Chapter 228: Requesting Reinforcements

Lu Fang was unwilling to sacrifice fifty years of his lifespan to destroy the Devil Heart; if the Realm Spirit could prevent the Devil Heart from absorbing his cultivation base, it could effectively contain it—at least curb its unchecked growth.

“Yes.”

The Realm Spirit’s voice sounded.

Hearing this, Lu Fang exhaled in relief; if the Realm Spirit couldn’t stop the Devil Heart from absorbing his cultivation base, he’d have no choice but to expend fifty years of his lifespan to destroy it.

After receiving the Realm Spirit’s answer, he immediately exited the Ink Brush Realm.

At this moment, he could clearly feel strange energies entering his body, drilling into his chest and abdomen where the Devil Heart absorbed them.

Fortunately, the ancient alien races sealed within the sealing hall had their power restricted by this small upper realm and the sealing grounds—less than one in ten thousand remained.

Even if the Devil Heart could absorb them, these cultivation bases were extremely limited.

Lu Fang estimated that after this, even if the Devil Heart improved, it wouldn’t gain much; just as he thought this—

Sudden change! Song Ce suddenly opened his eyes. Slightly surprised to see Lu Fang also absorbing the ancient aliens’ cultivation base, he frowned and muttered, “I thought the largest sealing hall would hold more surviving ancient aliens. What bad luck.”

“But why can this guy be here too—and absorb these ancient aliens’ cultivation bases?”

Song Ce furrowed his brow, his expression darkening with each passing thought. After attempting to attack Lu Fang and failing, he decisively abandoned the largest hall and drifted toward the nearest sealing hall in his current state.

The largest sealing hall had contained very few surviving ancient aliens to begin with; under the combined absorption of Song Ce and the Devil Heart, there was little left to gain.

Thus, Song Ce had to seek new cultivation bases elsewhere.

Yet almost the moment Song Ce began fully absorbing the ancient aliens’ cultivation base, the Devil Heart took control of Lu Fang’s body and moved beside Song Ce, once again competing for absorption.

“Do we really have to follow Song Ce to absorb the ancient aliens’ cultivation base? Aren’t there many other sealing halls?”

Lu Fang probed inwardly.

The Devil Heart chuckled, “Following him lets us influence his absorption speed. As he slows, we gain more—our gains will far exceed his.”

“Still, I’m disappointed. I thought this was a true ancient alien sealing ground—feeding on these powerful beings would yield vast cultivation bases. Turns out, very few ancient aliens survive in these halls.”

“With this little, it won’t boost us much. Even absorbing all a hundred halls won’t help.”

The Devil Heart complained.

This situation didn’t last long. After Song Ce and the Devil Heart absorbed over a dozen halls, the remaining sealing halls turned out to be a string of more than a dozen with no surviving ancient aliens.

After the Devil Heart drained the last ancient alien from another sealing hall, Lu Fang glanced around and noticed Song Ce had vanished.

Lu Fang was puzzled, but quickly understood why Song Ce had disappeared: the remaining halls held not a single living ancient alien.

“What bad luck. Even less cultivation base than I imagined—maybe just a bit more than an Yaozun ’s blood essence.”

The Devil Heart complained as it guided Lu Fang’s body toward the exit.

The instant they broke free from the Golden Light seal, Lu Fang regained control of his body. Before he could question the Devil Heart’s actions, his attention was drawn to the bloodstains covering the ground.

“The Yaoman here?”

He muttered, “Devil Heart, are you certain these Yaoman can’t sense the exit?”

The Devil Heart affirmed, “I’m certain. These extra bloodstains are from the Yaoman . When Song Ce realized no ancient aliens remained in the sealing halls, he came here and slaughtered them all.”

“His ability to absorb cultivation base is strange—likely he absorbed or killed every last one of these Yaoman .”

“Next time you meet him, be careful. He gained a lot of cultivation base here—his strength must have risen significantly.”

Lu Fang glanced at the hundred golden halls and hesitated, “If none of the ancient aliens remain here, does that mean we no longer need to worry about any being released?”

He paused, then asked, “I thought this sealing ground, so heavily guarded by the Yaoman , must hold extraordinary ancient aliens. But now it seems… underwhelming.”

“These half-dead ancient aliens—even if released, could they possibly threaten the northern and southern borders of the Zhou Dynasty? I doubt it.”

He couldn’t help complaining.

The Devil Heart smiled bitterly, “This situation is unusual. Didn’t you see the ancient alien named Mist that Song Ce released? When it first awakened, its power was less than one in ten thousand, and the small upper realm restricted its realm to no higher than fourth-rank.”

“What do you think of its strength?”

“It was a being unafraid of dozens of elite fourth-rank Yaoman . If they escaped here and regained their power, wouldn’t they become a threat to the northern and southern borders?”

“This place is unique—it allows secret methods to absorb the cultivation bases of sealed ancient aliens. Otherwise, if all these ancient aliens were released, we’d only have time to flee.”

The Devil Heart spoke seriously.

Lu Fang considered this and found it reasonable. Suddenly, he realized Song Ce might have left for the outside world—his expression darkened with worry. He didn’t care about the Yaoman ’s fate, but Jiang Yuan and the other two were still outside.

Thinking of this, under the Devil Heart’s guidance, he reached the invisible door. When he stepped out, he saw many Yao clans sitting or standing, chatting casually; not far away were Jiang Yuan and the other three—he exhaled in relief.

“Commander Pan, you’ve emerged.”

A horse Yao approached to flatter him.

Lu Fang glanced briefly and frowned, “Where are the Man clans? Did Song Ce take them away?”

The horse Yao nodded, “Commander Song said the sealing ground is too dangerous, so he took the Man clans away to seek reinforcements.”

Lu Fang relaxed—he guessed Song Ce feared slaughtering so many Yaoman here, doubted he could quickly eliminate them, and worried Lu Fang might encounter them upon exiting, so he used the excuse of seeking reinforcements to remove the Man clans.

If he wasn’t mistaken, Song Ce’s ambition likely meant he’d send away part of the Man clans and absorb the cultivation base of the rest.

“Wait here. I’m going to seek reinforcements too.”

Lu Fang turned to Jiang Yuan and the other three nearby and said, “You three come with me.”