Duan Rong was about to exit the Sea of Consciousness, but suddenly his heart stirred. He wanted to see how that blood light operated the Filthy Blood Divine Skill.

Suddenly, Duan Rong activated the Filthy Blood Divine Skill within the Sea of Consciousness!

In an instant, the blood light on the edge of the Sea of Consciousness began to surge endlessly, and rings of crimson ripples spread across the Sea of Consciousness...

Almost simultaneously, the blood threads dormant in Duan Rong’s flesh awakened abruptly, bursting out of his body!

Duan Rong’s gaze was cold. With a thought, he exited the Sea of Consciousness.

The moment he left the Sea of Consciousness, Duan Rong felt a sharp pain in his skull. It was clear that his Divine Soul had been excessively depleted in the Sea of Consciousness.

Looking at the blood threads floating and writhing around his body, Duan Rong felt a wave of nausea. With a thought, he commanded the blood threads to return to his body, plunging into dormancy once more.

Duan Rong’s gaze turned fierce. He decided never to give the blood threads within him any chance to grow, for he knew that as the blood threads in his body grew, the blood light in the Sea of Consciousness would also grow!

Indeed, the blood light in his Sea of Consciousness was the core and essence of the Filthy Blood Divine Skill!

After devouring the Filthy Blood Divine Skill of the Second Level, Duan Rong was already quite familiar with the skill’s cultivation process and various intricacies. This was another reason he detested this cultivation technique.

The filthy blood turned out to be the blood of a virgin’s defilement—disgusting as hell!

Thank goodness it wasn’t menstrual blood?! Otherwise, he would risk shattering his Divine Soul to manipulate those two Star Bodies to crush that blood light!

Duan Rong’s eyes flickered as he recalled that during the cultivation of the Filthy Blood Divine Skill, the eyes of the four divine statues of the Five Pass Relationship in the Secret Chamber Mandala emitted blood light, which shone upon the cultivation artifact, the Bloodstained Copper Awl, filling the chamber with intertwining blood light and thick smoke.

Duan Rong felt that the blood light in his Sea of Consciousness might have a secret connection with the blood light emitted from the eyes of the Five Pass deities’ divine statues!

Just as there is a mysterious connection between the light strands intertwining to form the Star Body and the divine statues of the Four Great Kings!

Both the Fetal Concealment Scripture and the Filthy Blood Divine Skill are cultivated within the Mandala, which clearly indicates some resemblance between the two.

The Fetal Concealment Scripture and the Filthy Blood Divine Skill, though originating from the same source, are mutually repellent.

"Four Great Kings? Five Pass deities? Could these cultivation techniques have some secret connection with these deities?"

"Perhaps the conflict between the cultivation techniques indicates a struggle between the Divine and Demonic?"

Duan Rong’s thoughts drifted, but he quickly realized that he was thinking too far ahead. These issues were clearly beyond his current capacity to explore thoroughly; he needed to focus on addressing the immediate challenges he faced.

Duan Rong was mentally exhausted, and by this time, daylight was already pouring through the window. He blew out the lamp on his desk and crawled into bed for a deep sleep.

In the following days, Duan Rong re-read all the miscellaneous books about the Filthy Blood Sect and Filthy Blood Divine Skill that he had on hand.

Previously, Duan Rong read these books merely to understand some of the mysteries and tales of this realm, skimming through them casually and quickly.

Now, however, having experienced the Filthy Blood incident and harboring the Filthy Blood Divine Skill’s hidden threat within his Sea of Consciousness, he revisited these books not out of curiosity, but to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Filthy Blood Sect and Filthy Blood Divine Skill.

Moreover, some of the records in these books might corroborate his ideas and could potentially inspire new insights.

Thus, Duan Rong read very carefully.

Before he knew it, it was the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, and that evening was New Year’s Eve.

In the morning, Duan Rong climbed out of bed, and just after finishing his washing in the courtyard, there was suddenly a knock at the gate.

With a thought, Duan Rong swept his Divine Sense over, seeing Zhu Xiaoqi standing outside the gate.

Duan Rong walked over, opened the gate, and looking at Zhu Xiaoqi’s rosy cheeks flushed from the cold, he smiled and said, "Is your injury healing better?"

"It’s already much better, but not completely healed. I can’t work yet," Zhu Xiaoqi said, her lively eyes watching Duan Rong. She knew that he was the one who had saved her that night.

Duan Rong replied, "Such a large wound wouldn’t heal that quickly."

Zhu Xiaoqi said, "The master asked me to tell you to come over for the New Year’s Eve dinner tonight."

Duan Rong felt a warmth in his heart; Elder Xiao was still quite kind to him.

Just as Duan Rong was about to express his thanks, Zhu Xiaoqi laughed, "But I’m here to call you over to work."

Duan Rong laughed, "What? You mind me eating for free?"

Zhu Xiaoqi glared at Duan Rong and said, "You saved Miss Yu’s life and then mine; letting you eat for free every day is only right."

Seeing Zhu Xiaoqi speak with seriousness, Duan Rong’s smile faded as he said, "Don’t make it sound like it’s a huge ordeal. Eating for free every day, wouldn’t that eat you out of house and home?"

Zhu Xiaoqi chuckled, "The master never does any work, and I am injured. With a big table of dishes at night, Miss Yu can’t handle it all alone, so you should help her out."

Duan Rong agreed, "That’s work I’m willing to do. I love making New Year’s Eve dinner—the hustle and bustle!"

Having said that, Duan Rong closed the courtyard gate and went with Zhu Xiaoqi to Xiao Zongting’s residence.

As soon as Duan Rong entered the door, he was assigned by Xiao Yu to chop the meat filling.

Xiao Yu herself was busy as well, her feet barely touching the ground. Her arms, once fair, were reddened by the cold water.

With injuries preventing Zhu Xiaoqi from doing heavy tasks, she could only help with small jobs like picking vegetables.

Although Xiao Zongting wasn’t doing any work, he couldn’t sit still, continuously pacing around the courtyard.

Observing Xiao Zongting anxious like an ant on a hot pan, Duan Rong asked Zhu Xiaoqi what was going on.