Chapter 444: Chapter 412: Development_2

This was his foundation, so he had no choice but to step forward.

They naturally dared not oppose the words of the old man with a goatee, but the heads of their respective families had instructed them before coming here, that they must understand Xu Mu’s intentions. Now, if they were to return without any information, it would be difficult for them to explain.

“Can’t you hear what I’m saying? If there’s a problem, just have the people behind you come and find me directly.”

The old man with a goatee, who was able to manipulate the entire County City from behind the scenes, was not someone Wu Chengbo could compare with.

Although his martial strength was not as strong as Wu Chengbo’s, his skills in dealing with people far surpassed Wu Chengbo.

Seeing the old man with the goatee’s face darken, everyone dared not say anything more and withdrew one after another.

Once the old man with a goatee turned around, he reverted back to his smiling face, appearing to be a kind elder who didn’t inspire much animosity.

Xu Mu paid no heed to his counterparts’ tricks and schemes.

As far as he was concerned, as long as it worked, it was good enough.

At a glance, he recognized the old man’s position as the leader of the group, hence, he had chosen him to stay back.

He did not want to be the subject of a crowd spectating him.

“I wonder if there are any further instructions from the Sir? As long as I can do it, I will surpass myself to meet them!” said the old man with a goatee, grinning.

“There should be a place here to store the elite blood of the monster beasts, take me there to have a look.” Xu Mu said.

“This…”

The old man with a goatee’s face changed slightly.

Even though he had already anticipated such a request, he didn’t expect it to come this quickly.

In the League of Martial Artists, or even in the entire County City, the most precious thing without a doubt was the elite blood of the monster beasts.

It was obtained from the Wilderness at great manpower and material costs by the League, it was the League’s foundation, and it was also the reason the League could outweigh all the forces in the Da Xia Nation and control all martial artists.

Only with this elite blood could one become a martial artist. Even many major forces had to trade and purchase this blood from the League. Without the support of a Martial Arts Grandmaster, attempting to hunt and kill beasts for their blood on their own would be too dangerous.

If Xu Mu were to take all the elite blood of the monster beasts for himself, it would undoubtedly be a disastrous blow to the entire branch in the County City.

Although the current branch had already been devastated, the old man with a goatee didn’t want a repeat of such a catastrophe.

But facing Xu Mu, he didn’t seem to have any room to resist, having no choice but to bitterly regret in his heart.

Originally, he had planned to refrain from involvement, but now he was left carrying this huge burden.

“Any problem?” Seeing the old man with a goatee stand still without moving, Xu Mu asked lightly.

“No, no problem. Sir, please follow me.”

There was a forced smile on the old man with a goatee’s face, but at least he still maintained his usual demeanor.

The highest grade of monster beast blood in the armory was only at the Martial Emperor level, perhaps this would not be appreciated.

The old man with a goatee could only comfort himself in such a manner.

The two of them walked forward, one after the other. The guards along the way retreated to the sides at the old man’s signal, and there were no more obstinate people like those at the entrance of the Martial Method Pavilion.

The armory was not located above ground, but underground. Its surrounding walls were all made of fine iron. Even a Martial Emperor might not be able to break them in a short period.

Upon arriving at the entrance, the old man with a goatee took out a yin-yang jade pendant and placed it on a mechanism, gently turning it to slowly open the heavy iron door.

As the iron door opened, a cold gush of air surged out from the inside.

“This cold air is released by deep-sea mysterious jade to slow down the energy loss of monster beast’s elite blood.” the old man with a goatee began to explain.

Xu Mu didn’t respond but stepped in, with the old man quickly following.

The inside of the armory was not very large, probably only around 30 to 50 steps in diameter. It was filled with small drawers made of white jade stones.

On each drawer, there was a label made from bamboo.

Various names of monster beasts were written on them: Ferocious Ox, Ironskin Barbarian Ox, Blue-silk Silver Fox, Bloodthirsty Mad Wolf, White Cloud Illusion Python, Purple Dark Star Wolf, Jungle Gray Wolf, Yellow Electric Thunder Tiger, Sun Moon Twin Lizards, Water-stepping Blue Turtle, Fang Wolf, Iron Bone Copper Wolf, Night Blade Leopard, Two-headed Hunting Cheetah, Snow Spotted Black Leopard, Volcanic Cloud Deer, Plum Blossom Leopard, Wind Leopard, Earth Rampage Bear, Ironback Gray Bear, Earth Ice Bear, Sky Star Unicorn, Unicorn, Gale Horse, Flame Horse, Scale Snow Spirit Horse, Golden Horn Horse, White Dragon Horse, Hundred-change Spirit Monkey, Divine Arm Spirit Monkey, Spirit Stone Monkey, Green-eyed Demon Monkey, Powerful Golden Ape, Flame Demon Ape…

Aside from that, many drawers were not labeled.

The bearded old man with goat-like facial hair pulled open the closest small drawer to the door. A label reading Ironskin Barbarian Ox, a monster beast of martial master level, was affixed to it, revealing a diamond-shaped blood crystal inside when opened.

“The refined blood of all monster beasts is here. Where there are labels, there’s stock left. If there’s no label, it’s empty!”

After he finished speaking, the old man respectfully stepped to one side.

Xu Mu picked up the blood crystal of the Ironskin Barbarian Ox and began to study it.

According to information in books, martial artists would use a unique Secret Technique to seal the refined blood of an entire monster beast, along with its beast spirit, after hunting it. This would eventually form such a blood crystal.

Just like a person can implant it into their chest and absorb the Qi and blood in it using their Martial Method day by day to strengthen their body, while also integrating the beast spirit into themselves.

This process is incredibly dangerous. If not controlled properly, either the Qi and blood will explode, or the soul will be consumed by the beast spirit, turning one into a mutated martial artist.

Even if it was refined successfully, you might still be controlled by the beast spirit and turn into an insane being with no humanity left.

The reasons why the bodies of mutated martial artists are retrieved is, on the one hand, to encourage ordinary martial artists to hunt them, and on the other hand because these mutated martial artists can also be condensed into blood crystals, albeit a lower grade.

Xu Mu played with the blood crystal in his hand for a while, and then injected a trace of blood Qi into it.

Mu!

A low, rumbling animal roar came from the crystal. As Xu Mu continued to inject Qi into it, the entire blood crystal started to glow, gradually outlining an enormous grey-skinned ox.

At this point, Xu Mu stopped. Because if he continued to inject Qi into it, the blood crystal might shatter, releasing the beast spirit inside.

Even though these rootless beast spirits, like a floating duckweed, posed no threat to him, this way, a large amount of Qi and blood inside the blood crystal would be lost and end up completely disintegrating.

After conducting the experiment to confirm that it was a blood crystal, Xu Mu casually popped it in his mouth like a piece of candy.

The bearded old man at his side was completely stunned.

Although martial artists can extravagantly enhance their Qi and blood by absorbing blood crystals, the absorption process needed to be gradual, performed through external means.

There was no one like Xu Mu who would just swallow it directly. Even if the souls of Martial Emperors and Martial Ancestors weren’t afraid of martial master-level beast spirits, the impact would still affect them.

Just like an ordinary person isn’t afraid of ants, but getting bitten by one would still hurt a lot. However, a beast spirit is not an ant. A bite not only hurts, but also affects the purity of the soul, it’s absolutely disadvantageous.

The bearded old man could not figure out how such a high-level strong man like Xu Mu could make such a basic mistake.

Could it be just to show off in front him, to scare him?

Of course, Xu Mu wasn’t trying to scare the old man. He was only conducting a self-styled experiment to analyze what exactly a blood crystal was, and understand the nature of monster beasts through it.

Implanting it into his chest the normal way seemed too troublesome, so he simply swallowed it.

After the blood crystal entered his abdomen, it turned into a blood energy orb at once after he injected it with Qi, alongside the bellowing roar of the Ironskin Barbarian Ox, rampaging all inside his body.

But, Xu Mu’s body was indestructible. A mere martial master-level Ironskin Barbarian Ox wasn’t even able to break through a single meridian. It was trapped, like being enclosed in a small cage.

Xu Mu controlled his Qi and blood, ceaselessly bombarding it, making all sorts of attempts to analyze the power inside it.

“There doesn’t seem to be any difference between beast spirits and monster beast’s refined spirits, but this Qi and blood is a bit strange. It seems to be filled with some sort of active energy, not the same as simple Qi and blood!”

As he delved deeper into his research, Xu Mu faintly sensed, through the refined blood of the Ironskin Barbarian Ox, an ancient will that was currently dormant in the world.

Hum!

Perhaps because of his reckless actions, annoying that mysterious existence, the Ironskin Barbarian Ox’s refined blood, as the intermediary, collapsed in an instant.

“Huh? There’s a three-headed bird’s aura? I’ll let you off this time!”