Protect Our Patriarch

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"This demoness truly has some nerve!"

Old Yao's expression was grim, his demeanor unfriendly.

From the start, he had been tasked with monitoring "Jiang Qingxue." Although he reacted a bit slowly earlier, it wasn't that he couldn't stop her; he simply chose not to, letting her act as she pleased.

The reason was simple.

Before setting out, the matriarch of the Wang Clan had instructed him to observe what she intended to do and let her proceed when she decided to act.

Additionally, if Anye gave any orders, he was to follow them.

Thus, he was mentally prepared for "Jiang Qingxue" to cause trouble.

However, Old Yao didn't expect her to be so bold, so confident in her stealth and escape skills, assured she could get away or hide after her deceitful act.

This sudden turn of events left the Wang Clan members slightly stunned.

No one expected that woman from the Immortal Dynasty to strike at such a crucial moment. Yet, the current situation left no time for further thought.

"Roar~"

Amidst the violent roars, the largest blood cocoon exploded with a bang.

A figure shot out from within.

It was a figure shrouded in blood light, towering over two heads taller than an average human, with muscles bulging all over, and limbs nearly twice as thick as a normal person's. His robes had long been worn to tatters by the passage of time, revealing arms and legs covered in blue and purple veins beneath.

Even his eyes were filled with a fierce, violent blood-red, devoid of any humanity.

That appearance hardly resembled a human anymore, more like a humanoid fierce beast!

A terrifying aura surged like waves, sweeping through the entire hall, wild and ferocious, with a murderous intent that seemed to reach the heavens.

This was the might of a Divine Realm expert!

Clearly, this was a blood nest warrior with Divine Realm strength!

At the same time.

Other blood cocoons in the hall also burst open, one after another, figures shrouded in blood light appeared.

A rough count revealed four Purple Mansion Realm, over a dozen Celestial Realm, and more than a hundred Lingtai Realm blood nest warriors!

The fierce and violent aura swept out in waves, and for a moment, even the air in the hall seemed tinged with blood.

Such a large number of powerful blood nest warriors immediately made everyone's scalp tingle, and their hair stand on end.

The only consolation was that due to the passage of time and various factors, even with the Spirit Artifact's maintenance, most of the blood cocoons in this expedition hall had withered and lost their vitality.

Especially the lower-level Celestial Realm and Lingtai Realm blood nest warriors, the losses were particularly severe.

Otherwise, logically speaking, the number of Lingtai-level blood nest warriors should have been enormous, far more than just over a hundred.

Indeed, during the Shenwu period, Lingtai Realm was considered low-level combat power, akin to militia (cannon fodder) in the Shenwu Army's terms.

After all, as the Spirit Artifact young lady from the new recruit training camp once said, "Primary Bloodline Improvement Elixir" could be bought at a pharmacy with legal identification.

And based on the Wang Clan's experience with consuming "Primary Bloodline Improvement Elixir," even with poor aptitude, one could reach the level of a small prodigy, easily breaking through to the Lingtai Realm with some casual cultivation, and reaching the Celestial Realm wasn't too difficult as long as resources were sufficient.

This was the foundation of universal cultivation during the Shenwu Royal Dynasty.

In a blood nest base like the Blood Dawn Sanctuary, meticulously managed by the Blood Venerable, there shouldn't have been Lingtai Realm blood nest warriors given its level.

The current situation was likely due to the depletion of elite forces after multiple deployments of the blood nest army, forcing them to use a large batch of cannon fodder to hold the line.

"Spirit Artifact young lady," Wang Anye frowned, "can't these blood nest warriors be put away?"

"No way," the Spirit Artifact said helplessly, "this is a structured blood nest army. I'm just a Spirit Artifact, I don't have the authority to command them. I suggest you retreat first..."

"No worries, we can handle the current situation. Grandpa Old Yao, don't worry about Jiang Qingxue for now, please hold off that Divine Realm blood nest warrior, no need to kill, just keep him occupied," Wang Anye said.

"Understood."

A dark glint flashed in Old Yao's eyes, and his figure shook as a heavy pressure surged from within him.

In the void, a sharp hiss, like a snake or a bird, echoed.

A massive black snake-like shadow suddenly appeared behind him. It was a giant snake, resembling both a snake and a flood dragon, entirely black, with menacing bone armor covering its head.

The giant snake hissed, its bone armor opened, and a terrifying aura, like the sound of weapons clashing, swept out, even permeating the surrounding air with a chilling killing intent, instantly dispelling the surrounding blood pressure.

This was Old Yao's Dharma Aspect, named "Ancient Snake" due to its unknown species.

As a Divine Realm expert, Old Yao's bloodline had awakened to the seventh level, possessing the Great Saint Body, with powerful and vigorous bloodline strength, making his Dharma Aspect nearly tangible.

With the Dharma Aspect's enhancement, Old Yao was in full state, his figure flickered like a ghost, appearing behind the terrifying Divine Realm blood nest warrior, flicking his whisk.

In an instant.

The Ancient Snake roared, and countless weapon-like energies rose into the sky, quickly forming weapons in the air, enveloping the Divine Realm blood nest warrior like a storm.

Those weapons, condensed from divine power, glowed with a dark, cold hue, with wisps of black energy entwined around them, cold and murderous, as if every inch was filled with endless killing intent.

With their appearance, the brightness of the expedition hall seemed to dim a bit.

Old Yao's lineage belonged to the royal family's hidden bloodline, practicing the [Extreme Yin Lotus True Technique]. However, this true technique was extremely special, only men with yin bloodline constitution could cultivate it, and it had to be cultivated from a virgin eunuch.

With such harsh cultivation conditions, the power of the technique was naturally extraordinary, even among the many divine true techniques possessed by the royal family, it was considered top-tier.

Under the assault of weapons, countless wounds were instantly inflicted on the terrifying Divine Realm blood nest warrior, blood gushing, as if being flayed, some even deep enough to see the bone.

"Roar~!"

In pain, the Divine Realm blood nest warrior roared in fury, turning abruptly to charge at Old Yao.

Blood nest warriors were those who couldn't withstand the Marrying Blood Gu, their human consciousness long gone, leaving only instincts, yet their strength was undeniably at the Divine Realm, and they were the kind that specialized in body cultivation, with terrifying physical strength.

Fearless of life and death, their combat power was astonishing.

"Boom~!"

The blood nest warrior punched out.

The muscles on his arm bulged high, surging blood energy coursed through his body, converging on his fist like rivers flowing into the sea, then exploded with a bang.

The air exploded with a loud bang.

Pure power brought extreme might, where the fist wind reached, even the space was shattered with web-like cracks, dark and deep, with an imposing presence that was terrifying.

If this punch really hit, even with Old Yao's Divine Realm physique, he would undoubtedly be injured.

However, Old Yao had no intention of confronting him head-on.

With snake-like bloodline, his speed was naturally not slow, and he had delved deeply into movement techniques, his agility was quite impressive, at this moment, he moved like a swimming snake, easily dodging the punch.

He even left an afterimage in place, real and fake, making it hard to discern.

The Divine Realm blood nest warrior missed his target, enraged, immediately throwing another punch. Old Yao naturally dodged again.

Punch after punch, in just a moment, the blood nest warrior was lured by Old Yao to a corner of the expedition hall, where they engaged in a mobile battle.

The expedition hall of the Blood Dawn Sanctuary was vast, with a height far exceeding ordinary buildings, even accommodating two Divine Realm experts fighting inside without feeling cramped.

Moreover, the materials used in the hall's construction were evidently extraordinary.

Divine Realm experts were incredibly powerful, even the aftermath of their battles could destroy ordinary buildings, even those reinforced with formations, if the formation's level was low, it might not withstand.

But this hall was exceptionally sturdy, remaining unmoved despite Old Yao and the Divine Realm blood nest warrior's rampage, with their violent aura constantly invading.

Even when the Divine Realm blood nest warrior punched the hall's wall, it didn't cause any damage, only activating the wall's formation, causing the hall to flash with red light, and the Spirit Artifact issued a warning.

While Old Yao held off the Divine Realm boss, the rest of the battlefield erupted into action.

Wang Anxin was the first to act.

Despite being only at the fifth level of the Celestial Realm, his setup for guarding the Swamp Development Department was very high.

With a swipe on his ring, a humanoid puppet appeared before everyone.

The puppet looked ordinary, seemingly no different from other puppets, but it was the top-tier unique reward from the Shenwu Army's new recruit camp—a pinnacle-level Purple Mansion Realm guardian puppet, [Wang Shouzhu].

Shenwu's products are always top-notch.

Wang Shouzhu's offensive capabilities weren't top-tier, but its defensive and restraining abilities were extremely formidable, even capable of holding its own against a Divine Realm opponent.

Once Wang Shouzhu landed, it immediately entered the battlefield, drawing in four Purple Mansion Realm blood nest warriors, then skillfully restraining them, handling the situation with ease.

Subsequently, Wang Anxin summoned a second war puppet from his storage ring.

It was massive, fierce-looking, unlike a human, and was a peak-level Celestial Realm war puppet produced by the "Heavenly Workshop" under the Gongye Clan.

Such high-level puppets had extremely complex internal structures, even the Gongye Clan, known for their artifact crafting, couldn't mass-produce them, only able to obtain peak-level Celestial Realm puppets by piecing together and repairing remnants from ancient ruins.

This war puppet was named "Wang Zhan San." They had nine brothers from "Wang Zhan Yi" to "Wang Zhan Jiu," with the main materials sourced from the "trash" of the Shenwu Royal Dynasty's fifth new recruit camp.

Thanks to Wang Anye, when the Wang Clan was in the Shenwu new recruit camp, they received various miscellaneous tasks like "cleaning trash," and collected all sorts of broken and damaged puppets.

Artifacts from the Shenwu Royal Dynasty, the artifact crafting industry was highly advanced, but many techniques had been lost. So, even trash was treasure in this era.

Those "trash," apart from a small portion given to the clan's artifact masters Wang Zongyao and Wang Ping, and the young artifact masters for dismantling and learning, all remaining trash was sent to the Gongye Clan.

After decades of effort, along with substantial wealth and resources, the Gongye Clan finally succeeded in piecing together, repairing, and manufacturing nine peak-level Celestial Realm war puppets from a large pile of trash.

Due to their limited number, these war puppets were allocated to the clan members in charge of various industries to enhance their overall combat power. Additionally, they all carried various one-time consumables for protection, allowing them to withstand a wave even against Purple Mansion Realm opponents.

Wang Anxin himself, being a fifth-level Celestial Realm great prodigy, had combat power not inferior to a peak-level Celestial Realm war puppet.

Wang Anxin, along with Wang Zhan San, entered the battlefield, and with their combination, they could easily restrain seven or eight Celestial Realm blood nest warriors.

Besides Wang Anxin, Wang Zongchang, who had reached the ninth level of the Celestial Realm, also summoned a Purple Mansion Realm war puppet—Wang Shouzong.

This was the first Purple Mansion Realm war puppet the Wang Clan acquired, bought from the Gongye Clan with great difficulty, and it had achieved great feats during the Wang Clan's development.

Now that the Wang Clan had grown stronger, they didn't need Wang Shouzong for guarding anymore. Considering Wang Zongchang often explored the outer regions, Wang Shouzong was assigned to him for added security.

With Wang Zongchang and Wang Shouzong's combination, they could even fight against Purple Mansion Realm opponents, let alone Celestial Realm ones.

The duo, man and puppet, together suppressed ten Celestial Realm blood nest warriors.

"Grandma Lilong, Fifth Brother, let's first clear out the Lingtai Realm blood nest warriors," Wang Anye instructed the remaining clan's spiritual beasts.

He initially planned to summon the legion flag Seventh Sister for assistance, but after some thought, he felt it would be overkill for such a small scene, so he decided against it.

With Wang Anye's command.

"Howl!"

Wang Lilong was the first to roar, transforming into a Yuan Shui Azure Dragon seven to eight zhang long, charging into the battlefield like a mad tiger.

The massive dragon body was incredibly strong, its green scales seemed stained with blood under the crimson light, adding a touch of ferocity and dominance.

For her, dealing with these cannon fodder blood nest warriors was like a dragon entering a flock of sheep, sweeping through them effortlessly.

With a swipe and a squeeze of her claw.

"Bang!"

A cannon fodder warrior was crushed like a tomato, a scarlet blood gu flapped its wings, instinctively trying to parasitize Wang Lilong.

"Grandma Lilong, don't kill the Marrying Blood Gu," Wang Anye quickly reminded, then immediately took out a specially prepared jade box, using his powerful divine sense to capture the Marrying Blood Gu and store it in the jade box.

These basic Marrying Blood Gu, when used properly, were much stronger than ordinary Xisui Dan, essentially equivalent to a Primary Bloodline Improvement Elixir.

Most importantly, its effects could stack with Xisui Dan and Primary Improvement.

Aside from the very hard-to-obtain Primary Improvement, a low-level Marrying Blood Gu, with Wang Shouzhe or Wang Lixian personally overseeing and assisting in its absorption, combined with the effects of Xisui Dan, blood refining pill, and Enlightenment Pill, could easily elevate a junior from the Qi Refining Realm to a prodigy level.

Therefore, even Wang Anye considered Marrying Blood Gu as a valuable resource. After all, the clan's young juniors were increasing, and each needed to improve their aptitude.

"Got it."

Wang Lilong rampaged through the cannon fodder, her dragon claws opening and closing to crush one at a time, a single Azure Dragon Tail Swipe could send several flying and dead, her exuberant roars making her seem like an unparalleled fierce beast rampaging across an ancient continent, exuding extraordinary dominance.

The performance of the Wang Clan's Five Wolves was also impressive. Individually, they were certainly inferior to Lilong, but not weak, having broken through to the sixth level a few years ago. Growing up together, they were extremely skilled in team combat.

The five Silver Moon Wolves, with silver-gray fur, charged into the Lingtai Realm cannon fodder, their efficiency in killing not much slower than Lilong's.

As for Wang Anye, he released the Divine Spirit Artifact [Years], with his master Ji Wuchen as the Spirit Artifact automatically engaging in battle.

With the benefits Ji Wuchen received from the Wang Clan, and occasionally picking up some soul-enhancing items with Anye, his soul's solidity and strength had increased significantly.

Now, the automatic combat mode of Years could be divided into two types: one was "low consumption combat mode," capable of normally dueling a Purple Mansion Realm cultivator, and the other was "strong mode," roughly capable of exerting peak-level Purple Mansion combat power.

However, the latter consumed a lot of Ji Wuchen's soul energy, requiring replenishment and rest afterward, so unless necessary, Wang Anye generally wouldn't use the strong mode.

But even so, the flying sword automatically slaying those Lingtai Realm cultivators was as easy as cutting melons and vegetables.

Meanwhile, Wang Anye himself continued capturing the weak Marrying Blood Gu, mechanically and numbly collecting resources and wealth for the clan as usual.

In less than a moment.

Over a hundred Lingtai Realm blood nest warriors were cleared, and Wang Anye captured a total of one hundred and sixteen blood gu.

Throughout the process, not a single blood gu escaped his "clutches."

After dealing with the Lingtai Realm blood nest warriors, Wang Anye began directing the team to eliminate the Celestial Realm blood nest warriors.

These Celestial Realm blood nest warriors, which once seemed very troublesome to the Wang Clan in the 3195 Blood Nest Sub-base, now appeared as fragile as infants in the face of the much stronger Wang Clan.

Wang Anxin separated one Celestial Realm blood nest warrior from those he was suppressing, and Wang Lilong immediately took over, using her dragon claws and Azure Dragon Tail Swipe to quickly crush one in just a few breaths.

The Wang Clan's Five Wolves were equally impressive, taking on five at once, they swiftly tore through them.

Celestial Realm blood nest warriors also had Marrying Blood Gu parasitized within them, known as "Blood Gu King" by the academy.

This item was extremely valuable, its effect alone surpassing the Wuji Baodan, and it could stack with the effects of Wuji Baodan.

However, the parasitism process of the Blood Gu King was extremely dangerous, ten times more perilous than regular Marrying Blood Gu, and without someone like Wang Shouzhe with a special life origin bloodline in the clan, it wouldn't be used lightly.

In the Demon Dynasty, this kind of thing was typically used to recklessly cultivate death warriors, regardless of the success rate, just parasitize again if it failed.

But in the Great Qian and Immortal Dynasty camps, with strict laws and relatively positive societal structures, if such actions were discovered, they would certainly face legal and reputational consequences.

Therefore, in the Great Qian and Immortal Dynasty, this was often used in cannon fodder camps following the principle of "voluntary."

However, within the Wang Clan, this thing was incredibly powerful. As long as the young clan members had a decent foundation, combined with Wuji Baodan and other bloodline improvement resources, and with Wang Shouzhe personally assisting in absorbing the Blood Gu King's power, the path to becoming a great prodigy was within reach.

With everyone's combined efforts, a total of seventeen Blood Gu Kings were collected by Wang Anye.

Everyone's faces were filled with joy.

With these, the future of the clan's great prodigies was bound to see a small surge.

However, for treasures like Wuji Baodan, it often depended on market supply and opportunities.

Xisui Dan was a fifth-grade spiritual pill, and with the current alchemy skills of the "Shou" generation's seventh, Wang Shouye, and his master Pill Cauldron Master, as long as there were enough materials, mass-producing Xisui Dan wasn't a problem, but making Wuji Baodan was difficult. That required a Divine Realm alchemist.

To obtain Wuji Baodan, the best way was to purchase it from the Immortal Dynasty, where Wuji Baodan resources were relatively abundant.

Now.

Only four Purple Mansion Realm and one Divine Realm blood nest warrior remained.

Wang Zongchang, Wang Anxin, and the others looked at these powerful monsters, finding them increasingly pleasing to the eye.

These weren't monsters at all~ they were clearly a pile of valuable wealth and resources!

The Purple Mansion Realm could produce Marrying Blood Gu Emperor, a treasure only Ancestor Long Yan had used once in the clan, and even that Marrying Blood Gu Emperor wasn't in complete form, its effect weaker than a complete Marrying Blood Gu King.

A complete Marrying Blood Gu Emperor's effect was no less than a High-Grade Bloodline Improvement Elixir, and it was significantly superior to the seven-grade Saint Pill that could enhance bloodline aptitude—[Heavenly Vein Saint Pill].

If a clan member had a strong foundation from a young age and was cultivated in an orderly manner with a full set of resources, even among great prodigies, they wouldn't be inferior, ranking relatively high. In the past, they would have been qualified to compete for the position of a holy son.

However, a complete Marrying Blood Gu Emperor was extremely rare and dangerous, and using it with too low a bloodline awakening level, even Wang Shouzhe wouldn't dare guarantee success, it was best used after awakening the fourth level of bloodline.

As for the Divine Realm blood nest warrior, it was even more extraordinary, something never seen in the history of Lingyun Holy Land.

Based on the previous types of Marrying Blood Gu, it was inferred that its produced Marrying Blood Gu would likely surpass the eighth-grade Immortal Pill—[Rebirth Immortal Pill], comparable to the [High-Grade Essence Version].

Such a treasure, once used, could potentially propel an already top-tier great prodigy into the ranks of the unparalleled!

For a moment, the Wang Clan members even felt grateful to the troublemaking "Jiang Qingxue."

Without her interference, given Anye and the Spirit Artifact young lady's previous friendly chat, it wouldn't have been easy to initiate a cleanup of the blood nest warriors.

This wave of high-quality resources was extremely important even for the wealthy Wang Clan.

While the Wang Clan members were happily treasure hunting.

The Red Enchantress Demon Envoy had already followed the map, quickly infiltrating the outskirts of the [Blood Venerable Research Base], the "forbidden area" the Spirit Artifact had previously marked as off-limits.

Once inside the research base, wouldn't the Blood Venerable's legacy be hers for the taking?

However, at this moment, she took each step with extreme caution, her clothes soaked with sweat.

Because right at the entrance of the Blood Venerable Research Base's grand hall, numerous blood cocoons were scattered. Even though the blood nest warriors inside hadn't broken out, they still filled her with immense fear.

The reason was simple, because here, there were over a dozen of those giant blood cocoons (Divine Realm) she had previously flicked with a finger!

And that wasn't all, there were three even larger blood cocoons standing in the center.

Undoubtedly, inside were even more terrifying existences.

If she accidentally disturbed them, the Red Enchantress Demon Envoy didn't know how many breaths she could last.

But she had to pass through this blood cocoon array, then retrieve items from the [Blood Venerable Research Base], and leave through the teleportation formation inside the research base.

The Red Moon Demon Dynasty had far superior intelligence on the Blood Venerable and research on the blood nest base's structure compared to the Wang Clan.

As a wanted criminal, the Blood Venerable was extremely fearful of death.

In the research bases he frequented, there was almost always a space channel capable of teleporting far away.

She had already memorized the map and, based on the terrain map's deductions, the research base had no back door. Some map terrain structures also indicated that a teleportation formation was definitely built inside.

Retreating was no longer an option! Retreating meant being captured.

Now, she could only grit her teeth and move forward.

Fortunately, the Red Enchantress Demon Envoy had extremely strong stealth and concealment abilities, just a little more, just a little more to bypass the last super giant blood cocoon.

And the last one was much easier to pass through, the difficulty was much lower than the previous ones.

Her heart was suddenly filled with excitement and elation.

Success was within reach.

Anye, Anye, it's all your fault for being too smooth, your sister Red Enchantress couldn't help but create some setbacks for you~ now, luck is on your sister Red Enchantress's side!

Suddenly!

"Crack."

To avoid a blood vessel, she gracefully landed, stepping on a dark blood cocoon fragment, the fragment's spike somehow piercing a blood vessel on the ground.

This...

The Red Enchantress Demon Envoy was suddenly in disarray.

How could this be, how could she make such a rookie mistake?

This wasn't realistic~~ it didn't make sense~~

However, at this moment, there was no time for her to think.

"Boom!"

The super giant blood cocoon was disturbed, emitting a muffled "boom."

A monstrous murderous intent, almost tangible, enveloped the Red Enchantress Demon Envoy.

At the same time.

All the terrifying blood cocoons began to stir and awaken.

"Damn it! I'm still a virgin~ am I really going to end like this?" The Red Enchantress Demon Envoy's hair stood on end, fear and despair instantly filling her mind.

...