*Shua*
When they entered the pool of blood in the form of rays of light, the water flowed and coiled around each of them and teleported them all away.
Ning Fan carried with him a thin piece of fiery-red dragon scale that was labelled with the number seventeen.
Each of the cultivators who enters the pool would be given a piece of dragon scale by Elder Chu and the dragon scales were individually labelled with different numbers. After they enter the pool, it would transport them to different areas.
Just as the teleportation light faded, Ning Fan reappeared. In a flash, he was already at the waterless territory located at the bottom of the blood pool.
There was a deep and quiet pool that was nearly hundreds of thousands of zhang* (3.33 m per zhang) deep above him. He stepped on the wet red soil. When he looked around, he realized that it was actually a swamp filled with mist of blood.
Beneath the Blood Pool, there was actually another realm which was separated into three layers.
The first layer was this swamp of blood mist. There were quite a lot of evil and strange blood beasts residing here. Their cultivation bases were usually at the Gold Core Realm and above. However, one could only obtain some dragon blood by killing Divine Transformation Realm blood beasts.
As for the second layer, a few Void Refinement Realm blood beasts were occupying that area. It would be extremely dangerous for Divine Transformation Realm cultivators to enter into that domain. Even ordinary Void Refinement Realm experts would be reluctant to enter without a good reason. Only Void Fragmentation Realm experts would go in without any qualms.
The third layer was rumored to be a place which was created by a former Rain Sovereign for secluded meditation. In the past tens of thousands of years, a few Rain Sovereigns of different generations had cultivated there. However, starting from the generation of the Red Cloud Rain Sovereign, it had been sealed off for some reason. Nobody was able to enter the third layer. As for the reason why it was sealed off, even the Divine Transformation Realm cultivators of the Serene Heaven Palace also had no idea why.
All of the above were information Ning Fan obtained from the revered elders of the Serene Heaven Palace.
In addition to that, he even spent a small fortune to exchange for a piece of jade slip which contained a map from the revered elders. It contained records of the general topography of the twenty-four swamps on the first layer.
Ning Fan inserted his spirit sense into the jade slip and committed it to memory. Then, he silently spread out his spirit sense which covered the vicinity of one hundred thousand li* (500m per li) like a fierce gale.
The blood qi in this place was extremely concentrated. It had a minor corrosive effect on cultivators’ spirit sense. Common Divine Transformation Realm cultivators could only slightly restrain the blood qi in this place with the help of the dragon scale which Elder Chu had given. They certainly would not dare to spread their spirit sense too far away.
Ning Fan, however, did not face any trouble in this aspect. He had been involved in countless killings and massacres in his entire life and had tempered himself in the sea of blood for a long period of time. Thus, he was not afraid of the blood qi in this place at all.
After a long while, Ning Fan withdrew his spirit sense. There was no other cultivator aside from him within the area of one hundred thousand li* (500m per li). On the other hand, quite a lot of blood beasts reside around this area.
Besides that, he discovered a blood lake at the center of the seventeenth swamp. It was a passage leading to the domain of the second layer.
Ning Fan shook his head. He did not have the great ambition of heading to the second layer and challenging the Void Refinement Realm blood beasts there.
His strength barely allowed him to go against an Early Void Refinement Realm. He could at most avoid getting himself killed. Killing an Early Void Refinement Realm beast was simply a fantasy.
Even though he possessed three Void Refinement Realm spiritual puppets, who could guarantee that he would not be attacked by three Void Refinement Realm beasts or more after he entered the second layer?
When that really happens, Ning Fan would not be able to assure his own safety.
His mission was only to kill five hundred Divine Transformation Realm blood beasts and gather fifty bottles of dragon blood.
Within the twenty-four swamps on the first layer, there would certainly be a sufficient number of blood beasts for Ning Fan to kill. Thus, it was unnecessary for him to undertake such a risk.
*Roar*
At the swamp he was currently in, tall, blood-red trees grew everywhere. However, a strange and bizarre roar which seemed to be from ten thousand dragons echoed in the air from the center of the thick forest.
As soon as the deafening roar was heard, nearly one thousand blood-red demon beasts with completely rotten bodies dashed out of the dense forest, charging towards Ning Fan.
These demon beasts did not have high spiritual intelligence. They were creatures in the middle of demon beasts and corpses. Most of them were in a half human and half dragon form. Once they sensed another living creature intruding their territory, they would attack without any regard.
Most of these blood beasts were at the Gold Core Realm. Only eleven of them were at the Nascent Soul Realm while one was at the Early Divine Transformation Realm.
To ordinary Divine Transformation Realm cultivators, they would probably face a certain amount of danger when they get attacked by this group of demon beasts.
To Ning Fan, however, this group of demon beasts which only consisted of one thousand demon beasts were negligible even though there was an Early Divine Transformation Realm blood beast among them!
*Shua*
Sword light suddenly flashed inside Ning Fan’s eyes. He violently unleashed his sword sense and black-colored sword qi towards every direction.
Each of the blood beasts instinctively revealed an expression of fear as the sword sense went through them. However, before they could yelp or shriek, they were already shredded into pieces. Foul and filthy blood splattered all over the ground.
With the strength of Ning Fan’s current sword sense, it could instantly kill all the blood beasts below the Divine Transformation Realm.
As for the Early Divine Transformation Realm blood beast, both of its demon arms were severed before it could react when the sword sense struck it. It let out a painful cry and turned around to flee.
Pitifully, how could a mere Early Divine Transformation Realm beast escape from Ning Fan?
*Shua*
Starlight twinkled on Ning Fan’s glabella and a shadow of a sword shot out with an unimaginable speed. It caught up with the Early Divine Transformation Realm beast and went through its body, penetrating it from inside out. There was no way a mere Early Divine Transformation Realm blood beast would be able to withstand the power of a Peak Grade Spirit Treasure. It yelped and perished instantly.
Afterwards, eleven droplets of dark-red blood floated in the air where it died. All of them were drawn towards Ning Fan as he waved his hand and he kept it into a jade bottle.
“Eleven drops… An ordinary Early Divine Transformation Realm blood beast should only drop ten drops of dragon blood. I’m afraid the reason why this blood beast dropped eleven drops of dragon blood is closely related to the fact that it was close to breaking through to the Mid Divine Transformation Realm. Does this mean that the higher the cultivation realm of the blood beast, the more amount of dragon blood I can get from killing them?”
Ning Fan muttered to himself. He conjured his Fu Li Wings and stretched them wide. By flapping his wings just once, he disappeared without leaving a single trace.
Within the seventeenth swamp, the roars and cries of blood beasts could constantly be heard from different parts of the area.
Half a day later, Ning Fan had gone to nearly every part within the seventeenth swamp, killing every single blood beast in his sight. He eliminated 31 Divine Transformation Realm blood beasts in total. Among them, the strongest ones had Peak Divine Transformation Realm cultivation bases.
However, outside a thick forest which was in the deepest and quietest part of the swamp, Ning Fan halted. His eyes widened with solemnity.
Nearly all of the Divine Transformation Realm blood beasts within the seventeenth swamp had been eliminated by him. Only this place still had Divine Transformation Realm qi.
He sensed that there were nearly ten indistinct but vigorous qi inside the forest. All of them were at the Divine Transformation Realm.
Aside from them, there was also one with the strongest cultivation base that was actually at the level of the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm.
When they noticed Ning Fan’s arrival, nearly one hundred thousand blood beasts immediately rushed out of the forest. Every single one of them bellowed and roared in a weird manner.
One hundred thousand Gold Core Realm beasts, five hundred Nascent Soul Realm beasts and eleven Divine Transformation Realm beasts.
Moreover, the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm blood beast had a decayed beast body that was four thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall. Its aura was domineering as if it was the king that commanded this large group of blood beasts.
“A beast king?”
Ning Fan’s brows gently knitted together. His expression was serious.
It’s beyond my expectations that a beast king can still be born among these blood beasts which only have low spiritual intelligence.
If a common Divine Transformation Realm cultivator fell into this large pack of beasts that was led by a beast king, they would probably be torn into pieces in mere seconds.
*Roar*
When the beast king let out an ear-splitting roar, countless beast shadows soared into the sky. They bared their fangs at Ning Fan as they lunged at him.
In any case, they were just blood beasts. Although their group was huge, their spiritual intelligence were too low and they did not even know how to get into a formation. To Ning Fan who had a sword sense, it did not matter how many low-level enemies he faced. As long as they were incapable of forming a battle formation and focusing all of their power at one spot, he had nothing to be afraid of.
“Destroy!”
He unleashed his sword sense once again. With just a sweep of his sword sense, tens of thousands of Gold Core Realm blood beasts perished right away.
When he made the second sweep with his sword sense across the area, not a single Gold Core Realm blood beast was left.
When he made the third sweep, the five hundred Nascent Soul Realm blood beasts were all eliminated.
Out of the eleven Divine Transformation Realm blood beasts, four of them which had Early Divine Transformation Realm cultivation base had also been seriously injured by the sword sense.
*Roar*
That beast king seemed to have been greatly angered. He led all of the remaining Divine Transformation Realm beasts and charged towards Ning Fan.
The eleven gigantic beasts which were at least one thousand zhang* (3.33m per zhang) tall trampled upon mountains and rivers as they rushed towards him. Their aura force was impressive.
Ning Fan flung one of his hands outward. His Separation Slayer Sword separated into eleven sword shadows and flew towards the incoming beasts.
The power of the flying sword which was a Peak Grade Spirit Treasure was extremely terrifying. Nearly at the same moment when the beasts came into contact with the sword shadows, four Early Divine Transformation Realm ferocious beasts instantly turned into ashes.
The rest of the ferocious beasts also suffered different degrees of injuries. Only the two Peak Divine Transformation Realm beasts and the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm beast king managed to crush the sword shadows with their claws and remained unharmed. After that attack, their beast pupils became even more furious and fierce.
*Roar*
The remaining seven blood beasts let out another round of roars in unison. The blood-red sound waves carried a trace of power of the genuine dragon roar, nearly causing Ning Fan’s eardrum to hurt quite a bit. Even the blood and qi in his chest turned chaotic.
If an ordinary Divine Transformation Realm cultivator were to be in Ning Fan’s shoes, their physical bodies would have probably been destroyed by the vibration of the sound waves.
“Break!”
Ning Fan flicked his sleeve, scattering tiny starry sand which looked like shiny blood droplets.
As the wind carried the blood-red sand to the source of the sound, countless invisible sound waves were literally deadened.
It was the Blood Star Sand. This sand could not only break different kinds of magic treasures, but also had the magical effect of nullifying various magic techniques.
After cancelling the roars of the seven blood beasts, Ning Fan no longer gave them another chance to retaliate. He took a step forward and dispersed into a dark shadow cloud.
In the next second, the black shadow coiled around each of the blood beasts and engulfed them one after another. Every time he dispersed and recondensed his physical body, one blood beast would certainly be cut to pieces inside the black shadow.
The beast king finally felt fear. It has been a very long time since he last saw a brutal and ferocious man like Ning Fan who could kill Divine Transformation Realm beings like ants.
“You sinful beast! Are you trying to run away?!”
After eliminating six blood beasts in a row, Ning Fan condensed his incarnation. His black hair danced wildly in the air while his black robes fluttered as the wind blew.
He stepped forward and locked on to the qi of the beast king. In the next moment, he dispersed into a dark shadow.
*Rumble*
When he recondensed his physical body, he was right in front of the beast king. The power of his Black Tempest Rupture Art pulverized a dignified Half-Step Void Refinement Realm beast king into nothingness. Not even a fragment of its bones was left.
Standing amidst the filthy sea of blood and decayed corpses which were piled up like a mountain, Ning Fan did not deactivate his incarnation. Without delay, he waved his hand and drew all the blood droplets to him. From this massacre, he had obtained one hundred and fifty droplets of dragon blood.
As such, the blood beasts in the seventeenth swamp had been completely wiped out by Ning Fan alone. He had killed 42 Divine Transformation Realm blood beasts and obtained 540 droplets of dragon blood in total. That much dragon blood was already enough to fill up five jade bottles.
“Next, I shall head to the eighteenth swamp…”
The current Ning Fan was dressed in black robes with hair that was slick black. His expression was sternly cool and indifferent. When he took a step forward, he disappeared ethereally without leaving a shadow. With terrifying speed, he headed straight into the eighteenth swamp.
Half a day later, the inhabitants of the eighteenth swamp were annihilated.
Three days later, Ning Fan eliminated the beast king residing in the twenty-fourth swamp.
The twenty-four swamps seemed to be arranged in a circle formation. After Ning Fan was done with the twenty-fourth swamp, he went to the next area which was the first swamp and continued on killing every blood beast he could find.
Another six days passed by. Ning Fan had already killed his way up to the thirteenth swamp, eliminating a total of eight hundred Divine Transformation Realm blood beasts.
Within just ten days, he had gathered 80 bottles of dragon blood by activating his demon wings and using his incarnation.
If all of the 80 bottles of dragon blood were to be brewed into blood wine, they would be equivalent to four hundred thousand units of magic power ten years later!
Once the blood wine finishes brewing, Ning Fan would definitely be able to break through to the Void Refinement Realm without much effort!
In the thirteenth swamp, Ning Fan did not commit a large massacre like what he did in the other swamps because he had discovered some marks that were left by cultivators who had fought in this area.
Judging by the situation in this swamp, it seemed like there was not only one cultivator within this place. It was very likely that all the revered elders of the Serene Heaven Palace had been teleported here.
After all, the members of the Serene Heaven Palace were Elder Chu’s subordinates. Many of those who entered the Blood Dragon Pool were of the Early and Mid Divine Transformation Realm. It would be extremely risky for them to act alone.
Therefore, Elder Chu gave the revered elders of the Serene Heaven Palace the same dragon scales which led them to the same place while giving Ning Fan a different one to let him be on his own.
*Roar*
The fierce roar of a beast king echoed from afar. What came along with the roar were the painful cries of cultivators.
Ning Fan’s eyes flashed with solemnity.
Apparently, the revered elders of the Serene Heaven Palace encountered the large herd of the beast king of the current swamp they were in.
He then briefly thought to himself.
Elder Chu treats me quite well. Besides, the Divine Transformation Realm cultivators of the Serene Heaven Palace are quite friendly and outgoing, especially Yu Bai. They could be considered as friends of mine.
Therefore, I can’t just watch them die without lending a hand.
*Shush*
Ning Fan fluttered his demon wings and propelled forward like a trace of purple smoke. In seconds, he travelled one hundred thousand li* (500m per li) away.
Outside the Blood Dragon Pool, a white-robed middle-aged man who only had a single arm sat on the ground in a meditative position. Ten days had passed but his eyes remained close and he had never spoken a single word from the beginning.
Beside him stood a red-haired elderly man. He was none other than Chu Chang’an. His face was old but his eyes were filled with energy. Moreover, there was a hint of astonishment on his face.
He held a silver jade plate in his hand. The jade plate was embedded with twenty pieces of dragon scales. Among them, only the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth dragon scales were still glowing. The rest of the dragon scales had turned grey and dull.
Each of these dragon scales represented the life of a beast king!
Since the lights of twenty of the dragon scales had faded, it meant that twenty beast kings were dead!
Chu Chang’an was constantly complaining inwardly. The beast kings were different from the other blood beasts. They were meant to be raised into Void Refinement Realm blood beasts.
So many of them are dead…
Even with his eyes closed, Chu Chang’an knew full well who killed these beast kings.
The first beast king that was killed was the seventeenth beast king. It was the beast king which resided in the swamp where Ning Fan was sent to.
“It has only been ten days and this kid has already killed twenty of my beast kings… Could it be that this kid actually has a Void Refinement Realm cultivation base? Even though the blood beast kings I raised are only Half-Step Void Refinement Realm beasts, they aren’t easy to defeat… But within just ten days, he killed twenty of them. Perhaps this kid has already wiped out all of the blood beasts of the twenty swamps on the first layer since the beast kings are already dead… With regards to his speed of killing, I suppose not even Void Refinement Realm cultivators could rival him!”
Chu Chang’an sighed continuously. He had never expected that Ning Fan would be so fierce.
Now, he actually regretted not reminding Ning Fan that he must not kill the beast kings.
The reason why he forgot to remind him was because he had never truly thought that Ning Fan had the strength to kill a beast king.
“Revered Ming, Zhou Ming… This young man is really a monster! Judging from how the current situation looks, I’m afraid he has already gathered 50 bottles of dragon blood in just ten days. Eldest Prince, you’ve won…”
Chu Chang’an’s tone became even more bitter and heavier. He would probably need many years to raise and replace the blood beasts that Ning Fan had killed.
That is to say, it would be rare to find Divine Transformation Realm blood beasts in the swamps in the first layer in the following tens of years or even hundreds of years. As for the revered elders who would come to gather some dragon blood in the future, their efforts would probably be fruitless.
All in all, the beasts that were the most difficult to raise were the twenty beast kings…
Yun Tianjue silently listened to Chu Chang’an’s complaints. His eyebrows slightly loosened and his expression became a little gentler.
Evidently, he was also worried about Ning Fan’s safety after all.
Worries…
It was quite ridiculous for a cold-blooded person like him to actually be worried about a stranger’s safety.
“This is not possible! T-This is…”
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn had passed, Chu Chang’an suddenly cried in alarm.
On the jade plate, the dragon scale representing the thirteenth beast king slowly turned dim.
However, it wasn’t that which had astonished him the most. What truly surprised him was when three dragon scales on his other golden jade plate also grew dark simultaneously.
The silver jade plate only contained twenty-four dragon scales. They represented the twenty-four beast kings.
The golden jade plate, however, was embedded with one hundred and eight dragon scales. They represented the Void Refinement Realm blood beasts on the second layer!
“That Zhou Ming has actually entered the second layer! He has even killed three Early Void Refinement Realm blood beasts?!”
Chu Chang’an’s heart was filled with a massive surprise. To him, it was absolutely impossible for a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator to kill a Void Refinement Realm being, much less killing three of them at the same time.
He was very curious about how Ning Fan did it. At the very least, Chu Chang’an was certainly sure that he would not be able to kill three Void Refinement Realm beings on his own when he was at the Peak Divine Transformation Realm.
Even after he broke through to the Void Refinement Realm, he was still unable to eliminate three cultivators who were at the same cultivation level as him.
For the first time, Chu Chang’an found out that he had been underestimating Ning Fan all this time.
The reason why this kid was able to kill Revered Flame was definitely not just because he has the Indestructible Fire Body. Neither was it an accident!
Translated by Tommy, edited by Roel.
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