The bounty did not create hunters.
It revealed them.
Across the mortal and middle realms, ambition ignited like dry grass thrown into flame. Cultivators who had hidden their claws for decades stepped out of seclusion. Sect elders who preached righteousness sharpened weapons behind closed doors. Lone rogues with blood-stained pasts smiled for the first time in years.
Because Heaven had spoken clearly.
Kill them.
Be rewarded.
In the Scarlet River Borderlands, the sky remained unnaturally still as a temporary alliance gathered. Seven cultivators stood atop a plateau of red stone, their auras restrained but dangerous.
A Nascent Soul swordsman.Two peak Core Formation veterans.A demonic body refiner wrapped in bone armor.A talisman master surrounded by floating seals.And at their center—
A woman in white robes, eyes cold, cultivation suppressed yet sharp.
"The bounty projection confirms it," she said calmly. "Xue Luo was last sighted near this region."
Someone swallowed. "Sin of Blood…"
"Doesn't matter," the swordsman snapped. "Heaven Punishers can die. So can he."
No one disagreed aloud.
But fear lingered.
They moved quickly, forming a layered detection net as they advanced into the ravine below—an ancient battlefield where blood had soaked the earth so deeply that grass no longer grew.
They felt it before they saw him.
A pressure.
Heavy.
Sticky.
As if the air itself carried weight.
The body refiner slowed. "Something's wrong."
The talisman master frowned. "There's no hostile formation…"
Then—
A laugh echoed softly through the ravine.
Low.Amused.
Xue Luo stood atop a broken stone pillar, red robes fluttering lazily. His hands were empty. His posture relaxed.
He looked… pleased.
"Oh?" he said. "You came faster than I expected."
The swordsman drew his blade instantly. "Xue Luo! By Heaven's decree—"
He never finished.
Xue Luo vanished.
Not with speed.
With absence.
The body refiner roared, instincts screaming as he raised both arms—
Too late.
Xue Luo appeared behind him, palm pressed lightly against bone armor.
"Too much blood," Xue Luo murmured. "But badly circulated."
He pushed.
The refiner's body collapsed inward, bones folding, organs rupturing as Blood Samsara reversed pressure violently. The corpse exploded into a crimson mist that rained across the ravine.
Screams erupted.
"Formation!"
Talismans ignited, barriers snapping into place as sword qi slashed through the air.
Xue Luo laughed.
He walked forward.
Sword qi cut him.
It didn't wound him.
It fed him.
Blood from the dead refiner surged toward Xue Luo, sinking into his skin like water into dry earth. His aura swelled visibly, crimson veins flashing across his arms.
The Nascent Soul swordsman's eyes widened. "He's converting—!"
Xue Luo appeared before him.
A fist drove into the swordsman's abdomen.
Karmic pressure detonated.
The Nascent Soul shattered on the spot, cultivation collapsing as blood burst from every orifice. His body flew backward, smashing into the cliff wall like a discarded doll.
Silence.
Then panic.
"RETREAT!"
The woman in white turned instantly, activating a spatial talisman—
Xue Luo's hand closed around her wrist.
She froze.
Slowly, she looked down.
Xue Luo smiled.
"You felt it too, didn't you?" he said softly. "That pull."
Her lips trembled. "Y-you're not just killing…"
He leaned closer.
"You're recycling us."
He twisted.
Her blood tore free violently, leaving her body intact but hollow, eyes wide and empty as she collapsed soundlessly to the ground.
The remaining hunters fled.
Xue Luo did not chase them.
He stood alone in the ravine, blood mist swirling around him like a living cloak.
High above, unseen, the Heavenly System recorded the event.
Then paused.
—KARMA CALCULATION FAILURE——BLOOD SAMSARA FEEDBACK LOOP—
Xue Luo tilted his head slightly, as if listening to something far away.
Then he laughed again.
The survivors did not stop running.
They could not.
The ravine behind them felt alive now—wet, heavy, saturated with a pressure that clung to their souls like congealed blood. Even as they fled, the cultivators felt something crawling along their karmic threads, as if their escape itself was being measured.
One of the Core Formation cultivators vomited blood mid-flight.
"I—I can't stabilize my circulation!"
His companion grabbed him. "Hold it together! He's not chasing!"
But that was the most terrifying part.
Xue Luo wasn't chasing.
Back in the ravine, Xue Luo stood amid the aftermath, crimson mist slowly settling into the earth. He rolled his shoulder once, testing the flow within his body.
Smooth.Overflowing.
Blood Samsara pulsed like a second heart.
He exhaled, long and satisfied.
"So this is the bounty era," he muttered. "Not bad."
The ground beneath his feet darkened further as blood seeped into ancient cracks. Long-buried resentment stirred, drawn to him instinctively.
Xue Luo crouched, pressing his palm to the earth.
"Still hungry?" he asked softly.
The land answered.
A low tremor rippled outward as residual blood qi surged back toward him, reinforcing his meridians, tempering flesh and bone. His cultivation did not break through—it condensed, becoming heavier, denser, more oppressive.
Elsewhere, far from the ravine—
The escapees reached a safe distance.
Or so they thought.
They gathered atop a floating stone platform, panting, faces pale.
"We—we lived…"
A bitter laugh escaped one of them. "He didn't even bother—"
The sky darkened.
Not with clouds.
With judgment.
Golden characters ignited above them, burning into the air like brands.
—BOUNTY ENGAGEMENT: FAILED——MERIT PENALTY APPLIED—
The cultivators screamed.
Their auras destabilized violently as Heaven reclaimed what it had promised but not delivered.
Cultivation regressed.Dao insights shattered.One man collapsed outright, realm falling two stages in an instant.
"This—this wasn't in the decree!"
Heaven did not answer.
Heaven never answered.
Far above, within the Mandate Records Domain, the Heavenly System recalculated.
Streams of causality collided, then stalled.
—SUBJECT: XUE LUO——STATUS: ACTIVE——KARMA INPUT: EXTREME——OUTPUT: NON-LINEAR—
For the first time, a red warning line remained unresolved.
The Blood Samsara was not just absorbing karma.
It was repurposing it.
Heaven adjusted parameters.
It would not be enough.
News spread fast.
Too fast.
Within hours, sects across multiple realms received confirmed reports: a seven-man bounty team annihilated. Two Nascent Soul cultivators erased. No evidence of heavy injury.
Xue Luo's name stopped being a target.
It became a risk factor.
In the Golden Canopy Alliance, elders convened in emergency session.
"This is no longer a lone hunt."
"Then escalate."
"Escalate how? He grows stronger the more blood we spill!"
Silence followed.
Then someone whispered, "Use formations. Long-range suppression. No close combat."
In demon territory, the reaction was different.
A horned lord slammed his cup down, grinning savagely.
"Perfect. Send more."
Xue Luo felt them before they arrived.
This time, it wasn't a small group.
This time, it was organized.
Multiple auras converged from different vectors—disciplined, controlled, coordinated. A proper hunting formation.
He stood atop a ridge, hands clasped behind his back.
"Second wave already?" he said pleasantly. "Heaven must really want me dead."
The air shimmered as twelve cultivators revealed themselves, locking the area with overlapping suppression fields. Talismans anchored space. Formation flags slammed into the ground.
A man stepped forward, cultivation concealed but deep.
"We won't fight you," he said coldly. "We'll erase the battlefield."
Xue Luo's smile widened.
"Good choice."
The formation activated.
The ground collapsed.
Space compressed.
Blood qi surged violently—
Then twisted.
Xue Luo inhaled sharply.
The formation's suppression didn't block blood.
It concentrated it.
The hunters realized their mistake too late.
Blood pressure spiked catastrophically within the formation, internal circulation destabilizing across all twelve members simultaneously.
Veins burst.
Meridians ruptured.
Xue Luo stepped forward, walking through the collapsing formation as bodies fell around him like cut grain.
He reached the leader last.
The man tried to speak.
Xue Luo placed two fingers against his chest.
"Next time," he said softly, "don't hunt what feeds on effort."
He tapped.
The man burst.
Silence returned.
Xue Luo stood alone again.
His aura rolled outward, heavy and suffocating, blood mist coiling like a crown.
Far away, cultivators watching through mirrored techniques severed their connections in terror.
This was no longer a bounty target.
This was a slaughter engine.