Spirit Realm

“UWAHH!”

Yi Yuan’s terrible cries sounded like a slaughtered pig or goat on their final stand. Even Qin Lie was a little scared listening to it.

“Dammit. I don’t know if I’ll be able to leave here alive if I have to soak in this for six more hours.” Yi Yuan bared his teeth with a red face, looking like he was about to suffocate to death.

Qin Lie’s expression was indifferent, but there was a bit of a smile in his eyes. He quietly channeled Records of Geocentric Magnetism and continuously gathered the immense energy of the earth into a membranous wall while absorbing the spirit blood essence inside the pool. He casually asked, “What is so important that you’re willing to soak in this blood pool for six hours to see me?”

“Sigh, for who else but that wife of mine, Lian Rou?” Yi Yuan shuddered from time to time while gritting his teeth as he briefly explained the matter.

“What did you say?!” Qin Lie suddenly interrupted Yi Yuan with amazing light shining out of his eyes as he exclaimed, “Dark Fiend Valley’s Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan are now in Armament City? They have come here to have Armament Sect help them forge two suitable spirit artifacts?”

“What are you so excited about?” Yi Yuan was a little confused.

Qin Lie immediately realized that he had lost his cool. He sucked in a deep breath and quickly adjusted himself to calm himself down.

“Three years. We haven’t met in three years…” Turbulent tides were surging inside his heart.

Three years ago, Jiu Liuyu had an interest in the Ling Town sisters’ special constitution when she passed by Ling Town and consulted Ling Chengye about accepting them as her disciples.

Lieng Chengye was terribly flattered and he immediately accepted at once. He had even stayed at the town entrance and begged Qin Lie to relinquish his engagement with Ling Yushi himself so Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan could successfully enter under her tutelage.

He could still clearly remember Ling Yushi’s anguished look inside the small house. The day he pushed Ling Yushi away, the day he made her a promise, he could still clearly remember Lu Li’s arrogance and her taunts at the time…

And all this time, Dark Fiend Valley’s valley master had sat arrogantly in that luxurious carriage of hers from beginning to end without ever setting a foot on the ground.

During that year, he did not even have the qualification to meet Jiu Liuyu once.

Three years had passed, and now he was Armament Sect’s peerless, thousand year genius and the appointed future sect master. His one word could change many people’s lives.

For his sake, Armament Sect was battling against Dark Shadow Tower. Both sides had already lost many men.

Whereas Lu Li was still that Lu Li. She was still a disciple under Dark Fiend Valley’s Granny Jiu. Her status still hadn’t changed.

Today, she had brought Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan to Armament Sect to beg him for his approval, so that they could achieve their objective.

Life was really ephemeral.

For a moment, he was overwhelmed with various emotions.

“Brother Qin! Brother Qin!” Yi Yuan cried out repeatedly.

Qin Lie’s jumbled thoughts rejoined as one as he frowned, “What did you say?”

“I want you to help me and bring it up to any inner sect elder so they can accept this task.” Yi Yuan begged, “Brother Qin, this is the first time I, Yi Yuan, have begged you for something. You must promise me this. My Lian Rou has personally ordered me to accomplish this.”

Qin Lie pondered and did not answer immediately.

“The Ling Town sisters are only at the Natal Opening Realm. The elder sister is at the late stage of the Natal Opening Realm and the younger sister is at the middle stage of the Natal Opening Realm. With their cultivationss at this level, they will only need a Profound Grade One spirit artifact.” Yi Yuan cupped his hands inside the blood pool. “It can easily be done by any of the elders. Please allow me some face and talk to them about this matter.”

Qin Lie continued to keep silent.

Yi Yuan suddenly stopped begging as a trace of bitterness appeared on his face. He thought, “That’s right, things are no longer what they were in the past. Today’s Qin Bing is no longer yesterday’s Qin Bing. He might not necessarily have thought much about our relationship at all…”

“There is no need to trouble the elders about this matter,” Qin Lie answered in a serious manner.

“I thought so. This guy is such a realist, I’ve misjudged him,” Yi Yuan smiled bitterly on the inside, thinking that Qin Lie had put him down gently.

“I will do it myself!” Qin Lie exclaimed

Yi Yuan’s expression shivered as he stared at him with incredible shock. “You, you will do it yourself? Do you really know how to forge artifacts?”

He didn’t quite understand what Qin Lie meant. He didn’t know if this was Qin Lie’s excuse to not help because, as far as he knew, Qin Lie had not truly forged a complete spirit artifact after entering Armament Sect.

“Of course I know how to forge artifacts, it’s just that I haven’t done much in the past.” Qin Lie consoled him, “Don’t worry. I may not be too familiar with it, but right now, forging artifacts should not be a problem. I will treat the Ling Town sisters’ two spirit artifacts as the first spirit artifacts I forge in Armament Sect. I will treat this matter seriously.”

“But…” Yi Yuan smiled bitterly, “They’re looking for an elder, you know?”

“You don’t have to worry about this.” Qin Lie thought for a bit and then said, “Later on, you will look for Elder Tong or Elder Cheng. Say that it’s something that I want to do. Three days later, you will bring the Ling Family sisters to the outer sect’s ‘Artifact Requesting Hall.’ I will go then and specifically question them about their needs.”

Yi Yuan was perturbed. He wasn’t sure himself if this counted as achieving Ouyang Jingjing’s request. But since Qin Lie had given his word, there was nothing else he could do, so he had no choice but to accept it. “Alright. After I get out, I’ll look for Ouyang Jingjing and explain the matter. I will also talk with Elder Tong for a little.”

“Mn,” Qin Lie nodded. “Oh, right, you only need to bring the Ling Family sisters to the ‘Artifact Requesting Hall.’ That Lu Li… she is not allowed to enter the sect.”

Yi Yuan was stunned yet again. He thought the Qin Lie he had met today was acting a little strange. He realized that he could not figure out Qin Lie’s thoughts no matter what.

“Alright, I will tell Ouyang Jingjing about this and guarantee that Lu Li will not take even a single step into the sect,” Yi Yuan promised.

After that, the two of the began a deep discussion about tempering one’s body with the blood pool for a while. For the most part it was Yi Yuan explaining the wonders of these pools to Qin Lie.

After Yi Yuan had finished and realized that the pool Qin Lie was soaking in was actually geared towards those who were at the middle stage of the Manifestation Realm, his eyeballs nearly fell out of his sockets.

“Holy shit, and here I thought Pang Feng was abnormal. I didn’t think you would be even crazier than him!

“Pang Feng is at the late stage of the Natal Opening Realm, and he is able to endure bloodwater meant for those in the early stage of the Manifestation Realm. He is already a madman among our group, but I can’t believe that you would dare to soak in a blood pool made for the middle stage of the Manifestation Realm with just your cultivation which is only in the middle stage of the Natal Opening Realm. A madman! You are a madman!”

……

The cold and clear moonlight shone on the thick clouds of blood. Clumps of scarlet light pierced through the mist and fell onto the forest below.

At a glance, it was as if the entire forest had blood spilled on it. A cruel, scary, and bloody hue covered the whole place.

Qin Lie was still soaking inside the blood pool under the night sky. The thick bloodwater inside the blood pool had turned thin once more.

Meanwhile, Qin Lie was gradually getting used to the corrosive effects of the bloodwater. All of his pores were filled with droplets of the blood that were sucking in a huge amount of blood energy.

A tremendous wave of life energy slowly surged while Qin Lie channeled the energy of geocentric magnetism.

“Shaa shaa shaa!”

The large trees nearby violently shook , and the leaves began to drop to the ground like stones.

Their branches also bowed down to the ground as if they had turned into bowing willows that were shackled by countless ropes, pulling them underground.

Lang Xie walked over from afar between the forest. He arrived underneath one of the trees.

On top of a continuously shaking tree, Feng Rong’s eyes were bright as she watched Qin Lie inside the blood pool from above.

When Lang Xie had arrived, Feng Rong suddenly said, “He has even cultivated the energy of the earth. He use the effects of geocentric magnetism and increase the gravity around him several times over. When the gravity field appears, the tree leaves, branches, and all other solid objects are pulled towards the earth’s core. In addition, he can also force the magnetic field to twist and become chaotic.”

“When he killed Liang Shaoyang, he suddenly increased the pull of gravity to drag Liang Shaoyang from the sky down to the ground.” Lang Xie said indifferently.

“You knew about it?” Feng Rong was surprised.

Lang Xie nodded, “From the moment you told me that there was an inner sect disciple whose body was tougher than even Pang Feng’s, I have paid attention to him. Before he attacked Liang Shaoyang, I was originally next to him. I witnessed Dark Asura Hall’s Xie Jingxuan and Liang Zhong leading their men to destroy Dark Shadow Tower’s base and also saw them killing Gray Shadow. I even saw Liang Shaoyang sacrifice his subordinates’ life to grasp at a chance at life.”

“That means you even know that Dark Asura Hall had attempted to kill Liang Shaoyang?” Feng Rong grew more and more surprised.

“There are very few things that escape my notice in Armament Sect. From the moment Xie Jingxuan and Liang Zhong started to trace Liang Shaoyang’s tracks, I knew what they were planning,” Lang Xie said offhandedly.

“Why didn’t you stop them?” Feng Rong frowned, “Liang Shaoyang was still an inner sect disciple at the time and was the sect’s hope. You just watched him being hunted down?”

“Didn’t he make it to the entrance safely?” Lang Xie countered, “What does Dark Shadow Tower and Dark Asura Hall’s deathmatch have anything to do with me? Whether Gray Shadow and Black Shadow died or how many Dark Asura Hall men were killed has nothing to do with me. In truth, I was hoping that they would eliminate each other completely. Why would I need to act before Liang Shaoyang was in real danger?

“After that, Liang Shaoyang successfully broke through to the entrance, and Xie Jingxuan and Liang Zhong had given up on the hunt. It was at this moment that Qin Bing had initiated his surprise attack, and after that, it was a battle between inner sect disciples. I care even less about the conflicts inside the sect. The only thing that surprised me was that Qin Bing. He was actually able to kill Liang Shaoyang, who was at the late stage of the Natal Opening Realm and was also armed to the teeth with spirit artifacts, even though he was only at the middle stage of the same realm.

“That frost concept definitely allowed his strength to shoot up, causing his frost energy to move as if it had gained sentience.”

Lang Xie paused for a moment and stared at Qin Lie from afar. Finally, he said, “At the time, I had made the decision to protect this disciple who had learned a concept even if the sect master and three great reverends wanted to kill him. But Xie Jingxuan’s words also woke up the sect master at an appropriate time, so I didn’t need to personally intervene. And after that, his ability to light up all twelve spirit pattern pillars surprised me even more…”

Feng Rong flew down from the tree and stood beside Lang Xie. After staying quiet for a moment, she said, “You are acting more and more like Master.”

“Are you praising or criticizing me?” Lang Xie’s expression changed slightly.

“I don’t know myself.” Feng Rong’s expression was complicated. “Master has never seen us as people. Everything he did is based on self-interest, and to achieve his objectives he will sacrifice anyone. You’re just like him. This is a good thing for Armament Sect because you will be able to achieve great things like this. But for the people around you, that may not necessarily be a good thing.”

Lang Xie’s eyes turned dark.

“You killed Master, took his life with your very hands specifically because you hated his way of doing things back then.” Feng Rong sighed, “But now you are acting more and more like him. You are getting better at scheming and considering everything from a point of interest by the day.”

Lang Xie grew quiet.