“Heh, stupid bi*ch, your little grandpa will take his time playing with you in this place full of traps and restrictions!” After traveling far enough that the screams of the enraged Ye Gu’yin could no longer be heard, Fang Xing finally found a place to sit while heavily panting. Although he’d known how dangerous this place was, he hadn’t had any better options than to risk it and pull Ye Gu’yin down to enter this dangerous location together.

　　Although such an action was extremely risky, it was not without purpose. If Ye Gu’yin had managed to break free from the formation, neither he nor the golden crow would have been able to escape—the Phoenix-Fear Zither she had was just too powerful. Since this crazy woman was already determined to kill him, he wouldn’t even be given the chance to surrender. Now that he’d brought this woman with him into the chasm, he was able to borrow the traps and restrictions it had in place to deal with her. This was especially true since he had the Book of Revelation—allowing him to see through the traps and restrictions to avoid calamity and seek fortune—while Ye Gu’yin quite possibly didn’t have such an ability of her own.

　　Fang Xing had also had another plan at that time. Because of how many traps and restrictions there were, there was a high chance he and Ye Gu’yin would’ve ended up critically wounded after falling inside. By holding a Blood Lotus Seed within his mouth, even if he were to be met with danger, all he’d have to do is swallow the seed to heal and he’d be able to keep himself alive no matter how fatal the injury was. By contrast, if Ye Gu’yin ended up with a fatal injury, the only thing she’d be able to do is wait for death.

　　Unexpectedly, however, it seemed as though this woman had luck on her side, and neither of them had ended up wounded at all. Although this mean he didn’t end up losing his precious Blood Lotus Seed, Ye Gu’yin ended up not losing her life; she was the one who got the better end of the deal.

　　“Oh, right, the Blood Lotus Seed….” As Fang Xing thought about it, he suddenly realized something. The Blood Lotus Seed had originally been inside his mouth, but it seemed he’d accidentally swallowed it while he was biting down into that woman earlier. “Ohhh, my precious treasure…. What a waste…” he lamented while rubbing his stomach.

　　Fang Xing nearly decided to cut himself open to retrieve the seed, but just at that moment, a burning heat began to rise up within his stomach—as though a volcano had just become active.

　　Fang Xing could only cry invisible tears as he hatefully cursed, “Damned Scripture of Revered Spirit. I would’ve still had the chance to quickly spit it back out….” He quickly stood up to find a safer location to complete the absorption of the Blood Lotus Seed, since the rising heat in his lower abdomen could only mean the process had already begun. If he didn’t immediately find somewhere safe to convert the spirit essence of this Blood Lotus Seed into his own Qi, all of its excessive medicinal powers would go to waste!

　　The Blood Lotus Seed was a miracle cure for wounds and injuries, so it was incredibly rare for it to be used for cultivation purposes. Thanks to the Scripture of Revered Spirit, however, Fang Xing was able to absorb the large amounts of its blood essence in the form of spirit essence, which was then followed by a conversion into Qi for his own cultivation. The only problem was that there couldn’t be any delay or else the spirit essence would dissipate and go to waste.

　　Fang Xing quickly jumped to his feet and saw that the stone paths in front of him all branched out in different directions, each splitting into numerous stone cells. He quickly picked out a cell that seemed somewhat well-hidden, placed a few traps and protection spells of his own at its entrance, and then moved inside to settle down in a lotus position. Once that was finished, he began to control his breathing and Qi to activate the conversion technique in earnest.

　　The vast amount of spirit essence inside his body had already started to form small bursts of explosions, and he began to turn it into strands of Qi before finally settling the strands into his meridians. It was only after he’d begun all of this that he was astonished to realize the amount of blood essence contained in this seed was far more powerful than he had originally anticipated. It was as though a live volcano was inside his body, spewing out the extraordinary power of the blood essence without pause. Such amazing medicinal power was perhaps even a million times greater than the Purple Mist Flower he’d used in the past.

　　Honestly, this was only to be expected. Just how valuable was the Blood Lotus Seed? It was a miracle cure that could even regrow the bones and flesh of a deceased corpse. Such magical properties existed only because of its excessive amount of blood essence power, and it could even be said that a single seed contained medicinal power on par with the essence found in all the combined flesh and blood of a Golden Core Stage cultivator.

　　An ordinary person wouldn’t even be able to use such power to cultivate; only unusual people like Fang Xing—who’d studied the Scripture of Revered Spirit—were able to turn the blood essence into spirit essence, then that spirit essence into Qi for cultivation. Even then, a large amount of blood essence was wasted during the process.

　　Right now, Fang Xing was covered in a large red mist so thick that his figure looked distorted into something mysterious and terrifying from the outside. The power of this blood essence was terrifying for the ordinary folk, but its benefits were considered top-class for others.

　　Fang Xing was so completely immersed he didn’t realize that the bloody mist had started to spread out, causing some nonsentient ghost spirits to float towards him from this seemingly endless Yin Prison Abyss. They hadn’t dissipated completely, but they’d still lived for far too long, leaving them with only their instincts and a few remaining shards of memories from their former life. They weren’t even aware of how many decades or centuries had passed while they floated unceasingly within this place….

　　For these spirits, the power of the blood essence was far too alluring. One or two arrived at first, but more quickly gathered and it didn’t take long before there was already several hundreds of them. Although the formations Fang Xing had set up were effective at blocking out humans, they couldn’t stop these ghost spirits; the spirits floated inside without any obstruction and began fighting each other for the extra blood essence released from Fang Xing’s body.

　　Over time, the power of of the cast-off blood essence was no longer able to satisfy these spirits. They were able to sharply sense that the blood essence within Fang Xing seemed to be even greater, and although they initially hesitated, instinct soon caused them to throw themselves at Fang Xing. The first one to do so took on the tiger shape it had in its former life and silently opened its mouth to take a bite out of Fang Xing….

　　Seeing this, the other ghost spirits all rushed forward as well, afraid they would miss out on even a single drop of this blood essence. Just as they reached Fang Xing’s body, however, they seemed to sense something terrifying and immediately retreated backwards.

　　While this had all been going on, the Peng King—who’d been suffering while hiding within Fang Xing’s Sea of Consciousness—had also sensed something.

　　The Peng King was at his most uncomfortable when Fang Xing was improving his cultivation. Fang Xing would always activate the True Samadhi Fire to its maximum output during such cultivation, transforming the entire Sea of Consciousness into a sea of burning flames. Even if the True Samadhi Fire wasn’t aimed directly at the Peng King, its close proximity still made him feel incredibly unsafe. Despite this, he was nothing more than a single strand of True Spirit and didn’t dare to escape; if he did so, he would immediately become ash and dissipate upon reaching the outside. No matter how painful or uncomfortable things became, he could only clutch on and endure through it all.

　　At that moment, however, he’d sensed the existence of ghost spirits outside, and a few thoughts ran through his mind before he flew out of Fang Xing’s Sea of Consciousness. If the ghost spirits could survive out there, didn’t that mean he would be able to survive as well?

　　The reason these spirits had all backed away was precisely because they’d sensed the existence of the Peng King. These ghost spirits had all come closer because they wanted to take some of the blood essence power for themselves, but the nature of such a thing was actually no different from a Spirit Possession, which the Peng King had attempted long ago. The Peng King had already made himself home inside Fang Xing’s Sea of Consciousness, and now that his aura overlapped Fang Xing’s body, the other spirits believed this human had already been possessed by a spirit like them—and one that was much stronger as well. These ghost spirits thus cowered in fear and didn’t dare to draw close any longer.

　　Woosh ….

　　The Peng King flew out from the top of Fang Xing’s head and sneakily checked the surroundings. Confirming that this was indeed somewhere his True Spirit was able to roam free, he let out a sigh of relief and floated into the air.

　　‘Where did the boy go to this time? Why are there so many ghost spirits?’ The Peng King’s brows initially creased when he saw the densely-packed spirits, but he began to sneer when he noticed they were all simultaneously cowering away from him in fear yet unwilling to leave because of the blood essence surrounding Fang Xing. “This blood essence isn’t anything I covet. Keeping you from getting close is for your own good, or else the True Samadhi Fire inside his body would have burned you to ashes by now!”

　　Even the ghost spirits who’d been weakest in their previous life had been at least Foundation Stage, and some of the stronger ones even had a higher cultivation level than the Peng King before their death. However, it had simply been much too long and their powers had slowly drained away, leaving nothing but mere instinct. The Peng King, however, had been residing within Fang Xing’s Consciousness. He’d been able to continuously consolidate his True Spirit, and he’d even been contaminated with traces of the True Samadhi Fire whenever Fang Xing decided to roast him, so he was much more powerful than these ghost spirits.

　　‘A chance like this is rare; it’d be best to flee….’ The Peng King thought to himself, although there were traces of hesitation within. ‘But who knows what this damned place is? I can survive, but if I can’t leave this place and find someone to possess, I’ll still be trapped here; I might even turn into the likes of these ghost spirits given enough time, floating around aimlessly, unable to free myself for all eternity…. Hmm, if I think about it this way, I may as well get back there….

　　‘But remaining back there isn’t much better. This brat has such a bad temper! I’ve helped him so much, yet he’s still either cursing at me or giving me a beating. He doesn’t understand how to respect the elderly and be appreciative of his seniors. Who knows if he wants to keep me trapped inside forever…? But, that True Samadhi Fire inside the brat’s body… even though it’s scary, as long as it doesn’t kill me, it can still help me consolidate my True Spirit. There are still plenty of benefits….

　　‘That’s too passive, though. When would it end…?’

　　The Peng King continued to hesitate. Although he’d found freedom, he still couldn’t bring himself to act maliciously towards Fang Xing even after being given the chance. He didn’t dare to provoke Fang Xing even under normal circumstances, but it was even more terrifying to provoke the boy now that he was in the process of increasing his cultivation level. The True Samadhi Fire had been turned up to its maximum power, making his entire body like a giant cauldron—for the Peng King to provoke the boy now was the same as inviting fire to sear his body. Only an idiot would do something like that. Still, this was a rare chance at freedom, and he was unwilling to let go of it so easily, making him unable to make up his mind.

　　The Peng King suddenly remembered the hundreds of ghost spirits surrounding him. His thoughts began to whirl, and he suddenly came up with an idea.

　　“You all needn’t be fearful of my existence. I am the great Peng King of the Northern Kuru’s Squander Cloud Ridge. I am of the same kind as you….” The Peng King’s True Spirit quivered, using a secret skill to deliver his words in a way the ghost spirits could understand. “I know you all want to devour this blood essence, but this child is my pupil; his blood essence is also my blood essence. I won’t stop you if you wish to enjoy it, but you must give up your most important thing in exchange!”

　　As the Peng King spoke, he released an aura that turned the air in the room into gusts of chilling wind. His meaning was clear: fair trade.