What lay before him was not a narrow vein of ore waiting to be mined.
Instead, it was a vast ceremonial ground, with several eerie skulls hanging high on the sacrificial altar.
Six figures cloaked in wide black robes sat cross-legged in six directions, absorbing the blood energy from the surrounding blood pools.
The bloodstained sacrificial altar bore witness to countless lives lost upon it.
Surrounding the altar was a vast artificial blood pool, with four bizarre statues facing it, each with a different expression.
Yet, their gazes seemed to carry a hidden malice, glaring fiercely at the central altar.
The blood pool was littered with corpses—both beasts and humans—their bodies withered, yet emitting a dark red energy.
From Li Xingtian's feet, a narrow path wide enough for only two people led straight to the center of the altar, then continued through it to the other side.
His pupils trembled in shock as he glanced around, but everyone else seemed completely unaffected.
They still believed they were in a cramped mine tunnel, squeezing through the narrow passage, heading deeper into the mine.
Was this... a large-scale illusion?
Could a Foundation Establishment cultivator resist such illusions, or was there something else protecting him?
Suppressing his unease, Li Xingtian decided to continue following the crowd for now. He needed to understand what the Qingfeng Sect was up to and figure out what kind of existence was behind all this.
His plans would likely have to be completely revised after witnessing this scene.
Could the Qingfeng Sect truly be a sinister cult at its core?
Li Xingtian kept his head down, cautiously following the crowd as they slowly passed the central altar.
Beyond the altar, deeper inside, was a normal mining site, where everyone held mining tools, ready to dig.
The mine appeared to be a real one, but... what exactly was that sacrificial ritual?
This question was answered the moment the first miner swung his pickaxe.
With every strike, a faint dark red energy drifted up from the miner's crown and flowed toward the blood pool.
All the miners were the same, their dark red energies gradually converging into a force that could not be underestimated.
Li Xingtian's gaze fixed on one miner, and he suddenly realized that the dark red energy seemed to be extracted from their spiritual roots.
It wasn’t just their flesh, blood, and spiritual energy being consumed—even their spiritual roots, the foundation of cultivation, were being worn away.
No wonder the miners all looked so emaciated. Working day and night while being drained of their life force, how could they not be skin and bones?
This was pure demonic cultivation, something he had never heard of before, and the scale of the formation was staggering!
Li Xingtian dared not start mining, as it seemed the amount of blood energy provided depended on the quality of one's spiritual roots and cultivation level.
If he were to start digging, his cultivation and spiritual roots would be drained, and the energy extracted from him wouldn’t be a mere wisp—it would be as thick as an arm.
That would make him far too conspicuous among the crowd.
He needed to find a way out and inform his master.
As for Ning Qianqian's father, according to his master's instructions, protecting himself was the top priority when the situation was unclear.
He could only hope the man would remain unharmed.
Li Xingtian could sense that the six black-robed figures were at the Foundation Establishment level.
If the necklace his master had given him was truly reliable, fighting his way out might be a good idea, especially since he had a strong chance of success.
On the day Li Xingtian successfully reached Foundation Establishment, his master had also given him a divine ability perfectly suited to him.
Moreover, it was of extremely high quality, as if it had been prepared long in advance, waiting for him to reach Foundation Establishment.
This made Li Xingtian, who had thought he had seen through some of his master's mysteries, feel once again that his master was shrouded in enigma.
But these were secondary concerns. From the beginning, as long as his master hadn’t truly wronged him—unlike the Qingfeng Sect—Li Xingtian would stay in the sect and repay the debt of saving his life.
Over time, this small sect of only three people had grown to feel like a warm family to him.
His senior sister, though mischievous, treated him like family, genuinely caring for him.
She truly helped him hunt beasts for cultivation and pushed him to train diligently.
Though sometimes her gaze seemed to carry a hint of disdain, her actions were sincere.
As for his master, though he sometimes seemed frivolous and immature, he possessed a unique charisma that, while seemingly out of place in the world of cultivation, was oddly convincing.
Except for that bizarre alchemy technique he had learned from who-knows-where.
But when it came to Li Xingtian, his master had been nothing but generous, from the very beginning offering him opportunities that were already within his grasp. Looking back, it felt less like Li Xingtian had contributed anything and more like his master had been selflessly giving all along.
If at first he had stayed out of obligation for his master saving his life, after spending so much time with them, Li Xingtian now felt he had willingly joined this small, family-like sect.
From cultivation techniques to divine abilities, Li Xingtian felt he had stumbled upon treasures. But divine abilities of such high quality were naturally difficult to master.
After all... not everyone had a senior sister with such monstrous talent.
Still, borrowing a bit of its power and combining it with the divine abilities from his past life, his combat strength should be more than sufficient.
He didn’t believe the six black-robed figures before him would possess divine abilities.
After scanning his surroundings, Li Xingtian decided to stick to his usual approach: strike first, strike hard! Hesitation would only lead to disaster.
He tightened his grip on the pickaxe and abruptly turned, heading back toward the sacrificial altar.
A Qingfeng Sect disciple on guard immediately noticed him and barked,
"What are you doing?!"
Li Xingtian put on a timid expression, feigning weakness as he slowly approached the disciple.
"I... I need to use the restroom."
"The work schedule is tight! Even if you have to soil yourself, keep working! Get back!"
Once he was close enough, Li Xingtian suddenly erupted, appearing before the disciple in an instant, his spiritual energy surging.
Combining the divine ability from his past life—Nine Heavens Profound Blade—with the newly learned divine ability—Soul-Slaying Nether Blade—he managed to fuse their techniques.
The pickaxe in his hand transformed into a massive blade, dark red energy radiating boundless power as it slashed toward the disciple's head.
The disciple was caught off guard, especially by the speed of a divine ability!
He felt his entire body freeze, his soul shaken by the overwhelming aura.
With a look of terror, he could only watch as Li Xingtian's strike obliterated his head.
With the attack completed, Li Xingtian cursed under his breath.
Damn, that took a lot out of me.
Li Xingtian felt nearly half of his spiritual energy had been drained by that single strike.
He hadn’t expected that borrowing even a fraction of the divine ability's power would double the energy consumption compared to his past life's techniques.
But the results were undeniably impressive.
What surprised Li Xingtian even more was that, while channeling his spiritual energy, he had faintly sensed the energy within the blood pool.
Before he could investigate further, the six black-robed figures suddenly rose, their attention fixed on him.
One of them, with a hoarse and genderless voice, roared,
"Who dares cause trouble here?!"
"A mere Foundation Establishment brat?! Today, you’ll become our blood sacrifice! Let us show you the true meaning of cultivation!"