Chapter 589 - 407: Blood Saber and Nightmare Tiger

The wheels of history rolled onward. One month after Fang Qingyuan took a concubine, a strange, winged humanoid flew into the forward section of Awakening Lion Valley, within the Barbaric Wilderness, over a Land Realm blanketed in vegetation that glowed with a dark, blood-red sheen.

Its limbs had mutated into a bird-like form, and its face was inhuman. Its mouth had become a long, curved, and sharp beak, and when it opened and closed, fine, sharp teeth glinted coldly from within.

The creature beat its wings and landed atop a tall tree. It then faced the area where the blood-red hue was most concentrated and shouted:

"Blood Saber, the Mountain Monarch summons you. Awaken at once."

In the center of the blood-red vegetation was a placid, ancient well of unknown age. At the winged creature’s words, it began to gurgle, and bubbles rose to the surface.

"Hah... you’re noisy."

The voice was drawn-out and raspy. As it spoke, the water in the well turned a dark, viscous red, like blood plasma. A bald creature emerged from the churning liquid, its entire body just as crimson. It was impossible to tell whether it was stained by the bloody water or if that was its natural color.

Where human ears and a nose should have been, there was nothing but atrophied flesh, leaving only two narrow slits for breathing. Its eyes remained shut, yet it made a very human-like gesture of tilting its head as if to listen. When its mouth was closed, a pair of long, cyan fangs protruded past its lips.

"Feather Ghost? You dare come to my domain? Heh heh... I’m so thirsty!"

Seeing Blood Saber’s state, Feather Ghost instinctively beat its wings, wanting to put some distance between itself and this deranged, yet exceptionally powerful, being. But just as its large talons lifted off the blood-red tree, it felt a powerful constricting force around its ankles.

Feather Ghost looked down and saw that hundreds, if not thousands, of fine, blood-red threads had silently wrapped around its ankles, preventing it from taking flight.

"Blood Saber, what are you doing?! I’m here to summon you to a meeting! How dare you attack me? Do you not fear the Mountain Monarch’s wrath?"

Blood Saber’s eyes remained tightly shut as it muttered to itself, ’The Mountain Monarch summons me? It’s been decades. Perhaps it really is something important... But I’m just so thirsty. I’ll just take a little sip. Surely the old Mountain Monarch won’t mind.’

With that thought, Blood Saber’s eyes snapped open. Its pupils glowed with a malevolent, bloodthirsty red.

"Aaargh! Stop!"

Feather Ghost’s body withered in an instant. Its lifeblood flowed down the scarlet threads and into the tree, then traveled through the tree’s powerful root system into the central Blood Well, finally feeding the ecstatic Blood Saber.

"Such a sweet, intoxicating taste... Ah, just a little is enough."

’Feather Ghost fought to control its terror. Its worst fears had come to pass. But thankfully, before coming here, it had spoken with the most powerful Demon Cultivator under the Mountain Monarch’s command. He was supposed to be providing backup. If anything happened, he was meant to intervene and stop the deranged Blood Saber.’

But after a long moment, no backup arrived. Feather Ghost’s desiccated body tumbled from the tree, landing on the meadow of blood-red flora. Only then did Blood Saber let out a satisfied breath.

’I feel alive again... What was that fellow talking about just now? Did he call me... Blood Saber?’

’What’s my name? Where am I from?’ This "Blood Saber" couldn’t remember a thing.

’The Blood Well beneath me feels like a rebirth. Everything began here.’

Blood Saber crawled out of the well. It rubbed its cheek against the ground, then sniffed the air like an animal, deciding on a direction.

Its atrophied bones could no longer support an upright stance. Like a humanoid serpent made of blood-colored gel, it slithered and writhed, moving toward the strongest nearby scent of flesh and blood.

"Blood... blood..."

Having left the Blood Well, it was immediately consumed by an endless hunger. Its consciousness grew even dimmer, and it moved almost entirely on instinct.

In this state, Blood Saber had precious little human thought left—only a bloodthirsty instinct and an endless craving for fresh blood.

However, just as Blood Saber left its Blood Well to hunt, a ten-foot-tall demonic figure appeared on the meadow of blood-red flora. Three spiraling horns grew sideways from its head, and it had a thick, long tail. Its feet were bare, and wherever they touched the blood-red grass, the ground sizzled, releasing plumes of scorching green smoke.

"The reek of blood is foul... but to think such a filthy place holds a treasure. Blood Soul Stones... I imagine they’ll be quite delicious!"

Half a day later, Blood Saber returned from its hunt and suddenly let out a piercing, high-pitched hum. It threw its head back and roared in fury. The number of Blood Soul Stones, accumulated in the Blood Well for a century, had been drastically reduced. The discovery nearly burned out its mind with rage.

Yet, as the rage threatened to overwhelm its mind, a sliver of clarity returned to Blood Saber. It sniffed the scent of the scorched meadow, and with its emotions suppressed to their absolute limit, it spat out a single name:

"Nightmare Tiger?!"

....

Tiger Roar Peak was a rare Fourth-Order Top-grade Spirit Land within Awakening Lion Valley. The ancient beast that dwelled here was a Nascent Soul Level creature: a brocade-patterned giant tiger at the Late-stage Nascent Soul realm.

At this moment, he was sprawled lazily atop a massive, protruding cyan boulder. To his sides were gathered beings of all different shapes and forms.

Among these beings were birds of prey, four-legged beasts, human-like Cultivators, and bizarre lifeforms that bore no resemblance to humanity at all. The position of each individual was a clear indicator of their strength and status—the closer one stood to the brocade-patterned giant tiger, the more powerful they were. In this brutal world that respected only combat prowess, one’s cultivation base and realm were not the sole standards of worth. All that mattered was who was the most skilled at slaughter.