Author's Note: Six thousand words, begging for monthly votes.
Although the risk was enormous, Yang Dingtian still felt that he should use Dugu Aoshuang's method to lure the Eight-headed Demon Snake and Fire Demon Lion to kill each other.
He would take the opportunity to enter the Blood Pool to cultivate.
"It will be very dangerous later. You should go back." Yang Dingtian said.
"No, I want to go with you." Dugu Aoshuang said.
"There's no room for discussion."
Yang Dingtian said resolutely, "If I successfully break through in the Blood Pool and don't die at the hands of these two beasts, no matter how dangerous the situation is, I will definitely come back to see you again.
If I don't come back, it means that I'm dead. "
Dugu Aoshuang's beautiful eyes reddened. "No, you must come back."
Yang Dingtian said, "Okay, I will definitely come back. Then you should obediently go back and wait for me.
You are useless by my side. Even if there is danger, I will have to divert my attention to protect you. "
After saying that, Yang Dingtian pushed Dugu Aoshuang up.
Dugu Aoshuang's eyes reddened. She said softly, "Okay, then I will wait for you in the small building. Big Brother Yan, you must be careful."
Then she grabbed the rope and climbed up, returning to her small building a few thousand meters away.
…
Yang Dingtian looked down at the dark Rapture River. The extremely dangerous demonic beast, the Eight-Headed Demon Flood Dragon, resided below. Yang Dingtian took a deep breath and suppressed his nervous emotions. He took out the sixth-grade Beast Soul Elixir from his spatial ring and shook it gently in the air.
Although they were ten thousand meters apart, the Eight-headed Demon Snake could still clearly smell the fragrance.
In the beginning, the river of ecstasy was still without ripples, but Yang Dingtian was already running towards the cave.
He had to run towards the Blood Pool before the Eight-headed Demon Snake discovered Yang Dingtian. Once it saw him, he would definitely die without a burial place.
Yang Dingtian ran quickly, following the huge stone path towards the Blood Pool at the center of the mountain.
At this time, an incomparably huge monster silently emerged from the river of ecstasy. It had a total of eight heads and sixteen eyes, and each head was different. Some had a snake-like face, while others had a human-like face.
The bigger ones had a diameter of two to three meters, while the smaller ones only had a diameter of a foot.
This monster quickly swam along the Mountain of Ten Thousand Blood, revealing its incomparably huge and astonishing body.
20 meters, 30 meters, 40 meters, 50 meters …
When its body finally emerged from the water, it was more than a hundred meters long. It had a snake-like body with four legs and a diameter of nearly ten meters.
This was the Eight-headed Demon Flood Dragon, a powerful demonic beast that had cultivated for several hundred years and was close to the Great Grandmaster level.
The eight-headed Demon Serpent quickly swam through the air. It covered a distance of almost ten thousand meters in an instant. Its enormous body entered the cave that led to the Pool of Blood.
…
Yang Dingtian had just run two kilometers when he suddenly felt a tremor in the stone tunnel. Then, a strong airflow suddenly pressed against his back.
It was obvious that a huge creature had drilled into the cave. Then, a strong wind with a fishy stench blew past, pushing Yang Dingtian forward.
It was very obvious that the giant creature was swimming rapidly and was getting closer and closer to Yang Dingtian and Xue Yue.
He couldn't let it see him. Otherwise, Yang Dingtian wouldn't be enough to fill the gaps between the Eight-headed Demon Serpent's teeth.
Yang Dingtian's speed became faster and faster. In the end, he was running wildly.
The wind behind him became stronger and stronger, and the sound behind him became louder and louder. The entire stone tunnel began to tremble, and the fishy stench became more and more intense.
"Go, go, go …"
"Quick, quick, quick …"
He was almost there. He was almost at the Pool of Blood.
Two kilometers to go.
One kilometer …
Five hundred meters …
Three hundred meters …
Yang Dingtian could already see the entrance to the Pool of Blood. The inside of the enormous stone door was filled with bright light. Even from a few hundred meters away, Yang Dingtian could clearly feel a trace of violent energy inside. This was the Pool of Blood.
The cave here had also become incomparably huge. It was over a hundred meters tall.
The enormous stone door of the Pool of Blood was completely white. However, upon closer inspection, he realized that this white color wasn't natural at all. Instead, it was inlaid with countless bones and skeletons.
The majority of them were human, and a small portion of them were demonic beast skulls.
Just the entrance to the Pool of Blood left behind countless bones. Immediately, Yang Dingtian's hair stood on end. He felt a chill.
At this moment, the incomparably powerful Eight-headed Demon Serpent was only a few hundred meters away. Yang Dingtian could already clearly feel its powerful aura.
I can't run. I can't let it see me. I have to hide immediately.
At this moment, he was only a few hundred meters away from the entrance to the Pool of Blood. However, Yang Dingtian resisted the temptation of approaching the Pool of Blood and hid in a small cave in the corner.
Then, he grabbed the Beast Soul Pill and threw it at the entrance of the Pool of Blood. He threw it exactly ninety meters away. It was still outside the range of the entrance, but it was close enough.
As expected, just as Yang Dingtian hid, the incomparably huge Eight-headed Demon Serpent turned a corner and instantly appeared before Yang Dingtian's eyes.
"So big, so terrifying, so dangerous …" Yang Dingtian sighed inwardly.
The Eight-headed Demon Serpent moved too quickly. A fishy gust of wind blew past, making it difficult for Yang Dingtian to open his eyes.
It was like a huge train was quickly passing through a tunnel.
However, Yang Dingtian discovered that this so-called Eight-headed Demon Serpent wasn't a true serpent. It was only a type of sea serpent demonic beast.
Although a serpent wasn't a dragon, it was a close relative of a dragon. It also had horns on its head. However, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent before him didn't have any horns on its head.
Even so, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent was still an extremely powerful demonic beast. In particular, it had lived under the Rapture River for a long time, allowing it to possess power close to that of a Great Grandmaster.
The Eight-headed Demon Serpent stared greedily at the Grade 6 Beast Soul Pill. It immediately wanted to charge forward and swallow the Beast Soul Pill.
However, all of a sudden, it stopped moving like a train braking. That was because it discovered that the entrance to the Pool of Blood was not too far away.
Naturally, this place was deeply engraved in its heart. It also knew that its old enemy lived there.
Immediately, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent's eyes shone with a blood-red light. Fresh hatred surged into its heart. Its entire body was filled with a bloodthirsty desire. It was as if it would charge through the entrance and fight the Fire Demon Lion to the death in the next moment to take back the Pool of Blood.
"Go, go, go quickly …" Yang Dingtian said to himself anxiously.
However, he didn't expect the Eight-headed Demon Serpent to actually lower its head after its anger subsided. Then, it abruptly looked at Yang Dingtian's hiding spot with icy-cold killing intent. It easily knew where Yang Dingtian was hiding.
It had actually vented its anger on Yang Dingtian. Clearly, it already knew that this was all part of Yang Dingtian's plan. He had used the Grade 6 Beast Soul Pill to lure it into a fight with the Fire Demon Lion.
Immediately afterwards, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent stared at Yang Dingtian with its eight ugly heads. The barbs on its neck suddenly stood up and its sixteen eyes shone with a sinister light. Immediately, Yang Dingtian's hairs stood on end. It was truly chilling.
This was different from the Millennium Owl. Back then, the Millennium Owl had been trapped and was unable to truly kill Yang Dingtian.
However, after the Millennium Owl had escaped, it had completely lost its mind. It was only focused on causing destruction and had completely forgotten about Yang Dingtian who was riding on its back.
However, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent before him was clear-headed and callous. It immediately wanted to tear Yang Dingtian to pieces.
The Eight-headed Demon Serpent's head in the middle slowly opened its mouth and spat out its terrifying tongue. A fiery-red energy was brewing in its mouth and it was about to spit it at Yang Dingtian.
Yang Dingtian tightly grasped the Millennium Owl Strange Blade on his back and slowly pulled it out.
"Roar …" Suddenly, a deafening sound rang out from within the cave.
Instantly, Yang Dingtian felt as though his eardrums were about to be pierced. His entire head felt as though it was about to explode. The entire cave began to shake.
This was the Fire Demon Lion's furious roar. It was a roar filled with provocation and disdain.
The Fire Demon Lion was berserk and proud.
The Eight-headed Demon Serpent was indeed sinister and cruel.
It was unwilling to be tricked by Yang Dingtian, so it stopped in front of the Blood Pool, indicating that it would not invade the Fire Demon Lion's territory.
However, the Fire Demon Lion did not show any gratitude. Instead, it let out a provocative and disdainful roar.
Immediately after, a dazzling ball of light suddenly rushed out.
This was the Fire Demon Lion. It was like a small mountain, more than twenty meters tall and more than fifty meters long.
Its entire body was emitting blood-red flames.
It directly arrived at the entrance of the Blood Pool. It raised its head and roared like a king. Then, it raised its head and puffed out its chest as it looked at the Eight-headed Demon Serpent with contempt and ordered it to get out of its territory immediately.
Instantly, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent was furious!
I didn't enter the Blood Pool because I didn't want to be tricked by humans. Do you really think I'm afraid of you?
You snatched my Blood Pool and injured me. Now, you're still acting so domineering here?
You've gone too far.
Instantly, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent threw Yang Dingtian to the back of its mind. It raised its eight heads toward the Fire Demon Lion and lifted its body higher and higher. In the end, its head reached the top of the cave and reached a height of more than a hundred meters.
"Hiss hiss …" The eight heads spat out blood-red tongues at the same time and let out a terrifying and sharp hiss.
The flames on the Fire Demon Lion's body rose another two to three meters. It roared furiously at the Eight-headed Demon Serpent, warning it to get out of here immediately.
The Eight-headed Demon Serpent opened its mouth and roared as well. If it retreated now, it would be too ashamed to face anyone.
However, it really didn't want to fight the Fire Demon Lion for no reason. After all, this was a human's scheme. It wouldn't be worth it if both sides suffered because of this.
Now, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent wanted to bluff and confront the Fire Demon Lion. Then, it would attract the Master Stage experts of the Temple of Blood and mediate between the two beasts. This way, even if the Eight-headed Demon Serpent retreated back to the Ecstasy River, it would have a way out and show that it wasn't afraid of the Fire Demon Lion. It was just giving face to the Temple of Blood.
When it retreated back to the Ecstasy River, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent decided that it would definitely make the Temple of Blood hand over that detestable human. It would definitely use the most terrifying methods to torture that human to death.
"Roar …" Seeing that the Eight-headed Demon Serpent didn't retreat and even provoked it, the Fire Demon Lion was instantly enraged. How dare a loser like you be so arrogant? After a series of furious roars, the Fire Demon Lion charged out ferociously and bit at the Eight-headed Demon Serpent.
The Eight-headed Demon Serpent was shocked. It knew that the Fire Demon Lion was a hot-tempered creature, but it didn't expect it to be so hot-tempered. It couldn't even take a little provocation and went all out. If it had known this would happen, it would have retreated. There was no need to argue with such an idiot.
However, it was too late for regrets now. The Fire Demon Lion came straight up to take its life.
"Roar …" After a roar, its huge claws flickered with blue flames and slashed at the Eight-headed Demon Serpent.
When the claws slashed through the air, there was a flash of intense blue light and a series of sonic booms.
The lightning-like blue light was the energy of profound energy. The sonic booms were because the speed was too fast, exceeding the speed of sound.
The speed of the claws was simply too fast. The Eight-headed Demon Serpent's body was too long and too big, so it was completely unable to dodge. It looked like the Demon Serpent's body was about to be sliced apart.
"Hiss …" With a sharp hiss, a blue light flashed and the Eight-headed Demon Serpent shrunk rapidly. In an instant, it was only a dozen meters long and one to two meters thick. It quickly dodged the Fire Demon Lion's fatal attack.
"Boom …" The Fire Demon Lion's claws fiercely struck the stone wall. The incomparably hard stone wall was instantly torn apart like tofu, creating a hole that was dozens of meters deep.
Then, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent's body suddenly expanded. Its thick tail was like a huge whip as it fiercely swung.
"Slap!" The tail fiercely swung at the Fire Demon Lion's abdomen.
With a loud sound, the mountain-like Fire Demon Lion was directly thrown a few hundred meters away. It fiercely smashed into the cave wall.
"Rumble …" Immediately, a deep hole that was a few hundred meters in diameter was smashed into the incomparably hard stone wall. The entire cave shook and a crack that was a few thousand meters deep opened up.
"Pfff …" The Fire Demon Lion spat out countless flames that splashed onto the stone wall. Like countless missiles, it blasted holes in the stone wall. These flames were the Fire Demon Lion's blood.
This Fire Demon Lion was originally stronger than the Eight-headed Demon Serpent, but it had a violent temperament.
On the other hand, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent was sinister and cunning. Therefore, the Fire Demon Lion was actually at a disadvantage in the first move.
After succeeding in one move, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent raised its head and revealed a complacent sneer at the Fire Demon Lion. Then, it quickly retreated. It actually wanted to stop the fight and leave.
It wanted to leave when it had the upper hand. This way, it would definitely not lose face. It would also prevent itself from being at a disadvantage when it got tangled up in the fight.
However, the Fire Demon Lion was unwilling. It suddenly stood up and roared at the sky. The flames on its body suddenly rose to a height of three zhang, turning from a fiery red color to a blood-red color.
Then, its body began to swell, swell, and swell …
From a dozen meters in height, to twenty meters in height, to thirty meters in height …
The Eight-headed Demon Serpent was shocked!
This was a fight to the death. Why was this Fire Demon Lion so easily provoked? After suffering a small loss, it immediately entered a berserk state.
Any demonic beast could enter a berserk state. Once it entered a berserk state, its combat power would instantly skyrocket.
However, after the fight, the demonic beast would enter a long period of weakness. Some would enter a year or two, while others would enter a period of three to four years.
Therefore, as long as it entered a berserk state, it meant that one of the demonic beasts had to fall in the battle. In today's battle, either the lion or the serpent would die.
The Eight-headed Demon Serpent was instantly frightened. Its sneak attack had succeeded because it was smarter. In terms of cultivation, it was inferior to the Fire Demon Lion.
One had to know that the Fire Demon Violent Lion was so hot-tempered that it would definitely not launch a sneak attack, nor would it try to gain the upper hand. It would rather be tipped and run away in shame. At least this way, it would not be in danger of losing its life. Now, the Fire Demon Violent Lion was definitely going to kill it.
"Lion King, Lion King, I have no intention of offending you. This is all part of that human's scheme. He used a sixth-grade Beast Soul Pill to lure me here. I have no intention of offending your territory. I will leave now. I will leave right now. I will never step into your territory for the rest of my life. This Beast Soul Pill and this human will be my filial piety to you." The Eight-headed Demon Serpent hurriedly begged for mercy.
However, the Fire Demon Lion who had entered a berserk state did not care so much. Its body continued to expand.
When it expanded to a height of fifty meters and a length of two to three hundred meters, it really looked like a flaming mountain.
"Roar …" A berserk lion roar sounded.
Endless flames suddenly shot out. It was as if they were going to roast everything in the cave. The entire cave was immediately as bright as day.
"Boom …"
Like a volcanic eruption, the Fire Demon Lion charged toward the Eight-headed Demon Serpent.
"It's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. Your Majesty, I will cut off one of my heads. How about you let me go?
There is no need for both of us to suffer … "The Eight-headed Demon Serpent begged for mercy with all its might.
"Boom …" The Fire Demon Lion opened its mouth and spat.
With surging energy, the raging flames violently bombarded the Eight-headed Demon Serpent.
The Eight-headed Demon Serpent was shocked. It quickly shrank and dodged.
"Rumble …" The flames suddenly exploded beside the Eight-headed Demon Serpent. With a loud explosion, the heavens and earth shook. Countless boulders broke and fell.
Even though the Eight-headed Demon Serpent managed to dodge the fatal blow, it was still blasted several hundred meters away. Its body was riddled with holes. Countless scales were torn open. Immediately, it was dripping with blood.
"Fire Demon Lion, you idiot …" The Eight-headed Demon Serpent cursed. However, in the face of the berserk Fire Demon Lion, it really did not dare to face it head-on. Immediately, it used up all its energy and quickly fled out of the cave. Even if it was going to lose face, it could not care less. As long as it rushed into the Rapture River, it would be safe. Even if it wanted to fight to the death, it would have to do it in its own territory. Only then would it have a chance of winning.
Of course, doing so would benefit Yang Dingtian. However, the Eight-headed Demon Serpent's life was more important. It could not care less.
Sure enough, seeing the Eight-headed Demon Serpent flee, the Fire Demon Lion did not hesitate. It immediately rushed out and chased after the Eight-headed Demon Serpent. It completely forgot about its Blood Pool.
In the blink of an eye, the two incomparably powerful demonic beasts disappeared without a trace. Only a messy battlefield was left behind.
The stone walls were as hard as iron. On Earth, even dozens of missiles would not be able to cause such great damage.
However, the two powerful Demonic Beasts, in just two moves, had almost destroyed a large part of the several thousand meters long cave.
However, at that moment, Yang Dingtian could not care less. If he did not enter the Blood Pool now, when would he?
Thus, he came out from his hiding place and rushed toward the entrance of the Blood Pool.
When he was ten meters away from the entrance, Yang Dingtian picked up the Grade Six Beast Soul Elixir on the ground and put it into his spatial ring. Then, he quickly rushed into the entrance of the Blood Pool.
…
The cave where the Pool of Ten Thousand Blood was located was different from the cave outside. All the rocks inside were blood-red in color. None of the stone walls were smooth and smooth. Instead, they were ferocious and sharp, causing the entire cave of the Pool of Ten Thousand Blood to look sinister and terrifying.
The entire cave was extremely large. It was at least tens of thousands of square meters.
However, the Blood Pool was very small. It was only about twenty meters in diameter. It was located between a pile of blood-red stones. Because the water of the pool was also blood-red.
Above the pool, there was smoke rising in spirals. Furthermore, it was blood-red smoke.
Even if there was no wind, the blood-red smoke was swaying and dancing, twisting into a strange scene. It was as if there were countless departed souls narrating and countless malicious spirits crying.
The entire cave was blood-red. It was as if it was the depths of hell.
That's right. It was hell.
No one had ever been to hell. However, Yang Dingtian felt that this place was too similar to hell.
Yang Dingtian traveled tens of thousands of miles, put in a lot of effort, and risked his life just for this blood-red pool in front of him.
He also clearly knew how powerful the energy in this small pool was. The blood-red color on the stone walls was all dyed red by this small pool.
How was the Blood Pool formed?
No one knew.
However, it definitely had a much earlier history than the Temple of Blood. The Blood Pool came first, followed by the Temple of Blood.
According to many people's speculations, it should have been formed during the Great Nirvana Period.
When the Temple of Blood took control of the Blood Pool, they wanted to emphasize the ownership of the Blood Pool.
Therefore, they spread a rumor that the experts of the Temple of Blood who were Martial Honorables and above had to disperse their energy into the Blood Pool before they died.
What was the truth?
It was unknown whether the energy of the experts of the Temple of Blood was useful in maintaining the Blood Pool.
However, this strongly hinted to the outside world that the Blood Pool was maintained by the experts of the Temple of Blood with their lives. Therefore, the Blood Pool belonged to the Temple of Blood and was sacred and inviolable.
When Yang Dingtian approached the Ten Thousand Blood Pool, or even when he had just stepped through the door, he could feel a surge of vast and boundless energy. It was extremely vigorous and endless.
Yang Dingtian walked step by step towards the Blood Pool.
Less than one in ten people of the Temple of Blood could cultivate in the Blood Pool. Once they entered the Blood Pool, an extremely tyrannical and powerful energy would surge into their bodies. Those with insufficient Profound Meridians would instantly die from their Profound Meridians collapsing.
There were even some people who felt extreme pain when they approached the Blood Pool. They felt like they could not breathe and their meridians were about to rupture.
The Blood Pool was in the shape of a typical funnel. It was wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. It was so deep that one could not see the bottom. However, up until now, only the fifth level had been cultivated. No one knew how many levels there were.
Eighty percent of the elite disciples who could cultivate in the Blood Pool could only cultivate on the first level.
About fifteen percent of them could cultivate on the second level and five percent could cultivate on the third level.
There were only a handful of Temple of Ten Thousand Blood's past generations who could cultivate on the fourth level.
As for those who could cultivate on the fifth level, there were probably only one or two in the thousand years of the Temple of Blood's history.
Without a doubt, the deeper one went into the Blood Pool, the more tyrannical and dense the energy and the more shocking the effects of cultivation.
However, at the same time, the deeper the level, the higher the requirement for the cultivator's talent and Profound Meridians.
If one did not have enough talent, their meridians would probably be torn apart by the Blood Pool's powerful energy the moment they entered.
Yang Dingtian's talent was extremely high. However, Yang Dingtian did not know how deep he could go because he was only a nine-star Profound Martial Artist. The level of Profound Qi in his body was too low and he might not be able to withstand the Blood Pool's powerful energy.
"I have suffered untold hardships to come here. Can I break through? How much can I break through?
It all depends on this time! "Yang Dingtian thought to himself. He then took off his clothes and hid before jumping into the Blood Pool.
Instantly, an extremely powerful energy surged over like an endless tide and slammed against every inch of Yang Dingtian's skin and meridians.
*****