Chapter Sixty-Eight: Restoration

Drip... drip...

Bright red beads of blood slid down the man's palm.

With a dull thud, Li Ju casually tossed the desiccated corpse in his hand onto the ground.

“My injuries are recovering again,” he remarked.

He took a sweat towel from the trembling guard standing nearby and wiped the blood from his lips.

“Are there any more prisoners?” he asked after cleaning his mouth, turning to the attendant.

“Reporting, sir, those were all the condemned criminals from every jail in the city and surrounding towns. The rest from other counties are still on their way,” the guard replied, his voice quivering.

Anyone who witnessed a living person drained of every drop of blood and reduced to a withered husk would feel a deep fear toward the one responsible.

“How much longer will it take?” Li Ju asked, his interest fading.

“About half a month more,” the guard answered cautiously, afraid that the wrong word might anger this mysterious man and lead to his own demise.

“Half a month, then…” Li Ju tossed the used towel to the guard and strode out of the cell, heading for the upper levels of the prison.

He was currently housed in the Royal Sky Prison. Eager to heal, he had broken his own taboo during the battle with Tan Hai and resorted without hesitation to the sinister Ghost Bat Art to absorb blood and restore his wounds.

His first targets were the condemned prisoners in the Royal Sky Prison.

“There are three hundred condemned men in the Sky Prison, but only a hundred have any cultivation, and none have reached the Inner Strength realm. Even draining all three hundred only restores half my strength.”

Though Li Ju himself was still in the Inner Strength realm, his body, tempered by the Diamond Body of a Hundred Poisons, had the resilience of a Small Triad martial artist. Thanks to the Ghost Bat Art’s amplification, his physical strength even surpassed the average member of that class.

Such a formidable body could not be fully healed by the blood of three hundred ordinary prisoners; the energy within their blood was simply too meager.

“Over the years, the royal family of Chen has captured Inner Strength prisoners, but most were traded to other martial sects. According to what I’ve learned from the current emperor, the royal family now holds only two such prisoners.”

“But these two are not kept in the Sky Prison—they’re hidden in a secret location by royal Inner Strength experts.”

At this thought, Li Ju’s eyes narrowed.

The energy in the blood of two Inner Strength experts would rival, if not surpass, that of the three hundred ordinary prisoners. To regain his power quickly, he was determined to obtain them.

However, he had not yet fully seized control of the royal family—at least not the Inner Strength experts within its upper echelons. His previous injuries had forced him to leave them untouched.

“But now, with my strength partially restored, it’s time to take control of the royal family completely.”

“And I must hurry.”

Li Ju’s eyes grew dark and brooding.

In this world, the royal family and the court were essentially puppets manipulated by great powers like the Seven-Three Sect of the Demon Cult. His order to gather all condemned criminals from across the nation would not escape their notice.

Other factions might not suspect anything unusual, but Zhuge Huang of the Demon Cult knew he practiced the Ghost Bat Art. The cult surely understood its properties better than he himself did.

Once the Demon Cult pieced together this information and combined it with news of his recent battle with Tan Hai, they would easily deduce that he was hiding within the royal family, using its resources to heal himself.

“Even if the Demon Cult suspects me, I must recover fully before they track me down.”

His battle with Tan Hai had helped clarify his current place on the power spectrum. Discounting the blood he had absorbed, he and Tan Hai had fought to a standstill.

Armed with two divine weapons, Tan Hai was stronger than most Small Triad martial artists before his life was spent. By that measure, Li Ju was no weakling among the Small Triad class at his peak.

Though still no match for the great sects like the Demon Cult or the Seven-Three Sect, they could not easily crush him unless they used their most secret and powerful resources. Even if the current Demon Cult leader came at him wielding a false divine weapon, Li Ju was confident he could escape.

As Li Ju walked along the corridor lined with guards, heading out of the Sky Prison, a sudden daze overcame him.

Blood... blood...

Blood!

Like a voice echoing from the depths of his soul, Li Ju’s eyes flashed with a sinister red light. The guards around him were instantly overwhelmed by an immense aura, collapsing unconscious to the floor.

Not only the guards—nearly half the people in the Sky Prison fell into a stupor under the pressure, throwing the entire prison into chaos.

Fortunately, Li Ju had already drained all the condemned prisoners, so no major incident broke out.

“It’s happening again…”

He stood motionless for several breaths before finally closing his eyes. When he opened them, the eerie red gleam had faded.

“It’s getting stronger…”

Li Ju looked down at his own hand.

The Ghost Bat Art, for all its demonic power to seize the life essence of others, came at a price.

Every time he absorbed another’s life, the art generated a demonic will that eroded his spirit, pushing his mind toward chaos and madness, until, at last, he would become nothing but a puppet driven to feed on human blood.

At first, the demonic will was easily suppressed, but as he consumed more, it grew stronger, already beginning to subtly affect his mind.

Gain and loss—perhaps this was the price of demonic arts.

“Unfortunately, I cannot yet part with this power.”

Li Ju shook his head and continued toward the exit.

He still needed to use the art to heal, and even after his wounds were mended, he would have to steal more life to extend his own, for his remaining lifespan could be counted in mere months.