It can be said that the growth of every Sacred Seed involves experiencing numerous life-and-death crises, as the risks undertaken during the process of refining new Sacred Blood to accumulate and enhance one's saintliness are immense.

However, they have no choice but to take this risk, because if their saintliness is inferior to other Sacred Seeds, their lives would be beyond their own control.

Take Lann Qiyue's current situation as an example: if not for Lu Ye's prior arrangements and timely arrival, she would have certainly been slain on the spot by Saintly Venerable Mok Hai, and even the Sacred Blood she had refined earlier would have been a gift to others.

Lu Ye really had no idea about these things.

But the situation seemed somewhat off, because according to Lann Qiyue, refining Sacred Blood with saintliness stronger than one's own was virtually a sure death.

Yet Lu Ye had done such a thing before, without noticing any risk; everything went extremely smoothly.

It's certainly not possible that Lann Qiyue was deceiving him; the reason things went so well for him could only be due to one of two possibilities: either the information Lann Qiyue received was false, or he himself had something unique.

Lu Ye was more inclined to the latter possibility!

The burning of the Talent Tree can refine away all impurities and things harmful to oneself; although Sacred Blood is magical enough to transform a human into one of the Blood Race, when it came to Lu Ye, it merely provided him with immense energy and couldn't fundamentally change his human essence, because the wondrous part of the Sacred Blood that was harmful to him was burned away by the Talent Tree.

Thus thinking, it must be the burning of the Talent Tree that allowed Lu Ye to avoid the risks even a Sacred Seed couldn't ignore while refining Sacred Blood, since this risk could cause Lu Ye great harm.

In other words, he could freely refine Sacred Blood, continuously enhancing his saintliness, and didn't have to bear any risk for it.

As for whether this was indeed the case... he would know by trying it!

With a thought, Lu Ye opened his mouth and directly threw the drop of Sacred Blood he obtained from Saintly Venerable Mok Hai into his mouth, swallowing it whole.

Lann Qiyue was greatly alarmed: "Senior Brother!"

She couldn't understand; she had already explained the taboos of refining Sacred Blood to her Senior Brother, so why was he still acting so recklessly?

"Don't worry, I am confident!" Lu Ye softly said, then promptly closed his eyes and activated Bestial Gluttony Feast, refining the power of the Sacred Blood he swallowed.

Time passed, and Lann Qiyue watched in tense attention.

But amazingly, Lu Ye truly showed no signs of encountering any crisis; he quietly sat cross-legged there, with spirit force and aura surging around him, indicating a slow increase in strength, and the saintliness emanating from him also visibly increased.

Lann Qiyue was amazed, completely unable to understand what Lu Ye had done to remain unharmed after swallowing such a drop of Essence Blood.

She momentarily doubted whether there was an error in the information she had acquired.

Just as Lu Ye began to refine that drop of Sacred Blood, the Blood Race army gathered from four directions of the Empyrean Sea also reached the agreed date, and under the guidance and orders of various Sacred Seeds, armies from four directions advanced simultaneously, swarming toward the Empyrean Sea like locusts.

The forces were massive, the number of Sacred Seeds more than ever before, and coupled with the breach in the defensive line of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land from the last war, it can be said that the Blood Race was determined to win this war!

At the same time, in the Nine Provinces cultivation world, almost all cultivators above the Divine Sea Realm experienced a subtle mystical sense, indicating that the day of the expedition to the Blood Refinement World was not far off!

The source of this mystical sense was self-evident, so despite its subtlety, Divine Sea cultivators firmly believed in it and began making preparations increasingly hurriedly.

The news was transmitted downwards from the higher-ups, and within just a few days, the vast Cloud River battlefield suddenly became deserted, as nearly all Cloud River Realm cultivators withdrew from there and returned to their respective sects.

This was undoubtedly the greatest marvel in the history of the Nine Provinces since the Cloud River battlefield began; it had always been a stage for Cloud River Realm cultivators' activities, bustling with noise daily, never had there been such an empty day.

At Righteous Blood Sect, on Righteous Peak, numerous cultivators gathered, led by Shui Yuan.

Righteous Blood Sect currently had only four Divine Sea cultivators in total: the sect master, Yun Xuechu, Shui Yuan, and Lu Ye, and strictly speaking, Yun Xuechu wasn't actually a member of the Righteous Blood Sect; she was merely an independent cultivator, so she wouldn't participate in the expedition to the Blood Refinement World this time, which left her to guard the sect headquarters.

Someone had to remain at home to guard against any unforeseen events.

The sect master was bound to head to the Blood Refinement World, because owing to Lu Ye, his influence in Bingzhou had grown significantly, and he was one of the key figures in the newly formed Bingzhou cultivator army, not to mention it was Lu Ye who spearheaded the expedition to the Blood Refinement World, so he would undoubtedly participate.

Yet because he was one of the leaders of the Bingzhou army battalion, he was temporarily unable to return to the Righteous Blood Sect and had to leave everything at the sect headquarters to be led by Shui Yuan.

Currently, Shui Yuan was not weak in strength and was also a healing cultivator, whose role was irreplaceable in any large-scale battle, especially one on the level of Divine Sea healing cultivators, who are essential talents.

The number of cultivators gathered here wasn't small, but those belonging to the Righteous Blood Sect comprised only a small portion, mostly from the Cloud River Realm, with only Yiyi and Giant Armor at the True Lake Realm level, perhaps adding Amber at most.

There are more people from the Ziwei Dao Palace!

As the inferior sect of the Righteous Blood Sect, the Ziwei Dao Palace has not been in the Nine Provinces for long, so they have not yet produced cultivators at the Divine Sea Realm. However, there are quite a few cultivators at the True Lake Realm level because back on the Unparalleled Continent, there were already many from the Ziwei Dao Palace who had reached the limit of the Cloud River Realm but could not break through. Upon arriving in the Nine Provinces, they gathered momentum and breakthrough to the True Lake Realm is now commonplace.

After discussing, Pang Huanyin and Shui Yuan decided to unite the disciples of both sects, allowing them to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Nobody knew the exact timing of the great battle, so all that could be done was to gather forces and wait silently.

In the Blood Refinement World, within the Bright Moon Cave, Lu Ye spent several days refining the Sacred Blood of the Saintly Venerable Mok Hai. As before, he did not feel any risk.

His saintliness improved significantly, though not as much as he had imagined.

It is understandable, for the enhancement of saintliness is not a simple summation but a more complex manifestation. The stronger the saintliness, the harder it becomes to enhance.

However, Lu Ye estimated that within the current Blood Refinement World, his saintliness was among the strongest of all Sacred Seeds. While there might be Sacred Seeds with saintliness stronger than his, they would be few since the Sacred Seeds themselves are not many in number.

Beyond the enhancement of saintliness, there was also an increase in cultivation. Though he hadn't broken through to a new realm, Lu Ye felt he had made significant progress in the Level 5 realm, due to the vast energy contained within each drop of Sacred Blood, greatly aiding in his enhancement of strength.

These past days, Lann Qiyue had been nervously monitoring Lu Ye's movements from nearby, fearing he might have an accident. But fortunately, Lu Ye remained stable throughout.

This surprised Lann Qiyue, but then she reasoned it out. As a human, her senior brother possessed saintliness that even exceeded that of the Saintly Venerable Mok Hai, so it wasn't surprising that refining Sacred Blood posed no uncontrollable risks.

However, at this moment, the pressure Lann Qiyue felt facing Lu Ye grew significantly.

"Congratulations, senior brother!" Lann Qiyue spoke as Lu Ye opened his eyes.

Lu Ye nodded slightly, his expression void of joy or sorrow, and after a moment of contemplation, he turned his head to the respectful Loo Chang standing nearby: "You may leave."

Loo Chang bowed and quickly exited.

After he left, Lu Ye finally looked at Lann Qiyue, gestured with his hand, and said, "Sit!"

Lann Qiyue obediently sat in front of Lu Ye.

Lu Ye pondered momentarily and then spoke, "Since you call me senior brother, I shall, on behalf of the sect master of my sect, accept you as a disciple of the Righteous Blood Sect!"

Lann Qiyue tilted her head with a puzzled look: "Righteous Blood Sect?"

There are no sects in the Blood Refinement World, and because of the Blood Race's unique way of growing, even families do not exist. All Blood Race have only one mother, the underground Blood River, which birthed them and enabled them to grow rapidly, negating the need for families.

This is why the Blood Race often adopts the name of the first human they kill, as they emerge from the Blood River without anyone to name them, forcing them to acquire names in this way.

Lann Qiyue was previously unaware of Lu Ye's background, and Lu Ye had never shared these details with her.

If Lann Qiyue were truly of Blood Race origin, even if some rapport was built between them, Lu Ye would not have divulged much, but she remained human at heart. It was purely due to a coincidental opportunity that she refined a drop of Sacred Blood and transformed into a Blood Race.

Though her race changed, her human heart remained constant.

Therefore, Lu Ye felt it was time she knew certain things.

"The Righteous Blood Sect is a sect within a domain called the Nine Provinces, and I am from that domain called Nine Provinces!"

Lu Ye narrated the circumstances of the Nine Provinces and his own origins, making Lann Qiyue's beautiful eyes shine with admiration.

As a human born in the Blood Refinement World, she had lived under the oppression and enslavement of the Blood Race, constantly in fear, never imagining that another world existed—a world purely dominated by humans!

And her most respected senior brother hailed from such a domain.

A world with no Blood Race, where there was no need to live in fear; a world governed by humans, filled with families and sects—a world so beautiful, it filled one with longing and yearning.

"In the Southern Territory, there is a Righteous Blood Sacred Land, established by the cultivators from the Nine Provinces. The last time I left here, it was to briefly go to the Southern Territory, where I met several people, then returned to the Nine Provinces. Several months ago, I came back here from the Nine Provinces."

Lann Qiyue's heart raced wildly: "Is there mutual passage between the Blood Refinement World and the Nine Provinces?"

If that were truly the case, that world called the Nine Provinces would be even more mesmerizing.