Liu Liu returned to the cave dwelling, dragging along several massive beasts.
With a flick of her spiritual power, she sealed their meridians. Their towering bodies collapsed helplessly in the corner of the great hall, limp and powerless like lambs awaiting slaughter.
Liu Ming was already inside. His gaze swept over the “resources” brought before him, yet a trace of hesitation flickered in his eyes.
Was he truly… going to cultivate this Blood Feast Art?
From what he had seen of Shen Qingyun’s fate and Su Meier’s reaction, this technique bore none of the sinister restrictions of the parasitic mother–child arts. It was a pure demonic killing method.
But within the Demonic Sect, every step was a hidden snare. A single careless move could bring eternal ruin.
To rashly practice a technique of unknown origin… his heart felt deeply unsettled.
And yet, if he chose not to cultivate, what then?
Would he remain forever a mere mortal, hiding in a lightless chamber, placing all his hopes upon Liu Meng—a puppet-like incarnation he could not wholly control?
As his mind churned with doubts, that cold, mechanical voice once again echoed in his sea of consciousness:
【A new day has dawned. A new incarnation may be summoned.】
With the prompt, an overwhelming wave of exhaustion surged through him like a flood.
For days, he had barely slept.
Even in those fleeting moments of rest, his incarnations roamed outside ceaselessly—exploring, fighting, cultivating. Every sensation, every fragment of experience was funneled back into his mind, forcing his spirit into constant hyperactivity, never granting him true repose.
Now, with Liu Meng, Liu Liu, and Liu Qi simultaneously active, his consciousness was being pushed to its breaking point.
He felt an ominous certainty: if this continued, he might well collapse and die in his sleep!
No more hesitation!
Biting down hard on the tip of his tongue, the stabbing pain jolted his mind into clarity.
There was no path of retreat.
Delaying further would only crush him beneath unbearable pressure and slow his progress. Worse, it would prevent him from summoning more incarnations to face the unending perils of the Demonic Sect.
Resoluteness burned in his gaze. Striding forward, he drew a long blade from his waist and drove it mercilessly into the chest of one beast.
In that instant, the Blood Feast Art—etched deep into his memory—ignited on its own, surging into wild motion.
Boom!
A torrent of pure essence burst from the beast’s corpse, drawn into a crimson flood that poured into his body.
An invisible barrier shattered within him. Right then and there, he broke free of mortal shackles and stepped into the first stage of Qi Refinement!
Power surged through his limbs and bones. Without pause, he swung his blade again, slaying the second beast, then the third.
His cultivation soared, pressing against the bottleneck of Qi Refinement’s second stage. Yet, at the brink of breakthrough, he forced himself to stop.
Yes, he could kill more and grow stronger still—but he dared not advance too recklessly.
Who knew what instability might arise from too rapid a rise?
Unlike his incarnations, he need not rush. With them and his servant to act in his stead, he had no need to step personally into battle.
For now, consolidating his realm—and relieving the crushing spiritual burden—was paramount.
The transformation was immediate.
The weight that had threatened to bury him eased by more than half. Even the throbbing haze clouding his mind cleared, leaving his spirit sharp and lucid.
Strength coursed through him as if he had slept for days. The fatigue was gone.
Even at the lowest rung of a cultivator, the gulf between mortal and immortal path was vast.
Without delay, he gave the command:
“Summon incarnation!”
【Summoning incarnation…】
Moments later, a new avatar emerged—Liu Ba, a young man with a doll-like face.
Without needing instruction, Liu Ba strode toward the remaining beasts and cut them down with clean precision.
Devouring their essence, his cultivation surged like a storm, breaking into the third stage of Qi Refinement.
When the slaughter was done, Liu Ba joined Liu Liu before Liu Meng.
There, together, they began to practice the Profound Womb Art.
This was Liu Meng’s unique sub-technique. Two intricate soul brands etched themselves into Liu Liu’s and Liu Ba’s very spirits, binding them as her dual furnaces.
Now, she had completed two-thirds of her task: controlling three cultivators of the same realm.
Tomorrow, when another incarnation was summoned and likewise raised to the third stage, she would refine it as well. At that moment, she would break through the bottleneck into the fourth stage—stepping into mid-level Qi Refinement.
Her cultivation would once again leap into an entirely new realm!
Just then, the transmission token nestled against her chest glowed with a cool white radiance.
Connecting it, Liu Meng heard Qin Shuang’s slightly urgent voice:
“Junior Sister, how did it go? Have you visited the Mission Hall? Did you purchase the souls?”
“I bought them,” Liu Meng replied evenly.
“That’s wonderful!” Relief and excitement surged in Qin Shuang’s tone. “Junior Sister, bring them to me at once!”
With her words, a precise location imprinted itself through the token.
Liu Meng silently committed it to memory, at first intending to summon Qingyue for the errand.
But after a thought, she changed her mind.
With two avatars at the third stage, why risk a living person?
Should danger arise, losing a single incarnation was far preferable to losing real flesh and blood.
Thus, she handed the glass orb containing the souls to Liu Liu.
Taking it, Liu Liu’s form blurred and vanished from the cave dwelling.
Moving at full speed with her third-stage cultivation, she reached the designated site within moments.
It was a cave hidden behind a roaring waterfall, brimming with spiritual energy—a fine cultivation abode.
Without hindrance, Liu Liu entered, delivering the soul orb into Qin Shuang’s waiting hands.
The exchange was seamless. No danger arose. Even Liu Liu felt surprised.
But just as she turned to leave Qin Shuang’s cave, far away in his secret chamber, Liu Ming’s body shuddered violently.
His eyes widened with earth-shaking disbelief.
Because, in that very instant, within his consciousness…
A brand-new incarnation had appeared out of thin air.
This incarnation was—
Liu Si!