Sage of Humanity

Before even getting close, the smell of blood assaulted my nostrils.

Blood Pool!

This is also one of the manifestations of the Blood River in the Blood Refinement World.

The Blood River is an underground river, hidden deep underground and not flowing on the surface. These blood pools scattered across the Blood Refinement World serve as pathways and entrances for the Blood Race to dive into the Blood River.

Standing beside the Blood Pool, Lu Ye focused and examined it, frowning deeply.

Although he had obtained some information about the Blood Pools from the memories of the dead Blood Race, seeing them firsthand was a different experience altogether.

The blood water in the Blood Pool, at first glance, in its form, color, and even smell, was indistinguishable from real blood—it was exceedingly bizarre.

On the surface of the Blood Pool, bubbles of various sizes continuously rose from below and burst, causing blood water to splash.

At this place, Zhang Julai's expression became increasingly heavy; moving forward, life or death depended on his own fortune. But now, as Lu Ye's soul slave, if he wanted to follow Lu Ye for the long haul, he had to take this step.

Taking a deep breath, he turned around and performed a salutation customary among the Blood Race: "My lord, I'm going."

Lu Ye nodded slightly.

Without hesitating further, Zhang Julai leapt into the Blood River, not even causing a splash.

Lu Ye activated his Mental Consciousness, trying to probe Zhang Julai's condition, but to his surprise, his Mind Consciousness couldn't penetrate within one zhang (about 3.3 meters) into the blood water.

The blood water in this Blood Pool unexpectedly had the effect of blocking Mental Consciousness.

However, Lu Ye didn't care much about this; although Zhang Julai was his soul slave, as a member of the Blood Race, how could he not have taken lives? Before encountering Lu Ye, he must have caused harm to some humans.

So even if Zhang Julai were to die here, Lu Ye wouldn't feel grief. A soul slave is something he could easily acquire again. Now that his cultivation had been restored, Blood Race below the Divine Sea Realm was no match for him.

He bent down, enveloped his hand with spirit force, and dipped it into the Blood Pool, feeling the mysteries of the blood water.

Soon, a look of surprise surfaced on his face; this blood water undoubtedly had strong erosive properties, as the spirit force he used to protect his hand was being rapidly consumed, with a sizzling sound emerging.

Having encountered the Blood Race in the Soaring Dragon World, he was not surprised by this.

What surprised him was that the blood water seemed to contain incredibly abundant energy, reminding him of the Earth Veins of the Nine Provinces.

In the Nameless Secret Realm, when he devoured the Earth's Veins within the secret realm, he had felt this kind of abundance, but the energy here in the Blood River was undoubtedly more abundant than that in the Nameless Secret Realm.

The only difference between the two is that the energy in the Earth's Veins of the Nameless Secret Realm was more suitable for cultivation absorption, whereas the energy in this blood water was not.

If a human cultivator rashly absorbed it, there would undoubtedly be great danger; just the Erosion Power alone was not something a human cultivator could withstand.

If one forcibly absorbs it into the body, it would cause significant damage to the spiritual orifices and meridians.

This Blood River... could it be the Earth's Veins of the Blood Refinement World? A thought suddenly popped into Lu Ye's mind.

The more he thought about it, the more possible it seemed. The Earth's Veins of a domain must permeate the entire domain, which is why peculiar places like Blood Pools existed in the Blood Refinement World, with each connected to the underground Blood River.

Indeed, the great world is full of wonders.

"Stay here, I'll go down and have a look." Lu Ye instructed Lann Qiyue.

Since the blood water in this Blood Pool contained a surging amount of energy, it would undoubtedly be greatly beneficial to his cultivation.

Here in the Blood Refinement World, he couldn't connect to Heaven's Augury to exchange for the gold-hued spirit fortune stick for cultivation. Although he still had plenty of cultivation resources at hand, and consuming Blood Crystals was also a way of cultivation, it couldn't compare to the ease of using a spirit fortune stick.

But if he could rely on the Earth's Veins of this Blood Refinement World for cultivation, although the speed might not be as fast as using a spirit fortune stick, it would still be much faster than the usual methods.

Having been in this domain for over a month and having fully restored his cultivation from being suppressed was itself a process of consolidation. The cultivation stage of True Lake Level 7 had stabilized, so continuing to enhance his cultivation would naturally be without significant risks.

In this alien world, he needed to acquire as much strength as possible; after all, he couldn't rely on Dao Thirteen for everything.

"Be careful, Senior Brother." Lann Qiyue couldn't help but worry, but she didn't obstruct him either.

Lu Ye nodded slightly, enveloped himself in spirit force, and leapt down.

The splashing blood water obscured his figure.

Immediately, a sizzling sound resonated from all directions, his spirit force was rapidly consumed, and Lu Ye tried dispersing the protective spirit force. The instant the surrounding blood water made contact with his skin, the sensation of needles was felt.

And it was as if countless needles were pricking all over his body.

Fortunately, it was still within a tolerable range.

The surging energy in the blood water didn't need Lu Ye to actively absorb it; it seemed to have its own consciousness, drilling into his body through his pores.

The pain intensified.

On the Talent Tree, there was suddenly a movement; Lu Ye immersed his mind to observe and saw that dense gray mist ignited on the Talent Tree.

This undoubtedly indicated that the blood water contained a large amount of harmful substances to him, which, upon entering his body, were burned away by the Talent Tree.

Lu Ye quietly felt it for a moment, confirming that there was no great danger, just that the needle-pricking sensation needed endurance.

This was the wonder of the Talent Tree.

It's known that the Blood River is a perilous place for even adult members of the Blood Clan; entering means a near-certain death. The river's water harbors terrifying dangers, making it even more so for a person of the human race like Lu Ye.

Yet, after being burned by the Talent Tree, all those horrors dissipated into a gray mist, leaving Lu Ye with just a tingling pain all over his body.

Extending his Mental Consciousness to sense his surroundings, it was still restricted to just one meter around him.

There was no sight of Zhang Julai anywhere around; Lu Ye had no idea where he'd gone.

Lu Ye's body sank downward, and after several dozen meters, an undercurrent suddenly surged around him.

He stayed still for a moment but didn't dare delve deeper; without the use of Mental Consciousness, getting caught by an undercurrent could mean losing the way back.

Moreover, he discovered that while using the Blood River for cultivation was feasible, it was not sustainable.

This was because doing so consumed too much fuel from the Talent Tree.

He had stored a lot of fuel for the Talent Tree, not to mention that he had mobilized the Talent Tree to absorb Earth Core Fire for a full two months in the Sword Weapon Sect's secret realm, and all that energy had been stored in the Talent Tree as fuel to burn impurities.

But in this Blood River, the amount of harmful impurities in the Blood Water was overwhelming. Lu Ye had never seen such dense gray mist rise from the Talent Tree.

At this rate, Lu Ye felt that cultivating here for a month or two would deplete the Talent Tree's fuel.

This was undoubtedly a bad trade-off. The Talent Tree was his greatest asset, and Lu Ye could not afford to let it lose its ability to burn impurities, especially in the Blood Refinement World, where he had no way to replenish the Talent Tree's fuel just yet.

So, though he felt a bit regretful, he had no choice but to give up reluctantly.

With spirit force, he propelled upwards.

In a matter of moments, he burst out of the Blood Pool, and with spirit force protecting his body, he remained untouched by the Blood Water.

Landing, Lu Ye immediately turned his head to the side, lowering his gaze.

Lann Qiyue was nowhere in sight, and instead, a strange Blood Clan member stood by the Blood Pool.

The Blood Clan member was holding a Blood Embryo, seemingly having come here to hatch it. When Lu Ye emerged, he was peering nervously into the Blood Pool.

Lu Ye's appearance startled him.

Upon seeing Lu Ye's face, the Blood Clan member was shocked and then roared angrily, "You impudent Blood Food! How dare you trespass into our Blood Clan's forbidden land!"

The Blood River is foundational to the Blood Clan; it's the cradle for hatching Blood Embryos, and naturally, the Blood Clan holds it in high regard.

In the Blood Refinement World, the human race has no right to step into the Blood Pool.

So, seeing Lu Ye emerge from the Blood Pool left the Blood Clan member enraged.

"Where is she?" Lu Ye asked in a low voice.

There were no traces of battle around, nor any blood, yet Lann Qiyue was missing. Lu Ye had his suspicions about her whereabouts.

He hadn't expected that in the moment he delved into the Blood River, such an incident would occur, leaving him briefly filled with self-reproach.

If he'd known earlier, he would have escorted Lann Qiyue back after settling the two human race brood mothers instead of taking risks.

At the time, he thought it was convenient to bring Lann Qiyue along, planning to return together after investigating the Blood River, thereby saving time.

But now it seems, Lann Qiyue must have discovered the arrival of this Blood Clan member, with nowhere to hide, she likely jumped into the Blood Pool to find Lu Ye.

In such a place as the Blood River, even the pure Blood Clan faces near-certain death; let alone Lann Qiyue, a human?

Moreover, her cultivation was only at the Spirit Stream Realm.

"You'd better take care of yourself first," the Blood Clan member shouted angrily, raising a hand to grab Lu Ye, his five fingers frostily sharp.

The clash resounded, a blade flashed, and the Blood Clan member froze in his attacking stance, his arm severed at the elbow.

The blade was too swift, leaving him feeling no pain, and not even the blood had time to flow.

But he clearly realized what had happened, staring in disbelief at Lu Ye, unable to fathom how a Blood Food dared to strike at him.

Another flash of the blade, and the Blood Clan member's body went completely rigid.

He was of the Cloud River Realm, nowhere strong enough to withstand Lu Ye's slashes.

Lu Ye turned and leapt back into the Blood River, expanding his Mental Consciousness to the fullest, searching for Lann Qiyue.

Not until after Lu Ye departed did the Blood Clan member's body sway, his head abruptly detaching and rolling off, blood from his neck spurting skyward, before he collapsed onto the ground with a thud.

A half-hour later, Lu Ye burst out of the Blood Pool once more, his expression dark as if water could drip from his face.

He hadn't found Lann Qiyue.

The environment beneath the Blood Pool was too extreme, with treacherous undercurrents and great suppression of Mental Consciousness, making the search for someone in such conditions incredibly difficult.

By the time Lann Qiyue jumped in, he should've been right inside the Blood Pool; yet even then, he didn't detect her presence, let alone search for her afterwards.

A Spirit Stream Realm cultivator falling into the Blood River is almost a certain death.