Chapter 74: Two Rabbits, A Snake And A Wolf
｢Name: Lu Luo
Status: Healthy.
Age: 76/400
Slaughter Points Value: 87
Cultivation Base: Qi Refinement level 7 (44%) || Body Foundation level 8 (92%)
Remarks: Lu Luo is the deputy wing master of the Binding Blood Wing and a close friend of Ren Xue. Currently, she harbors extreme dislike towards Bai Ruyi, feeling that she’s too loose and unsuitable for someone reputed to be a Blood Child like you. Thankfully, there exists someone like her, Lu Luo, with a more suitable temperament to be your partner and rise with you through the cultivation world!｣
Li Ling casually scanned the other woman and happened to see something interesting which made him smile with amusement. When he walked up to Bai Ruyi with a questioning glance, she giggled with her hand covering her mouth and pointed at Ren Xue.
"I was on my way to the Feeding Blood Wing when I happened to meet these two Senior Sisters. Because of the earlier altercation, they felt the need to apologize to you, who had become a member of the sect, and mend relations, so I brought them back." Bai Ruyi explained with a lovely smile.
Ren Xue saw her cue and took the lead, standing up to greet Li Ling. "Junior Brother Li, I would like to formally apologize for the earlier bit of unpleasantness and hope that you wouldn’t hold it against me. In exchange, I managed to acquire your necessary discipleship benefits and resource allocation, with a little bit on top."
Saying this, she flexed her finger and released some contents from her void ring onto the table, which happened to be a set of white robes with golden trims, a red fruit shaped like the fictionalized version of a heart, and a wooden box. Upon opening the box, one would see a bottle of red pills the size of cherries along with a stack of talismans neatly arranged on the side.
Lu Luo’s calm smile that had been focused on Li Ling became one of surprise, especially when she looked at the red fruit that sat rather conspicuously on the table, unable to believe that Ren Xue had something like this.
Li Ling, who had received a knowledge infusion from the Asura Blood Token, knew that this was a Blood Fruit, a special resource cultivated using a spirit planting method that required the watering of fresh human blood daily to form over the course of a year.
It was a key resource of the Asura Blood Hall and its practitioners, and to make a long story short, its effect was similar to a Foundation Building Pill that was effective on Mortal Flesh Path Walkers, allowing them to increase their success rate in breaking through to the Body Foundation Realm without backlash.
To redeem it, one would need at least a hundred Blood Credits. To be clear, a single Blood Credit could be exchanged for one middle-grade spirit stone, which was worth 100 low-grade spirit stones. Even an actual Foundation Building Pill was only worth around a thousand or more spirit stones, or around ten to thirty middle-grade spirit stones.
However, any relatively skilled grade 2 Alchemist could make a Foundation Building Pill with the right resources, but the method to grow this Blood Fruit was exclusively possessed by the Asura Blood Hall, as far as Li Ling knew.
One should not feel that this was too expensive or exploitative. Body cultivation was unlike qi cultivation, as it required ten times the same resources per realm compared to qi cultivation, which was exactly why qi cultivation was the mainstream among all the factions of Tianming Continent.
If they did not set the prices high and have the disciples work hard for it, the Asura Blood Hall might not be able to produce resources fast enough for disciples to even redeem.
So one shouldn’t use external pricing or market trends to decide the value of internal resources. Especially since the Asura Blood Hall gave such high value to killing and wars, granting merits like water the more one killed. The rate of earning merits for disciples had never been slow, especially for those willing to risk their lives on the battlefront, which was the large majority of those who practiced this method.
As for the robe, it was the standard attire for the Six Paths Demon Sect. All disciples of all six paths wore the white and gold robe, though its quality varied depending on one’s cultivation realm and level within the sect, with some minor design and coloration differences the higher one went.
The one he received was actually the grade 2 version which was for Path Lords, with some basic defenses against second realm attacks, a self-cleansing feature, and extreme flexibility. Wearing it wasn’t exactly illegal, but it would cause other Path Lords to feel disgruntled on a normal basis.
Then again, knowing who he was and what he might achieve, they might actually feel that this was natural. Clearly, both Ren Xue and Lu Luo thought this given the fact that they supported such a leap in status.
As for the items in the box, they were the well-known Blood Spirit Pills, the equivalent of the Qi Nourishing Pills for righteous sect cultivators of the Qi Refinement stage. They were staple pills that were used daily and in large quantities to advance one’s cultivation, though, just like any pill, overconsumption would lead to problems.
As for the talismans, they were surprisingly grade two. There were three for healing, three for defense, and two for escaping, but none for offensive means or support. Clearly, the hall felt that prioritizing defense was better, because why would one need offensive external means when they had the potent Blood Qi of the Blood Asura Descent?
Li Ling nodded. "Thanks for this. As for the earlier spat, there’s no need to worry about any leftover resentment. I was never angry with you then, and I am not angry with you now."
His words caused the duo to relax greatly, Lu Luo included. After all, even though she did not directly strike at Li Ling, she had acted to his detriment in the previous event, so she now worried that he would remember it.
"Alright, then I won’t keep Junior Brother Li busy any longer. This is my deputy in the Binding Blood Hall, Lu Luo. You can seek her out if you have any disciplinary issues in the hall going forward." Ren Xue introduced Lu Luo finally, allowing the young woman to stand up and greet Li Ling.
"Junior Brother Li, you can come to me at any time. I will put aside what I am dealing with to serve you." Lu Luo stated directly, with a strange yet charming blush on her face, giving her a maidenly feel despite her actual age.
Ren Xue saw this and smiled inwardly, already knowing her deputy’s intention to cling to this Blood Child romantically. As for herself, Ren Xue was already the dao companion of someone else in one of the other Six Paths Halls, so that option was unavailable for her.
However, being good friends with Lu Luo, she would naturally do her best to make her succeed in her goal. Both women did not notice the flash of cold light in Bai Ruyi’s eyes, but Li Ling naturally did as his eyes were almost always on the voluptuous saintess, not out of desire but out of mild wariness.
In his eyes, Ren Xue and Lu Luo were just typical helpless prey animals, akin to fat white rabbits, while Bai Ruyi was like a venomous serpent, something he could take down but had to watch out for lest he be bitten unsuspectingly.
Soon, the duo took their leave, allowing Li Ling and Bai Ruyi to be alone. Li Ling tsked with mocking amusement, walking over to switch from his brown brocade robes that had followed him since he was sequestered in Ivy Lane of the number 9 Qing Shan marketplace to the Asura Blood Hall white and gold set.
"It seems your actions backfired on you. I’m guessing your goal was to act in my stead and placate two potential enemies for me, turning them into allies. However, who would have thought that instead of being grateful for your hard work, one of them actually intends to usurp you?"
Li Ling spoke in his smarmy and hatred-inducing tone as he derobed in the open and swapped his attire without any shame. For that matter, Bai Ruyi did not avert her eyes, placing her cheeks into her hands as she rolled her eyes charmingly.
"Isn’t this the nature of the demonic sect? One moment they are seeking your help with kind expressions and sweet words and the next, they are aiming to step over you to ascend higher." Bai Ruyi retorted nonchalantly, sounding bored.
Li Ling fitted the robe on and tightened the edges, patting himself down to make sure it fit snugly. "Oh? Since you are the expert demonic sect disciple, why don’t you tell me what else I should know?"
"Pffft, haha! Even though you were a rogue cultivator before, I don’t think even the direct descendant of a clan entrenched within a demonic sect can compare to you in terms of mentality. If anything, I should be learning from you." Bai Ruyi shook her head and chuckled meanly.
Li Ling nodded and pointed to the box of pills as well as the Blood Fruit. "You are to turn those resources into things you need to practice. I will be out partaking in one of the hall’s wars and will come back when I have achieved Core Formation Perfection. At that time, I will be taking your virginity and implant my first child in you, so you’d better advance as far as you can to make your future climb easier."
After declaring this, he didn’t wait for Bai Ruyi’s reply as he walked out of the courtyard right away, leaving the demon sect saintess completely baffled. In the end, she could only watch Li Ling step out with a deep look and sigh, glancing at the Blood Fruit and the box of basic resources which had been cut down to half of what they should have been.
"This is going to be tough..." Bai Ruyi complained under her breath, but she still collected the resources and left the courtyard soon after Li Ling as well.
Meanwhile, in another part of the expansive Asura Blood Hall...
Three cultivators, two men and one woman, sat in an ornately decorated chamber that had a sweet smell of exotic incense within. On the left was a slightly older man with average features and a slightly withdrawn presence, while on the right was the woman, who was mature with above-average features and a cold malevolence about her that would cause many to shudder with fear.
Yet, both of these two sat cautiously around the final person here, a man who everyone in the Asura Blood Hall could recognize, Tang Huo.
If the Hall Master was here, then that could only mean that the cold woman was Feng Lin of the Killing Blood Wing and the unassuming man was Cheng Shan of the Feeding Blood Wing, the two deputy hall masters of the Asura Blood Hall.
This trio of powerhouses who could decide all the ups and downs of the hall were currently seated in a solemn posture, having sensed through an array that Li Ling’s cultivation had soared rapidly in a short period of time.
After doing this, Tang Huo cut off the surveillance and glanced at his two deputies, asking calmly. "So, you have seen it for yourselves. Now, you are free to make suggestions or offer any observations made."
Feng Lin hesitated and shook her head. "Unfathomable. My qi cultivation has been stuck lately, so I haven’t bothered with it, but even when it was in Foundation Establishment, I couldn’t advance that fast, and I use the Taiyin Empress Scripture."
Cheng Shan stared at the array that facilitated the peeping, which was situated in the middle of their group, with a deep look. "I feel that this lad is aware of our actions and put on this show to tempt us. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense to ’openly’ display his extreme cultivation speed like this."