Chapter 491 - 472: Here For You

Chapter 491: Chapter 472: Here For You

A Blood Shadow flew in, circling above Luofeng Mountain.

The thick stench of blood that followed mixed with the hot air, potent enough to make one’s head spin.

A terrifying Nascent Soul aura radiated outward, scattering the flames and clearing a patch of ground.

"He got away again?"

The Blood Shadow revealed a middle-aged Cultivator with chiseled features and an uncanny, demonic charm. His mature face held a trace of world-weariness.

His gaze was sinister, his eyes upturned at the corners. As he swept his gaze around, his expression grew cold.

’The aura from Qingqiu Mountain can’t be wrong. They said it was tainted when that Nascent Soul True Monarch fought Bai Zichen... The Blood God Compass requires a blood sacrifice for every reading. I’ve already killed three Core Formation Cultivators just to be guided down this path.’

The middle-aged Blood Robe Cultivator performed a quick divination with his fingers, but still found only chaos.

He knew it wasn’t a matter of distance; his target possessed a Treasure capable of obscuring the Celestial Secret.

Even if the target were right under his nose, it could still fool his Secret Technique.

He had only managed to master this Blood Evil Fate Technique after devouring a Tier Four Elephant Turtle Bloodline.

Every time he performed a divination, he first had to burn a drop of his Essence Blood.

When it came to tracking people, however, it was incredibly precise, as it linked directly to the target’s fate.

When he had hunted a great foe in the Northern Domain, even a Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasure in their possession had not been enough to evade his Blood Evil Fate Technique.

’That Youngster Bai is only at the Early-Stage Nascent Soul, yet I can’t get a lock on his fate. He must have a Spiritual Treasure capable of obscuring the Celestial Secret... Worthy of being hailed as having the potential for Divinity Transformation. His luck is impressive.’

The middle-aged Blood Robe Cultivator had reached his current standing not just through his own effort and talent. Since he was young, he had been blessed by fortune, with a never-ending stream of opportunities.

Treasures that could obscure the Celestial Secret were rare, but not shocking.

If his life story were written down, other Cultivators would still decry it as unrealistic, wondering how anyone could have serendipitous encounters practically lining up to greet them.

’But this Compass of mine is a Top-Grade Spiritual Treasure. Its only ability is to find people. Not even Great True Monarch Hongfa could escape it, let alone you...’

A Blood River manifested behind him, dropping an unconscious Core Formation Cultivator—one he had captured casually along the way.

A Golden Needle extended from the bottom of the Compass and plunged directly into the Core Formation Cultivator’s Celestial Spiritual Skull. After a few unconscious whimpers, his sturdy body shriveled into a mere husk of skin.

All his flesh and blood had dissolved without a trace, devoured by the Compass.

This Blood God Compass was something the middle-aged Blood Robe Cultivator had acquired back in his Foundation Establishment days. The very first time he was qualified to enter the Sect’s Blood Sea for Cultivation, he failed to master any Bloodline Secret Techniques. Instead, an undercurrent swept him away, and he stumbled upon this Treasure, a relic left behind by a Demon Realm Cultivator in Ancient Times.

After a simple refinement, the Blood God Compass took the initiative to acknowledge him as its master.

Though it was only a support-type Spiritual Treasure, it had been an immense help to him.

Last time in the Northern Domain, he had brazenly picked up a weapon fragment struck down by Great True Monarch Hongfa and had the Blood God Compass absorb its aura.

After Great True Monarch Hongfa departed, he activated the Blood God Compass again and was shocked to find it could still point in the True Monarch’s direction.

Both shocked and overjoyed, the middle-aged blood-robed man hastily deactivated the Blood God Compass and put it away.

That was Great True Monarch Hongfa, a man widely acknowledged in the Cultivation Realm as the Great True Monarch closest to the Divinity Transformation Realm—a legendary figure who had even suppressed a peer of the same rank.

If a figure of his stature couldn’t block the Blood God Compass, it showed just how absurdly effective this single-purpose, Top-Grade Spiritual Treasure truly was.

And yet, this was merely one of the countless serendipitous encounters of his life, not even ranking among his top five greatest acquisitions.

No wonder the previous Sect Leader had praised him as one favored by fortune, a child of destiny, establishing him as the heir apparent as early as the Foundation Establishment Stage.

The Blood Sea deep within the Blood Sea Sect was rumored to connect to the Demon Realm, allowing it to nurture an endless supply of Blood Evil and serve as the source of power for generations of Sect Cultivators.

This claim was a bit self-aggrandizing, but it was true that no one had ever found the source of the Blood Sea. Moreover, its depths were scattered with numerous Demon Treasures, some of which were even Spirit Treasure Level.

A more plausible theory was that the Sect’s headquarters were built on the Ancient Times lair of an Ancient Demon in the Human World. The demon had altered the local environment and left behind numerous Demon Treasures.

However, over the many years, the Demon Treasures recovered from the Blood Sea had almost all been incomplete or damaged.

Less than one in ten of the Demon Treasures found were truly intact and usable.

After accepting the blood sacrifice of the Core Formation Cultivator, the needle on the Blood God Compass spun several times before beginning to pulse frantically in one direction.

The middle-aged blood-robed man looked up in the direction the needle was pointing. Everything seemed normal, with no sign of any living creature.

Trusting his Blood God Compass, he opened his left palm and waved it gently. Dozens of hair-thin Blood Needles shot toward the empty space, moving so fast they blurred into a single Blood Shadow.

TING! TING! TING!

The Blood Needles didn’t strike the ground as expected. Instead, they were caught by a flash of Thunder Radiance that absorbed them all.

"Impressive. To think you could hide from my Spiritual Sense at such a close range. You almost had me fooled!"

The middle-aged blood-robed man was startled, his eyes narrowing like a viper’s as he locked his gaze on the other party.

For a Nascent Soul True Monarch, a distance of a few miles was no different from being face to face.

If his opponent had truly launched a sneak attack, he feared he wouldn’t have been able to react until the very moment the attack landed.

Of course, he carried powerful treasures that would automatically defend him.

In times of danger, they would activate on their own without him needing to do a thing.

"A parlor trick, yet the True Monarch still discovered me..."

A ripple spread through the air, and Bai Zichen seemed to step out of the void, pulling off the Mystical Immortal Gauze draped over his body.

"Blood God True Monarch, you’ve followed me all this way. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

The man before him was none other than the Sect Leader of the Blood Sea Sect, Blood God Son, whom Bai Zichen had seen on Meili Snow Peak while observing the combat between Tang Fei and Xiangg Ji.

To avenge his junior martial brother, this man had rushed from Nan Chu to the Northern Domain to target Zengguang Du Heng.

Blood God True Monarch also participated in the epic battle at the Immortal City that followed.

However, the glory of that battle belonged entirely to Great True Monarch Hongfa; everyone else was merely a supporting player.

Bai Zichen had only heard later that he had nearly annihilated the entire Ten Thousand Beasts Sect. A single remnant was allowed to survive only because Great True Monarch Meng of Celestial Punishment Peak had intervened.

Fortunately, the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect was not fated for extinction. Feng Moyun, who had been missing for so long that everyone assumed he was dead, returned, having successfully reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

With that, they were able to restore their name as the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect and swiftly reclaim their former territory.

The distance between Nan Chu and Luofeng Mountain wasn’t just thousands of miles, but a journey of over a million. That, combined with his recent actions, made it obvious he had come here specifically to find someone.

He was clearly here for him.

"Born in the Northern Domain’s Black Mountain, a genius Sword Cultivator who formed your Nascent Soul at one hundred and fifty, with supreme combat prowess... Your Sword Dao Realm is One Sword Breaks Ten Thousand Laws. You are suspected to possess two Tier Four Flying Swords. Your Cultivation Method has no other special properties, but your True Essence is profound, and you’ve never shown signs of exhaustion. You also possess a Heaven-Defying Sword Technique that can seemingly summon the River of Time, which was your greatest asset for fighting above your Realm when you were at Core Formation. However, it must have usage restrictions, as you rarely employ it."

Instead of answering directly, Blood God True Monarch recited Bai Zichen’s life story with intimate familiarity.

"Your Cultivation speed is fast enough to put even Celestial Spiritual Root Cultivators to shame, rivaling the legendary figures of the Ancient Era. Did you know, for a time, many people suspected you were a Divinity Transformation Great Power who had possessed a new body to start over? They thought it was the only way you could ignore all bottlenecks and progress so rapidly."

"I’m truly honored."

Bai Zichen was startled. The stronger one became, the more attention one attracted, becoming an object of scrutiny and study for others.

His Cultivation journey, his combat habits, his preferred Divine Techniques—everything was put under a microscope.

People would list his traits one by one, pick them apart, and research how to counter him.

This was why a good number of Cultivators disliked interacting with others. They maintained an air of mystery to ensure their weaknesses and vulnerabilities weren’t exposed.

Fortunately, the powerful physique granted by his Five Crystal Glaze Body was still a secret. No one had connected the two utterly disparate identities of Unparalleled Sword Cultivator and brutish Body Cultivator.

Furthermore, his ability to maintain full-power Sword Control for extended periods without tiring, never running short on True Essence, was attributed to his special Cultivation Technique.

Besides himself, only Lu Song knew of the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box’s existence.

But even Lu Song only knew that the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box and the Nine Heavens Bone Forging Techniques existed; he couldn’t possibly know their specific functions.

Since the people studying him in secret had gotten this point wrong, their conclusions were bound to be wildly inaccurate.

A special Cultivation Technique providing vast, ocean-like True Essence, like the Celestial River Technique, could at most control three or four Flying Swords at once.

Relying on his Sword Box, however, he had already achieved the feat of deploying twelve swords at once.

As for the other things, like his Heaven-Defying Sword Technique or the theory about being a possessed Divinity Transformation Great Power, he didn’t care. He’d let them keep guessing.

’Good thing I have the Star River Sword Array as another trump card now. After I refine two or three more Immortal Bones and elevate my physical body to the level of a Late-Stage Nascent Soul Body Cultivator... I’ll definitely give those enemies who see me as a traditional Sword Cultivator a huge surprise!’

Bai Zichen silently reminded himself never to expose all his trump cards. It was far too dangerous.

Although his rate of improvement was incredibly fast, an opponent might prepare countermeasures based on his old abilities, only to find when they finally fought that Bai Zichen’s strongest Divine Techniques had changed again, rendering most of their preparations useless.

It was always better to have a few tricks up his sleeve.

"Those old monsters at the Divinity Transformation level would never waste time wandering around after possessing a new body. They would have long since returned to a Grotto Heaven Secret Realm to cultivate frantically and restore themselves to the Divinity Transformation Realm as soon as possible. Based on that alone, I can rule out the possibility that you’re a reincarnated Great Power."

Blood God True Monarch’s gaze roamed over Bai Zichen as if he were sizing up a lamb for the slaughter, his confidence absolute.

"Are you going to bind your own hands and come with me, or must I take action personally and sever your limbs? In any case, the person who hired me didn’t say whether they want you dead or alive, just that I bring you back."

"The renowned Blood God Son, taking orders and acting as someone’s lackey?"

A mocking smile touched Bai Zichen’s lips as he spoke.

It was noteworthy that even Blood God True Monarch was acting at someone else’s behest, meaning another power held malicious intent toward him.

"Don’t bother trying to provoke me. For the reward I was promised, just bringing you back dead or alive is a bargain... It seems you’re not willing to come quietly. In that case, I’ll have to do this the hard way."

Blood God True Monarch’s tone was astounding. Even after praising Bai Zichen as if he were a reincarnated Divinity Transformation expert, his words now dripped with absolute confidence.

A surging Blood River rushed forth. ROARING, it crashed down from the mountaintop, churning up violent waves.

In an instant, a Blood Sea World formed around them.