Journey of True Cultivation-Chapter 83: After the Slaughters

The metallic smell of blood lingered in the air. Rotting, disfigured corpses lay scattered like fallen leaves, their twisted bodies painting the ground with death.

Some wore the dark green and green robes of the Howling Wind Sect, but most wore plain white robes, now stained deep red with blood.

Yuan stood silently, gazing across the final battlefield where the last of the three tribes had fallen. Many Inner Sect and Outer Sect disciples lay among the dead, and even a few Team Leaders, along with two Squad Leaders, had perished in this single day of war.

The Sharp Peak Mountain Tribe, the Stone Mountain Tribe, and now, the last to fall, what remained of the Small Battling Tribe. All three tribes had been crushed, their members slaughtered, their blood soaking into the cold stone ground.

Yuan's own team, alongside Li Yun's, had also suffered losses. Although they hadn't faced serious casualties compared to some of the other teams, the cost was still felt. About ten percent of their Outer Sect disciples had died across the last two battles, the Stone Mountain Tribe and the Small Battling Tribe having proven far stronger than the Sharp Peak Mountain Tribe, which had been the weakest of the three.

Worse still, their team had lost two Ashes-ranked Inner Sect disciples. Their deaths weakened the overall strength of the group, though the two had fallen as heroes, sacrificing themselves to protect the Outer Sect disciples under their command.

Although they succeeded in saving those they had sworn to protect, they paid the ultimate price for it.

Yuan knew that he could have stepped in to save them if he had chosen to, but allowing some casualties was not without its advantages. Their reduced numbers meant their team might be given time to recuperate, perhaps even reinforced with a new batch of disciples before being sent to the next battlefield within the Crystal River Region.

Still, their team was far from the worst off.

Some Team Leaders had been killed outright, along with their entire teams, wiped out completely in the bloodshed.

They had died because they were too far from the Squad Leaders and other Team Leaders, driven by their own ambition for glory.

Yuan could still remember hearing their war cries echoing across the battlefield as they screamed, "Glory for the Sect!" only to fall moments later in the chaos of battle.

Yet, despite their deaths, they earned a bit of heroic fame. Both Inner Sect and Outer Sect disciples spoke of them as true heroes of the Howling Wind Sect. Even though they were gone, their bravery would be remembered, at least by some at this time.

From the first battlefield to the last clash against the Small Battling Tribe, only a single day had passed. Three battles fought in rapid succession, it could only be described as a hasty campaign, as if the sect's strategy was merely to break down the walls quickly, clearing the path for the "true army" that would arrive later to finish the conquest.

In such a plan, the vanguard, the ones who shattered the walls, were almost treated as expendable.

But Yuan didn't mind. In fact, he saw an advantage in this. Surely the sect wasn't insane enough to send an exhausted, bloodied army straight into another battle without at least a few months of recovery.

If they had any sense, they would give the disciples time to heal, rearm, and prepare before the next wave of war.

Beyond that, Yuan's looting had proven quite fruitful.

He had collected many useful items from the corpses of both the enemy tribes and fallen sect disciples. However, when it came to the bodies of Inner Sect and Outer Sect disciples, Yuan had been careful, not daring to take anything of obvious value. Instead, he quietly took only the pills. After all, dead men had no use for cultivation pills.

Now, Yuan was resting atop a small mountain along with Li Yun and the other disciples under Li Yun's command.

The mountain wasn't large, just enough to provide a few small caves where they could take shelter and rest. This resting place had been assigned to them by the Supreme Squad Leader, Wang Feng. Other teams, too, were given their own small mountains to recover.

Only Wang Feng himself and General Yi Lao chose to rest elsewhere, seated alone atop a sharp peak that overlooked the entire battlefield, isolated from the others.

After assigning the mountains, the leaders had given their final orders.

"Rest for a few days. The true army of the sect will arrive soon to continue the conquest of the Crystal River Region."

Hearing these words from General Yi Lao, Yuan could already guess the reason why the main force had not arrived alongside them.

But really, what difference would it have made, even if he had known earlier?

Either way, they were now given a chance to recover.

In the quiet that followed the battles, Yuan took stock of his gains. Beyond the ordinary cultivation pills he had gathered for blood refinement, he had also found several rare pills, pills that would help him strengthen and refine his body even further.

These battles, as bloody and cruel as they had been, had brought him more fortune than he had expected.

Now, thanks to the spoils of war, Yuan could spare about five months from the two years he had originally estimated for his breakthrough. With that, he only needed to enter seclusion for one year and seven months to reach the peak layer of the Blood Purification Stage.

Lifting his head slightly, Yuan gazed up at the sky. The gray clouds had drifted away, replaced by the warm glow of the sun and a few white clouds slowly floating above him.

He thought back to the battles, the sequence of bloodshed that had unfolded over the last day.

During the second battle against the Stone Mountain Tribe, the moon had already risen high in the night sky. Many disciples had fallen in that fight. They had battled tirelessly through the night, waiting for the sun to rise and relieve the darkness.

But as the moon finally set and the sun climbed once more into the sky, they had already moved on, straight into the next fight against the Small Battling Tribe.

That battle had raged on until the sun had already been shining for several hours.

Among the three tribes they had faced, the Small Battling Tribe was undoubtedly the strongest.

According to what Li Yun had shared, the Small Battling Tribe was merely a branch tribe of a larger clan, the Neverending Battling Clan, one of the lesser noble families of the Crystal River Region.

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While not among the main powers, they held enough influence to be considered the lowest tier of nobility. Just one rank above them stood the main families of the region.

As for why the branch tribe chose to call themselves a "tribe" instead of keeping the clan name, Li Yun didn't know. His research had focused on important cultivators and general background information, not on their internal politics.

The Stone Mountain Tribe, on the other hand, had been stronger than the Sharp Peak Mountain Tribe but still weaker than the Small Battling Tribe. Even so, that battle had inflicted noticeable casualties on their forces.

Yuan's gaze shifted as he looked back toward the small resting area where Li Yun's group was stationed. Without a word, he stood up and walked toward one of the small, empty caves that had been claimed by Li Yun's team for shelter.

The cave entrance was narrow, just big enough for a single person. Yuan pushed a large stone into place, sealing himself inside.

The cave itself was small, barely tall enough for him to stretch his arms fully overhead, and only wide enough for him to take two steps forward. Once the entrance was sealed, the space became pitch black, devoid of any light.

But that didn't bother Yuan.

Calmly, he sat down on the cold stone floor, settling into the lotus position. He closed his black-azure eyes, his breathing slowing as he reached into his bag of holding.

Taking out one of the pills he had looted from one of the corpses and swallowed it without hesitation and began to cultivate.

Yuan could feel the faint burning sensation slowly rising within his blood. It was barely noticeable at first—so weak that his spiritual blood easily suppressed it, showing no real reaction.

But then he swallowed a second pill.

The burning grew slightly stronger, though still faint, as if it weren't truly there yet. Calmly, without hesitation, he swallowed the next one... then the fourth... the fifth... continuing until he had consumed a hundred of the pills.

He swallowed these Burning Blood Pills like pieces of candy, but unlike candy, which was sweet and pleasant, these pills had an earthy, bitter, almost disgusting taste.

Yet Yuan was already used to it. This wasn't the first time, and it certainly wouldn't be the last time he would rely on these pills to help push his cultivation toward the peak layer of the Blood Purification Stage.

After swallowing one hundred Burning Blood Pills, he finally felt the intended effect beginning to take hold. Beyond this point, taking more pills would no longer enhance the process, instead, it would only bring unnecessary pain and risk.

The Burning Blood Pill worked by raising the heat of one's blood, stimulating it to purify and transform into spiritual blood. But the pill's effect came with a cost, the more one consumed, the stronger the burning sensation would become, until it could even begin to harm the body itself.

That's why there was always a limit.

Swallowing too many could lead to severe damage, especially to one's spiritual blood during the fragile process of transformation. Even Peak Layer Blood Purification Stage cultivators typically wouldn't dare to consume more than sixty of these pills at once.

Beyond that, the risk of irreversibly damaging the spiritual blood was simply too great.

Yet Yuan had taken one hundred.

The only reason he could handle such a quantity was that his spiritual blood was already three times stronger than that of an ordinary Peak Layer Blood Purification Stage cultivator. Theoretically, he could have pushed further, he might have even been able to swallow more pills without immediate harm.

But Yuan was not one to gamble recklessly with his cultivation.

He only ever took what was needed, just enough to trigger the effect within his body, never one pill more.

Careful. Controlled. Focused.

This was how Yuan approached his path toward strength.