[The eggs are being nourished by the blood of a cultivator!]

Van drew closer and saw the figure was a young man with red hair. His eyes were shut, and his lips were blue.

Delphine cried out, "That's one of Cyrus's teammates from the Star-Cutting Sword Sect. They must have run into trouble!"

Van gripped his axe tightly, "I can sense faint demonic taint on these Luminous Ice Worm eggs. We should eliminate them all immediately."

Van knelt beside the figure that was half-submerged into the ground. There was no pulse.

"He is dead," Van p.r.o.nounced to his teammates. He held out his palm.

Red, flickering flames filled the ma.s.sive chamber. The fire devoured everything until only black char remained.

[Van. It seems that the rock behind these ice walls have a strong suppression effect on spiritual energy… if I am not mistaken, the Luminous Ice Worms lay their eggs in such a rock in order to protect their eggs from being detected by predators…this would be a good s.p.a.ce to rest and cultivate in before moving on.]

Jet's voice reminded Van.

Van stopped and turned to his group, "We will rest in this chamber for the night and consolidate our cultivations."

Five pale faces stared back at him. Delphine was first to shake her head, "We just found a corpse being drained of blood here! No way! I won't stay here for longer than I have too…"

[There will be smaller chambers around this one,] Jet supplied.

Sure enough, several smaller chambers surrounded the main one. These ones only contained the old, cracked sh.e.l.ls of eggs that had long hatched. The red veins that ran along the ground were absent.

Van chose a medium sized chamber for himself and Blackie and blocked the entrance with a big boulder.

"Knock if you need anything for me," he told the rest before shutting himself in.

Blackie licked excitedly at Van's face.

Van laughed but pushed the wolf away, "Be serious now. After you consume the Ancient Beast Bloodline, your life will never be the same!"

The large wolf wagged his tail.

Van nearly pulled out the vial of blood but then decided to be cautious.

[If Blackie's level exceeds mine by too much, I worry that his loyalty will stray… I cannot say that the addition of the Ancient Beast Bloodline will not affect his mood and temperament…]

Van decided to increase his own cultivation first.

Crunch.

Crunch.

For the next two hours, all that could be heard was the sound of someone chewing and swallowing.

Van's stomach complained but he continued to consume the giant core from the Luminous Ice Worm. Hot energy spilled into his stomach and gushed towards his spiritual river.

Kcha.

A balmy wind lifted Van's hair and tousled his robes. When Van opened his eyes, a misty veil seemed to hang over them. His eyes twinkled; as if hiding the mysteries of the world.

Van grinned.

[Finally. The 5th level of Qi Cultivation!]

However, Van continued to ride the momentum. Countless monster cores descended into his gullet. The spiritual energy flowing into him was so potent that the air within the chamber itself grew thick with power.

Three hours later, Van ran out of monster cores.

"I should be halfway to the 6th level of Qi Distillation," Van said to himself.

Blackie, who had been sitting patiently in a corner of the chamber came up towards Van and nuzzled his hand.

The young man patted his pet absent-mindedly on the snout.

"You know what, Blackie? Life is too short for doubt. I trust you."

A small vial, about the size of thumb, contained a droplet of dark blood within it. It could not be larger than a baby's tooth.

As soon as Van uncapped it, a forbidding and heavy aura spilled out from the vial.

Jet peered at it through Van's eyes.

[So that's who the blood belonged to. Not bad. Not bad at all.]

"So, it is safe for Blackie to consume?" Van asked.

[Yes.]

[But do tell him he will be in excruciating amounts of pain.]

Van felt pity for the big wolf. He gently grabbed Blackie around the ruff and gave him a soothing chin scratch.

"Do not be afraid. The pain will go away quickly," Van said unconvincingly.

The large grey wolf barked.

Van walked forwards and tipped the contents of the vial into the giant wolf's mouth.

A dark red droplet rolled out of the gla.s.s and fell onto the wolf's tongue.

Van saw Blackie shudder. The young man and his wolf locked eyes. The wolf began to tremble slightly. As time pa.s.sed on, the shudders became more violent.

Van clenched his fists. Blackie did not make a single sound, but his eyes showed that he was in immense pain.

At that moment, the giant wolf's grey fur began to change. It darkened and turned into a pitch-black colour similar to that of a starless night.

The white patch on the wolf's chest became blood red. Blackie's incisors glinted sharply in the faint light from the luminescent walls. They were now twice as long as they were before.

The giant wolf lifted its head and howled joyously.

"Arroooooo!"

Van was curious to understand what mutation had occurred.

[It was the bloodline of a member of the ancient Vampire race,] Jet explained, [Blackie now possesses the ability to steal lifeforce from his enemies in order to heal himself. He is now extremely hard to kill.]

[His strength would be equivalent to the 7th level of Qi Distillation. However, as the bloodlines a.s.similates further, his strength will increase exponentially.]

___

As Van and his teammates travelled deeper into the Ice Caves, the number of monsters falling their way increased rapidly.

Because of his intense use of his martial skills, Van was able to learn a new move from his 'Fists of Devouring Flames.'

"Blazing Meteor Rain!"

Each time he waved his palm, several demon beasts perished. None of them could withstand the extreme heat from the martial skill.

Van and his teammates rested often to recharge their spiritual power. They wasted no energy or time. Every meal consisted of the flesh of demon beasts. Of course, they periodically drank tonics brewed with the Purple Mist Flower to cleanse themselves of demonic taint.

"We have been in the Ice Caves for so long, and yet the only other person we've seen was dead," Ryan observed one day, "There were so many people in Cyrus' crew...something definitely happened."

Van nodded, "I'm afraid something bad must have happened to Cyrus and his followers. I can only guess that they have all been captured to feed the eggs in the nursery. Whatever is down there…Maybe it has been planning this for a long time…"

His teammates shuddered.

Van narrowed his eyes, "We must kill it before the eggs in the nurseries hatch. There must be demonic ent.i.ty down there that has been corrupting the eggs of the Luminous Ice Worms and then feeding them human blood…I suspect they might be building an army of abominations."

They went deeper in the caves.

Far in the distance, Van saw a group of fishmen pa.s.s by.

After a while, the group left and one of them wandered off alone. These fishmen were different from the ones Van had killed before – these ones seemed larger and deadlier.

Delphine quietly sprinkled powder onto them, "For 20 minutes, physical abilities will be enhanced."

Van summoned his giant obsidian battle axe.

At that moment, the fish man's attention was caught. It sniffed the air and caught scent of Delphine's powder.

"Humans!" It shouted shrilly.

Something flickered in the air before it.

Clang!

The fishman blocked Van's axe swing with his strong forearm. However, Van's strength ripped through the enemy's defense.

"Aaaaiyaaa!" The fishman saw its own blood drip onto the ground. However, it did not budge from Van's. .h.i.t.

"I'll kill you, human!"

The fishman grabbed at Van. The young man grabbed and held onto the fishman's chest. They dropped and rolled on the snow covered ground.

Van heard the sound of running footsteps, [The other fishmen heard the commotion and have come back!]

Sure enough, three fishmen rushed back into the tunnel.

GROWLLL!

At that moment, a giant black shadow leapt onto one of the fishman and sunk its fangs into the fishman's neck.

The other two fishmen gathered around Blackie with knives and tried to get the wolf off the last fishman. However, the wolf was healing the injuries even as they formed.

The fishman screamed pitifully and then died minutes later.

Blackie leapt off the desiccated corpse below him and ripped off the heads of one of the other fishmen.

The final fishman had a look of absolute terror on its face.

Van rested his axe on its throat, "Lead us to the bottom of the Ice Caves!"