"People have tried before, but it didn't work," He Lingchuan said with a wry smile. "Do you think Beijia lacks enemies? The fact that these flaws remain unexploited and have never blown up proves that the celestial gods or the Emperor have Mount Xu firmly under control."
"Others are others, but you're you." Dong Rui loved piling compliments on him whenever he hit a snag—it felt like double the amusement. "Wind, water, earth, fire—for an elemental creature like that, splitting into a dozen or several dozen clones is child's play. If you can't get past it, you won't make an inch of headway on Mount Xu."
He Lingchuan immediately thought of Fu Shanyue's little Wind Demon.
Back on Wind Demon Mountain, it had indeed produced a dozen clones.
And that had only been a pup. The rock-fire monster in Mount Xu was a seasoned veteran, so powerful that even Lingxu City had to appease and suppress it.
Against outside intruders, it would show no mercy whatsoever.
"If we could fly in, maybe we could try slipping past it?" He Lingchuan scratched his head. "So you definitely have a winged demon puppet that can carry people, right?"
"Who told you that..." Dong Rui retorted out of habit, then realized and backtracked, "Well, suppose I do."
A flying demon puppet allowed him to come and go as he pleased and escape danger swiftly.
After He Lingchuan shot down his monstrous bird puppet last time, he had truly struggled on foot. Thus, as soon as he had found some free time, the very first puppet he set out to craft had wings.
He Lingchuan beamed with delight and slapped him hard on the shoulder. "I knew you were the most reliable!" Dong Rui always had whatever was needed.
Dong Rui pulled a long face. Now that his work had caught the eye of this demon puppet killer, would his new creation suffer another premature demise?
He felt deeply conflicted inside.
With the flying mount settled, He Lingchuan pondered the next issue. "I heard that after the grand formation on Mount Xu ran for a while, a flaw emerged. Maybe we can exploit that."
Dong Rui eyed him, feeling an uneasy lack of confidence. "To me, this plan looks insanely difficult. Tell me the truth—how much confidence do you actually have?"
"At least seventy percent." He Lingchuan didn't bat an eye, bullshitting right out of the gate. "The master plan is set; I just need to hammer out a few details."
Seventy percent? Heh, he'd be lucky if he had twenty percent. But if he didn't appear completely confident to give his partner some assurance, the man before him would turn and run at once.
Going against Lingxu City—how could any ordinary person dare contemplate such a thing?
And regarding Juju, the rock-fire monster that was one of the most critical parts of the Mount Xu plan, he had yet to formulate a tailored strategy.
Still, that was how goals worked: if you didn't chip away at them step by step, they would never be realized.
"...Why do I get the feeling this is hanging by a thread?"
"Your instincts are off." He Lingchuan patted his shoulder. "We're old friends. In the past, when have I ever messed up? When haven't I come out on top?"
The past... Looking back on the past was sheer agony. Dong Rui's face twitched.
"I'll be doing all the heavy lifting; your part is light," He Lingchuan smiled. "You can come and go as you please with no risk, so what are you afraid of?"
Thinking it over, the task assigned to him was indeed not heavy. Dong Rui grunted twice, resolving in his mind that if things went south, he would slip away immediately.
He Lingchuan asked him, "Right, do you still have any divine blood on hand?"
Dong Rui eyed him warily. "What are you trying to do this time?"
Last time it was divine bone, this time divine blood—what next? Was there no end to this He guy's demands?
"I have an important use for it," He Lingchuan said solemnly. "How much do you have left?"
"Tell me what it's for first." Dong Rui wasn't biting. "This stuff is priceless."
"To save lives." He Lingchuan sighed. "If used well, it might spare millions from the horrors of war."
"Not lending it," Dong Rui said, entirely unmoved. "What does the life or death of millions have to do with me? Not half a copper coin!"
A classic Dong Rui response, completely as expected. He Lingchuan said, "Let me put it another way then: give me the divine blood, and I'll owe you a huge favor."
Dong Rui scowled irritably. "How much do you want?"
He Lingchuan glanced down and saw the wine jars stacked in the corner. "Uh, two jars?"
Inwardly, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
Dong Rui really did have it! His luck was almost too good.
This rascal possessed both divine bone and divine blood, both very fresh. Tsk, tsk, could he have raided a celestial god's grave?
"Are you crazy?" Dong Rui cried out, then hastily lowered his voice. "That is divine blood, not blood you can drain by butchering a pig!"
"Then... one jar?" Gods were massive, so their blood volume had to be enormous.
Dong Rui pointed to the wine goblet on the table. "This goblet, thirty percent full."
That was barely over a hundred milliliters! "Isn't that way too little?"
"Too little?" Dong Rui looked at him like he was looking at an utter idiot. "Do you know how many potions a third of that goblet can brew?"
He Lingchuan shook his head humbly; every trade had its secrets, after all.
"Three thousand bottles!" Dong Rui squeezed the words through gritted teeth. "Enough for me to conduct over a thousand experiments!"
"In other words, this stuff is extraordinarily precious?"
"Obviously! The potency of divine blood is terrifying. No matter what it's used for, it must be diluted countless times over."
As for exactly how many times it had to be diluted, that was Dong Rui's secret—he wouldn't tell even on pain of death.
He Lingchuan was immediately reminded of the test Lingguang the medicine ape had performed at the Han River camp.
That had merely been a divine blood potion diluted and concocted by Dong Rui beforehand. A single drop onto a tree had instantly mutated it into a grotesque, twisted shape, and a barbarian ox nearby had gone completely mad after chewing just one of its leaves.
The effect of this substance was truly outrageous.
Just as Dong Rui said, no matter what medicine divine blood was used to formulate, the dosage was bound to be minuscule.
Dong Rui continued, "I've visited the underground black markets in Lingxu City countless times, and I've never managed to buy divine blood. Never!"
"Maybe they saw you were an unfamiliar face and wouldn't sell."
"I had trusted contacts keep an eye out for me," Dong Rui sneered. "Lingxu City gathers millions of treasures from across the realm. What rare wonder doesn't exist there? Yet of all things, divine blood is nowhere to be found. In fact, from the day Lingxu City was founded until now, divine blood has only been sold on the black market twice!"
"The control is that strict?"
"What's most terrifying is that in both instances, Lingxu City dug to the very roots, tracked down both buyers and sellers, and publicly executed them. No appeals could save them." Dong Rui exhaled. "After that, everyone knew that divine blood is the celestial gods' untouchable taboo. You cannot lay a finger on it."
In Beijia, the gods were supreme.
The will of the gods had to be carried out to the letter.
Heh. He Lingchuan wasn't buying it. He patted Dong Rui's shoulder. "Then you really have zero reverence." Hadn't this guy modified demon puppets using divine blood all along?
If there was one Dong Rui, could there really not be a second or a third?
He knew one simple truth:
The more openly forbidden something was, the higher its price, and the more likely people were to risk everything for it.
In the end, prohibition could never truly stamp it out.
People would always engage in deadly business if the profit was high enough.
"..." Dong Rui hastily changed the subject. "So no matter how much divine blood you take out, it's a lethal dose."
A dose that would earn you the death penalty.
"Good, good, that's exactly the effect I want," He Lingchuan said happily. "Hand it over as soon as you can."
What else could Dong Rui say?
"Oh, by the way, does National Preceptor Shuangye know about the errand you ran for Zhu Erniang?" He Lingchuan asked again. "And does he know about the connection between you and me?"
Caught completely off guard, Dong Rui's hand twitched, though he quickly masked his shock. "What National Preceptor Shuangye?"
"Come on, quit playing dumb," He Lingchuan chuckled. "Aren't the people keeping watch over you dispatched by National Preceptor Shuangye?"
"Who said that?" Dong Rui stubbornly held out as usual.
How had this bastard connected him to National Preceptor Shuangye?
"I only recently learned that Hong Chenglüe was reinstated by National Preceptor Shuangye." He Lingchuan took another sip of wine. "During the Battle of the Han River, you showed up out of nowhere, working in league with him. Before that, you had just managed to obtain an amnesty decree from Beijia. A person like you is notorious in Beijia—if you stood in the middle of the street and gave your name, little demons would spit on you. So the only prominent figure capable of wiping clean your fugitive status had to be National Preceptor Shuangye, right?"
Dong Rui stared at him, utterly speechless.
Was he really so transparent in this guy's eyes?
He Lingchuan continued, "Thanks to you, too—otherwise, how would I have known that Mai Xuewen—er, Xi Yunhe—was one of National Preceptor Shuangye's men?"
Dong Rui could no longer even muster surprise. "Because of the snail-toad?"
"Right, because of the snail-toad." The snail-toad was a demon puppet crafted by Dong Rui and given to the person who helped him flee Beijia. Therefore, whoever controlled that unique snail-toad had ties to National Preceptor Shuangye.
Dong Rui slowly shook his head. "No one knows about my deal with Zhu Erniang, and no one knows I'm acquainted with you."
In other words, that remained a private secret between the two of them.
"That's good." He Lingchuan let out a breath. "Keep it that way. By the way, does National Preceptor Shuangye know you have divine blood?"
"He has never seen the potions I've produced, nor has he asked me." Dong Rui thought about it. "But I'm not sure if he ever suspected anything. National Preceptor Shuangye is unfathomable; he never betrays joy, anger, or doubt on his face."
He Lingchuan held out a hand toward him. "All right, where's the divine blood?"
Grudgingly, Dong Rui reached into his storage container and slowly produced a jade vial.
He Lingchuan took it and tucked it away in one swift motion.
Dong Rui watched mournfully as the vial vanished. "From this moment on, you owe me a massive favor."
"Don't worry, when have I ever welshed on a debt?" With a little wine left in the goblet, He Lingchuan filled it to the brim for him. "You should head back now. I'll drop by to drink with you again in a few days."
With divine blood in hand, he felt far more grounded; he could now proceed to the next phase.
...
That night, He Lingchuan was regulating his breath.
Perhaps due to the sheer volume of recent events and high pressure, or perhaps because the ambient spiritual energy of heaven and earth was richer than before, his cultivation progress had accelerated lately. To his surprise, he had already begun liquefying the true power in his second dantian.
It had been a mere three months or so since he first opened his second dantian upon entering the Jeweled Tree Kingdom.
Back when he had first learned the avatar art, fighting alongside a single clone could instantly drain the true power in his dantian dry.
Now? It was child's play.
Endurance in battle was critically important, to say nothing of the quality of true power.
The effects of Emperor's Flowing Dew were truly remarkable. Its true virtue lay in moistening things silently—elevating him steadily without fanfare or obvious signs.
If he were to fight Fan Sheng again now, He Lingchuan felt far more confident of victory. Although there was likely still a disparity in origin power between them, it would no longer require such agonizing calculations as during their battle at the Lotus Palace in Baishaqu.
Chapter 606