Perhaps it was because the quality of the cultivators who died in the Huahai was not very high, so the Blood Pool could only form Blood Men with the strength of Ling Master at best.
Compared to ordinary cultivators, their bodies were even more fragile, their combat strength even weaker.
Linglong just needed a single Thunderbolt, and Shiqi could shatter them with a swing of her sword.
However, what came with their fragile bodies was a nearly shameless regenerative ability.
So what if they were smashed to pieces? As long as the Blood Pool remained, as long as the Resentment persisted, they would be able to crawl out of the Blood Pool again and again.
Thus, entangling with them was utterly pointless. The three only needed to rush forward and let Hua Jian deal with the Resentment.
“Chop down a few, and a few more are reborn. So annoying!” Shiqi swung her sword fiercely, hacking apart wave after wave of Blood Men blocking her path.
She was clearly slaughtering without equal, but there was no satisfaction of victory at all—only exhaustion and frustration.
The monsters rushing at them were endless, and the closer they drew to the center of the Blood Pool, the stronger the Blood Men they encountered.
Now, Blood Men capable of withstanding two strikes of Thunder from Linglong had already appeared.
If they got any closer, it was inevitable that even more powerful Blood Men would show up.
As expected, when they approached the Treasure Pearl, they encountered the first Blood Man who could block Shiqi’s sword edge without injury.
Not only did he block the sword, but with a burst of strength, he sent Shiqi flying backward.
“Ling King!” Linglong instantly judged the Blood Man’s strength—this was a Blood Man Puppet controlled by the Resentful Soul of a Ling King.
Though it wasn’t as powerful as a real Ling King, it was still a very troublesome opponent.
“Hua Jian, go around! I’ll hold him off!”
With that, Linglong raised her sword and charged at the blood-red monster that looked more human than the rest. The two clashed atop the Blood Pool.
Thunder kept striking the Blood Man, making the monster howl in pain.
Thunderbolts, as the purest force of the heavens and earth, were naturally the perfect counter to these Miasma-forged creations.
Yet Linglong’s power was limited. The Thunderbolts she summoned could only inflict pain but not completely destroy the Blood Man.
Otherwise, the Blood Men she struck down before would not have regenerated.
Thunder crashed down, leaving charred marks of varying depth on the Blood Man.
Yet these marks would soon vanish with the flow of the Blood Pool, rendering Linglong’s attacks almost a joke.
In the end, this was just a Mechanism Monster. Unless you relied on pure strength to overwhelm it—strength so high as to defy reason—there was no way.
Linglong clearly didn’t possess such overwhelming force, so all she could do was stall for time until Hua Jian completed the mechanism.
She had blocked one Ling King Blood Puppet, but there was more than one Ling King who had perished in the Huahai.
Soon, several more Blood Men crawled out of the pool, reaching toward Hua Jian.
Hua Jian didn’t want to be entangled with them. Like a specter, she dodged past the not-yet-fully-formed Blood Men and lunged straight for the Treasure Pearl.
As for what was behind her, she chose to trust her companions.
“I can’t defeat the living, but do you think I can’t handle you lot before you’ve even crawled out?!”
Having just been sent flying, Shiqi returned, sword in hand, slicing off each of the grasping hands that reached out for Hua Jian.
Though the severed hands were instantly restored by flowing blood, she still managed to buy Hua Jian a little time.
The Treasure Pearl was just within arm’s reach. Hua Jian stretched her hand toward the half-red, half-white Treasure Pearl, only to be blocked by a silent layer of light at the very moment she was about to touch it.
Was there still another obstacle?
Hua Jian didn’t think much, almost acting on instinct as she summoned every Vine she could control. At the same time, she began to release the Colorful Mist.
Vines wrapped tightly around the Treasure Pearl before her.
Hua Jian could feel the Treasure Pearl’s nearly split emotions—the consciousness of the Bai Hua Zun Zhe was about to fracture into two pieces, and now those two were fiercely clashing.
Otherwise, she would never have had the chance to approach the Treasure Pearl. This was a treasure painstakingly refined by the Bai Hua Zun Zhe; if she hadn’t voluntarily allowed Hua Jian near, the pressure alone would have crushed her.
With the Treasure Pearl wrapped in vines, Hua Jian didn’t know what else to do. The Godsoul Space in her mind hadn’t gained the Zun Zhe’s soul—perhaps the Illusory Dream Flower Mist hadn’t reached the level to directly pull the Zun Zhe’s soul inside.
Back when she pulled the Lingcaifeng Master and others into the Godsoul Space, it also required their active cooperation before she could succeed.
Now, the Bai Hua Zun Zhe was obviously not going to cooperate.
So… Hua Jian needed to change tactics. Since she couldn’t draw the Zun Zhe’s soul into the Godsoul Space, she’d have to let the Illusory Dream Flower come out from the Godsoul Space and confront the Miasma in the real world.
This was definitely possible. The Illusory Dream Flower surely didn’t only exist in the Godsoul Space—it must have a form in reality as well.
The moment this idea arose, Hua Jian felt a new force within her body, surging from her heart and filling all her meridians.
Then, Hua Jian noticed she was changing.
But what was the change? She couldn’t describe the feeling. The closest analogy was that she felt as if she were sprouting.
Her body gradually transformed from the familiar into the unfamiliar. At this point, she even lost control over her own body.
Without control, she couldn’t manipulate her spiritual energy, and thus couldn’t maintain flight.
So, clutching the white Treasure Pearl wrapped in vines, Hua Jian fell into the Blood Pool.
Linglong, not far away, witnessed this. Before she could react, all the Immortals she was battling suddenly froze.
The next moment, the Immortals shattered completely. This time, they didn’t regenerate, as if they were truly, finally dead.
“That is…” Linglong gazed at the place where Hua Jian had sunk into the Blood Pool. The answer must lie there!
She had just wanted to investigate when the Colorful Mist began to surge out from the depths of the Blood Pool, frightening her so much that she grabbed Shiqi and rushed away from the Blood Pool’s edge.
She immediately recognized it as the Illusory Dream Flower’s mist. Even a trace would pull her and Shiqi into Hua Jian’s Godsoul Space.
Anywhere else, being pulled in wouldn’t be a problem. But here, above the Blood Pool, if their souls were drawn in, their bodies would lose control and fall.
And if they fell into this Blood Pool, they’d be as good as dead.
Even if the Miasma couldn’t harm them, the blood would drown them!
The appearance of the Illusory Dream Flower’s mist meant Hua Jian was handling the situation. Linglong’s anxious heart began to settle.
All she needed to do now was not hold Hua Jian back—take Shiqi and get out, fast.
Linglong’s choice was undoubtedly correct. Shortly after she and Shiqi fled, the entire Blood Pool was engulfed by Colorful Mist.
The moment the mist appeared, the billowing Miasma scattered like mice before a cat, desperately trying to hide.
But their roots were here—where else could they run?
Within the mist, a few hazy phantoms flickered by. With each pass, the Miasma in the Blood Pool was diminished.
The Illusory Dream Flower, now in the real world, was still the stern mother to all Miasma. Before it, even the Miasma that could affect Zun Zhe didn’t dare to resist.
But Miasma was not the only victim. In the center, deep within the Blood Pool, a small flower was slowly growing.
It took root in the blood. The life energy gathered by Bai Hua Zun Zhe became the best nourishment, allowing it to thrive.
Above it, wrapped in many vines, was the white Treasure Pearl. The little flower channeled all its strength into breaking through the Pearl’s defenses.
Colorful light emerged from the vines, and countless hair-thin tendrils grew out, wearing down the Pearl’s barrier.
Its progress was painfully slow, almost imperceptible.
After all, this was the defense set up by a Zun Zhe. Compared to the Zun Zhe, it was still far too weak.
Unless, the Zun Zhe could break the barrier herself.
“Zun Zhe, can’t you make the barrier a bit weaker? I can’t break through it from my side!”
The little flower quivered faintly, conveying a helpless feeling.
Hua Jian felt incredibly strange—she had completely lost her human senses, replaced by an entirely different system of perception.
It was a novel experience, and it took her quite some time to adjust.
Once she adapted, she realized she still had no way of dealing with the Bai Hua Zun Zhe’s Treasure Pearl. It was too hard—she couldn’t bite through it at all.
The Miasma outside she was already dealing with using the Illusory Dream Flower’s ability; it wouldn’t take long to clean up. But what about the Miasma that had seeped into the Pearl?
That was a real problem!
I can’t do it. Right now, I can’t control the Pearl’s barrier on my own.
Hua Jian was startled. Bai Hua Zun Zhe meant she couldn’t control the Pearl now—what then? Did that mean the corrupted consciousness would obediently cooperate?
She will do whatever it takes, gathering the Blood Pool’s power to fulfill my wish, even if the ending is destined to be tragic.
The Bai Hua Zun Zhe, influenced by Miasma, was still the same person—pursuing the Perfect Human Body single-mindedly.
And once she created the body, what would she do with it? Was there any need to say?
If she didn’t use it, then what was the point of making it at all?
The Treasure Pearl is the crystallization of my painstaking cultivation. Only after our wish is fulfilled will its protection lift, allowing my soul to possess the new body.
Bai Hua Zun Zhe told Hua Jian how to unlock the barrier.
At present, to remove the barrier, the Zun Zhe’s left and right brains had to agree. And both would only agree if there was a body before them they deemed perfect.
So, I have to make you a perfect human body, and only then can I purify the Miasma when you try to possess it?
Hua Jian understood—this was a quest with preconditions. She had to first make the body before Bai Hua Zun Zhe would lower the barrier.
But she had no experience in making people!
And why did Bai Hua Zun Zhe care so much about having a body? It was odd, to say the least.
‘You’re already a Zun Zhe. Why are you so obsessed with a body?’
Two different emotions emerged from within the Treasure Pearl—one angry, one sorrowful.
At the same time, Hua Jian heard two voices.
‘Of course you don’t understand! You were born able to walk—how could you possibly understand me?!’
‘I’m different from you. From the moment I gained awareness, I have always been here—unable to move, unable to see the world.’
The first voice, influenced by Miasma, was unpleasant. But it made Hua Jian understand the Bai Hua Zun Zhe a little better.
After hearing both, she asked in disbelief, “So you couldn’t move freely?!”
Clearly a Zun Zhe, yet forced to wander like an earthbound spirit within a limited area—what a peculiar fate.
Hua Jian couldn’t imagine accepting such a thing herself, so it was no wonder the Bai Hua Zun Zhe desired a body so desperately.
“What do you think I am?” Bai Hua Zun Zhe abruptly changed the subject.
It felt like a leading question. Hua Jian replied without thinking, “Those little white flowers, right!”
“Yes and no. I am not a single white flower, but the entire Huahai itself. All the flowers are me; I am their collective consciousness.”
That was why Bai Hua Zun Zhe could not leave the Huahai—for she was the Huahai, not an individual.
This was unique even among plant-spirits who became Zun Zhe.
“I see…”
Hua Jian thought of the Human Puppets abandoned in the Huahai. “So those puppets were your past attempts?”
She hadn’t understood their purpose before, but now it all made sense.
All of it was Bai Hua Zun Zhe’s attempt to break free of her limitations. But all attempts failed.
“Those Human Puppets let my consciousness briefly leave the Huahai, but with great limitations on time and distance.” Bai Hua Zun Zhe affirmed her guess.
You met Shiqi’s father using a Human Puppet?
Correct. He was the only one who, upon realizing my puppet wasn’t human, still chose to show me kindness.
Bai Hua Zun Zhe had sent out many Human Puppets, but among all those tries, only Shiqi’s father was special.