Chapter 1012, Staying Behind

Translator: Jon

Translation Checker: Silavin

 

The situation was chaotic at that moment. Even with Dao Thirteen around, things seemed to be getting out of control.

 

Zhang Julai landed a slam on the armrest and snapped. “Shut up!”

 

Only then did these Blood Race members fall silent. Still, one of them said, “Cave Master, in that case, how are we supposed to cultivate our powers from now on?”

 

It wasn’t like they could just absorb World Spiritual Qi or the power from the Spirit Stones. In that case, the Holy Race members would lose their advantage.

 

Since Zhang Julai had already received Lu Ye’s order, he replied confidently, “I’ve asked you to stop killing blood meals so that you can cultivate your powers sustainably. Although it’s easy for blood meals to breed, it’s difficult for them to grow up. If we keep killing them without restraints, there will come a day when no more blood meals are left. I’ll ask some people to get some blood from nearby villages at regular intervals to ensure all of you have sufficient resources to cultivate your powers.”

 

It wasn’t necessary for Blood Race members to kill Humans when sucking their blood, but during this process, they would find it difficult to stop. This was why when a Human was targeted by a Blood Race member, they would die from all their blood getting sucked out of their body.

 

If only some blood was drawn from those Humans, it would only be temporarily harmful to their health. They could stay alive at the very least.

 

This was the solution Lu Ye had come up with. He had a plan in his mind, but if he wanted to execute it, he had to rely on the Blood Race. As a Human, he couldn’t achieve much in Blood Refinement Boundary on his own.

 

Since he had to make use of the Blood Race, he couldn’t oppress them. At the very least, he had to satisfy their need for cultivating their powers.

 

If the plan was to be executed, residents from nearby villages only had to contribute some blood at regular intervals. No Humans would be killed by the Blood Race again.

 

Blood Refinement Boundary being ruled by the Blood Race was how this world worked. Unless Lu Ye could destroy all the Blood Race members, he couldn’t improve the status of Humans in this world.

 

A Blood Race member shouted, “The blood tastes bad when it’s not fresh out of a Human…”

 

Naturally, Lu Ye wasn’t the only one who had come up with this idea. Some Blood Race members had tried to execute the plan in the past, but they gave up on it in the end. That was mainly because of the texture and taste.

 

Grabbing Humans and sucking the blood right out of them felt different from consuming the blood that had been drawn out in advance.

 

The desire to suck the blood right out of Humans was in the veins of these Blood Race members, even though either way would achieve the same result.

 

Zhang Julai growled, “It’s the first order I’ve given as the Cave Master. I don’t care what your opinions are. You have to obey my order!”

 

Although these Blood Race members were displeased, they could only agree to it when they saw how furious Zhang Julai was. Still, they had no idea why the Cave Master would give such an order.

 

“Don’t even try to do it behind my back. If I find out that anyone disobeys my order, I won’t let him off the hook,” Zhang Julai ordered.

 

This was the rule in Blood Refinement Boundary; power was everything. Since Zhang Julai had Dao Thirteen with him, he was intimidating enough to command obedience from his subordinates.

 

“Let’s move on to the second thing,” Zhang Julai said. “I’m ready to attack Hundred Leap Cave Mansion!”

 

Since Hundred Leap Cave Mansion and Bright Moon Cave Mansion were near each other, there were naturally some conflicts between them. The Blood Race member who had contended with Zhang Julai before came from Hundred Leap Cave Mansion.

 

In the past, Hundred Leap Cave Mansion had attacked Bright Moon Cave Mansion on three occasions, but Sun Miaozhu managed to lead her subordinates and fend them off. However, the seed of hatred had been sown as several of their Blood Race members were killed.

 

Therefore, when Zhang Julai announced that he was ready to attack Hundred Leap Cave Mansion, these crestfallen Blood Race members suddenly became high-spirited. A Blood Race member shouted, “We should’ve attacked them long ago. Cave Master, I’m willing to be the first to do that!”

 

“Count me in, Cave Master!”

 

“I’m going as well!”

 

They were agitated, ready to storm into Hundred Leap Cave Mansion and teach them a lesson.

 

Lu Ye stood behind Zhang Julai and observed them, finally realising how belligerent the Blood Race was. He had a lot of information about Blood Refinement Boundary in his mind, so he wasn’t surprised. Still, he was shocked when he witnessed it.

 

Blood Race members were eager to destroy each other for the Blood Crystals.

 

Blood Crystals were the most desirable cultivation resources for the Blood Race when compared with World Spiritual Qi, Spirit Stones, or blood from Humans. It was just like how Spirit Beasts in Jiu Zhou would frequently confront each other. They could consume Mutant Cores of the same Race to increase their powers.

 

After the announcement of the second order, the displeasure and gloominess caused by the first order were gone.

 

Zhang Julai nodded with satisfaction. “Very well. In that case, we’ll get some rest today and set off tomorrow.”

 

A Blood Race member asked, “Cave Master, are all of us going? Do some people need to stay behind?”

 

“There’s no need for that. All of us will be going.” Zhang Julai waved his hand. Even the Blood Race members in the Spirit Creek Realm were excited. They didn’t seem afraid of death, even though it was a wonder what they could do after they went there.

 

It was Lu Ye’s idea to let all Blood Race members set off. He had no doubt that some Blood Race members would lose their lives during the battle, and none of those Spirit Creek Realm Masters could come back alive.

 

As long as Dao Thirteen was with Zhang Julai, the battle would be well within their control. Dao Thirteen could determine how many Blood Race members would stay alive.

 

Naturally, Lu Ye was fine with Blood Race members getting killed. He was glad to see more Blood Race members losing their lives. All of them had their Blood Crystals, though the quality varied. Now, he lacked Blood Crystals.

 

Certainly, he couldn’t let too many of them die either. He even had to recruit more people as Hundred Leap Cave Mansion wasn’t his only target.

 

He still had many ideas he would have to realise. As such, he needed to have a great force under his control. He couldn’t achieve much on his own.

 

The night went by in silence. The next day, Zhang Julai led the high-spirited Blood Race members to launch an attack against Hundred Leap Cave Mansion.

 

Dao Thirteen had tagged along while Lu Ye stayed behind. It seemed to the others that Zhang Julai had told him to take care of the Cave Mansion, but the truth was that Lu Ye didn’t want to waste his time. Presently, he only had limited power to help, so he decided to leave the matter of attacking Hundred Leap Cave Mansion to Dao Thirteen.

 

Besides him, only those Human captives were left in Bright Moon Cave Mansion. Most of them were women while there were several men.

 

Even though there were no more Blood Race members around, they still wouldn’t run away. It was mainly because they couldn’t do that.

 

The entrance of Bright Moon Cave Mansion was located in the middle of a rock face. Since these Humans had little to no cultivation, they couldn’t leave.

 

Lu Ye built an Alarm Ward at the entrance and went to his dugout.

 

He didn’t need to manage those Humans, nor did he know how to do that. He didn’t have to worry about their survival. In Bright Moon Cave Mansion, there were some beasts captured by the Blood Race members and Spirit Rice brought back from nearby villages. These Humans had more than enough food to survive, so they just had to take care of themselves.

 

While seated cross-legged in his dugout, Lu Ye looked into his mind and studied the new Glyphs on the Tree of Glyphs.

 

In the nameless Hidden Realm, he had only acquired two new Glyphs. One was Soul Control, which was immensely useful. Both Dao Thirteen and Zhang Julai could be considered his Soul Slaves.

 

With Soul Control’s help, he had absolute control over the Soul Slaves. He didn’t have to worry that they would betray him.

 

The other Glyph was United as One. It could be used to draw energy from others, so it was similar to Phoenix Wings in a way. However, even though it was easy to activate the Glyph, it was difficult to sustain it.

 

It was unlike Phoenix Wings. Once the Glyph took shape, it would be branded in the spot where Lu Ye came into contact with the other person. With Lu Ye sustaining the Glyph, it wouldn’t dissipate.

 

On the other hand, United as One wasn’t as stable. Once Spiritual Powers surged, the Glyph might fall apart.

 

Moreover, since the Glyph could be used on more than two people, many factors were beyond Lu Ye’s control.

 

When he acquired the Glyph, he didn’t think too deeply about it. Now that he had the time to ponder, he realised the Glyph was like a lethal weapon. It would be immensely useful to the user in some situations.

 

For example, when two armies were at war, each side had to build its formation. Even if they could work well together, they couldn’t draw energy from each other. On the other hand, the auras of the cultivators from the other side were closely connected with the help of United as One. It was apparent which side was the stronger one.

 

Furthermore, with the Glyph as the core, one could build a Grand Ward no one had seen before to gather the powers of all the cultivators within the Ward. If that could be achieved, the power they could showcase would be unimaginable.

 

It wasn’t until now that Lu Ye realised he had underestimated the Glyph’s power.

 

He had borrowed many books on the Way of Glyphs from Yun Xuechu’s library and learned about many Glyphs, but he had never seen this Glyph before.

 

In fact, before Soul Control, Phoenix Wings, and Two Hearts Beating as One were activated on the Tree of Glyphs, Lu Ye had never thought there were such amazing Glyphs in this world. He couldn’t help but think the Way of Glyphs was indeed abstruse.

 

He needed more time to study the uses of United as One, but he could use this Glyph as the core to make a ward nexus. That way, the person holding the ward nexus could activate the Glyph at any moment and let his companions draw energy from each other, which would allow them to use a much greater power. This was helpful to some of the plans in his mind.

 

He acted on his idea the next moment. Back then, he had learned about the Way of Artification from Kong Kong in the Sword and Tool Sect for two months, so he could be considered a beginner in this Way. He didn’t study the Way further as he didn’t have the time and energy.

 

To him, even if he didn’t have the right tools at hand, he could easily use his Fire-Attribute Spiritual Power to craft a ward nexus. It would only take him more effort as his cultivation had been sealed.

 

He had a lot of materials in his Storage Bag, so he took some of them out and burned them with his Spiritual Power.

 

As time passed, it only took Lu Ye half a day to craft a ward nexus that contained the United as One Glyph. Since he was only a First-Order Cloud River Realm Master, the ward nexus looked rather unpolished.

 

He activated his Spiritual Power and infused it into the ward nexus. As the item buzzed, a light expanded in all directions. The light was made from tiny elements of Yin and Yang. With the ward nexus as the centre, the light covered a radius of three metres.

 

Lu Ye furrowed his brows as this was different from what he had expected.

 

Since the light only covered a radius of three metres, it meant that only cultivators within this range could draw energy from each other. They couldn’t do so once they were out of this range.