Chapter 484: Blood Universe Realm

In the Blood Universe Realm, deep within the forbidden grounds of the Blood Refining Demon Sect.

Atop a massive stone platform, several Jin Dan demon cultivators stood with utmost reverence.

Before the platform lay an endless abyss, where lightning flashed and thunder roared, terrifying void storms raged, and faintly visible black stone peaks stood towering within the bottomless depths.

"They're here! Prepare to respectfully welcome the return of Lord Qishang Mojun!"

The several Jin Dan demon cultivators immediately adopted solemn expressions, bowing low to greet those approaching from the front.

Hum~ Suddenly.

A violent fluctuation echoed through the void; a black vortex abruptly appeared above the platform, followed by blood-colored runes lighting up all around.

As blood-colored radiance flashed across the reception platform, several figures emanating immense auras instantly appeared upon the high dais.

It was none other than Qishang Mojun, Crown Prince Xuan Ce, and their entourage.

"Disciples respectfully welcome Elder Qishang Mojun's return!!"

As the few Jin Dan demon cultivators at the front performed their prostrations, the large contingent of sect disciples behind them also bowed with extreme respect.

Qishang Mojun, expressionless, nodded slightly while gazing at the dark, oppressive sky, sensing the dense demonic qi surrounding him.

He thought silently to himself: 'So this is the Blood Universe Realm.'

At the same time.

In the eastern region of the Blood Universe Realm, amidst a boundless desert, the fierce sounds of magical combat erupted.

Over a hundred spirit boats from the East Sea Immortal Realm hovered in mid-air, led by more than ten inter-national spirit ships each a thousand zhang in size, emitting a suffocating sense of oppression.

The desert below was littered with corpses, all of them demonic cultivators from the Blood Universe Realm.

"Reporting to the Great Elder, the vanguard forces of the demonic path ahead have been completely cleared!"

On Canghe Zhenjun's rigid face, his eyes narrowed coldly, and he immediately ordered: "Transmit the order: continue northward and link up with the Ice God Temple of the North Cold Immortal Realm."

"Yes!"

At this moment.

Another Nascent Soul Zhenjun from the Star Palace on the deck couldn't help but remark: "Great Elder Canghe, are we truly going to join forces with the Ice God Temple? Those people have tempers that are both foul and stubborn; they think too highly of themselves and are extremely difficult to communicate with."

"Mm, this time our journey to the Blood Universe Realm involves not only the plan to besiege Wei to rescue Zhao, but also another major task: to find for Yunxi Laozu an Ascension Platform leading to the Spirit Realm, or alternatively, a suitable void node."

"The Laozu of the Ice God Temple shares this intention and has already reached a consensus with our sect's Laozu."

"Sigh! I never expected it was truly for this matter," that Nascent Soul elder sighed. "Since the decline of the ancient Guqingyuan Sect, several thousand years have passed without a single cultivator from the Human Realm successfully ascending."

Canghe Zhenjun's gaze deepened as he nodded while staring into the distance.

Logically speaking, once cultivators in the Human Realm cultivate to the Soul Transformation realm, they reach their limit and will face rejection by the power of the realm itself.

To cultivate further toward greater depths, ascension is the only path.

The method for this is to use the Ascension Platforms left by the Spirit Realm within the Human Realm to ascend to the Spirit Realm.

Upon reaching a great realm like the Spirit Realm, where heavenly and earthly spiritual qi is abundant, one is no longer troubled by the force of realm rejection and can even attempt to break through to realms higher than Soul Transformation.

Of course, during ancient times, there were also supreme experts who ascended directly through the power of their physical bodies without needing an Ascension Platform.

However, doing so places extremely high demands on the cultivator's own cultivation base; at the very least, one must cultivate to the peak of Soul Transformation before daring to attempt such a risk.

Under normal circumstances, even Soul Transformation Laozus would not do this unless absolutely forced.

Because once trapped within the chaotic void currents, even a Soul Transformation Venerable has no choice but death and the extinction of their Dao, meeting their demise.

Yet since the great ancient war, the Ascension Platforms left by the Spirit Realm in the Human Realm have either been destroyed by people or their specific locations remain unknown.

Coupled with several instances over tens of thousands of years where realms converged and great heavenly demon calamities invaded, continuously polluting the Human Realm with demonic qi, the spiritual qi of the Human Realm began to decline, causing many Soul Transformation cultivators to be trapped and perish alive at the early stage of Soul Transformation.

This has forced the Soul Transformation Laozus of the Human Realm to seek other methods...

In the Southern Desolate Immortal Realm, within a cave dwelling on Moon-Gazing Island.

Qin Ming manipulated the Spirit King Cauldron in his hand, causing three-colored ancient poisonous flames to fly out and churn ceaselessly beneath it.

As he tapped out a pill formula with his hand, the Spirit King Cauldron erupted with an auspicious cloud phenomenon accompanied by the sounds of dragon cries and tiger roars.

A strange fragrance of pills instantly filled the entire cave dwelling.

Three spirit pills, snow-white throughout, suddenly manifested sixteen Dao lines, emitting astonishing pill halos and radiating brilliant light.

Within the spirit pills seemed to be a spark of spirituality, as if they wished to flee the alchemical furnace.

Qin Ming casually reached out and beckoned, and the three fourth-grade upper-tier spirit pills immediately fell into his hand.

"I didn't expect this Ascending Dragon Pill to be so difficult to refine; even I wasted dozens of portions of spiritual materials before successfully refining just these three..."

Gazing at the spirit pills in his hand, Qin Ming remarked with considerable emotion.

To refine these Ascending Dragon Pills, he had exhausted every single ripening keyword currently stored within his sea of consciousness.

Just when he thought this batch of spiritual materials would be entirely consumed and ruined, he finally succeeded in refining three pills.

It could not be considered a failure at the last moment.

As for the spiritual materials for the Ascending Dragon Pill, Qin Ming had already acquired the spiritual seeds of the main ingredients during the Immortal Mansion Grand Assembly.

The remaining auxiliary materials were quickly gathered in full by the Four Nations Alliance and Hua Tianxiong's trading houses.

After Qin Ming took charge of the Southern Desolate region, certain cultivation resources were naturally collected and brought up to him by those beneath him.

As a miraculous pill for increasing magic power cultivation at the Nascent Soul stage, the effect of the Ascending Dragon Pill is several times better than that of the Hunyuan Pill.

After all, as a fourth-grade upper-tier spirit pill, the difficulty of refinement and the low success rate of forming pills far exceeded Qin Ming's expectations.

At the same time, through this session of pill refining, a wisp of Yi Wood Essence had once again formed within the Spirit King Cauldron.

Qin Ming directly fed it to his innate spiritual plant, the Ageless Immortal Vine; amidst the dancing black vines, its growth progress increased significantly.

In the future, refining pills would also produce Yi Wood Essence to fatten up his innate spiritual plant, so Qin Ming would no longer need to go everywhere killing Nascent Soul demon cultivators.

The spiritual opportunity contained within a single wisp of Yi Wood Essence is equivalent to that of a Nascent Soul-level blood bead.

"Fighting and killing is ultimately not good; Nascent Soul cultivators are rare after all, and there aren't so many available for me to collect blood beads from."

Subsequently.

Qin Ming stored away the two Ascension Dragon Pills, took out one to swallow, and immediately began cultivating.

An extremely vast and pure medicinal force dissolved within his body, continuously gathering toward his Nascent Soul.

He immediately circulated the "Green Emperor Art," refining the medicinal force within the spiritual pill.

Time flowed, and the four seasons cycled.

One year later.

A grand aura of magic power reverberated from Qin Ming's body, resonating with the heavenly and earthly spiritual qi.

Behind him, the green spiritual plant phantom formed by his Green Emperor Wood Emperor Sacred Body grew another foot taller.

The heavenly and earthly spiritual qi of the fourth-tier spiritual vein on Moon Gazing Island was continuously transformed by the spiritual body like a giant whale sucking in water, becoming part of the magic power of Qin Ming's Nascent Soul.

"The thirteenth layer of the 'Green Emperor Art'!"

"I didn't expect you to have cultivated this core inherited technique of the Qingyuan Sect to such a profound level!"

Qingyang Laomo revealed an expression of disbelief.

"After cultivating the 'Green Emperor Art' to the ninth layer, each subsequent breakthrough becomes increasingly difficult; could this be due to the completion of the Green Emperor Wood Emperor Sacred Body?"

Qin Ming put away the technique, slightly sensed the improved magic power of his Nascent Soul within his body, and found he had completed one-third of the progress toward the mid-Nascent Soul realm.

Such a rapid pace of progress.

Looking across the entire Immortal Realm, only he could achieve such a feat.

"This Ascension Dragon Pill is indeed extraordinary; its medicinal force is even much stronger than the Clear Void Pill of the Penglai Sect; I wonder which ancient great expert created it."

"This pill is likely the most effective among all spiritual pills designed to advance Nascent Soul cultivation, and it may even be effective for the late Nascent Soul stage." After personally experiencing the cultivation changes brought by the Ascension Dragon Pill, Qin Ming immediately gave it an extremely high evaluation.

Besides this, Qin Ming also took some time to brew the two fourth-tier demon cores he had exchanged for at the Immortal Mansion Grand Auction entirely into Lingxi Jade Liquid; thus, he had more than enough spiritual wine.

After finishing his cultivation, Qin Ming was in high spirits.

He walked out from his cave dwelling to the outside, took out a set of wine utensils, poured some Lingxi Jade Liquid, and began tasting the spiritual wine by himself.

Upon smelling the aroma of the wine while working, the Shi Tian Shu quickly dropped its Shennong Hoe, rushed before Qin Ming, and began serving him by pouring wine.

Enjoying the Shi Tian Shu's massage, Qin Ming naturally did not hesitate to reward it with several cups of spiritual wine.

Immediately after.

Qin Ming suddenly remembered something and immediately sent a message summoning Mo Lingwei to the island to see him.

Half a moment later.

A streak of green fleeing light descended from afar onto the main peak.

"Lingwei pays respects to Island Lord my lord!"

Qin Ming scanned her a few times and noticed that this woman's Jin Dan cultivation was progressing quite rapidly, likely due to the enhancement from her spiritual body.

Although her Phoenix Chant Body was far less useful for cultivation compared to other spiritual bodies, it still belonged to the category of extremely rare special constitutions.

Qin Ming had originally planned to use her special constitution to break through when he reached the mid-Nascent Soul stage, but it now seemed it would not be necessary.

If she could survive until he broke through to the late Nascent Soul stage, she might perhaps still be of some help.

However, this woman was undoubtedly a shrewd and capable subordinate; at the very least, over the past few decades, Mo Lingwei had managed Moon Gazing Island in an orderly manner.

Qin Ming was extremely satisfied.

"This seat has been in closed-door cultivation for several years; how is the situation regarding the descent of the demonic path into the Immortal Realm recently?" Qin Ming asked lightly while sitting beneath the spiritual peach tree.

Mo Lingwei raised her head, only to see a plump white boy standing on a stone stool, diligently massaging Qin Ming's shoulders.

For a fourth-tier Demon Saint to serve someone so attentively—probably only the True Person of Moon Gazing Island before her could accomplish such a thing.

She hurriedly bowed and replied, "Reporting to Island Lord my lord, currently, apart from our Southern Wilderness where the situation is slightly better, other places are not optimistic and are facing a second wave of demonic path invasion."

"In some regions, spatial anomalies have opened widely, demonic qi pollution is severe, and they have become no-man's lands."

"However, according to intelligence sent back by Wei Mengzhu and others, the Soul Transformation sects in the East Sea Immortal Realm and the Northern Cold Immortal Realm have secretly discovered some spatial passages leading to the Blood Ring Realm and have already begun implementing their plans."

"The pressure from demonic invasions in these two immortal realms has decreased significantly, suggesting their actions within the Blood Ring Realm have achieved some results."

"It seems only such Soul Transformation sects can reverse the declining trend in the Human Realm."

After listening, Qin Ming nodded thoughtfully.

He then took out a bottle of Divine Wood Pills meant for the Jin Dan stage, flicked his finger, and sent it floating before her, "You have worked hard managing the spiritual island these years; please accept this bottle of Divine Wood Pills."

"Strive to cultivate to the mid-Jin Dan stage as soon as possible."

Mo Lingwei accepted the jade bottle and immediately thanked him with slightly excited emotions, "Many thanks to Island Lord my lord for your generous gift!"

She had naturally heard rumors about this kind of Jin Dan stage pill.

It was a miraculous pill inherited from ancient times.

One had once been auctioned off in the Star Moon Market City, personally refined by Su Danwang of Great Jin, and purchased at an astronomical price.

Cultivators like them with meager assets could only look up to it in admiration.

Subsequently, Mo Lingwei withdrew.

"I wonder how Brother Su's progress in breaking through to the Nascent Soul is going?" Thinking of this, Qin Ming immediately summoned Hua Tianxiong to inquire.

"Master, Su Danwang is now a famous Jin Dan cultivator here in Great Jin; after his previous failure, he spent these past few decades tempering his divine abilities on the demonic path battlefield, slaying countless demonic cultivators, and entered closed-door cultivation again two years ago."

"Before entering seclusion, I met Su Danwang once; he said this attempt had a greater chance of success than before, but breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm is not so easy and also depends on one's performance at the critical moment."

Hua Tianxiong reported truthfully.

Qin Ming nodded slowly, "Brother Su has firm willpower and good fortune; I hope he can achieve his wish this time as well."

Hua Tianxiong suddenly remembered something and added to Qin Ming, "By the way, Master, True Person Nalan Xi of Canghai Xiancheng recently broke through to the late Jin Dan realm and issued an invitation to Moon Gazing Island; I heard you have a good relationship with True Person Nalan, so I wonder if you would like to attend?"

"Oh? I didn't expect Fellow Daoist Nalan to have broken through as well; this seat has been idle recently, so I shall go." Qin Ming felt slightly surprised.

It seemed that while the Heavenly Demon Calamity was a disaster for the Human Realm, it also contained certain opportunities.

Presumably, Nalan Xi also gained something while resisting the demonic path, after all, she had been stuck at the mid-Jin Dan stage for over a hundred years.

"What? A feast?" A trace of excitement appeared on Bai Pang the Shi Tian Shu's chubby face.

Spending all these years farming and cultivating on Wangyue Island had nearly stifled him.

Although Qin Ming had rarely participated in such gatherings since reaching the Nascent Soul realm, Nalan Xi was one of the few fellow Daoists he had known in his early years.

He still decided to make an appearance.

Several days later.

Qin Ming brought the Shi Tian Shu to Canghai Xiancheng; nowadays, for them, this distance took only the time it takes to burn a stick of incense to traverse.

Inside Canghai Xiancheng, lanterns and colorful banners were hung everywhere, seemingly celebrating True Person Canghai's breakthrough.

Before Qin Ming had even entered the city, his powerful divine sense detected that Wei Wuya, Gu Qingzhao, Master Huangfu, and others were all present.

On Canghai Peak, everyone was celebrating inside Nalan Xi's cave dwelling, raising cups, drinking freely, and chatting.

Suddenly, outside above the immortal city, a Lingxiao precious carriage emitting five-colored treasure light flew in, extraordinarily magnificent.

Seeing this, the several Jin Dan True Persons present immediately underwent drastic changes in expression.

"How did Senior Qin come?"

Nalan Xi instantly felt overwhelmed with honor.

This was almost exactly the same feeling Qin Ming had experienced back when she first summoned him, their identities now completely reversed.

Before those present could even react, the five-colored light converged, the precious carriage was stored away, and Qin Ming had already arrived before everyone.

"Welcome, Senior True Person Wangyue; this junior failed to welcome you from afar!"

"This junior pays respects to Senior Shi Tian Yao Sheng!"

Everyone hurriedly bowed and greeted him.

With a face beaming like a spring breeze, Qin Ming casually waved his hand and said, "Fellow Daoists need not stand on ceremony; I came this time specifically to congratulate Fellow Daoist Nalan. Qin Mou has not gathered with you all for quite some time."

Nalan Xi, Gu Qingzhao, and the others felt a mix of complex emotions.

Once upon a time, they had all sat at the same table as Qin Ming, sharing wine and joyful conversation as comrades.

Now, the other party had become an existence they needed to look up to, the gap between them growing ever wider.

Ever since Qin Ming fought Qishang Mojun to a draw at Wangyue Lake, he had become an unattainable existence in the hearts of countless cultivators.

After taking their seats, Qin Ming took out a jade box and handed it to Nalan Xi as a congratulatory gift.

"This is Demon Flame Wine; it will enable Fellow Daoist Nalan to break through to the peak of the Jin Dan realm during her next attempt to advance."

Hearing Qin Ming's explanation, Nalan Xi immediately became agitated with excitement and repeatedly expressed her thanks.

The others all revealed looks of extreme envy.

"Fellow Daoist Nalan need not thank me excessively; my master has plenty of fine wine. By the way, Fellow Daoist Nalan, have you prepared the Spirit Taro Braised Chicken, my favorite dish?"

The Shi Tian Shu waved his sleeve, immediately blending in with the crowd, and various fine wines and delicacies were successively served up. At the same time.

Within the Blood Universe Realm, Qishang Mojun, accompanied by Prince Xuan Ce and others from the East Sea Dragon Palace, arrived before a mountain range of flames surging with demonic qi.

"Fellow Daoist Prince Xuan Ce, we have arrived at Longji Mountain of the Gengchi Mojiao clan."

(End of Chapter)