At this moment, General Long Zilu had already turned around, fixing his scarlet eyes on the two of them.
Seeing this made their hearts pound wildly, and they almost turned around to flee in the next instant.
Fortunately, the scarlet glint in his eyes flickered, and they eventually slowly returned to their original murky state.
"You two have also failed in your duties. Let's put it aside for now and settle the score another day."
"Your subordinates are guilty, your subordinates are guilty, thank you, General..."
It was only then that the two of them finally breathed a long sigh of relief. They knew their lives were saved.
General Long Zilu ignored the two of them, turned around, and looked at the five blood-colored pillars of light behind him. With a wave of his hand, five balls of blood light flew out from the pillars and landed in his hand.
They were surprisingly five unknown white teeth, crystal clear like white jade.
Then, his figure disappeared from the spot like an illusion.
It wasn't until a quarter of an hour had passed that the two Governors of Tongzhi County and Shannan County finally completely relaxed, exchanging glances and showing the relief of having survived a disaster.
"I've long heard that although the Dragon Demon Army's Earth Fiend Dragon Demon Technique is extremely powerful, those who cultivate it become bloodthirsty and violent, which greatly affects their temperament. Seeing it today, it's even worse than the rumors."
Tongzhi County Governor Guo Hua said with a sigh.
"Brother Guo, don't speak carelessly. Be careful if the General hears you, then our lives today will be hard to preserve."
Shannan County Governor quickly advised.
"Brother Qian is right, I was reckless..."
Guo Hua showed a trace of fear on his face and quickly fell silent, no longer mentioning the matter. Instead, he shifted his gaze to the blood-colored pillars of light behind him.
"Who would have thought that this Phantom Demon Beast wouldn't go anywhere else, but instead came here? It's truly a curse..."
"Who says it isn't? Every 50 years, dozens or even hundreds of thousands of people have to be sacrificed with their blood. It's truly troublesome."
"Forget it, it's still 50 years from now. Whether we two are still here by then is uncertain. Why worry so much?"
"Brother Guo is right. Since that's the case, let's leave it to the future generations. As the saying goes, 'the back wave pushes the front wave,' I believe the future generations will definitely have the wisdom."
The two exchanged glances, both smiling, but in their hearts, they were both thinking about how to reap as many benefits as possible in these few decades and start moving their industries under their command.
Each with their own ulterior motives, they had no intention of staying any longer. They cupped their hands in greeting to each other and turned to leave.
Soon, the dense mountain forest fell into a deathly silence.
At this time, Yangping Mountain was no longer like before with numerous exotic beasts. As far as the eye could see, besides the lush green vegetation, there was not a single living creature.
Time slowly flowed, one hour... two hours, who knows how long passed.
A massive outline appeared within the five blood-colored pillars of light, but as it appeared, the blood light on the pillars intensified, and the interconnected rune chains between them also became almost substantial.
The dense blood-colored light pressed down towards the massive outline, while rolling black mist emanated from the outline, seemingly resisting the blood-colored light.
After a quarter of an hour of stalemate, the black mist was completely suppressed by the blood-colored light, and the massive outline disappeared back into the blood light, becoming hidden once again.
Everything returned to peace, but after a long time, a dense, almost substantial black mist converged into a hideous monster carrying an indescribable terrifying might and abruptly crashed into the blood-colored light barrier.
The blood light on the barrier intensified, weaving a blood-colored network much denser than before, blocking the black monster's phantom.
However, this black monster phantom seemed to have been brewing for a long time. Although it was unable to break through under the blockade of the blood-colored chains, the blood-colored network clearly bulged outwards significantly.
It showed a tendency of being unable to withstand it, but just then, the black mist phantom was also burned by the blood-colored light and became increasingly faint. It finally let out an unwilling, silent roar before slowly dissipating.
And the blood light on the blood-colored light barrier also slowly subsided, returning to peace.
Just then, a gentle breeze blew, carrying the fallen leaves on the ground and rolling them towards the outside of the blood-colored light barrier.
Just as it was about to roll out of the light barrier, one of the blood-colored pillars of light seemed to sense something and shot out a blood-colored lightning bolt onto the pile of fallen leaves, instantly shattering the pile of leaves.
However, a small piece of fallen leaf still rolled out of the light barrier, and soon a wisp of black mist rose from the fallen leaf.
After the black mist appeared, it slowly solidified in mid-air, condensing into a small black snake with no eyes.
It floated in mid-air, its head swaying slightly as if searching and identifying something.
Soon, its movement paused, as if it had found its target, and it headed towards the direction of Tongzhi County.
However, its speed was not fast, as if it had consumed too much energy and was extremely weak.
After a long time, it finally disappeared into the mountain forest.
………
"The progress is already 95%? Soon, the second imprint will be completely activated."
In a quiet room in Tongzhi County, Lin Sheng looked at the information displayed on the panel, a smile appearing on his face.
Yesterday, he had Xiao Shi purchase another batch of beast blood. Although the quantity was not as much as the first time, it was still quite good.
"Might as well have Xiao Shi buy some more tomorrow and just activate it directly."
He was also quite looking forward to the second imprint that was about to be activated.
Having thought that, he was already sitting cross-legged on the ground, starting to cultivate the Ape Embryo Skill.
Half an hour later, he opened his eyes, poured a pill from the porcelain bottle in front of him, and threw it into his mouth. Feeling the medicinal power surge through his body, he immediately re-entered the cultivation state.
The pill he swallowed was a blood enhancement pill. He had taken this Qi and Blood treasure pill before in Yangping Town, thanks to Ma Qiang. The effect was quite good, and it was just right to assist his cultivation in his current Forging Tendons Early Stage.
Soaking in medicinal baths at night and taking pills during the day, he spent more than half of his time cultivating every day. Coupled with the cultivation boost from the Black Tiger Ape entering his body, he could clearly feel his progress every single day.
"According to this cultivation speed, it won't take half a month before I can break through again and enter the Forging Tendons Late Stage."
Such a rate of progress could already be described as miraculous. Counting it, it hadn't even been half a month since he broke through to the Forging Tendons Early Stage, and now he was already close to breaking through again.
Breaking through two Realms in a month, he was extremely satisfied with this cultivation speed.
Time spent cultivating always passes quickly, in just a blink of an eye, several hours had passed.
Lin Sheng came out of the quiet room and glanced at the darkening sky, feeling a bit emotional.
In the courtyard, his figure moved and shifted, bringing forth the sound of wind. After exercising his muscles and bones, Lao Zhou had already prepared the medicinal bath for him.
While his Qi and Blood were abundant, he started the medicinal bath again.
By the time everything was finished, it was already approaching midnight.
Coming out of the room, Lin Sheng immediately saw Xiao Shi still practicing his fist stances in the courtyard. It seemed that Lao Zhou's Breakthrough had stimulated him, and Xiao Shi had been cultivating quite diligently these past two days.
He basically cultivated until late at night every day before stopping.
Lin Sheng was not in a hurry to leave. He simply sat down in the courtyard and watched Xiao Shi cultivate.
Speaking of it, Xiao Shi's Aptitude was slightly better than Lao Zhou's. Both his root bone and comprehension could be considered average.
Such Aptitude was not outstanding in the Hunting Beast Hall. Cultivating the Raging Bull Fist step by step, it would be good if he could enter the Body Tempering Realm in about half a year.
As for whether he could enter the Forging Tendons Realm, that would be a slow process, probably impossible without ten or twenty years.
At this time, Xiao Shi's face was flushed red like blood, and his half-squatting body trembled incessantly, clearly having reached his limit.
"Alright, practicing martial arts also requires moderation. Too much is as bad as not enough, otherwise, you'll injure yourself and regret it later."
Lin Sheng reminded him, which allowed Xiao Shi to relax his body and plop down onto the ground.
"Lin Tou, I just want to strengthen my physique quickly so that I can break through and enter the Body Tempering Realm sooner."
He scratched his head, a simple smile appearing on his face.
"Moreover, since someone with such good talent as Lin Tou cultivates diligently every day, someone with ordinary talent like me naturally cannot relax even more."
Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on Lin Sheng's face.
He had a quite good impression of this young man who regarded him as an idol. He was clearly more worth cultivating than someone like Lao Zhou.
Furthermore, he cultivated diligently, was not arrogant or impatient, and his character was also quite good.
After a moment of thought, he flicked his finger, and a small porcelain bottle landed in Xiao Shi's hand.
"After a few days, when your Qi and Blood are stronger, you can try taking this pill. If you're lucky, you might be able to successfully break through."
"Thank you, Lin Tou, I will definitely not disappoint Lin Tou!"
Holding the porcelain bottle in his hand, Xiao Shi's face showed joy, and he quickly thanked him. Although he didn't know what kind of pill was in the porcelain bottle, it was definitely not an ordinary item coming from Lin Sheng.
"Alright, go back and rest. Tomorrow, go and buy some more beast blood."
"Yes, Lin Tou."
………
Late at night, within the borders of Tongzhi County.
On the official road, a convoy was slowly heading towards the County Town.
Looking roughly, the convoy had quite a number of people, approximately thirty to forty.
The guards on both sides each carried a steel saber at their waist, their faces alert, constantly scanning the surroundings.
After all, they were traveling at night. Although the exotic beasts around the official road had basically been cleared, there was no guarantee that exotic beasts that liked to hunt at night wouldn't wander nearby.
Moreover, some mountain bandits and horse thieves also liked to launch attacks at night, so being careful was never too much.
Along with the clip-clop sound of the horses traveling, occasional low female voices talking could be heard from the carriages.
On the last carriage, which was clearly somewhat simple and dilapidated, Wang Dehai was holding a large bundle with a bitter expression, huddled inside. Besides him, there were also a few other people on the carriage who were huddled up with their belongings like him.
"I never thought that I, Fatty Wang, who had worked hard for almost half my life, would end up with nothing. It's truly the whims of fate..."
Fatty Wang sighed, muttering softly with some emotion.
Originally, he was a manager in the Slaughterhouse of Zhenshan Tower, and every day was not far off from having big fish and meat.
He originally thought his life would pass by more or less like this, but he didn't expect Lin'an County to undergo drastic changes overnight. More than half of the small and medium forces were purged, and first-tier forces in the County Town like Zhenshan Tower also disappeared just like that.
If he hadn't been clever and run fast, he might have been captured by the officials and forced to do hard labor for a few years.
Although he narrowly escaped, he didn't have time to pack most of his savings accumulated over the years and could only hastily take some portable belongings and flee the city.
After hiding for a few days, he happened to encounter a convoy going to Tongzhi County. He gritted his teeth and reluctantly paid twenty taels of silver to hitch a ride. As for the others on the carriage, their situations were also more or less the same as his.
"Anyway, I finally left Lin'an County. After arriving in Tongzhi County, I'll make further plans."
Just as he was thinking, a loud shout suddenly came from outside the carriage.
"Who's there!! Sneaking around."
The one who spoke was the Forging Tendons Early Stage Martial Artist leading the convoy.
However, before he could finish speaking, a scream was heard.
"Brothers, everyone attack! Capture everyone, regardless of gender."
"Yes, Leader!!"
Outside, there was a wild, sinister laugh, followed by a series of shouts and roars of killing.
Through the dirty, yellowing curtain of the dilapidated carriage, Wang Dehai only saw mountain bandits holding torches and swords surrounding the convoy.
"Damn..."
Seeing this scene, Wang Dehai couldn't help but curse in his heart.
He hadn't expected that he had just come out of a den of thieves only to enter a wolf's den.
Without thinking, he immediately got off the carriage, tightly clutching the bundle in his arms, wanting to escape into the nearby bushes.
However, after only a few steps, he felt a chill on the skin of his neck. Without knowing when, a steel saber had been placed against his neck.
Then he was kicked to the ground, a thick rope was put around his neck, and he was brought back to the carriage.
The strength of these mountain bandits was clearly stronger than the convoy. In just a quarter of an hour, everyone in the convoy was tied up tightly, and their personal belongings had already been taken.
The one-eyed mountain bandit leader with a bushy beard looked at these people with a satisfied smile, then waved his hand.
"Let's go, take all these people back."
Soon, the group disappeared from the official road.
The next day, the sky was bright.
Tongzhi County Town, Herbal Hall.
"Our area is an inland region and doesn't have any decent large rivers or lakes, so our shop currently doesn't have high-grade common beast blood of turtles. We do have some stock of other high-grade common beast blood, are you interested?"
The plump Shopkeeper, looking at the figure wearing a bamboo hat opposite him, said with a smile.
"You don't have it? Then forget it. Just pack up all the other high-grade common beast blood in your shop for me."
Under the bamboo hat was Xiao Shi's slightly disappointed face.
He had visited eighty to ninety percent of the pharmacies in the city in the past few days, but none of them had high-grade common beast blood of turtles.
He was particularly attentive to this, as Lin Sheng had specifically requested it, but unfortunately, the city didn't have it.
While thinking, he had already taken the leather bag filled with blood from the plump Shopkeeper. He weighed the bag in his hand and nodded with satisfaction.
This time, the quantity of blood was not much, only a few dozen jin, but before he came, Lin Sheng had instructed him not to buy too much this time.
So, after leaving over 100 taels of silver, he slung the leather bag over his back and walked out.
"Please come again, guest. Welcome back next time."
Watching Xiao Shi's figure gradually disappear, the smile on the plump Shopkeeper's face faded, replaced by a cold sneer.
"It's this kid. He's been buying high-grade common beast blood in the city these past few days, spending at least over 1000 taels of silver. That's quite a large sum."
"Shopkeeper Yang, you mean..."
A one-eyed man with a bushy beard, about 30 years old, walked out from the inner hall. He looked in the direction Xiao Shi had left, stroked his chin, and said with interest.