Ye Qin stood facing the wind atop his flying sword, gazing at the sky and the earth with a grim expression.

Upon entering the sky over the Northern Qi border, he was astonished to find that the heavens in that area were tinged with a faint, blood-red hue. It wasn't just a small patch, but covered the entire expanse of the sky as far as his eyes could see. Whether it was night or day, this strange scarlet color never dissipated, and a faint, metallic scent of blood permeated the air.

This could not help but surprise him; such a vast, widespread atmospheric anomaly was something he had rarely witnessed.

Ye Qin felt a deep unease.

To ascertain what was occurring here, he needed to reach the capital of the Northern Qi Kingdom as quickly as possible. The cultivators of Northern Qi might possess knowledge of this phenomenon.

As he soared northward on his sword, a potent surge of killing intent suddenly shot up from the ground, coalescing into a blood-red vortex. This crimson vortex writhed continuously in the mid-air, sweeping across the surrounding heavens.

Ye Qin couldn't evade it entirely; the edge of this sudden vortex brushed against the flying sword beneath his feet. The sword shuddered violently, immediately severing its connection with his divine sense, falling into a temporary state of uncontrolled descent toward the ground.

Ye Qin was aghast. With no time to control his sword, he was swept into the bloody vortex. Immediately, he felt his blood surge, making it nearly impossible to breathe, as if he were encased in boundless, rolling murderous intent.

Having absorbed the malevolent energy within the vortex, a reddish glow appeared in his eye sockets, and a wave of killing intent erupted in his heart—a frenzied desire to command his flying sword to slaughter everything in sight.

However, this wave of killing intent clashed fiercely with Ye Qin’s innate, quiet core intention.

His core self had always leaned toward silent forbearance and never sought to unleash slaughter without cause. This sudden, manic murderous intent instantly alerted him that something was amiss with his spiritual state.

Snapping back to awareness, he realized he had been afflicted by this crimson malevolent energy, which was influencing his mind.

If he remained within this baleful aura for too long, he feared he would transform into a complete, crazed killer.

Ye Qin crushed a mid-tier protective talisman, shielding himself, and burst out of the crimson vortex. He rapidly recited the Heart-Clearing and Spirit-Calming Incantation internally. His magic power circulated through his body, forcing the intrusive malevolent energy out. Instantly, his agitation subsided, and the color in his pupils returned to normal.

Freed from the spiritual interference of the baleful air, he hurriedly stabilized his rapidly falling flying sword, forcibly maneuvering it to reverse direction, flying dozens of feet backward to safely avoid the blood-red vortex erupting from the ground.

Even as he dealt with the situation calmly, Ye Qin was inwardly horrified.

Even in a battle between Foundation Establishment cultivators, one usually couldn't sever the connection between the opponent's divine sense and their flying sword. This crimson malevolent energy was so overbearing that it threw his sword into complete disarray.

Such a technique, he suspected, was something only achievable by cultivators at the Golden Core stage or higher.

This fact could not help but shock him.

He had barely entered the Northern Qi territory, and already on the road, he encountered such terrifying malevolent energy—it was enough to make him want to vomit blood from sheer frustration. Moreover, he couldn't be certain whether this domineering energy had arisen accidentally or was aimed specifically at him.

If it were targeted at him, he might be facing the most severe life-or-death battle since he embarked on the immortal path, where he might only have a ten percent chance of preserving his life even by exhausting all his strength.

Ye Qin dared not dally. He struck his waist storage pouch, and a pair of massive, snow-white wings instantly appeared behind him, ready for maneuvering and evasive action.

Simultaneously, he lifted his left hand, grasping a gigantic, ten-foot-long purple blade wreathed in fierce crimson flames in his left hand. In his right hand, he tossed out a small azure bell that swelled in size, spinning rapidly in the air, poised for defense at any moment.

These were the two most potent magical artifacts in his possession. If these two artifacts couldn't repel his opponent, his only option would be frantic escape.

After maneuvering past the ascending crimson vortex, Ye Qin, armed with his two artifacts, felt a small measure of relief. He calmly looked down toward the ground, attempting to discern who had attacked him.

Ye Qin was then stunned to discover that a vast area of the forest below was suddenly disgorging countless armored soldiers, their war cries shaking the heavens.

Two armies, each comprising four to five thousand soldiers clad in armor and wielding halberds and sharp blades, were engaged in bloody combat at the edge of the woods, hacking at one another. They were commanded by banners of green and black, respectively inscribed with the characters "Northern Qi (Fox)" and "Great Zhou (Tiger)."

The sudden burst of blood-red malevolent energy had erupted directly above these two armies, forming a massive vortex in the sky. Furthermore, as the casualties mounted and the fighting intensified, this crimson energy showed signs of becoming even denser.

"This is a mundane battlefield!?"

Seeing the scene on the ground from the air, Ye Qin's face registered shock and bewilderment.

He closely examined the formations of both armies on the ground. Judging by the banners they carried, this was clearly a clash between the armies of the Northern Qi Kingdom and the Great Zhou Kingdom. Northern Qi, primarily composed of elite crossbowmen and light infantry, was concealed within the woods, having ambushed a contingent of Great Zhou's light cavalry passing through.

Large clouds of blood-red malevolent energy rose above each army, intertwining in the air to form a swirling mass.

The crimson malevolent energy above the Northern Qi army appeared significantly more concentrated.

Ye Qin stood suspended in the sky, observing this great battle between the armies of mortal states with a sense of strange fascination.

The bloody fighting raged for an entire day. When darkness fell in the evening, both armies ceased hostilities.

The Great Zhou army abandoned nearly two thousand corpses and silently retreated under the cover of night. The Northern Qi side showed no intention of pursuit, withdrawing from the field and leaving behind only pools of blood and bodies—a stark testament to the small-scale war that had just transpired.

Unaware of the full situation here, Ye Qin did not rashly intervene. After both armies had pulled back from the forest, he descended from the sky, landing within the woods. The air was thick with the scent of blood. Ye Qin cautiously examined the corpses on the ground, checking for any anomalies.

Upon inspection, they were all ordinary soldiers, none of them cultivators. The wounds on their bodies were clearly inflicted by blades and swords.

Their armor was exceptionally fine—made of the renowned Hundred-Refined Steel of the secular world. If this armor were found in the Southern Liang Kingdom, it would belong at the very least to the Imperial Guard in the capital. Furthermore, these soldiers were exceptionally fierce and highly skilled, possessing at least the level of second or first-rate martial artists. Even those missing limbs fought on stubbornly until their heads were severed or their bodies cut in half.

Ye Qin murmured to himself, "They are all secular soldiers; it was just a false alarm!"

This malevolent energy had not been generated by cultivators, but by mortal troops.

Yet, this false alarm still sent a chill down his spine. The blood-red malevolent energy emitted by nearly ten thousand elite soldiers engaged in slaughter was potent enough to force a Foundation Establishment cultivator to avoid its edge.

He needed to know what substance that blood-red energy emanating from above their heads actually was, given how overbearing it was.

Ye Qin remained in the woods for a short while, his expression growing serious.

This was already the border of the Northern Qi Kingdom, but it also meant he was close to the Great Zhou Kingdom. Northern Qi was the territory of the Lü family of cultivators, backed by the Azure Elixir Sect, so there was little inherent danger. However, Great Zhou was the domain of the Zhou family cultivators, directly allied with the Beast Spirit Sect. His current venture into Northern Qi was already an opposition to the Zhou family.

Both of these powerful cultivation families possessed numerous cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage and above; these were not entities he could easily trifle with. Prudence was paramount. He needed to reach the Northern Qi capital first to rendezvous with his fellow disciples: Yan Xuan, Lü Yuan, and Zhu Changyun.

Just as Ye Qin prepared to leave this gruesome place, he suddenly caught a few extremely faint sounds drifting from the forest in the distance, causing him to halt.

"The scent is truly exquisite. As expected of Northern Qi's Thousand Fox Army and Great Zhou's Tiger King Army. These two elite forces, after losing four to five thousand men, have released the most premium Iron-Blood Killing Intent. My two junior brothers, we are truly blessed this time! Once we collect enough of this supreme Iron-Blood Killing Intent, the Iron-Blood Gourds we refine will be high-grade spirit artifacts. Used in combat, they will be unstoppable. Even selling them would fetch a considerable price."

"But, Senior Brother, if we do this, what if the Old Ancestor discovers it?"

"Hmph. The Old Ancestor treats us like livestock, never regarding us as true disciples. He has no idea these elite armies of Northern Qi and Great Zhou engaged early. We are seizing this opportunity to gain a cheap advantage. By the time the Old Ancestor realizes there is supreme Iron-Blood Killing Intent here and comes to collect it, we will be long gone, having sold it on the black market for coin. What would he know!"

"Alright, enough chatter. Hurry up and collect the killing intent. If the Old Ancestor wakes up, he'll likely sense this energy soon, and he won't be long in coming."

Ye Qin’s heart stirred. He completely suppressed his presence, moving like a phantom through the trees until he materialized in the shadow of a massive tree. He coldly watched the three figures of varying heights sitting cross-legged on a small clearing not far away.

All three were cultivators at the Qi Refining stage, their cultivation levels situated between the eighth and ninth layers of Qi Refining. One wore black robes, another had a string of skulls draped across his chest, and the third had a dark, savage countenance.

These three sat cross-legged, each with a gourd-shaped spirit artifact placed before them, their openings facing the sky.

The three worked in concert, forming hand seals and rapidly chanting a string of guttural incantations. Following the chanting, the blood-red malevolent energy suffusing the sky was slowly drawn into these gourds.

However, these gourds were too small; they could only hold the energy within a range of a few dozen zhang, unable to contain too much.

After collecting one gourd's worth of Iron-Blood Killing Intent, the three exchanged greedy glances and quickly pulled out another gourd to continue their spellcasting.

Watching the three perform their ritual in the forest, Ye Qin mused to himself that this overbearing malevolent energy was called Iron-Blood Killing Intent! Collecting a few gourds of it for later use wouldn't be a bad idea.

However, he had no intention of lingering here.

Those three cultivators had just mentioned that an 'Old Ancestor' would soon arrive. Only a cultivator with Golden Core stage cultivation or higher would warrant the title 'Old Ancestor.' Staying here was fraught with peril. (To be continued, for future developments, please log on to www**com for more chapters, support the author, and support genuine reading!)

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