Chapter 189: Chapter 171: Sacrificial Death
"Whoosh!"
The moment the black-faced man died, the blood-red sea within the jade altar began to churn, transforming into a surging sea of blood that enveloped the black-faced man’s corpse. Even his shattered soul was captured and taken away by a beam of blood-colored spiritual light.
"Swish!"
Fortunately, Gu Yuan reacted quickly, using his mana to sweep away the storage bag and spiritual artifact from the black-faced man’s body.
The blood-red sea seemed only interested in the corpse and soul, showing no reaction to Gu Yuan retrieving the storage bag.
After securing the storage bag and spiritual artifact, Gu Yuan quietly turned his head to look at the middle-aged Daoist.
The middle-aged Daoist, after being struck by the Jade Water Fire-Eyed Ape’s Fire Eye Technique, stood paralyzed, unable to move.
In his pupils, a large insect shadow seemed to be in a struggle with something, emitting a wave of invisible divine thought that spread outwards.
"Roar!"
Seeing this, Gu Yuan’s mind shifted, and the Three-Eyed Thunder Flood Dragon immediately emerged from his sea of consciousness, attacking towards the middle-aged Daoist’s sea of consciousness.
"Boom!"
The middle-aged Daoist’s consciousness was in a deadlock, unable to move, making it easy for the Three-Eyed Thunder Flood Dragon to invade his sea of consciousness.
Within the middle-aged Daoist’s sea of consciousness, a palm-sized, four-winged, entirely green insect with a golden-tinged mouth was continuously tearing at a broken shadow.
The shadow wore a lotus hat and Daoist robe, looking identical to the middle-aged Daoist.
However, at this moment, his limbs were missing, and everything below his chest had disappeared. His divine soul was thin, with only his head still barely holding on, emitting divine thoughts to resist the attacks of the Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm.
Yet the strength of their soul thoughts was already on different levels. If not for the Jade Water Fire-Eyed Ape’s Fire Eye Technique, which momentarily paralyzed both man and insect, the middle-aged Daoist’s last divine soul head would have been completely devoured by the Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm by now.
"Sizzle!"
Sensing the intrusion of the Three-Eyed Thunder Flood Dragon, the Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm’s eyes flared with fierce light as it began to desperately devour the middle-aged Daoist’s final remaining head.
"Boom!"
But how could the Three-Eyed Thunder Flood Dragon allow it to succeed? With a light sweep of its tail, it crossed the sea of consciousness, carrying a surge of thunder to directly attack the Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm.
"Bang!"
The Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm seemed ferocious and bold, but under the thunder, it was instantly scorched black, its insect shadow dimmed.
"Whoosh!"
Seeing this, the Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm swiftly flew out from the middle-aged Daoist’s sea of consciousness, fleeing toward the boundless sea of blood.
This worm was highly mysterious, appearing as an illusory spirit body within the sea of consciousness. However, once outside, it immediately transformed into a tangible insect form, glowing jade green with rapidly flapping four wings, speeding away like a jade green meteor.
"Zheng!"
But in the void, a sword light arrived in an instant, even faster than the worm. Moreover, ice-blue chill winds roared in, freezing the void and instantly covering its wings in frost.
Not only that, but an ice-blue giant palm unfurled like a descending sky, closing in to clutch it.
The terrifying qi power made its four wings tremble with panic.
"Spare me! Spare me!"
"My lord, spare me; I am willing to submit and serve my lord!"
Seeing this, the Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm immediately spoke, pleading with Gu Yuan for mercy.
But Gu Yuan remained silent, simply grasping with his large hand, sword qi clanging, determined to slay it.
"My heart’s essence blood and demon soul spiritual light, I am willing to offer to my lord!"
Witnessing this scene, the Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm trembled, realizing the fearsome figure before it wasn’t one to be trifled with. Without hesitation, it spat out a stream of jade green blood and a cluster of azure light.
Within the light, a miniature version of the Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm seemed to swim.
After spitting out these two items, the Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm’s aura significantly declined, becoming weak and dispirited.
"Swish!"
Gu Yuan used his mana to sweep up the heart’s essence blood and divine soul light, clenching them in his grasp before retracting the sword light and calling back the Star Spirit, reverting his body to normal.
In this world, cultivation has evolved numerous Beast Taming Secret Techniques, which generally fall into three categories.
The first category is the Contract Technique, where the human and beast’s essence blood is used to inscribe a contract on a Secret Technique-made contract daoist book. If violated, the essence blood backfires, potentially causing severe injury.
This method is the simplest and most easily exploited, generally only established when both parties are of equal standing.
The second category involves the Beast Taming Seal, heavily injuring a demon beast until its divine soul is critically weak, then imprinting a dharma seal on its divine soul, thereafter controlling its life and death, establishing a master-subordinate relationship.
The third category occurs when the demon beast willingly submits, offering its heart’s essence blood and demon soul spiritual light. The former is a source of its physical body, dangerous if another possesses it; the latter, part of its demon soul, could lead to immediate soul extinction if destroyed.
These are tied to the demon beast’s life, unfathomable unless truly desperate.
But the Heart-devouring Spirit-Stealing Worm realized that the Daoist before it was ruthless and skillful, very unlike Dan Shanhe, willing to sign a mutual cooperation contract.
If it wouldn’t submit, only death awaited it!
It could only offer its heart’s essence blood and demon soul spiritual light.
"My lord, spare me! My lord, spare me!"
Seeing Gu Yuan secure the two items, the Heart-devouring Insect relaxed considerably, though still terrified, pleading for its life.
"Enough with the noise!"
With these two items in hand, the worm could cause no further trouble. But Gu Yuan had no time to deal with the worm, thus scolding it, then once more extending his divine sense into the middle-aged Daoist’s sea of consciousness.
The Heart-devouring Insect quickly quieted, not daring to utter another word.
...
Within the sea of consciousness, the middle-aged Daoist’s divine soul was just a flickering candle in the wind.
Yet upon seeing Gu Yuan’s divine sense enter, a smile appeared on his face as he thanked Gu Yuan:
"Young friend, thank you for killing Dan Shanhe and saving my daughter’s life!"
"Senior, you’re too kind. I was merely following someone’s request!"
Gu Yuan replied indifferently, not taking credit, just observing the middle-aged Daoist’s shattered divine soul with a slight frown.
"No worries, I am already a dead man walking."
"The Heart-devouring Insect has long devoured my divine soul almost entirely, leaving no chance for recovery. The reason for my survival was merely to keep the soul lamp alight, luring Qingqing here..."
"Had it not been for a secret technique of my sect preserving some memories, Qingqing might have fallen victim to his poison by now."
"A friend of many years, yet I found a wolf at my side..."
"Young friend, I am doomed. I only have one request: the ice coffin Qingqing resides in is a treasure left by her mother, known as the Ice Soul Jade Coffin, capable of sustaining life. In a dire moment, I found no other option and placed her within it."
"Currently, I lack the power to open the ice coffin. I only ask you to use my secret technique to release Qingqing."
"As a reward, I can give you the secret method for refining the Six-Aperture Celestial Thunder Stone. This technique can produce at least a middle-grade spiritual artifact, possessing substantial slaughter power; it won’t disappoint you..."
Afterward, the middle-aged Daoist softly recited a lengthy secret spell.
Upon finishing the secret spell, the middle-aged Daoist’s divine soul became nearly translucent.
"Young friend, my daughter possesses the Celestial Charm Thunder Yin Body, the perfect choice for a Dao companion. If you do not mind, I would entrust my daughter to you!"
The middle-aged Daoist, in his last moments, passionately gazed at Gu Yuan and sincerely proposed.
But Gu Yuan remained silent.
Seeing this, the middle-aged Daoist could only sigh helplessly before employing his final divine thought, directly exiting from the sea of consciousness and voluntarily entering the sea of blood.
"Splash!"
The sea of blood surged intensely, enveloping the middle-aged Daoist’s divine thought. Subsequently, his physical body ceased breathing, lifted up by the blood sea.
Prior to this, his storage bag and spiritual artifact were similarly swept away by Gu Yuan first.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
The entire jade altar then shone brightly, emitting a massive repelling force, pushing Gu Yuan away.
Seeing this, Gu Yuan quickly gathered the two spirit ores atop the jade platform, then left the jade altar with Cen Qingqing’s jade coffin.
