45: Chapter 45 Blood Demon Blood Curse

"Golden Trait: Substitute Death!" A flash of wild joy crossed Qin Changsheng's eyes, but he quickly calmed his emotions to carefully sense the effects of this Golden Trait.

This was undoubtedly a Divine-Grade trait for saving one's life in desperate situations. As long as his Incarnation survived, it was equivalent to having an extra life. Even if he suffered a fatal attack, he could use the Incarnation to block it, leaving himself unharmed.

Furthermore, Qin Changsheng's Incarnation only required a single Spirit Stone to be successfully summoned.

This was essentially equivalent to one Spirit Stone being one life.

...

Scripture Pavilion.

After Hu Nan entered the Scripture Pavilion, he moved between the bookshelves on the first floor.

The ancient texts on the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion were as vast as the sea, but most were low-level Cultivation Techniques, Spiritual Plant encyclopedias, and miscellaneous Sect records; there were very few records regarding the Blood Demon Curse.

Hu Nan was very patient, carefully browsing through the rows of bookshelves. Unknowingly, he walked to a corner.

The bookshelves in the corner were covered in dust, clearly neglected for a long time. They held discarded ancient books and obscure miscellaneous records.

Hu Nan hadn't held much hope, but on the bottom shelf, he discovered two special items.

One was a defense deployment map. The other was an ancient book with a tattered cover. On the cover, four archaic characters, "Blood Demon Secret Curse," could be faintly seen. The paper was yellowed and brittle, clearly very old.

"Frontline defense deployment map?" Qin Changsheng was also very confused.

He completely failed to understand why this defense map would appear here.

He also commanded Hu Nan to pick up the defense map and examine it.

Qin Changsheng soon discovered that this was the Sect's frontline defense against Yao Beasts.

Both the rotation times and the Cultivators' cultivation levels were marked.

Qin Changsheng watched for a while before putting the defense map back, simultaneously pulling out that ancient book to examine it.

The ancient book mostly recorded low-level secret arts and incantations. After flipping through half of it, a line of striking characters caught his eye.

"Blood Demon Blood Curse, a secret curse of the Blood Demon Sect. Using one's own essence blood as a medium, it curses and kills the target, silently devouring their Lifespan until their Divine Soul is completely extinguished."

Hu Nan continued to flip through, and more details about the Blood Demon Blood Curse slowly emerged: "The price for casting this curse is immense. Each time it is cast, the caster must sacrifice a hundred years of Lifespan!"

"If the cursed target dies, the caster can recover the entire Lifespan; if the curse fails, the curse power backlashes, and the caster's Lifespan is abruptly reduced by two hundred years. In severe cases, the Divine Soul is damaged, and they become a crippled person."

"So that's how it is." A flash of realization appeared in Qin Changsheng's eyes.

He estimated that this Blood Demon powerhouse must have assumed Qin Changsheng was merely an ordinary Qi Refining Cultivator.

With a Lifespan of less than two hundred years.

That was why they felt safe casting the Blood Demon Blood Curse.

As long as Qin Changsheng died, the Lifespan could be recovered.

However, that Blood Demon Sect powerhouse never expected that Qin Changsheng possessed the Golden Trait: Immortality.

At the same time, Qin Changsheng understood that Lin Zhentian must be in league with the Blood Demon Sect.

He was just about to continue reading when he suddenly noticed Elder Qingxuan appearing not far away.

"Greetings, Elder!" Hu Nan cupped his hands toward Elder Qingxuan.

Qin Changsheng was very grateful toward Elder Qingxuan.

Back then, it was Elder Qingxuan's lecture that allowed Qin Changsheng to obtain the Talisman-making technique.

It also allowed Qin Changsheng to obtain a large amount of Spirit Sand.

It was also Elder Qingxuan's guidance that allowed Qin Changsheng to learn the movement technique.

Elder Qingxuan's gaze also fell upon Hu Nan, finally looking at the book in his hand.

"As an Outer Sect Disciple, why have you run up to the second floor and are even examining Blood Demon secret methods?" Elder Qingxuan asked.

Hu Nan hurriedly looked around, only then realizing that he had unknowingly arrived at the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

Hu Nan bowed and said, "Reporting to Elder, today I was reviewing records on the first floor and happened to hear that the second floor had some novel records of secrets. Out of curiosity, I foolishly wandered up here. Seeing this ancient book recording the Blood Demon Secret Curse, I couldn't help but flip through it."

Hearing this, Elder Qingxuan's gaze locked onto Hu Nan, sizing him up carefully for a long time.

After a long while, Elder Qingxuan finally withdrew his gaze: "The Blood Demon Sect was destroyed many years ago. No one knows how to cast this kind of curse anymore!"

"As an Outer Sect Disciple, examining this is of no use."

"Considering this is your first offense, I will not pursue it!"

"Go down quickly!"

"Yes, thank you for your forgiveness, Elder." Hu Nan bowed in response, not daring to delay for a second as he hurriedly turned to leave.

Once Hu Nan's figure had completely disappeared at the entrance of the second-floor stairs, Elder Qingxuan also picked up the Secret Manual Hu Nan had been reading.

Looking at the manual in his hand, Elder Qingxuan's eyes were filled with doubt.

...

Half a month later, Qingyun Tower.

Many fellow townsfolk from Beihai Prefecture would gather here to hold a hometown reunion, reminiscing, chatting, and exchanging trivial matters about their cultivation.

Hu Nan also followed Qin Changsheng's instructions to participate in this hometown reunion.

He didn't come here to reminisce with these people, but to listen to Sect rumors and recent major events.

Last year's news of the spirit cleansing grass was also something he heard about from this gathering.

More than ten people were already sitting in the hall; these were all fellow townsfolk from Beihai Prefecture who had come with Qin Changsheng and Hu Nan.

"Hu Nan! Over here!" A shout came from a corner. Several Disciples dressed in Outer Sect uniforms waved at him; they were the hometown acquaintances he had met before.

Hu Nan nodded with a smile and walked over quickly, sitting in an empty seat. He smoothly took the spiritual tea handed over by a fellow townsman and said in a friendly tone, "Sorry, sorry, I'm late. I was delayed on the road for a bit."

"It's fine, it's fine, we just arrived not long ago." Li Hu, who was beside him, waved his hand with a smile. He was burly and also an Outer Sect Disciple who usually had interactions with Hu Nan.

"You've been quite low-key this year, rarely showing your face. How has your cultivation been going?"

When cultivation was mentioned, everyone instantly opened up.

Hu Nan took a small sip of spiritual tea and spoke slowly, "My Aptitude is mediocre, so I can only bury my head in bitter cultivation."

He did not mention to what level he had cultivated.

After all, he had just checked and found that these people were all at the third or fourth level of Qi Refining.

Even Lin Yao, who had the best Spiritual Root, was only at the Peak of the fourth level of Qi Refining.

"Sigh, who isn't in the same boat?"

"The early stages of Qi Refining are still easy to Cultivate!"

"Once you reach the third level of Qi Refining, it becomes extremely difficult to Cultivate!"

"Exactly, the monthly stipend the Sect gives is just too little!"

"We can't even afford some basic Medicinal Pills!"

"Those Sect missions are too difficult again."

"It's hard for ordinary Disciples like us to even get Spirit Sand, let alone Spirit Stones!"

Everyone spoke one after another, full of grievances and unwillingness.

When they first entered the Sect, every one of them had been high-spirited.

They thought they could carve out a place for themselves within the Sect.

But they didn't expect that after nearly ten years of cultivation in the Sect, they would still be lingering at only the fourth level of Qi Refining.

As for wanting to reach Foundation Establishment, they had no idea when that would ever happen.

"By the way, I heard Zhang Han once obtained spirit cleansing grass?" Li Hu suddenly spoke.

Everyone's gaze turned toward Zhang Han, who was sitting next to Lin Yao.

Hearing this, Zhang Han's expression became very unsightly.

During last year's Secret Realm trip, his luck had exploded, and he had obtained spirit cleansing grass and Golden Condensation Grass all at once.

But he never expected that in the end, he would be robbed by Zhao Hu.

"Don't mention it, my spirit cleansing grass was robbed by Zhao Hu and Wu Feng!" Zhang Han's tone was full of complaints.

If he had the spirit cleansing grass and Golden Condensation Grass, he definitely could have taken a step further with Lin Yao.

He could also have purchased a Sect Immortal Cave.

When Li Hu and the many other fellow townsfolk heard that Zhang Han's Spiritual Plants had been robbed, they all showed happy smiles.

Although they were townsfolk and fellow Disciples with Zhang Han.

They were also afraid of Zhang Han suddenly becoming rich and having many Spirit Stones.

Now hearing that Zhang Han's Spiritual Plants were robbed, and that he was still as stably poor as they were, they were naturally very happy.

So, one by one, they comforted Zhang Han.

Telling Zhang Han not to be sad.

"I heard Zhao Hu and Wu Feng were both executed. Where did the spirit cleansing grass go?" Li Hu suddenly asked.

"Who knows where it went?" Zhang Han's face was very bad.

After hearing that Zhao Hu and Wu Feng were executed, Zhang Han had also gone to the Sect Law Enforcement Hall to look for Elder Lin Zhentian.

However, Elder Lin Zhentian only gave him twenty pieces of Spirit Sand to send him away.

Until now, Zhang Han didn't know where the spirit cleansing grass had gone.