Chapter 26

In the northeast corner of the Blood Clan city, a black-red metal wall a hundred meters high and a moat a hundred meters wide encircled a luxurious thousand-acre estate. Grand halls, exquisite gardens, flying eaves, artificial mountains, and flowing water were complemented by dozens of towering towers and high-rise buildings, making this estate comparable to a famous ancient palace in the East from any perspective.

A large number of young men and women in dark red robes were busy in the estate, carefully familiarizing themselves with and managing it. Dozens of teams of fully armored Yin Clan warriors patrolled the surroundings, and a large number of tamed demonic beasts moved about, making the estate impenetrable.

This estate was the courtyard that Yin Tianjue ordered to be bestowed upon Yin Xuege, known as the 'Blood Beauty Palace.'

The Blood Beauty Palace, with its Moonlight Hall, was the residence chosen by Yin Xuege herself. It was an elegant hall on a lake island, surrounded by greenery, with a three-tiered courtyard structure, sufficient to accommodate Yin Xuege and a dozen personal maids.

At one corner of the Moonlight Hall stood a 300-meter-high pagoda. This pagoda was imbued with a permanent array for gathering the essence of heaven and earth, the 'Taiyin Moonlight Array.' On moonlit nights, this array could draw all the moonlight essence within a six-mile radius. Cultivating at the top of the pagoda was ten times more efficient than elsewhere, and this array was also the origin of the Moonlight Hall's name.

Eight middle-aged men and women in dark red robes stood solemnly at the entrance of the pagoda, their heads raised to look at the moonlight shining from the top of the pagoda. A crescent moon hung in the sky, and the moonlight fell like water, with all the moonlight within six miles being drawn to the pagoda. The surrounding areas were pitch black, while the pagoda was bathed in rippling light.

These eight middle-aged men and women were from the collateral branches of the Yin Clan, their seniority being twice that of Yin Jihuang and Yin Jiwo. They were all 'Wu' generation experts of the Yin Clan. Four of the men were named 'Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon,' and the four women were known as 'Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum.' They came from four powerful halls of the Yin Clan and were grand stewards with significant authority.

While individually their power was still less than that of the direct lineage members like Yin Jihuang and Yin Jiwo, who held the position of 'Hall Master,' the combined power they wielded was enough to make Yin Jihuang and Yin Jiwo keep their distance!

With their assistance to Yin Xuege, or rather, with them serving as her 'stewards,' and the orders issued by Yin Tianjue, Yin Xuege had now established her own faction within the Yin Clan, no longer fearing the malicious suppression by Yin Jiwo and others.

At the top of the pagoda, Yin Xuege sat cross-legged on a blood-colored mat.

This blood flame mat was made by the elders of the Yin Clan using extremely rare earth fiend blood silk, refined with the blood essence of millions of people, and woven into blood soul threads. The mat was extremely sinister, but as the saying goes, extreme yin gives birth to yang. Precisely because of its extreme yin and evil, it nurtured a strand of grand and bright innate true yang fire.

Cultivating on this mat, ordinary heart demons were overwhelmed by the mat's yin and evil aura, disintegrating before they could cause chaos. Even the truly powerful demonic thoughts could not resist the purification by the innate true yang fire, being continuously transformed into a strong and resilient mental force, which was integrated into the cultivator's soul to replenish consumption.

This was an extremely sinister but highly effective and powerful spiritual tool. In both the East and the West, only a few elders of the Yin Clan could refine the blood flame mat; other forces could not obtain such a treasure that could purify demonic thoughts and nourish the body.

Even within the Yin Clan, there were no more than twenty blood flame mats. If not for Yin Tianjue's intervention, forcibly taking this mat from a 'Di' generation elder, Yin Xuege would not have such a treasure to aid her cultivation.

Sitting on the mat, a yin and evil aura enveloped her body. As soon as the small, chaotic thoughts arose, they were shattered by the evil aura. A strand of yang and gentle flame flickered in Yin Xuege's forehead. If powerful demonic thoughts invaded or strong inner obsessions arose, this flame would instantly transform them into clear and pure divine thoughts, which were continuously absorbed and digested by Yin Xuege's soul.

Cultivating on this mat, even with countless distracting thoughts and continuous attacks from various demons, Yin Xuege only needed to focus on her cultivation techniques, ignoring the interference. Her soul naturally strengthened and expanded, and her cultivation progressed smoothly without any hindrance.

Inside her heart, a drop of Faenbourg's essence blood gently pulsed. At the core of this drop, which resembled a crystal gem, an ancient and mysterious ancient demonic script faintly glowed, occasionally emitting a sense of ancient and primeval aura.

Yin Xuege seemed to see an endless expanse of land where mountains towering ten thousand miles high were common, and countless ferocious and powerful beasts fought to the death, causing mountains to collapse, rivers to reverse, and the earth to crack open with countless fissures.

Suddenly, a purple-golden bat with a wingspan exceeding a thousand miles descended from the sky, following a mysterious and beautiful trajectory filled with the rhythm of heaven and earth. As the bat swept over the mountains, the ten-thousand-meter-tall beasts roared in agony, their essence blood uncontrollably spewing from their pores, flying into the bat's gaping mouth.

The sky was filled with blood, and countless bloodfalls rose from the ground to the sky. Numerous massive corpses fell to the ground, shattering into countless pieces. The purple-golden bat let out a sharp cry, and in an instant, all living beings within a few thousand miles were drained of their blood and died. With a light flap of its wings, it created dozens of ten-thousand-meter-high whirlwinds, carrying the wind and clouds, roaring up to the ninth heaven, and disappearing into the vast sky.

Powerful, majestic, evil, and terrifying!

In the layers of illusions, the endless pressure from the purple-golden bat overwhelmed Yin Xuege, almost causing her bones to shatter, making her sweat profusely, and her qi points to surge like a tsunami.

The drop of Faenbourg's essence blood quietly dissolved, transforming into countless dark golden lights that seeped into Yin Xuege's blood.

Yin Xuege's blood suddenly coagulated, and the boundless moonlight essence continuously infused her body. Her bone marrow, with a monstrous vitality, rapidly produced new, thick blood plasma, which contained several times more power than before.

The new blood plasma filled her veins, causing each vein to swell. Her aura became scorching and intense, and the hot breath she exhaled left visible white trails in the air. However, within this scorching aura, there was the unique cold and evil qi of the blood demons. With each breath, the temperature around her body subtly dropped.

The blood plasma in her body underwent a strange transformation, with the various blood cells becoming more resilient, and the energy capacity of each cell increasing by more than double. The green light in the blood became more intense, and with the powerful heartbeat, the green energy continuously flowed throughout her body. Yin Xuege could clearly perceive the dramatic changes in her bodily functions.

This was the precious essence blood of a 'Blood Demon Duke,' containing not only immense power but also the complete experience of an ancient Blood Demon Duke in physical construction and power control. Yin Xuege's body was evolving into a higher and more perfect form of a blood demon, or rather, her bloodline was rapidly recovering, moving towards the ultimate form of the golden bat.

With a 'drip' sound, the large green blood bead in Yin Xuege's heart collapsed inward, the originally pale green light suddenly becoming intense, turning into a deep green with a hint of mysterious blue. A drop of deep green essence blood continuously formed in her heart, ten drops, twenty drops, fifty drops, and in an instant, it exceeded a hundred drops!

Two hundred, three hundred, five hundred!

After digesting a single drop of the duke's essence blood, Yin Xuege's heart produced a thousand drops of deep green blood demon essence blood. Each drop was crystal clear and glossy, containing powerful life force and blood energy.

With each heartbeat, these thousand drops of blood demon essence blood flowed lightly through Yin Xuege's veins. As they passed, her body felt hot, and the sounds of muscle and bone growth echoed within her. Her slender body gradually became fuller and more robust, and with the pain and itching from her joints, her height visibly increased by about an inch.

However, the miraculous power contained in the single drop of the duke's essence blood had only just begun to manifest. The formation of a thousand drops of blood demon essence blood, each containing greater power, indicated that Yin Xuege had successfully reached the peak strength of a Moon Warrior. But before she could adapt to the surge in power, the thousand drops of essence blood, stimulated by the duke's essence blood, completed nine major cycles in her body and returned to her heart.

The thousand drops of deep green essence blood merged into a large deep green blood bead, which rapidly rotated.

Yin Xuege's heart continuously absorbed the life force and blood energy from the deep green blood bead, gradually becoming stronger and more powerful, with each muscle fiber containing several times more vitality.

The powerful heartbeat continued, and dark golden blood light gathered from all around, instantly merging into the deep green blood bead.

The heart beat rapidly 360 times, and with each intense beat, Yin Xuege's body excreted large amounts of gray-brown, viscous sweat. The cold and bone-chilling sweat was filled with a strong, fishy odor, and one could see a large amount of gray-black dust-like impurities mixed in the sweat.

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