PtM Book 17 - Chapter 24: Settling Accounts

3/3 this week!

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Oster Fireblight was a practical individual in that he would do almost anything for money. ‘Greed is good’ was his slogan, and he applied that to every facet of his life.

Which was why, despite having taxes to collect and battle reports to catch up on, he was lying in wait between the mountains separating the Puppet Lightning Region and the Blood God Region with a full half of his mercenary forces.

He was still counting crystals, but most of his attention was focused on the Mirror of the Blighted Coin and the shifting lines of ordered text it presented to him.

He was not alone aboard the Seraphin, the Fireblight Mercenary Company’s flagship. Undine and Martin were also there, looking none-too pleased, as usual. Equally grumpy were several powerful but well-paid cultivators from their three regions. They did not yet appreciate the wonder of being paid up front and the giddiness that accompanied making money without having to do anything.

“My dear war priestess, if looks could kill, I would be dead a thousand times over,” Oster said to Undine. “What’s bothering you?”

“Oh nothing,” Undine said. “Only the fact that we’ve been here for the past week waiting on a gamble. I could be using that time for much better things, but instead, I’m stuck on this stupidly-named ship.”

“Seraphin is a classical name with many good cultural connotations,” said Oster. “In fact, did I ever tell you the story of the many who burned inside his own house trying to save his bags of gold?”

“No,” said Undine. “And why would you ever think that explanation would change my mind?”

“It’s not like you have many hobbies,” Oster said. “What would you even do with your time?”

“Preach, build temples, and research complex prayer rituals,” Undine said. “I would also upgrade Martin’s armor, time permitting.”

“But think of all the money we’re making,” Oster said. “Think of the money we’re making right now doing nothing! You could hire preachers with that much money, Undine. You could buy offerings for Harid Dej and beg her for boons and additional techniques.

You’re a high-level priestess, but you always do so much yourself. You need to start using the people around you. Leverage your assets. Life is an investment. Every facet of it. When someone comes knocking on your door offering you boatloads of money for a single contract, you need to jump on it before someone else does.”

“I’m not a mercenary, Oster, I’m a priestess,” Undine said.

“A mere technicality,” said Oster. “We’re cultivators, Undine. We have long lives. What’s a bit of waiting? Also, this isn’t really a gamble. My mirror put the odds of them crossing here at fifty percent a week ago, and just this morning, the odds rose to sixty percent.”

“You’re just making those figures up,” Undine said. “My divinations show no such improvement.”

“You caught me,” Oster said. “But I have a really good feeling about this contract, Undine, and I’ve been exceptionally lucky of late.”

The priestess rolled her eyes and got back to her reading. Ironically, the book was titled ‘Making Your Money Preach for You’. She was trying, at least. And Oster, ever industrious, continued counting his crystals, all the while making investment plans for each and every one of them.

Investment was a tricky business. Just one bad decision could undo ten good ones. Moreover, he’d long since saturated the most lucrative opportunities like inter-planar trade channels and needed to get creative.

Outbreak insurance was his latest idea. Everyone was worried about fiend outbreaks and didn’t know when they would happen and why. The key was fear, and if he played his cards right and drummed that fear up, he could make a killing off insurance premiums and never pay anyone a single crystal.

“Aha!” Oster said suddenly said, looking into his mirror. He saw the shadows of a hundred large vessels followed by a swarm of smaller vessels and creatures of biological origin. “Paydirt!” His waiting fee was high, but the real money was when fighting was required.

“Casualties will be quite high, I remind you,” Undine said.

“How else will we make enough money to thrive?” Oster asked. “Also, I remind you that most of our troops are rankers, and this is the only way they will level. Besides, we are in the business of war. We need in on every single one of these conflicts. Especially in this transition phase where the geopolitical situation is still unstable.”

The time for casual conversation was over. Oster put aside his name and assumed the identity of General Fireblight. “Troops, assemble! Prepare the strip trap! I want to cut off the lead ships with surgical precision. We get penalized for extra law-stitching cultivators that sneak through. Our goal is zero emissions, zero leaks!”

His troops scrambled as the fleet fled the Puppet Lighting Region on a sea of blood. They were so anxious to flee enemy territory that they’d completely neglected the border. Sect Master Blood God’s ship was in the lead. He was worried about an ambush, and justly; his fleet was at his rear to guard him and Blood Seal from surprise attacks. Just as anticipated.

“Our goal here is simple,” Oster said. “Cut off the trailing troops and spook the ones in front. Kill everyone as quickly as possible with minimal losses.

“Does everyone remember my lecture earlier this month about stabs? It’s all about stab percentage, not kills. The more stabs you get in, the better. Let your weaker teammates finish off any wounded opponents.

“Our incentive target for this battle is hit percentage, followed by team kills, followed by captured ships. That last one is especially lucrative. If you play your cards right, and you could double or triple your earnings!”

Greed was good, both on and off the battlefield. With greed as their primary motivator, tempered by a good dose of fear, Oster didn’t need to worry about silly things like morale boosting speeches.

If you paid well and gave your troops the freedom to act upon their desires, a good number of them would choose to take the extra money he threw around. He didn’t need to beat anyone into submission to achieve his goals. They would achieve them for him, and willingly at that.

Oster raised his hand just as the first few ships crossed their trap strip. There was a slight delay as the strip activated, creating a wall of force that wouldn’t disperse for a good minute unless Patriarch Blood God decided to turn around and break it.

Which he didn’t. That was the point. Patriarch Blood God was already frightened enough, and this would only reinforce his behavior.

Oster’s maneuver cut off a tenth of the fleet - the strongest tenth - and allowed them to continue. The remaining ninety percent was now helpless and without leadership “Hit percentage! Team kills! Ships! Don’t forget about teamwork! The Fireblight Award will go to the team with the best results.” Their eyes practically glowed green when they heard him mention the Fireblight Award, which would grant the team who earned it an additional two-fold multiplier to their battle bonuses.

Oster ordered an all out assault, and within seconds, enemy law-stitching captains were falling. It would be an easy battle, but Oster would use every trick in his possession to make it a profitable one.

***

Cha Ming left most of the Puppet Lightning Sect behind, taking only a small contingent of elite forces and their puppets into the Clear Sky World. He then sped off after the Blood God Sect’s armada, which would be slower than normal due to the encumbrance of weaker creatures and small ships.

He re-imagined himself as he flew. He fixed an image in his mind and began to paint, using his soul as a brush, his domain as the canvas, and his divine body as ink to paint himself wings of azure tempest winds, puppet lightning, and righteous blood.

In this battle, he needed speed, not maneuverability, so he made them larger like his original Azure Tempest Wings. But not so large, and not nearly as violent. Moreover, he painted the rest of his body out of the same materials, making his body light as a feather and relatively indestructible, perfect for the rigors of high-velocity travel.

He took off into the air and flew in the clear skies of the Chasewind Plane. There were no storm clouds in sight, but Cha Ming realized he was the storm. A bloodstorm was traversing the region, and it was rapidly closing in on its fleeing target.

Cha Ming communicated with Oster as he flew. He would normally never consider hiring the mercenary, but that was the point. Surprise would win them this battle and ensure that they came out with minimal losses.

Even with his new wings, catching up to Patriarch Blood God and Dao God Blood Seal was no easy feat. He caught sight of them just as they were crossing the Dragonwake Mountain Range. Cha Ming was flying high above the fleeing army when Oster’s forces sprung a trap, harshly cutting off the lesser ninety-percent of Blood God’s arm, leaving their elites open and unprotected.

Cha Ming flapped his wings one last time, this time transforming his body into a blur of bloodstorm energy. He infused elements of blood escape into himself to closing the distance between him and his quarry in as short a time as possible.

He appeared at the center of a fleet of a dozen ships, completely bypassing any defenses they had prepared.

“What in the seven hells - Clear Sky?” Patriarch Blood God was incredulous, but he was a shrewd old man. He sent a palm of bloody energy flying Cha Ming’s way.

Cha Ming immediately brought out the three guardian puppets to resist the palm strike. “Luther, block him then create an encirclement.”

“… yes, master,” the cat said, hopping of hiss shoulder and rushing into the puppets.

“If you fail, I’m imprisoning you for a hundred years,” Cha Ming said to the cat, then left it to its own devices. He couldn’t control the lighting soul very well and could only rely on the threat of boredom to get it to act.

And act it did. The lightning soul cackled naughtily as it took the three puppets, a few dozen other law stitching grade puppets to create a prison sphere that was several kilometers in diameter.

“Clear Sky, do you really have to do this?” Dao God Blood Seal said, flying up to him “We could coexist. We don’t have to fight to the death like this.”

“Enough with your flippancy, Blood Seal!” Patriarch Blood God barked. “This is as battle to the death. He has a realm treasure, remember!”

The elders, protectors, and sect masters of the three sects jumped to obey his orders, unleashing their strongest techniques and throwing them Cha Ming’s way. But it was too late. Cha Ming had already painted a dozen gateways, and his reinforcements were already partway through.

Hundreds of cultivators – most of them initial law stitching cultivators but many of them early law stitching cultivators, had already unleashed their own volley to counter-attack. The collision of energies created an explosion at the center of the cut-off fleet, damaging the Blood God Sect’s remaining ships and blasted their elders backwards.

With enough room, it was time for the second wave. Rune-gathering cultivators came pouring out of the Clear Sky World by the thousand. They came with over half the Puppet Lightning Sect’s fleet, 40 ships in total, including the Artificer’s Folly and the Indomitable.

Their ships outnumbered the enemy three-to-one. Their cultivators did as well. The difference had been far less large before, but thanks to the time acceleration in Cha Ming’s Clear Sky World, ten years had gone by for the rebels. More than enough time for everyone with potential to make several breakthroughs.

The four elders from the Blood Leaf Sect had long since broken through to early law stitching. “Today is the day of our vengeance!” said Elder Fall. “Make them pay for everything they’ve done to us! Use their blood to cleanse the shame of our region!” The other elders from the war blood alliance echoed his cry, and together, they burned with passion fueled by hope but tempered by cold necessity. A flame burned in each of their hearts, and it was growing brighter by the second.

“Puppet Lighting Sect, only by killing Dao God Blood Seal and Patriarch Blood God and these wretched remnants will we truly be independent,” Grand Artificer Fei said. “Fight for you lives! Fight for your freedom!” Puppet controllers and their puppets attacked by the the tens of thousands, shredding through powerful shields by sheer number.

“This… this isn’t a realm treasure!” Patriarch Blood God exclaimed. “This is a portable pocket realm! But no, that’s not possible. How could you possibly store so many powerful cultivators and weapons in a single place?”

Cha Ming did not answer his question. Instead, he looked to Dao God Blood Seal. “Thunderclash is dead. You’re next.”

He transformed into a cloud of bloodstorm energy that rushed at Dao God Blood Seal. The elders of the Blood God Sect tried to block the way, but were forced to defend against the rebels they had created with their own atrocities. And it wasn’t just new law-stitching experts – they had powerhouse of their own. There was Grand Artificer Fei, who had already partially recovered, and the Blood Leaf Sect elders.

They rained vengeance upon their enemies, leaving Blood Seal to Cha Ming as requested. This wasn’t Cha Ming putting up a brave front, but rather him not wanting to give Blood Seal any opportunities. The more allies he had nearby, the more likely it was for him to escape.

Cha Ming, having fought Thunderclash earlier, didn’t hesitate to activate the first level of Triune Soul Burn to boil his energy pools. He struck out with the Clear Sky Staff, superimposing divinity, qi, and spiritual energy. Blood Seal sent out a bloody palm print as a casual counter.

Strong! Cha Ming thought as the collision sent him flying backwards with broken bones.

“You’re too naive, Clear Sky,” Blood Seal said. “I’ve long since broken through to early law-stitching realm. This isn’t a gap that can be bridge with fundamentals.”

“Whether or not it can be bridged, I’ll fight you to the end,” Cha Ming said. He out with his Heartforge Aura, connecting with the remnant flames in Blood Seal’s body from their last encounter.

Blood Seal yelped. “What is this flame?” he asked, holding up a smoldering hand.

“A flame that attacks your weaknesses and instabilities,” Cha Ming said. “Your soul is strong, but your body and cultivation’s foundation is sorely lacking.”

Blood cultivators typically had this problem with their foundation. They used brutal cultivation methods to forcefully harvest blood essence in their victims for a quick increase in their cultivation. Even a high-grade technique like the one Blood Seal cultivated had this flaw.

And wasn’t just Blood Seal that he attacked with the Heartforge Spirit Flames. He attacked the hearts of every enemy on the battlefield by using the candle flames in his allies as focuses  To his allies, he gave hope. To his enemies, he gave doubt.

Blood Seal was no idiot, and immediately called for reinforcements. “Blood Demon, he’s boosting their whole army! We need him taken down. Now!”

A burst of bloody energy forced Patriarch Blood Demon’s enemies back, and laws of blood layered over-top him as he transformed into a bloody abomination.

“Horrifying creature!” shouted a stoic cultivator. He and a few dozen more surrounded the abomination and summoned swords of golden blood. “Begin the blood purification ritual! These sins cannot go unpunished!”  They were young, and had probably only been outer sect disciples when the Righteous Blood Sect had been destroyed. But their determination had never wavered, and in these past ten years, they’d trained harder than most.

“Remnant spawn,” Patriarch Blood Demon scoffed. “Do you think you can kill me with a tiny ritual?”

“If we stake everything on it, nothing is impossible!” said the leader of the righteous blood sect, the sole early law stitching cultivator among their ranks. As one, their souls and their blood began to burn and fuel their cultivation.

“Mad, the lot of you!” Patriarch Blood Demon said. And for once, he was right. Each of them had been pushed to the edge of their sanity by the ordeals they’d suffered.

“Blood Sword, a little help?” shouted Blood Seal said, only to find that the third sect leader was similarly encircled. The elite swordsman and his fierce warriors were surrounded by an army of lesser skilled opponents. They were cutting them down like wheat on harvest day, but they continued coming with fierce determination.

“There’s no one to save you, Blood Seal,” Cha Ming said. He took a step forward, and his Heartforge Spirit Flames flared up. They separated into yin and yang. Yearning and love clashed with tribulant yin from the grave, creating a conflict inside his body.

“Heartbreak.” Cha Ming’s words were reinforced by the power of his runes and the authority they granted him. They directly attacked Blood Seal’s Heart and inner world.

Blood Seal coughed up a mouthful of black blood but maintained his composure. But Blood Seal was not to be underestimated. A set of ochre wings appeared behind him. There were three of them, and they began to burn with bloody energy that chased away much of the instability inside his body.

“Sealing. Blood,” said Blood Seal. Twin laws came into being and weakened Cha Ming. His body, his soul, and even his cultivation began to bleed ten-colored blood.

Cha Ming used his law-breaking eye and discovered faults in both laws. Then he smiled and painted his disciple, the blood doctor. His wounds closed up, and his weakness alleviated.

“Shatter,” he said, sending dozens of Yin-Yang Spirit Threading Needles at the many flaws in the law projections. They shook, then exploded. The backlash cost Cha Ming dearly, but Blood Seal suffered even more.

Cha Ming used his runes to heal over the injuries he suffered, while Blood Seal chose to continue his offense. A bloody palm filled with sealing energy came down form above, blocking Cha Ming’s organs, bones, marrow, blood, muscles, and inner world.

But Cha Ming had seen this before. He’d already identified the weaknesses in his technique. This time, he split off his selves of lightning and wind. They painted three keys that pushed into three locks, which twisted, undoing the law field.

“You ignored your fundamentals, and now it’s costing you,” Cha Ming said. “I’ve seen transcendents native to the Chasewind Plane much stronger than you. You’re pathetic. You’re weak.” His words fuel the Heartforge Spirit Flames, increasing Blood Seal’s agony.

“You speak too much,” Blood Seal said through gritted teeth. He took out a set of chimes and rang them. They combined with his natural charm and assaulted Cha Ming’s spiritually.

Cha Ming only laughed. His spiritual defences were high, and he was backed by the might of a massive inner world. He diffused the sound in his soul throughout the many worlds, scattering the runes and law energy inside them into space.

“I think you’ve taken the initiative for long enough,” Cha Ming said. His three incarnations began painting three sceneries. Sky tearing winds, soul lashing rain, and a blood hail calamity came into existence with Cha Ming as the center.

“You want to fight a war of attrition with a blood cultivator?” said Blood Seal. “Dream on!” He took out a gourd poured blood out from it. Tiny droplets transformed not needles. They flew through the blood storm, straight towards Cha Ming’s body.

“Luther, if you act up, I’ll kill you,” Cha Ming said, then drew on the puppet lightning soul, who was currently controlling puppets to encircle everyone.

That’s my essence! Give me back my essence! Luther yelled.

I’ll give it back if you behave, Cha Ming said.

He used the lightning essence to paint three lightning spirits that interposed themselves between Cha Ming and the blood needles.

“It’s no use,” Blood Seal shouted. “Blood Sealing Rain!” The blood needles suddenly shot upwards, then turned into droplets, which twisted and formed nice seals that threatened to lock Cha Ming down. Cha Ming countered by controlling the three painted storms. The pressure fused them together, and Cha Ming, having never really considered how to fuse the three energies together, realized how powerful they were as a combined entity.

Sky Tearing Winds could tear up space. Soul Lashing Rain could bewitch the mind. Blood Hail Calamity rendered righteous judgement upon his foes. Alone, they were powerful, and they refused to cooperate. But when forced together, the result was an apocalypse. A war between the elements that razed everything in its passage.

Sealing energy and bloodstorm energy forced up against one another. Neither side had the advantage, for now. Cha Ming used the opportunity to survey the battlefield.

The battle against the Blood God Sect was going well. It wasn’t bloodless, and both the Puppet Lightning Sect and War Blood Alliance were suffering heavy losses, but they were acceptable considering what was at stake.

Once upon a time, Cha Ming’s heart would have bled over these losses. He would have done everything he could to prevent them. But now, Cha Ming thought differently. These people needed to win, but more importantly, they needed to grow.

This was their moment. Their actions would decide their path going forward. Those who survived would find themselves reaching heights they never would have dreamed off, and their success would strengthen the entire region.

The biggest variable on the battlefield was Patriarch Blood God. He was surrounded by Grand Artificer Fei, a middle law stitching cultivator and her puppets, four early law stitching elders with complimentary time abilities, and tow artificers. He’d come close to slaying one of them. If not for Grand Artificer Chi stepping in with traps, the first elder of the Blood Leaf Sect would have long since perished.

Cha Ming resolved to finish his fight quickly. The sooner he could step in to end Patriarch Blood God, the less he’d have to worry about a middle-law-stitching cultivator with a grudge escaping and haunting his every action.

The clash between bloodstorm energies and sealing energies died down. Cha Ming was bloodied, but so was Blood Seal. “To think… that you’d be able to execute such a strong attack,” Blood Seal said. He was severely weakened now, and much of this had to do with the righteous blood ink Cha Ming had infused into the storm.

Cha Ming shook his head. “I simply have too many tools that happen to counter you, Blood Seal. If it were anyone else, you’d be winning.”

“Then it would be foolish for me to remain,” Blood Seal said. He took a talisman out of storage and activated it, and his body turned ethereal.

“A phasing talisman?” Cha Ming muttered. “Fine, let’s fight talismans with talismans.” He threw out five talismans, one for each of the five elements. These were none other than his poetic talismans, which had long since gone into disuse.

It only took Cha Ming a moment to paint a large runic circle to join them, after which he threw out his Wrappings of Runic binding.

The talismans and the formation melted into the long strip of rune-covered fabric to form a five-essence binding. “First binding, bind flow!” said Cha Ming. “Second binding, bind form! Third binding, bind

Phasing was a wonderful space-attributed ability and allowed one to bypass most restrictions and attacks. The five elements could do nothing individually, but together? They would work miracles.

Cha Ming’s poetic talismans were a relic of his past, but they were also the foundation upon which he’d built himself. In recent days, he’d revisited these concepts while practicing his Heartforge Aura and had discovered that the duality in each of the five poetic talismans and the interaction between these contradictory states. His divine ability had gone into disuse, so he’d thrown it into the mix as well.

Space and time laws superseded individual elements, but creation and destruction were on the same level. The wrappings tightened around Blood Seal, cutting off the space around him from the outside world. Blood Seal was forced to abandon the half-used talisman.

Dao God Blood Seal was cornered, and for the first time since they’d met, his expression grew serious. “Since my arrival on the Chasewind Plane, I have spent most of my time training in a single technique and creating a single treasure, Clear Sky,” said Blood Seal. “It contains my most powerful technique and most of my reserves. If you defeat it, then I deserve to perish.” He took out a gourd, this one dark and ornate. It glowed with ochre runes and radiated the most powerful sinful aura Cha Ming had ever witnessed in a treasure.

Blood trickled out of the gourd, forming a tiny puddle, then a stream, then a small lake. The blood lake was filthy and repulsed Cha Ming on multiple levels. “How many people died to create such a thing, you monster?” he said to Blood Seal.

“Millions, I think,” said Blood Seal. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

Cha Ming could feel a will stirring in the lake. It was a devilish will that was independent of Blood Seal. It didn’t seem inclined to attack anyone - at least not until Blood Seal took out a knife and cut off his own hand.

A full half of the blood in Blood Seal’s body drained away, and his cultivation even regressed by a sub-realm. The malevolent blood lake drank in Blood Seal’s blood, and this formed a connection with it. The devilish will was pleased by this offering and formed a face on the inverted surface of the upside-down lake.

“Malevolent Blood Lake, kill him!” Blood Seal said, pointed to Cha Ming.

Cha Ming’s heart pounded as the blood lake directed its consciousness at him. It transformed into a giant serpent with the face of an old man. It flicked its forked tongue at him greedily. There was something on his body that it wanted.

The Heartforge Spirit Flames burned away a wave of paralysis in Cha Ming’s body, then shot a wave of fire into the blood lake. Alas, the blood lake was too large. The amount of energy required to boil it away exceeded what Cha Ming could muster.

The only way to take care of it, Cha Ming decided, was through his righteous blood. But he would need to weaken the blood lake first. He summoned pools of unstable alchemical ink and began painting runic lines with them. “This is the culmination of all my crafting knowledge, Blood Seal,” he said to the weakened cultivator. “I think I got it to work. Once.”

He painted a formation with thirteen blank spaces. It was mostly composed of Runebound Clan bindings and resembled a giant talisman. But it wasn’t a talisman – it was a talisman formation. He threw twelve God-Slaying Talismans into blank slots, leaving only the central slot empty.

The twelve talismans and the formation began to melt and combine just like the Five Essence binding from before. They mixed with the pools of ink Cha Ming summoned and formed into three-diemnsional bindings.

The reagents weren’t stable. Powerful energies were required to subdue them. Since Cha Ming’s cultivation was still low, he relied on his ten-colored energy and his law runes to force the fusion.

A string of text appeared at the center of the formation as the fusion reached completion. "REACHING BEYOND THE HEAVENS, DISDAINING IMMORTALS AND GODS!"

The large talisman flew into the heart of the malevolent blood lake, and the blood lake, not knowing any better, swallowed it. An explosion of creative and destructive energies ensued, ravaging the blood lake’s will and breaking it apart.

Cha Ming sent crystals of golden righteous blood into the lake, and the two energies began fighting for possession of the sinful object. Whoever won out on the exchange would end up with a stronger artifact.

As righteous and sinful blood waged war, Grand Artificer Fei and the Blood Leaf Elders wrapped up their battle. Grand Artificer Fei sacrificed three puppets, and Elder Winter took a grievous wound in exchange for landing a critical strike on Patriarch Blood God. Blood God tried to escape, but Luther, who’d been minding the battlefield, blocked its path. It chuckled darkly as Blood God’s opponents closed in and decapitated him again and again.

Patriarch Blood Demon and Sect Master Blood Sword soon followed. Their opponents were strong and overwhelming in number. Three great evils perished in the span of a few moments, completely destroying the morale of the Blood God Region’s forces.

Even the blood lake was affected. Its will wavered, allowing the righteous blood to gain the upper hand and refine a portion of its core energy. A radiant gold sheen appeared above the sinful lake as slowly but surely, its energy was purified.

Dao God Blood Seal could only let out a helpless laugh. “I guess that’s the end of the line for me. I hope you won’t do anything rash like destroy my soul.”

Cha Ming sighed. “I suppose everyone deserves a chance at reincarnation. Any last words, Blood Seal?”

“I just wonder if things would have worked out differently if we hadn’t pushed you into a corner,” Blood Seal said. “Back then, you were happy just staying in your region. When we attacked you, it spurred you to take more risks. When we ambushed you, you learned to cope and discovered some opportunities. l Otherwise, you’d never have closed the gap between us.”

Cha Ming nodded. “That is the nature of the Heartforge Realm, Blood Seal. To throw good and evil in a jar like poison insects and watch them devour each other until only the strongest insects crawl out.”

“So I’m not the only one who thinks so,” said Blood Seal. “Get on with it, Clear Sky. I don’t have all day.”

He bared his neck, but Cha Ming did not take his life. Instead, he motioned to the lake of righteous blood and pointed. “Here is your perpetrator,” he said, pointing to Blood Seal. “The one who set all this in motion.” The righteous blood shivered as it assessed Cha Ming’s words. Then it shook its head and howled in anger.

Cha Ming frowned. He could feel a trembling in their bond. The righteous blood had consumed the malevolent blood lake and grown much stronger, but there were side effects that needed to be worked out.”

“Are you saying some of these people are guilty as well?” Cha Ming asked the blood lake. It shook its head. “Then what are you saying?”

Through their bond, Cha Ming only felt an intent to kill. It wanted to kill… everyone. The Blood God Sect. All blood cultivators. All who dared manipulate blood should die. Even Cha Ming!

“We’ll talk about this later,” Cha Ming said. “Kill him first and obtain the vengeance I promised.” The righteous blood reluctantly transformed into a demonic maw that chomped down Blood Seal with a sickening crunch. A notice appeared on Cha Ming’s mission jade.

Dao God Blood Seal has perished in battle. Total points of 1,570,200 have been transferred from Dao God Blood Seal to Daoist Clear Sky. All territories previously controlled by Dao God Blood Seal have been annexed.

“Now come back,” Cha Ming said to the blood lake.

The blood lake shook and shot towards the battlefield, where inordinate amounts of blood had been spilled. It sopped up the blood and even chomped down on the corpses of Patriarch Blood God, Patriarch Blood Demon, and Sect Master Blood Sword.

“Return!” Cha Ming warned, but the blood did not listen. It turned its hate-filled eyes towards the cultivators of the War Blood Alliance and let out a gut-clenching shriek.

“Luther, stop it,” Cha Ming ordered. “Ninesky, help me seal it.” The karmic blood ink smashed against a screen of lightning. It howled with rage as it realized Cha Ming’s betrayal. How could Cha Ming, of all people, not understand it?

The righteous blood smashed against the lightning wall again. Chains of puppet lightning bit into its blood body, stopping it in place for a few brief moments as Cha Ming pressed a nine-colored seal onto it, locking away its spiritual consciousness.

He pulled the righteous blood back into the Clear Sky World and locked it away in its own isolated space. Then, thinking it a good idea, he tossed a ball of Heartforge Spirit Flame in after it to work away at the corruption in its will.

Cha Ming then turned around, and realized the battle was over. There was nothing left of the Blood God Sect’s advance party. Oster’s blockade had vanished, and the Blood God Sect’s ships had arrived to find their leaders dead and their hopes destroyed.

As for Oster, he had already fled with a third of the ships in the Blood God Sect’s fleet. There was no need to meet him after the battle, as they’d already arranged payment through the Greenwind Pavilion, verifiable by karmic contract.

The casualties suffered in this battle were an enormous loss to the Blood God Region – or maybe it should be called the True Blood Region now that the Blood God Sect’s leadership had been killed. Either way, the region would require a lot of reorganization.

“Elders? Let’s convene and meet with the leaders of the headless fleet,” Cha Ming said. “If they resist, capture and don’t kill.”