I Pick up a Lost Godhood

Chapter 143 - 141: Self-Reliance

(A double Chapter release. Please give your recommendation votes on Monday. Much appreciated!)

"Don’t, please don’t. If anyone’s going to die, it’ll be me before you. Seeing how rushed these Demon Cultivators are, someone must have run into Wang Meng or Li Tianyi’s group. So we have to stay calm."

Perhaps at the mention of Li Tianyi’s name, the two female disciples’ expressions eased slightly.

Liuu Mei also regained a bit of confidence, but her heart quickly sank again. "I heard their Master is here too. These disciples are all at the twentieth-something layer of Cultivation. Their Master... Ah, isn’t this place restricted to the Thirtieth Layer? How... could it be..."

Zhou Qian gave a bitter smile. "I’m afraid this really is a trap. We’re just lambs being led to the slaughter. Sigh."

This time, Lingyin Hall’s good intentions had backfired, while Thunderlight Hall had gotten the rawest deal imaginable.

Wang Meng’s blatant use of Sword Flight made him a sitting duck, and he was immediately surrounded by three Demon Cultivation Disciples.

"Kid, come with us quietly. Save us the trouble."

"Senior Brother, our luck is terrible. This kid’s only at the Fifteenth Layer. It’d be a waste of time to take him back. Let’s just harvest his Essence Blood and Elemental Power and go grab someone else."

The three of them sized up Wang Meng like an object, their opinions quickly aligning. Escorting Wang Meng back would be too much of a time-waster. This level of "goods" was probably the worst among the people who had come this time, completely worthless. If it were a Female Saint Cultivator, it might be worth the trip, but a man...

"Kill him!"

The three Demon Cultivators from the Blood Soul Hall—one at the seventeenth layer, one at the eighteenth, and one at the twenty-second—already saw Wang Meng as a fish in a barrel.

They drew their swords simultaneously, hacking at Wang Meng with waves of blood-red Sword Qi. Wang Meng dodged. The moment these Demon Cultivation Disciples appeared, Wang Meng knew something was wrong here.

Judging by the nature of their Elemental Power, they were using a Forbidden Technique that harmed others for their own benefit. So-called Forbidden Techniques involved almost no self-cultivation, instead seizing the achievements of others for oneself. However, judging by their murky Elemental Qi, this Cultivation Technique wasn’t particularly sophisticated.

Wang Meng dodged all three streams of Sword Qi, but the three Demon Cultivators didn’t immediately give chase. Instead, they looked smug.

"Kid, are you feeling your whole body go numb?"

"The Blood Soul Technique is invincible!"

The area around Wang Meng had turned crimson, filled with a faint, bloody mist.

ZING... ZING...

Two streaks of red light shot out from the red mist, striking two of the Demon Cultivators directly. In an instant, their bodies erupted into fireballs.

Wang Meng walked out of the red mist. "To think you’d show off such pathetic Magic. Truly, each generation is worse than the last."

’In his past life, he was the leader of the Evil Cultivators. Having inherited everything from that life, Wang Meng didn’t actually care whether someone was a Demon Cultivator or a Saint Cultivator—they were all just methods. Even for a technique that harmed others for personal gain, this kind of simple flesh-and-blood Cultivation Technique was trash in Wang Meng’s eyes. Most importantly, people who cultivated this way could never glimpse the Celestial Dao. They were garbage.’

"You... That’s... Five Elements True Flame... Who are you?"

The last remaining Demon Cultivation Disciple, the one with the highest Cultivation, retreated in horror. Pill Cultivators possessed Pill Flame, which was primarily used for Alchemy. However, a Pill Cultivator with profound Cultivation could refine their Pill Flame into a Lifebound True Flame. This kind of fire was not some flame created by Magic; it was incredibly powerful. It was said that when cultivated to the supreme realm, it would become the invincible Samadhi True Flame.

Even the lowest level of True Flame required one to be above the Thirtieth Layer to cultivate, and it demanded outstanding talent. Among Pill Cultivators, those who could cultivate a Lifebound True Flame were one in a hundred.

And this person before him...

"You’ve got some knowledge. Come on, tell me where your lair is, and I’ll leave you a whole corpse," Wang Meng said with a smile.

"Don’t think you’re invincible just because you have a Lifebound True Flame! I’ll show you the true power of the Blood Soul Technique!"

A cold sneer appeared on the Demon Cultivator’s lips. Although he was only ranked as Old Fifth, his talent was the best among the five of them. His comprehension in Alchemy, in particular, was highly valued by his master, which was why he could recognize the Lifebound True Flame.

The two beside him had already been reduced to ashes, truly returning to dust. Cultivators like them, who devoured the Elemental Power of others, might achieve a high Elemental Level, but their power was very murky and most susceptible to being purged by True Flame.

As he spoke, the Demon Cultivator pressed his palms together. His entire body turned blood-red, and tiny beads of blood began to seep from the pores of his skin. The moment the blood beads hit the ground, they sizzled, releasing wisps of white smoke.

"Die! Blood Refining Hell!"

He swept his sword out, and along with the Sword Qi came a dense, rain-like mist of blood that enveloped Wang Meng.

But in an instant, the Demon Cultivator’s eyes flew wide open, as if he had just witnessed the most bizarre thing imaginable. His body, however, was already frozen in place.

The blood refining technique washed over Wang Meng but slid off him like water droplets. Wang Meng’s sword was already buried in the Demon Cultivator’s body, and an eerie light shot from his eyes. If it weren’t so urgent, Wang Meng would have been reluctant to use this method.

—The Soul Searching Technique.

The Demon Cultivator’s eyes went vacant. He probably wouldn’t understand, even in death, why this had happened—how someone with a mere Fifteenth Layer Life Mark could use the legendary Soul Searching Technique.

The information he obtained forced Wang Meng to be cautious. This person’s master, Sunx Xiao, possessed an Elemental Power of the thirty-eighth layer and had over a hundred disciples. He was effectively an Overlord in this Secret Realm. What’s more, some of their people had already been captured. Wang Meng’s figure flickered and vanished.

It seemed people had long forgotten about the hunting traps of Demon Cultivators.

Liu Xiaozhen was about to explode with rage. His meticulously designed trap had succeeded wave after wave, and this was the first time something had gone wrong. He had deliberately let the Teleportation Talisman circulate. The limit of this space was the fortieth layer, but he had intentionally made it seem like the Thirtieth Layer. That way, he would be invincible here. Once he had stored up enough Blood Soul Pills, he could leave this place, find somewhere to enter seclusion until he reached Minor Perfection. Once he reached Minor Perfection, no one would be able to touch him.

Regardless of the cultivation method, reaching Minor Perfection, which was Fifty Layers of the Life Mark, meant you were an expert who would always be recruited by a major Sect.

But someone had actually crashed the party. Over twenty of his disciples were dead. He had spent years carefully training these disciples, and their skill with the Blood Soul Technique was not poor. Evil Cultivators might have been a bit harder to deal with, but Saint Cultivators—these sheltered little lambs—should have been the easiest targets. How were his casualties even worse than against the last wave of Evil Cultivators?

Li Tianyi was on a killing spree, ignoring everything else. Meanwhile, Wang Meng and Mingren were looking for the others. These Demon Cultivators were actually quite skilled. A direct confrontation wouldn’t be scary, but they feared being picked off one by one.

Wang Meng was indeed very worried about Hu Jing and the others, but he had underestimated their cleverness.

Hu Jing had watched Zhou Qian and Liuu Mei get locked up, but there were too many enemies, and all of them were stronger than her. Hu Jing didn’t dare to act rashly; she could only wait for an opportunity.

The remaining dozens of Blood Soul Hall disciples swarmed out, their expressions changing. They too had not expected such powerful experts to have entered.

Liu Xiao was the most furious. He had wanted to use this Secret Realm to properly refine Blood Soul Pills, but who would have thought Core Disciples from the Holy Hall would show up? Still, even Core Disciples shouldn’t be *this* strong. But then, who would have thought a descendant of the Li Family was among them? That changed everything.

The disciples swarmed out. The order was no longer to capture them alive—they were to kill on sight.

Liu Xiao was more than halfway done refining his Blood Soul Pills. Just two more furnace-loads would be enough for him to break through to the next realm. Failing at this critical juncture was absolutely intolerable.

Zhou Qian and the others had been brought to a large hall. Staring at the human bones tumbling inside the Pill Cauldron and the blood-soaked surroundings, the two female disciples from Lingyin Hall couldn’t stop themselves from vomiting.

A wicked smile touched Liu Xiao’s lips. He directly tossed the half-dead male disciple from Lingyin Hall into the Pill Furnace. The disciple was instantly reduced to a blood-curdling scream, and the two female disciples fainted on the spot.

Liuu Mei wanted to vomit but couldn’t. Zhou Qian was drenched in a cold sweat. ’This time, our chances of survival are slim to none. This old monster has the strength of an Elder. Even if Wang Meng and the others get here, they’ll just become more food for him.’

Liu Xiao’s gaze swept over the four of them. "Don’t worry, I won’t kill you just yet. This batch is enough. You can be the next batch. As long as I refine all of you, it’ll be enough even if this place gets discovered."

"We’re Holy Hall Disciples!"

"I know. There are more Holy Hall Disciples than anyone else these days. We just love Holy Hall Disciples. I didn’t expect some Core Disciples to show up this time, though. That was a surprise. But how is the quality of the Holy Hall’s Core Disciples so uneven?"

Liu Xiao couldn’t care less if his disciples lived or died. One less person meant one less person to share the Blood Soul Pills with. He had intentionally sent those guys to their deaths. The quality of this current batch of "ingredients" was quite high; one more furnace-load would be more than enough.

The one being refined was a new disciple from Lingyin Hall who had only joined a little over a year ago. He was brought along to gain experience because of his excellent talent, but instead, he met his end in the Yellow Springs.

Liu Xiao was in a good mood. The best ingredients for Blood Soul Pills were Cultivators. The purer they were, the better the refining effect. Tossing that half-dead disciple in had clearly enhanced the Pill’s activity. Once he captured all of them, he might be able to refine a batch of the highest-grade Blood Soul Pills.

Young, and brimming with Vitality.

Elites, with pure, high-quality Elemental Power.

In high spirits, Liu Xiao leered at Liuu Mei. "Little girl, you’ve got some nerve. I like that. Have you heard of Wan Gu Master?"

Liuu Mei gritted her teeth and said nothing.

Liu Xiao laughed heartily. "You’d best answer whatever I ask. I have more than enough ingredients this time. I might just spare your life. If you perform well enough, I might even take you as my disciple!"

"Scram!"

A single word escaped Liuu Mei’s lips, but it was far from loud enough.

She was only slightly stronger than her two junior sisters from Lingyin Hall. How could she have ever witnessed a scene like this?

Wan Gu Master’s face immediately darkened. He was used to his disciples’ absolute obedience. "Very well-developed. And still a virgin, I see. Perfect. I have some time, so I’ll start by taking your Primordial Yin!"

Liuu Mei’s face grew even paler, and she began to struggle desperately. Beside her, Zhou Qian’s brain was working overtime—and so was his ass.

"Senior, I have something to say," Zhou Qian suddenly said. "This disciple has witnessed Senior’s invincible might and has seen the light. I am willing to join the Blood Soul Hall! My senior sister here also knows what’s good for her. Let me persuade her, and she will serve you well."

"Zhou Qian, you’re shameless! Go to hell!"

"Senior Sister, it’s either your pride or your life. You’ve known me for more than a day. I’m the type of person who worships the strong. Senior, keeping me alive is definitely valuable! I can bring more people to you, and it won’t be any trouble!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian.com to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)