After the Chief Elder's words, everyone straightened their back, ears perked up for any attacks.
It wasn't unusual to encounter any powerful creatures here. Moreover, there had also been rumors spreading of a red-haired monster lurking in the Life Forbidden Zone.
Darren himself had spotted a red figure while he was observing the picture presented by Elder Walt.
They probed the place with their spiritual senses for a long time, but they found nothing.
It was like the calm before the storm, and as each minute of silence passed, the more anxious they started to feel. It felt like someone was watching them from a distance.
"Let's keep going. According to the Jade Slip, we can step forward when we reach the land with hills," the Chief Elder said. With that, he flew down into a deep hole. With a bounce, he rushed to the land with hills.
Darren and the others also followed, arriving to the land of the hills a second after the Chief Elder did.
"There's really nothing to be scared about."
"Look! There's something red in the cliff!" an elder shouted, pointing to the direction where he spotted the red hue.
"It's the Holy Will Blood Lotus!" One look at it, the Chief Elder jumped in surprise, blurting out what he had just seen. With not a minute to waste, he flew towards the direction.
The rest of them followed.
As they got closer, Darren could now make out a red lotus the size of a millstone. It was sitting on the cliff, standing steadily against the wind.
The red lotus was made up of hundreds of small petals. Within each petal, one could make out tiny veins that stretched across the color—looking as if blood was flowing through one petal to the next.
"It smells so good." Hobson took a deep breath.
"The Holy Will Blood Lotus is extremely valuable. Chief Elder, please extract it and break through to the Holy Realm at once."
Ivan glanced at the blood lotus, envy pouring into his gaze. What he really wanted to do was to keep it to himself.
"Ignorant boy." The Chief Elder glanced at him indifferently.
"Umm... Why did you say that, Chief Elder?" Elder Queena, who was standing beside the crowd, asked in confusion.
What was wrong with refining this precious treasure? Why was Ivan ignorant for suggesting it?
"It is recorded in the Jade Slip that the Holy Will Blood Lotus grew from a stone stained by the blood of a great martial artist and accumulated after countless years of evolution. Although it contains the Holy Will of the ancient martial artist, his Holy Will may be different from ours—given the length of time it resided here. If we extract it ourselves by force, our bodies might not be able to handle it. We'll die," the Chief Elder explained.
"I see, but doesn't that render the flower useless?"
Walt looked at the beautiful blood lotus, frowning. Such beauty turned out to be useless to them all. It was a shame.
"Bullshit!" The Chief Elder cursed again.
The elders hid their faces from the Chief's outburst, aghast at his language.
"This is not just useful but extremely precious to us. We just need to use it the right way. It seems that I should cooperate with the people of the Divine Mountain Sect to refine the blood lotus into pills. After doing that, Darren and Hobson will receive one pill for each, while each of the elders will receive two. The rest will be given to the master."
"Thank you very much, Chief Elder!" The elders brightened up at his words, delighted that they were all able to benefit from the manifestation.
As soon as the Chief Elder finished his words, a black shovel appeared in his hands. He used it to carefully cut the root of the lotus.
As soon as the Chief Elder's shovel sank into the ground, a stream of blood spurted out on his body.
He stepped back hurriedly, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I didn't cut the root, why is there blood?" The Chief Elder glanced around, trying to look for the source.
"It's the stone sir!" Hobson shouted.
He didn't get to finish his words before the Chief Elder screamed.
The others immediately turned at the shrieking sound, before gasping. The blood that had coated his skin had turned his body black. His veins started popping out as it dried up from any color or moisture. They were rotting. Half of his face was already corroded.
The Chief Elder dropped the shovel almost immediately and retreated, the flower laying there completely untouched. Seeing this, Darren and the others flew back.
Once they reached safer grounds, the Chief Elder sat crossed legged on the ground. Before anyone could react, he grabbed a knife and scraped it over his skin—cutting off all the affected areas as he gritted his teeth.
With a brave face, he peeled and removed every single one of them.
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