Chapter 391: Chapter 390 Demonic True Intent (Extra update for Alliance Leader ’Raised Little Dragon Maiden’, 3/9)
Although spiritual power is intangible, its impact on people is no less formidable than physical attacks—perhaps it is even more terrifying.
Shi Xiaole suspected that as they continued their journey, these deceptive spiritual illusions would become increasingly powerful and would inflict damage on their spirits.
"Two elders, there’s no doubt that we are now in the heart of the Battlefield of Blood. There may be precious items and weapons ahead, but our spiritual power may also suffer significant damage that we may not recover from."
Shi Xiaole voiced his judgement.
Ge Jiao and Pan Yiheng exchanged glances. They had also considered what Shi Xiaole said. The question now was, should they move forward or not?
"Let’s keep moving until we cannot bear it anymore. We can then retreat."
Pan Yiheng made the decision.
For his sake as well as for his master’s, he could not give up halfway. He had to do his best.
Seeing that both were inclined to continue, Ge Jiao gnashed his teeth.
The trio pressed on.
As they suspected, the eerie screams, bizarre shadows, and even the smell of blood in the air became more intense and realistic. The ground turned completely blood-red, mirroring the legendary Battlefield of Blood to a tee.
Zing!
Waves of invisible air surged into their minds, carrying brutality, savagery, and murderous intent.
The haunting battle of the past had devastated the land, darkening the sun and moon, causing the mountains and rivers to lose their color. The Battlefield of Blood was a synonym for death and hell. The violent atmosphere here was so intense that it almost felt solid.
Blood streaks faintly appeared in Ge Jiao’s eyes, and his breath grew rapid. Shi Xiaole could detect a killing intent igniting in him.
"A spiritual weapon! That’s a spiritual weapon!"
Suddenly, Ge Jiao focused his gaze and his murderous intent momentarily faltered.
Not far from his foot stuck a knife, shrouded in darkness but emulating a peculiar glow from its blade — a rare inferior spirit blade.
"Elder Ge, stop!"
Shi Xiaole shouted, but Ge Jiao seemed not to hear him as he stubbornly pulled out the blade.
In an instant, the murderous aura from the blade pierced through Ge Jiao. His eyes turned blood-red, and like a beast that had lost all reason, he swung the blade furiously at Shi Xiaole and Pan Yiheng.
Pan Yiheng quickly retreated.
Ge Jiao was as formidable as him, and now armed with the spirit blade, he was undefeatable.
To his astonishment, Shi Xiaole darted forward, drawing his sword. With a swift clang, he knocked the blade off Ge Jiao’s hand and snapped him out of his frenzy.
"So fast!"
Pan Yiheng had witnessed Shi Xiaole’s skills before. But at this moment, he was still horrified by his extraordinary agility.
"What happened just now?"
Ge Jiao glanced at the blade on the ground and his own hand, his face filled with confusion and apprehension.
"Elder Ge, it seems you’ve reached your limit. For safety, you should retreat for now."
Once overwhelmed by murderous intent, one’s spiritual power could dwindle, leading to a loss of reason. If they didn’t evacuate in time, they would become killing machines and eventually die in madness.
Unsurprisingly, Ge Jiao was aware of this. He picked up the blade from the ground and said, "In this case, be careful. I’ll wait for you two at the exit."
He then turned away and left.
Although he couldn’t go any further, at least he had managed to obtain an inferior spirit blade — not a loss after all.
Shi Xiaole and Pan Yiheng continued their journey.
Due to his comprehension of Mind Control True Intent, Pan Yiheng had much stronger spiritual power than Ge Jiao. He remained calm despite the surrounding murderous intent.
Throughout their journey, they found some torn clothing, which turned to ashes as soon as they touched it.
The number of bones on the ground gradually increased. Unknown if influenced by the red fog, the bones had a crimson hue, making them eerily horrifying.
Pan Yiheng made some significant discoveries. After advancing over 200 meters, he found a cracked, inferior spirit sword. With a casual wave, he created sword light about thirty feet long.
"It’s a pity it isn’t a glove."
Pan Yiheng, not a swordsman though pleased, shook his head nevertheless.
Spirit-level gloves were not uncommon.
There were plenty of martial arts experts who used their fists and feet in the Martial World, apart from those skilled with swords and blades. During the prosperous era of martial arts over six hundred years ago, many relics were excavated, and some spirit-level gloves found their way into the Martial World.
Most of the glove owners were top experts from both the orthodox and Devil Path. After they died, a significant number of spirit-level gloves remained in the Battlefield of Blood.
Suppressing his trivial thoughts, Pan Yiheng looked at Shi Xiaole in surprise.
He thought Shi Xiaole would gradually succumb to the murderous aura like Ge Jiao, falling into madness, and had worried about how to handle the situation. But to his surprise, Shi Xiaole seemed even more at ease than him throughout the journey.
Pan Yiheng was certain that Shi Xiaole’s spiritual power was no less than his own.
As they penetrated deeper into the Battlefield of Blood, there were increasingly more bones on the ground, and weapons appeared from time to time, of which 99 percent were ordinary weapons.
Spirit-level weaponry wasn’t that abundant; when people said there were many in the Battlefield of Blood, they were referring to in comparison to the Martial World.
Though Pan Yiheng’s luck had been favorable. Just when the murderous intent in the air was nudging him towards madness, nearing his limit, he finally found a pair of lower-grade spirit gloves.
Although the gloves were worn, when he put them on and used them, even their diminished power increased his attacking power by about 20 percent.
This also made his strength leap into the middle rank of veteran masters.
"Shi Xiaole, it’s up to you now."
Pan Yiheng was feeling satisfied as he looked at Shi Xiaole’s calm face, a bit shocked in his heart.
This young man was truly unfathomable, his spiritual power was even stronger than his own.
"Senior Pan, please."
After Pan Yiheng left, Shi Xiaole began to move forward alone.
For others, the Blood Battle Origin was a place to find weapons and treasures. For Shi Xiaole, it had a deeper meaning – helping him comprehend the Evil Intent.
This was also a major reason why Shi Xiaole was willing to venture into this dangerous place.
Originally, Shi Xiaole’s plan was to recover Xie Xiaofeng’s identity, then join forces with the veteran masters of the Devil Path who supported him to force the top masters of the Devil Path to back down.
But now, he had another option.
If he could enhance the level of the Evil Intent here, he might not be completely reliant on his own strength to unite the Devil Path of the eight states. And this method was clearly more dependable than the previous one.
As for the old men who lost their eyesight, they had made it clear that unless they encountered danger, they would not take action on his behalf.
Unleashing his spirit, Shi Xiaole’s sea of consciousness absorbed the terrifying will coming from all directions, much like a sponge. The scene was strikingly similar to the Blood Pool of those years, yet it was slightly different.
The will in the Blood Pool emphasized ferocity, while the will in the Blood Battle Origin emphasized slaughter.
Shi Xiaole treaded carefully. Later on, a few low-grade Spiritual Weapons appeared, but he did not pick them up and wholly immersed himself in comprehension.
At the end, the slaughtering intent here was almost condensed into a blood shadow, adhering to the blood fog in the sky. A glance stirred the impulse to draw a sword and kill.
The bones in the blood shadow were badly damaged. Shi Xiaole saw clearly that the slaughtering intent was gradually wearing down the bones; after numerous years, this effect was created.
The power of the will here has already affected reality!
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Shi Xiaole circulated the Faceless Divine Skill to protect himself. The slaughtering intent, as if sensing an outsider, attacked Shi Xiaole like a blood-colored storm and entered his mind.
In his mind, the majestic and boundless spiritual power stood firm as mountains and rivers, successfully blocking this slaughtering intent.
Masters who died in the Blood Battle Origin each only exuded a trace of spiritual power. If it was the sum of everyone’s spiritual power, ten Shi Xiaoles wouldn’t be enough, he wouldn’t have been able to get here.
"The slaughter is a means, Evil Intent is the motive, but it’s not just the motive."
All along, Shi Xiaole treated the Evil Intent as the origin of slaughter and even destruction. But now, he had a more comprehensive understanding.
If the will can impact reality, why can’t it evolve slaughter and destruction and include all these methods within it?
Following this thought, Shi Xiaole began to expand the Evil Intent, allowing his spirit to wander in the endless void.
The slaughtering intent, enough to frighten ordinary people, and even veteran masters, turned into his nourishment, constantly absorbed, digested, and evolved into his will.
Quarter of an hour.
Half an hour.
Time passed little by little, and soon two days had passed.
Outside the blood fog, Ge Jiao and Pan Yiheng were also meditating, occasionally opening their eyes to look around, their faces expressing worry.
"It has been two days, and Shi Xiaole has not yet come out. Could something have happened?"
Ge Jiao was somewhat anxious.
"Shi Xiaole doesn’t seem like the reckless type... let’s wait another half a day. If there are still no signs, I will go in and take a look."
Pan Yiheng said with a frown.
In their hearts, both of them regarded Shi Xiaole as the future leading figure of the martial arts world of the eight states. If such a superb talent had an accident here, they would feel guilty.
The end of the Blood Battle Origin.
Shi Xiaole was completely red, and between his eyebrows, he revealed a sense of awe-inspiring, monstrous demonic breath.
When the redness on his body deepened to the extreme, Shi Xiaole suddenly erupted in a wild will to destroy everything in the world, bringing pressure, slaughter, and destruction, making the void emit a tremor as if in fear.
This will was similar to the slaughtering intent but was obviously more comprehensive and complex.
As if sensing a kindred type, the slaughtering intent withdrew and returned to its original place.
Shi Xiaole opened his eyes, his skin regained its jade-like luster, and the demonic breath on his body completely retracted. He opened his hands, a ball of black will light fluctuated up and down in his palm, inducing palpitations upon sight.
The slaughtering intent of the Blood Battle Origin was too pure, too extreme. A mere two days of meditation was equivalent to years of cultivation in normal conditions.
Although Shi Xiaole had not improved the Evil Intent to the level of 20%, the current Evil Intent was all-encompassing, and its level completely surpassed the previous Evil Intent.
If the Evil Intent of the past was a straight line, the present Evil Intent was a circle. The structure was completely different and could accommodate more elements.
"The Evil Intent should no longer be called the Evil Intent, but the Demonic True Intent!"
Shi Xiaole’s eyes sparkled.
People are unpredictable; everyone possesses both good and evil.
According to Shi Xiaole’s conception, the final development of the Demonic True Intent should encompass all negative energy in the world. Once the True Intent emerges, a world of demons self-forms.
From the purpose, this True Intent is an evolvable True Intent with infinite potential. Even at present, its level was not inferior to the Wind True Intent!
