A Record of A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Chapter 311: The Secret of the Blood Sacrifice

As Han Li was pondering, the Black-Faced Elder continued speaking unceasingly:

"...We cannot ascertain the true cultivation base of the cult leader of the black death cult. Around him are close guards like the four blood attendants we encountered today. With just the few of us, we are definitely no match for them. So, I suggest that senior avoid provoking them further and wait for reinforcements..."

"Rest assured, this black death cult leader is at most a late foundation establishment stage cultivator, definitely not a core formation stage cultivator."

Han Li, who had been quietly listening until now, suddenly interrupted the elder with firm certainty.

Han Li’s words caused the Black-Faced Elder to be momentarily stunned, then he immediately felt joy. The others also let out a sigh of relief.

Although they didn’t know why Han Li was so certain, since this senior said so, it was highly likely to be true! They had been discussing earlier that if the enemy were a core formation stage cultivator, their only option would be to run for their lives! Even if reinforcements from the Seven Sects arrived, there was no guarantee they could deal with the black death cult leader.

Now that Han Li said this, the four friends of Mengshan naturally felt much more at ease.

"Senior, could you tell us a bit more about this? The Chief Steward Wang we interrogated knows nothing about the black death cult leader’s cultivation base!" The young man, who had recovered quite a bit from his fifth younger sister’s blow, asked for clarification.

"Fourth brother, what nonsense are you talking about? If Senior Han says so, it means he is absolutely confident," the Black-Faced Elder scolded the youth harshly.

After hearing the two speak, Han Li smiled slightly and said calmly:

"There’s nothing to keep secret! This information comes from the fact that the cult leader still requires foundation establishment stage cultivators to perform blood sacrifices for judgment."

Han Li’s voice was unhurried as he slowly explained:

"Though Yellow Maple Valley has limited dealings with demonic cultivation techniques, we do have some understanding of the forbidden art of blood sacrifice, which is a shortcut gaining method. This demonic technique, which absorbs the essence and cultivation base of other cultivators to raise one’s own, used to be quite common in the demonic sects. It allows a cultivator’s magical power to surge quickly, bypassing much of the painful meditation and training time."

Han Li sneered coldly as he spoke, a trace of sarcasm appearing around his mouth before he continued:

"However, this crazed cultivation method requires ruthless slaughter of many other cultivators and has fatal drawbacks. Not only is it only effective below foundation establishment stage, but once a blood sacrifice is performed, the cultivator is doomed never to reach core formation stage, trapped forever in the foundation establishment stage. Back then, many cultivators secretly practiced blood sacrifice demonic techniques, but not one succeeded in forming a core."

"Even worse, by absorbing others’ magical power through blood sacrifice, a backlash often occurs. One misstep leads to qi deviation and death. Of course, the main reason this technique disappeared was because the act of devouring others’ essence was too taboo for other cultivators. Everyone who knew this demonic technique was gradually wiped out by both the orthodox and demonic paths."

"But later, it is said the demonic path couldn’t give up this quick cultivation method and developed another technique also called blood sacrifice, but this new method doesn’t consume others’ essence directly. Instead, it targets the soul and primordial spirit of immortal cultivators. Although the cultivation increase isn’t as fast as the original blood sacrifice, it avoids the dangers of core formation failure and backlash. It is also called soul sacrifice."

"The sect’s scriptures mention very little about soul sacrifice. They only say that, once created, it was kept strictly in the hands of a few high-ranking demonic path members and never spread publicly, thus escaping the immortal cultivation world’s crackdown! Also, there are many other limitations on this method."