Chapter 48: The Spirit Child’s Birth, The Southern Region Submits

Xuetu slumped on the ground, his entire body trembling.

His eyes were filled with terror, his face pale as paper, and his lips trembled so much he could not speak.

His eyes were fixed on Chen Ping, staring at the young man who had just destroyed a Divine Ability Realm monster with a single palm strike.

A single palm strike.

Just one strike.

That was the fourth-level creation he had spent countless efforts to cultivate, an existence whose strength was comparable to the early Divine Ability Realm.

Yet in that man’s hands, it had not even lasted a single breath.

“Speak… start talking…”

Chen Ping looked down at him, his tone flat, devoid of any emotion.

Xuetu opened his mouth, his voice shaking:

“S-say… say what?”

Chen Ping looked at him.

He did not speak.

But Xuetu felt as if he were being stared down by an ancient beast. The invisible pressure made it almost impossible for him to breathe.

“What… what do you think I should say…”

The moment the words left his mouth –

Splurt!

A flash of bloody light appeared.

An arm flew into the air, landing in a pool of blood three zhang^[1] away.

“Ahhh!!!”

Xuetu let out a shrill scream, curling into a ball as blood sprayed wildly from his severed arm.

Chen Ping looked at him expressionlessly.

“Don’t make me ask a second time.”

Xuetu grit his teeth, cold sweat pouring off him like rain.

He no longer dared to play any tricks, speaking hoarsely:

“Th-this… this is an important stronghold of the Blood Fiend Sect… established by the Sect Master himself…”

“To… to cultivate talents who practice the Blood Burning Scripture…”

Chen Ping remained expressionless.

“Continue.”

Xuetu took a deep breath. The excruciating pain from his severed arm made him feel close to fainting, but he did not dare to stop.

“Practicing the Blood Burning Scripture… is to refine bloodline power… Once it reaches the limit, it can… it can adapt to the Sect Master’s bloodline…”

“In the future… to become the Sect Master’s…”

He paused, not daring to continue.

Chen Ping looked at him.

“Become the Sect Master’s what?”

Xuetu grit his teeth:

“Become the Sect Master’s… blood slave… or… advancement materials for his bloodline power…”

A cold gleam flashed in Chen Ping’s eyes.

Using living humans for cultivation, refining bloodlines, and ultimately turning them into the Sect Master’s blood slaves or advancement materials.

The Blood Fiend Sect truly deserved to be destroyed.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

Xuetu shuddered.

He racked his brain, desperately trying to think of anything else he could say.

“The Sect Master… the Sect Master seems to be plotting a massive plan…”

“What plan?”

“I… I don’t know…” Xuetu’s voice trembled.

“I’m only a branch leader… the Sect Master wouldn’t let me know about his affairs…”

Chen Ping was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked:

“How much do you know about the Blood-Robed Spirit Child?”

Xuetu’s pupils contracted sharply.

That name –

He had heard of it.

It was the highest secret of the Blood Fiend Sect.

“The Blood-Robed Spirit Child… is the Blood Fiend Sect’s highest secret…” he said hoarsely.

“Aside from the Sect Master… no one knows what it actually is…”

A flash of disappointment crossed Chen Ping’s eyes.

“Then what use is keeping you alive? You know absolutely nothing.”

Xuetu trembled violently.

He could feel the killing intent condensing.

“W-wait!”

He spoke in a rush, desperately searching his memory.

“I… although I don’t know what the Blood-Robed Spirit Child is… once… once I accidentally ran into the Sect Master talking to someone…”

Chen Ping’s gaze sharpened.

“Who?”

“I-I don’t know…” Xuetu shook his head.

“That person was completely shrouded in a black robe… I couldn’t see their face… but their aura… their aura was unfathomable… even stronger than the Sect Master’s…”

“What did they say?”

Xuetu recalled.

He shouldn’t have remembered the scene from that day, but because it was too bizarre, it had remained buried deep in his memory.

“The Sect Master asked… how much longer for the Spirit Child…”

“The black-robed person said… eighteen years, it’s almost time…”

“The Sect Master asked again… ‘Can it really make the Southern Region submit?'”

“The black-robed person laughed… a terrifying laugh… and said…”

Xuetu took a deep breath, speaking word by word:

“When the Spirit Child is born, the Southern Region will submit.”

*

Chen Ping knit his brows.

The Spirit Child’s birth, the Southern Region submits?

The Blood Fiend Sect was merely a second-rate sect. At best, the Sect Master was in the Grotto-Heaven Realm, or at the absolute most, the Dao Severing Realm.

Such strength was simply not enough to make a wave in the Southern Region.

As a first-rate sect, the Qingyun Sect had a Saint level expert guarding it.

As for whether they had a Great Saint level expert, he was not sure.

But even if they did not, it was not something the Blood Fiend Sect could hope to match.

Moreover, above the Qingyun Sect, there were overlord-level forces like the Tianyue Sacred Land.

That was an existence truly standing at the peak of the Southern Region, which definitely possessed Great Saint level experts, and perhaps even a Quasi-Emperor.

What right did the black-robed person have to say the Southern Region would submit?

Unless –

This Blood-Robed Spirit Child was tied to some monumental secret.

A secret sufficient to overturn the entire landscape of the Southern Region.

*

Chen Ping remained silent for a long time.

Xuetu knelt on the ground, not daring to make a sound.

Blood was still dripping from his severed arm, but he did not dare to move or speak.

He could only wait.

Wait for this young man to pass judgment.

*

Chen Ping looked down at him.

“Is that all?”

Xuetu nodded frantically.

“Th-that’s… that’s all… I’ve told you everything I know…”

Chen Ping nodded.

“Since you know nothing else…”

He raised his hand.

Xuetu’s pupils contracted sharply.

“No – please – you said if I told you, you would -“

Boom!

A punch blasted out.

A purple-gold light instantly enveloped Xuetu.

He did not even have time to scream before his body shattered, dissolved, and turned into a blood mist within the light.

Three breaths later, only a faint mist of blood remained, which was quickly dispersed by the night wind.

Both his body and soul were utterly destroyed.

*

Chen Ping withdrew his hand.

He looked down at Lin Xiaoyu in his arms.

She was still unconscious, her face pale, but her breathing was steady.

However, her brow was slightly furrowed, as if she were having a dream.

Chen Ping reached out and gently smoothed the space between her brows.

“Sleep,” he said softly.

“When you wake up, we will go to the next stronghold.”

He raised his head, looking into the distance.

In the night sky, stars still filled the heavens.

But a trace of solemnity had entered his eyes.

When the Spirit Child is born, the Southern Region will submit.

Just what was this Blood-Robed Spirit Child?

The Saintess of Tianyue being targeted, the Blood Fiend Sect Master’s grand plan.

All of this was likely no coincidence.

He just did not know what kind of connections and schemes lay behind it all.

“Let’s return to Luoxia Peak first.”

He murmured softly to himself.

“We can talk after this girl wakes up.”

He took a step forward.

Traversing through the void –

The two of them vanished into the night sky.

*

The underground space returned to a deathly silence.

Only corpses littered the ground, and a thick stench of blood hung in the air.

The red glow of the moonstones continued to flicker, shining upon this mountain of corpses and sea of blood.

It resembled a living hell.

Luoxia Peak.

The first light of dawn was just breaking in the sky, morning mist shrouding the entire peak, while the leaves of the old locust tree swayed gently in the breeze.

Carrying Lin Xiaoyu, Chen Ping landed in the courtyard.

He gently pushed open the door and laid her on the bed.

The moonlight had long since faded, and the morning light filtered through the window paper, casting a soft glow over the young girl’s pale face.

Chen Ping sat by the bedside, reaching out to place his fingers on her wrist.

Inside her body, her spiritual energy was nearly depleted. There were numerous tiny cracks in her meridians, the price of severe overexertion.

There were no fewer than thirty wounds of varying sizes on her body, the deepest of which cut all the way from her left shoulder to her waist.

Although the bleeding had stopped, it was still a shocking sight.

“Silly girl…”

Chen Ping sighed softly.

He raised his hand, a purple-gold light appearing in his palm.

Primordial Chaos Creation –

It could channel Primordial Power to nourish all things and repair all damage.

The purple-gold light surged from his palm, transforming into countless tiny threads that slowly seeped into Lin Xiaoyu’s body.

Those threads moved like living things, traveling along her meridians.

Wherever they passed, cracks healed, and depleted meridians were replenished once more.

At the wounds, flesh and blood regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

A hint of color gradually returned to her pale face.

*

Time passed bit by bit.

Chen Ping sat by the bedside just like that, continuously channeling the power of Primordial Chaos Creation into her.

His hand was steady, and his gaze was gentle.

But if one looked closely, a trace of heartache could be seen deep in his eyes.

This girl pushed herself far too hard.

From the Cultivation Tower to the Blood Fiend Sect branch, both times had been narrow escapes from death.

Yet Chen Ping also understood –

The hatred that had weighed on her heart for so many years had finally found an outlet today.

Those monsters, those people of the Blood Fiend Sect, she had killed them with her own hands.

Every strike of her sword was breaking the shackles of her past.

Every strike of her sword was seeking justice for her mother.

Although she had not yet found the true culprit.

Although the Blood Fiend Sect Master was still out there, she had taken this step.

Chen Ping could feel that the gloom that had always lingered between her brows had faded significantly.

*