Oni's Gate Opens, Blood Moon Appears

Chen Feng now understood.

The human race’s blood energy value was roughly around fifty thousand.

Beyond that, it could no longer increase.

Even for a half-step Martial God like Wei Qianqiu,

his blood energy value remained within that range.

This was the physical limit of the race.

Since ancient times, no one had ever broken through this restriction.

When a Martial Saint’s blood energy value reached the peak of the Martial Saint realm,

if one wished to further enhance their strength,

they had to rely on their own comprehension of martial arts techniques and the realm of unity between heaven and man.

Just like Wei Qianqiu.

Using the unity of heaven and man to perceive the heavenly way,

he could unleash his strength to an unfathomable degree,

achieving the terrifying power of standing alone against a hundred foes.

But every rule had exceptions.

According to what Chen Feng had learned from Yin Hu,

before she became a Martial God, her blood energy value was around one hundred fifty thousand.

For pure beast races like the flood dragon, or for demon races, their blood energy value could reach around one hundred thousand.

Relying solely on their blood energy cultivation,

beasts and demons far surpassed humans by one to two times.

This was also the reason why monsters were generally more powerful than humans.

However, at the level of Martial God,

once blood energy was converted into true essence,

the advantage of the demon race vanished completely.

At the Martial God level, strength was determined by one’s comprehension of the heavenly way.

The amount of true essence only served to increase endurance to some extent.

Chen Feng’s thoughts at the moment were straightforward.

Was he still human?

He had now merged with the bloodline of the Qilin,

and had also swallowed the true essence of the flood dragon.

His physical condition had completely departed from the scope of the human race.

Coupled with the system’s unconventional restrictions,

he was utterly unable to gauge what his own blood energy upper limit might be.

Soon, another year passed.

In the second year,

Chen Shuangshuang, only eleven years old, successfully broke through to the Martial Artist realm.

She was hailed as a prodigy of the Great Xia Empire.

She also comprehended the fifth level of the Dashing Moon Step—Meticulous Subtlety.

That same year, Jin Youxi advanced to the Martial Venerable realm.

This year, only Chen Shuangshuang registered for the tournament.

Jin Youxi would wait another four years

for the next World Martial Arts Championship

before she could compete.

As in the previous year,

before July fifteenth,

the Martial Arts Guild had long since arranged personnel to garrison the Kunlun Mountain Range,

banning anyone from entering.

On the night of July fifteenth,

Aiden once again came uninvited.

Chen Feng could see

that this former sovereign of the Southern Continent was a man with a strong sense of responsibility.

Soon,

the hour of midnight arrived once more.

But this year,

within those two hours,

only fourteen Ghost Tomb Stone Coffins were discovered.

One fewer than the previous year.

Moreover, they appeared in different locations.

The hexagrams also differed from those recorded the year before.

Until the end, nothing went wrong.

This only deepened Chen Feng’s confusion.

Compared to his puzzlement,

Feng Tengyun was filled with deep dread.

Because he could not guess at all what Su Yan was thinking.

He was certain Su Yan would make a move,

yet he simply could not figure out what it might be.

In the Western Continent,

Su Yan looked at the intelligence in her hands.

The Martial Arts Guild had discovered fourteen Ghost Tomb Stone Coffins,

while her own separately arranged people had found nine.

“What terrible luck,” she said.

“I found a third, but none of them had the hexagram I wanted.”

Tang Geng reported from the side:

“This year’s scope was still small, and this was just a trial phase.

Next year’s range should be larger.”

Su Yan nodded.

…

The Great Xia Empire passed another peaceful year.

Due to the reverse flow of the Kunlun Blood Sacrifice,

many more Martial Saints appeared around the world that year.

The Martial Arts Guild now recorded a total of thirty Martial Saints.

This number had already exceeded the total count of Martial Saints before Zhang Bowen’s great war back then.

Chen Feng secretly felt fortunate.

If it weren’t for Yin Hu,

a Martial God overseeing the Great Xia Empire,

it would have been nearly impossible to keep those Martial Saints in line.

After all, no one cultivates to the Martial Saint level just to be a doormat for the Great Xia Empire.

This year, Chen Feng’s blood energy value increased by another 2,600 points.

His total blood energy reached 53,159 points.

Of that, 1,600 points came from his daughter Shuangshuang’s Martial Artist Tournament:

100 points for city champion,

200 points for provincial champion,

300 points for national champion,

and 1000 points for world champion.

Another 1,000 points came from Gu Qianqian, who had broken through to the Martial Saint realm in the Southern Continent.

However, regarding her principle of executing all evildoers,

Aiden was initially a bit displeased.

Later, upon learning

that Qianqian possessed a pair of Qilin Eyes

that could distinguish good from evil at a single glance,

he not only let go of his dissatisfaction but also became envious.

“If I had eyes like that when I was emperor,” he said,

“how wonderful that would have been.

But what I want to know most is whether Gu Banjin is truly a good person.”

During those two years, Aiden

also trained his own successor in combat—one mastering both ancient fighting techniques and the way of martial arts.

The successor was a robust local youth,

with brown skin and curly hair.

Though still in his teens, he was already solid with muscle.

Since childhood, he had been diagnosed with extremely poor bone structure, unsuitable for cultivation.

After tireless effort, he hadn’t even reached the level of Martial Apprentice,

a true waste among wastes.

But Aiden discovered him while traveling on foot and searching for disciples.

Under Aiden’s guidance,

the youth won the city-level Martial Apprentice Championship that year.

Though he only placed third at the provincial level and didn’t break into the top ten nationally,

he was more than satisfied.

Master Aiden had completely changed his fate.

Aiden, too, was thoroughly pleased.

To have achieved city-level first place within just one year of teaching—

this had already surpassed countless others.

Thus, Aiden grew increasingly reluctant to leave this world.

In the third year,

Aiden arrived as promised.

Now, the Martial Arts Guild and Chen Feng were even more reassured,

because this year, more than thirty Martial Saints were stationed across different locations.

From now on, every year, the forces guarding the Ghost Tombs would grow stronger.

However, just five minutes past midnight,

Chen Feng suddenly received a notification:

the Ghost Tomb Stone Coffin bearing the hexagram “Xun as Wind” had appeared.

When he arrived,

Aiden was already standing watch there,

forbidding anyone to approach.

Martial Arts Guild high-ranking personnel had surrounded the area.

Aiden said gravely:

“This is the Ghost Tomb of Su Yuanshan.

Whatever you do, don’t let him resurrect.

In the netherworld, he has already killed over a thousand Martial Gods.

Any Martial God unlucky enough to encounter him, unless they escape, will most likely die—

and die in a way that drains their true essence dry.”

“Over a thousand Martial Gods?”

Everyone felt as if they were hearing a joke.

The entire world at that moment

only had Yin Hu, Aiden, and the flood dragon—

three Martial Gods in total.

Even combined, they hadn’t killed even a fraction of Su Yuanshan’s count.

At that moment,

the bright moonlight suddenly turned a dark red.

Everyone looked up in shock.

The full moon, which had been clear and bright, was now a deep crimson.

Chen Feng froze.

He had once seen ancient clan records alongside Aiden and Qianqian.

Only when a Ghost Tomb Stone Coffin was opened, allowing netherworld energy to leak into this world,

would a blood moon appear.

He shouted to everyone present:

“Someone has opened a Ghost Tomb!”

Everyone was stunned.

Aiden, sensing that familiar netherworld energy,

also caught on and roared in fury—

"Who is it?"

"Where, exactly?"

"Who dared to open the Ghost Tomb?"

"I’m guarding Su Yuanshan’s Ghost Tomb stone coffin here—you find that opened tomb right now!"