Zhang Chen’s Sealing Rune is a Twelfth Tier talisman. If used to suppress the Exquisite Tower, it might slow down the awakening speed of the Great Freedom Celestial Demon’s avatar. However, Zhang Chen thought it over and abandoned this idea because merely delaying time wouldn’t serve any purpose.
"Nevertheless, the incident at Changcao Academy has too great an impact on the entire Jiangnan Dao situation!" Zhang Chen was secretly shocked; the opponent indeed hit Chen Sanliang’s sore spot, but it also thoroughly angered Chen Sanliang.
Countless thoughts whirled in Zhang Chen’s mind. He wanted to question Zhou Qiucheng inside the academy, but after some consideration, he felt it wasn’t necessary. Even without confronting him, Zhang Chen could guess what Zhou Qiucheng was thinking.
With the Demon Race invasion, the outcome for the people of Jiangnan lands was already determined — nine out of ten would be slaughtered by the Demon Race, and the land would be vacated for their habitation. Since the death of the Human Race was inevitable, if Zhou Qiucheng could leverage the people’s faith to improve his cultivation and suppress the Demon Race’s army, there was indeed a chance to block the Demon Race army and save more people.
Was Zhou Qiucheng wrong?
Zhang Chen stood under the banana tree in the courtyard and sighed quietly, "At least from Zhou Qiucheng’s perspective, the opponent is not wrong."
Instead of senseless death for everyone, it would be better to lend a helping hand and strive for that thread of vitality.
"Zhou Qiucheng is quite strategic; originally, the major vassal states and noble families in Jiangnan were monopolizing the incense power, unwilling to let go. But now Zhou Qiucheng has directly cut off the retreat and vitality of the major nobles, forcing them to give up the power of incense. If these people don’t cooperate with Zhou Qiucheng’s actions, they will be slaughtered by the enraged Chen Sanliang leading the Demon race army. Those nobles certainly wouldn’t meekly wait for death and can only assist Zhou Qiucheng in completing his plan." The more Zhang Chen thought about it, the more he felt Zhou Qiucheng’s methods were brilliant.
"Fox Fairy Nannan, keep a close eye on the movements within Jinling City. I need to know all key information inside Jinling City." Zhang Chen summoned Fox Fairy Nannan again, instructing her to gather information within Jinling City.
His sound wave control could only listen to sounds within a ten-mile radius, which was still too small relative to the vast Jinling City.
Fox Fairy Nannan reluctantly left, leaving Zhang Chen standing in the courtyard in a daze: "Zhou Qiucheng practices the Iron-Faced Impartiality Dao. How could his methods be so deceptive?"
"Do you think there’s a possibility that Iron-Faced Impartiality is just a misunderstanding, and he is truly cultivating ’Heavenly Dao Impartiality’?" The Great Freedom Celestial Demon uttered softly from beside him.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen was taken aback. If Zhou Qiucheng was cultivating Heavenly Dao Impartiality, it indeed fit the logic of the matter, and the reasoning was completely understandable.
Fox Fairy Nannan collected intelligence daily, roaming around Jinling City. Though Zhang Chen was hiding in the courtyard, he gathered all external information through Fox Fairy Nannan’s channels.
A person may not leave home, yet they can know all the world’s affairs.
Seven days later, the Exquisite Tower gleamed with divine light again, unexpectedly growing another layer out of thin air.
Gazing at the Exquisite Tower emitting divine light, Zhang Chen’s eyes revealed an inexplicable expression, yet he said nothing.
Time flew by, with a flick of a finger, another month passed. On this day, Zhang Chen’s Golden Finger interface suddenly transformed, automatically popping into Zhang Chen’s view:
[Skill]
[3 Skill (Eighth Tier): Body Transformation Blood River (20000000000000/20000000000000)]
[Status: Upgradable]
[Would you like to upgrade?]
Staring at the suddenly popping Golden Finger interface, Zhang Chen was momentarily dumbfounded, his gaze revealing disbelief:
"In just a brief month, my Blood Dao Skill has reached an upgrade. How many people have died in the Jiangnan lands?"
That was twenty trillion experience points!
Zhang Chen remained silent for a long while before lightly tapping the Golden Finger interface, and the next moment the interface flickered slightly:
[3 Skill (Ninth Tier): Body Transformation Blood River (0/200000000000000)]
[New Ability: Blood Sucking in the Air]
[Remark: When absorbing living beings’ blood, you can suck blood in mid-air, absorbing the blood of cultivators at the same level within ten meters]
Looking at the Golden Finger interface, Zhang Chen, who originally relied on fangs to suck blood, now only needed to lock onto the opponent across the void to absorb their blood.
Upon upgrading to the Ninth Tier, besides transforming blood sucking into Blood Sucking in the Air, other skill changes were minor.
For example, Blood God Child, the number of Blood God Children increased to nine.
The most crucial upgrade of Body Transformation Blood River expanded the range to guide all blood within a thousand miles. Upgrading from the original one hundred miles directly to one thousand miles.
The Law of Sound Waves extends to a hundred miles.
The Blood Influence skill range increases to a hundred meters outside, the rest of the changes are minor. (Originally, Blood Influence could only be used within one meter)
Then Zhang Chen saw his Golden Finger interface refreshing, with the information displayed as follows:
[Note 1: The host can transform into a Blood River, absorbing all the blood within a thousand miles, gathering it, absorbing wandering souls within a hundred miles into the Blood River, guiding the blood and wandering souls of the world more quickly into the Sea of Blood.]
[Note 2: The number of Blood God Children increases with level, currently nine Blood God Children.]Blood Control, Blood Sucking in the Air, Limb Regeneration, Ultrasonic Positioning, Body Transformation Blood Light (seven entries), Blood Poison Filth, Blood Control, Blood Influence (within a hundred meters), Body Transformation Blood River, mastering the Law of Sound Waves (hundred miles).
The most critical thing is that now half of Zhang Chen’s blood has turned silver white, and a tenth has turned pure gold.
Zhang Chen stood in the yard, quietly standing there, his blood flowing automatically, absorbing the Sun Essence from the outside to nourish himself.
"The upgrade has expanded the reach of the Sea of Blood, which is a great advantage for me. Not only has the speed of collecting blood increased, but the area covered by the Sea of Blood is now my domain, where any movement within cannot escape my notice. More importantly, my Law of Sound Waves has evolved, allowing me to grasp all sounds within a hundred miles, and most of Jinling City falls under my surveillance." Zhang Chen felt this made his monitoring more convenient.
As countless thoughts swirled in Zhang Chen’s mind, a commotion from outside the door, from most of Jinling City, entered his ears, causing Zhang Chen’s head to buzz. The countless sounds turned into an overwhelming stream of information, making Zhang Chen somewhat dizzy.
After a while, Zhang Chen gradually began to adapt, his eyes scanning the blue sky, revealing a hint of inexplicable interest: "Interesting! My Blood Dao has now upgraded to the ninth tier, equivalent to a Yang God True Man. And my Blood God Child can similarly upgrade to the ninth tier, which is good news for me. However, for the Blood God Child to grasp the power of the ninth tier, it still needs to devour creatures to accumulate strength, but this is not much of a problem for me."
Another skill has reached the ninth tier, and Zhang Chen felt very joyful. From today onward, Zhang Chen considered himself firmly established in this world.
"I need to test the power of this Blood God Child when I have time, to try out the skills of the Blood Dao." Zhang Chen’s mind flickered with thoughts.
Then Zhang Chen looked at the Golden Finger interface, staring at the massive experience points, but he no longer had the thought to count them, as the overwhelming number left him in despair.
"Upgrading the Blood Dao skill is both simple and difficult! The simple part is that now all I need to do is spread the Sea of Blood, and as long as killings continue in the world, my skills can quickly upgrade. The difficult part is truly difficult, as upgrading the Blood Dao requires an excessive amount of points." Zhang Chen closed the Golden Finger interface. The upgrade of the Blood Dao was an unexpected delight for him, merely adding to his survival cards.
"Zhang Chen, there’s news." At this moment, Fox Fairy Nannan walked in from outside, addressing Zhang Chen.
"What news?" Zhang Chen curiously asked, wondering what news Fox Fairy Nannan had learned.
"Chen Sanliang will reach Jinling City from the next city!" Fox Fairy Nannan said.
"Chen Sanliang is so fast!" Zhang Chen’s eyes showed a hint of surprise.
No wonder his Blood Dao upgraded, it seems the Demon Race really did strike with lethal intent.
"This time is different; the Demon Race truly slashes utterly without leaving room. Originally, many nobles didn’t believe in evil, abandoning resistance and attempting to defect to the Human-Demon Race, but the Demon Race slaughtered them all." Fox Fairy Nannan’s eyes revealed a complex expression.
"If the Demon Race acts like this, it will definitely incite the humans to desperately resist, making them fight to the death, increasing the Demon Race’s casualties. How can the upper echelons of the Demon Race allow Chen Sanliang to do such things?" Zhang Chen muttered.
"You’re looking at the Demon Race with a human perspective. The Demon Race are beasts that have gained fate; their foundation is still beastly. Beasts only take months to gestate, a year to mature, and so on, endlessly. How can humans compare to the Demon Race? The Demon Beasts in the Great Wilderness are too many, almost filling up the capacity, better to use humans to annihilate those beasts." Fox Fairy Nannan said.
Zhang Chen couldn’t have guessed there was such a critical detail; he suddenly realized at this moment that the Demon Race is impossible to completely kill.
Because every moment, there are beasts gaining fate, every moment there are beasts transforming into Demon Beasts.
To destroy the Demon Race, one would have to slaughter all the beasts and domestic animals in the world. But if that were to happen, what would humans eat? If only humans remained as the sole living beings in Heaven and Earth, the entire biological chain cycle would collapse.
"Chen Sanliang is truly angry this time; he wants to massacre all Jiangnan humans. We’d better hurry and escape." Fox Fairy Nannan tried to persuade Zhang Chen.
She wished Zhang Chen would leave immediately, but feared if Zhang Chen left, he might end up implicating her.
Zhang Chen glanced at Fox Fairy Nannan without speaking, merely picking a fresh flower from the yard, holding it to his nose, standing in front of the flowerbed in tall stature, pondering something.
Two days passed.
Suddenly, the mansion erupted with servants’ cries of shock.
"What is this commotion?" Upon hearing the servants’ commotion, Zhang Chen walked out of the house and asked.
To make his servants so noisy, it must be no ordinary small matter, given that the servants in his household were most well-behaved.