Chapter Sixty: The Blood of the Spirit Beast

Crunch—the sound of bones shattering throughout the body.

Wang Qi let out a piercing scream and fell to the ground.

He had already activated his lightning shield and even wielded a second-class protective barrier before him, but it was all useless. That single blow shattered the light shield, knocked away the barrier, and landed squarely upon his arm.

Both arms were instantly reduced to pulp, hanging limp at his sides.

“What kind of power is this? So terrifying! Who are you?” Wang Qi cried out, his eyes wide with disbelief. In the end, he could not believe that the man before him was Li Mu. He preferred to think that the person before him was possessed by a cultivator or a spirit beast, explaining the sudden surge in strength.

For Li Mu’s aura was utterly transformed; moments ago he was merely an ordinary cultivator in the Spirit Foundation stage, but now he seemed like a celestial king, every strike carrying the might to shake heaven and earth.

Wang Qi could barely defend himself. Even though he had practiced Soul Refinement, it only enhanced his spells and physical strength, but compared to the current Li Mu, it was nothing.

Now, his bravery had melted away; he dared not fight any longer.

No matter what technique he used, Li Mu seemed to have the means to break it, growing fiercer with every blow. There was simply no way to win.

Li Mu glanced at the swaggering Wang Qi. “Believe it or not, it makes no difference—you are about to die.”

“No! I surrender! I surrender!”

A moment ago, Wang Qi would rather reveal his evil techniques than admit defeat; now, fear overwhelmed his hatred, and he knelt directly, his hair in disarray.

“If defeat meant mercy, would you have let me live had I lost?” Li Mu’s gaze was filled with contempt towards Wang Qi’s cowardice, and he unleashed his thunderous power.

“Stop!” Jade Grandmaster’s brows furrowed; with a flick of his sleeve, a cord-shaped artifact shot out, flying toward Li Mu.

But the fist wind pierced straight through Wang Qi’s chest, blood spraying in all directions. Wang Qi did not even cry out—his end came in an instant.

A hole gaped in his chest, his face twisted with unwillingness, as if pleading for mercy, yet unable to escape his fate. Ever since he had plotted to kill Li Mu, his destiny had shifted irrevocably.

A cry of alarm rose from beneath the platform. Seeing Li Mu’s expression, everyone paid him their respects.

This battle left them bewildered, but Li Mu’s earlier display of formidable power silenced all those who had doubted his strength.

Jade Grandmaster and Lady Wang slowly descended onto the floating dais. One look was enough to know that Wang Qi could not be saved.

Lady Wang swiftly deployed a barrier, enclosing several people together.

“Why did you kill him?” Jade Grandmaster’s tone was severe. “Are you aware this might disqualify you from the tournament?”

“He was an evil cultivator.”

Li Mu spoke only a few words.

Jade Grandmaster’s expression changed sharply; he approached Wang Qi’s corpse and focused his attention.

Lady Wang nodded lightly. She seemed to understand the source of her earlier unease—so Wang Qi truly was an evil cultivator. That explained everything.

“What proof do you have?” Jade Grandmaster pointed to Wang Qi’s body.

From the present Wang Qi, he could not discern any sign of evil.

“City Lord Jade, look again.”

As Li Mu spoke, faint wisps of black energy began to emerge from Wang Qi’s body, swirling about him, lingering.

A chorus of ghostly wails echoed, inaudible yet perceptible to the spiritual sense.

“The soul of a cultivator.”

Jade Grandmaster’s face grew grave. The soul transformation technique had forcibly ended, and without fully absorbing the soul, the remnants wandered outside the evil cultivator’s body, manifesting in these strange forms. These souls possessed no will, only a trace of strength, and would soon dissipate.

“His ring contained souls; earlier he consumed them for his soul transformation.”

Li Mu pointed to the shattered ring on the ground, speaking softly.

No sooner had he finished than a nameless tremor seized him; the red light in his eyes faded, returning to their original color.

His whole body felt as if pierced by a thousand needles, the pain hardly less than what he had endured during Spirit Foundation. The strength he had just attained faded rapidly, leaving behind a sense of utter exhaustion, sustained only by willpower.

The two observed Li Mu’s condition with indifference. Such side effects were expected; the surge in power was obviously abnormal, and now all its repercussions manifested.

Jade Grandmaster pondered briefly, nodding to Lady Wang. Considering everything he had seen, the conclusion was clear: Wang Qi was indeed an evil cultivator.

“To think you could defeat an evil cultivator truly surprises me,” he said, studying Li Mu. “But what about you? How is it that you are not an evil cultivator yourself?”

A cord-shaped artifact, faintly glowing yellow, gently wrapped around his hand.

The Demon Binding Cord, a third-tier superior treasure; anything caught in its grasp could not escape.

It seemed that Jade Grandmaster suspected Li Mu’s extraordinary power was gained through methods akin to those of evil cultivators.

“I am not like that. I merely consumed a drop of essence blood.”

Li Mu raised his head and answered suddenly.

At this moment, he could only speak the truth; a single lie might mark him as an evil cultivator.

Lady Wang gently stroked her chin, her eyes glimmering. “Essence blood alone could grant such power? What kind of essence blood was it?”

Jade Grandmaster’s expression shifted, as though recalling something.

“I don’t know. It was blood I obtained earlier, with a strange aura—not true energy, not spiritual power, nor evil force.” Li Mu remembered the circumstances under which he had acquired the blood. It had felt peculiar, so he kept it, never considering its importance until now, when it had saved his life.

“Did the blood feel wondrous, mysterious?” Jade Grandmaster asked urgently.

Li Mu nodded in confirmation. “Yes, it was incredibly wondrous, with a feeling I couldn’t quite describe. That’s why I kept it.”

“That can’t be—how could you acquire spirit beast blood?” Jade Grandmaster was confounded.

Lady Wang nodded with understanding. “Judging by his condition, it’s highly probable. An evil cultivator would not appear so.”

In the world of cultivation, spirit beasts are rarely seen. Their bodies contain all manner of materials coveted by cultivators—beast cores, fur, meat, bones, and so forth. These can be harvested and used, but there is one precious material above all: spirit beast blood, the very source of their life, which has countless uses in cultivation and is regarded as the most elite of materials.

Each spirit beast contains only a trace of the purest blood, and cultivators have no means of forcibly extracting it. Unless the beast willingly offers it.

But what spirit beast would willingly part with its life blood? Once the blood is lost, the beast dies.

Thus, obtaining spirit beast blood is nearly impossible.

Jade Grandmaster stared at Li Mu, thoughts whirling for a long moment, unable to fully comprehend. Yet Li Mu’s transformation closely resembled the accounts of cultivators who had consumed spirit beast blood.

Below the platform, the spectators were at a loss, watching in confusion and whispering among themselves.

“Both of them are extraordinary; victory and defeat are a matter of life and death.”

“This tournament is terrifying. I wonder if I should participate in the next round—encountering this person could cost me my life.”

“What’s there to fear? Didn’t you see his condition? He’s barely holding on—he’s got no strength left. If you face him, it’s just your luck.”

Li Mu remained silent, muttering to himself. Could the transformation be due to second-tier spirit beast blood? Was the nameless aura of a celestial king from the blood itself?

He had obtained the blood during the Qi Condensation stage and stored it in his spirit tower without using it, nearly forgetting it altogether. Little did he expect it would save his life now.

Yet the aura within the blood had not fully dissipated; a trace remained hidden within his body, though Li Mu could not sense it.