Chapter 143: Blood Pool

A black cloud, like a dark dragon, made rustling sounds as it flew towards Zuo Zhicheng’s location.

Yilezi controlled the Yellow Spring Moths, carefully approaching Zuo Zhicheng. Clearly, he had witnessed Zuo Zhicheng’s combat abilities earlier.

But even as the black cloud circled around Zuo Zhicheng, coming within just over a meter of him, Zuo Zhicheng, lying on the ground, showed no reaction at all. He looked as if he were dead.

A pair of hands made from a sea of black insects pushed aside Zuo Zhicheng’s hood, revealing his entire head. When Yilezi saw the rows of eerie red patterns covering Zuo Zhicheng’s head, a series of cold laughs came from the black cloud.

“So the Blood Curse has taken effect? What a pitiful fellow.”

The next moment, the black cloud merged together again, squirmed slowly a few times, and gradually transformed back into Yilezi’s original form. He grabbed Zuo Zhicheng by the neck, lifting him up as if he were a small dog.

“The Blood Curse… I’ve never seen it before. He will make good experimental material.” Looking at Zuo Zhicheng, whose veins bulged and who had completely lost consciousness, Yilezi’s eyes showed curiosity.

After all, the Blood Curse was a powerful attack that Ghouls could only release by sacrificing their lives. It took effect very quickly, and the victim usually died completely within a day or two.

Yilezi had been in contact with these Ghouls for quite some time, but this was the first time he had obtained experimental material in the midst of a Blood Curse taking effect.

Holding Zuo Zhicheng with one hand, he walked out of the warehouse. Then, a black cloud of Yellow Spring Moths gathered at his feet, and he flew once more toward the tower.

“I wonder who those intruders are. But using cannons to attack first doesn’t seem like the habit of the Central Plains Dao Sect.”

Yilezi thought to himself, guessing the identity of the invaders. Clearly, he planned to imprison Zuo Zhicheng first before going to support Quinlin and the others.

At that moment, a cold gun barrel suddenly pressed against Yilezi’s chest. He looked down and saw that Zuo Zhicheng had woken up at some point and was pointing the magical weapon at his heart.

“The pain of the Blood Curse is enough to make a man with an iron will commit suicide. Yet this fellow still has the mind to attack me…”

As this thought crossed his mind, Zuo Zhicheng pulled the trigger. Several flashes of light appeared on Yilezi’s chest as the bullets passed through. Zuo Zhicheng kept pulling the trigger until the gun made clicking sounds, indicating it was out of bullets, and his arm weakly dropped.

His bloodshot eyes looked at Yilezi’s chest, only to find that the gunshot wounds didn’t resemble human flesh at all. They were like black holes that squirmed slightly and then healed completely.

Yilezi’s mind continued with his earlier train of thought, as if he hadn’t taken Zuo Zhicheng’s attack seriously at all. “…Such strong willpower. This human body… hehe, will be the finest experimental material.”

“Regenerative ability?” In an instant, entries from the diary, the behavior of the Ghouls, and the earlier conversation between Quinlin and Yilezi flashed through Zuo Zhicheng’s mind. He looked at Yilezi and said softly, “So that’s it. The Ghouls’ abilities come from the Life Grove? Ghouls are mutations caused by the Life Grove?”

Yilezi seemed completely unconcerned with Zuo Zhicheng’s probing. Hearing Zuo Zhicheng’s words, he merely smiled slightly and said, “Not entirely correct, but close. But it’s too late to figure that out now. From now on, just be my experimental material.”

The next moment, intense pain swept through Zuo Zhicheng’s entire body, and he lost consciousness once again.

Yilezi flew through the tower window, bringing Zuo Zhicheng all the way underground. The place was filled with terrifying torture devices, dried skeletons, and even some half-dissected human bodies. The smell of blood was almost overwhelming, making one feel as if they were in the Underworld.

Yilezi’s target was a Blood Pool about two meters in radius. The pool was filled with a thick red liquid that looked as if it were made of blood.

Yilezi casually threw Zuo Zhicheng into the Blood Pool, then transformed into a black smoke and soared upward.

Zuo Zhicheng, who had been thrown directly into the Blood Pool, was roused again by the impact of the blood energy. But the red haze limited his vision severely. Worse, the Blood Curse had activated prematurely, causing such intense pain that he could barely move. Every slight movement felt like being stabbed, burned, and torn apart.

Zuo Zhicheng sank rapidly like a stone. Fortunately, the Blood Pool wasn’t very deep. After a few seconds, he felt something soft beneath him—he had reached the bottom.

A white shadow flashed before his eyes, and a grotesque, snarling ghost face was now right in front of him. The face was ferocious, its eyes filled with resentment and hatred, staring fixedly at Zuo Zhicheng.

Seeing this, Zuo Zhicheng’s heart tightened, thinking it was some terrifying monster. But after a few seconds, the expected attack never came.

Zuo Zhicheng looked more closely and saw that the ghost face was completely still, as if dead. It was the pale Ghoul he and Jiang Qing had seen in the coffin on the boat.

He hadn’t expected Yilezi to also throw it into this Blood Pool as experimental material.

Zuo Zhicheng glanced around and saw that his surroundings were filled with pale, various corpses. It seemed this was a place Yilezi used to store corpses and experimental materials, though it was unclear what was unusual about it.

As he was thinking this, Zuo Zhicheng suddenly realized he could breathe. This red liquid seemed to be more than just blood—it was a special fluid that could be breathed like air.

At the same time, a slight numbing sensation spread throughout his body.

“So, entering here causes numbness?” Zuo Zhicheng frowned. “The most critical issue right now is the Blood Curse. If this curse cast by the Ghoul isn’t lifted, I will surely die.”

Perhaps because of the numbness, or because the Blood Curse pain came in waves, Zuo Zhicheng felt the pain from his body lessen slightly. It went from feeling like being sliced, cut in half, and having tendons pulled out, to the level of being torn apart by five horses.

Because of this, he could move, albeit with great difficulty. But if this continued, he would clearly fall into deep numbness and lose all ability to move.

“I must think of a way during this time.” Frowning, Zuo Zhicheng looked at the corpse in front of him—or the slumbering Ghoul—and one idea after another flashed through his mind.

“Blood Curse…”

“Ghouls…”

“Life Grove…”