Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Palace of the Beast Sovereign

“No! It’s still too risky. I can’t go with you.”

Though Bing Xiao said this, his resolve was already wavering. As Lin Yanghao had pointed out, the Beast Sovereign’s palace must be severely understaffed at the moment; if they tried to steal from the treasury now, there was a real chance of success.

“Let’s go already,” Lin Yanghao said, losing patience for further debate. He grabbed Bing Xiao and headed straight for the palace.

“Lin Yanghao, how are we supposed to get inside? We can’t just walk in through the front gate, can we?” Bing Xiao asked as they approached the palace entrance, eyeing the guards stationed outside.

“Take a look at this. If the front gate is out of the question, we can always go underground.” Lin Yanghao produced a stack of talisman papers—none other than the earth-burrowing talismans he had crafted himself.

“What’s with that look?” Bing Xiao glanced back to find Lin Yanghao eyeing him with a mischievous glint.

His instincts screamed that something unpleasant was about to happen.

“Hurry up and get in, or you’ll end up creating trouble where there was none.” Lin Yanghao took out the spirit beast pouch, ready to force Bing Xiao inside.

With Bing Xiao’s massive frame, it would be impossible to sneak into the palace unnoticed.

“Where’s your integrity? Didn’t you promise me never to shove me into that wretched bag again? Here—how about this: I won’t go into the palace at all. Wouldn’t it be better if I stayed outside to cover your retreat?” Bing Xiao looked at Lin Yanghao with utter disdain for his actions.

“No way. Get in there already.” Lin Yanghao had no intention of agreeing; if he’d wanted to, he wouldn’t have dragged Bing Xiao along in the first place.

“If you don’t come, how will I know what’s valuable?”

Lin Yanghao needed Bing Xiao’s knowledge to identify the real treasures. If he went alone, he might not even recognize them.

...

Everything went smoothly—Lin Yanghao successfully used the earth-burrowing talisman to enter the palace.

He glanced around, and his good mood instantly vanished. A wave of nausea hit him; he couldn’t stand to stay here a moment longer.

The palace’s grandeur on the outside was completely at odds with the filth inside.

It wasn’t just that the palace was dilapidated—Lin Yanghao had spent years living in worse huts, so he hardly cared about a bit of decay.

“Bing Xiao, come out and take a look. What’s going on here?” Seeing no one around, Lin Yanghao released Bing Xiao from the pouch.

A stench of corpses permeated the entire hall; the walls and floors were smeared with blood.

Except for the two guards outside, not a soul remained within.

What on earth had happened here?

Lin Yanghao now regretted coming—given the state of the place, there likely weren’t any treasures left.

“This is the Blood Sacrifice Ritual! Who could be so cruel?” Bing Xiao exclaimed in horror—a testament to how terrifying this forbidden art must be.

“What is the Blood Sacrifice Ritual?” Lin Yanghao didn’t know what it was, but the name alone sounded ominous.

“This ritual was banned from the cultivation world tens of thousands of years ago—all knowledge of it was supposedly destroyed. I can’t believe we’re seeing it here today. Who would resort to such vile methods?”

Bing Xiao immediately recalled the scene when they first entered the Beast Domain and saw spirit beasts fleeing south. He now suspected it was connected to this blood ritual.

“What is the purpose of the Blood Sacrifice Ritual?” Lin Yanghao pressed.

“It serves only one purpose: to extract the essence blood of others. Look around—countless spirit beasts must have died here. Many dark arts rely on absorbing essence blood to cultivate. Whoever performed this ritual must have been collecting spirit beast blood for some sinister practice.”

But who could wield such power—to subdue and slaughter so many spirit beasts at once? Even the legendary Dao Yuan Saint Emperor couldn’t have pulled this off. Surely, the beasts hadn’t come here willingly?

Cold sweat beaded on Lin Yanghao’s brow, but he kept silent about his own spirit-binding technique, which also used spirit beast blood. Did that make his cultivation a forbidden art too?

Suddenly, Lin Yanghao sensed a surge of danger. He frowned and looked up.

Two mid-grade spirit beasts appeared—a black panther and a striped demon.

“Bing Xiao, we have to run! They’ve found us!” Lin Yanghao shouted. Bing Xiao, still stunned by the blood ritual, snapped to attention as the two beasts charged.

“Fireball! Spirit-Binding Art!”

Swish! Swish! Swish!

But Lin Yanghao’s fireballs all missed.

Although the spirit-binding technique gave his power a temporary boost, the opponents were simply too strong, and tension gripped his heart.

No wonder—they were mid-grade spirit beasts, after all.

“Bing Xiao, stop standing there! Help me!”

The fight erupted into chaos. Though Bing Xiao had lost his cultivation, his foundation as a former celestial beast remained, and Lin Yanghao himself was no weaker than a mid-grade spirit beast. Within a few exchanges, they managed to slay both foes.

“Who dares trespass in my palace?” A furious roar froze Lin Yanghao in terror before he could even celebrate.

“The fight must have drawn out the old monster. What do we do now?” Lin Yanghao transmitted a message to Bing Xiao. The newcomer was a genuine high-grade spirit beast—a Ghost-Faced Fox. Even dozens of Lin Yanghao and Bing Xiao together might not be a match.

“You’re asking me? How should I know? At this point, there’s only one option—there’s a secret technique I know. If it works, I can greatly increase my power for a short time.” Bing Xiao reluctantly replied. If there were any other way, he’d never consider using it.

“What technique? Tell me! What do you need from me?” Lin Yanghao’s eyes lit up, waiting for Bing Xiao to explain.

“It’s called the Return of Ten Thousand Beasts. The precondition is a master-servant contract with a human, which we have. Our minds must be perfectly synchronized; you just need to transfer your spiritual consciousness to me. As long as I have enough, I can summon the strength of many spirit beasts into myself and become much stronger.” At this, Bing Xiao suddenly seemed dejected, leaving Lin Yanghao puzzled—wasn’t this a good thing? Why so glum?

“But there’s a serious drawback. It always drains the sea of consciousness, and the longer it lasts, the worse the damage.”

This was no trivial matter. For both cultivators and spirit beasts, the sea of consciousness was second only to the dantian in importance. If it was damaged, progress in cultivation could grind to a halt.