Chapter 1256: Corpseflower Blood Amber
Chapter 1256: Corpseflower Blood Amber
Using the Infinite Blood Mulberry Wood as bait to fish, only to fail and instead be fished away by others. Qin Sang did not find it amusing. The fat chicken felt a chill run down his spine and could not help but lament how treacherous the world was.
"Inside this Black Tower Array, has someone survived from ancient times until now?" Qin Sang asked in a low voice.
After rescuing Bai, experiencing the calamity caused by the ancient devil in Seven-Kill Hall, triggering the remnant phantom of the Azure Luan, and seeing the bone array left behind by a mysterious figure at the headquarters of the Heavenly Corpse Sect, Qin Sang had already grown accustomed to such things.
The upheaval of Ziwei Palace had far-reaching consequences. As ancient barriers shifted, all manner of lurking evils had begun to emerge.
Qin Sang felt both hope and concern.
The hopeful part was that more ancient cultivators had surfaced, and among them there must be those who knew the hidden secrets of ancient times.
The worrying part was that if another ruthless Devil Monarch appeared, Beichen Realm had no Divine Transformation Realm cultivators capable of turning the tide and sealing it again. The entire Beichen Realm would be plunged into catastrophe.
Blood Lake was a place of danger, but also a land of treasures. It contained the Infinite Blood Mulberry Wood, the Blood-Boiling Evil Flower, and the spiritual herb that had attracted Jingyu. More importantly, very few people had ever set foot there.
Qin Sang wondered how much Old Devil Ye and the others knew about this place, and whether they were aware that an ancient cultivator still lingered here, hiding danger in the shadows.
Have they come precisely for that ancient cultivator? He thought.
It might be possible for one or two people to be bewitched, but Qin Sang did not believe that all the Sin Abyss cultivators had lost their minds and were helping Old Devil Ye release an ancient devil, unless they had already received some kind of information.
"I don’t know that person’s origin. Perhaps he is an ancient cultivator as you said, or perhaps just another senior who mistakenly entered this place and became trapped here like me. But this person harbors ill intent and is filled with hostility toward me. He is absolutely no benevolent man!" Jingyu said with resentment.
Back then, what had attracted Jingyu was a rare spiritual item known as the Corpseflower Blood Amber.
The conditions required for the formation of the Corpseflower Blood Amber were extremely harsh.
First, it had to form in a place steeped in sinister yin energy and dense blood qi, where several rare spiritual flowers would grow.
After these flowers bloomed, if no one harvested them and they did not wither, they would gradually absorb excessive amounts of blood qi over time. The flowers would then crystallize and undergo metamorphosis, shedding impurities and transforming into an amber-like substance.
They resembled gemstones and, for the demon race, were also considered a type of spiritual herb.
The Corpseflower Blood Amber contained blood poison. Humans avoided it like a venomous serpent, but powerful demon beasts could consume it directly when on the verge of a breakthrough. After refining it, they could forcibly stimulate their bloodline power and seek an opportunity to advance.
However, if their strength was insufficient, the blood poison would take advantage, killing them on the spot with no chance of recovery.
It was both a spiritual herb and a deadly poison. The demon race both loved and feared it.
"I was drawn here by fluctuations in Blood Lake’s seal. I saw several phantoms of the Corpseflower Blood Amber drifting above the lake, as if they might shatter at any moment. When I also discovered that the seal was loosening, I thought it was a heaven-sent opportunity. I joined forces with another demon cultivator who lived in seclusion in Endless Valley and broke the seal to enter..." As Jingyu spoke, she recounted her past experiences.
.....
Blood Lake’s seal would fluctuate once every ten years. Over time, everyone had grown accustomed to it and no longer found it strange. This time, the disturbance had simply been somewhat stronger than usual.
After entering, Jingyu had seen the true form of the Corpseflower Blood Amber at the mountaintop. It had been floating at the center of the basin, within this Black Tower Array.
They had no means of fishing it out from afar, so they had no choice but to enter the basin personally and come here.
At that time, the barrier on the blood gate had not been as strong as it was now. The two demon cultivators had attacked together for a while and managed to force open a gap before slipping inside.
After falling into the Black Tower Array, they had avoided the flesh puppets and searched the area. Eventually, they had reached the center of the array, just about to take the Corpseflower Blood Amber when they had suddenly sensed something was wrong.
.....
"We had been trapped at a bottleneck for too long. Our minds were clouded. There were so many abnormalities along the way, yet we ignored them all.
"I don’t know whether he lured us in to trick us into helping him break the seal, or to use us as blood sacrifices. Once he realized we had noticed, he immediately revealed his fangs.
"I am naturally adept at Lightning Evasion. Though I was severely injured, I managed to escape with my life. Despite being sealed, he could still control the flesh puppets here and launched a relentless pursuit. When I finally struggled my way back to the blood gate, I found it tightly shut. I had no strength left to open it.
"Fortunately, he could not stir chaos indefinitely. I fled desperately within the Black Tower Array and endured until he fell back into slumber. As for that Daoist, his whereabouts became unknown. He never appeared again."
Jingyu let out a soft sigh, then continued, "I was badly injured. While healing, I searched for a way out. After that, he would awaken once every ten years. Even with a decade between each awakening, it was difficult for me to recover in such a sinister place. During that time, I was in a miserable state, and my injuries only worsened. Later, I discovered this hidden prison by chance. At that point, I was already at the end of my strength. Although I knew the prison might not be safe, I had no other choice..."
As she spoke, Jingyu gently stroked the fat chicken’s head. "Heaven did not treat me poorly. The prison barrier only confined but did not harm me. That is why we could meet again today."
Though Jingyu spoke calmly, Qin Sang and the fat chicken could both sense how perilous her experience had been.
To escape the clutches of an evil being only to be trapped again, possibly forever without hope of breaking free... Such despair was unimaginable!
After hearing her story, Qin Sang still knew very little about the ancient cultivator sealed within.
"Blood Lake’s seal fluctuates once every ten years. That must be him attempting to break the seal, correct? Since he can control the flesh puppets, why not use them to attack the seal or leave to seek blood sacrifices?" Qin Sang asked, puzzled.
Jingyu recalled carefully before replying, "From what I observed, the flesh puppets do not belong to him. They are generated by the Black Tower Array itself. He must have used some method to forcibly control them. Even under his control, they cannot damage the array or the seal, and they likely cannot leave the array’s range."
"That does make sense," Qin Sang nodded, then frowned. "However, so many cultivators from the two domains have entered, yet the flesh puppets have shown no unusual behavior, and I have not received any warning from Devil Lord Tongyou. We were forced apart, yet he did not seize the opportunity to capture blood sacrifices. Is he sleeping too deeply, or is there something else at play?"
Jingyu thought for a moment, then said solemnly, "Perhaps it is not that he chooses not to act, but that he is unable to!"
"How so?" Qin Sang asked in surprise.
A cold glint flashed through Jingyu’s eyes. "Before I hid in the prison, I noticed that the number of flesh puppets under his control was decreasing each time. Even from within the prison, I could still sense the disturbances when he attacked the seal. But in the last two cycles, when he should have awakened, there was no movement at all..."
"You mean..."
"Even if he is not dead, he is already at the end of his strength!" Jingyu said decisively.
At last, Qin Sang understood what Old Devil Ye was plotting.
A mere Corpseflower Blood Amber was not worth such a grand operation. Sin Abyss must have learned, from somewhere, that an ancient cultivator was sealed within Blood Lake.
An ancient cultivator at the end of his strength was a living treasure trove!
The only question was whether they would capture the ancient cultivator, or whether he would seize the opportunity to break free and unleash a catastrophe.
Qin Sang had seen the Devil Monarch with his own eyes. Even now, the memory left him with lingering fear.