Chapter 1270: Determined

At this moment, Zu An, facing danger, simply smiled. He summoned a strong wind and instantly teleported tens of yards away.

Having just heard the two men's proposal, he had kept his guard up. After all, they had just been fighting fiercely, and only a fool would trust them to cooperate fully.

As expected, they did not betray his "trust."

The black-furred monster lost its target and instinctively focused on Jin Shi, who was fleeing.

It took a giant stride, catching up to Jin Shi from behind in what seemed like a single step.

The remaining people watched, chilled to the bone. Although Jin Shi was only using a rudimentary form of the Sky Roc's technique, his speed was already quite fast. Yet, after running for so long, he was caught so easily by the black-furred monster.

The monster's five fingers moved like lightning; its entire hand plunged directly into his back and ripped out his heart.

Jin Shi screamed in agony. His heart was still vividly beating after being torn from his body, and one could only imagine the pain he endured.

Yan Xuehen and the other women exchanged glances, simultaneously recalling the bones of the Pangolin Grand-Ancestor they had seen earlier on their journey. At that time, after examining the wounds, they had concluded that his heart had most likely been ripped out from behind.

They had found it somewhat unbelievable then, but now they had witnessed a similar scene with their own eyes.

The black-furred monster then shoved the bloody heart directly into its mouth and bit down, the juices bursting forth.

"No!" Jin Shi, with some lingering consciousness, wished he had already died upon seeing this scene.

Immediately afterward, he was plunged into darkness and fell directly into the blood pool below, his flesh quickly corroding away.

Hearing the screams from behind him, Ma Huang's hair stood on end. He had never expected the monster to deal with Zu An and Jin Shi so quickly.

But now, with no escape route, he plunged directly into the blood pool.

Seeing this scene, the survivors on the stone platform looked bewildered. Kong Nanqing exclaimed in shock, "Is he trying to commit suicide?"

Yan Xuehen shook her head. "Don't forget he's a Bloodkin. This blood pool might be fatal to others, but not necessarily to him."

Ma Huang's plan was indeed as she suggested. When the platform first collapsed, he was a little flustered seeing others fall miserably into the blood pool, but after a moment, he regained his composure. *I'm Bloodkin!* he thought.

Although the blood pool below was highly corrosive, it also contained various essences of blood, which for him were powerful tonics.

So he secretly formulated a plan: have Zu An and Jin Shi distract the monster head-on while he slipped into the blood pool to absorb the essence of blood within to strengthen himself and simultaneously retrieve the Undying Flower.

He had just clearly seen that ever since the blood pool began to churn, the mysterious magic array protecting the flower had vanished.

Once he had the Three-Three Flower, he would use Bloodkin secret techniques to escape under the cover of the blood pool.

The moment he entered the blood pool, a sharp pain spread throughout his body. As a Bloodkin, he immediately realized this was absorbing the essence of blood from his body, not a corrosive poison.

When it came to absorbing essence blood, they, the Bloodkin, were professionals.

On one hand, he activated his unique cultivation technique to prevent his own essence energy from leaking out, while simultaneously drawing essence blood from the pool.

In that instant, he felt as if he were in paradise. The surrounding aura was incredibly sweet; this was the purest essence blood, infinitely superior to anything he had ever absorbed before.

Within a few breaths, the twenty percent of essence blood he had lost in his previous fight with Zu An was completely restored and continued to increase, quickly surpassing his peak state in life.

If he cultivated in this blood pool for just one hour, he was confident he could directly break through to the Grandmaster level.

One must understand that for cultivators, it becomes exceedingly difficult to even advance a minor realm in the later stages. Countless peak ninth-rank masters might spend their remaining hundred or so years without breaking through to Grandmaster.

What did it mean to guarantee a breakthrough after just one hour in this blood pool?

However, he knew he didn't have much time, so he swiftly swam towards the Three-Three Flower in the center of the blood pool.

Perhaps because some of its essence blood had been absorbed by him, the petals, which were supposed to be blooming, looked somewhat listless.

The black-furred monster also noticed this scene and let out an earth-shattering roar.

The terrifying pressure swept over him, and Ma Huang felt utterly terrified. He reluctantly glanced at the Three-Three Flower, which was now within reach, but his life was more important.

He twisted his body, transforming into a slippery leech, and instantly sank to the bottom of the blood pool, using its cover to swiftly swim away.

The black-furred monster stood atop the blood pool, looking down and observing it. From the perspective of those on the stone platform, they could not see anything unusual beneath the blood pool.

However, the black-furred monster seemed to have X-ray vision. It suddenly let out an inhuman roar, then plunged its hand downwards.

A spectral hand directly reached into the blood pool, and when it was lifted, it held a continuously squirming leech.

Ma Huang was greatly alarmed, unable to understand why his Bloodkin secret techniques could be seen through so easily by the opponent.

He struggled desperately, twisting his body and releasing a strange, viscous fluid that was not only poisonous but also very slippery. Combined with his frantic wriggling, he actually managed to free most of his body.

The black-furred monster snorted and tightened its grip. The immense pressure made Ma Huang's eyes roll back, almost causing him to pass out instantly.

Feeling as if many sharp thorns from the large hand were piercing his body, rendering him unable to move, he bit down on the monster's hand in despair, while simultaneously activating his Bloodkin evil cultivation technique, attempting to drain the opponent's cultivation.

Since ancient times, many Bloodkin ancestors had killed beings more powerful than themselves across cultivation realms, precisely because of their unique cultivation techniques. If the opponent was careless for even a moment, their essence blood would be drained.

However, this time he was utterly despairing, because he found that no matter how much he tried to absorb, the opponent's core essence remained completely unmoved!

The black-furred monster was clearly annoyed by him and simply lifted him upside down, stroking downwards from his "tail" end with its other hand.

Ma Huang didn't even have time to scream before his entire body... simply exploded.

Countless organs and intestines were squeezed directly out of his mouth. He had dominated for decades, draining the cultivation of countless masters, yet he never imagined he would die such a gruesome death.

The women on the platform saw this scene and rushed to the side, covering their mouths and retching. The scene was simply too visually impactful.

Even someone as thick-skinned as Zu An watched with twitching eyelids.

The monster also seemed to disdain the grotesque mess, unwilling for it to contaminate the blood pool. With a casual wave of its hand, a stream of black mist enveloped the organs and entrails, purifying them in the blink of an eye, leaving only a few drops of pure, vivid blood pearls to fall into the blood pool.

The Three-Three Flower, which had been somewhat listless, instantly regained its vibrant, budding energy.

Yan Xuehen looked at Princess Siren. "Is this monster a demon?"

Princess Siren shook her head. "That black mist just now did resemble the Demon Clan's black flames, but I didn't sense any aura of my own kind from him. On the contrary, this black mist was filled with a sense of death, like... like..."

Yun Jianyue, who was nearby, completed her sentence: "As if he were long dead."

Yan Xuehen frowned. There are indeed cultivation methods in this world that specialize in training spirits of the dead, but they are generally for refining bones and corpses into weapons or puppets. How could a skeleton or a rotten corpse itself possess consciousness?

Just then, Kong Nanqing's terrified voice rang out: "That flower hasn't bloomed yet. Does it mean it still needs more essence blood...?"

Hearing his words, everyone's heart sank. Only a few of them remained as survivors in the area; if more essence blood was needed, it would naturally have to be taken from them.

The black-furred monster seemed to have been reminded and its head immediately turned towards the stone platform.

At this moment, Qiao Heng stepped forward with his bow and arrow. "Brother," he said, "I don't know why you saved me, but it is a fact that you saved me several times. A true man distinguishes clearly between kindness and grievance: you saved my life, and I will repay you with mine. And to the two princesses, if you have a chance to escape, please take care of my people in the future."

After speaking, he drew his bow and nocked an arrow, its arrowhead gleaming with emerald light. With a resolute expression, he declared, "I'll hold off this monster; you all hurry and leave."

No sooner had he spoken, a green beam, like a meteor, shot towards the black-furred monster. Its path created such a powerful air current that even the blood pool was sliced in half.

"Tears of the Green Wild!" Princess Siren and Princess Changning exclaimed in unison. As members of the Demon Clan themselves, how could they not know the Elf Clan's ultimate killing move?

Elves were known to be divine archers, mastering countless arrows throughout their lives.

However, there was one type of arrow they could fire only a maximum of three times in their entire lives, and it could only be learned by those of exceptional talent: the Tears of the Green Wild.

This technique burned all of one's potential and could not be used unless in a desperate situation. After its use, the user would be severely wounded at best, or paralyzed and dead at worst, often signifying the fall of a genius.

The price paid was so great that even the Emerald God, worshipped by the Elf Clan, would shed tears, hence its name.

Zu An, however, did not run. He let out a long sigh: "You can't hold him off."

As expected, Qiao Heng's ultimate arrow was directly caught by the black-furred monster. The green light spun continuously in its palm, even causing light smoke to rise from the friction with its black fur. Unfortunately, the green light gradually dimmed, finally disappearing completely.