Shen Lang never would have expected Xuanwu Realm powerhouses to appear in the Phoenix Mountain Range. And not just one, but three of them at once.
He couldnāt help but feel a little dejected.
If anyone else had seen this, they might have suspected the use of a Flying Spiritual Artifact.
But Shen Lang had inherited the War Emperorās memories. His judgment was that of the War Emperor himself!
Besides, the light wings formed by a Flying Spiritual Artifact, regardless of their color or shape, are always transparent and flimsy. In contrast, while the wings manifested by a Xuanwu Realm powerhouseās Spiritual Wings are also made of light, their Spiritual Power is exceptionally condensed, making them seem almost solid.
Moreover, the auras of these three were formidable and their gazes profound. One was as tranquil as a secluded orchid, another as sharp as a swordās gleam, and the last as steady as a boulder. Each possessed a unique temperament.
The moment Shen Lang saw them, he knew this was a disaster...
āThis Array can help me evade their detection, but itās not a Defensive Array. If they suspect that girl is hiding nearby and use a large-scale Attack Magic... Iām afraid... I can only pray. Damn it, I can only pray they donāt go too crazy with their attacks, fuck!ā
Just as Shen Langās brows knitted together while he scrambled for a countermeasure, the man in the center of the trio up ahead suddenly spoke. "Iāve already crippled that Blood Race girlās wings, so she canāt fly. Sheās lost too much blood along the way; itās impossible for her to have gotten far. Why did her aura completely vanish here? Could someone dare to interfere in the affairs of our Imperial Dragon Sect?"
āThe Imperial Dragon Sect? What are they doing all the way out here...ā Shen Lang mused.
At that moment, he heard another person say, "In a place like this, who would dare meddle with our Imperial Dragon Sect? ...To hide her unique Blood Race aura, her only option would be to jump directly into the water."
The last man shook his head. "If she wanted to hide in the water, she would have jumped into the Phoenix River earlier. Why wait until now? I suspect we made a mistake while tracking her aura and lost the trail. Hmph, I told you from the start not to be so merciful with that girl, but you wouldnāt listen! Now sheās vanished without a trace. What do we do?"
The man in the middle sighed. "Whatās the use of saying that now? We need a living member of the Blood Race, not a corpse. If we really bring a body back, the Sect Leader will skin us alive."
He fell silent for a moment, then continued, "Letās do this. The three of us will split up here. Iāll go forward, you two go left and right. Weāll search in a fan formation. Hmph, a flightless member of the Blood Race whose Cultivation is only at the Spirit Martial Realm Early Stage. You think she can escape from the palm of our hands?"
"Alright!"
With a flap of their wings, two of them vanished in the blink of an eye.
The man in the middle, however, descended toward the stone cave where Shen Lang and the girl had been staying.
"There are messy footprints around here, and the scent of blood. It seems she was here not long ago..."
This manās hair and beard were completely white, yet his face was youthful. Dressed in a gray robe, he had the air of an immortal sage, and his scanning gaze was filled with authority.
"Come out. I know youāre here." The old man suddenly chuckled. "I sent my two junior brothers away on purpose because I wanted to have a private word with you. Youāre searching for the Blood Ancestor Tomb, and so are we. With the Blood Raceās current capabilities, even if you find the Blood Ancestor Tomb, you wonāt be able to open it. We hope youāll cooperate with us for our mutual benefit. A win-win."
Inside the Concealing Array, the silver-haired girl was startled. She was about to stand up when Shen Lang knocked her back down with a rap on the head.
"Idiot, heās trying to trick you!" Shen Lang sent via Divine Thought.
"Ow..." The silver-haired girl pouted, rubbing her forehead.
Shen Lang shot her a glare and thought, āThis Blood Race girl... has she never left Blood Race territory before and is just naive? Or is she really this dense? For her to escape from three Xuanwu Realm powerhouses with her brain and Cultivation... heaven must truly be blind...ā
Outside, after the old man finished speaking, his eyes glinted. He waited silently for a moment, then suddenly waved a large hand!
A fierce gale instantly swept through the cave, sending countless rocks RUMBLING down.
Then, his robes billowed without any wind, and a ripple visible to the naked eye spread out in all directions.
The nearby grass and trees swayed outward as if blown by a strong gust.
Yet even so, there was still not the slightest movement from within the forest.
"Strange. Could it be the girl only stopped here for a moment?"
The old man muttered to himself with a frown. After hesitating for a moment, he spread the wings on his back, flew into the sky, and disappeared.
"Ah, heās finally gone! That scared me to death!" the silver-haired girl said, catching her breath nervously.
Seeing Shen Lang roll his eyes, the silver-haired girl timidly asked, "Sir, can we... can we go out now?"
Shen Lang glared at her and snapped, "If you donāt want to get caught... if you donāt want to die, then sit right there and wait quietly!"
"But itās so boring..." the silver-haired girl mumbled.
Shen Lang nearly lost it. What kind of person was this, worrying about being bored when her life was on the line!
āWhatās worse, being a little bored or being captured and dissected?ā
āYouāre bored? You think Iām not even more bored?ā
āI was cultivating peacefully, about to refine the Nine Immortals Lingzhi into Elixir Pills, and you just had to show up out of nowhere!ā
āIf we get away this time, fine. But if we donāt, Iām going down with you!ā
"Forget it. Iāll just count myself unlucky. I wonāt say any more. Do you have any Spirit Stones? Elixir Pills? Spiritual Artifacts? Hand them over as payment for saving you. I canāt have done this for nothing..." Shen Lang said with a stern face, holding out his hand.
Not many men would demand payment from such a beautiful woman, but Shen Lang happened to be one of them.
Who knew that as soon as he said this, the silver-haired girl would start squirming. After a long pause, she said, "Sir, we of the Blood Race are very poor..."
"How poor can you be?" Shen Lang sneered.
"Well... so poor that... this is only the second time Iāve ever seen a Sumeru Ring like the one on your hand, sir. The first time was on one of our clanās Elders, and the second time is right here with you..."
"..."
Shen Lang was speechless. āSo playing the hero to save the damsel in distress is a losing business, huh.ā
The silver-haired girl didnāt seem to notice Shen Langās crestfallen expression. She moved a little closer and said, "Sir, can we really not go out yet? Iām hungry..."
"Endure it!" Shen Lang snapped. "That old ghost is definitely still out there. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"No way, right?"
The silver-haired girl jumped, a shiver running through her. She subconsciously craned her neck to peek outside, trying to see where the man Shen Lang mentioned was.
But after looking around for a long time, she didnāt see the old man at all.
Meanwhile, Shen Langās mind began to race.
As the War Emperor, Master of War God Hall, he knew far too much about the Blood Race.
In fact, it wasnāt just the Blood Race; there was almost nothing about any race on the entire continent that he didnāt know.
In the eyes of outsiders, the Blood Race was now nothing but an empty shell. The only thing that still inspired fear were the legends from the Ancient Era.
Almost no one paid any attention to this fallen, ancient race anymore.
But Shen Lang knew that the ancient War God Hall, as well as the Demon Raceās Myriad Beasts Mansion, the Soul Raceās Thousand Soul Hall, and others, had been continuously sending out peerless powerhouses to search for the Blood Ancestorās whereabouts since the Ancient Era.
Because they simply did not believe that the Blood Ancestor had fallen in the battle that shook the entire continent back then!
All signs indicated that the old undying Blood Ancestor was still alive in this world!
As long as this progenitor of the Evil Dao was still alive, the powerhouses of the Ten Thousand Races in the Human Realm would absolutely live in constant fear...
As for the legendary Blood Ancestor Tomb, War God Hall had found traces of it thousands of years ago, but there had never been any major progress.
Over three hundred years ago, a piece of news spread like wildfire across the continent:
The heavens and earth would change, the Nine-Star Linked Pearls would align, the Human Realm would descend into chaos, and the Blood Ancestor Tomb would appear.
The time the Blood Ancestor Tomb appeared would be when the Nine-Star Linked Pearls alignment was complete.
At that time, the Supreme Yin Qi between heaven and earth would surge, while yang qi would wane. Malevolent demons would wreak havoc, and the entire Star Continent would be thrown into turmoil, with endless slaughter and ceaseless war.
But this "Nine-Star Linked Pearls" bullshitāno one had ever seen it, so the people of the Star Continent didnāt take it seriously at all.
Instead, most people and Sects were fixated on the "Blood Ancestor Tomb"!
Who was the Blood Ancestor? He was the progenitor who created the Blood Race, a being whose Cultivation could shake the heavens and earth. In the Ancient Era, he was regarded as an Evil God.
Legend had it that the place where the Blood Ancestor was buried held the secret to the Blood Raceās power, along with countless powerful Exotic Treasures that could shock the world. Obtaining one could allow you to establish a sect; obtaining two could make you an overlord.
Greed made people forget the Blood Ancestorās power and evil, leaving them to remember only the hypothetical treasures that might lie within the Blood Ancestor Tomb.
So after that rumor spread, the entire continent was in an uproar.
Countless races and Sects began to constantly seek information about the Blood Ancestor Tomb.
It was just that up until the War Emperorās fall ten years ago, even powers as strong as War God Hall and the Myriad Beasts Mansion that led the Demon Race had yet to confirm the location of the Blood Ancestor Tomb, let alone all the various other Sects, big and small.
Thinking of this, Shen Lang turned and asked, "According to legend, the Blood Ancestor Tomb is constantly moving, so no one knows its exact location. The Imperial Dragon Sect is hunting you... could it be that you know something about the Blood Ancestor Tomb?"
The silver-haired girl blinked her big eyes and shook her head. "I donāt know either. I came to the Western Wilderness Snow Domain with my uncle."
"Is that so?" Shen Lang gave a faint smile and didnāt press further.
āThe Imperial Dragon Sect is a Spirit Copper Level Influence, after allāthe head of the three great Spirit Copper Level Influences in the Purple Chu Country. They wouldnāt hunt down every single member of the Blood Race they see just to find the Blood Ancestor Tomb, would they?ā
āDo they really think that capturing one member of the Blood Race will reveal the location of the tomb?ā
The silver-haired girlās eyes were evasive; she clearly wasnāt telling the truth.
But he couldnāt blame her. It would be strange if she were to reveal something concerning her life and the survival of her race to a complete stranger she had just met.
On the other hand, Shen Lang was self-aware. āSo what if the War Emperor has truly merged with me?ā
āThe War Emperor has fallen, after all. For now, the affairs of War God Hall have nothing to do with me, Shen Lang... With my current piddling Cultivation, I donāt even qualify as a grunt. What could I possibly do?ā
āThe great matters of the Human Realm will naturally be handled by the powerhouses of War God Hall. Right now, I, Shen Lang, am just a mere rookie who hasnāt even reached the Spirit Martial Realm.ā
āIf I really did see the Blood Ancestor Tomb, I should run as far away as I can.ā
āBecause I donāt even qualify to be cannon fodder.ā
In the eyes of the powerhouses from the major factions, he, Shen Lang, was nothing more than an ant. There was no benefit in probing this matter further.
However, now that he had stopped asking, the silver-haired girl seemed to grow a little anxious.
"Sir, itās not that Iām trying to lie to you. I just donāt want to bring misfortune upon you. I am an ominous person..." After she spoke, the silver-haired girl pressed her lips together, her entire body trembling.
"An ominous person? So youāre the Blood Race Saintess?" Shen Lang said thoughtfully.
"Ah!" The silver-haired girl was so shocked she practically jumped to her feet. "You... you... you... how did you know?"