Chapter 2: The Price of the Golden Blood
The ancient, dark monster blood tasted thick and metallic, tasting of iron and made him primordial terror. The moment Lin Feng swallowed the Golden Beast Blood, the volatile, stolen spiritual essence from the three dead disciples inside his body stopped its chaotic thrashing. He felt happy for a split second.
It didn't disappear, but was instantly bound and compressed by the new, overwhelming power of the ancient beast blood!
A shockwave of energy, far exceeding his newly attained Foundation Establishment realm, erupted from Lin Feng's body. His eyes flashed crimson, and a dark, scaled aura briefly shimmered around him, burning the ground around him where he stood. This was not his own power—rather it was the concentrated and poisonous essence of a beast that had resisted its own death for a thousand years. It granted him a terrifying, borrowed clarity and immense but unstable strength.
"You consumed the poison blood of the ancient ones!" Elder Lei roared in anger from the cliff edge, his emerald aura flickering with outrage. "The Deviant path is truly suicidal!"
Lin Feng didn't waste the momentary stabilization. He slammed both feet down, shattering the rock beneath him, and quickly channeled the concentrated power into a single, desperate attack—the Heart-Devouring Grasp. It wasn't the refined technique of the orthodox sects; it was a simple, brutal manifestation of the Sunder-Heart Sutra, powered by the Golden Beast Blood.
A massive, crimson claw, crackling with dark lightning and radiating with intense spiritual heat, Lin Feng rushed toward the Elder.
Elder Lei, though a master of the Golden Core realm, was shocked by the raw, chaotic potency of the attack. He raised his hand and unleashed the Azure Cloud Sect's defensive technique, the Azure Sky Shield, a crystalline barrier that shimmered into existence just as the crimson claw impacted.
KRA-BOOOM!!!
The collision sounded less like spiritual energy and more like a mountain cracking. The immense force drove Elder Lei back three feet on the cliff, and the pristine Azure Sky Shield developed spider-web cracks. He was unharmed, but his robes were ruffled, and the sheer audacity of an Early stage Foundation Establishment cultivator forcing a Golden Core expert like him to defend left him furious.
"Insolent child! You will pay the price for this offense!" Elder Lei roared, preparing a crushing counter-strike.
But Lin Feng had already escaped! "Senile old fart." Lin Feng muttered as he ran.
He had used the smoke and thunder of the impact as a screen, diving into the narrow cave entrance and slapping his palm onto the wall. A powerful stone-sealing ward, laid down weeks prior, activated immediately. The cliff face groaned, and tons of earth and rock collapsed, instantly burying the entrance under a formidable landslide.
Lin Feng staggered into the suffocating darkness of his refuge, the temporary euphoria of the Golden Beast Blood already receding, replaced by a searing pain. He collapsed onto the cold, damp stone floor, his body shaking violently as the stolen energies and the beast blood fought for dominance within his core.
"Only the Deviant survives abandonment," a bitter, haunting thought echoed in his mind, bringing him back to the memory of the Azure Cloud Sect.
Lin Feng had once been a promising Outer Disciple, his spiritual roots average but his diligence unmatched. Yet, when his family was implicated in a minor political scandal—a scandal later proven false—the righteous sects, fearing taint, had cast him out, shattering his cultivation foundation. His Masters who once praised him turned their backs, leaving him crippled and powerless in the wilderness, effectively giving him a death sentence.
It was there, on the brink of despair, that he found the tattered, blood-soaked scroll of the Sunder-Heart Blood Sutra! It promised absolute power, but only through absolute cruelty, consuming the essence of others. It was the only way to rebuild his cultivation, the only path that didn't require favor or purity.
The righteous heavens had betrayed him. Now, he would cultivate a path that answered to no morality but hunger.
The beast blood had stabilized the chaotic spiritual essence, but the relief was temporary. A subtle, cold presence had settled in his spiritual core, coiling around his fragile Foundation. It wasn't energy; it felt like consciousness. And it was hungry. Lin Feng knew the Golden Blood was not a simple tonic—it was a parasite, and it had just established a symbiotic relationship with his stolen power. He had bought time, but at a cost he couldn't yet comprehend.
He gritted his teeth, focused on the dark energy, and began the torturous process of truly refining his ill-gotten gains. He knew Elder Lei would not give up. Lin Feng needed to complete the Foundation Establishment, and he had only three days before the Golden Core expert would likely blast through the landslide.