Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
When Tang Jie was communicating with Yiyi, the battle on his side was already wrapping up.
The combination of the Pale Cloud Flame and the Flesh Millstone was a perfect counter to the Blood River Lord. Let alone this weakened avatar, even a peak Heart Demon avatar wouldn't have been able to fight back against it.
He hadn't killed the Blood River Lord solely because he wanted to research the Blood Sea Divine Connection.
The Blood Sea Divine Connection was bursting with secrets, and while the avatar's cultivation level prevented it from using the Divine Connection's true power, the power it could already display was shocking. Tang Jie had had a rich harvest from this battle.
This harvest wasn't in a boost to strength, but in the broadening of horizons, a widening of experiences. This allowed him to develop a deeper understanding of the many arts of the world and also of the higher powers.
As the last of the surging waves of blood evaporated in the sea of flames, Tang Jie cut down the last avatar and began to absorb the blood gem that fell from its remains.
After absorbing this third blood gem, his body began to give off a red glow, crimson waves rolling off him and extending into his surroundings, during which Tang Jie began to shake.
It had to be understood that this was the blood essence of three Heart Demon avatars, and each one was packed with immense power. Although they weren't the complete strength of a Heart Demon Tier cultivator, three of them together weren't far off.
Even Tang Jie's Flesh Millstone wasn't able to digest all of this frenzied power. The extra power rushed straight into his body, no matter how much Tang Jie didn't want it to. This berserk power carried with it a crimson killing intent, and Tang Jie had no choice but to desperately cultivate his mantras to pacify this killing intent and gradually merge it with his body.
To his pleasant surprise, Tang Jie found that his cultivation level began to rise in the process.
As the blood energy poured into his body, he rose from initial Spirit Ring Tier to middle Spirit Ring Tier.
Each increase in cultivation level had both a breakthrough requirement and an accumulation requirement. Going from initial Spirit Ring Tier to upper Spirit Ring Tier was a long process of accumulation.
The accumulation process varied from individual to individual, potentially being as long as a hundred years or as short as three to five. That Tang Jie was able to go from the initial to the middle level in only one year was stunning, and a sign of just how amazing the power contained in the blood gems was.
And this wasn't even all of the power, for Tang Jie had used much of the power on the Flesh Millstone.
The Pale Cloud Flame meant that the sea of flames no longer attacked Tang Jie, so Tang Jie released the Flesh Millstone. Vast quantities of blood energy spread out, letting out a crimson glow. Each strand of blood energy, though appearing like cloudy wisps, was actually immensely heavy, hiding a boundless strength.
A crimson fog drifted outward, floating over to a nearby cliff. As the wisps curled around it, the cliff groaned, shedding debris and gravel. The volcanic rock of Holy Fire Valley, tempered through thousands of years of flames, crumbled easily under the weight of this blood cloud.
More of the crimson mist surged forth, enveloping the entirety of the cliff. In that red glow, more and more rock fell from the sky, and the cliff was ultimately turned to dust that disappeared within the sea of flames.
Tang Jie was somewhat satisfied with this result.
The Flesh Millstone finally had some of the grandeur of a powerful spell art.
The Flesh Millstone could be small or large, but its range decided its power. The larger the range, the lower the power had to be, and conversely, shorter range meant higher power.
After testing its might, Tang Jie tested its range, and the crimson halo began to rapidly expand.
The red tide unfolded across the land, and in a flash, it had gone past 1.5 kilometers, many times greater than before. Tang Jie could sense that this was not the limit of the Flesh Millstone, but at this distance, the Flesh Millstone was extremely weak. There was no point in further expansion.
As he was planning to call back the bloody light, he suddenly felt like something was wrong. Had his Flesh Millstone just come in contact with someone?
Tang Jie immediately shot off in that direction, and as he closed the distance, several large hands emerged from the mist of the Flesh Millstone and began to pull those existences hidden in the sea of fire toward him.
The person on the other side seemingly hadn't expected this development, and there was a cry of alarm as they were seized by a blood hand.
"It's you guys?" Tang Jie was startled when he saw who was being pulled toward him. It was none other than Liu Qianyi's group of three.
Tendrils of red smoke coiled around Liu Qianyi like ropes, and no matter how she struggled, she couldn't break free. Helplessly flailing her feet, she angrily said, "Hey, let me go! It's not like I did anything to you."
"Then what did you come here for?" Tang Jie didn't believe that their appearance in the area was a coincidence.
"To find treasure, of course. It's not like Holy Fire Valley is yours. You think you're the only one allowed in?" Liu Qianyi brusquely replied.
But her pale complexion gave away her nervousness.
She was afraid!
Tang Jie narrowed his eyes. "You guys… You knew that I wasn't the only one here. You were watching me?"
Liu Qianyi snorted. "Who said!? Don't think that you can get anything from us just because you caught us. I already knew that you weren't the only one in the valley. There are also fiends and Hemos, and I saw them. But this girl runs quickly and wasn't captured by them."
"Maybe it's not that you can run fast but that you can see far." Tang Jie smiled.
Liu Qianyi shuddered and looked away, acting as if she didn't know what he was talking about.
Tang Jie said, "I used the same method to capture you before, but you struggled and escaped that time. Since you already ran away once, you should have been able to escape again, so why didn't you even try this time?"
Liu Qianyi was startled.
Tang Jie said, "There can be only one explanation: you knew you couldn't break free this time… You saw me use this art earlier, right? In the sea of fire, vision is limited, and even I can't see 1.5 kilometers, but it seems like you have such a method. That's why you saw it, and that's why you knew that you couldn't break free, which is why you gave up! And this is also how you've managed to stay safe for so many days in the valley."
Liu Qianyi paled. She hadn't expected for Tang Jie to see through her via such a minor detail.
Yes, she had a way of seeing extremely far within Holy Fire Valley, which was how she saw the battle between Tang Jie and the Blood River Lord and was horrified by it.
The Blood River Lord's supreme Divine Connection truly did leave her shaken, but Tang Jie's methods left her dumbfounded.
After seeing Tang Jie kill one Heart Demon expert after another, she realized how naive she had been when she had first challenged Tang Jie, and she was overcome by remorse.
And when the Flesh Millstone soared in strength upon absorption of the blood gem, she was scared silly. This was why she didn't try to resist when the Flesh Millstone caught her, or else she would trigger the strengthened grinding power of the Flesh Millstone, which she knew she had no way of resisting.
Even so, Liu Qianyi stubbornly insisted, "Not at all. I just have a Void Teleportation Talisman, so I'm not afraid of you…"
"The Void Teleportation talisman…" Tang Jie muttered. "You really think you have a chance to escape with a talisman in my Flesh Millstone?"
As he spoke, the red mist gradually closed around Liu Qianyi's group.
What had initially been the sensation of being bound in ropes was now the sensation of being tightly squeezed. Under the weight of the blood cloud, Liu Qianyi felt like even blinking was difficult, let alone taking out the talisman and escaping.
She frantically shouted, "Hey, hey, don't! Fine, I admit it. I was watching you from afar, but it was purely out of curiosity. I meant no harm!"
"'Curiosity'? It seems more like you were the fisherman waiting to catch the fighting sandpiper and clam, no?" Tang Jie coldly smiled.
Liu Qianyi panicked after having her intentions so easily exposed.
She truly had planned to third-party the fight, but she hadn't expected all of these people to be so terrifying. After seeing that battle, she had put aside any thought about intervening, but then she saw Tang Jie get stronger, and she felt that she had to stay and see exactly how much stronger he had gotten. This had ultimately caused her to lose her chance to escape.
Tang Jie looked at her with narrowed eyes that glowed with murderous intent, and she knew that Tang Jie might be considering silencing witnesses. Working her brain, she shouted, "Wait! Don't kill me! I can tell you an important secret!"
"'A secret'?" Tang Jie said.
To be honest, it was thanks to Liu Qianyi that he knew that the Blood River Lord had entered the Treasure Paradise and was able to get the initiative on him, ultimately allowing him to kill four Heart Demon avatars. So when Liu Qianyi said she had another secret to trade, he became rather interested.
"What sort of secret do you have to trade?" he asked.
"A secret regarding the Hall of Three Immortals!" Liu Qianyi swiftly replied.
The Hall of Three Immortals was the source of all the treasures of the Treasure Paradise, the place where all the best treasures could be found.
But Tang Jie wasn't very interested in this secret. After all, half of the reason he was here was to fulfill his promise. With the inter-domain trade, he wasn't passionate about risking his life for riches, and there was also the threat of the Blood River Lord to consider. He shook his head and said, "I'm not interested."
Liu Qianyi said in a panic, "I know that you're a representative of the Western Heavenly King and that you must have learned many secrets about the Hall of Three Immortals from him, but what I'm going to tell you is something my master personally told me, something the Western Heavenly King doesn't know!"
"Oh?" Tang Jie finally developed an interest. "Why don't you tell me what it's about? Once I confirm its value, I will consider whether I accept it or not."
Liu Qianyi gritted her teeth and said, "It's a secret about the fifth natural Dao armament."
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