Martial Ascent to Divinity

Thinking of this, Zhou Leng marveled at the power of the high-level civilization. The little elf teacher specifically pointed out these places, and in connection with the Celestial Ladder, it was a clear hint that these places still had the blood of ancient beasts.

There might even be other unknown treasures, but for now, the priority is to find the blood of ancient beasts, and disregard anything else until later.

Upon entering the Demon Purgatory, Zhou Leng transformed into a demon form and headed straight to the locations mentioned by the little elf teacher, starting with the nearest Hill of Death.

Thanks to the awe inspired by the Celestial Calamity God, the journey was without incident or danger.

Almost all the peak demigods and upper-rank demigods had fled completely.

Just a few drops of ancient beast blood weren’t worth risking their lives for.

Only those weaker demigods, thinking the Celestial Calamity God wouldn’t care about them, or those seeking higher ranks, continued to frantically search.

A day later, Zhou Leng exited the Hill of Death.

The little elf teacher is truly a great person.

After traversing the Hill of Death, he directly obtained two drops of ancient beast blood, incidentally slaying two demonic demigods, and then exterminating a demon tribe conducting human sacrifices.

Subsequently, Zhou Leng scoured various locations on the Endless Battlefield, continuously acquiring ancient beast blood.

Eventually, the total amount of ancient beast blood absorbed reached sixteen drops.

By now, everyone had searched for so long that finding six drops in the Endless Battlefield was even harder than finding ten before.

Leaving the Endless Battlefield, he headed straight for the world of the Beastmen.

Unlike the Endless Battlefield, this time, the search was again without incident, but after three days, not a drop of ancient beast blood was found.

Though mentally prepared, there was still a bit of disappointment.

In fact, it’s quite normal. No matter where you start the search, the other place is bound to be pre-empted by other demigods.

After several days of searching across places pointed out by the little elf teacher, only two drops of ancient beast blood were found, along with killing two demigod beastmen.

The total of ancient beast blood currently reached eighteen drops.

However, this did not mark the end.

Zhou Leng went to the Tree-man World where the tree-men and Ma Dabai contributed a total of four drops of ancient beast blood.

In the Tree-man World, the ancient beast blood was initially scarce; some had been consumed by giant insects and tree-men, so finding four drops was already difficult.

He took the ancient beast blood, consuming it one drop at a time.

When the amount of ancient beast blood hit twenty, he once again underwent the excruciating ordeal of bodily restructuring.

This time, the degree of pain was tenfold compared to before.

The pain nearly reached the limit his body could endure, just a hair’s breadth from passing out.

Fortunately, after being tormented by the Gate of Purgatory and possessing an extraordinarily strong body, Zhou Leng managed to pull through.

His body was further reinforced.

Continuously absorbing the final traces of ancient beast blood.

The total reached twenty-two.

Feeling his body, Zhou Leng realized that if he could absorb thirty drops of blood, his body would undergo unimaginable transformations.

But, by now, there shouldn’t be much ancient beast blood left in the world.

Continuing to search would be akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Yet, he couldn’t afford to give up.

Zhou Leng instructed Ma Dabai and the tree-men to continue searching while he returned to Blue Star and also started the quest.

With the scarcity of ancient beast blood, the demigods of each world were seeing red and now it wasn’t suitable to venture to other worlds.

After a few days of searching, Zhou Leng arrived at the outskirts of Kangaroo Country, connected to the internet to check the latest happenings.

"Hmm?"

Zhou Leng clicked on a comment from Blood of Tyranny.

"When are you free? Leave a message. I have something to discuss with you. Let’s meet at the unfinished Old Heng District on the northern bank of the Yangtze River. If I’m not there, wait for a bit."

Zhou Leng replied, "Alright, I’m on my way."

Since finding ancient beast blood was proving extremely difficult, he decided to head towards that famous city ruin.

After the Ten Realms War, population decreased in all countries and cities contracted.

Many cities fell into ruin.

Worse still were the unfinished buildings amidst the ruins.

The cities were gone, yet these buildings had never been completed.

Zhou Leng reached the location of those unfinished ruins.

A vast array of unfinished buildings stood ahead, with unpainted outer walls and uninstalled glass.

The empty windows were like the gaping mouths of demons, ready to devour.

Some tall buildings had collapsed, clearly having been through battles.

"Brother!"

Zhou Leng’s shout echoed across tens of kilometers.

No one responded.

Walking to the base of the largest unfinished building, he looked up at the thirty-story skyscraper, stretched out his index finger, and from dozens of meters away, aiming at the building, began writing in mid-air.

With a horizontal stroke of his finger,

Hiss, hiss...

A white Qi Force swept across the high points of the unfinished building.

Crackle, crackle...

Like a blade slicing through wood, a powerful force left a clear horizontal line across the dozens-of-meters-high skyscraper.

Zhou Leng continued his work, supplementing other strokes in the air.

On the wall of the more than thirty-story-tall unfinished building, two massive characters appeared.

Arrived.

Then, he left words on various conspicuous buildings, took out a demonized hut, and cultivated in a hidden spot.

Two days passed, yet Blood of Tyranny had not arrived.

Zhou Leng wasn’t worried; these deserted ruined cities were perfect for practicing the East Wind Fist and Star-slaying Nineteen Swords.

The first move was nearly perfected, so Zhou Leng approached a twenty-story building.

Grasping the sword with both hands, he raised it vertically, unleashing the first move of the Star-slaying Nineteen Swords.

Heavenly Star Falls.

The longsword rose high, power condensed, and on the sword’s tip surfaced a silver-white star.

When the longsword came crashing down, the silver-white star vanished. A moment later, it appeared at the top of the building ahead.

The longsword descended.

The silver-white star dropped from the rooftop, pierced through the building’s structure, and reached deep underground.

Soundlessly.

The twenty-story structure showed not a trace of cracks on its surface.

"Whew..."

Zhou Leng softly blew, and the building began to produce crackling sounds.

The building split apart from top to bottom along a straight seam, the break as smooth as a mirror.

Crash, crash...

The building collapsed, a cloud of dust rising.

"Excellent swordsmanship."

A voice came from the distance.

Zhou Leng looked in the sound’s direction, seeing Blood of Tyranny approaching swiftly from several kilometers away.

His entire body was bathed in a bloody glow.

"Brother,"

Zhou Leng sheathed his sword and stepped forward to greet.

The two met on the flat ground outside the district.

"The Star-slaying Sword?" Blood of Tyranny curiously eyed the sword.

Zhou Leng tossed the sword over.

"It might be hot to the touch."

"It dares!"

Blood of Tyranny caught it, and as the Star-slaying Sword shook violently, he let out a soft snort. The power of an upper-rank demigod surged forth, forcibly restraining the sword’s power.

The Star-slaying Sword emitted a hum of displeasure, but subsequently retracted its power.

After all, Blood of Tyranny was a fellow disciple of the Ancient River Sect.

Blood of Tyranny drew the sword and looked at the blade, nodding in approval.

"Good sword."

Zhou Leng looked at Blood of Tyranny, noting his fiery red hair, slightly blue skin, scales in places, yet many parts maintaining a human appearance.

A thick bloody glow enveloped him.

That was the radiance of ancient beast blood.

Blood of Tyranny sheathed the sword and tossed it back to Zhou Leng, saying, "The ancient beast blood in my body, you can sense it, right?"

Zhou Leng nodded.

Blood of Tyranny continued, "I’ve absorbed twenty-nine drops, and for the thirtieth drop, I’ve tried four consecutive times, each time failing, wasting four drops. Needless to say, twenty-nine or thirty drops is the limit..."