Kyrian entered slowly.

The air there was dense and putrid, as if something had died. In addition, there was also the smell of ashes and iron.

The temperature seemed to rise with every step.

The red light from the formations flickered on the walls, revealing the narrow and deep space of the cave.

After walking deeper into the tight passage, an open area appeared.

In the center, there was a man sitting.

His back was arched, his shoulders were thin, and his skin was that of someone who had been sick for a very long time.

His hair was thin, streaked with white and black, falling over a dark red robe stained with ash.

His body seemed to decay with every breath, as if his flesh were slowly burning from the inside out.

Kyrian stopped a few meters behind him. Neither of them spoke for a while.

The distant sound of movement within the massive underground dome and structure was the only thing breaking the silence.

The man moved his hand, and the symbols on the floor pulsed faintly.

Then he spoke without turning his face.

"Aren't you going to ask anything, boy? Why I brought you here instead of killing you?"

Kyrian answered in the same calm tone as always.

"Yes. I'm curious about that as well." He took a step forward, observing the pulsing energy on the floor.

"But I'd also like to know what this place is. And what was that thing that looked like a heart, only made of ashes… and why are you sacrificing so many lives for it."

The man let out a rough laugh.

"You really do live up to the Green Sword Sect. You've got courage… or you're just an idiot for acting so carelessly."

The man spoke slowly, turning his head little by little, revealing half of his face. His skin was dry, his eyes sunken and red.

"Don't you realize the situation you're in?" he added.

Kyrian kept the same neutral expression.

"I could say the same. Speaking like that while keeping your back to the enemy." Kyrian said, tilting his head slightly.

The man was silent for a few seconds, then turned fully around.

His face was a mixture of disease and ancient rage. Dark veins climbed from his neck to his eyes, and his mouth was stained with ash.

He looked like a standing corpse.

Kyrian observed him calmly.

"Yeah. I think you should be more worried about yourself. From what I can see, you don't have many years left to live."

Kyrian said this directly, seeing in the old man the same thing he had seen in Wei Feng. Kyrian knew the man before him was another ancient monster who had lived for many years and was now nearing his end. That explained the decline in his cultivation.

Then, suddenly, for an instant, the air seemed to freeze.

The man went still.

Then, turning completely, he glared at Kyrian.

His gaze twisted into pure hatred.

"How do you know that?"

Kyrian didn't answer. He didn't need to, because the man finally noticed something when he looked into Kyrian's eyes.

The man began to laugh. A dry, bitter laugh.

"It had to be… it had to be one of those damned ones…" he said, trembling and spitting on the ground, a trace of blood appearing in the spittle.

"Bastard! A damned child of the heavens with a special physique… of course one of you appears before me!"

The energy inside the cave exploded all at once.

The pressure the man emanated surged violently. From the 1° stage of the Qi Liberation Realm, his cultivation jumped to the peak of the realm.

The formations reacted, trembling as if the entire space resonated with him.

Kyrian didn't move, only observed.

The ground cracked beneath the man's feet, and the runes around him began to glow bright red.

"You really seem to hate me now. Why?" Kyrian asked, still cold.

The man took a deep breath, his face contorted between anger and laughter.

Then he smiled, a sickly, almost delirious smile.

"No… you really think you're special, don't you, boy? It would never be you specifically," he said, his voice unsteady.

"I hate this world." He stepped forward, pointing a bony finger at Kyrian.

"It's unfair! Absolutely unfair!"

"Unfair?" Kyrian asked, slightly confused.

"Yes!" shouted the skeletal man.

"While some of us, like me, train until almost dying our entire lives and are still destined never to cross into the next realm…"

"You damned ones don't need to do anything special, absolutely nothing! Just by existing, you inevitably stand above everyone else!"

Kyrian fell silent.

He thought for a moment and then replied.

"Yes, I believe you're right. I believe it's unfair."

"And?"

The man stared at Kyrian, surprised and confused.

"And?" Kyrian repeated.

The man smiled again, weakly, his voice turning rough again.

"And that's why… I'll change the rules myself." The man suddenly said as he raised his hand and drew a symbol in the air. The formations on the floor reacted, pulsing red.

"You asked about the heart, didn't you? That's what will give me the power to change even my fate."

Kyrian watched the man's madness in silence and asked,

"What exactly was that thing?"

"An artificial special physique," the man replied, his eyes shining intensely.

"Something I created with the last years of my life. A fusion between flesh, blood, and the essence of ashes."

"With it, I will finally gain the resources to break through my cultivation and live. Then… I will finally return and enter the Blood Court!"

Kyrian listened to the man's madness with a certain curiosity, but it was that last sentence that made him stop immediately and narrow his gaze.

"Blood Court?"

The man noticed the change in tone and looked.

Kyrian slowly touched his spatial ring and took something from inside. A red pendant, crimson like fresh blood, hanging from a metallic cord.

On the back of the pendant left by Wei Feng in his spatial ring, small letters were engraved.

'Blood Court.'

As the red light of the place illuminated the pendant, it seemed to pulse. The energy emanating from it was dense and alive, pure blood Qi.

The man's eyes widened.

"That… where the hell did you get that?"

Kyrian didn't answer, he simply opened his eyes completely.

The snowflake-shaped pupils dissolved. Then a deep red tone took over his entire iris, pulsing with a vivid glow.

The air grew heavy.

The blood around them reacted violently, and the man felt his own heart pounding uncontrollably.

Kyrian lightly controlled the power of his eyes, and droplets of blood began to rise from the ground, floating toward his hand.

Kyrian's voice then came, cold and firm.

"You should understand what this means."

The man staggered backward several steps.

"Y-you're from the Blood Court!?"

Kyrian stared at him in silence. He neither confirmed nor denied it.

The man immediately fell to his knees.

"I… I'm sorry for the way I acted, sir! Please forgive me!"

Kyrian kept a neutral gaze.

"I'm on a mission from the Blood Court," he began in a low tone.

"We met only by coincidence… but perhaps this is good for you."

The man, hearing that, lifted his face, his expression caught between fear and hope.

"What do you mean… good for me?"

"Tell me absolutely everything about this place and about yourself. And maybe, maybe I'll say something good to my contacts in the Blood Court about you," Kyrian continued.

The man hesitated, glancing briefly at Kyrian.

"Why would I believe that?"

Kyrian raised his hand.

Suddenly, several drops of blood fell from the man's nose. The blood floated and gathered into a line, and with a simple flick of Kyrian's finger.

It transformed into a sharp needle. The air sliced, and the tip fixed itself a centimeter from the man's neck.

"Because I see potential in your experiment," Kyrian replied.

His voice was calm, almost convincing, despite the obvious threat.

"And if I help you, I'll also receive credit for the experiment. That would be good for both of us, wouldn't it?" Kyrian said, as for the first time, a faint smile formed on his face.

The man stared at the blood trembling before his throat and swallowed hard.

Sweat ran down his temple, and he didn't dare breathe too loudly.

His mind spun, analyzing everything.

The blood Qi he felt from Kyrian was undeniably pure, heavy, and impossible to fake. Moreover, control over blood at such a magnitude… wasn't something just anyone could do.

'Damn it… he truly possesses Blood Qi. In the Court, only geniuses with absurd talent can achieve that…'

The thought came quickly, and with it, certainty.

Kyrian's pressure vanished.

The blood dispersed into the air like smoke.

The man lowered his head.

"I understand."

He took a deep breath and looked again at Kyrian. His eyes still held slight suspicion, but now submission as well. Everything led him to believe Kyrian really was part of the Blood Court.

And if that were true, it wasn't a bad thing.

Kyrian wouldn't help for free either. If he did, that would be even more suspicious, after all, no one in the Blood Court helped anyone for free.

He looked at Kyrian and sighed.

"Alright. Very well… then it seems we have an agreement."

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