Blood Souls

The basin was far from peaceful; waves of mist gathered and dispersed in an ever-shifting haze. Yet these were ordinary phenomena. Even if something unusual was stirring, it remained buried beneath the blood mist and ancient restrictions. Fat Chick waited for Qin Sang to make a decision. It knew very well that its meager cultivation was nowhere near enough to survive down there; on its own, it would not get far before losing its little life. Qin Sang looked at the sea of blood, then glanced at the left-behind message. After a brief moment of deliberation, Qin Sang took Fat Chick and stepped into the basin. He chose the direction indicated in the message, yet he did not strictly follow their marked route, instead keeping a modest distance parallel to it. Once inside, the sensation was much like being in the Blood River before, except that there were no blood shadows in sight. "So cold!" Surrounded by sinister, foul energy, Fat Chick could not help shivering. The deeper they descended, the more bone-chilling the cold became—even more piercing than in the Blood River—to the point where it could gnaw at an intruder's consciousness. By the time they reached the basin floor, Fat Chick could barely endure it. Only when Qin Sang shielded it with his true essence did it find relief, staring with lingering fear at the boundless blood mist around them. "The ancient restrictions here aren't too troublesome, but as we go deeper, it will be hard for me to look after you," Qin Sang said. "Once we are further in, retreat into the Concentric Ring. After every stretch, I'll find a safe spot to let you out to activate the Thunder Prayer Bead and probe for a connection." Fat Chick needed to use its innate divine ability to awaken the power of thunder within its bloodline and activate the Thunder Prayer Bead; only then could it resonate with its mother. This divine ability was unique to the Thunder-Devouring Falcon. As long as its mother was not trapped within an isolated grotto-heaven, ordinary ancient restrictions could not sever the bond between mother and child. Thus, the Thunder Prayer Bead had to be used by Fat Chick itself; Qin Sang could not do it in its stead. Though troublesome, there was no other way. Qin Sang looked around. Amid the blood mist, shattered rocks littered the ground, a scene of total devastation. It was as barren as the bottom of the Blood River, without a single blade of grass. The earth resembled a torn chessboard, crisscrossed with ravines that constantly billowed blood mist and spewed sinister energy. That it had endured to this day without being utterly destroyed was truly a miracle. There had undoubtedly been an extraordinarily powerful seal here in the past. Now shattered to pieces, the battered ancient restrictions lingered on despite the passage of countless ages, exceptionally hazardous. Fat Chick cowered behind Qin Sang, shrinking its head at the sight. It was too terrifying! Qin Sang shifted his gaze, looked toward the route Qingjun and the others had taken, and stepped forward. The ebony sword flew out from between his brows, hovering inverted above his head, while the Eighteen Demon Banners remained tucked inside his sleeve. Thunder flickered across his wings, poised for action. After advancing a certain distance, the ebony sword suddenly flared with light, slashing out a curtain of sword light. Immediately, Qin Sang retreated swiftly with Fat Chick. Whoosh! Just as they pulled back, a gust of sinister wind swept out of thin air, grinding the stones where they had stood into dust, its residual shockwave intercepted by the sword curtain. Similar situations happened several times. Qin Sang threaded his way through the gaps between ancient restrictions, handling unexpected perils without real mishap. Before they knew it, several hours had passed. Apart from essential breath-regulation, Qin Sang had barely stopped. The basin was vast, and with dangers lurking everywhere, he had to keep his pace checked. Calculating the distance, there was still quite a way to go before reaching the center of the basin. After walking for so long, he had not seen a single soul. By now, the cultivators from both domains had entered quite some time ago. He did not know if they had clashed yet, but in any case, Qin Sang had detected no signs of disturbance. The Thunder Prayer Bead had yielded no response either. Just then, Qin Sang seemed to sense something. He halted abruptly and turned his gaze, staring intently to his left. Fat Chick looked where he was gazing, seeing only thick blood mist, bewildered. "Get in!" At Qin Sang's low bark, Fat Chick hurriedly stowed the Thunder Prayer Bead and ducked into the Concentric Ring. The next moment, a bizarre, ear-piercing shriek rang out. The screech hammered into the mind like a demonic sound, making Qin Sang frown deeply. Immediately afterward, a dense crimson light flashed deep within the blood mist, revealing what looked like a bloody figure freshly crawled out of a pool of blood. Floating in midair, it lunged forward with ferocious malice. The screeching was deafening, dripping with rancor—a bloodthirsty monstrosity. "Not a blood shadow, but humanoid... Could it be a blood soul spawned by the blood mist?" This blood soul was the only living entity he had encountered since entering. He had assumed it would be like the blood shadows in the Blood River, not expecting it to have a human form. Swish! A flash of crimson blazed before Qin Sang's eyes, and the blood soul was suddenly right upon him. Startled, he struck with his sword. Slash! The ebony sword cleaved straight down through the blood figure, splitting it in two. To his surprise, after the strike, the two halves of the blood soul writhed, and both grew brand-new bodies, turning into two blood figures! "An immortal body?" Qin Sang recalled the spirit sword and swung his sleeve vigorously. A cluster of demonic fire flew out, shrinking and expanding until it formed a net of flames that enfolded the two blood souls within. Yet even this failed to kill the blood souls. Screaming and thrashing wildly, they made the demonic fire ripple violently. Qin Sang hastily hurled two more bursts of demonic fire. Just as the blood souls were about to be incinerated, Qin Sang intended to hold back and study what these creatures were, but the Heavenly Eye Butterfly suddenly warned him: over a dozen more blood souls were being drawn over. Qin Sang made a split-second decision and burned the blood souls to ashes. The blood souls left nothing behind upon death. His figure flickered repeatedly as he darted away from the area. Those blood souls were astonishingly fast and pursued relentlessly. Unable to shake them off in such terrain, Qin Sang had no choice but to fight as he fled, killing continuously until every last blood soul was eliminated. Having disposed of them, Qin Sang looked in the direction from which the blood souls had appeared, showing a hesitant look. "It seems blood souls only appeared from that direction. If I were swarmed, even I would be hard-pressed. That's the route Senior Sister and the others took—could they have run into trouble?" He was tempted to go over and investigate. Yet if even Qingjun and Demon Monarch Tongyou could not handle it, going over alone would be walking right into the lion's mouth. The basin was more dangerous than he had imagined. Qin Sang grew even more cautious. Later, he encountered a few isolated, stray blood souls, but they posed little threat. After traveling swiftly for another stretch, right after Qin Sang slew a blood soul, a voice suddenly spoke up. "May I ask which fellow Daoist is approaching?" Qin Sang secretly primed the Eighteen Demon Banners. The voice was ethereal and diffuse, impossible to trace to any direction; the speaker had clearly used a concealment technique. He quietly channeled the Heavenly Eye divine ability, yet still could not locate where the person was hiding. Nevertheless, aside from his senior sister's group, only Sin Abyss cultivators were here, and this voice sounded somewhat familiar. "Could it be Fellow Daoist Si?" Qin Sang called out tentatively. "Oh? Fellow Daoist Mingyue!" The other party uttered a soft exclamation, his tone laced with pleasant surprise. Then the distant blood mist surged, and a figure broke through the air and flew over—it was none other than Si Di, his longtime partner at Sandie Pass. "We waited for you for quite a while earlier and feared you had run into trouble." Judging by Si Di's tone, he had come in alongside Qingjun and the others; it was unclear why he was now alone. Qin Sang shook his head. "I shouldn't have been that much later than you all, but traveling alone in here is somewhat tricky, so I fell behind. Why are you here alone, Fellow Daoist?"