Chapter 308: The Eighth Volume: Master of the Nest

Luo Feng opened his Eye of Birth and Death at his brow; this complete bloodline, burning with black flames, revealed itself to him as multilayered—countless secret patterns on each layer interwove, ultimately forming a perfect whole, a bloodline born beyond the cage.

“Such a union can break free from the cage?” Luo Feng gazed, mesmerized.

Merely a low-grade Huyuan lifeblood of a Divine Emperor’s early stage unveiled the secret of escaping the cage before Luo Feng’s eyes.

“My previous attempts to complete it had too many flaws.”

“My home on Earth once said: learn from heaven and earth! Now, meditating on the ‘Huyuan lifeblood’ born of nature itself—isn’t this another way of learning from heaven and earth?” Luo Feng’s heart was reverent.

“Even without fully fusing Birth and Death, the ‘methods of union’ alone are countless.”

“I must extract them one by one.”

Luo Feng sank into it.

The first method of union…

The second method of union…

Extracting each complete method was difficult—it required comprehending the essence of how countless secret patterns fused, before finally distilling a universal union technique.

During his meditation, Luo Feng consumed auxiliary cultivation treasures, greatly accelerating his mental processing. After all, even Divine Emperor-level thought speed still struggled to grasp the subtleties of escaping the cage.

Even so, it took over one eon before Luo Feng fully comprehended this ‘Niehuo Jie Snake Bloodline’ of a Divine Emperor’s early stage.

“Though I’ve extracted many Birth-Death union methods, I lack the most fundamental ‘perfect unity.’” Luo Feng thought. All these methods must achieve perfect unity to escape the cage.

“This is the weakest life capable of escaping the cage.” Luo Feng sighed inwardly. “Yet I still cannot fathom its essence.”

Among innate Huyuan lives, the ‘Divine Emperor early stage’ was indeed the weakest.

“This Huyuan bloodline has already granted me immense gains.”

Luo Feng was deeply satisfied.

From just this weakest bloodline, he had extracted a full nineteen methods of Birth-Death union.

If applied to his own ‘Way of Birth and Death,’ his power would surge dramatically!

“No need to integrate them into my Way yet—first, accumulate more.”

“The second bloodline—‘Youshouzhe Bloodline’ of a Divine Emperor’s early stage—I once tried to complete it from twelve fragmented materials, but my completion was clearly wrong.” Luo Feng pondered.

He re-completed it using his newly Lingwu ed nineteen methods of Birth-Death union.

It took a full million heavenly days before he was satisfied.

Only then did he begin observing the Divine Emperor early stage ‘Youshouzhe Bloodline’ with his Eye of Birth and Death.

“Hmm?”

“It’s already sixty to seventy percent similar.” Luo Feng’s face lit up.

If the first bloodline’s completion was crude and riddled with flaws,

the second bloodline’s completion now bore the Chuxing of a “perfect answer.”

“I’m on the right path.” Luo Feng grew more exhilarated, carefully observing the Youshouzhe bloodline.

With ample cultivation resources, Luo Feng felt himself constantly advancing! The only thing now limiting his progress was his own comprehension speed—Divine Emperor-level thought was still too slow.

A high-grade Huyuan life would likely comprehend a thousand times faster.

“Take it slow.”

“If speed is slow, just spend more time.”

Luo Feng now felt even greater gratitude toward Master Yuanxiang; the fifty billion Huyuan Crystals Master Yuanxiang gave him had been immensely helpful. Perhaps Master Yuanxiang had deliberately chosen this amount—such wealth, if not squandered, was more than enough to sustain a Divine Emperor’s normal cultivation.

Luo Feng glanced at the rows of bloodlines laid out around him.

There were 323 bloodlines of Divine Emperor early stage.

There were 257 bloodlines of Divine Emperor middle stage.

There were 152 bloodlines of Divine Emperor late stage. Though these three tiers seemed numerous, they were still easy for Luo Feng’s wealth to bear—total cost: 830 million Huyuan Crystals.

He purchased 36 bloodlines of Divine Emperor perfection stage, spending 1.92 billion Huyuan Crystals—this was what Luo Feng cared about most, for these were the limits of low-grade Huyuan lifebloods, their mysteries fully revealed. Since low-grade Huyuan lives embodying Birth and Death were exceedingly rare in the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, their bloodlines were scarce. Elder Xingyi had specially procured a batch from the Dark Sacred Realm.

Each bloodline came with over ten corresponding materials.

Luo Feng also purchased missing materials, spending heavily; combined with the bloodlines, his total expenditure reached 2.83 billion Huyuan Crystals—still a discounted price thanks to Elder Xingyi’s efforts.

“Fortunately, a single low-grade Huyuan life corpse can yield many bloodlines, and the price remains within my means.” Luo Feng thought.

On the Origin Continent, the ancestral beings of the two nations bred Huyuan bloodline creatures—but they were not beings who escaped the cage, and their vitality and other aspects were far inferior. Their bloodline extraction techniques were also crude—each creature yielded only a few bloodlines.

In the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, the utilization of a low-grade Huyuan life corpse was pushed to its absolute limit! Any waste meant loss of Huyuan Crystals.

Simply extracting the entire body’s blood could yield ten complete bloodlines—or even more.

Major bones, hooves, and claws could be refined into weapons, elixirs, or even puppets.

“Whether in the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm or the Dark Sacred Realm, there are too many powerful beings, and competition in trade is fierce—every technique has been refined to near its limit. The greatest cost of any sold treasure is the material cost.” Luo Feng thought.

A Divine Emperor perfection stage weapon, if common and using minimal materials, might cost only a million Huyuan Crystals.

A more complex Divine Emperor perfection stage warship might cost two to three million Huyuan Crystals.

Only massive, mobile arrays typically exceeded five million Huyuan Crystals.

“In the Dark Sacred Realm, there are too many half-Huyuan Dao-seekers. These weapons and treasures don’t command high prices.” Luo Feng thought.

The truly rare items.

For example, some treasures exchanged in the Infinite Space, like the Immortal Heart, were priceless.

Materials from world-level Huyuan lives could not be hunted—each piece was extraordinarily expensive!

As for treasures priced above 100,000 reward points in the Infinite Space, all were aids to escaping the cage—like the Eye of Birth and Death. Even masters like Elder Yuan had produced only limited quantities; each was a priceless treasure, even forbidden to be taken out of the Source World. When a cultivator died, such treasures were reclaimed by the Infinite Space. The Eye of Birth and Death, for instance, had had many previous users.

…

Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, Yulan City.

Inside a vast cavern, a massive spherical lifeform lay coiled.

Its surface periodically surfaced faces—resentful, mad, sleeping, laughing, cold… Each face influenced the surrounding area! Low-grade Huyuan lives often infiltrated the city, but none ever dared approach this massive nest.

This was the Nest.

A bizarre lifeform—its power alone rivaled that of three Hall Masters.

The Nest’s surface was densely pocked with countless holes, through which cultivators frequently flew in and out.

In the Nest’s core region.

“Master, over the last eon, our elixir sales have dropped by nearly half.” An old man bowed respectfully.

“Why such a steep decline?”

A beautiful woman sat there, surprised.

After eons of cultivation, her resources came from multiple sources—the entire Nest’s operations, theft, plundering—all income naturally included a share for the Nest’s master.

Even just elixir sales, even just for one eon, meant little to her.

But if this continued, she would feel the loss.

“Over the last eon, the Danlou has massively increased its output. Their same-tier elixirs are cheaper, and several factions in the city now buy in bulk from Danlou—our sales have naturally dropped.” The old man reported.

“So Changqing Lord dares to act so boldly?” the woman exclaimed. “Who gave him the courage?”

“During your seclusion, a new Elder-level cultivator arrived in Yulan City—named Luo Feng. He has joined Danlou.” The old man reported.

The woman nodded slightly and immediately reviewed the latest intelligence on Yulan City.

After reading it, she understood the situation.

“A new cultivator, capable of overpowering Tianhe?” Her eyes turned cold. “Knowing Danlou is my enemy, he still dares to interfere?”

“Just maintain normal sales. Don’t concern yourself with other matters.” The woman ordered. “Leave.”

“Yes.” The old man departed obediently.

The woman sat still, gazing toward Danlou.

“Public conflict is forbidden in the city—let my Mind Splitting send a message to this Luo Feng, Divine Emperor.” She remained seated, yet a single invisible mental force surged forth from the massive Nest.

After the mental force departed, the Nest’s surface calmed, its faces vanishing.

“Huh.”

The mental force took the shape of the woman, walking through the skies of Yulan City.

Yet ordinary means could not perceive her.

“Hmm?”

Three of Yulan City’s multicolored defense systems swept across the woman’s form.

“Is that the Nest’s Master?”

“Why is she sending a Mind Splitting?”

Three Elders responsible for the defense systems detected the Nest’s Master’s Mind Splitting—but they took no action. After all, the Nest’s Master was an Elder of Yulan City; her splitting moving within the city was perfectly legal.

“Arrived.”

In mere moments, the Nest’s Master’s Mind Splitting stood before Danlou, gazing up at the vast complex.

…

Within Danlou’s complex, two Elder-level cultivators resided permanently: Changqing Lord, and of course, Luo Feng.

Luo Feng was currently sensing the arrays he had installed within Danlou.

“These thirty-six Birth-Death arrays were each crafted by different senior cultivators, each possessing unique mastery over Birth-Death union.” Luo Feng observed. “Some I didn’t understand before.”

“But after meditating on the Huyuan bloodlines, I now comprehend far more. Even some of the Birth-Death unions within these arrays appear overly complex and crude.”

Though these seniors had other opportunities, none possessed the Eye of Birth and Death. Even if they bought Huyuan bloodlines, they could only observe fragments—not the full picture. They inferred and meditated based on partial observations.

“Hmm?”

Luo Feng suddenly sensed a strange, chilling fluctuation—faint, yet upon mere contact, he felt overwhelming dread.

His Lieyuan Technique had been active the whole time, naturally repelling this chilling intrusion.

"Who?"

With a thought, Luo Feng immediately amplified the power of the thirty-six layers of arrays, and at the same time, his Fangshengmiezhiyan revealed a female spiritual figure standing before the main door of the Elixir Tower.

——

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(End of chapter)