Chapter 486: Old Qi Is Still Alive and the Seventh-Rank Spiritual Herb (Requesting Base Monthly Votes)

"My lord, if you have a grudge against these two, I can kill them right away!"

"If you want them to live, they can continue living." In response to Xu Jin's inquiry, the Blood God Zi Hong Dazhe spoke calmly.

Surprise rose in Xu Jin's heart!

Alive!

Master and Master Uncle are still alive.

As long as they live, there is hope.

To conceal his own need, Xu Jin suppressed his shock and asked without expression, "So you captured these two?"

"Correct!"

Hong Dazhe nodded, "My lord, you have already assimilated the heavenly authority of this realm and understand its power.

The moment these two entered, I detected them immediately.

I sent several sixth-rank cultivators, only to find they were slain, and even a seventh-rank early-stage alien was obliterated by them.

I originally intended to kill them outright.

But I discovered both had forged Nascent Souls—elite material anywhere.

If I could recruit them, it would be a major achievement for me.

So I personally intervened, defeated them, and persuaded them to surrender.

When they saw I was also a human of this world, they surrendered."

Xu Jin's heart rose and fell with Hong Dazhe's words.

Hearing his two masters had surrendered, the tension in his chest finally eased.

As for surrender, Xu Jin could fully understand.

In this world, they were themselves remnants of the Spirit Era Star Temple, hunted across the entire realm.

Surrendering to the Blood God Sect, whether as a temporary tactic or for survival, was entirely understandable.

"Then where are they?"

Yet Xu Jin began to doubt internally.

Could Hong Dazhe be lying to him?

If his master and master uncle had surrendered, they should be within the current Danhai Star Region.

But Xu Jin already controlled sixty percent of the heavenly authority of Danhai Star Region—if they were here, he would have sensed them long ago.

He wouldn't need to ask this Blood God Zi—he could have rescued them himself.

"I'm not certain, but they're most likely in Blood Cloud City or Blood Moon City," said Hong Dazhe.

Xu Jin was stunned.

Blood Cloud City and Blood Moon City?

Where were those?

"My lord, you may not know—Blood Cloud City and Blood Moon City are two major cities built by our Blood God Sect on the Eight Wilderness Continent after merging star regions," Hong Dazhe explained.

Another "Eight Wilderness Continent"—left Xu Jin utterly confused.

After further questioning and explanation, Xu Jin finally understood completely.

Xu Jin had previously blocked several star regions from merging their altar pathways into the ancestral caverns of the alien races.

These altar pathways were all established by special envoys dispatched by the Eight Wilderness aliens.

But many envoys succeeded.

They merged their star regions with the ancestral caverns, forming a vast continent resembling the Star River Battlefield.

The aliens named this continent the Eight Wilderness Continent.

The Blood God Sect directly brought two sixth-rank star regions into the aliens' ancestral caverns, and was specially ordered by the Eight Wilderness Wang Ju Zhang to establish Blood Cloud City and Blood Moon City as exclusive Blood God Sect strongholds.

Currently, the Blood God Sect is rapidly expanding within the Eight Wilderness Continent.

The whereabouts of Master Qi and Master Uncle Mo Ji are tied to these two Blood God Sect cities on the Eight Wilderness Continent.

The Blood God Sect has been accumulating strength.

Especially the strength of the current-world humans.

This is evident from the Luomei Star Region, the Blood God Sect's talent cultivation base.

The reason is simple.

The Blood God Sect's primary focus is currently on the various star regions.

Foot soldiers and elite combatants can be obtained by controlling alien elites, but the Blood God Sect's true high-ranking officials and administrators are always current-world humans.

The Blood God Sect understands this perfectly.

Thus, it has continuously extracted elite current-world human forces from the various star regions.

Those willing to surrender, after releasing their soul cores and allowing the Blood God Sect to imprint soul seals controlling their lives and deaths, are absorbed into the sect's system—and often promoted.

This is one of the key criteria for evaluating the Blood God Zi's missions and achievements.

It's about delivering elite talent and combat power to the central headquarters.

After establishing Blood Cloud City and Blood Moon City on the Eight Wilderness Continent, this demand skyrocketed.

Originally, Hong Dazhe had planned to cultivate Qi Qi Shanye and Mo Ji into his personal loyalists.

The Blood God Sect's elites all came from leftovers of various current-world factions, and cultivated rapid-advancement techniques.

Thus, most were weak in combat power.

Despite having many seventh-rank late-stage bodyguards and Blood Robe Golden Warriors around him, they still paled compared to seventh-rank early-stage elites from major factions.

Qi Qi Shanye and Mo Ji possessed exceptional combat strength—they could kill enemies one major realm higher.

Hong Dazhe wanted to mold them into his ironclad core faction.

After their surrender, he invested heavily in them.

Their cultivation bases quickly rose to sixth-rank and grew rapidly.

But after Blood Cloud City and Blood Moon City were built, the central headquarters' demand for current-world elites reached an extreme.

Sending one sixth-rank alien earned one achievement point; sending one sixth-rank current-world human earned one hundred achievement points.

Those who had forged Nascent Souls doubled the achievement points again.

To accumulate enough achievement points for resources to break through to eighth-rank, Hong Dazhe sent over a dozen captured sixth-rank current-world humans.

His plan was: once he accumulated sufficient achievement points and obtained eighth-rank breakthrough resources from headquarters, he would cooperate with them to merge the sixth-rank Danhai Star Region into the aliens' Eight Wilderness Continent.

At that time, with eighth-rank status, he could become a city lord.

Power unchanged, cultivation would surge, and his lifespan would extend.

That was his plan.

After receiving the answer, Xu Jin frowned deeply, sinking into thought.

He had found his master and master uncle's whereabouts.

The good news: they were still alive.

The bad news: they were trapped on the Eight Wilderness Continent, their soul cores branded with soul seals controlling their lives and deaths.

That was the real problem.

To rescue his master and master uncle, he first had to remove the soul seals in their soul cores.

Otherwise, rescuing them would be pointless.

"So, how did you send these two to the aliens' Eight Wilderness Continent? And—the soul seal, was it you who imprinted it?" Xu Jin asked.

Actually, Xu Jin's key question was the second one.

If Hong Dazhe answered yes, it would be perfect.

Then the soul control over his two masters would be easy to break.

A soul seal can only be imprinted once.

That is, if Hong Dazhe had imprinted the seal, killing him would cause the soul seal within his master and master uncle's Nascent Souls to vanish naturally.

Xu Jin could then infiltrate the Eight Wilderness Continent and extract his master and master uncle—problem solved perfectly.

Xu Jin had already envisioned many possibilities.

If he rescued his two masters, each could oversee one sixth-rank star region for him—gathering resources and cultivating strength.

In this world, having some power on your side was always beneficial.

"My lord, my star region cannot directly communicate with Blood Cloud City or Blood Moon City. Headquarters only requires me to deliver the people to the Star River Battlefield—the rest is handled by headquarters."

"Headquarters possesses extraordinary abilities—they will transport these aliens and humans from the Star River Battlefield to the Eight Wilderness Continent," Hong Dazhe said.

Xu Jin froze.

"You mean, you send the humans—and even aliens—from this star region through the Star Gate on the Star River Battlefield, and then someone on the other side transports these aliens and humans to the Eight Wilderness Continent?" Xu Jin asked.

"My lord is astute—exactly so."

Hong Dazhe was praising Xu Jin.

But Xu Jin felt a chill run down his spine.

He felt his worldview had been rewritten again.

It was possible for current-world humans to escape the Star River Battlefield and flee to the Eight Wilderness Continent—but for alien star-region beings to safely transit through the Star River Battlefield and be delivered to the Eight Wilderness Continent? That was absurd.

Yet Xu Jin knew clearly: Hong Dazhe had no reason to lie about this!

There were traitors in the Star River Battlefield.

And they held high positions.

"What about the soul seal?" Xu Jin pressed.

"My lord, this is how it works: before sending them to Blood Moon City and Blood Cloud City, the soul marks on their yuan spirits are all mine—I control their life and death.

But once they safely arrive at Blood Cloud City and Blood Moon City, I will, as the Guardian demands, deliberately dissolve their soul marks and lift my control.

Then, the Elders and Guardians at headquarters will take over, imprinting new soul marks to control their life and death.

It makes them easier to manage," said Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze.

Hearing this, Xu Jin wanted to curse Hong Hong Daze's ancestors.

This complicated things.

If Xu Jin wanted to rescue his Master and his Senior Uncle, he not only had to go to Blood Moon City and Blood Cloud City, but also had to make some noise.

"Then what did you mean just now by being able to let them live or die?" Xu Jin frowned.

Hearing this, Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze smiled obsequiously. "My lord, I thought you held a grudge against them, so I said it that way.

Letting them live means leaving them alone—they'll live fine on their own.

To make them die? That's simple. I just fabricate a false report and submit it, and they're dead.

The Guardians and Elders trust Blood God Sons immensely."

Xu Jin nodded upon hearing this.

But Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze had no idea he had just walked through the gates of death.

"Do you know exactly which city these two are in? And who controls their soul marks?" Xu Jin asked.

Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze's eyes darted. "My lord, you want to rescue them?"

Xu Jin nodded.

This could no longer be hidden.

"My lord, as for their exact location and current condition, give me some time—I can find out for you.

After all, they were my former subordinates; showing concern is perfectly fine.

But who controls their soul marks—that I cannot inquire about.

In our Blood God Sect, that's a taboo.

One person cannot control too many soul marks.

So control is usually layered and cross-referenced.

Given their cultivation base, it's likely an Elder under the Left or Right Guardian, or even a member of the Blood Shadow Guard controls them.

But for elites with great potential, formidable combat strength, or who are highly favored, even Elders or the Left and Right Guardians might control them directly.

Hard to say," said Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze with surprising sincerity.

Xu Jin understood this.

"Then in the next couple of days, find out everything you can about these two—be as detailed as possible," Xu Jin said.

"My lord, rest assured."

"If you help me with this, I'll naturally give you a path to life! This star domain will remain under your control.

But in these two days, gather all the Star Jade Tablets, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-grade spiritual herbs, and all rare treasures from the domain's storage for me. I've come all this way—you won't let me leave empty-handed, will you?" Xu Jin smiled.

"Of course, of course!"

Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze readily agreed.

In truth, there wasn't much.

The Danhai Star Domain transported its supplies every half year.

Just a few months' worth of inventory.

"Good. I look forward to it."

Xu Jin smiled, then suddenly said, "Now, bring out everything in your Numinous Space—I want to see if anything suits me."

After speaking, Xu Jin fixed Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze with a half-smiling, piercing gaze.

Instantly, cold sweat broke out on Hong Hong Daze's forehead.

"Yes, right away."

Whoosh!

A pile of supplies instantly appeared before Xu Jin, stacked into a small mountain.

Xu Jin glanced once and said coolly, "Let me put it this way: I once locked onto the aura of a Blood God Son and directly killed his cultivation base down to third grade until he fully submitted.

He's still rebuilding his base now.

In a sixth-grade star domain, I recall—even eighth-grade spiritual herbs occasionally appear, don't they?"

Xu Jin's gaze blazed; his vast yuan spirit power instantly enveloped Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze.

The latter's lips twitched unnaturally. "My lord, of course there are—I just took out the first batch. There's more, more."

In the next instant, as starlight rippled slightly, another small pile of supplies appeared before Xu Jin.

The moment it appeared, Xu Jin shot Hong Hong Daze a sharp glance.

Hong Hong Daze looked ready to cry. "My lord, truly only one!

I won't lie—I've only obtained two seventh-grade spiritual herbs in forty years.

The first one I already used.

This second one, I saved for after I break through to eighth grade, to boost my cultivation.

Truly, only this one!

In a sixth-grade star domain, seventh-grade spiritual herbs are extremely, extremely rare."

Xu Jin finally withdrew his gaze and gave a slight nod.

But inside, he was overjoyed.

In truth, he had just bluffed.

Seventh-grade spiritual herbs were exceedingly rare in sixth-grade star domains.

He hadn't expected Hong Hong Daze to actually produce one.

And this seventh-grade herb was the famed Seven-Star Gathering Spirit Ginseng.

This herb was rare for possessing no elemental star force.

Meaning, this herb could directly enhance star force.

Theoretically, a seventh-grade herb could raise a regular seventh-grade cultivator's cultivation by one full tier.

Xu Jin was sixth-grade, but not an ordinary sixth-grade.

Still, boosting half a tier or even a full tier should be no problem.

An excellent treasure—absolutely excellent!

"I know about the herb, but there's another treasure you haven't brought out yet, isn't there?" Xu Jin suddenly asked.

"My lord, I've truly brought out everything," Hong Hong Daze said with a mournful face.

To save his life, he had truly surrendered all his decades of savings.

"No! You're a Blood God Son, yet you haven't produced a single Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Pill—isn't that suspicious?" Xu Jin asked.

Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze was stunned. "My lord, you dare use them?"

"Why not?"

Under Xu Jin's gaze, Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze, visibly pained, pulled out one seventh-grade Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Pill and five sixth-grade Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Pills.

These were his private stock.

At this moment, he had emptied them all!

"Good!"

This time, Xu Jin finally nodded in satisfaction, and Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze exhaled in relief.

"How many days will it take to confirm the exact details?" Xu Jin asked.

"To avoid mishaps, my lord, please give me three or four days. After all, I'm merely showing concern for my subordinates—I can't press too hard," said Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze.

"And how long will it take to gather all the wealth your domain has accumulated?" Xu Jin asked.

"My lord, that will also take three or four days."

"Good. I'll return in four days. No problem?"

"Absolutely no problem!

Besides, the Mandate of Heaven and Earth is in your hands—you're like a god, able to observe everything here," said Blood God Son Hong Hong Daze.

"You understand well."

In the next instant, Xu Jin swept up all his gains and stepped through the stars, vanishing.

(End of Chapter)