The Thousand Luo Bloodstones were clearly the product of long years of accumulation—amplified by the lingering sword qi released by that sinister blade.
Even the ferocious beasts within Thousand Luo Gorge had been tainted by blood-asura energy, becoming unnaturally bloodthirsty and obsessively aggressive.
Boom!
A huge corpse slammed down from above, crashing to the ground less than a hundred paces from Lin Ye.
The impact was heavy and dull.
The beast's body shattered on contact, turning into a mound of pulp.
Lin Ye's eyes narrowed.
That had been a Tier Five ferocious beast—killed purely by being thrown down.
And it wasn't the only one.
A moment later, corpses began to fall like a storm.
Chunks of flesh and broken bodies hammered the ground one after another.
Boom!Boom!
Every single one landed beyond a hundred-pace radius.
At first, Lin Ye worried the falling bodies would smash him. But now he realized something even stranger—
Not one corpse crossed into the space within a hundred paces of him.
As though an invisible boundary forbade it.
"This is… a formation!"
Lin Ye's heart jolted.
He quickly scanned the area, then cursed himself silently.
How could he have been so careless?
The existence of that sword was already too deliberate. Not only that—it could release fluctuations, drawing living creatures toward it like bait.
Now the formation's power was surfacing.
Above Lin Ye, the falling blood and flesh twisted together, weaving into a massive crimson net.
A refinement method.
A weapon-refining method.
"Someone planned to temper that sword with this formation."
"But the formation was only completed halfway."
"This array lures beasts, shreds them, and refines their blood essence."
Whoever set it up had done so ages ago.
It no longer had the strength to directly kill the beasts.
But it could still refine their corpses.
That was why it still worked.
Most of the beasts had died from fighting over the Nine-Lives Blood Lotus leaves.
The slaughter had been vicious beyond imagination.
Even if one beast managed to swallow a leaf, it would be ripped open within moments—others would tear it apart to retrieve the lotus.
Only when all participants died would the carnage end.
At the bottom of Thousand Luo Gorge—
Lin Ye hadn't fully understood how the formation could refine the sinister sword… until a blood-red crystal appeared before him.
Then he understood.
"A Hundred Beast Blood Crystal…"
"This formation is meant to condense Blood Crystals!"
Hundred Beast Blood Crystals were extremely effective blood-asura treasures for strengthening one's cultivation.
Lin Ye had encountered them before.
But refining them was absurdly difficult.
Even Xia Wei, using the Xia Family's limited resources, had been unable to acquire more.
The quality of a Blood Crystal depended on the materials used.
But the prerequisite was simple—
Enough flesh. Enough blood.
Low-tier beast materials could never form high-grade crystals.
"With this level of formation refinement…"
"And with so many Tier Five and Tier Six beasts…"
"This can't be called a Hundred Beast Blood Crystal anymore."
"It should be a Myriad Beast Blood Crystal!"
Lin Ye hadn't expected to witness the birth of such a treasure firsthand.
Clink.
The first Myriad Beast Blood Crystal dropped to the ground.
Then the second.
Then the third.
More corpses continued to fall.
In the end, the formation refined five Myriad Beast Blood Crystals in total.
Their purity was terrifying.
Even through the crystal shell, Lin Ye could see the dense, refined energy roiling within.
Whether used for formations, forging, alchemy, or cultivation, a Myriad Beast Blood Crystal could produce unbelievable results.
But in Lin Ye's hands—
They had an even greater purpose.
To increase his realm.
To exchange for pure blood-asura energy from the Nine Nether Blood Sea.
Originally, all of this refined energy should have flowed into that sinister sword.
But the sword had already been taken by Lin Ye.
So naturally, the crystals belonged to him as well.
He accepted them without hesitation.
"Maybe I should come back someday," Lin Ye thought.
"If I'm lucky, I might even see more of these crystals being born."
He looked at the five crystals and exhaled slowly.
"I wonder how far these will push me."
Just earlier, at least a thousand Tier Five corpses—and dozens of Tier Six—had fallen.
No Tier Seven beasts appeared.
If one did, the entire mountain range would probably collapse.
Tier Seven ferocious beasts were comparable to cultivators of the Solar Radiance Realm.
To burn mountains and boil seas would be effortless.
After formation refinement, the power of a Myriad Beast Blood Crystal wasn't just "more quantity."
It was qualitatively stronger.
Otherwise, alchemists wouldn't exist—people could just chew raw ingredients.
Lin Ye flicked his wrist and tossed the five crystals into the Nine Nether Blood Sea.
Instantly—
Boom!
The Blood Sea erupted.
Gigantic crimson waves surged, roaring into the sky.
The five crystals were swallowed and refined at once.
And in that moment, Lin Ye felt the foreign stellar power inside him being rapidly dissolved.
The five crystals helped him refine another one-third of the Blood Star.
Only the final third remained.
Originally, Lin Ye planned to wait for more opportunities.
But now, with only a third left—
Waiting was meaningless.
His consciousness shifted and arrived before the Nine-Lives Blood Lotus.
This was his strongest treasure at present—an herb on the verge of stepping into the Tenth-Grade Spirit Herb tier.
The lotus had believed itself safe after taking over Blood Peak.
Until Lin Ye cut off a tiny corner.
That fragment alone would have taken decades to recondense.
Since then, the lotus had grown wary, possessing a faint awareness and instinctive caution.
When it sensed Lin Ye approaching again, it released a protective aura and tried to guard itself.
Lin Ye scoffed.
"I'm only taking one leaf."
"If you resist, I'll uproot you and refine you on the spot."
"Even if the Nine Nether Blood Sea isn't entirely under my control, melting you won't be difficult."
His voice was cold and ruthless.
The lotus trembled faintly.
It seemed to understand—
Struggling was pointless.
It could only endure, secretly hoping that one day, after becoming a Tenth-Grade Spirit Herb, it could devour this hateful man and take revenge.
Lin Ye reached out and plucked a crimson leaf.
That leaf alone contained spiritual essence accumulated over an absurd span of time.
Without special conditions, regrowing it would take ten thousand years.
Even atop Blood Peak, within the Nine Nether Blood Sea's environment, it would still take centuries.
Lin Ye didn't care.
A tiny fragment of a lotus leaf could drive Tier Six beasts into a frenzy of slaughter.
Now he held an entire leaf, the size of an adult's palm.
If this were outside, it might lure out Tier Seven—maybe even Tier Eight—ferocious beasts.
Whether such monsters existed in the Thousand Slaughter Riverlands, Lin Ye didn't know.
He only knew one thing—
This was enough.
As Lin Ye fused the leaf into the Nine Nether Blood Sea—
The sea surged violently again.
A massive wave rose and swallowed the Blood Star completely.
The refinement speed was shockingly fast.
At the same time, Lin Ye circulated the Nine Revolutions Asura Art.
Fast—
But still not instant.
It would take time.
Above the gorge—
Luo Gui was buried beneath shattered rocks.
Earlier, when the beasts stampeded, countless stones had been crushed underfoot.
He had no idea why such a terrifying commotion had erupted.
He forced aside a slab of stone and looked down the gorge.
"Did Lin Ye… die?"
The noise below had lessened.
At least a thousand beasts had charged out earlier—not only from this side, but from the opposite mountain as well.
What was Lin Ye doing down there?
But the surroundings were calmer now.
As long as Luo Gui didn't move recklessly, he should be safe.
Just then—
Three figures descended nearby.
They stood at the cliff edge, staring into the gorge.
"Could there be a treasure down there?"
"Thousand Luo Gorge is dangerous. Those beasts looked like they were rushing to their deaths. We shouldn't cause trouble for ourselves."
"The Young Sect Master's last aura was detected near here. He must have been killed. We can't even find the body."
The three exchanged a few words.
They were elder-level experts from the Plum Blossom Sword Sect.
Luo Gui, hidden nearby, didn't dare make a sound.
All three were Moon Wheel Realm powerhouses.
This was bad.
They were camping right at the gorge edge.
If more experts arrived, he wouldn't be able to hide forever.
Worse—
Lin Ye was still below.
If Lin Ye surfaced while they were watching, he'd be caught immediately.
In this situation, whether Lin Ye killed the Young Sect Master or not wouldn't matter.
They wouldn't spare him.