struck with pain, as if an invisible sledgehammer had struck his head, causing him to stagger a few steps before falling to the ground.

When he regained his senses, there were already two figures standing in front of him, looking down from above, expressionless as they gazed at him.

"How dare you!" roared the Blood Race in anger, thinking how his noble Sacred Race had ever been so contemptuously regarded by mere Blood Food? He immediately felt humiliated.

Dao Thirteen had already slapped his shoulder, and the Blood Race immediately felt as if his whole body was about to fall apart, feeling the overwhelming power coming from his shoulder. He finally panicked but continued to shout with a tough exterior: "Let me go, if you dare to disrespect me, you're dead."

Lu Ye examined this stubborn Blood Race, contemplating whether to kill him for the Blood Crystal or use Soul Taming to enslave him.

The Blood Crystal indeed had a great effect on him. At this moment, he could clearly feel the confinement force within his body rapidly dissipating. In such a short moment, his cultivation had already been restored to the Spirit Stream Level 7, and it was still recovering.

If he obtained another Blood Crystal, restoring to the Cloud River Realm cultivation would be no issue.

But doing so would be a one-time deal.

Enslaving the Blood Race would undoubtedly be better; he could use this Blood Race to track down more Blood Race members and acquire more Blood Crystals.

With this thought, Lu Ye made his decision, raising one hand to point at the Blood Race.

The Blood Race was still struggling, but after an impatient slap from Dao Thirteen, he immediately quieted down.

With a finger touching his forehead, Lu Ye activated the Soul Taming Psyche, feeling the Blood Race's resistance, but this Blood Race was merely at the Cloud River level, his psyche naturally not as strong as Lu Ye's.

A few days ago, Lu Ye couldn't enslave Dao Thirteen because Dao Thirteen's psyche was stronger than his, forcing him to use the Mental Consciousness Destruction Sword to break Dao Thirteen's psyche defense.

There was no need to bother with such trouble for a Cloud River level Blood Race.

As the Soul Taming Divine Runes imprinted, the Blood Race's resistance grew weaker until it completely stopped.

Lu Ye withdrew his hand, sensing the connection between himself and the Blood Race before him, knowing the divine runes were established.

In fact, if the Blood Race's physique wasn't significantly different from the human race, he wouldn't have needed to go through such trouble. By activating the Thousand Faces Spirit Runes, he could transform into the form of a Blood Race.

But the physique difference was too significant, and the Blood Race's skin was red, which couldn't be disguised.

The Blood Race stood up, looking at Lu Ye with a face full of caution and reverence. The Soul Taming Divine Runes only enslaved the other's heart and would not affect their intellect. At this moment, in the Blood Race's heart, Lu Ye was sacred and inviolable, but he was at a loss as to how to address Lu Ye, revealing some awkwardness.

"What's your name?" Lu Ye asked.

"Zhang Julai!" the Blood Race answered honestly.

Lu Ye frowned: "Why do all you Blood Race have human race names?"

The Blood Race he'd killed earlier also had a human race name. He hadn't paid much attention at the time, thinking it was just a coincidence, but now it seemed otherwise.

Zhang Julai replied: "Human race names are pleasant sounding and easy to remember. Our Sacred Race used another type of name in ancient times, but those names were both awkward and obscure, gradually being abandoned. The current rule of the Sacred Race is to kill the first human race and take their name as our own."

Lu Ye thought back briefly and realized that the information he had obtained from the dead Blood Race did contain this detail, but it was so vast and complex that it was hard to digest it all at once and he hadn't noticed.

The Blood Race in front of him was called Zhang Julai, which meant there was once a human race called by that name.

"And if there's someone named Naughty Dog among humans…" Lu Ye squinted slightly.

Zhang Julai answered: "There are indeed such names in the Sacred Race...but if one doesn't like it, they can completely abandon it and take another."

After all, it was just a matter of killing a few more humans, which really wasn't a hassle for the Blood Race.

It is because of such rules that the names of the Blood Race are so varied and peculiar, often with the Blood Race from one area not sharing the same surname, making them extremely distinctive.

"Take me to your cave residence!" Lu Ye commanded.

Unlike the sect structure that is prevalent on the Nine Provinces continent, the Blood Race, due to the simplicity of their cultivation, has no concept of sects. From birth, they inherently know how to cultivate, with cultivation techniques ingrained deep within their bloodline. As long as they follow the steps and have enough resources, they can continuously gain powerful strength.

In this regard, the Blood Race is much stronger than the human race.

For humans to cultivate, they must first have the aptitude for cultivation. Even if they have the aptitude, if it's not good enough, it's difficult to go far.

But on the Blood Race side, it's almost all tribespeople who are cultivators. They can enhance their cultivation by refining the essence of blood or by hunting their kin to obtain Blood Crystals, especially the latter, which significantly boosts the Blood Race's power.

Therefore, there is no need for any sects, nor is there a need for mentors to impart teachings.

They primarily gather based on cave residences. The number of the Blood Race gathered in a cave residence and the strength of their cultivation determines the size of the cave residence.

There are frequent conflicts between cave residences, with incessant attacks upon each other, both to seize the other's Blood Crystals and to claim the humans within the other's territory.

To the Blood Race, the human race is both livestock for grazing and resources for cultivation, as well as a breeding ground for their tribespeople.

Zhang Julai and the Blood Race member who was killed by Lu Ye earlier belonged to two different cave residences and already had grudges with each other. This village is under the territory of Zhang Julai's cave residence, and by rights, the humans here are the property of the cave residence Zhang Julai inhabits.

That Blood Race member came here without reason, and naturally, Zhang Julai would not tolerate him, leading to a fight. In the conflict, Zhang Julai had a slight upper hand, and the Blood Race member was driven away and came here to this village to hunt Blood Food to replenish himself, but was killed by Lu Ye and Dao Thirteen.

Due to internal conflicts, the Blood Race suffers heavy casualties each year. However, the dead Blood Race members become nourishment for other Blood Race members to grow. Coupled with the Blood Race's easy breeding and simple cultivation, the overall number of the Blood Race in the Blood Refinement World has not diminished continuously but is able to keep being replenished.

With the Soul Taming Divine Runes, Zhang Julai naturally would not resist Lu Ye's orders, and immediately led him deeper into the mountains.

As dawn broke, the villagers of Cangnan Village began to head out, but Lu Ye and Dao Thirteen were nowhere to be seen. Additionally, a girl was missing from a family in the village.

The villagers had long been accustomed to this, feeling only slightly saddened, continuing with their farming or hunting as usual.

On another side, Zhang Julai activated a blood light, enveloping Lu Ye and Dao Thirteen as they arrived deep in the mountains. A large cave mouth on a rock face loomed, like the gaping maw of a beast, with three large characters engraved above.

Bright Moon Cave.

This place is the cave residence where Zhang Julai lives. Along the way, Lu Ye asked Zhang Julai many things and learned that there are over ten Blood Race members gathered at Bright Moon Cave, most of whom are at the Cloud River Realm, with a few at the Spirit Stream Realm.

The owner of the cave residence is a female Blood Race member named Sun Miaozhu, with a cultivation of Cloud River Level 9, making her the strongest in Bright Moon Cave. The area within about 30 miles can be considered the territory of Bright Moon Cave, overseeing four to five villages like Cangnan Village.

Blood Race members guard the cave entrance, and upon seeing Zhang Julai's fleeing light from afar, they shouted a warning: "Who goes there?"

Zhang Julai replied, "It's me!"

As he spoke, he had already landed at the cave entrance.

The Blood Race member saw that it was Zhang Julai and grinned: "So Brother Zhang has returned." Seeing Lu Ye and Dao Thirteen following Zhang Julai, he couldn't help but question: "Brother Zhang, who are these two Blood Foods?"

"My newly acquired Blood Slaves," Zhang Julai casually replied.

The Blood Race can activate a special Blood Seal that is branded into the body of a human race cultivator. Its use is somewhat similar to Soul Taming, but with less absolute control.

Back in the secret realm of the Soaring Dragon World, Lu Ye had heard of the term Blood Slave, and on the way here, he had discussed with Zhang Julai how to deal with it.

The Blood Race member glanced at Dao Thirteen with some envy: "Brother Zhang has a keen eye, this Blood Food is full of blood Qi, very good. If you cultivate it well, it might become a great asset in the future."

He then looked at Lu Ye and shook his head: "This one is much worse."

Lu Ye, for the first time in his life, was considered so disdainfully, but now his identity was that of Zhang Julai's Blood Slave, so naturally, he wouldn't react much, just seemingly respectfully standing behind Zhang Julai.

"Has anything happened in the cave recently?" Zhang Julai asked.

The Blood Race member shook his head: "What could happen? It's still the same."

Zhang Julai nodded slightly, leading Lu Ye and Dao Thirteen inside.

The passage inside the cave mouth was wide, not damp, with oil lamps for lighting, so it wasn't dim.

After walking a distance, many cave rooms appeared on both sides of the passage.

The first few cave rooms were empty, seemingly uninhabited, but not far along, Lu Ye noticed a figure inside one of the cave rooms.

Casually glancing, he didn't pay much attention initially, but soon stopped in his tracks, frowning.