Cultivation: I Can Steal Lifespan from Spirit Beasts

Chapter 125: Blood Dharma Pill, Making a Move

Elder Huo and the middle-aged female cultivator exchanged a few brief words before immediately setting to work on the formation.

“Pan Long, you head over there. Stay alert.”

“Lady Xue, you’re injured. Be careful not to let that escaped Incense Path cultivator find an opening.”

Elder Huo swiftly assigned their tasks. The young cultivator, Pan Long, and the woman, Lady Xue, both voiced their obedience.

Soon, the three appeared to separate, scattering in different directions while maintaining a distant formation. Using a specialized technique, they drove the formation flags in their hands into various earth veins.

As cultivators, their speed far outstripped the ordinary Incense Path believers below, who were fleeing in panic or hastily barricading themselves inside their homes. Strangely, however, the trio saw no sign of the fanatical Incense Path zealots they expected.

Elder Huo was rather pleased by this anomaly. “They’re likely all hiding in the town, completely unaware that we intend to refine them all together.”

Lady Xue was equally delighted.

Taking advantage of the moment when Elder Huo and Lady Xue were distracted, Pan Long silently retrieved a corpse from his storage bag. The body was entirely crimson. He stared at it deeply for a moment before burying it in a nearby patch of earth, carefully smoothing over the soil.

Once that was done, Pan Long acted as if nothing had happened and continued to drive his formation flags into the ground, one by one.

According to their plan, the three successfully encircled the majority of Meng Xing Village.

“Those two surnamed Bu should be about ready…” Elder Huo calculated on his fingers, muttering thoughtfully.

Lady Xue looked regretful. “I forgot to exchange communication talismans with her. Otherwise, we could have just asked.”

“Should I go take a look?”

“No matter,” Elder Huo shook his head decisively. “This blood sacrifice formation is extremely flexible. Even if she hasn’t placed all her flags, we can still activate it. The effect might be slightly diminished, but to avoid any unforeseen complications, it is better to activate it immediately!”

Lady Xue nodded in agreement. “Senior Brother Huo is thorough! A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

“Junior Brother Pan, come here quickly! Let us combine our strength to trigger the formation.”

Hearing this, Pan Long paused for a split second. Then, revealing an indescribable smile, he nodded.

“Coming.”

He eagerly joined the other two.

The three combined their efforts, pouring their Qi into the main formation flag held by Elder Huo.

Whoosh!

Screens of blood-red light instantly shot up from every corner of Meng Xing Village. They converged rapidly in the sky, forming a massive crimson canopy that shrouded the majority of the village.

“Huh?!”

At that moment, Elder Huo couldn’t help but look toward the southern part of Meng Xing Village in astonishment. Lady Xue and Pan Long followed his gaze, realizing the anomaly a beat later.

They were stunned.

The sky above the southern section of Meng Xing Village was empty. There wasn’t a single blood screen.

Lady Xue hurriedly infused Qi into her eyes, confirming she wasn’t seeing things. The formation flags that were supposed to be planted in the south were completely missing!

“Where are those two?!” she cried out, her voice rising in pitch.

Elder Huo’s face was dark and gloomy. He looked remorseful. “I was too greedy. That woman surnamed Bu probably sensed we were going to move against her and fled in advance.”

“Then… what should we do?” Lady Xue asked anxiously.

“The grand formation is already active; it’s too late to add those flags now! Forget it, the majority of Meng Xing Village is enough.” Elder Huo’s expression turned sinister. “But be careful. Since the Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation didn’t cover the entire village, if that Incense Path cultivator happens to be hiding in the south, they might seize this chance to ambush us. We must remain on guard!”

“Understood!”

Lady Xue and Pan Long nodded in unison.

Under Elder Huo’s instructions, the two immediately sat cross-legged and swallowed pills to rapidly recover their Qi.

“Recover quickly, just in case of an ambush.”

Pan Long nodded fervently, but his gaze cautiously swept the surroundings and the distance. A seed of doubt sprouted in his heart.

Did those two really escape?

Meanwhile, beneath the shroud of the blood-red light screens.

Inside the houses, ordinary Incense Path believers huddled in wardrobes, under beds, and behind doors, trembling in fear. Some looked down and watched in horror as droplets of blood slowly squeezed out from the pores of their palms, defying gravity to float upward…

“Ah—”

“Save me!”

“Father! Mother!”

“I don’t want to die…”

“The High God will surely send down his wrath! You will all die horrible deaths!”

Curses, wails, and cries of helplessness… all gradually faded into silence under the crimson glow.

Until only a deathly stillness remained.

Countless droplets of blood rose from every corner beneath the barrier, slowly coalescing. First, one sphere of blood formed in mid-air, followed gradually by a second.

“Two…”

Elder Huo’s expression darkened slightly.

Lady Xue and Pan Long noticed it as well.

“Damn it! If that woman surnamed Bu hadn’t escaped, we could have condensed three!” Lady Xue said indignantly.

Elder Huo’s face grew even uglier at her words.

However, after a series of contractions, the two Blood Dharma Pills finally stabilized. The sacrifice of over half of Meng Xing Village had resulted in two pills, each only the size of a finger.

Despite his frustration, Elder Huo couldn’t suppress a look of ecstatic surprise when he saw the final product.

“Two top-grade Blood Dharma Pills!”

“To think merely half of Meng Xing Village could produce top-grade pills… Could that Incense Path cultivator be hiding here?”

Lady Xue and Pan Long couldn’t hide their excitement as they leaned in closer.

Elder Huo eagerly reached out to grab the two Blood Dharma Pills drifting toward him.

But the instant he was about to touch them, his entire body convulsed!

He looked down in disbelief. The tip of a crimson, dark iron awl, covered in eerie patterns, was protruding from his chest.

No blood dripped down. Instead, the dark iron awl was gurgling as it drank his blood. Along with his life essence, the Qi in his dantian was being drained at a terrifying speed.

“Pan Long! W-what are you doing?!”

Lady Xue, reacting too late, stared in shock at the sudden betrayal.

‘Pan Long’ gently withdrew the dark iron awl and shoved Elder Huo to the ground. He turned, spread his hands, and flashed Lady Xue a strange, twisted smile.

“You saw it yourself… there are only two Blood Dharma Pills. Do you really think this old thing would share them with us?”

“I…”

Lady Xue looked at Elder Huo writhing on the ground, hesitation flickering on her face.

Elder Huo struggled to crawl, his temples turning white and withered at a visible rate. He tried to speak, pointing a trembling finger at Pan Long, but no words came out.

His arm dropped, powerless.

Until the moment he died, his eyes were filled with shock and incomprehension.

Lady Xue suddenly sensed something was wrong. “Your magical artifact isn’t… You aren’t Pan—”

Whoosh!

The dark iron awl flew from his hand, piercing straight through Lady Xue’s throat, tearing a massive hole in her pale neck.

“You guessed right.”

‘Pan Long’ smiled. “But unfortunately, there’s no prize.”

A golden nail fell weakly from beneath Lady Xue’s tongue. ‘Pan Long’ didn’t hesitate to sweep it into his storage bag. He then stepped forward and looted several storage bags from her corpse.

“Quite the haul.”

Enjoying the thrill of being the final victor, ‘Pan Long’ gently patted Lady Xue’s face, which was frozen in a stare of grievance.

He then walked over to Elder Huo. After rummaging around, he found a glowing eyeball beneath the old man’s body.

“This old thing actually held a card back!”

‘Pan Long’ picked up the eyeball, his expression turning sour. It was the same recording artifact Elder Huo had used earlier.

He had originally planned to take this eyeball to the Heavenly Gate Sect to claim merits. He hadn’t expected Elder Huo to secretly keep it running, recording everything that had just transpired.

“Looks like… I’ll have to find a few old acquaintances to serve as a pledge of allegiance… Sigh, I have no choice. Don’t blame me. The divine statue is lost, and the scripture is nowhere to be found…”

Perhaps out of pride, or perhaps habit, ‘Pan Long’ muttered to himself as he stowed Elder Huo’s storage bag away.

Once he was done, he stood up leisurely, gazing at the two top-grade Blood Dharma Pills fluttering aimlessly within the dimming blood screen.

“Good stuff. Worth sacrificing even myself for…”

‘Pan Long’ licked his lips, reached out, and activated the formation flag.

The blood screen collapsed, and the two Blood Dharma Pills shot out, straight toward his hand—

Whoosh!

‘Pan Long’ saw only a blur.

The two Blood Dharma Pills, mere inches from his grasp, vanished instantly!

A surge of horror welled up in his heart.

He hurriedly channeled Qi through his body. A flying artifact shot out of his storage bag, attempting to whisk him away.

But before the artifact could even lift off, a phantom shadow materialized out of thin air and pecked it in half!

“Who is it?!”

Pan Long turned pale with fright and scrambled back to the ground. He swung the crimson dark iron awl wildly around him, but it hit nothing but air.

Finally, the other party revealed themselves.

Perched on the roof of a nearby house stood a Spirit Poultry. It was half the height of a man, with a proud, arrogant posture and eyes filled with a trace of tyranny. It looked down at him with utter coldness.

“A… A top-grade Spirit Poultry?!”

‘Pan Long’ stared in shock.

But he soon realized this was only the beginning.

From the shadows, a pitch-black Spirit Poultry shimmering with multicolored radiance strode out. Then came a high-grade Spirit Poultry… followed by two top-grade Spirit Turtles, and six high-grade Spirit Turtles…

‘Pan Long’s’ face went completely deathly pale.

He looked around frantically. “Who is it? Who are you, sir? To possess so many top-grade Spirit Beasts, you must be a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator, or at least a Qi Refining tenth-layer Great Cultivator! Why don’t you show yourself?”

A moment later.

A voice drifted from the darkness, a voice that made his entire body tremble violently.

“Thirteen, knock him out.”

It’s him?!