779 Refining Divine Blood

Most of the important people from Yin and Yang Sect had gathered at the Sword Pavilion. They were reciting prayers of the sacrificial ritual led by Ning Xuandao.

"The sacrificial ritual has now begun."

An old man's voice rang from the peak of the third mountain. The echo of his voice stretched for miles into the horizon just like waves in the ocean, spreading out to every part of Yin and Yang Sect.

All the members of Yin and Yang Sect turned over to the direction of Ancient Gods Mountain, kowtowed and bowed respectfully in prayer.

The altar had been built at the center of a white marble platform. There, rows of complicated inscriptions engraved on the stones came alive and flowed to form an array, spiraling.

A collective bestial roar was heard followed by a sharp gust of wind, a 'swoosh'.

In the next instant, all the beasts on the altar were killed. Fresh blood came gushing from their necks like spring water gushing from a wounded Earth, into the pool at the end of the altar.

Zhang Ruochen wore a plain white robe and sat cross legged in the middle of the pool.

Soon, blood covered his knees and reached his chest. A few minutes later, the pool had turned into a large blood pool, filling the air with the pungent scent of blood.

The array of inscriptions flowed into the blood pool and conjured a glowing wheel. A rod made of blood ruptured through the wheel, and went bursting up into the air.

Suddenly, an ancient, sacred and hazy voice was heard above the Ancient Gods Mountain. A powerful force sprung from within and formed a spiraling cloud surrounded by a gold sheen, shaking the ground with the force of the impact. 

Zhang Ruochen sat in the pool, and took one drop of the blood and held it in his hand. He used a secret technique to unleash the power of the divine blood.

Divine blood, such a small drop yet the energy it contained was immense, as though a scorching sun was about to scald his body.

Divine blood did not only contain the strength of the gods, but it also imparted their knowledge and unique power.

Therefore, the deity print formed using divine blood would possess unique abilities that would be useful.

Xue Wuye's Time and Space Seals were two deity prints of different abilities and thus he had partial control over the Power of Time and Space.

Zhang Ruochen didn't dare to touch the divine blood.

Something strange happened to his Yin and Yang Saintly Meridian that had caused two tiny swirls to form between his palms.

He used his Holy Qi to coat the divine blood, then continuously extracted prints out of it for him to consume the energy.

"Consume the energy, then condense it into a seal within your body."

According to Moon-Burrier Sword Saint, this divine blood was from one of the Gods of Sword in the Medieval times. Once refined, it could be condensed into a sword-shaped deity print in his body.

However, he noticed something wasn't right after having started to consume the energy.

The blood strength and divine energy that he had consumed couldn't be absorbed and condensed into a deity print. Rather, it passed through both his Saintly Meridians, gushed into the center of his forehead, and then into his lower abdomen.

Zhang Ruochen had drawn the Chord of Gods for four times across the four realms, which left a Mark of Gods on the wall of his lower abdomen.

There were plenty of Mark of Gods, but one mark by itself was too vague and could never be comparable to any deity print. However, the power of divine blood flowed into his lower abdomen and fused with the Mark of Gods as one.

Zhang Ruochen's lower abdomen was radiating with golden light, as if something divine. All of his deity prints were now visible and virtually hanging across on his lower abdomen.

When he had finished absorbing the divine blood, he noticed his Mark of Gods became deeper and more noticeable, as if he had drawn yet another Chord of Gods.

"The power and strength of divine blood has been absorbed by the Mark of Gods. This is weird. Why would this happen?" Zhang Ruochen thought to himself with a feeling of disbelief.

Although he didn't gain another deity print, his Mark of Gods deepened. This should be good news.

"If the visibility of all my marks could be scaled up and made equivalent to a deity print, does that mean I would have plenty of deity prints in my body?"

Zhang Ruochen didn't feel uncomfortable after absorbing the divine blood.

To confirm his thought, he took a drop of Dragon King's blood out and continued to refine it.

The three drops of Dragon King's blood finally had a use now.

After the Medieval times, there was no one who could ever process two drops of divine blood at the same time. Zhang Ruochen didn't buy it. He thought that he was different from the others, as he had drawn four Chords of Gods, when no one else had done it.

Things that others couldn't make work might work differently for him.

What Zhang Ruochen did not realize was that the ceremony had actually ended when he was refining the first drop of divine blood.

When he was about to refine the second drop of divine blood, all the sects were already in the middle of the sword technique match.

In the past Sword Technique Conference, all saint level swordsmen would head over to the 7th floor of Sword Pavilion to study the Wordless Sword Manual after the sacrificial ritual. They would discuss and examine, and together the new techniques and ideas generated would be passed on to Kunlun's field.

This was the main objective of organizing such a ceremony. It was meant to contribute to the development of swordsmanship and its art.

However, this year was different.

It was because two of the sword saints from the Eastern Region were going to have a battle to the death in Sword Pavilion. No one wanted to miss the intense match between the two great sword saints.

All the saint level sword warriors stayed back to witness the match. They thought the discussion could be delayed further.

Prior to the match, it was a match between Taichi Sect and a monk from Fish-Dragon Realm.

Such a kind of match had another distinctive objective. It was to determine which sect would be the successor of Sword Pavilion, which might change the structure of the sect drastically.

Some of the popular candidates were Gai Tianjiao and Lin Yue from Yin and Yang sect, Shao Lin from Four Symbols Sect, Piao Chen from Eight Trigram Sect and Shang Guan Linglong and Shang Guan Nihong from Taohi Sect.

The strength and ability of Gai Tianjiao, Lin Yue and Shao Lin did not need further explanation. They had shown their great power at the Kunlun Heir's banquet, whereby two of them became the heirs.

Piao Chen was at the banquet too and he was placed at the 29th position. Without a doubt, he had the potential to defeat the heirs.

Shang Guan Linglong and Shang Guan Nihong from Taichi Sect were twin sisters and they were only about 20 years old. Born in the elite family of Shang Guan, which had long traditions in swordsmanship, their cultivations had reached the peak of Ninth Change of the Fish-Dragon Realm, and each had refined a drop of divine blood.

They were placed at the 96th and 97th position in the banquet respectively.

It was said that if both of them worked together, their power level would increase by multiples, and that they could defeat the Descendent of Sword Emperor Xue Wuye before the banquet began. Of course, they were less of a threat if they were alone.

"Why isn't Lin Yue out from the altar yet? Did something happen?"

Moon-Burrier Sword Saint turned to the altar and started wondering.

Monks of Fish-Dragon Realm relied on the power of God whenever they were in the process of refining divine blood. Once the ritual was over, Lin Yue would not be able to rely on the holy power anymore. He should be out of the altar already no matter if it was a success or not.

"Could it be…"

Moon-Burrier Sword Saint thought of a terrible consequence, which was also the worst possible scenario:

",,,Lin Yue died of his failure to refine divine blood?"

In the past, there were so many geniuses who died from being unable to retain the energy of divine blood. Even so, it was hard to accept that this had happened to Lin Yue.

"He was such a talent, how could this accident happen when he had just started to refine his first divine blood? Was it really me who overestimated him? He was only at the Eighth Change of Fish-Dragon Realm anyway," whispered Moon-Burrier Sword Saint in his heart.

He turned his gaze to Ning Xuandao, only to find out that he, too, was looking heavy-hearted. Clearly, he had thought of the same pessimistic result.

Moon-Burrier Sword Saint wanted to check out the altar but Ning Xuandao stopped him. "Wait a little longer," he said.

The sacrificial ritual had just ended, the spirits of Heaven and Earth had not completely vanished. Any presence of a mortal at the altar at this point would be perceived as disrespect and could be punished.

No matter how worried Moon-Burrier Sword Saint was, he could only wait and be patient.

Saint Lady had been looking around for Zhang Ruochen the moment she arrived Sword Pavilion, but to no avail.

She was rather smart, for she had been observing Moon-Burrier Sword Saint's expression all this while and managed to guess that Lin Yue could be at the altar refining divine blood.

It was only after the ritual, when she couldn't see Lin Yue walking out from the altar, that she began realizing something was not right. She thought to herself: "Is it true that he failed?"

Just then, Saint Lady sensed that someone was looking at her and she turned towards that direction.

She looked over at the seating of Four Symbols Sect. There were six monks from Fish-Dragon Realm carrying a cushion made of dragon scales. On top of it there was a silk veil attached to it to block the sunlight.

Shao Lin was sitting on the cushion in his yellow dragon robe with red cloak around his shoulder. He was holding a bronze glass and his eyes fixed on hers with an alluring smile.

The saints and half saints from Four Symbols Sect didn't even have the treatment like Shao Lin. It could be seen that some of the well-known saints were envious of this.

If it was not for them needing his help to take over Sword Pavilion for their sect on their behalves, they would have argued with him.

His title as the Heir of Kunlun was part of the reason. Although they were upset, they didn't dare to speak out to avoid trouble in the future.

His simper made the Saint Lady uncomfortable. He was not even a half saint and yet he dared to do this to a saint?

To be honest, the Saint Lady had never expected him to be one of the Kunlun's heirs.

Before the banquet started, she thought it would be good enough if he got into the top 10.

Four Symbols Sect must have done a lot for him to improve his chance of taking over Sword Pavilion for them. That could be the reason why he had been improving greatly these days.

In addition to that, some unexpected incidents happened at the banquet. Firstly it was Lin Yue who defeated some of the best swordsmen from the demonic sect. Then the Third Prince of Immortal Vampire and Jialuo Gu eliminated more of the swordsmen from entering the final round.

All of the above made it a bargain for Shaolin to become one of the heirs of the nine realms.