Chapter 265: Blood-Red Fragment

The Lingxiao Tower had twelve floors, with luxurious suites beginning from the seventh floor. Their interior design resembled the cultivation caves of cultivators—safe, hidden, and fully equipped.
However, those who could reside in the Lingxiao Tower were either at the Yuan Ying stage or individuals like Su Che, who held special status in powerful sects. The accommodation cost was exorbitant—ten days required a top-grade spirit stone, making it the most expensive room in the entire cultivation world.
Yin Ling led Su Che to a suite on the eighth floor. Su Che noticed that layers of barriers and restrictions surrounded the room. Without the proper key, forcing one’s way in would create a loud disturbance, alerting other residents and managers.
The Floating City was already an extremely rare safe zone in the cultivation world, and with the Lingxiao Tower adding an extra layer of security, its high prices were understandable.
Once inside, Yin Ling gazed at Su Che affectionately, clearly misunderstanding his intentions—thinking that this human boy had finally developed the desire he should have for her…
Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered, Su Che said gently, “Thank you, Daoist Yin Ling, for your care today. I need to enter seclusion for a few days. I’ll come to find you on the third floor when I emerge.”
“Seclusion?”
Yin Ling’s mouth widened in surprise. Judging from Su Che’s expression and tone, this was certainly no joke or evasion. It seemed he still had no interest in her.
“Yes,” Su Che replied, holding up the blood-red fragment. “I need to study its uses to determine if I wasted twenty spirit stones in vain.”
“Very well,” Yin Ling said, pouting with disappointment. She could only gently remind him, “Don’t forget your promise to take me to the trade fair in ten days.”
“I won’t forget,” Su Che smiled. “If I still haven’t emerged by then, I’ll need you to come and wake me up.”
“Okay.”
Yin Ling gave him a deep look before slowly turning and leaving the room. Her fluffy tail drooped along her skirt, reflecting her melancholy mood.
After she left, Su Che locked the door and opened the window in the inner room. From there, he could see most of the Floating City, as well as the huge planet dominated by blue and yellow-brown hues—Qiyuan Star—in the distance.
From Zi Xiao’s account, Su Che already knew that the Floating City, like the moon, orbited Qiyuan Star continuously, though at a greater distance…

Qiyuan Star was truly enormous. Su Che stood by the window, using his spiritual vision to observe for a long time yet still failed to locate the location of Tianxuan Sect.
“Perhaps, the Tianxuan Mountain Range is on the other side of the planet…”
Su Che closed the window and entered the nearly enclosed cultivation room. He created another layer of isolation barrier before sitting down and taking out that fragment, holding it in his palm.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang…
The drop of mysterious blood in his left atrium began to pulse violently again, emitting strong vibrations that accelerated his own heart rate. After just a dozen breaths, his heart rate matched that of the blood.
“What’s the use of this thing?”
Su Che tried to infuse his own vital energy into the fragment, but it was as if his energy disappeared into the void—no reaction at all. He tried using his mental power as well, with the same result—no response.
It seemed others had already tried countless methods without figuring out its purpose, which was why it was sent to the Rare Treasures Pavilion of the Lingxiao Tower, hoping to be sold to those destined to possess it.
“Methods like water or fire surely won’t work. But if it really is the remains of that ancient demon god, maybe the power that once belonged to him will have some effect?”
After a brief thought, Su Che used his own life force to generate the Power of Destruction and infused it into the fragment.
This time, there was an immediate reaction!
Whoosh!
A bright red light filled the room as the fragment in his hand seemed to activate, emitting a blinding red glow.
Vroom…
The fragment trembled, as if expressing some desire—or perhaps a plea…
Su Che suddenly understood and increased the flow of his life force, generating more Power of Destruction to send to it. Although the supply was slow, most of his life force was quickly consumed. He paused briefly, wondering, “I wonder if it’s enough?”
Vroom…
The fragment trembled again, at an extremely fast frequency, as if thousands of insects were flapping their wings beside Su Che’s ear, producing a loud buzzing sound.
“I know—it’s not enough!”
Su Che blurted out instinctively, as if speaking to someone.
Fortunately, the Sumi Divine Seal contained over a thousand units of life force, roughly a thousand times Su Che’s own capacity.
As more and more Power of Destruction was fed into the fragment, it seemed never satisfied. Whenever Su Che paused, it would tremble eagerly, with the buzzing growing louder, indicating that its power was also increasing.
“Full now, stronger, so it makes more noise, right?”

Su Che secretly smiled bitterly, but he couldn’t give up halfway. He had to generate an endless supply of Destruction Energy using more life force and continuously feed it to it. Fortunately, this gradual delivery of Destruction Energy was far less violent than when using the Destruction Fist, causing minimal damage to his body. The nourishment from his Immortal Prison life force was sufficient to offset it, so he didn’t feel much pain. This monotonous process lasted for two days and two nights. Eventually, the more than a thousand units of life force stored in the Sumi Divine Seal were completely exhausted, and Su Che could no longer sustain it. Buzz… Once it stopped, it began to tremble and hum again. “It’s gone. Really gone. All my life force is exhausted,” Su Che said to the fragment, holding it in his hand. “It seems you’re an insatiable bottomless pit!” If someone like Zi Xiao or Yin Ling heard such words, they would surely misinterpret them and doubt some aspect of Su Che’s abilities… Whoosh! A red light emitted from the fragment, forming a human figure in the air in front of Su Che. Seeing this figure, Su Che was stunned because it was exactly his own appearance, as if reflected in a mirror. “You’re so weak, my successor.” Though the figure couldn’t speak, it transmitted a very clear mental message. “Successor? What do you mean?” Su Che asked in confusion. “One who inherits my efforts and my essence is my successor,” the figure sent another mental message. So that’s how it is! At this point, Su Che was 100% certain that this blood-red fragment was the remains of the ancient demon god from the Wasteland God Valley, with a trace of his spiritual imprint embedded within it. “As you grow, you can receive more inheritance… If you need more effort, go find my heart. These fragmentary remains are just one in a million… Collect them, my successor. You’re too weak; you need to grow faster…” With these mental words, the blood-red fragment broke free from Su Che’s hand and hovered in midair. Crack! The red light faded, and the figure vanished instantly. Then, the palm-sized blood-red fragment turned into a streak of lightning and pierced into Su Che’s chest with a thud. “Ah!” Su Che cried out in shock, but there was no time to dodge. Moreover, his precious robe offered no defensive effect at all.

After a gasp, Su Che quickly realized that despite the bone fragment piercing his chest, he felt no pain at all. His robe wasn’t damaged in the slightest, nor were there any wounds on his body. Yet, the fragment had already entered his body. How was this possible? Su Che hurriedly focused his mind inward and saw that the bone fragment had turned into a liquid state, spreading rapidly throughout his body with the flow of his vital energy. Soon, it disappeared completely, merging fully with his own body. Shocked, Su Che jumped up, only to find that his weight hadn’t changed at all—still the same as before. “A bone fragment weighing tens of thousands of pounds merged into my body, yet my weight remains unchanged. This is truly…” Though puzzled, Su Che knew that there were countless unexplainable phenomena on the path of cultivation. Even those at the level of Yuan Ying ancestors encountered many mysteries. With the bone fragment now integrated into his body, some change was bound to occur. Su Che calmed himself down, sat cross-legged again, and waited patiently for the changes to take place… Before long, he was delighted to discover that his vital energy had changed dramatically—his bright red blood emitted a faint golden glow, and his vital energy had increased several times over. What did an increase in vital energy mean? It meant that the destructive power of his Destruction Fist would also increase several times, plus the doubling effect from the Xumi Divine Seal… After all, even the original Destruction Fist could cause significant damage to powerful beings like the Heavenly Lord. Now, with its power multiplied, it was capable of dealing severe blows to opponents. Enhancing his vital energy was already a top priority for Su Che. He had originally planned to visit the Blood God Sect to seek such advanced cultivation techniques. Now, with another even more effective method available—finding similar blood-colored bones—he decided to pursue that as well. The spiritual imprint earlier had mentioned that the bone fragment was just one millionth of the entire bone collection. With sufficient effort, he could surely find more. At that moment, Lao He suggested, “Master, it’s necessary to find out who sold this bone fragment. Through them, we might be able to obtain more Demon God bones.” “I think the same,” Su Che nodded in agreement. It was said that the ancient Demon Gods were powerful beings surpassing even the true immortals of the immortal realm. If one could inherit even a fraction of their power—no, just one percent—future achievements would be unimaginable.

Though he thought this way, Su Che did not rush into action. Instead, he continued to meditate and spent five days storing hundreds of amounts of vital energy within the Sumeru Divine Seal, which was equivalent to hundreds of Destruction Fists. Moreover, these Destruction Fists had their power amplified several times over. With this reserve, he now had sufficient confidence. Su Che believed that even if faced with the fierce sword energy unleashed by the Qianli Sword Sect, he could dispel it with just one punch. As a result, his combat strength increased significantly once again!