Chapter 278: Blood Path Exposed

Inhaling deeply and exhaling even more deeply, the martial practitioners ascended the stairs. The more steps they took, the more the burden increased. Even after a thousand steps, the burden continued to increase.

It was as if they were carrying an entire mountain on their shoulders but they had high cultivation bases and had nerves of steel. They continued to persevere.

Their heads grew pink with time as veins bulged fiercely from them. With each step they took, heavy breaths escaped their mouths. Not even Lu Zheng who had the Vermillion Bird Race's bloodline was any different.

Only the Original realm strength path experts Yu Er Dan and Zheng Lie were somewhat different but even they took each step like it was their last.

No one was willing to stop. The time they took to take another step grew longer and many hours passed by. After thousands of steps, they finally reached the final step in the flight of stairs.

As soon as they made it to the final stair, they crashed to the ground and let out turbid breaths of relief. Their bodies reeked of sweat and bodily odours but no one cared.

They were glad to have completed the flight of stairs.

Their chests bobbled up and down in exhaustion as they lay on the ground for many hours. It was only after four hours that someone stood up. It was Zheng Lie.

Yu Er Dan stood up thirty minutes after and then Lu Zheng stood up. Soon, everyone got to their feet.

Lu Zheng felt his limbs and realised something. The strain from ascending the flight of stairs under the pressure of the strength path dao imprints had tempered his blood, bones, muscles and other internal organs.

"Ah?" Yu Er Dan exclaimed after sensing the changes in her body. Similar exclamations followed after Yu Er Dan and they understood that ascending the stairs was in itself a self-rewarding exercise.

Lu Zheng examined the room they were in. It was brightly lit with a light that no one knew its source. A small formation stood some metres away from them and merely by looking at it, they could sense that it was a strength path incomplete inheritance.

It was at this moment that Zheng Lie who stood by Lu Zheng grabbed him by the throat as he faced everyone.

"What are you doing?" An Yin was the first to ask. Their offenses were raised and they revealed their weapons. Their Essence was fully channeled throughout their bodies and meridians.

Everyone present was ready for a fight.

"What do you think?" Zheng Lie retorted rhetorically and used his methods. His physical appearance changed greatly.

When Cangxiang Zihan and Yu Er Dan saw his new appearance, their faces paled immediately.

"Jian Hu!"

Yu Er Dan's expression morphed into despair as shock filled the room.

Jian Hu!

Who would have thought that Zheng Lie was actually Jian Hu in disguise?

Jian Hu flexed his free hand as he looked down at the others: "Thanks for leading me to this great cultivation opportunity, Zihan. It compensates for the nine petals lotus that you took from me. Now, I will take this strength path incomplete inheritance"

"You bastard!" Yu Er Dan screamed in anger as she stomped her feet in anger. Vigorous strength Essence circulated around her as her aura reached its peak. It was evident that her next attack would be powerful.

"Er Dan, stay back or this man will lose his life" Jian Hu warned as suddenly assumed his Black Winged Jedi transformation.

Lu Zheng sneered at the Black Winged Jedi that held his neck: "Have you even asked for my permission?"

His aura suddenly changed as dense bloodlust filled the room. When Jian Hu gazed at Lu Zheng, he no longer saw a man but rather a sea of blood filled with corpses. All the corpses looked different but somehow, they all resembled him.

Blood flowed uncontrollably from Jian Hu's hands and legs and formed into a pool beneath him. His heart throbbed rapidly and his blood flowed in every direction. He had lost control of his own body.

Before Jian Hu could react, his heart burst like a squeezed balloon and blood exploded from his body into a bloody mist. Under Lu Zheng's control, the bloody mist condensed into three drops of blood that seeped into his palms.

The drops of blood were drops of lifeblood essence that Lu Zheng refined from Jian Hu's refined fleshy energy and when they entered his blood vessels, they became imprinted with the divine runes of the Vermillion Blood and the Astral Thunderbolt Imprints.

Jian Hu's True Soul was not spared too. The Soul Absorbing Gem on Lu Zheng's neck absorbed his soul and refined it into strong soul energy. Streams of soul energy flowed into Lu Zheng but his soul foundation did not rise from the nine hundred and ninety nine thousand man soul level.

Lu Zheng landed on his feet and felt his neck. The blood path aura diminished and it was like nothing had happened at all.

Yu Er Dan who was about to use her strongest methods immediately paled in fright: "Blood path!"