Chapter 24: Li Fan the blood demon

Feng Zhiming stretched his arms.

Anissa looked away from him as they walked towards the main hall, still embarrassed from last night.

"Big sister you really have to go?" little Yue looked at her with wide eyes.

"Yes, I have things I must do, I can't explain it to you right now, maybe in the future."

Feng Zhiming smirked and chimed in.

"Maybe if you weren't a mere body refiner weakling, she'd consider taking you."

Little Yue looked at him with a frown.

"How can you speak like this? I'll tell big sister to discipline her disciple better from now on."

"She's my master before she's your big sister, little girl."

Little Yue nearly flew away with how puffed her cheeks got.

"You just wait till my brothers come home, I'll have them all beat you badly."

They arrived outside the main hall and the old man from earlier was waiting at the door.

"Little miss, come with me. Your father does not want to be disturbed right now."

Little Yue could only accept her fate as she was dragged away by the old man.

"I'll miss you, big sister!" she exclaimed as she disappeared from view.

Anissa smiled.

"Why are you so petty with a little girl?" She had never seen a cultivator as strange as Feng Zhiming.

"Everything I do is naturally for a reason…. This specifically is because I think it's funny."

There was no time for Anissa to reply as Feng Zhiming ushered her into the hall.

"So did you enjoy your stay at the Zhuge estate?" Zhuge Yi spoke as one of his subordinate managers hurriedly left the room.

Anissa and Feng Zhiming remained standing before him and replied in unison.

"We are grateful for your grace."

He focused his monocle on Anissa and smiled.

"It seems your sword intent has become sharper, congratulations."

Anissa cupped her hands and bowed slightly.

"It was just luck."

Zhuge Yi nodded, he knew mere luck would not grant it such a qualitative change, but he did not say anything.

"Boy, I've never asked your name."

"This one is Feng Zhiming, Clan Leader, I am a disciple of the Heavenly Divine Demon Sect."

Zhuge Yi wasn't exactly surprised, the Heavenly Divine Demon Sect often gave disciples much freedom, this included the opportunity to select their masters even if they were outsiders.

"You should have mentioned it earlier, the sect is a very good friend of ours, we would have treated you better."

"The Clan Leader's treatment is already so generous, how could I possibly complain?"

Zhuge Yi was satisfied with Feng Zhiming's humble attitude, not like other cultivators similar to him, if they had the achievements he did at their age they would be extremely arrogant.

"I've looked into the Circle of the Forgotten One and have contacted their current leader Hera. She has said that she will establish her headquarters in this city and I will support her."

Feng Zhiming and Anissa expressed their gratitude.

Zhuge Yi stood up.

"Now to the teleportation array. Please place your hands on my back."

Feng Zhiming began to smile, he was about to witness something truly impressive.

The very space surrounding them began to bend and in an instant they arrived at the center of the city, this was where the teleportation array was located.

"This is…. Spatial bending." Feng Zhiming tried to remember the sensation of ripping past space, it was truly unique.

Anissa shook her head.

"This is beyond regular spatial bending. My father could never transport others, whenever he bent space he could only take himself." she explained.

It was a fact that Heavenly Eye cultivators could bend space to arrive at places instantly, of course it wasn't omnipotent as it had a limited range.

"You have good eyes, it is true this is spatial bending, but it is also true it is not regular spatial bending. Due to my decent level of understanding of the concept of space, I am able to bring passengers while spatial bending."

Zhuge Yi explained the technique as he empowered the teleportation array personally.

"I will continue to investigate Dao Lord Fury." he reassured them.

Anissa simply cupped her hands while walking through the array.

"Thank you for your generosity, Clan leader Yi, I am forever grateful for everything you've done for me and my master. We will come to your aid at any time." Feng Zhiming said while cupping his hands as he walked into the array.

Now that he had ties to the Zhuge Clan, he wanted to make sure that the ties were solid.

The figure that had been shrouded in a full green cloak reappeared by the Clan Leader's side.

"That Feng Zhiming, he's a leech." the figure spoke, repulsed by his behavior.

"He reminds me of me when I was younger, a greedy businessman. Putting that aside I think we've made a great gain."

The figure looked up at him a little confused.

"You fool of a son, that girl is a spiritual awakening cultivator before reaching the age of one hundred, in less than a millennia we'll have another Dao Lord cultivator as an ally."

his son realized that he had been narrow sighted.

"I see father, I was blind."

"Forget it, go console your sister, she's throwing the estate into chaos right now."

…

A thick fog covered the Wildlands tonight.

An old man stained with blood sat at the center of a courtyard in the wildlands, as he silently absorbed blood essence from the hundreds of thousands of mortals that lay dead throughout the county.

"It was worth it to stay at the peak of the Ethereal core, I got lucky with the announcement of that bounty on the creature. Now despite the fact that I've reached the Condensed stage of Spiritual awakening I know where all the cannon fodder will be heading, hehehehehe." he cackled to himself like a maniac.

Absorption of blood essence when extended to the extent of hundreds of thousands of people could supercharge cultivation speeds allowing him to get to this point so quickly.

As a competitor in the game he had hatched an idea to wait at the home of the creature to intercept other participants, essentially using the bounty as bait.

"You fiend they'll come for you." a half dead woman spoke up.