Chapter 126: How Do I Feel Like It

In the dense forest, a group of six walked silently through it.

The slanting sun filtered through the leaves, casting orange-red patches of light upon them.

All six wore black hooded robes, each bearing a large blood moon emblem on their backs.

The middle-aged man at the front held a black device in his arms.

A faint red glow shimmered on the device, guiding their path.

"My lord, whose divine blood are we retrieving this time?"

One of them spoke to the middle-aged man at the front.

"The blood of the ancient Dragon God," the lead man replied coolly.

"It's the Dragon God's blood!"

The speaker's expression turned fervent, "Once we obtain this divine blood, the Tianming Sect will gain another powerful Divine Blood Emissary!"

Hearing this, the others around him grew eager.

Once one is detected to have high compatibility with divine blood,

after absorbing it, they can instantly rise to become a Divine Blood Emissary with immense power within the sect!

"Silence! We are the Xueyue Sect!"

The middle-aged man's face turned icy, "If I hear any of you mispronounce our sect's name again, I'll kill you on the spot!"

The Shoudezhu Sect was a man of his word—he killed whoever he said he would.

The remaining five instantly grew solemn and nodded quickly:

"Yes!"

Hum—

At that moment, the faint glow on the middle-aged man's device suddenly surged, turning a deep crimson!

It dyed the dim forest around them with a vivid red hue.

"Has the divine blood emerged prematurely?"

The lead Shoudezhu Sect's expression changed slightly; he had no time to wonder why the divine blood had emerged early.

After a quick glance at the device, he swiftly said:

"The location is not far from here—only about eight hours' travel.

No rest tonight—full speed ahead!"

Under the Shoudezhu Sect's lead, the group moved swiftly through the dense forest, gradually vanishing into the distance.

On the other side,

by the pond, Xu Jingming suppressed the sudden, overwhelming craving deep within his heart through sheer willpower.

"Could this bloodwater be some unknown heavenly treasure?"

Xu Jingming frowned slightly.

Some heavenly treasures, condensed from the essence of heaven and earth, do trigger instinctive bodily reactions in humans.

"What's going on? The pond water turned blood-red?!"

Song Qiuyun also noticed this astonishing sight and hurried forward.

"I just used Purple Thunder Divine Lightning to cleanse the pond water, and suddenly it changed."

Xu Jingming gave a brief explanation, feeling the growing craving within him, and asked unconsciously:

"Qiuyun, can you feel this bloodwater pulling at you?"

"Pulling at me? No, I can't."

Song Qiuyun shook her head, crouched by the pond's edge, and gazed into the water with her beautiful eyes:

"But according to the feedback from my A-rank ability Dawn Light, this bloodwater carries a strong beast aura.

And it's somewhat similar to the peculiar beast aura on your body..."

And it's somewhat similar to the strange ferocious beast aura on your body......

Xu Jingming immediately thought of the SS-rank resource he had absorbed: the eighth-tier lower-rank Lei Ting's blood.

"Could this also be the blood of a dragon-class beast? That's why I'm reacting?"

Xu Jingming lowered his head in thought.

If that's the case, then absorbing this bloodwater should benefit him, not harm him.

Feeling the growing, insistent hunger in his body, Xu Jingming no longer cared:

"Qiuyun, I'm going in. If anything's wrong, pull me out immediately!"

Saying this, he stepped directly into the pond!

Saying this, he stepped directly into the pond's waters!

The instant Xu Jingming stepped into the pond, the entire water seemed to boil!

Streams of crimson bloodwater surged toward him like serpents!

His body, like a traveler parched for ten days and nights in a desert encountering clean water, frantically absorbed the bloodwater!

And Xu Jingming himself felt a powerful sense of comfort.

Soon, without even noticing, his consciousness began to blur...

Around his body, blue-purple lightning flickered.

Endless streams of bloodwater wrapped around him, eventually forming a massive crimson cocoon that fully enveloped Xu Jingming!

All of this happened in the blink of an eye; by the time Song Qiuyun reacted,

only a massive crimson cocoon remained beside the pond.

By the pond's edge, only a single blood-red cocoon remained.

"Jingming?"

Song Qiuyun blinked, and seeing no response from the blood-red cocoon, her delicate brows furrowed slightly.

"It seems Jingming has encountered his own opportunity, and apparently cannot move..."

Looking at the blood still flowing endlessly into the cocoon, Song Qiuyun raised her eyes to the darkening sky.

She gripped her Heaven-Defying Halberd tightly, her beautiful eyes narrowing as she silently guarded before the cocoon.

The night passed quickly.

When the first rays of morning sunlight pierced through the clouds and fell upon the ground.

Before Song Qiuyun at the blood-red cocoon lay over a dozen dead ferocious beasts.

The once blood-red pond water had now, as if filtered, turned a faint red.

"Good, the strongest ferocious beast that appeared last night was only Third-Rank Lower Tier."

Song Qiuyun dared not lower her Heaven-Defying Halberd in her right hand, only extending her left to wipe the fine sweat from her forehead.

Last night, she had maintained her focus at peak alertness the entire time.

In the pitch-black night, she dared not unleash her ability freely.

Otherwise, if she activated her A-Rank ability, Dawnlight,

the sun-like radiance would draw every ferocious beast in the vicinity.

Thus, last night's battle had been somewhat arduous.

Especially that Third-Rank Lower Tier One-Horned Rhinoceros—she had spent over half an hour to defeat it.

"Good thing this isn't the Central Zone; otherwise, I wouldn't have lasted an hour last night."

Song Qiuyun turned to look at the pond water growing ever paler, a smile of relief appearing on her lovely face:

"It seems Jingming's transformation is about to end..."

Zhoop! Zhoop! Zhoop!...

But at that moment, six black figures emerged from the forest.

"Hmm?"

The Shoudezhu Sect leader immediately spotted the blood-red cocoon by the pond, his brow knitting slightly.

This wasn't his first time retrieving Divine Blood—how could Divine Blood appear in such a form?

His gaze swept across, and he spotted Song Qiuyun standing by the pond, her expression wary.

"She's... the second-place student from Mo Da?"

The sect leader recognized Song Qiuyun's identity, and his confusion deepened.

What's going on? Why is a Mo Da freshman here?

"There are no ferocious beasts here, and the water source is contaminated. If you wish to draw water, I suggest you go elsewhere."

Song Qiuyun watched the six men with wary eyes.

As the eldest daughter of the Song Clan, she knew well that in the Wildlands, one must guard against more than just ferocious beasts.

"That is the Supreme Divine Blood! How dare you call it 'contaminated'!"

As if insulted, one of the men instantly became agitated.

"Ignore her. Take the blood cocoon behind her!" the sect leader said sternly.

Their mission's primary objective was the Divine Blood.

As for this Mo Da prodigy, since she's here, we'll deal with her afterward.

"Yes!"

The remaining five bowed respectfully, weapons in hand, closing in on Song Qiuyun.

Damn!

These people came for the strange bloodwater!

Seeing this, Song Qiuyun felt dire trouble—their leader was a Fourth-Rank adept.

The other five, even the weakest, were all Third-Rank Mid-Tier—she couldn't possibly handle them!

"No time to hesitate!"

Song Qiuyun bit her red lip lightly, her slender fingers brushing the pendant around her neck.

Boom!!

The pendant blazed with light, and a powerful energy surge rapidly expanded into a massive energy shield!

Enveloping both Song Qiuyun and the blood cocoon formed by Xu Jingming!

A black-robed man swung his blade at it.

The result: he was violently thrown backward by the recoil, his face filled with shock:

"What is this?"

"An ancient civilization relic's protective talisman?"

The sect leader's eyes glowed with greed.

Such protective talismans were exceedingly rare, producible only in ancient civilization ruins.

They could be reused multiple times.

Each activation summoned a shield capable of withstanding several lethal strikes from high-rank adepts.

A true lifesaving artifact!

"If you know what it is, why aren't you leaving? Wasting time here, Bai Bai?"

Song Qiuyun sneered.

"Heh, as far as I know, protective talismans have a duration limit."

Anyway, we're not in a hurry; waiting a bit longer here doesn't matter.

The bishop's face twisted into a mocking smile, and he sat down right there with the remaining five.

As if prepared to wait until the end.

"Then go ahead and wait slowly!"

Song Qiuyun put on a face of indifference, but inside she was desperately anxious.

The other side was right—this protective talisman could last at most an hour and a half.

Once its duration ended, it needed twelve hours of cooldown before it could be used again.

Additionally, she had another space talisman stone, also from an ancient civilization's ruin.

When activated, it could teleport up to three people a hundred li away.

But Xu Jingming's blood cocoon was too large—her special talisman stone simply couldn't carry him along!

Moreover, given Xu Jingming's current state, she dared not interrupt him rashly.

So Song Qiuyun could only hope Xu Jingming would awaken within this final hour.

Yet things did not unfold as she had imagined.

An hour and a half later, the protective barrier vanished under the sunlight, but Xu Jingming still did not step out of the giant cocoon...

"I told you so—the protective barrier has a duration."

The bishop, wearing a greedy smile, led the five toward Song Qiuyun:

"I advise you to be sensible—hand over the protective talisman first, or I guarantee you'll die a terrible death."

Facing the six advancing figures, Song Qiuyun's expression turned solemn, and she drew from her space ring a Grade Three Blood-Explosion Pill.

Simultaneously, her A-rank ability, Dawnlight, erupted violently from her slender frame, pushed to its limit...

Yet just as Song Qiuyun was about to launch her final desperate battle, a low, powerful voice echoed through the giant cocoon.

It reverberated across the open ground, lingering without fading.

"Is that so? I feel it's you who will die."