Chapter 126: Plundering a Divine Ability—The Life-Seizing Hand [Please Subscribe and Vote with Monthly Tickets]

"Is this the Devil’s Sea?"

Baili Feihong frowned inadvertently. The air was thick with a heavy, incense-like aroma. As he inhaled, a strange energy attempted to snake through his bloodstream and permeate his entire body, only to be incinerated instantly by his terrifying, potent blood.

His body’s open apertures absorbed the primordial energy of heaven and earth from the sea, but in doing so, they also drew in the peculiar energy unique to the Devil’s Sea. His divine sense, tethered to this energy, caught the sinister vibrations within; the moment it touched his consciousness, it stirred a frantic, restless desire deep within him. His calm heart rippled, and long-buried cravings began to stir.

"It is very similar to demonic aura, yet it has fused with the primordial energy of heaven and earth to form something truly peculiar. Absorb too much, and one is likely to succumb to demonic corruption."

"Though, the practitioners of the evil path seem to favor it."

"With so many evil cultivators in the Great Yuan, setting aside forbidden regions like the Transverse Mountain Range, many sects have established training grounds right here in the Devil’s Sea."

A memory surfaced. Baili Feihong recalled reading about the Devil’s Sea while preparing for his journey to Feiyuan Island. The Devil’s Sea was a paradise for evil cultivators, a hell for orthodox martial artists, and a playground for demons.

The books were merely the distilled knowledge of those who had explored before. Evil cultivators faced dangers here, too. Any human, even an evil practitioner, would be marked by the many demons lurking in the depths. If a demon were to devour one, seizing their essence and identity, it could walk the world of men in human form, masquerading as an evil cultivator—a feat few could detect.

This thought brought Chief Zhang of the Shipping Gang to mind. The demon he had controlled—did it come from the Devil’s Sea? The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

In the Devil’s Sea, where dark clouds perpetually choked the sky, visibility for a normal person was less than ten meters. However, with a physical body tempered to his current level, the environment had no impact on Baili Feihong’s vision. Yet, looking back at Feiyuan Island, he felt as if a barrier separated it from the outside world, making it nearly impossible to peer through and see the island clearly.

"How far am I from Feiyuan Island?"

He projected his divine sense, but it felt as if it were plunging into a freezing void, his thoughts threatening to go numb. The agitation of his divine sense did not make it stronger; instead, it scattered his focus, causing frequent bouts of dazed disorientation.

Baili Feihong withdrew his sense. This was a playground for demons and ghosts, and they were acutely sensitive to divine sense. If he were contaminated by some bizarre demonic entity, the purity of his soul could be compromised.

"Fortunately, the Myriad Things Origin-Returning Technique is never picky."

"To think such dense energy, once absorbed and converted into the Mother Qi of the Origin Cauldron, can accelerate the refinement of my blood energy."

"If my twelve-fold refined blood energy is already this powerful, I can only imagine how terrifying the blood energy of a Martial Saint must be."

This was, in fact, the life-transformation brought about by breaking through a major realm, which forged such formidable blood energy. Baili Feihong understood that the deeper one's foundation, the more profound the transformation upon reaching a new major realm. Martial Saints, too, were divided into different tiers. On the Heavenly Dragon Ranking, there was a chasm of difference between each position. At the level of a Martial Saint, every aspect of one's being had been honed to a state of perfection.

"The sect’s Divine Ability Masters are certainly not afraid of death to have followed me in here."

"A classic case of 'stealing a chicken only to lose the rice.'"

"The Devil’s Sea is treacherous. Their divine senses cannot connect, and their combat strength cannot be consolidated, giving me the opportunity to pick them off one by one."

"However, if I were to actually slaughter this group of Divine Ability Masters, I would not be long for this world. The sects behind them would unite their power, and even the Imperial Court would have to retreat."

"A Divine Ability Master is a pillar of strength for any sect. Furthermore, the masters sent to kill me are likely under fifty."

"In the prime of their youth, they are the future of their respective sects."

The Flower Pavilion was a different matter; it was already classified as an evil cult. Slashing down their evil cultivators would only earn him rewards from the Demon Suppression Division. After a moment of thought, he decided that wasting time on these masters was less productive than cultivating and hunting demons. Killing them would only bring trouble without any real benefit—a waste of his time and strength.

He had planned this retreat to last at most half a year before returning to Feiyuan Island; otherwise, the local Demon Suppression Division would truly fall into ruin. He had already leaked word that he was heading deep into the Devil’s Sea for six months of training and to hone his demon-hunting craft. He didn't know what others thought, but within these six months, no one would dare touch the Feiyuan Demon Suppression Division.

He pulled a palm-sized compass from his robe. The Devil’s Sea was too vast; without the Demon-Locating Compass, finding demons would be purely a matter of luck. More importantly, the compass’s greatest function was navigation. It was incredibly easy to get lost in the Devil’s Sea, and many powerful martial artists who ventured in never returned—not because they were killed, but because they lost their way.

To ensure his return, Baili Feihong had captured a powerful demon and imprisoned it in the newly built Demon Suppression Prison beneath his mansion on the North Island. He had extracted a wisp of its purest demonic origin energy and stored it within the compass. Now, he could command the compass to lock onto the location of Feiyuan Island, no matter how chaotic the energy fields of the Devil’s Sea became.

"I wonder if that Night Demon has been slaughtered yet?"

"This artifact still cannot locate the trail of the Night Demon."

Baili Feihong had not forgotten the blood feud of his master, Wu Sihai. Chief Zhang had fled overseas, making him nearly impossible to find. But with the compass, the moment the Night Demon revealed its aura, he would be able to track it down.

He poured his divine sense into the compass. It bloomed with starlight, the needle pointing toward the nearest concentration of demonic energy. With a steady stride, he performed the "White Dragon in the Waves" technique and dove into the sea.

The water of the Devil’s Sea was much darker than the ocean outside, a deep, inky blue. Combined with the perennial cloud cover, entering the depths felt like plunging into a starry cosmos. Flickering, luminous objects moved in the distance. Baili Feihong could see them clearly—they were massive, bizarre deep-sea fish. They could hardly be called demons, but in this environment, they had grown into grotesque, monstrous creatures of immense power. They drifted like mountains, with glowing lures dangling from their tentacles to entice prey.

"Mystic Ice Finger."

As he unleashed the technique, he thought of Zheng Yishan from Dongbin City. On the day he had taken his assessment for the Demon Suppression Division, Zheng had used this very technique to kill someone who had broken the rules.

The mystic ice spread from his fingertip. Under Baili Feihong's precise control, before the gargantuan monster could even react, it was frozen solid. It died instantly. Its cells, and even its soul, were solidified by the mystic ice, turning into crystals.

[Slayed Demon-Monster Mountain Fish, gained 180 skill points.]

180 skill points?

Baili Feihong’s eyes lit up. He hadn't felt this excited even when he killed Xue Ming. And it wasn't over.

He activated the Myriad Things Origin-Returning Cauldron. As his divine sense enveloped the creature, energy a hundred times more potent than a Vital Blood Pill flooded his body. Indeed, the Cauldron could function like a soul-draining technique. With the aid of his divine sense, absorbing and refining the essence of all things from a distance was no longer a difficult task.

Since the birth of this technique, he had been able to strip the life essence from trees outside the Demon Suppression building from thirty meters away. The Cauldron had three core essences: Plunder, Refine, and Return. Plunder was its primary offensive method—a technique more ferocious than any martial art, arguably the most vicious of all.

"A pity it was frozen, damaging the biological structure and wasting much of its life essence," Baili Feihong sighed. "I should incorporate the Dragon Claw Hand into the 'Plunder' essence of the Cauldron."

One claw, projected through the air to strip away life essence—it would be a way to kill without a trace.

[Would you like to evolve Dragon Claw Hand?]

The prompt from the Skill Book rang out.

"Evolve: Life-Taking Hand!"

[Deducting 12,000 skill points. Beginning evolution of Life-Taking Hand!]

Scriptures cascaded through his mind like a waterfall, merging the texts of the Myriad Things Origin-Returning Cauldron, the Dragon Claw Hand, and other techniques. Gradually, a powerful martial art was formed.

[Life-Taking Hand: Divine Ability Tier 1 (1/10,000 experience)]

The experience required for this ability was high, but Baili Feihong understood that if he practiced it manually, he would need to perform it ten thousand times to reach the second tier. Using skill points might even be more expensive than the experience required. As his cultivation grew, experience and proficiency became a distinct advantage.

"My apologies, Demon-Monster Mountain Fish. You shall be the materials for my cultivation of this divine ability."

A smile touched his lips. He extended his palm toward a massive mountain fish. Strings of primordial energy condensed into a phantom hand, diving into the creature and bringing forth a mist of blood that swirled back into his body. The terrifying life essence sent a thrill through him. He hadn't been wrong; these living monsters were blood reservoirs, containing more energy than the Demon Suppression Division’s Vital Blood Pills.

And the Life-Taking Hand gained a point of experience.

[Slayed Demon-Monster Mountain Fish, gained 180 skill points.]

One strike, triple the rewards: life essence, experience, and skill points—all secured.

Looking out over the endless expanse of the Devil’s Sea, Baili Feihong had a sudden realization. He was not looking at a hell; he was looking at a paradise.

The mountain fish were large, lazy, and preferred to wait for prey to come to them. This gave Baili Feihong every convenience. The glowing lanterns dangling above their heads were, in his eyes, nothing more than fields of leeks waiting to be harvested.

"Life-Taking Hand!"

Like a white dragon among the waves, Baili Feihong darted through the sea with light, agile movements. Everywhere he went, he unleashed the Life-Taking Hand. From all directions, the plundered life essence converged upon him. Centered on him, rivers of blood-mist formed, frantically drilling into his body.

The Origin-Returning Cauldron spun rapidly. The essence was refined by the phantom cauldron within his 365 apertures, then flowed into the main Cauldron. The Cauldron frantically converted the life essence into Mother Qi. Anything that couldn't be converted in time was directly absorbed by his blood, fueling the refinement of his twelve-fold blood energy.