Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Despite the huge risk, Yang Dingtian still wanted to use Dugu Aoshuang’s idea to use the Beast Soul Elixir to lure the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon into a mutual slaughter with the Fire Demon Violent Lion. He would then use the opportunity to enter the Blood Pool and cultivate.
“It will be very dangerous later on. You should go back,” Yang Dingtian said.
“No, I want to go with you,” Dugu Aoshuang insisted.
“There is no room for negotiation.” Yang Dingtian spoke resolutely and decisively, “If I successfully break through in the Blood Pool and survive these two demonic beasts, I will definitely come to look for you no matter how dangerous it is. If I never return, it means that I am dead.”
Dugu Aoshuang’s beautiful eyes turned red as she said, “No, you must return.”
Yang Dingtian replied, “Alright. I will surely return. So please be good. Go back and wait for me. You are not going to be of any use beside me. Even if we encounter danger, I will be distracted as I have to protect you.”
After finishing, Yang Dingtian pushed Dugu Aoshuang up.
Dugu Aoshuang’s eyes were reddened as she spoke with a gentle voice, “Okay, I will wait for you in the small house. Big Brother Yan, you must be careful.”
Afterward, she grabbed onto the rope and climbed back up several thousand meters back to her small house.
…
Looking down at the dark river where that extremely dangerous Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was residing, Yang Dingtian took a deep breath and restrained his tensed up emotions. He took out the sixth-grade Beast Soul Elixir from the spatial ring and gently shook it around in the air.
Despite the distance of ten thousand meters, the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon could still clearly smell the fragrance.
At first, the surface of the river didn’t have any ripples, but Yang Dingtian was already running rapidly into the stone cave. Before the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon noticed Yang Dingtian, he had to quickly run towards the Blood Pool. If it saw Yang Dingtian’s figure, he would certainly die without a burial site.
Yang Dingtian ran at his top speed, following the giant stone tunnel into the center of the mountain’s abdomen, sprinting towards the Blood Pool.
At this moment, an incomparably gigantic monster emerged from the river silently. It had a total of eight heads and sixteen eyes. Each head looked different. Some had a snake-like appearance while some looked like a human’s. Some of the heads had a diameter as big as two to three meters. Some were as small as one foot in diameter.
This monster slithered upwards along Mt. Ten Thousand Blood, exposing its astoundingly huge body.
Twenty meters, thirty meters, forty meters, fifty meters…
Finally, when its entire body was out of the water, it was more than a hundred meters long. It had a snake’s body and four limbs. The diameter of the body was close to ten meters wide.
This was the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon. It had lived more than a few centuries and was a demonic beast that was close to the Grandmaster Class.
As the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon slithered quickly, it paused a little when it was at the ten-thousand-meter mark. Its gigantic body then squeezed into the stone cave where the Blood Pool was.
…
Just as Yang Dingtian ran over 2000 meters, he instantly felt tremors in the stone tunnel while a powerful current pressed on his back. It was apparent that an enormous being had entered the stone tunnel. Shortly after, a fishy stench blew in with a forceful wind, which followed behind Yang Dingtianas as he rushed forward.
It was evident that this enormous being was moving rapidly and the distance between Yang Dingtian and it was closing.
Yang Dingtian mustn’t be seen by it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even be enough to stuff the gap between the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon’s fangs.
Yang Dingtian’s speed got faster and faster. Finally, he was sprinting frantically.
The forceful wind on his back intensified while the noise was getting louder. The surface of the entire stone tunnel started to tremble. Meanwhile, the fishy stench was getting stronger too.
“Rush, rush, rush…”
“Quick, quick, quick…”
Almost there. Yang Dingtian was almost at the Blood Pool.
There were still two thousand meters.
One thousand meters…
Five hundred meters…
Three hundred meters…
Yang Dingtian could already see the huge doors of the Blood Pool. There was this lurid glow that was emitted from the extremely huge stone doors. Yang Dingtian was still a few hundred meters away and could clearly feel the strong energy that had a trace of violence. The Blood Pool was within those doors.
The cave within the doors was extremely wide and was over one hundred meters tall.
The giant stone doors of the Blood Pool was completely white. Once Yang Dingtian got a closer look, he realized that this white wasn’t natural. These doors were embedded with countless bones and skulls. Most of them belonged to humans while the rest of were demonic beast skulls.
This was merely the entrance to the Blood Pool, and it already had countless skeletons. In this instant, Yang Dingtian could feel the shiver down his spine as he felt an icy-cold sensation.
At this moment, the formidable Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was just a few hundred meters away. Yang Dingtian could clearly feel its extremely powerful presence.
Yang Dingtian couldn’t run anymore and couldn’t be seen either. He had to hide immediately.
At this moment, Yang Dingtian was just one hundred meters away from the doors of the Blood Pool, but he resisted the temptation to approach the Blood Pool and found a small cave in the corner to hide in. He then grabbed the Beast Soul Elixir and threw it towards the doors of the Blood Pool. He managed to throw it over ninety meters away, which was just outside the range of the Blood Pool’s doors, but it was close enough.
As expected, once Yang Dingtian hid properly, a gigantic Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon turned the corner and immediately appeared in front of Yang Dingtian’s eyes.
“Such size, such terror, such danger…,” Yang Dingtian lamented in his heart.
The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was too fast, and it brought with it a fishy stench with the forceful wind, which made it difficult for Yang Dingtian to even open his eyes. It was like a giant train shuttling past in a tunnel.
Yang Dingtian noticed that this Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon wasn’t really a flood dragon. It was a kind of sea serpent demonic beast instead. The flood dragon might not be a true dragon, but it was a close relative of a dragon and should have horns on its head. However, this Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon didn’t have any horns.
Despite that, this Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was an extremely powerful demonic beast. After residing in the river for a long period of time, it obtained a strength that was close to a Grandmaster Class expert.
The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was staring at the sixth-grade Beast Soul Elixir with avaricious eyes. It immediately rushed ahead and wanted to consume it.
But it suddenly stopped its movements like a train pulling on the brakes. Because it realized that the doors of the Blood Pool were just in front. This place was naturally engraved into its memories, and it knew that its nemesis was in there.
In an instant, the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon emitted a blood-red glow from its eyes as it recalled the painful and vengeful memories. Its entire body was filled with a bloodthirsty craving, and it looked as though it was about to rush through the huge doors and fight to the death with the Fire Demon Violent Lion to seize the Blood Pool.
“Go, go, hurry up and go…,” Yang Dingtian thought anxiously.
But he didn’t expect for this Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon to suddenly lower its heads after its anger subsided. It then looked over at where Yang Dingtian was hiding and emitted an icy-cold murderous intent. It effortless discovered that Yang Dingtian was hiding there.
It was actually infuriated by Yang Dingtian as it obviously understood that this was his plot, to use the sixth-grade Beast Soul Elixir to lure it here to have a deathmatch with the Fire Demon Violent Lion.
Shortly after, all eight hideous heads of the flood dragon glared at Yang Dingtian. The necks suddenly straightened while the sixteen eyes shot out gloomy and cold glows. Yang Dingtian’s hair immediately stood on end as he truly trembled with fear.
This was different from the Thousand Years Night Owl. Back then, the Night Owl was trapped and wasn’t able to kill him. And when the Night Owl broke free, it had lost all reason and was only concerned about destruction, totally forgetting that Yang Dingtian was on top of it.
But this Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was awake and unfeeling. It was about to rip Yang Dingtian into pieces.
The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon’s center snakehead slowly opened its mouth, extending its horrific forked tongue. Fiery red energy was brewing in its mouth and was about to be spat in Yang Dingtian’s direction.
Yang Dingtian gripped the Night Owl Strange Blade on his back and slowly drew it.
“Roar…” All of a sudden, there was a deafening roar that echoed from within the cave. Yang Dingtian’s eardrums felt was as though they were being penetrated, and his entire head felt a splitting pain. Even the entire giant cave started to have tremors.
This was the Fire Demon Violent Lion’s roar of wrath. It was a roar that was filled with provocation and disdain.
The Fire Demon Violent Lion was berserk and prideful.
The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was extremely sinister and ruthless. It didn’t wish to be tricked by Yang Dingtian. Hence, it stopped before reaching the Blood Pool, expressing its intention that it didn’t wish to trespass into the Fire Demon Violent Lion’s territory. However, the Fire Demon Violent Lion wasn’t appreciative of this gesture and even let out a roar of provocation and disdain.
Shortly after, a lump of blinding light suddenly skimmed out.
This was the Fire Demon Violent Lion, which was like a miniature mountain. It was over twenty meters tall and more than fifty meters long. Its entire body was releasing blood-red flames.
It immediately came to the doors of the Blood Pool and raised its head to let out the roar of a king. It then puffed out its chest and looked down upon the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon, ordering it to get out of its territory.
The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was immediately furious! “I am unwilling to be tricked by the human, so I didn’t enter the Blood Pool. Do you think I am afraid of you? You snatched my Blood Pool, injured me, and you now throw your weight around like a boss? You are just too much!”
At this moment, the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon threw Yang Dingtian off to the back of its mind. It faced the Fire Demon Violent Lion and straightened all eight of its heads, lifting its body higher and higher until the heads reached the ceiling of the cave that was over a hundred meters tall.
“Hiss Hiss…” The eight heads all extended blood-red forked tongues in unison, emitting a terrifying sharp hiss.
The Fire Demon Violent Lion’s flame grew taller by another three meters. It let out a thunderous roar at the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon, admonishing it to get out immediately.
The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon opened its mouths wide and let out waves of roars in return. If it was to retreat at this moment, it would be utterly humiliated. But it really didn’t want to fight this Fire Demon Violent Lion for no good reason. After all, this was a plot by the humans, and it wouldn’t be worth it if both of them suffered losses.
Right now, the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon just wanted to put up a front and confront it for a moment as it tried to attract the Temple of Blood’s Grandmaster Class experts so that they could mediate between the two of them. The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon would then have an excuse to step down, showing that it wasn’t afraid of the Fire Demon Violent Lion and was merely giving the Temple of Blood some face.
Once it retreated back to the river, this Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon would definitely demand the Temple of Blood to hand over that wretched human. It would then use the most horrifying method to torture that human to death.
“Roar…” Seeing the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon provoking it back instead of retreating, the Fire Demon Violent Lion was instantly furious, seeing that its defeated foe was still trying to act so rampantly. After it let out the roar, the Fire Demon Violent Lion rushed out ferociously and immediately bit down at the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon.
The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was shocked. It knew that the Fire Demon Violent Lion was an impetuous beast, but it didn’t expect the lion to be so feisty, not being able to take even a bit of provocation and immediately coming at it directly. If it knew the lion was so volatile, it would have immediately retreated earlier. Why did it even try to reason with this fool?
But, it was too late to regret it now as the Fire Demon Violent Lion was coming for its life.
“Roar…” After the roar, the lion’s giant claws flashed with blue flames as it tried to cut at the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon. When its claws drew across the air, there was an intense flash of blue light that let out sonic booms.
The flash of blue light was mystic qi energy, and the sonic boom was due to the extreme speed that already exceeded the speed of sound.
This claw’s speed was too fast, and the body of the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was too large. It couldn’t dodge in time and was about to be sliced apart.
“Hiss…” Letting out a sharp hiss, a blue light flashed across as the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon rapidly shrunk. Instantly shrinking so that it was just over a dozen meters tall and two meters thick, it then quickly dodged the Fire Demon Violent Lion’s fatal and violent attack.
“Boom… ” The Fire Demon Violent Lion’s claw vigorously slammed into the stone walls. The extremely tough stone walls were like tofu in this instant as holes several meters deep were clawed out.
Afterward, the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon’s body quickly swelled up while it used its thick tail to whip at the lion.
“Bang!” The tail ruthlessly slammed into the abdomen of the Fire Demon Violent Lion.
There was a loud echo, and the miniature-mountain-sized lion was sent flying several hundred meters and crashed violently into the cave walls.
“Rumble…” The extremely solid stone wall now had a deep impression several hundred meters in diameter. The entire stone cave shook vigorously, as a crack a few thousand meters deep extended upwards.
“Pfff…” The Fire Demon Violent Lion spat out countless flames from its mouth. It sprayed onto the stone wall like countless missiles, blasting numerous pits into it. These flames were the Fire Demon Violent Lion’s blood.
This Fire Demon Violent Lion was originally stronger than the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon, but it had a rash temperament. The flood dragon was crafty and sly. Thus, the lion suffered a loss in the first exchange.
After succeeding in its first move, the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon raised its heads up and revealed a sneer at the Fire Demon Violent Lion. It then quickly retreated as it actually wanted to abandon this battle.
After taking the upper hand and leaving, it surely wouldn’t lose any reputation and wouldn’t fall into an extended battle where it would suffer later on.
But the Fire Demon Violent Lion was completely enraged. It stood up suddenly and roared towards the sky. The flames on its body grew as tall as thirty feet, and the flames were now blood-red in color. Immediately after, its body grew larger, and larger, and larger…
From ten meters to twenty meters and then to thirty meters…
The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was astonished as this became a fight to the death. Why was this Fire Demon Violent Lion so impatient and going into a berserk state as soon as it suffered a slight humiliation?
Every demonic beast could enter a berserk state. Once in that state, their combat strength would drastically increase. But once the battle was over, the demonic beast would enter a frail state. Sometimes, it would last one or two years, while some would continue in this frail state for three to four years.
Hence, when the lion entered a berserk state, it meant that this battle would end with one of them dead. Today’s battle would result in either the death of the lion or the death of the flood dragon.
The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was afraid now. Its sneak attack succeeded earlier because it was simply smarter, but in terms of cultivation, it was inferior to the Fire Demon Violent Lion. If it knew that this Fire Demon Violent Lion was so feisty, it would have taken the sneak attack and wouldn’t have wanted the upper hand. It would rather be slapped and humiliated by the lion and just flee. At least then, its life wouldn’t be in danger. Now, it was all over. The Fire Demon Violent Lion would only be satisfied after killing it.
“Lion King, Lion King, I didn’t mean to offend you. This is all a part of that human’s plot. He was the one who lured me here with the sixth-grade Beast Soul Elixier. I do not have any intention to invade your territory. I will leave now, right now and never take half a step into your territory in the future. This Beast Soul Elixir and this human shall be a tribute for you,” The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon quickly begged for mercy and used a special demonic beast language to beg.
But the Fire Demon Violent Lion was already in a berserk state, and it didn’t care about such trivial things. Its body was still continuing to swell up.
After swelling up to over fifty meters in height and three hundred meters in length, it was truly like a flaming mountain.
“Roar…” The violent lion roared.
Boundless flames poured out, and the entire cave became roasting hot. The cave was now bright like daytime.
“Boom…”
Just like a volcano erupting, the Fire Demon Violent Lion charged at the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon.
“Misunderstanding. It is a misunderstanding. Your Lion King Majesty, how about I sever one of my heads and you let me go? It isn’t necessary for us to both suffer losses…” The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon desperately tried to beg for mercy.
“Boom…” The Fire Demon Violent Lion opened its mouth and let out a sudden breath.
A raging blaze that had surging energy was blasted at the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon.
The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon was startled as it quickly shrank and dodged.
“Rumble…” The flames exploded beside the flood dragon. There was a loud blast, and the whole place shook as countless giant rocks broke off and fell.
While the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon might have dodged a fatal attack, during the explosion, it was immediately sent flying several hundred meters away. There was damage all over its body, and countless scales had been forcefully torn off. It was now drenched in blood.
“Fire Demon Violent Lion, you fool…” The Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon cursed. However, it was facing the Fire Demon Violent Lion in its berserk state, so it didn’t dare to go against it in a frontal clash. It immediately used all of its energy to flee out of the cave. It didn’t matter even if it was going to lose its face. As long as it could enter the river, it would be safe. Moreover, even if it was going to have a fight to the death, it wanted it to be in its own territory, which would give it a higher chance of victory.
Of course, doing so would be playing right into Yang Dingtian’s hand, but right now, the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon found it more important to protect its own life as nothing else mattered more.
Sure enough, when the Fire Demon Violent Lion saw the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon flee, it didn’t even consider and immediately charged out in frenzied pursuit. It had completely forgotten about its Blood Pool.
In just a blink of an eye, the two formidable demonic beasts instantly vanished without a trace, leaving behind a battlefield that was a mess.
These stone walls were as hard as steel, and even if several dozen missiles were launched from Earth, it wouldn’t be able to produce such great destruction. But just a few exchanges of blows between the two demonic beasts had nearly destroyed a large portion of the giant tunnel that was several thousand meters long.
But Yang Dingtian couldn’t be bothered with such things now. If he didn’t enter the Blood Pool now, when was he going to do it?
Hence, he emerged from his hiding place and sprinted towards the Blood Pool’s doors.
Just as he got ten meters away from the door, Yang Dingtian conveniently picked up and stored the sixth-grade Beast Soul Elixir into his spatial ring before rushing into the Blood Pool.
…
The cave that the Blood Pool was in was entirely different from the outside. All the rocks in there were blood-red in color. The stone walls in here weren’t flat and smooth, but they were sinisterly sharp, which made the entire cave of the Blood Pool look very gloomy, terrifying, and dreadfully severe.
The entire cave was extremely huge, which was several tens of thousands square meters in area. But the surface area of the Blood Pool was very small. The surface diameter was just over twenty meters. It was located within a stack of blood-red rocks. The entire pool was also blood-red in color.
The surface of the pool had this rising spiral of mist that was blood-red in color as well. Even though there wasn’t any wind, this blood mist still swirled around, distorting into strange images. It seemed like there were countless dead souls trying to speak out and as though there were countless malicious spirits there weeping.
The entire giant cave was covered in blood-red, and it looked like the depths of hell. That’s right, it was like hell. No one had seen hell before, but Yang Dingtian felt this place was just like hell.
Yang Dingtian traveled almost ten thousand miles, devoted his heart and blood, risking his life for this blood-red pool in front of him.
(TL note: The miles here refers to the chinese mile. 1 chinese mile = 500 meters)
He clearly knew that this small pool contained enormous energy. All the walls in this area that was tens of thousands of square meters in area were all dyed red by this small pool.
How was the Blood Pool formed? No one knew. But it definitely had a much longer history than the Temple of Blood and was here before the Temple of Blood formed. According to most people’s speculations, it was probably formed during the period of Great Dark Extermination.
Back when the Temple of Blood took over the Blood Pool, they spread a rumor to emphasize that the Blood Pool belonged to them. They said that all their Martial Supreme class experts had to pour all of their energy into the Blood Pool before their deaths.
Was this actually the truth? No one knew if the energy from the successive generations of experts was truly useful for maintaining the Blood Pool. But in this way, it gave a very strong hint to the outside world that the Blood Pool was maintained by using the lives of generations of experts. Hence, the Blood Pool belonged to the Temple of Blood and was something sacred and never to be violated.
When Yang Dingtian approached the Blood Pool earlier, even as he just stepped through the doors, he felt a surge of boundless energy that was raw and unending.
Yang Dingtian walked towards the Blood Pool step by step.
Fewer than one individual out of ten members of the Temple of Blood was allowed to cultivate in the Blood Pool. The reason being that once someone entered the Blood Pool, an overwhelming surge of energy would rush into the body. Those who don’t have innately formidable mystic meridians would die from their meridians rupturing. There were some who would feel unbearable pain, suffocation, and even splitting pain in all of their meridians whenever they approached the Blood Pool.
The Blood Pool was in the shape of a funnel, which was spacious on top and narrow at the bottom. It had an immeasurable bottom and plenty of layers. As of now, the lowest layer anyone went down to was the fifth layer. No one knew how many layers there were.
80% of the elite disciples would only be able to cultivate in the first layer. Around 15% of them could cultivate in the second layer. Only about 5% would be able to cultivate in the third layer.
There were only a few individuals in many generations from the Temple of Blood who could cultivate in the fourth layer. As for the fifth layer, only one or two individuals were able to do it in the one-thousand-year history of the Temple of Blood.
It was needless to say that the deeper one could go in the Blood Pool, the more tyrannical and rawer the energy, which would produce an astounding effect during cultivation. At the same time, the deep the layer, the higher the requirements for the innate talent and mystic meridians. If one didn’t have sufficient talent, one’s meridians would be ruptured by the formidable energy in the Blood Pool.
Yang Dingtian’s talents were abnormally high. However, he didn’t know which layer he could dive into because he was just a nine star Mystic Martial Artist and the mystic qi in his body was too scarce. He might not even be able to withstand the powerful energy that would bombard his body.
“I have gone through trials and tribulations just to come here. Can I break through? How many classes can I break through? It will be up to this one time!” Yang Dingtian thought in his heart. He stripped off his clothes and hid them. He was almost completely naked as he jumped into Blood Pool.
In an instant, extremely powerful energy surged towards him like an inexhaustible tide, which bombarded every inch of his skin and meridians.
