Spirit Realm

At the space inside the spirit pattern pillar.

The moment Qin Lie’s wisp of mind consciousness entered, the old man then said darkly, “I am called Xue Li. As long as you are willing to get me out of here, I can give you everything you want.”

“Xue Li…” Qin Lie hesitated for a moment before asking with his thoughts, “The bloody spirit art brought out by You Hongzhi and the method of tempering one’s body with the blood pools. Do they all come from you?”

“That is correct.” Xue Li’s scarlet eyes shone with intimidating light. “Where is he now?”

“You Hongzhi died a long time ago. I... I heard that he fed on human flesh and drank human blood, turning into something neither man nor demon. Is that a side-effect after cultivating that bloody spirit art of yours?” Qin Lie expressed his doubts.

“Side-effect? What kind of a side-effect is feeding on human blood?” Xue Li said with a dark face, “The spirit art and secret technique cultivated by our Blood Fiend Sect is a shortcut in the first place. Since it is a shortcut, naturally, it has its own unique characteristics! A martial practitioner hunts spirit beasts, forges their artifacts with their beast core, and enhances their energy with the refined blood of spirit beasts. Aren’t they just the same as us?”

“A spirit beast is a spirit beast. A man is a man,” Qin Lie said.

“There is no difference to me,” Xue Li said coldly.

Qin Lie pondered and asked again, “How can I help you escape this place?”

Xue Li’s eyes abruptly brightened as he looked at the spirit pattern pillars beside him. He said, “Very simple. If you can cause the spirit pattern pillars to react on the outside, you can do the same here as well. As long as you break through one of the nodes of these spirit pattern pillars, the chains shackling me will be unlocked as well. When all twelve shackles have been released, then I will be able to leave this place!”

When he heard this, Qin Lie’s wisp of mind consciousness directly fell onto the spirit pattern pillar inscribed with the Nine Winding River Diagram.

This spirit pattern pillar was exactly the same as the one in the outer world, but the only difference was that this spirit pattern pillar wasn’t made from stone. It was tempered from some strange beast’s bones, and it was creepy white, covered in a similarly eerie cold air.

Using the way he entered, his mind consciousness copied the tracks of the ancient glyphs and swam over the diagram.

Before long, his mind consciousness had arrived at the critical point which would break the inner area.

That just happened to be the port where the chain was connected. It glittered with light and unleashed a thick and powerful energy wave.

According to Xue Li, as long as he attacked it with his mind consciousness, he would be able to break open the light clump and release the chains.

But he did not do it.

He withdrew the wisp of mind consciousness and gathered into a smoky form in front of Xue Li, saying with his thoughts, “If you are correct, then I can release these chains. I have seen the port connection point of the chain already.”

Xue Li’s scarlet eyes grew brighter and brighter.

“We can talk about other matters in the future. Right now I only have a question. How can I control you?” Qin Lie asked.

“Control me?” Xue Li’s thin face and sunken eyes was like a skeleton. The bloody light in his eyes flashed, causing him to look quite terrifying and spooky, “You want to control me?”

“If I can’t control you, then you can kill me instantly when you come out. Why would I release you then?” Qin Lie answered and then said, “Perhaps you need more time to consider.”

As he said that, he withdrew his mind consciousness once more and retreated from the spirit pattern pillar.

“Yo-you have communicated with him?” Before he knew it, Tang Siqi had come down and stood right beside him. The moment she saw him regaining his consciousness, she hurriedly asked in a shocked voice.

“Why have you come?” Qin Lie narrowed his eyes.

“I couldn’t interrupt regarding the matters discussed on the mountain. Also, Sect Master asked me to leave the sect with you, so not long after you came down, I went back to the cave to make preparations,” Tang Siqi explained and then asked again, “What did you talk about inside? Who is he?”

“If we say You Hongzhi is Lang Xie, Feng Rong, and Blood Shadow’s master, then that person inside is You Hongzhi’s master.”

“You Hongzhi’s master?!”

QIn Lie nodded and lowered his voice, “The bloody spirit art You Hongzhi obtained was from him. That spirit art caused You Hongzhi’s power to grow exponentially, turning Fire Spear into Blood Spear and also caused You Hongzhi to turn into something neither man nor demon. The root of all these things is the man inside the pillar!”

Fear and worry appeared on Tang Siqi’s face. She exclaimed, “What did you talk about? Qin Bing, I think you should tell this to Sect Master and let Sect Master and the three great reverends know about the situation inside.”

“Tell Sect Master…” Qin Bing frowned, “They would probably do their best to kill this man. They couldn’t even accept You Hongzhi, so how can they accept Xue Li, who is even scarier than You Hongzhi. This Xue Li is the true owner of the bloody spirit art. Who knows what kind of secrets a person who has been sealed for thousands of years has.”

“Xue Li?”

“Mn, it’s this person’s name. He seems to be from a force called Blood Fiend Sect. Senior Sister Tang, have you heard of Blood Fiend Sect before?”

“No, never. Nowhere in Scarlet Tide Continent does such a force exist, I can guarantee this.”

“In that case, Xue Li is probably not a person from Scarlet Tide Continent…”

Qin Lie pondered for a moment, then thought for a while more before closing his eyes again.

He entered the inner world of the spirit pattern pillar once more. “Senior Xue Li, what are your thoughts now?”

“I can’t think of any way that can make you control me in a way that appeases you.” Xue Li’s expression was calm. Even the blood color in his eyes had been withdrawn. “Kid, your realm is too weak. You can’t control me at all. But I have a suggestion. I can teach you the spirit art I cultivate and all of the secret arts I’ve given to You Hongzhi. I can even give you more than that. What do you think?”

“I do not wish to become a stranger who is neither human nor demon, so I have no interest in the spirit art you cultivate. Keep thinking.” Qin Lie withdrew once more.

The moment his consciousness left, Xue Li immediately turned violent again as he let out many maddening roars one after another. The blood aura around him soared as if it would shatter the entire space.

It was obvious that his previous calm earlier was forced.

“I just smelled a very thick stench of blood.” On the outside, even Tang Siqi could detect that something was wrong. She stared at the pillar beside her with great shock in her eyes, “I-it’s coming from the spirit pattern pillar! Is that Xue Li? How terrifying!”

“Mn, he should be going crazy inside right now.” Qin Lie’s expression was stern. “I will continue to grind him down. He’s been sealed for more than a thousand years and now, he finally has seen a chance to escape. He will eventually submit to me.”

“Submit to you? Wh-what are you planning to do?” Tang Siqi cried out.

“Right now the sect is being besieged. With the five forces surrounding us, the sect’s collapse is inevitable unless there is a huge change,” Qin Lie said with a darkened face and looked in Armament City’s direction. He coldly continued, “I want to see if I can overturn this situation, and Xue Li may just be the possibility that can save Armament Sect from this danger!”

“Him?” Tang Siqi looked shocked.

“If he can come out and is willing to help Armament Sect, I believe that Armament Sect’s current dilemma will be resolved,” Qin Lie elaborated.

Tang Siqi frowned and thought seriously for a moment. She also sat down quietly before saying, “Take care. You must not lose yourself.”

“Mn. I’ll be careful.” Qin Lie closed his eyes.

He did not hurry to immediately enter the spirit pattern pillar. Instead, he first took out a pill that recovered mind energy and swallowed it. Then, he rested for a moment beneath the spirit pattern pillar.

Next, he flipped through the sect’s secret scriptures inside the spatial ring and very quickly discovered a book.

Poring through the book, he read it with utmost concentration to research the information within.

Two hours later, after he felt that his mind had recovered, he finally put the book away and stepped once again into the world inside the spirit pattern pillar.

After such a long time, Xue Li had, as expected, calmed down again. The scarlet color in his eyes had also been withdrawn. His voice had grown quite indifferent as well. “What do you want me to do?” he asked Qin Lie on his own.

“I’ve looked through some books just now, and I’ve learned that there are many way to control a person. Special medicines, spirit artifact shackles, women, family, children, and so on.” Qin Lie’s consciousness floated. “You’re alone, so I can’t control you through your family. From what I can see, even if you do have a family, this method may not be of use…”

How could Xue Li, someone who taught You Hongzhi to become more and more extreme, be bound by family?

“With your realm and cultivation, medicines or shackles will be hard pressed to control you as well. I am not the master here after all, so I can’t build such a large scale sealing formation.” Qin Lie paused. “In the end, the only way I can think of to control you is through your soul.”

A blood-red color appeared inside Xue Li’s eyes. “Soul?”

“That’s right. Surrender a portion of your soul to me and allow me to imprison it. Only then can I be reassured enough to take you out,” Qin Lie said.

“Kid, aren’t you desiring a little too much!” Xue Lie shouted angrily.

However, Qin Lie had already left beforehand to avoid having his mind consciousness destroyed when his expression had changed greatly.

Xue Li was the only one left inside the spirit pattern pillar howling at the top of his lungs.

“The stench of blood on the spirit pattern pillar is growing thicker and thicker,” worriedly said Tang Siqi, who was outside.

Qin Lie withdrew his consciousness and looked at the spirit pattern pillar before him. He was also secretly shocked.

He himself didn’t know if dealing with a person like Xue Li would cause him to fall into an abyss with no hope of redemption. An old demon who lived over a thousand years like this must have spent his entire life in conspiracies and scheming. In the end, he might very well be devoured whole from bargaining with such a person.

“Qin Bing, I still think we should give up. W-why don’t we just leave Armament Sect sooner?” Tang Siqi felt that this was not the best course of action.

“If we leave Armament Sect, we will never have a place to live again.” Qin Lie said with a dark face, “The five great forces will not allow us to continue living. We are still carrying the sect’s secret scriptures as well, so they will definitely hunt us down with everything they have.”

Tang Siqi fell into silence once more.

Qin Lie closed his eyes and entered the spirit pattern pillar again. His mind consciousness appeared once more in front of Xue Li. “Senior Xue Li, have you come to a decision?”

“I promise you!” Xue Li yelled out with a bowed head.