58: Chapter 58 White Tiger Essence Blood

Princess Xia Zhiqing took a message Jade Slip from her bosom and handed it to General Lin Zhong.

The Jade Slip shimmered at her fingertips, like a crescent of freshly melted snow.

"Uncle." Her voice was not loud, but every word was clear. "Take this Jade Slip and go to the Western Frontier immediately to recruit men and establish the Heaven-Hunting Guard. There are only three criteria for selection: loyalty to the Lin family, fearlessness in the face of death, and absolute discretion. You must not let the Eastern Palace get wind of this. Before I leave for the Hundred Dynasties War, you must train this unit into a force capable of fighting hard battles."

General Lin Zhong took the Jade Slip; his fingertips touched an icy chill that seeped into his bones. He glanced at the glistening jade in his palm, then gripped it tightly, his knuckles whitening from the effort.

"Rest assured."

He looked up, his gaze like a torch.

"I know the best fighters in the Western Frontier like the back of my hand. I know exactly who has rolled through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and who can climb up with a knife between their teeth in a desperate situation." He said in a deep voice, each word sounding as if it were hammered from his chest. "Within a month, I will bring you an elite force that can fight ten men at once! Not just capable of fighting, but capable of winning. Not just fearless of death, but fearless in victory."

Having said this, he said no more, turned, and strode away. Before the night swallowed his figure, the clanging of his armor dissipated into the wind—a sound short and crisp, like a sheathed blade.

The study fell back into silence.

After General Lin Zhong left, Lin Yaner looked at her daughter's calm profile. Candlelight cast fine shadows under her eyes; those eyes were like deep pools, the surface unrippled, yet bottomless.

"Crown Prince Xia Hong suffered a loss in the Eastern Palace and was suppressed by you; he certainly won't stay quiet." Lin Yaner said softly, her voice heavy with years of burden. "He still holds connections with The Three Sects; he might cause trouble in the Yanyang Secret Realm or during the Hundred Dynasties War. You must be aware of this."

Princess Xia Zhiqing heard this, and the corners of her mouth slowly curled into an arc.

The arc was cold, but there was no fear in her eyes.

"When has he ever been quiet?" She chuckled softly, the laughter colder than the night wind. "Before, he would trip me up in the shadows—docking my household expenses, intercepting my messages, and stabbing me with those soft-yet-hard knives in court. Now, he is simply bringing his underhanded tactics into the light."

She picked up the Yanyang Secret Realm map spread out on the table, her fingertips slowly tracing the red dots marking dangerous areas. Under the candlelight, her fingers were slender and steady, like someone accustomed to holding a sword.

"Want to cause trouble in the Secret Realm?" Her fingertips stopped at a scarlet mark, her eyes as sharp as an unsheathed blade. "Want to use Yao Beasts to harm me?"

She raised her eyes, the candlelight burning like two sparks in her pupils.

"I would like to see who has the ability to do so in the face of absolute strength."

The voice was not loud, but it was like a nail, driven one by one into the night.

After speaking, she looked at Lin Yaner, the sharpness in her gaze receding like a tide, replaced by the gentleness only a daughter could show. She stepped forward and took her mother's hand; those hands were slightly cool, with thin calluses from years of practicing martial arts.

"Alright, Mother, it's getting late, you should return to the palace quickly." She said softly, her thumb gently rubbing the back of her mother's hand. "Staying any longer will easily arouse suspicion. I also need to return to the Xuantian Sect to finalize the details of the Secret Realm and the war with my Revered Master."

Lin Yaner nodded.

She looked into her daughter's eyes; there was reluctance and worry, but more than that, a determination ignited by the resolve in her daughter's eyes. That resolve was like a spark, burning a warmth into her chest, which had been silent for years.

She didn't say anything more.

She just patted Princess Xia Zhiqing's hand gently.

That touch was very light, as light as a fallen leaf brushing the water's surface. But the warmth in her palm was heavier than a thousand words.

Subsequently, she turned and walked toward the corner of the study. The moment her figure merged into the shadows, it was as if she were being swallowed inch by inch by the ink-like darkness—having operated in the palace for many years, she had her own secret channels to return to the deep palace without being detected. When that back disappeared into the darkness, it made no sound, as if she had never appeared.

The study returned to silence.

Princess Xia Zhiqing did not leave immediately.

She stood before the desk, looking down at the floating crystal Jade Slip. For a long time, she raised her hand, her fingertips gathering a wisp of pure, pale cyan Spiritual Qi.

The moment the Spiritual Qi touched it, the Jade Slip lit up.

The light was gentle yet firm, like the first ray of dawn before daybreak. Streams of glistening white light patterns wandered across the surface of the Jade Slip, like living things, slowly outlining the contours of the Yanyang Secret Realm—winding mountain ranges like dormant giant Dragons, with thousand-fathom precipices hidden in the undulations of their backs; deep canyons like wounds on the earth, with unknown dangers curled in every fold; the rushing Spiritual Water River shimmering with ripples, with thousand-year-old dried bones buried at the bottom.

On the map, green light spots marking Spiritual Qi nodes were scattered like stars. And several particularly striking scarlet marks, like undried blood stains, were glaringly branded there—those were forbidden grounds where even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator might fall, hiding the most ferocious Yao Beasts and the most bizarre Restrictions.

Princess Xia Zhiqing's gaze lingered on those scarlet marks for a moment.

Her eyes grew cold, as cold as a sword blade in a winter night.

"Want to set an ambush in the Secret Realm?" She whispered to herself, her tone full of mockery, a mockery like a needle dipped in poison. "Or do you want to borrow the danger of the forbidden grounds to kill with a borrowed knife?"

The cold sneer at the corner of her lips grew icier.

The Spiritual Qi at her fingertips moved slightly, and the light patterns on the Jade Slip suddenly brightened a little.

"Unfortunately," she said softly, the voice as light as snow falling on water, but carrying an unquestionable certainty, "you wouldn't know that the Xuantian Sect has operated in the Great Xia for a thousand years; our understanding of the various Secret Realms in the Dynasty is far beyond what The Three Sects and the Great Xia court can compare to."

Her gaze swept over the winding secret paths on the map, the paths to survival hidden deep in the forbidden grounds, and the fine print marking "Restriction Weaknesses"—these were exchanged with the lives of the Sect's predecessors.

"Every dangerous place and every secret path in the Yanyang Secret Realm is recorded in detail by the Sect."

She raised her eyes, the candlelight dancing in her pupils, reflecting her calm and cold face.

"In this game, who is the hunter and who is the prey is not yet certain."

As her voice fell, a night bird flew past outside the window, the sound of its flapping wings fading into the distance.

The light of the Jade Slip cast alternating shadows of light and dark on her face. In those eyes, there was no fear, no anxiety, only a deep, bottomless calm—a calm unique to a hunter before the prey steps into the trap.

Changsheng Peak summit.

Clouds and mist were like cotton wool, flowing slowly under the blowing mountain wind. The Spiritual Qi was so thick it almost condensed into substance; every breath felt like swallowing nectar, filling the lungs with coolness.

Chu Changsheng stood with his hands behind his back.

His black robes stretched out in the mountain wind, the hem fluttering like a crane perched on him. He stood there as if he had been standing there since the beginning of heaven and earth, a part of the mountain, a part of the clouds, an eternal scenery of this Changsheng Peak summit.

His gaze fell on the Thunder Cloud Beast sleeping soundly on the bluestone not far away.

That big guy was covered in dark purple fur, with pale golden thunder patterns hidden among the textures, gleaming in the moonlight. At this moment, it was curled into a ball, its huge head buried between its front paws, its amber vertical pupils tightly closed, and it was too lazy to even twitch its tail tip.

Lazy.

As lazy as a giant beast stone sculpture warmed by the sun.

Chu Changsheng looked at it, a faint, almost imperceptible smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

Then, he slowly raised his palm.

A faint light suddenly lit up in his palm—the light was soft at first, then brighter and brighter, more and more intense, as if a sun were rising in his palm. When the light converged, a drop of essence blood the size of a thumb floated in mid-air.

That drop of blood.

Brilliant as gold foil wrapped in snow, fine light patterns circulating on its surface, every texture looking as if it had been traced stroke by stroke with the finest brush. As soon as it appeared, a terrifying pressure swept out like a tsunami—that was not ordinary pressure, but the essence of extreme sharp metal, the substance formed by the Dao of slaughter.

The air made a sizzling sound, as if being cut by invisible blades, ready to shatter into powder the next second.

The mountain wind froze at this moment.

The clouds and mist lingering on the peak retreated like frightened birds, revealing a sky so clear it could reflect the flowing clouds. Even the moonlight became cautious, circling around the drop of essence blood, afraid of disturbing something.

The Thunder Cloud Beast, which had been sleeping soundly, was suddenly yanked out of its dream by an invisible giant hand!

It flipped and leapt up fiercely!

Its huge body suddenly stiffened, the wind it brought howling by, blowing the surrounding dwarf pines rustling, with pine needles falling all over the ground. In the sound of the wind, there was a low roar suppressed from the depths of its throat.

Its sleepy amber vertical pupils instantly shrank into thin slits.

Locked tightly onto the drop of essence blood in Chu Changsheng's palm.

In its pupils surged shock, awe, and a greed that was about to erupt. Its breathing became heavy and rapid, its nose twitching constantly, desperately sucking the residual essence blood aura in the air into its lungs—each breath making the longing in its eyes more intense.

Although the drop of essence blood was small, it seemed to contain a vast world of slaughter inside.

Listening carefully, one could faintly hear the roar of an ancient White Tiger.

The sound pierced through time and space, pierced through the Bloodline, and directly shook the depths of the Soul—carrying the domineering power that made all beasts bow, carrying the prehistoric arrogance that repelled all evil, like thousands of troops trampling across the sky, like the first thunderclap when heaven and earth were created.

"Wooo... Roar..."

A low whimper rolled out of the Thunder Cloud Beast's throat, full of uncontrollable longing, a longing like fire burning in its chest, burning its whole body hot.

Its limbs tensed involuntarily.

Its sharp claws were embedded deep into the bluestone, leaving five clear cracks, the rubble crushing into powder under the claws. Its huge body crouched slightly, as if in submissive awe of the sacred pressure, and also like a fully drawn bow, ready to shoot out at any time to swallow that drop of essence blood in one gulp.

Meanwhile, the dark purple thunder patterns on its body lit up uncontrollably.

Strands of electric arcs jumped and entangled among the fur, crackling incessantly, as if countless small lightning bolts were waking up on it. The electric light became brighter and denser, enveloping it in a purple light.

Chu Changsheng watched the Thunder Cloud Beast's intense reaction, a satisfied arc hooking at the corners of his mouth.

The arc was very shallow, almost invisible, but it made the whole face vivid.

"The essence blood of the White Tiger, which governs slaughter," he said softly, his voice sounding like it was falling from the clouds, "for a little guy like you who harbors the ancient Thunder Tiger Bloodline, it is a supreme treasure for Rebirth."

His gaze swept over the Thunder Cloud Beast's tense body, a hint of inquiry flashing in his eyes.

The gaze was like two knives, peeling away the fur and piercing directly into the secrets deep within the flesh.

"With your current Nascent Soul Stage cultivation, logically you should have been able to speak human language long ago, but you have been unable to do so." He said slowly, each word like a stone falling into a deep pool. "Looking at the Taichu Continent, when a Spirit Beast appears in this situation, either its Bloodline is too mediocre to support the Awakening of spiritual wisdom—"

He paused.

"Or, its talent is so extreme that it is suppressed by some kind of power."

The moonlight fell on his face, illuminating those bottomless eyes.

"Today," he said softly, "let me see which one you are."

The words fell.

Chu Changsheng flicked his finger lightly.

That drop of White Tiger essence blood, which seemed light but was actually heavy beyond measure, instantly turned into a golden-white stream of light—

Like a meteor streaking across the sky.

Like a sharp sword piercing the night curtain.

It plunged into the Thunder Cloud Beast's forehead with absolute precision!

"Aooo——!!!"

The moment the essence blood entered its body, the Thunder Cloud Beast let out a roar that shook the world!

The sound pierced through the clouds, tore through the night sky, and resounded throughout the entire Changsheng Mountain range! It carried heartbreaking pain, but also wrapped in a frantic longing for Rebirth—like a butterfly trapped in a cocoon, using all its strength to crash into the light that separated life and death.

Its huge body suddenly trembled violently.

The dark purple fur stood on end, each one like a red-hot iron needle. The power of thunder and lightning around its body erupted crazily, forming a purple thunder shield that wrapped it inside. Inside the thunder shield, electric snakes danced wildly, crackling incessantly, and even the air was distorted and deformed, with light shattering into millions of pieces in the distortion.

The violent energy contained in the White Tiger essence blood rushed into its body like a broken levee!

Washing through its limbs and bones—

The intense pain of Meridians being torn had just arrived, and the golden light surged in to reshape them instantly; the bones made a crackling explosion, the sound as dense as rain, making one's teeth ache; every inch of flesh was enduring extreme tempering, as if an invisible pair of hands were grinding the old body into powder, and then using new power to recast it bit by bit.

The Thunder Cloud Beast's body sometimes expanded violently, nearly twice its normal size, with veins bulging under its fur like crawling snakes; sometimes it contracted rapidly, muscles knotting into steel, each piece erupting with amazing power.

In the midst of pain—

An ancient and noble aura originating from the deepest part of its Bloodline was thoroughly awakened!

The pale golden "King" thunder pattern on its forehead became clearer than ever before. And at a speed visible to the naked eye, it was stained with a white-gold edge—

In that edge, there was both the slaughter and domineering power of the White Tiger, and the thunderous arrogance of the Thunder Tiger.

The majesty was several times stronger than in the past!

The surrounding Spiritual Qi began to gather toward it crazily, forming visible Spiritual Qi vortices. Those vortices rotated around it, faster and faster, and finally condensed into a pillar of light that soared into the sky, piercing straight into the clouds!

In the pillar of light, the Thunder Cloud Beast's figure was looming.

It roared at the sky, and in the roar, there was Rebirth.