Chapter 402: The Price in Blood

The day began early in the morning with Xue Wei opening his eyes as he exhaled a stale breath of air.

He was seated cross legged on top of the bed, his arms resting in his lap, a spiritual herb in each hand.

By his side, right next to him, was the Luan Bird hatchling. It was gobbling down a spiritual fruit.

The Luan bird was much stronger now than it had been when it hatched, the resources that Xue Wei had given it had not been wasted and while it was still smaller than the other Luan birds, it was often causing them to tremble when it looked at them.

The bloodline was pure and the elemental affinities were far too many.

It was enough to cause the others to tremble in fear. Xue Wei had also fed the bird some of his blood, but being an ancient beast there had not been any visible changes.

The bird was quite keen on the taste of the blood however, but it knew better than trying to take it for itself.

As the two awakened in the light of dawn, the rest of the capital was already bursting with life and energy. Today was the end of the festival, and everyone gathered to participate in the final celebration.

Xue Wei, who had kept a low profile after calling everyone cowards and spread the rumours about the Empress, also planned on going out today.

Today he planned on going to the Golden Chambers and sell the useless resources he had. He was going to try and exchange them for useful items, preferably flame improving resources or thunder refining treasures.

His affinity with wood was already very pure and powerful so it needed no more support, but this was because wood was his innate element as an Azure Dragon.

He was also a vermilion bird, but the vermilion bird bloodline was acquired later and thus it needed more time to assimilate the blood into his bloodline.

His Qi was a mixture of small flames and azure dragons that swam through his meridians, and since he had both an azure dragon and a vermilion bird spirit in both his dantian and his mind palace, his advancement was more than double before he became a vermilion bird.

Unfortunately due to the seals, he was also slowed further down, so his speed, which should have soared, had actually slowed down.

But whenever he felt how pure and dense his Qi was, he felt it was the right decision.

After a whole night of cultivating, Xue Wei finally felt refreshed. He was at the peak of the first layer of the Ordinary Saint rank. Only a small push was needed before he would advance to the second layer.

As he exited the room, he found that all his friends were already outside their rooms, waiting for him.

They knew of his plans and none of them wanted to miss the chance to go out. Although they could exit as they pleased none of them were willing to leave on their own and they would not interrupt Xue Wei’s cultivation.

They understood his sudden urge to advance faster but they also knew that he was not going to risk getting an unsteady foundation.

Hence they were not worried about him. He knew what to do and not to do.

Xue Wei smiled as he saw them. “Let’s go then,” he said and began walking out of the courtyard.

The group made their way out of the palace and started moving into the actual capital city of the Demon Phoenix continent.

They went to the Golden Chambers where they were treated like royalty. They were actually treated even better than the royal family due to the order from above.

When they saw the things that Xue Wei had brought with them, they were very pleased. They dared not give him a low price, but they could not give him too many resources either as they still had to keep the branch afloat.

In the end they decided on giving him a fair deal of the resources he needed, but they claimed that they did not have the recipe for the rainbow pill he was looking for.

After haggling and debating for the majority of the time before noon, Xue Wei and his friends were satisfied with that they got out of it, and hurried back to the palace to share their spoils.

But just as they say foot in the palace, an eunuch game to Xue Wei’s side to tell him that the emperor had summoned him.

Nodding his head, Xue Wei followed the eunuch while the others returned to their rooms.

When Xue Wei entered the study he was slightly stunned. Inside was not only the emperor but also two other figures.

“Young one, we understand you want the thunder flame crown,” one of them said with an amiable smile on his face.

Nodding his head, Xue Wei was honest about his aim.

“We can give it to you,” the other old man followed up, ”but the price will be expensive.”

Xue Wei narrowed his eyes. Expensive? He was not willing to give away too many resources as he needed them himself so he waited to hear what they had to say.

“The big question is how much blood are you willing to sacrifice for the crown?”

“Blood?” Xue Wei’s eyes widened. We’re they interested in his blood?

He was not dumb and instantly guessed what they wanted with it. Mulling it over for some time he said, “I have only mutated one beast before. I cannot guarantee how much blood is needed for others. Why don’t we try mutate one beast first and when we have answers we will mutate a specific amount of beasts depending on how much blood is needed.”