Chapter 173: Blood Curse Rations

"Not good, they have unleashed a spatial compression divine ability."

After the six men, including the yin-soft male, stepped onto that white tail, in the blink of an eye, they instantly teleported from above the military formation to a massive platform in the distance, quickly vanishing from the sight of Bai Li Changfeng and his companions.

As for the male cultivator who had condensed the white tail, because there was a prohibition against flight above the military formation and he failed to dodge the attacks of the soldier puppets, he was pierced by the spears in their hands, causing his body to explode and turn into blood foam.

Hua Changxi saw clearly; aside from the prohibition above the military formation, that male cultivator had likely forced the use of his divine ability, causing his physical body to be unable to withstand it; even without the attack from the soldier puppets, his body was already cracking.

Demon clan attendants... it seems they are all individuals who have obtained bloodline regression divine abilities.

Hua Changxi thought of Xu Ling, thought of A-Niu, thought of the lotus totem of the Hua family, and also of those laborers with bloodline totems she had previously revealed using the Totem Golden Bowl; these people were nothing special, merely those she had encountered, yet seeing this now, there were quite a few people possessing bloodline regression.

If the demon clan mastered methods to stimulate human bloodline regression, wouldn't they be able to recruit many human attendants?

It must be known that Qihuang Hall No. 7 already possesses medicinal bath formulas capable of stimulating human bloodline regression.

"People from the demon clan have entered the center of the formation eye; we must hurry over to stop them and cannot allow them to destroy the formation eye."

Bai Li Chengfeng was extremely anxious and quickened his pace through the formation; because his speed was too fast, mistakes occurred several times, and if not for Hua Changxi intervening in time, the master and disciples would have nearly been trapped within the shifting soldier puppet formation.

Outside the military formation, Liu Chengxiong, the Marquis's heir, and their companions also saw the six men, including the yin-soft male, ascend the high platform.

Liu Chengxiong's expression changed little; he did not seem particularly worried about those six destroying the formation eye.

He was not anxious, but the Marquis's heir was very anxious.

Although chaos made it easier to seize resources and rise to power, this did not mean that greater chaos was better.

Jinfan had said that the demon clan intended to contend with the human race for dominance over the mortal world; in ancient times, the human race paid a heavy price to force the demon clan back to the Nine Netherworlds and even established the Demon Prison specifically to imprison those most vicious and evil demons.

Nowadays, with spiritual qi recovering in both the Nine Netherworlds and the mortal world, if the demon clan gained the upper hand, it could very well lead to their return to the mortal realm.

Although the Marquis's heir wished to strengthen the power of the Xinguo Duke's Prefecture, he also knew that while internal struggles for power among humans mattered little, the demon clan absolutely could not be allowed to lord over the human race.

The demon qi within the Demon Prison was entirely formed from the sitting-in-meditation deaths of ancient great demons, possessing incredibly powerful corrosive force; once this demon qi leaked out and polluted the mortal world, humans would easily undergo demonification.

During this period, the Marquis's heir had made multiple trips to Qianmen Fortress, first to learn more about the situation there in preparation for the Xinguo Duke's Prefecture taking over Qianmen Fortress in the future, and second to urge Liu Chengxiong to defend Qianmen Fortress well and prevent anyone from destroying the formation eye.

Jinfan possessed the ability of precognition, capable of foreseeing certain future events.

Several months ago, Jinfan had notified the family, informing them that Qianmen Fortress might encounter trouble, leading to instability in the formation eye and a leakage of demon qi.

During this time, approaching Liu Chengxiong under the guise of cooperation, nothing had happened during his several visits; he had originally thought Jinfan's prediction was wrong this time, never expecting to actually encounter people from the demon clan sneaking in to sabotage the formation eye.

Looking at Liu Chengxiong, who showed no sign of urgency whatsoever, the Marquis's heir felt deep contempt in his heart.

He could understand that Liu Chengxiong, with his primordial spirit nearing dissolution, was secretly seeking a suitable physical body, but the duty of the Demon-Suppressing Guards was to guard the safety of the formation eye; failing to even care about this truly made him unworthy of being the supreme commander of Qianmen Fortress.

"General Liu, with people from the demon clan having infiltrated the center of the formation eye, is it really unnecessary to intervene?"

Liu Chengxiong glanced sideways at the Marquis's heir: "How does the Marquis's heir wish to intervene? By entering the center of the formation eye to block those few demons? If that is what the heir thinks, this General can permit you to lead people into the formation eye to stop them; how about that?"

Hearing this, the Marquis's heir fell silent.

Seeing this, Liu Chengxiong snorted inwardly; he most detested those who only knew how to run their mouths without taking any practical action, yet presumptuously tried to use ethics and morality to urge others to charge into battle.

If not for worrying that he might not catch that invisible Nascent Soul cultivator and might still need the Xinguo Duke's Prefecture in the future, just based on the Marquis's heir knowing about today's events, he should have eliminated him.

On the other side, Hua Changxi followed behind the master and two disciples of Bai Li Changfeng, struggling to make her way through the military formation; they had been inside the formation for some time, yet the massive platform resembling a volcanic pile ahead, though appearing not far away, was in reality like seeing a mountain from afar only to exhaust one's horse trying to reach it.

Moreover, the deeper they went into the military formation, the more turbid the air became, carrying with it a gas that made one feel extremely uncomfortable.

Looking at the massive platform, the formation eye of the Demon Prison, Hua Changxi guessed that the excess in the air was likely demon qi.

"Master, Xiaoxue is finding it hard to breathe."

Looking at Xiaoxue, whose face was flushed red, Bai Li Changfeng quickly produced four spiritual talismans: "These are Demon-Repelling Covers, capable of isolating the demon qi in the air."

The master and two disciples used three of them, and holding up the remaining one, Bai Li Changfeng raised his hand: "Fellow Daoist, the demon qi in the air is becoming increasingly dense; although your strength is formidable, it would still be good to conserve some spiritual energy."

Hua Changxi used her spiritual energy to receive the talisman: "Thank you."

The crisp, young female voice caused the master and two disciples to all pause in surprise.

All three had assumed the hidden Nascent Soul realm cultivator was an older male cultivator, never expecting it to be a woman, and one with such a young voice at that.

After the four of them applied the talismans, their advance became much easier.

"Ah~"

A scream of agony suddenly came from behind.

Hua Changxi turned to look and discovered it was Eunuch Lin and his companions.

At this moment, two eunuchs from the Eastern Depot were rampaging wildly through the military formation as if mad; on the faces of the two, one was covered entirely in black snake scales, while the other was covered in golden downy fur.

"Master, what has happened to them?"

Bai Li Changfeng sighed: "They inhaled too much demon qi and have undergone demonification."

This answer shocked Hua Changxi, compelling her to speak out: "Inhaling too much demon qi causes demonification?"

Bai Li Changfeng had not expected Hua Changxi to speak; since he had intended to befriend this person anyway, he explained: "Those two likely showed signs of bloodline regression; after being eroded by demon qi, their speed of demonification accelerated."

Hua Changxi frowned deeply upon hearing this: "Then does this mean that bloodline regression is not necessarily a good thing?"

Hearing this, Bai Li Chengfeng sneered: "Does Fellow Daoist think that is why the human race obtained divine abilities from the demon clan? Would the demon clan be so kind as to bestow their divine abilities upon humans, allowing the human race to develop and grow stronger?"

"Before ancient times, great demons within the demon clan roamed everywhere, claiming territories as kings, while the human race was merely livestock raised by them; the so-called bestowed divine abilities were nothing more than blood curses imposed by the demon clan upon humans, merely to let other demons know that these humans were its rations and should not be touched."

"It was only later that outstanding individuals among the human race comprehended the offensive power within the blood curses, which then evolved into what we today call bloodline divine abilities."

"For instance, members of a family might all possess a certain type of bloodline regression, yet only those outstanding individuals capable of comprehending the corresponding blood curse can actually unleash the divine ability."

Hearing these words, Hua Changxi thought of herself and thought of the Hua family.

The Fire Lotus divine ability she obtained was because she had consumed the Flowing Light Red Lotus; although members of the Hua family had all revealed lotus totems, not a single person capable of unleashing the corresponding lotus divine ability had been discovered so far.

So this is how bloodline divine abilities originated!