Chapter 1831: Blood Sample

[AN: I made a mistake. Bu Jinshi should be called Bi Jinshi, from the Bi Clan of the Primeval Body Mansion. I’ve fixed the previous Chapters.]

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The chaos outside hadn’t stopped, just changed form. The expeditioners were focused on plundering as many resources as possible. The Infinite Divine Court protected Star Manifestation to prevent anything from happening to the Highest Sovereign’s plans. The Heaven Splitting Holy Lands people had suffered a significant blow after Mingyunjun’s betrayal. And after sensing something was off, many of them started packing up their families and belongings to run off.

The same for the Primordial Chaos Holy Land. No one expected Mingyunjun to have secretly controlled so many of their people. Now, they should be celebrating that they won the final battle, but what was there to be happy about? Their timeline’s Hundunxi has been swallowed by the True Self, meaning they have lost a leader and all the benefits that came with it. Speaking of, Mingyunjun destroyed the Power Force, which they were going to share, leaving them with nothing.

Unwilling to accept such a result, many of them started competing with the expeditioners for resources. Meanwhile, the rest of them retreat to the Primordial Chaos Holy to recuperate from their injuries and also prepare to run away. Things were not looking good.

Wang Wei calmly watched his future self dissipate. Although he still wanted the latter’s help, he knew he had reached the limit of what the Summoning Talisman could accomplish. After sighing to himself, he glanced at Maitreya, "Finished?"

"Thank you," Maitreya nodded as she handed him the space ring back. A few of the materials were indeed useful to her.

"Let’s go."

"What are you planning this time?" Maitreya asked after a deep sigh.

"There is only one thing left for this outing to have the perfect conclusion," Wang Wei smiled. The two entered the Formless State before returning to the material world. Without wasting a single second, Wang Wei and Maitreya began searching for something: a drop of blood. To be specific, a drop of blood from the Trinity Venerable.

Wang Wei needed that blood because it might be the key to Qiyuan escaping his status as a pawn. With it, Qiyuan will be able to analyze and understand the essence of the Trinity Venerable after becoming a Saint and scheme against him. And if possible, even use the blood as a medium for a curse or something. Anyway, Wang Wei was determined to leave the expedition with that blood.

"Why can’t we find anything?" he complained. Although the expeditioners had the advantage, Trinity Venerable was still injured in the battle before the Great Dreamer showed up. Wang Wei — who wanted to use the easiest method — thought of getting the blood from the ground, but it seems he was dreaming.

"Even at our level, we know not to leave our information behind, let alone a second-step powerhouse," Maitreya commented.

"A man can dream," Wang Wei sighed.

"What now? Time is running out." At first, Maitreya couldn’t sense anything, but after Future Wang Wei told her of this timeline’s fate, her sense of danger attuned to the state of the world. With each passing second, she can feel that death is approaching.

"It’s time for Plan B," Wang Wei said. "Do you have a second-step talisman?"

"No."

"You didn’t prepare an escape plan for this mission?"

"I did, but I already used it."

"On what?" Wang Wei asked with a frown. He had kept eyes on Maitreya after his escape, and she didn’t seem to be in danger of needing to use a second-step talisman.

"When I realized the situation you were in, I tried to use a Void Breaking Talisman to enter the battlefield and rescue you."

Wang Wei was silent. That talisman should have been Maitreya’s only escape measure, but she didn’t hesitate to use it to save him. Although she can be unreliable as a teammate, Wang Wei would never trust her trustworthiness.

"Are you sure you don’t want me to call your grandma? You have more than earned the title."

The beautiful nun rolled her eyes.

"I’m serious."

"Focus," she said. "What do we do next?"

"Your loss," Wang Wei muttered under his breath. "Do you have a first-step talisman? Preferably one that can hide presence."

"Good." Wang Wei took the two of them inside the Holy Son Mansion to use the Heaven Deception Array to hide from any prying eyes. With a flick of his wrist, Wang Wei summoned the Power Core and used its power to bless Maitreya’s talisman, temporarily raising its rank.

"With this, I should be able to successfully sneak attack Trinity Venerable and get his blood," Wang Wei explained.

"Let me do it."

"Absolutely not," Wang Wei shook his head. He already felt guilty for putting her in danger, so now, the last thing he wanted to do was do it again.

"Your strength probably won’t last five minutes. Are you sure it’s enough time to find a good opportunity for an attack?"

Wang Wei was quiet. His previous battle and repeated forceful use of powers beyond his realm had depleted the effect of the Mirror Seed. Forget five minutes, according to his calculation, he had less than two minutes left.

"And even if you could successfully sneak attack, how are you going to store the blood?" Maitreya asked. Yes. When it comes to dealing with and sealing Tribunal Lord’s blood, Maitreya was the expert.

"It’s dangerous."

"I know," Maitreya smiled. "But I have a plan."

"...Alright, but no need to risk too much. The expedition hasn’t ended, so there is a lot of time to get a sample of his blood."

"Don’t worry. You can count on me."

Wang Wei nodded. "Use the effect of the mansion to better hide your presence."

Maitreya took his words into account. So, with a flick of her wrist, the Holy Son Mansion entered her Sea of Consciousness, acting as a Presence Hiding Artifact. The Mother Buddha’s subsequent actions shocked Wang Wei, as he had never thought she had such a cunning side; well, he knew, but due to past events, Wang Wei held some biased views toward the leader of Buddhism.

Maitreya’s first action was transformed into this black creature that seemed to be an amalgamation of all negative emotions. Wang Wei — who was watching everything through the mansion in her Sea of Consciousness — was surprised as he realized that this wasn’t a transformation per se. Maitreya was once schemed against, resulting in her growing a terrifying Heart Devil. Her state of mind was affected so intently that she subtly influenced all the Buddhist monks in the lower dimension, leading to their eventual catastrophe.

Everyone thought Maitreya had purified her mind and regained clarity. But Wang Wei learned today that the cunning nun refined that Heart Devil into a powerful second or alternate soul.

"No wonder she successfully sanctified with that shoddy method," Wang Wei thought. Maitreya’s Sainthood Path involved absorbing countless versions of herself until she found the key to sublimation. The question in Wang Wei’s mind has always been how she survives so many battles. Among all her infinite selves, there must be some anomalies.

Now, he had an answer. With this Devilish Side, Maitreya can absorb the purest part of her alternate self while leaving the impurity, negative emotions, and aura of slaughter to the Heart Devil. Then, with the two working together, most of her opponents can be defeated — especially if the Heart Devil used sneak attacks.

After activating the talisman, the Mother Devil further boosted her hiding abilities by entering the Formless State, blessing herself with the power of space-time, and utilizing the power of Darkness from her Heart Devil. Then, she slowly approached Trinity Venerable’s location. Wang Wei was once again surprised. Maitreya’s ability to hide her killing intent was truly brilliant; it was so natural that it seemed as if she meant no harm whatsoever. No, it’s almost as if she never existed in the first place. Without form or existence, how can there be any desire to kill?

"She’s the perfect assassin," Wang Wei thought.

Trinity Venerable and the other Tribunal Lords were currently attacking the second level of the Holy Land’s Treasury. The guardian — knowing he’ll probably die — fully utilized the power of the protective array, blocking these people from entering at all costs. Unfortunately, with so many second-step powerhouses attacking, it’s only a matter of time before the array is broken.

Bang!

The strike was perfectly timed. The moment the array broke, everybody — including the Trinity Venerable — was in a state of brief euphoria, meaning their guards were down. More importantly, he had just used a significant portion of his power, meaning it would take a split second for him to once again gather a significant amount of power.

In that brief window, a black shadow appeared behind him and cut off a piece of flesh from his right arm. Of course, as a higher being, the Trinity Venerable has its own passive defense. Maitreya’s swift attack was successful, but a powerful counterattack sent her flying away. However, that didn’t matter as she used the momentum to distance herself from her opponent, enter the void, and disappear.