Blood Pool Secret Cave

“blood food,” “water prison,” “force-feeding medicine”... These words entered Nightmare's ears, and combined with the fragments in Wang Teng's memory about Black Mountain City's mysterious people and the abnormalities in the City Lord's Mansion, Nightmare instantly connected the clues.

This so-called “Holy Cult” was indeed engaged in some unspeakable dealings! And it seemed to be colluding with the City Lord's Mansion; perhaps the City Lord's Mansion itself was its pawns! They captured Cultivators or Mortals, imprisoned them here as “blood food,” surely for no small gain!

As for the two Foundation Establishment guards, in Nightmare's eyes now, they were no different from chickens and dogs.

A murderous glint flashed in Nightmare's eyes, without the slightest hesitation. Employing the Demonic Shadow Evasion Technique, his figure seemed to truly merge into the shadows of the underground river, silently approaching the water's surface, and stealthily heading towards the crude dock.

The two Foundation Establishment guards were completely unaware, still conversing in low voices.

“Speaking of which, the 'Sacred Medicine' brought by the Emissary this time seems to be even more potent. Those guys inside are screaming terribly...”

“Shh! Keep your voice down! I heard it's made from...”

One of them hadn't finished speaking when his voice abruptly stopped.

Two faint, almost invisible grey-black finger-winds, like poisonous snakes emerging from their holes, shot out without warning from the shadows behind them, accurately piercing into the back of their heads!

Soul Shattering Finger — Instant Kill!

The two guards' bodies stiffened abruptly, the light in their eyes instantly dimmed, their pupils dilated, and without even a sound, they softly fell backward.

Nightmare's figure appeared on the dock like a ghost, supporting a body with each hand that was about to fall, gently laying them on the ground without making any sound. His movements were clean and precise, as if practiced a thousand times.

“Ding! Killed two Early Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators, gained 200 villain points.”

The System's notification sound was cold and timely.

Nightmare didn't even look at the two hundred villain points. His Divine Sense quickly swept the surroundings, confirming there were no other alarm arrangements or image-recording formations, then his gaze turned to the stairs leading to the cave above.

The cave was brightly lit, and the faint sound of dragging chains and suppressed, painful groans could be heard. The air was filled with a rich smell of blood and a strange medicinal scent.

Nightmare concealed all his aura, moving like a gecko on a wall, swiftly ascending along the shadows of the stairs.

At the end of the stairs was a huge natural cave that had been artificially modified. In the center of the cave was a shocking, enormous Blood Pool!

The pool did not contain pure blood, but a viscous, dark red bubbling, strange liquid, emitting strong energy fluctuations and that peculiar medicinal scent. Around the Blood Pool, countless complex black runes were inscribed, now faintly flickering with a dim light, seemingly in operation.

Even more alarming was that within the Blood Pool, and on the iron racks at its edge, dozens of Cultivators were imprisoned!

Most of these Cultivators were ragged, their faces emaciated, their eyes numb or filled with pain. Their wrists or ankles were locked by special iron chains, the other end of which connected to runes at the bottom of the Blood Pool. Traces of vital blood and life force were continuously being drawn from their bodies and poured into the strange Blood Pool.

Beside the Blood Pool, several Holy Cult Cultivators were busy. They held black medicine bottles and were roughly prying open the mouths of the weak prisoners, forcibly pouring the viscous, ominous-smelling black liquid from the bottles into them.

The prisoners who were force-fed the liquid immediately let out even more shrill screams, their bodies convulsed violently, their eyes filled with bloodshot veins, and the speed at which their vital blood was extracted suddenly accelerated, causing the liquid in the Blood Pool to churn even more violently.

“Hurry up! The Emissary is pressing us! This batch of 'Blood Source' must be dealt with before dawn!” a Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator, who seemed to be the leader, urged sharply.

Nightmare hid in the shadows at the entrance, taking in the situation inside the cave, his eyes as cold as ten thousand years of ice.

He understood instantly. This Holy Cult was using living Cultivators to refine some evil Medicinal Pills or perform some kind of blood sacrifice! The so-called “Sacred Medicine” was probably a potent drug that stimulated potential and accelerated the draining of life force!

And these imprisoned Cultivators, ranging from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, were clearly abducted from various places. The recent rumors of missing Cultivators in Black Mountain City likely mostly ended up here!

“What a Holy Cult, what a City Lord's Mansion!” Killing intent surged in Nightmare's heart. Such actions were a hundred times more malicious than his own Demonic Cultivation!

“Ding! Triggered side quest: Destroy the Blood Pool!”

“Quest Objective: Destroy the Blood Pool core, interrupt the blood sacrifice ritual, rescue the trapped Cultivators (optional).”

“Quest Reward: Assessed based on destruction level and number of rescued individuals, rewards 2000-10000 villain points, one random Medicinal Pill formula.”

“Quest Hint: The Blood Pool is connected to the Earth Vein and the cave's Restrictions. Forcibly destroying it may cause a violent explosion or Restriction backlash. Please proceed with caution.”

The System's quest prompt sounded again.

Nightmare's gaze swept over the huge Blood Pool and the five or six busy Holy Cult Cultivators around it (one Late Foundation Establishment Stage, two Middle Stage Foundation Establishment, three Early Stage Foundation Establishment), calculating rapidly in his mind.

Direct assault? With his current Middle Golden Core Peak cultivation, killing these people wouldn't be difficult, but it would inevitably cause a huge commotion, likely attracting Golden Core powerhouses from above immediately. And how to destroy the Blood Pool was also a problem.

Outsmart them? ...Nightmare's gaze fell on the “Sacred Medicine” being force-fed, and a bold plan instantly formed.

He quietly retreated a few steps, took out the ten supreme grade demonic yuan pills just rewarded from his System space. Then, he quickly formed hand seals, and a wisp of pure Demonic Essence mixed with a trace of Xiangliu Poison's Origin aura slowly infused into these ten Medicinal Pills.

Nightmare wasn't trying to enhance the Medicinal Pills, but to contaminate and modify them! He wanted to turn these highly nourishing Demonic Essence Pills into highly poisonous bait!

Soon, the ten Medicinal Pills, originally brimming with Devilish Qi, were covered with an extremely subtle layer of greyish Death Qi, and their internal energy structure became extremely unstable, as if they could explode at any moment.

After doing all this, Nightmare once again submerged into the shadows, circling to the other side of the cave. Seizing the moment when a Middle Stage Foundation Establishment Holy Cult Cultivator was walking towards a new prisoner with a medicine bottle, Nightmare flicked his finger!

A modified supreme grade demonic yuan pill, as if held by an invisible hand, silently rolled to the Cultivator's feet, emitting an extremely alluring pure Demonic Essence fluctuation — this was a trace of aura Nightmare deliberately leaked.

“Hmm?” The Middle Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator paused, looked down in confusion, and immediately saw the “extraordinary Medicinal Pill” at his feet, brimming with “Spiritual Qi.”

“What is this...?” A greedy glint instantly flashed in his eyes, and he subconsciously bent down to pick it up. The Spiritual Qi in the cave was mixed, filled with Demonic Qi and blood fiend Qi. The aura of this Medicinal Pill did not attract much attention; instead, its “extremely high quality” made the Cultivator believe it was an unexpected gain or a reward overlooked by a powerful figure above.

He impatiently sensed it, only to feel that the energy within the Medicinal Pill was vast and pure, far exceeding what he usually used. Overjoyed, he glanced left and right, saw no one paying attention, and inexplicably swallowed it whole!

The Medicinal Pill dissolved instantly upon entering his stomach!

However, what awaited him was not a surge in cultivation, but a terrifyingly potent, deathly poison that violently erupted, instantly corroding his internal organs, Dantian, and Golden Core!

“Urgh—!” He only managed to let out a short, painful groan. His entire face instantly turned greyish-black, his eyes wide, and he fell straight backward, his breath instantly severed!

“What's going on?!” The Late Foundation Establishment Stage leader immediately noticed something was wrong and shouted sharply.

But at the moment his attention was drawn!

Nightmare moved!

His target was the leader!

The Demonic Shadow Evasion Technique was pushed to its extreme. Nightmare's figure appeared behind the leader as if teleporting, and a finger, imbued with Xiangliu Poison and Demonic Essence, silently struck his back!

After all, the leader had the highest cultivation. In the moment of crisis, he sensed danger and frantically tried to turn and defend, but it was already too late!

Pfft!

The finger-wind easily pierced through his protective Spiritual Light, and the potent poison and destructive Demonic Essence instantly surged into his body!

The leader's body stiffened abruptly, his eyes filled with incredulous horror. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out, and his body quickly slumped down.

At the same time, Nightmare flicked his sleeve, and the remaining nine modified Demonic Essence Pills scattered like a celestial maiden strewing flowers, accurately shooting towards the other four Holy Cult Cultivators who were still in a daze!

The four of them had no time to react before they were struck by the Medicinal Pills!

Boom! Boom! Boom!...

The unstable energy and Xiangliu Poison within the Medicinal Pills instantly detonated!

Although the explosion of a single pill was not enough to instantly kill a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, the sudden potent poison and impact still sent the four screaming as they were blasted away, their bodies blackened, deeply poisoned, and instantly losing their combat ability.

The entire attack process was fast, precise, and ruthless, happening in a flash!

By the time the imprisoned Cultivators in the cave looked up in a daze, all the Holy Cult guards had already fallen, either dead or severely wounded and on the verge of death!

And a young man, dressed in tattered grey clothes with an indifferent expression, stood beside the Blood Pool.

Nightmare didn't even look at the fallen Cultivators, his gaze fixed on the churning Blood Pool. He could feel that there was a core energy source at the bottom of the Blood Pool, connected to the entire cave and even the Earth Vein through the surrounding runes.

Forcibly destroying it was indeed extremely risky.

Nightmare's gaze swept over the runes around the Blood Pool. His knowledge as a Demonic Venerable from his previous life now came in handy. He quickly recognized that this was an ancient “Life-Draining Blood Array,” whose core was not indestructible, but required a stable energy cycle.

“Just destroy a few key nodes and reverse its energy cycle...” A flash of understanding appeared in Nightmare's eyes.

He joined his fingers like a blade, pure Demonic Essence condensing at his fingertips, and like lightning, he pointed at several inconspicuous rune nodes at the edge of the Blood Pool!

Puff! Puff! Puff!

The nodes were precisely destroyed!

The operating Blood Pool suddenly stalled, then let out a violent roar! The liquid in the pool surged backward wildly, the surrounding runes flickered chaotically, and the iron chains that had been drawing life force from the prisoners instantly dimmed!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A muffled sound came from the bottom of the Blood Pool, and the entire cave began to shake violently, as if it could collapse at any moment!

“Hurry! This place is collapsing!” Nightmare coldly shouted at the still-stunned prisoners, while rapidly retreating.

Only then did the prisoners awaken as if from a dream, struggling, helping each other break the now ineffective iron chains, and stumbling towards the cave entrance stairs.

Nightmare then took one last look at the collapsing Blood Pool, and the vast and evil energy contained within it, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes. If he could absorb it all, his cultivation might directly reach the Late Golden Core Stage... But there was no time now, and the energy was too mixed and violent.

He no longer lingered, his figure flickered, and he was the first to rush down the stairs, leaping back into the underground river, quickly moving away.

Behind him, a huge explosion sound came from the direction of the cave, shaking the entire underground river channel!

“Ding! Side quest 'Destroy the Blood Pool' completed! Rating: Perfectly destroyed! Rescued 41 Cultivators! Rewarded 10000 villain points, obtained random Medicinal Pill formula 'blood fiend bone tempering pill' (Earth Rank Low Grade).”

The System's notification sound rang out.

Nightmare did not stop, continuing to dive downstream along the underground river.

He knew that the explosion here must have alarmed the powerhouses above.

The waters of Black Mountain City had been thoroughly stirred up by his stone!

Next, it was time to escape in the chaos, and... perhaps add fuel to the fire for the so-called “Holy Cult” and the Sky Patrol Alliance!

Nightmare's gaze turned towards the endless darkness downstream of the underground river.