The Blood Royal Clan, the conference hall.

    Lu Jin'an, seated in the first seat, twirled a short sword with blood-colored patterns in his hand, his gaze calm and unflinching as he watched the diminished rainfall outside.

    Summer Ming, sitting on the steps below with her hands on her chin, yawned: "Big Brother, do you think who will win?"

    "Obvious, of course," Lu Jin'an said with his eyelids slightly lowered, gazing at the reflection of his eyes in the blade of the short sword: "In each confrontation and each near-miss that Lin Mu has faced within the Blood Royal Clan, his own auspiciousness has grown. Conversely, every time the Blood Royal Clan fails, it loses manpower and resources, leading to benefits being gained by Lin Mu while its auspiciousness does not increase but decreases instead."

    "Ability and effort are one's own, one's auspiciousness and strength will expand with experience and vision. As long as one does not slack off, winning is just a matter of time," Lu Jin'an said with a calm expression.

    "Qi Yun, huh..." Summer Ming turned her head to look at Lu Jin'an: "Big Brother, do you think that Qi Yun is more important than talent?"

    "Reincarnation is a technical job," Lu Jin'an teased before continuing, "But talent and effort are more important, especially in the cultivation world, since most cultivators have similar Qi Yun."

    "The higher the talent, the more effort, the more one can explore a wider world, meet stronger people, have richer experiences, and thus understand more. This confidence in oneself becomes greater. At this time, Qi Yun becomes a decisive factor beyond talent and effort."

    "I see." Summer Ming nodded hurriedly: "Although the ability of reincarnation is very important, for most cultivators with similar backgrounds, no matter how hard they work, they are ultimately limited by talent and spend their entire life trapped in one place. It is even more difficult to recognize powerful high-level cultivators, isn't that right?"

    "Um," Lu Jin'an smiled: "Even our Thousand Ways Sect wouldn't recruit disciples here; it can only be that some cultivators with talent and effort from this place will eventually leave on their own. In some future moment, they might either join by themselves or be spotted by the elders of a sect and brought back."

    "Just like how Lin Mu grew famous step by step in the Southern Zhuo Domain from a small town," Summer Ming said patting his knee: "If he had no talent and didn't work hard, even with good Qi Yun, he would still be an ordinary person, wouldn't he?"

    "Um."

    "That's why the many great families I've met through the vice-head don't like the family's waste, and some have even directly expelled them from the genealogy... Although they have good Qi Yun and good reincarnation, without talent, they are nothing."

    "In the end, the cultivation world is a place where personal strength speaks," Lu Jin'an refocused on looking outside: "Moreover, even if so-called wasters in big families are truly useless, they won't be that weak in the lower limit of the cultivation world, and……"

    "Ahh—"

    "Ahhh," outside, a shrill scream echoed. Xia Ming rushed out to investigate, and then returned a moment later: "The blood of the old and weak in the Blood Royal Clan has been drained and is flying off into the distance."

    Click!

    Lu Jin'an inserted the short sword into the armrest, his body brimming with spiritual energy, and a coldness appeared in his gaze: "Moreover, some people in the upper realm have found a way to ensure that their descendants do not become wastrels."

    Xia Ming realized that Master Lu was continuing his previous conversation, and saw him holding the short sword with a blood glow, shooting out and disappearing in the rain.

    Lu Jin'an spoke in a low voice: "They used secret methods to have the 'wasters' of their clan possess the Qi Yun of others. This way, the 'wasters' become 'geniuses'. If such cultivated 'geniuses' are stronger than the geniuses cultivated within the clan, it is a huge profit. Even if they are just equal, it is not a loss..."

    Even if they don't grow, it doesn't matter, because all they lose is just a waste."

    ······

    Above the ancient tomb, a blood orb formed by condensed blood particles dyed the heavens and earth in a deep crimson, emanating an eerie atmosphere.

    The gaze of a blood gas formation spanning hundreds of kilometers covered the earth. Upon the land, cultivators from the Blood Royal Clan and its affiliated forces were drained of their blood, turning into mummies. Their withered faces still bore the terror of their last moments.

    Not only the demonic cultivators, but even the disciples of the Southern Zhuo Alliance fell into this array, being sacrificed by the ferocious Yellow Spring blood to varying degrees.

    Lin Mu's face turned pale as he stared at Lihuangquan, who had only one arm left: "You don't spare even your subordinates or your family members?"

    "Great men are not bound by trivial matters. They have died well for me!" Lihuangquan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, sneered and said: "As long as I exist, the Blood Royal Clan will always exist. The entire Southern Zhuo Domain will become my disciples!"

    "You truly are heartless and cruel, worthy of being called an brute!"

    "It's just about becoming the king and defeating the enemy!" Lihuangquan looked up at the blood-colored sphere formed from the blood sacrifices, supporting this last trump card with his internal spiritual energy: "Today, you die, and the stench of death will be yours and your Southern Zhuo Alliance behind you!"

    Having said that, he looked back at Lin Mu: "I didn't expect that all the benefits from the ancient tomb would be mine. You have actually broken through to Zuo Zhao realm!"

    Lin Mu took a deep breath: "Although you took most of the treasures from the ancient tomb, you surely didn't expect that the best treasure would be on the bones of the tomb's owner!"

    Upon hearing this, Lihuangquan's face turned pale, but he replied with a cold tone: "Oh, I see. However, it doesn't matter. Nothing can stop my current attack... cough cough!"

    Lin Mu's gaze was sharp: "Can you support this spell with your current spiritual power? And you're not the only one with a trump card!"

    Lihuangquan's pupils contracted. He wasn't sure if Lin Mu was bluffing or not, but now that things have come to this point, he couldn't afford to give the opponent any more chances.

    He raised his remaining right hand and shouted with all his might, "Blood Royal Law!"

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    The blood ball hovering high in the sky released an incredible pressure, but it only rolled forward slightly before seeming to be pulled by an invisible force, moving backward in a split second.

    Lihuangquan's face turned pale: "What's going on?!"

    But at this moment, he had no time to ponder why his spell had slipped out of his control. Without hesitation, he followed the trajectory of the blood ball.

    Lin Mu furrowed his brow, but without hesitation, he followed after him. Today, he must kill this demon and restore the clear sky of the Southern Zhuo Domain!

    "Lin Brother...," Xiao Li's face turned pale, as she feared it was a trick of Lihuangquan's, and so the others chased after him despite her attempts to pull them back.

    "Xiao Li is chasing after Lin Mu," Han Wu urgently reminded Zhu Nanzhi, who was distracted.

    Zhu Nanzhi furrowed her brow and said, "Really troublesome."

    She was thinking of leaving Xiao Li and the Lin family here separately and then directly taking her away, but it turns out she has to run too.

    Zhu Nanzhi chased after them without a word, riding her flying sword. Due to the "Taishang Wengqing Xian Jue," she really couldn't take Xiao Li away without allowing her to bid farewell to the Lin family. After all, if something went wrong with her mental discipline, it would be troublesome.

    In the sky above the Blood Royal Clan, the blood ball stops.

    Without a chance to breathe a sigh of relief after chasing all the way, the next moment, Lihuangquan felt an immense force pull him into the conference hall.

    "What person... an immortal?!"

    The shocked and angry Lihuangquan saw the figure sitting in the top position and shouted with joy, directly rolling and crawling over to approach him: "Save me, Immortal!"

    Following closely behind and stepping over the threshold, Lin Mu's expression slightly changed as he looked forward to the excited voice of Lihuangquan.

    In Lin Mu's line of sight, the young man seated in the first seat of the Blood Royal Clan calmly drew out a short sword from the armrest after Lihuangquan had gotten close. He then directly stabbed it into Lihuangquan's forehead.

    Lin Mu felt chilled all over as he watched the wailing Lihuangquan turn into a dry corpse after having all his blood drained. Listening to the joyful ringing of the short sword, he couldn't help but feel terrified.

    When did the Blood Royal Clan make such an alliance with a demonic cultivator?

    Holding the sword, Lu Jinan swung aside the dried corpse and looked down at Lin Mu with a commanding gaze: "You..."

    "Eh? Master?"

    ······

    Author: The chapter release time is changed to noon 12 pm and night 9 pm.