Liang Chen's face was a bit pallid as he stood in the air, the energy-fluctuations around him so weak that they were hard to discover. The final attack had completely wiped out the Wyvern's Wrath sect, but actually launching it was far from as easy as it looked, it wouldn't have had that much power if it really was that easy.
The enemies had been eradicated, the first of nine wraths had fallen under his hand. It was a momentous occasion, something this drastic hadn't happened in Purgatory's Cradle since the Nine Wraths sect first formed several tens of thousands of years ago. But even so, Liang Chen didn't look thrilled. He didn't even look happy, his expression was actually a bit dark.
Yumao flashed down from the sky and shrank slightly, supporting the drained Liang Chen so that he didn't fall from the sky. The two descended into the crater that was all that remained of the city and the grand sect that had ruled it, a hole at the bottom of the crater leading to their cherished storeroom.
But Liang Chen didn't head into the storeroom to take stock of the blood they had guarded for so many years, he didn't even glance at it once. His gaze swept the barren crater, scouting the land that no longer even housed a single brick before he eventually found his target.
"There, about 34 or so kilometres southeast."
Yumao didn't need to hear more, nor did he bother asking about what exactly it was his father had found, he simple flapped his wings and brought him over to the spot he pointed out. Liang Chen stopped at a spot that was just as barren as the rest, nothing more than a patch of ruined land left in his wake. But he was confident that it was here, he remembered that single soul with perfect clarity so he was sure that this was where it faded.
"To ask for forgiveness is pointless, death isn't something that can ever be forgiven. But still, allow me to at least lower my head. Your resentment and grievances, I'll carve them into my soul and carry them until the end, so please wait with your revenge until I reach the end of my line."
He lowered his head to the empty plot of land, placing one hand against his chest as he spoke. It was just like he told the disciples, there wasn't a single soul in this city for them to save, only souls to avenge and sins to wash away with blood. But not having anyone to save and not having anyone to spare were two completely different concepts.
And here, in this empty stretch of land in front of him, laid the sole soul he found worth sparing in this wretched city. But in the end, he failed to spare that soul, she got caught up in his final attacks and perished because he couldn't properly contain the power. Once again, someone who didn't deserve to die had perished at his hands, another regret had been carved into his soul.
He raised his head when he finished talking and turned around, gesturing to Yumao that they could return to the entrance of the storeroom. He had lowered his head and carved their existence into his soul, but that was also all he could do. The dead could not and would not forgive, and there was nothing left of this city so there wasn't even anything he could take care of for the deceased soul, everything related to them had faded underneath Liang Chen's attack.
Yumao brought him directly into the storeroom, widening the hole that served as the entrance in a rather forceful manner. The room they descended into was surprisingly small, especially when you compared it to the storerooms of other sects, even sects that were smaller than this one. At best it was probably only around a kilometre or two in each direction, Liang Chen had seen bedrooms that were larger than this.
But while the room was small, what it contained was beyond valuable. There were no herbs or treasured weapons stored here, only jars or gourds, in some cases only small vials, each one filled with a precious bloodline. Liang Chen could feel it from where he stood, there wasn't a single weak bloodline here, even the weakest one probably belonged to a beast that was close to the peak of the Primordial Immortal realm. He could even feel two or three that seemed like they belonged to Divine Beasts, this was a room that countless people and Demonic beasts would want to enter no matter the cost.
Liang Chen saw that a handful of jars had shattered, the blood they once held dried out until only remnants of its energy remained. It was just as Song Zhao said, their final defensive array was quite literally fueled by the blood they had gathered here, each time they activated it they would lose hundreds of years of accumulation. But faced with this exceptional collection of blood, Liang Chen simply shook his head.
"What a shame, none of it is suitable. Even if we were to put it aside for later, just how long would any of them need to reach the required level? Would any of them ever even reach it?"
The number of people who would abandon everything just to enter this room once was so great that they could probably populate an entire universe, but to Liang Chen, this room held little worth. His own bloodline was infinitely close to, if not already at the same level, as an Origin Beast, even Divine Beasts crumpled in front of that bloodline. Yumao had his own grand bloodline, one that had been nourished by Liang Chen's own blood, so he too was at a realm where Divine Beast blood meant little to him.
As such, the blood here couldn't be used by the two of them, at best they could use it as a cultivation supplement by filtering out the energy in the blood, much as Liang Chen had done in the past when he bathed in demonic beast blood. But out of all the jars in this room, only three of them held blood with elements that matched his own. And as he had already experienced in the past, only that kind of blood could be used by him.
But that left close to 200 other containers with blood, and just throwing all that away would just be too wasteful. He originally had the idea that he could implant some of the bloodlines into his disciples, but seeing the quality of the blood he was forced to abandon that idea. The disparity was too great, the blood simply contained far too much energy. If he tried to implant that into his weak disciples then they would be unable to properly take in the bloodline and would end up exploding, he would have to wait until they reached at the very least the Primordial Immortal realm.
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"What about giving it to the little one? It would make for a pretty third row, don't you think?"
There was no one else here so the one who responded to Liang Chen's statement was obviously Yumao, his own eyes only drifting about in a disinterested manner. As for the little one he was talking about, it clearly wasn't Lan Yun, her originally strong bloodline had only grown stronger in the time she had spent with Yan Ling so the blood here would have minimal effect on her.
"Hmmm, yeah, it doesn't sound like a bad idea actually. I use lightning and we both use death so I imagine that it'll eventually get a bit hard to constantly split up everything we find so that she can also get a share. Giving her a unique third one will help her grow on her own, so it's a good idea. Huh, seems like you've actually taken the role of elder brother somewhat seriously."
Liang Chen gave the proposition a bit of thought, glancing sideways at Yumao after he realized that it was actually a rather clever idea. The stronger they became, the more energy they would need to progress, it would slowly become difficult to evenly share what they found. It wasn't much trouble between Liang Chen and Yumao, both of them had at least one element that the other didn't so they could still progress on their own. But that little lotus he had picked up recently only had lightning and death, she didn't have an element she could use to stand on her own two feet.
"Alright, since we have a use for it right now then there's no need to wait, we'll just do it straight away."
Yumao returned the interspatial ring to Liang Chen when he saw that he had made up his mind, Liang Chen sliding it onto his finger and swiping it. He pulled out the lotus he had previously planted to keep safe, its two rows of leaves stirring cheerfully as they stretched towards Liang Chen. But an unplanned hitchhiker also followed the lotus out of the interspatial ring, Lan Yun with her puffed out cheeks appearing in front of Liang Chen.
"Paparan is a bad man! You brought out the others but not me, bad Paparan!"
She was puffing out her cheeks in complaint as she vented her grievances, but she still stuck close to Liang Chen so it was a bit hard for him to take it seriously. She clearly just wanted attention, didn't want to be left behind while the disciples were taken out for a lesson. Liang Chen couldn't be mad at the little girl in front of him, she was one of the few things in this bloody land that could soften his heart and return it to a normal state.
"Sorry sorry, but you have to understand that we're in a very dangerous place, I can't guarantee that I can properly protect you, and I can't stand to see you getting hurt."
He stroked her white hair as he spoke, smiling somewhat apologetically. She was practically his daughter so how could he possibly bear to see her get hurt? Even worse, this land was so dangerous that she might die if he failed to protect her. At that point, how would he ever be able to face Yan Ling again? But the thing about such feelings was that they were often mutual, leading to a situation where one party was bound to end up unsatisfied.
"Then, am I supposed to just sit in peace while Paparan gets hurt? What if you one day put me in there but then something happens to you? Do I have to wait alone forever?"
The people inside the interspatial ring couldn't even pay attention to the outside world unless Liang Chen specifically allowed them to, they would never even know if he perished while they were in there. What sort of fate would that be, waiting endlessly for someone without knowing if you would ever see them again? Liang Chen smiled somewhat softly as Lan Yun looked at him with somewhat teary eyes, crouching down and cupping her cheeks.
"That won't happen. I don't make a lot of promises, but that is one promise I can make you. I won't allow anything to happen to me, especially not something that'll prevent me from coming to you. You can test it out whenever you want, just call my name when you get lonely and I'll be right there. I promise you that."
Promises, they were shackles that bound you to your words. Liang Chen wasn't someone who made a lot of promises, he had never really needed to since he considered himself someone who acted rather straightforwardly. But his daughter was worried so the least he could do was make her a promise. She would call and he would answer, that was the promise, as simple as any could be. But if there was ever a promise he had to uphold then it would be that one, no matter what he had to do.
Lan Yun wanted to complain a bit more, but she could see from the light in Liang Chen's eyes that there was no more room for discussion. Her cheeks remained somewhat puffed out, but her hands clasped his robe rather tightly as she stuck to his side, clearly unwilling to be sent away again. He obliged her in this, standing up and turning his attention to the lotus that was resting on his shoulder again.