Chapter 17: Blood Spirit Tribe

This was truly a bit hard to swallow!
“Master…”

Bai Ling looked at Lin Fan with pleading eyes.

“Just one bite, okay…”

“Fine,”

Lin Fan slapped his forehead.

“Looks like I can’t escape this.”

‘Then… I’ll just have a small taste?’

The “pill” entered his mouth, and a strong fishy smell spread throughout Lin Fan’s oral cavity.

He had underestimated the power of the “pill.”

After just two chews, Lin Fan felt his stomach acid churning, and a strong urge to vomit rushed over him.

‘No, I can’t vomit…’

Lin Fan covered his mouth and glanced at the expectant Bai Ling.

‘If I vomit, Ling’er will definitely be sad.’

After a painful struggle, Lin Fan finally “successfully” swallowed the “pill.”

“Master, was it delicious?”

Ling’er blinked her big, innocent eyes.

“De-delicious…”

Lin Fan squeezed out a sentence with a pained expression.

“That’s great!”

Bai Ling stood up and ran into the room, bringing out a small basin.

“Master, if it’s delicious, then eat some more. There’s plenty to go around~”

“Nani?!”¹

Seeing the hundreds upon thousands of gray pills in the small basin, Lin Fan’s scalp instantly went numb.

“Help…”

“Sigh—”

Looking at the heartwarming scene before her, Ye Qinghong couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

“Master is really… a very gentle person…”

Knock knock knock!

Just as Lin Fan was in extreme distress, a series of rapid knocks on the door broke the tranquility of the courtyard.

“Is Senior home?”

Although the voice was soft, Lin Fan instantly recognized its owner.

“Ling’er, go open the door for your Sister Xin’er.”

As soon as the courtyard gate opened, Xin’er rushed in from outside.

“I’m sorry, I-I’m intruding…”

“Xin’er, you came today… it must be for something important, right?”

Lin Fan asked Xin’er with a gentle gaze.

Just now, while Xin’er was coming in, Lin Fan had quietly hidden the “mud pill” he was holding.

“Senior is truly a divine strategist. Xin’er has indeed come with a request…”

“What is it?”

Lin Fan warmly invited Xin’er to sit down in the pavilion.

“Tell me about it.”

“It’s like this…”

Xin’er briefly explained the whole story to Lin Fan.

It turned out that just two days ago, a prospecting team under Boss Gu had discovered a cave, located near the outskirts of Qingyang City.

A cave itself was nothing special, but there was one point that was quite concerning.

The interior of this cave was filled with all sorts of tunnels, which were interconnected and led in all directions, making the entire cave like a maze.

“We sent several young people in, but we never saw anyone come out. It’s as if…”
Speaking to this point, Xin’er suddenly lowered her head, looking as if she wanted to say something but was holding back.

“As if what?”

Lin Fan asked with great interest.

“As if they had vanished into thin air…”

“Is that so…”

After hearing Xin’er’s description, Lin Fan lowered his head and fell into deep thought.

Logically speaking—

The cave of an ordinary demonic beast would have at most two or three tunnels inside.

Moreover, the length of the cave usually wouldn’t exceed fifty meters, even for the caves of high-level demonic beasts.

As for intricate and complex tunnels, they shouldn’t exist in a demonic beast’s cave, right?

‘Wait a minute! Could it be…’

Lin Fan suddenly thought of something, then took out an ancient book and began to flip through it.

“Found it!”

After quickly flipping a few pages, the doubt in Lin Fan’s heart was instantly resolved.
“A secret realm, it’s a secret realm!”

“What?!”

Hearing Lin Fan’s words, Xin’er was instantly aghast.

Xin’er knew very well what the words “secret realm” meant.

In the Xianling Continent, secret realms were divided into four levels from low to high: ghost, immortal, divine, and holy.

The higher the level of the secret realm, the more treasures it held, but its danger also increased.

Even the most common ghost-level secret realm required the strength of the Great Ascension Realm or above to explore.
If other cultivators entered, they would basically never return.

“Senior, are you sure… that cave is really a secret realm?”

After hearing Lin Fan’s explanation, a trace of worry flashed in Xin’er’s eyes.

“I’m sure!”

Lin Fan nodded with a determined look in his eyes.

“But with your abilities, if you want to explore this secret realm, I’m afraid it’s…”

“No!”

Before Lin Fan could finish, Xin’er suddenly knelt on the ground.

“Senior, Xin’er doesn’t want to explore any secret realm. Xin’er only begs Senior to intervene and save those children who have strayed into the secret realm!”

“Xin’er, what are you doing? Get up quickly!”

Lin Fan hurriedly got up and helped Xin’er to her feet.

“Isn’t it just a trip to a secret realm? I promise you.”

“Really?”

Hearing Lin Fan’s reply, Xin’er was overjoyed.

“Thank you, Senior!”

“Ling’er, Qinghong, you two will come with me,”

Lin Fan turned around and instructed.

“Yes, Master!”

Outside Qingyang City.

A crowd of curious cultivators had surrounded the cave, blocking it completely.

“Hey you all—what do you think is inside this cave?” a plainly dressed middle-aged man nudged his friend and asked.

“I can’t say for sure about other things, but just based on how sinister this cave is, there’s definitely a treasure inside!”
a stout, fat man said with absolute certainty.

“For real? Then aren’t we about to get rich?”

“Get rich?”

The middle-aged man sneered.

“Being able to get in and get out, that’s called getting rich. The key is, with your sorry state, do you think you can get out?”

…

“It really is a secret realm,”

Looking at the cave that exuded strangeness from every corner, Lin Fan’s expression was grave.

“From the looks of it, the level of this secret realm is not low.”

“Senior, is there a way?”

Xin’er asked nervously from the side.

“How about this,”

Lin Fan stretched his body slightly.

“I’ll go in and take a look.”

With that, Lin Fan snapped his fingers and directly entered the cave.

“Hey? Senior, wait a—”

Xin’er still wanted to give some instructions, but seeing that Lin Fan had already disappeared, she had to give up.

“Heavens above, please bless Senior with a safe return…”

Xin’er clasped her hands together and closed her eyes in prayer.

As soon as he entered the cave, Lin Fan sensed a hint of strangeness.

“Hm? This smell is…”

Lin Fan felt it was hard to believe.

“The Demon Clan?!”

As a demonic genius, Lin Fan was all too familiar with the smell of the Demon Clan.

“No wonder so many people went in and never came out. The Demon Clan’s secret realms themselves have a disorienting effect…”

After looking left and right, a stone tablet emitting a green light caught Lin Fan’s attention.

Walking closer, a line of characters with a sense of antiquity appeared before Lin Fan.

“The place where Demon Monarch Lin Xiu fell…”

Seeing these few small characters, Lin Fan couldn’t help but smile.

“To think we’re even from the same demonic lineage, what a coincidence.”

“Who’s there? How dare you trespass into the Demon Monarch’s forbidden land?!”

Just as Lin Fan was about to go deeper, two black shadows blocked his path.

“My two brothers, a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding.”

Lin Fan waved his hand.

“I am also of the Demon Clan, just passing by and taking a look.”

Although Lin Fan could see at a glance that these two black shadows were just lingering remnants of will, out of respect for his fellow Demon Clan members, Lin Fan did not attack them.

“I don’t care if you’re from the Demon Clan or not. Trespassers on the forbidden land, die!”

With that, the two black shadows pounced straight at Lin Fan.

“Sigh…”

Lin Fan sighed and casually waved his hand.

In the next second, the two black shadows were slapped away and dissipated.

“My apologies, Brother Lin Xiu. Your subordinates seem to have gone foolish. This lord will take care of them for you.”

Relying on his familiarity with the Demon Clan’s secret realms, Lin Fan quickly found the treasure trove of the secret realm.

“Which junior dares to trespass into this monarch’s forbidden land?”

Just as Lin Fan was looking around, an angry voice sounded from directly in front of him.

“Demon Lord Lin Fan,”

Lin Fan replied faintly.

“What?!”

Hearing Lin Fan’s words, the owner of the voice was clearly startled.

In the next second, a black figure suddenly appeared in front of Lin Fan.

“The Demon Lord’s Mark…”

The black figure muttered to himself.

“It really is Lord Lin Fan…”

“A dignified Demon Monarch, why did you not enter the cycle of reincarnation after falling, but instead linger in this useless place?”

Lin Fan questioned with a dark expression.

“Lord Lin Fan, you… you must seek justice for me!”

As soon as Lin Fan’s voice fell, the black figure suddenly started to cry.

“Hm? What’s going on?!”

“Lord Lin Fan, you don’t know. It’s not that I want to linger here, but I’ve been placed under a restriction and cannot escape!”

After the black figure finished speaking, it began to weep again while covering its face.

“A restriction?”

Lin Fan was a little puzzled.

“What restriction?”

“The Blood Spirit Clan’s Soul-Binding Curse…”

“What?!”

Hearing the black figure’s words, Lin Fan was greatly shocked.

“Hasn’t the Blood Spirit Clan already gone extinct?!”

It was no wonder Lin Fan reacted so strongly.

The Blood Spirit Clan could be said to be the most notorious race in the Xianling Continent.

The true form of their race was a black flesh-worm that secreted mucus all over its body.

And the Blood Spirit Clan’s favorite thing to do was to take advantage of people’s unpreparedness, burrow into a cultivator’s body, and then feast voraciously on the cultivator’s dantian.

The consumed cultivator would bleed from all seven orifices within a quarter of an hour and eventually curl up and die in agony.

However, that was not the most terrifying part.

The most terrifying part was that during the process of feasting, the Blood Spirit Clan would leave a Soul-Binding Mark inside the cultivator’s body, firmly locking the cultivator’s soul.

This meant that from then on, the cultivator would have no possibility of ever entering the cycle of reincarnation.

“Could it be—that there were survivors from the continent’s encirclement and suppression…”

Lin Fan’s brows furrowed tightly, and the expression on his face grew increasingly grave.

“My lord, be careful!”

Just as Lin Fan was deep in thought, the black figure in front of him suddenly shouted a reminder.

Lin Fan quickly turned around and saw a red flesh-worm, about two meters long, slowly wriggling towards him.

“Blood-red body, exposed fangs, this is… the Blood Spirit Empress?!”

After getting a clear look at the flesh-worm’s appearance, Lin Fan was overjoyed.

“Truly, to find something after a long search is to obtain it without any effort at all!”

The Blood Spirit Empress was related to the survival of the entire Blood Spirit Clan.

As long as the Blood Spirit Empress died, all the Blood Spirit Clan members on the continent would have their souls scattered and dispersed in an instant.

“System, can you…”

[Demonic power has been temporarily returned.]

Before Lin Fan could finish speaking, the System jumped out and said first.

[Hurry up and exterminate this disgusting thing for this system!]

¹Nani (何): A Japanese word for “What?!”, often used in anime and manga to express shock or disbelief.