Xia Xuefeng trembled in concentration. All around her, jelly-like blood swirled toward her in a vortex, refining into pure Blood Qi that filled her meridian channels and swelled her Dantian.

Inside the Spiritual Organ, a large redwood cross hovered. Ghostly faces emitting shrill screams of tortured agony could be faintly made out around the cross. This was her Crucifix Dao-Platform and the center of her Cultivation Base. Inside the wood, eight large red nails glowed.

Xia Xuefeng inhaled deeply, focusing as she gathered every drop of Blood Qi currently churning through her meridian system.

'Gather... Condense, then sharpen!'

The blood qi swirled into a ball beneath the cross. Then it began to tighten and shrink into a pure crimson pearl. The pearl extended and morphed into the shape of a sharpened needle.

'Now, pierce!'

The needle of blood qi fired forward and stabbed into the wood of her Dao-Platform. Xia Xuefeng suppressed a shriek of pain as her entire meridian system shuddered in agony. For a moment, her concentration slipped, and the shape of the blood needle began to waver, as it began returning to an amorphous blob.

Before it could fail, the girl cleared her mind. She forced the needle to maintain its shape, and then slowly, pushed it even deeper into the wood until it was completely flush. Gritting her teeth, she let loose a cry of agony as the pain overwhelmed her.

The back of the needle flattened out, as it finally took the form of a nail that was now fully embedded into the wood.

'At last! Nine nails!' Xia Xuefeng gasped.

A surge of power roiled through her body and the qi around her trembled with the force of the breakthrough.

In the Foundation Establishment Portion of the Blood Moon Spectral God's Anthem of the Crucified, one must nail their Crucifix Dao Platform nine times, each nail increasing your cultivation base by a single stage.

With nine nailings finally completed, Xia Xuefeng had reached the final stage of the Second Realm. It was the same cultivation base as her own Master, Bing Meilu. However, the blood cultivator maintained no illusions she would stand a chance in a fight against her mysterious benefactor.

“...The only thing left is to break through to Core Formation,” a bitter smile grew on the young girl's features.

That was easier said than done, of course. She only had one week to gather enough Qi and strength to be capable of surviving the Core Formation Heavenly Tribulation.

“Well, if I want to show off in front of my new junior sisters, then I will have to endure this difficulty,” a wry smile grew on Xia Xuefeng's lips.

The girl stood, stretching her back and sighing. Hopefully, she would have at least another few hours to relax after the stress of her breakthrough-

The floor under her opened up. Xia Xuefeng let out an undignified scream of surprise as she fell into the water below.

“God dammit!”

You would have thought that by now she would have become used to it, but somehow she was just never ready. Xia Xuefeng clapped her hands as she fell, and a platform of blood formed underneath her feet.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Xia Xuefeng was theoretically capable of learning a flight technique… she just hadn't. However, she could manipulate blood around her to lift herself using raw Qi manipulation as a workaround.

Below her, millions of tiny Sea Beasts gathered in a ravenous horde of writhing, wriggling flesh. They feasted on what little blood remained after her breakthrough, and then on each other.

A much larger fish leaped from the pile below, flying towards her like an arrow let loose, gliding on two long, winglike fins. Its strength was equivalent to the mid-second realm, roughly. The mindless creature was not capable of knowing it was now running to its death.

A grim smile grew on Xia Xuefeng's face. She waved a finger and a blade of blood fired forward through the air, slicing the flying fish in half.

Its rich life essence spilled outwards, and with a wave of her hands, rushing towards Xia Xuefeng. Pouring into her meridians through her apertures, she shivered as tingles of mind-bending pleasure filled her body.

The sensation of absorbing Blood Qi was also something Xia Xuefeng thought she would never get used to. Suddenly, a grin grew on her face as she stared down at the writhing massacre below. Prey. Her prey.

The blood platform dissolved beneath her feet, and she fell straight into the bloody debauchery below.

"Blood-Demons Whirlwind!" Xia Xuefeng declared aloud.

The blood-filled water trembled as Xia Xuefeng extended her will upon it. A fifty-meter-wide vortex formed, crushing waves of bloody liquid crushing and ripping through the hapless fish unlucky enough to get caught in it.

A crackling, booming sound filled the air. Xia Xuefeng tilted her head to the side, as a jet of hyper-pressurized water flew just past her head.

A dozen feet from her, a prawn-like creature floated in the air, insectoid wings buzzing. It lifted its claws as it readied its next attack.

'Red Lotus Dress - Modified!'

Blood spilled from every one of Xia Xuefeng's pores as she activated the defensive battle art. Normally, it would cover her body in an elegant red dress of the hyperdense blood that would blow attacks. Despite being a dress, it was a fully covering defensive technique, since it also included a veil for the face and gloves for the hands.

However, it just did not feel right to Xia Xuefeng anymore. Wearing it felt like a lie. The beautiful elegant dress seemed more suited to some elegant young lady from a wealthy clan than her. Xia Xuefeng was not some frail girl in need of protection. She was a killer. She had survived the Shadow Pit - or at least most of her had.

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Blood spilled out, swelling into thick, plates of red metal covered in curved spikes. A faceless helmet with a crown of thorny spikes grew around her head. This was not the outfit of an elegant heavenly fairy untouched by the mortal dust. Instead, it was more suited to a demonic champion like in those old stories about the fall of the Grand Xia Dynasty.

This was Xia Xuefeng's first self-created Battle Art. It was just a slight modification technically speaking, but it was the first aspect of her cultivation that was hers. Not a gift from Bing Meilu or a leftover of the Blood Moon Spectral God. It was hers alone.

"Battle Art - Crimson Slaughter Mail!"

"Now this, this suits me better," Xia Xuefeng giggled.

The explosive jets of water slammed into the amorphous plates of solid blood and dispersed without harming the thirteen-year-old girl within.

Her body rocked forward and in a blink of speed, she appeared before the prawn. Her gauntlet-covered hands reached out and wrapped around the creature's torso before it could react. Her spikes dug into its flesh, drawing out turquoise blood.

The crustacean let loose an airless scream as it writhed in agony. Her arm tightened, and then its exoskeleton shattered. Her arms shredded through its soft, gooey innards, and just like that, she had literally hugged the creature in half.

The last one of this creature's kind she had killed via impaling it head to ass with a spear of blood like one of those seafood skewers she had eaten back in Bluewing Prefecture. She had made it something of a game to constantly one-up herself with creative ways to kill them.

'It's gonna be tough to outdo this one though,' the blood-covered child thought to herself.

Another jet of water cracked against the back of her skull, and she turned around in annoyance, looking over to where another of the flying prawn creatures buzzed.

'Heavens above, these things are so annoying-'

Maybe this time, she would force-feed it the blood of what was probably its brother or cousin until it exploded from within? Or she could get it to melt its own head off with that acid the things used to eat? Well, there were a lot of good options, Xia Xuefeng thought to herself while nodding.

Hours turned into days, as Xia Xuefeng carved into the numerous lifeforms around like a farmer scything his wheat. The creatures were almost all in the first or Second Realms, and were just trash she could kill as easily as turning over a hand.

When the rare Core Formation level beast appeared-that was the real treat. At first, she had been terrified to fight an entity a whole realm superior to herself. The first two weeks of it had been hell on earth,randomly dropping into the water and fighting for her life with creatures whose mere auras made her feel like a mountain had fallen onto her chest.

But by now, she had grown to somewhat enjoy it. They were the only fights at least a little challenging.

The next challenger to come was a huge starfish with fuzzy blue fur that crackled with electricity. Despite being only barely in the Third Realm, its mere aura smashing into Xia Xuefeng was enough to the point she could barely breathe. The girl began to laugh maniacally. She leaped forward, raising her hand.

“Deity Piercing Spectral Lance!”

Musical screams of torture and agony filled the air, as ghostly damned souls poured outwards from the girl's palm, taking the shape of a long, translucent spear. It resembled a purple distortion in the air, like a heat haze. If one looked closely, one could see little ghostly faces covering the length of the conjured weapon singing a choir of tormented agony.

Xia Xuefeng had long wondered where the energy of ghostly Qi that powered this particular Battle Art came from. In the end, she could only conclude that when she absorbed the blood of a creature, she must also absorb some of its very soul as well.

A part of her wondered if those demonic cultivators she had killed in the Shadow Pit were still aware, in some sense. Were they suffering? Did they know they were dead? Another part of her wanted to stop wondering about that.

Luckily, Xia Xuefeng had the perfect distraction for those disquieting thoughts. She thrust her spear forward as she flew, propelling herself by pulling on her own armour.

Her spear razed through the creature, parting not only its flesh but ripping through its soul as well. As she neared it, an explosive bolt of lightning smashed into her armour.

Xia Xuefeng let loose a scream of agony as her left arm was turned to smoky dust in an instant. But...

'It's not as bad as a Nailing,' she thought, mind strangely clear.

Xia Xuefeng considered popping a healing pill from her spatial ring. But, she had a cheaper solution. Blood-Demon's Whirwind activated once more, and fresh blood began to rapidly pour into the gap where her arm had once been.

A pleasant sensation spread through the region as new flesh rapidly grew. It would be about a full minute before her arm was back, but that was enough time.

Two ghostly lances appeared, floating behind her head. With a wave of her remaining hand, they buzzed forward, impaling the wriggling starfish. They tore through its flesh like paper, before turning around and repeating the process.

A minute was a bit too generous. Twenty seconds later, the creature leaked out the last drop of its rich, zesty blood. Xia Xuefeng gratefully accepted its unwilling tribute and absorbed the blood.

The battle was honestly a little disappointing. While the creature certainly had enough strength to kill her if she let it, its durability was far more lacking.

Well, a lot of creature's durability was lacking when you considered the Deity Piercing Spectral Lance was a soul-severing weapon designed to fell Gods but...

Regardless, just a few more of these Third Tier Sea Beasts and she would be ready for her breakthrough.

"Come on then! Is that all you ants have got? I'm almost getting bored!" Xia Xuefeng roared into the air.

Just as she spoke, there was a pulse of rainbow lightning in the distance. Xia Xuefeng shuddered, as she felt a titanic pressure fill the air. She froze in place like a still image, alongside all the writhing Sea Beasts below. The unending orgy of blood and death that had been without halt for nearly a month finally came to an end. Not one creature moved an inch.

'N-nascent Soul?' the girl gasped in shock.

It was not that she had ever been exposed to the Aura of such an entity, but rather that whatever it was, was so far beyond any of the Core Formation level creatures she had fought as to be beyond comparison.

The surrounding water pulsed, before slowly it began to rush downwards and away from her. Xia Xuefeng could only watch in horror, unable to move as her body was tugged alongside the water.

A golden chain suddenly shot from the Captured Slave Galley, wrapping around her. A sense of relief washed over her as her limp body was tugged backwards and onto the deck of the ship.

But the sense of relief was much dampened when she saw the creature emerging from below the water.

She did not know exactly what to call it. The creature was more a massive mouth than any living entity she had seen before. The outside of it was a thick, mottled purple leather. Inside its gaping maw were thousands of rings of teeth that rapidly rotated, grinding down any errant creature that entered into bloody mincemeat.

From its leathery purple skin, irregular tentacles grew, each one as thick as a tree trunk and as long as one, or one and a half li. The tentacles grasped out, dipping into the water and returning, wrapped around various Third Tier Sea Beasts. From entire boat-sized whales to more of the electric starfish Xia Xuefeng had just killed.

The creature lifted them all into its gaping maw and then just dropped them. The girl winced as she watched a blubbery whale the size of the Captured Slave Galley shredded to paste in mere seconds of exposure to those rows of teeth.

'I've never felt worse to get my wish answered-' the girl's eyes widened.