The Blood Sacrifice

Morning arrived at Azure Cloud Peak as the thin mist gradually dispersed beneath the rising sun.

The ruins before the main hall bustled with unexpected activity.

Crack.

Qin Lin stared speechlessly at his right hand.

A moment ago, he had been holding an incredibly sturdy Azure Gold Stone brick, intending to use it to repair the hall’s broken steps.

Yet with the slightest squeeze…

The entire brick crumbled into fine stone powder that sifted through his fingers.

This was already the fifth brick he had crushed that morning.

The system’s familiar notification echoed faithfully across his vision.

[Today’s Settlement: The host has obtained two years of cultivation foundation.]

Qin Lin now felt like a pressure cooker that had been filled beyond its limits.

His disciples cultivated with relentless enthusiasm every single day.

The vast amount of cultivation they fed back into him had made his spiritual energy unimaginably deep.

The problem was…

He had an enormous mana pool but almost no proper techniques.

As a result, even trying to work as a mason ended in accidental demolition.

“Master, your strength is ridiculous.”

Yu Ruyan walked over from the back mountain, carrying her rusty firewood cleaver across one shoulder.

Sweat covered her forehead.

She had just finished her daily training.

Using nothing more than the most basic wood-chopping movements, she had practically shaved an entire century-old Ironwood Forest flat.

“You turned Azure Gold Stone into powder with your bare hand!”

“If you grabbed a demonic beast’s head like that…”

“…wouldn’t it explode on the spot?”

“What a crude way of thinking.”

Nearby, Luo Youmeng held a dustpan in one hand and a broom in the other.

Even the way she swept the courtyard was astonishingly refined.

With a subtle flick of her wrist, several fallen leaves drifted through the air as though pulled by invisible threads before landing neatly inside the dustpan.

She cast Yu Ruyan a cool glance before respectfully bowing toward Qin Lin.

“Master’s teachings on sleight of hand and probability are truly profound.”

“I’ve incorporated attention guidance and precise force control into my daily sweeping.”

“I’ve discovered that the previously blocked meridians within my body are beginning to open.”

Yu Ruyan rolled her eyes.

“You’ve actually managed to develop a superiority complex from sweeping the floor.”

“Master…”

“Our lousy little sect doesn’t even have a proper courtyard wall.”

“It’s just the three of us staring at each other every single day.”

“I’m going crazy.”

“When are we going down the mountain to improve our meals?”

Brushing the stone dust from his hands, Qin Lin surveyed the rather shabby Azure Cloud Peak before nodding.

“Ruyan is right.”

“If the sect wishes to grow, we can’t remain shut away forever.”

“As cultivators…”

“…we cultivate not only ourselves…”

“…but also the responsibility to benefit the world.”

“We’re done repairing the steps today.”

“We’re going down the mountain.”

Qin Lin turned and entered the main hall.

When he emerged a moment later, he carried a stack of recruitment notices written on bright red paper.

Each one read:

“Wentian Sect Recruitment Notice.”

“Master…”

“We’re recruiting new disciples?”

Luo Youmeng’s eyes lit up.

“That’s right.”

“The great sects of the cultivation world only value Heavenly Spirit Roots and single-element Spirit Roots.”

“They treat ordinary people like insects.”

“But the Wentian Sect is different.”

“We’re going to recruit disciples from ordinary towns.”

“Talent…”

“…is the true foundation upon which the Wentian Sect shall stand.”

Hearing those words, both Yu Ruyan and Luo Youmeng felt their hearts tremble.

“This disciple obeys Master’s command!”

Yu Ruyan eagerly rested the cleaver on her shoulder.

“And Qingshui Town’s Beggar’s Chicken is famous too!”

“Let’s go!”

Bathed in the morning sunlight, the master and his two disciples set off toward Qingshui Town.

One hour later…

Outside Qingshui Town.

The small town should have been bustling with life and filled with the sounds of ordinary people.

Instead…

It was terrifyingly silent.

No vendors shouted.

No chickens crowed.

No dogs barked.

Even the wind itself seemed absent.

Above the town floated an extremely faint crimson haze.

The moment they approached the entrance…

A dense aura of blood and slaughter rushed toward them.

Luo Youmeng abruptly stopped.

“Master.”

“Be careful.”

“This isn’t ordinary baleful qi.”

“It’s the vicious Blood Extraction Formation.”

“Someone is sacrificing living people.”

The warmth vanished from Qin Lin’s face.

Without another word…

He rushed into the town.

The streets were in ruins.

Market stalls had been overturned.

Doors and windows had been smashed apart by brute force.

Scattered across the ground were abandoned shoes…

Bloodstained hoes…

And children’s rattle drums.

Following the thickest scent of blood, the three finally arrived at the town’s central square.

The infernal scene before them instantly brought tears to Yu Ruyan’s eyes.

At the center of the square…

A gigantic crimson pit dozens of meters across had been carved directly into the ground.

Its edges were covered with grotesque dark-red runes that writhed like living creatures.

Around the pit…

Hundreds of unarmed townspeople had been gathered.

There were gray-haired elders.

Terrified women.

Even mothers desperately shielding infants in their arms.

A group of demonic cultivators dressed in blood-red robes mercilessly drove them toward the pit with poisoned whips, herding them like livestock.

“What are you crying for?!”

A sinister-looking deacon of the Blood River Sect kicked an elderly man who was desperately kowtowing for mercy.

“To become sacrifices for our Blood River Sect’s Myriad Blood Demonic Banner…”

“…is the greatest blessing your worthless lives could ever receive!”

The old man tumbled toward the blood pit.

“No!”

His granddaughter let out a scream of utter despair.

“You beasts!”

Yu Ruyan could suppress her fury no longer.

Her Innate Sword Bone erupted with overwhelming force.

With a furious roar, the rusty firewood cleaver in her hand suddenly burst forth with dazzling sword light.

She transformed into a raging gale as she charged directly at the deacon.

“Hm?”

Standing atop the raised platform overlooking the square, the Blood River Sect Elder turned sharply.

His crimson gaze swept across Qin Lin and his two disciples before he burst into cruel laughter.

“Hahaha!”

“I was just worrying that the blood essence of these ordinary mortals wasn’t pure enough.”

“The formation’s power was lacking.”

“And now…”

“…three righteous cultivators have delivered themselves to my doorstep!”

“Excellent!”

“Capture them!”

“Strip off their skin and tendons…”

“…then throw them into the Blood Pool!”

More than a dozen Blood River Sect disciples at the Foundation Establishment Realm drew their blood-colored sabers.

Like ravenous wolves, they surrounded Qin Lin and Luo Youmeng.

There were simply too many demonic cultivators.

The oppressive blood aura emitted by the formation gradually weighed down Yu Ruyan’s movements.

“To cultivate immortality…”

“…yet refuse to protect the innocent.”

“To treat human lives as nothing but grass beneath your feet…”

Qin Lin stood silently where he was.

His gaze rested upon the bloodstained clothing floating inside the Blood Pool.

The heart-wrenching cries of children echoed endlessly around him.

Slowly…

He closed his eyes.

“I don’t care…”

“…what damned Blood River Sect you belong to.”

Qin Lin took a single step forward.

“Today…”

“…not one of you filthy scum…”

“…is leaving this place alive.”