Chapter 146: Dysfunctional blood seal

Huang Cixi was outside of the Wubei Sect with several servants of her family. With them were also Xiao Xuefeng and Chief Elder Yisheng. This was the only pavilion that was outside of the Wubei Sect, beyond the Shell Gate. Indeed, they were in the courtyard of the demonic beasts pavilion.

In the Hongchen Kingdom, the rarest occupation was beast tamer. Demonic beasts were seen with fear and defiance for the most part. However, some of them were appreciated or even revered as sacred or holy. For example, the Mountain Fenghuang was one of those demonic beasts. They rarely attacked humans and fed on other demonic beasts, or even directly from natural resources. Such demonic beasts were thus seen as very useful as they could hunt down more dangerous creatures.

And as such, some humans had tried to tame those demonic beasts. Hence were born the beast tamers. However, it wasn't as prestigious as alchemy, and taming even one demonic beast was extremely dangerous and difficult. This wasn't because they were less aggressive than other demonic beasts that they would gladly by tamed by humans. In fact, most of the times, this wasn't strictly speaking about taming a beast. Most relationships between beast tamers and demonic beasts were about mutual benefits.

As this occupation was scarce, it had very few lineages and legacies. This caused it to be way less developed than other occupations. However, there had been attempt to improve on this. And this was one of the reasons why a demonic beasts pavilion had been founded around a thousand years ago. Chief Elder Yisheng was in charge of taking care of the very few demonic beasts kept by the Wubei Sect. His occupation was at the crossroads of medicine and alchemy.

A beast tamer needed to have an extensive knowledge of demonic beasts of course. Not many physicians would be able to help them take care of their beasts. And they also had many techniques to promote the cultivation of their demonic beasts faster. This was the main way to tame a beast. If it realized that you could help it improve its cultivation, the beast would, in most cases, accept to serve you to a certain extent.

Whiles they were discussing in the courtyard, a giant creature was being taken care of. The size of two elephants with its wings closed, it was a Blue Mane Falcon. This 9-core demonic beast would probably be able to defeat Xiao Xuefeng herself if they fought. With dark blue feathers on its body, it had very bright ones around its neck. It gave it a royal aura, like the mane of a lion. Its face gave off an aura of extreme intelligence. Even though it couldn't speak, it could still understand human speech.

This beast had served the Huang family for more than nine hundred years. Interestingly enough, it had formed a great bond with Huang Yi since he was just a child. This was one of many factors that had contributed to Huang Yi's current position as family head. This Blue Mane Falcon was at the middle of its life and had yet to produce any offspring to serve the Huang family later on. The more powerful a demonic beast was, the more difficult it was to reproduce.

Sadly, it had little hope to break through to the legendary Immortal Beast realm. But it was kept within the confines of the Huang residence in order to prepare it to achieve its next phase in its cultivation. The moment Huang Yi had heard about his granddaughter's Qi deviation, he had personally asked the Blue Mane Falcon for help. Seeing how affected he was, the demonic beast gladly agreed. As it was a flying demonic beast, it had been faster than Xiao Xuefeng, crossing the distance from Baziyun City to the Wubei sect in around three weeks.

Obviously, Huang Cixi had been warned but she kept it a secret to Cao Yun. However, she had decided to leave the sect and meet back with her grandfather. As the beast was tired from its flight, it stayed at the Wubei Sect, being taken care of by the servants from the Huang residence and Chief Elder Yisheng in person.

Among the servants was also Huang Liyue. She was the personal bodyguard of Huang Yi. This woman was really intimidating with a fierce face marked by a deep scar on one of her eyes. Even though she was an 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, she had decided to never heal this wound as it meant a lot to her. Through alchemy it wouldn't have been difficult at all. For hundreds of years, she had been the bodyguard of the current matriarch but had chosen to guard the new family head after the matriarch had decided to seclude herself.

Many among the Huang family had tried to curry favor from Huang Liyue, seeing her as a great symbol. If a young lady from the Huang family was chosen by the former bodyguard of the matriarch, her position would be elevated of course. She could even be chosen as the next matriarch.

It happened to be that Huang Cixi was now greatly interested in becoming the new matriarch. Before, she had thought about it, but she had been happy just being with her direct family. Now that this wasn't possible, and that she had abandoned her vengeance, she was back to her political views. If she became matriarch, she could extend her influence over a huge part of the empire. And in time, she could maybe have influence over the Imperial City, one way or another. Through this power, she could finally have a real impact on everyone's lives.

Power for the sake of power meant nothing to her. But now that her cultivation had risen, she could vie for more political power and finally reach the influence she desired. The fact that she had consumed a legendary pill and developed a Pure Golden Dantian was secret. Even though Xiao Xuefeng's deed was known through the entire kingdom, the name of the girl had been silenced. However, all the important people of her family knew about it, as well as many powerful figures in the Hongchen Kingdom. It gave her both an advantage and a weakness.

If she were to stand out too much, her rivals would rapidly try to get rid of her. And she was still a bit too weak in her own family to be able to contend against them. Thus, Huang Cixi was feigning weakness. Even though the pill had cured her and repaired her Lower Dantian, she was still deeply affected by it and would need several years, if not decades, to fully recover from her injuries. At least, that would be the story until she was confident in her endeavor.

Huang Liyue rapidly used her spiritual senses and saw through her with no problem at all. However, being loyal to her grandfather, she said nothing about it.

"Spirit Master Xiao, thank you for everything you've done for me." Huang Cixi handed her a letter. "Please, pass this letter to Chen Guo. I couldn't tell it to him directly. I don't know if we'll meet again, but... we'll see about this when it happens I guess."

After playing this part for so long, Huang Cixi had still the air of a small servant to her. Consequently, Huang Liyue was even more severe than usual. Imagining that the current family head's only family was this meek little girl did not bode well for the future. When she had agreed to come here, she also wanted to have a look at this girl she had heard so much about. How disappointed she was to find out such a frail girl, so sentimental and devoid of ambitions. This travel had been such a waste of her time.

Nevertheless, she could meet with Spirit Master Xiao. Forming a good relationship with her was essential for the Huang family.

"Spirit Master, our Huang family thanks you through me." She gestured some servants to bring out a wooden box. "Please, accept this insignificant token of appreciation from the Family Head."

Without opening the box, Xiao Xuefeng analyzed its content. The box was really extravagant, even for Xiao Xuefeng. There were many rare ingredients and even a few recipes for legendary pills that she herself had thought long gone. Used to political gifts, she had the appropriate response.

"This was but a small favor I gave to a friend of my disciple. And my Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute already gained a lot through the refinement process. I'll humbly accept this gift and express your sincerity to Director Ge."

Then, she sent a telepathic message to Huang Cixi.

"I'll also personally give your letter to Cao Yun. Unless you tell him yourself, I won't divulge the whole truth yet. However, one day, you will definitely meet again as neither you nor he will be quiet in this Hongchen Kingdom. Carefully think about your future."

Huang Liyue and Huang Cixi both bowed down and walked toward the Blue Mane Falcon. As it had served the Huang family for so long and with so much loyalty, this demonic beast was revered as though it was an elder of the Huang family. But he was still a demonic beast. On his back, this 'Elder Ying' had a carriage big enough for a dozen of people. In total, there were only four servants and Huang Liyue. As such, there was plenty of room and the travel would be very enjoyable.

Once everyone was on board, Chief Elder Yisheng made sure that the beast was free to move around and forbade all the other beasts to get near it. Elder Ying opened his large wings and became five or six times wider. Flapping them with great force, he slowly ascended in the sky. As Huang Cixi was seeing the Xubei Sect getting farther and farther, she also left behind her role of servant. Many memories came back to her. This year had been really eventful for her. But now a new chapter of her life was beginning.

When she turned back, Huang Liyue saw something completely new in the girl's eyes. All of a sudden, she was seeing an ancient beast that was bidding its time before devouring all of the world. Still confused, Huang Liyue got woken up by the girl's firm voice.

"Senior, I'm going to lift my blood seal. May you be kind enough to protect me?" Huang Cixi had recognized every servant here and she knew they were all absolutely loyal to her grandfather. As such, she wasn't worried about exposing her real self. When she came back to her family, she would need to seem weak and defeated. But for now, she was finally free to be herself once more.

"Of course." Lifting a blood seal should have been really easy. Of course, Huang Cixi had suffered from a serious injury, so Huang Liyue felt that it was natural for her to be anxious. But it lowered even more her esteem of the girl.

The Huang family was known to have some of the blood of a legendary True Fiery Fenghuang. A proof of that was their pure white hair. Within the Huang family, the purity of one's blood was a great indicator of talent. And Huang Cixi had a very pure blood. She focused her mind on her own heart and felt a small flame pulsating in her Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir, the very center of her heart. This flame was weak and contained by some chains. However, she felt that only a small push with her blood could dissolve these chains completely.

Strangely though, she was reluctant to do so. Although the flame seemed weak, Huang Cixi had felt that it had reacted with the Life Boiling Cradle pill. Unsure of what had happened, she was wondering what would be the effect of freeing this flame. In fact, this flame was a condensed drop of the True Fiery Fenghuang's blood in her veins.

By practicing 'Nine Chambers of Life Fire', a familial cultivation method, she had condensed this drop and was able to control it to an extent. Right now, she was feeling as though it was about to erupt and engulf her entire body. That was why she had asked for Huang Liyue's help.

Circulating the mind cultivation she had received from Cao Yun, Huang Cixi finally flooded her Chamber of the Mysterious Elixir with blood. The moment she did so, this flame became a powerful blaze. It completely engulfed her heart and traveled through her veins and arteries to spread through her entire body. She felt as though a dam had broken. There was still some medicinal essence from the pill that had been trapped within this drop of blood. This energy was so great that it almost caused her breakthrough right then. Fortunately, she controlled herself. Such a forceful breakthrough could damage her acupoints and her whole body.

But by suppressing this energy, she realized that it was gathering in her own blood. She could feel that her own blood was evolving. Before, her blood had been deemed very pure, one of the purest from her family. But right now, she was convinced that she was on par with even the old monsters of her family that had been gone for millenniums. In her mind, she saw the vision of a bird as large as the sun. With its wings, it could cause droughts and fires across the entire world.

As the bird screeched, Huang Liyue saw the effect of the seal being broken. Smoke came out of Huang Cixi as her body's temperature rose rapidly. Her own clothes were almost ready to catch on fire. Acting quickly, Huang Liyue sent her Qi to protect the young girl's clothing and skin from her own heat. Using her spiritual senses, she felt as though Huang Cixi was a monster from the ancient era. While the blood calmed down in her body, her hair turned as white as pure ash.

And the moment she opened her eyes, all the servants, Huang Liyue included, got shocked. There was something primordial in her pupils. This glint quickly disappeared, but Huang Liyue felt as though her judgment of the girl had been way too hasty.

Indeed, during the entire travel, seeing Huang Cixi cultivate her mind cultivation and her blood through 'Nine Chambers of Life Fire', she understood. This girl really was a monster. Even without her Pure Golden Dantian, she was talented. But with it, her progress was incredible. In less than two years, she would probably become a Mortal Warrior. Clearly, this girl had played a role. This thought convinced Huang Liyue that this little girl was the real deal. Bragging opponents were never a real threat, but the hidden blade was the one meant for killing.