“Just what is happening here? Did the cultivators from Heavenly Sword Faction come out to execute a sneak attack?”

“That doesn’t seem right. This is not the way Heavenly Sword Faction operates. It looks like some yao beast have sucked away all the blood essence from their bodies.”

“So many people were killed without making a sound. We will definitely be incapable of handling this. Hurry up and notify the Sky Human stage seniors.”

Seeing what happened, the Concealed stage cultivators were all dumbfounded. After their panic had subsided, they knew that this was not something that they could handle.

“Eh, something is going on in the barracks?” The commander who was sent out to search around finally noticed something amiss. Leading his men, he quickly flew over.

Seeing the Sky Human stage seniors descend from the sky, the Concealed stage cultivators immediately breathed a sigh of relief. They stepped forward to quickly report what happened. Truth be told, there was no need for them to report. The commander could already see what happened.

The blood essence inside their bodies were all devoured, but there isn’t a single wound on their bodies. This should not be due to yao beasts. It looks like their blood essence were sucked out from their pores. In other words, someone is secretly practicing demonic arts, one that requires devouring the blood essence of living beings. However, the other party is only targeting Concealed stage cultivators. Looks like the other party’s strength is not particularly strong. There is nothing to be concerned about. All we need to do is to find this fellow and kill him or her

, the commander considered the matter. He was not feeling too worried.

Chen Feng was able to clearly witness the arrival of the Sky Human stage cultivators. The power of the Magic Eyes of Darkness, plus the power of the Blood Mustering Bead, allowed him to see what was happening thousands of li away as though it was right before his eyes.

The commander is a level 6 Sky Human stage cultivator while his subordinates are all at level 1 and 2 of the Sky Human stage. They will be easy to handle. However, I wonder how much power the Blood Mustering Bead can exert

. After considering that, Chen Feng mobilized the Blood Mustering Bead again to envelop the Sky Human stage cultivators.

“Oh, no!”

The commander felt a wriggling sensation of pain coming from the blood streams within his body. It felt as though his blood streams were desirous of spraying out from his body. When he opened his mouth, a stream of blood sprayed out to disappear into the air. At the same time, his head swelled and blood began flowing out from the seven orifices on his head.

He possessed the highest cultivation base amongst all present. The instant he sensed something amiss, he had sealed up his pores. Unexpectedly, the power enveloping him was so devilish. It could actually stir up his blood to make them flow out from his seven orifices.

The commander was able to hold on for a moment. However, the cultivators behind him were incapable of doing so. One by one, they all became bloody figures as blood surged out from every single pore on their bodies. They were left devoid of even the energy to cry out. Seeing that, the Concealed stage cultivators were immediately terrified. Gaping, they backed away silently. Some of the more cowardly cultivators trembled all over, seemingly on the verge of fainting.

“Evildoer!” Like a thunder clap, a loud roar reverberated towards them, shocking all the cultivators there to the point of falling to the ground.

Liu Yuan descended from the sky, the staff in his hand smashing heavily against the ground like a mountain. He then stretched his hand out to place it upon the commander’s head. The commander’s body shook as a formidable power enveloped him. Next, his churning blood streams slowly stabilized. However, the level 1 and 2 Sky Human stage cultivators were not as lucky. All of them had been reduced to human skins, scattering all over the place.

Liu Yuan’s roar had shocked Chen Feng’s divine sense. He knew then that this was his limit. If it were not for the Blood Mustering Bead, protecting his divine sense, the roar would have seriously damaged him. Thus, he retracted his divine sense. Like a receding tide, it retracted all the way back to Azuresieve City.

He had mobilized the Blood Mustering Bead to collect blood and killing energies. Although the amount collected was far from sufficient for the Blood Mustering Bead, this was already enough for Chen Feng. Next up, Chen Feng began honing his divine sense and temper his Soulflame. While his actions of collecting the blood and killing energies appeared to be for the benefit of the Blood Mustering Bead, Chen Feng had also obtained some benefits from it. Only, this had also caused some brutal blood and killing auras to mix in with his sea of wisdom. He had to refine them, otherwise those elements could easily end up giving birth to inner demons in the future. Additionally, this action of devouring other cultivators’ blood essence was in itself a defiance of Heaven. He had to take his time to stabilize his cultivation base, otherwise he could end up facing a great deal of troubles when undergoing his Lightning Tribulation.

Moving away from Chen Feng, who had retracted his divine sense, Heartless Heaven Sect’s side was in a state of chaos. Although Liu Yuan managed to save the commander’s life, the commander had still lost quite a bit of his blood essence. His vitality had been greatly damaged. Even if he were to take medicinal pills, it would take him some time to recover.

Next, the wielders of the Sacred-tier sword, demonic blade, circular ding and bronze bell arrived. All of them were half-step Human Immortals. Rather, those weapon wielders were not the only half-step Human Immortals. Several other half-step Human Immortals came as well. They were all the powerhouses in this siege of Azuresieve City. All of them regarded the human skins left on the ground, mystified looks on their faces.

“Without a doubt, this is a demonic cultivator. However, where did this fellow come from?”

“Could this be the reinforcements Heavenly Sword Faction invited?”

“Let’s not go into whether or not this person is the reinforcements for Azuresieve City. This fellow has brutally killed off our sect’s disciples. If we do not capture and punish this person, it will be a stain upon our reputation! This will be a blow to army morale! We must kill this fellow to boost our army’s morale,” Liu Yuan said grimly.

“This person is like a ghost, leaving not even a trace behind. Capturing this person is easier said than done,” the half-step Human Immortal with the circular ding said, doubt in his voice.

“I have already caught this person’s aura. Once I utilize a secret technique, I will be able to find this person. However, this person is utilizing a high-grade magic treasure. My strength alone will likely be insufficient. I will need you all to help me,” Liu Yuan said.

“We’ll have to do it, then. However, I wonder what kind of magic treasure this person is using?” 

“We’ll know once we find this fellow.”

Liu Yuan and the others did not waste any time and they immediately took action. The secret technique that Liu Yuan used was known as Ten Thousand Li Pursuit. He quickly set up a magic array, placing some spirit stones on the ground. Next, he moved to the centre of the magic array and began initiating the technique.

A strand of aura that Liu Yuan caught earlier swirled around the magic array. It was Chen Feng’s aura. Before Chen Feng retracted his divine sense earlier, Liu Yuan had caught this strand of his aura. It was something that was generally invisible and imperceptible. Only those with great magic powers would be able to do this.

“Hurry up and do it!”

Liu Yuan shouted and the six half-step Human Immortals there stepped forward, standing around the magic array. Following Liu Yuan’s instructions, they channelled their soul power into it.

Sou!

The fleeting strand of aura seemingly found a way to go and it quickly flew away. Liu Yuan’s divine sense, however, was close behind it. In just a flash, they had arrived upon the sky above Azuresieve City.

As expected, this person is within Azuresieve City. Let me see who this person is.

 Borrowing the powers of the other half-step Human Immortals, Liu Yuan was able to easily make his way through the barriers defending Azuresieve City, arriving at the small courtyard that Chen Feng was residing in.

Chen Feng had only just kept the Blood Mustering Bead into his body when the Blood Mustering Bead suddenly flew out to hover above him. Wave after wave of bloody light shone into his surroundings.

“Argh!”

All Liu Yuan managed to see was a young cultivator sitting inside a small courtyard. Just as he was about to take a closer look, everything before him changed, turning into an expanse of red. Next, he saw a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Various horrifying images bombarded his divine sense, causing him to become enraptured for a brief moment. Liu Yuan could feel his divine sense dissipating rapidly.

Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu!

Liu Yuan, who was inside the magic array, kept puking out blood. Even the six half-step Human Immortals who were standing around the magic array had fallen to the ground, their faces contorted as they bled from their seven orifices.

“This is bad!”

Knowing that they were in dire straits, Liu Yuan and the others gritted their teeth to channel all their power into one singular force. After paying a considerable price, they were finally able to retract their divine senses out from Azuresieve City.

The magic array exploded and the seven of them sat on the ground, unmoving, their faces pale. The others from Heartless Heaven Sect acted as though they were facing a great enemy and they all stood on guard, waiting anxiously for Liu Yuan and the others to wake up.

After a long time had passed, Liu Yuan was the first to open his eyes. Shakily, he stood up, his figure wobbling slightly. Next, the others sighed as they opened their eyes as well.

“How could this have happened? Liu Yuan, what did you see?”

“This is a problem.” Liu Yuan sighed. Even now, piercing sensations of pain would rack Liu Yuan’s head and his ears buzzed. Stars were practically exploding within his eyes. He knew that this was due to the severe damage suffered by his divine sense.

“He is in Azuresieve City. I did not manage to see his appearance. However, I found out that he has a Dao artefact.”

“What, a Dao artefact?!” Every one of them cried out in shock. If Azuresieve City possessed a Dao artefact, how were they expected to win this battle? One Dao artefact was enough to easily obliterate them all.

“Don’t worry. That should be a broken Dao artefact. Additionally, this fellow is simply incapable of unleashing its full power. What I am worried right now is the injuries we have taken. We will be in no position to attack Azuresieve City tomorrow. If we miss out on the best timing and the reinforcements from Heavenly Sword Faction arrives, our plan will go up in smoke,” Liu Yuan said.

“Given our current situation, there is nothing else we can do but to ask our sect for help. Hopefully, the reinforcements from Heavenly Sword Faction will not be arriving before we recover.”

“Sigh! Our divine senses are wounded here. Recovering from something like this is not easy. Additionally, our opponent has a Dao artefact. That’s a Dao artefact we’re talking about. It contains the dao laws. Even if he cannot unleash all of its powers, that is still something that we cannot fight against.”

“No matter what happens, we must take Azuresieve City. Resume the attack tomorrow. However, we will have to sit out on the battle.”

“Humph! We won’t be able to participate in the battle even if we want to.”

…

“The other party should be feeling quite crappy right now.” Chen Feng held the Blood Mustering Bead in his hand. It was spinning ceaselessly. Earlier, the Blood Mustering Bead had unleashed its prowess on its own and Chen Feng made use of the opportunity to master one of the offensive arrays on the Blood Mustering Bead. If was one that had only just recovered.

“Tower, looks like this demonic artefact’s offensive power is quite good. It is capable of devouring blood essence from far away. This is quite the formidable tool for killing,” Chen Feng said smilingly.

“Naturally. However, you can only use it against some small fries. Given your present level, using it against a more powerful opponent could easily cause a backlash. Just take the probing half-step Human Immortal from earlier as an example. If it weren’t for the Blood Mustering Bead automatically taking action earlier, you would have been incapable of doing anything against him,” Tower said with a snicker.

“Regardless, this is a Dao artefact. All things aside, the fact that it could absorb blood and killing energies to nourish the Bloody Nethertree is already great harvest,” said Chen Feng, who kept the Blood Mustering Bead and began cultivating himself. 

Nothing else happened that night. The next morning, Heartless Heaven Sect continued attacking the city. Originally, Tie Jian and the others had assumed that they would be incapable of defending the city. They had already made preparations for the fall of the city. Unexpectedly, the attack from Heartless Heaven Sect was much weaker than the ones they’d had to face in the past.

1 li = 0.5 km