Chapter 448 – Blood Springs … … … “The most outstanding aspect of the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’ lies in its killing potential. When Lei Mubai had practiced the ancient Devil Tome, it had only been a miniscule portion of the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’s’ cultivation method. In terms of cultivation method, the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’ is far inferior to the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’. If I use the cultivation method of the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’ along with the killing techniques of the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’, there are some places that don’t really match…” Lin Ming thought out loud. Although his cultivation method was top class, it was a bit complicated; there would inevitably be areas in which things didn’t mesh well. However, Lin Ming didn’t worry too much. The reason that he studied the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’ was solely because of its techniques. Once his techniques reached the extreme of perfection, it would become a Law. For instance, when Lin Ming had used the Primeval Halberd Strike as well as the move that made time spin around chaotically, those had both been similar to the use of Laws. It was just that Lin Ming’s perception and cultivation weren’t high enough for him to comprehend the Laws used. He could only rely on the energy of the Blood Drinking Seals to achieve an effect similar to Laws. Even so, the power was absolutely amazing. If it wasn’t for the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’, Lin Ming would have at most been able to kill two Xiantian masters – everyone else would have managed to run away. “I don’t know how much longer this war will last. I wonder how Miss Mu and Xingxuan are doing…” As Lin Ming was thinking, he glanced at his intelligence jade slip and began to look for the next target… ………………………. At an island 3000 miles away from Divine Phoenix Island, Qin Xingxuan just happened to be sitting down on a cushion in a martial arts cultivation room. Fire origin energy swirled around her, forming a vortex with her in the center and steadily converging into her body. After her body was thoroughly quenched with 10 drops of Vermillion Bird blood essence, Qin Xingxuan had gained the talent necessary to practice the more core sections of the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’. In addition, Qin Xingxuan was already a natural sixth-grade martial talent. Although her cultivation speed wasn’t heaven defyingly fast, she was still making new changes every day, and her progress was extremely fast. In these few months, Qin Xingxuan’s cultivation was nearing the middle Pulse Condensation period. This was mostly because Qin Xingxuan had just started to practice the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’, and it required that she slowly accumulate fire origin energy. If she had practiced for a longer time and at a higher realm, she would probably have made a breakthrough. “Miss Qin, how are you feeling?” Mu Qianyu was all smiles as she entered into the martial arts cultivation room. As she looked at the vortex of fire origin energy swirling around Qin Xingxuan, she had a very satisfied smile on her face. Although Qin Xingxuan’s rank in Divine Phoenix Island was only the lowliest maid disciple, she actually had maids and servants serving her, and she didn’t need to do any labor. The status of a maid disciple was only a title in order to reduce the pressure of public opinion on her. With Qin Xingxuan’s status and talent, the fact that she had obtained 10 drops of Vermillion Bird blood essence could easily arouse criticism from others. A drop of Vermillion Bird blood essence was indelibly related to a martial artist’s lifespan and future; who wouldn’t be utterly jealous of Qin Xingxuan? Qin Xingxuan usually followed Mu Qianyu around, and all questions she had were personally answered by Mu Qianyu. She had servants taking care of her daily living needs, and her cultivation speed was at least two or three times faster than when she had been at the Seven Profound Valleys. “Senior-apprentice Sister Mu.” As Qin Xingxuan saw Mu Qianyu enter, she immediately stood up. Although they had already been together for two months, she still felt a sense of restraint when facing Mu Qianyu. “Miss Qin, Lin Ming has sent a letter.” Mu Qianyu smiled. When the two met each other, they would always maintain a respectful manner. “Ah?” Qin Xingxuan called out in surprise, a light fluttering feeling of happiness in her heart. Mu Qianyu laughed and then took out a paper letter from her spatial ring, handing it over to Qin Xingxuan. In these past two months, Lin Ming would always send out three letters at a time. He would send one to Mu Yuhuang, Mu Qianyu, and Qin Xingxuan. Although Qin Xingxuan’s letter only contained trivial musings and some other matters, the content of the letter was unimportant. Qin Xingxuan mainly wanted to know that Lin Ming was safe. …………………….. As the days passed by, Lin Ming killed more and more Demon Region martial artists. His cultivation was still at the late Houtian realm, but his combat strength had risen by leaps and bounds. He still had 13 Blood Drinking Seals, but they were even more vivid and vibrant, and even more lethal. As Lin Ming killed more people, the name of Blood Demon began to sound like thunder within the ears of those on South Aurora Island. His spotlight was even brighter than the Demon Region’s Big Three! Normally when the Demon Region’s Big Three killed squads there would be a few survivors. With three to five Xiantian masters escaping in separating directions, it was difficult to kill them all. However, no one escaped the Blood Demon, there were simply no witnesses! To be attacked by the Blood Demon meant utter and total annihilation. There had even been one occasion when two Demon Region squads had joined together. Although they weren’t considered top squads, there were still 15 martial artists in total including five Xiantian masters – one middle Xiantian master and four early Xiantian masters. But even with a squad of this size, after encountered the Blood Demon, they were all killed! Not a single one had managed to escape! After this news spread out, all of South Aurora’s martial artists were shocked. Fifteen martial artists killed, and all of their blood essence sucked dry. There were even many of them that had been killed a thousand steps away. Obviously, they had all been prepared to escape. However, what was most horrifying was that all five Xiantian masters had escaped in separate directions, but they were still all killed! What sort of strength was necessary to achieve this? Even with five Xiantian masters combined together, they still couldn’t survive. Besides the squads of the Demon Region’s Big Three, what other squad had confidence they would be able to survive the terror of the Blood Demon? After that, the Demon Region martial artists rarely went past a hundred miles outside of their headquarters. The deterring effect of the Blood Demon was actually greater than all of the squads of the Wartime Alliance combined! This sounded like an exaggeration, but it was the truth. In this month, there were more Demon Region martial artists that died at the hands of the Blood Demon than at the combined hands of every other martial artist within the Wartime Alliance squads. It had to be known that during an encounter, although the battle would be fierce, not many people would actually die. If half of them died, that would be considered an extremely fierce life or death fight. But, once a squad encountered the Blood Demon, that was certain annihilation. There wasn’t even a chance to escape. This just made people despair too much. This also caused the squads of the South Sea Demon Region to not even have the courage to bring up the Blood Demon’s name. ………………… It was deep into the night. In a hidden cave within South Aurora Island’s spiritual forest, Lin Ming had quietly snuck in. As soon as he was there, he grabbed a handful of spatial rings from his pocket. With just a thought, everything within these spatial rings poured out. Because of the war, these Demon Region martial artists were extremely wealthy. Of course, these were all treasures of ordinary Xiantian masters. Lin Ming wasn’t particularly attracted to many of these things. However, a little made a lot. If everything was exchanged into true essence stones, it would be a massive fortune. Although Lin Ming didn’t use true essence stones now, he never knew when he would need to in the future. If he saved up some money now, it would help avoid any complications in the future. “Around 3000 medium-grade true essence stones and a massive number of treasures and pills. Most of these are ghost streamers, demon runes, blood treasures and so forth. These things are mostly used by martial artists of the demonic path, they aren’t that useful to me.” Lin Ming practiced the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’, and it required him to gather and refine fresh blood essence. All of these treasures and objects that had stored blood essence for a long time were simply useless to him. Lin Ming casually and quickly divided everything. True essence stones were placed in one ring, valuables in another, and objects that weren’t worth much in yet another. After Lin Ming gathered everything back up again, he launched his movement technique and returned to base. “Wild Halberd! You went out to practice again, haha!” The bearded big fellow happily greeted. If he greeted anyone else on the squad, he would always joke around and give them a lesson that actual combat was better than cultivating and other nonsense. However, he usually never said these things to Lin Ming. In these past months, Lin Ming’s strength had become obvious to everyone. It wasn’t just that one time in the spiritual forest, but every time that Lin Ming would go to battle with the Fire Ax Squad, he would have spectacular and outstanding performance. In fact, there had been a time that if it wasn’t for the timely actions of Lin Ming, Enchanting Shadow and the bearded big fellow would have already had their heads chopped off. Whether it was individual combat prowess or insight on the battlefield, Lin Ming was at the top of the class. Everyone was naturally happy to have such a great member on their squad. Unfortunately, Lin Ming didn’t have much time or opportunities to do much else with the squad; he was always out practicing his martial arts by himself. “Captain, I think that Wild Halberd’s true strength is much more awesome!” The bearded big fellow loudly said as he drank a large cup of wine and poured himself another. “Mm, Wild Halberd’s true strength is very deep and profound. He should be able to defeat an early Xiantian master by himself. In fact, he might even be stronger than Violet Rain. But Wild Halberd likes to remain low-key, you just have to see how he did on his original strength test to know. He had only gotten a bit more than 100,000 points, just enough to reach the standard for a first class soldier.” “He should be a direct disciple of some large sect, or even the last disciple of some high master. He isn’t really interested in whatever can be exchanged with military exploit points.” “Haha, mentioning no interest in military exploit points, I wonder which master that Blood Demon is. In these recent days he has killed countless Demon Region martial artists – the military exploit points he would have accumulated would be terrifying. South Aurora Island’s Demon Region martial artists won’t even show their faces because they are scared of being killed by him.” “Blood Demon should be an extreme Xiantian genius from a sect. A Revolving Core master wouldn’t do something so frivolous.” “Mm, I think so too.” Even though Lin Ming and the existence known as the Blood Demon had appeared on South Aurora Island at nearly the same time, nobody ever expected that Lin Ming was the Blood Demon. Lin Ming’s cultivation was true. How could Fire Ax or anyone else believe that a late Houtian martial artist would have such abnormal combat strength like the Blood Demon? …………… At this time at the South Sea Demon Region’s stronghold, a martial artist that was as skinny as a corpse was holding a wine glass in his hands. The cup was filled with a thick and bright red liquid that emanated a bloody energy; this liquid was shockingly actually blood. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺 In front of the skinny martial artist sat a man with pale skin. This pale-skinned man’s eyes were closed, “Many martial artists have already left South Aurora Island. The existence of the Blood Demon had already made the situation untenable, it is simply unprofitable to stay there.” Because of Lin Ming, many martial artists squads didn’t dare to go out alone. Naturally, this meant that less and less were willing. As the skinny martial artist emptied the glass of blood, he licked his lips and said, “I’d like to meet this Blood Demon. It’s just that this fellow seems intent on avoiding us. Otherwise, there is no way he would have been able to avoid our intelligence. If he has the guts, he would have come for us sooner! In other words, he is afraid of us!” “He might not be afraid of us, but rather afraid that he won’t be able to kill us all… have you found that whenever the Blood Demon moves, he won’t leave any witnesses? It’s as if he has some secret that he’s scared of being discovered…”