translator: ahad
Proofreading: shaheer
Humanity’s Great Sage – Chapter 1012: Usurping Power
“Sir!” Zhang Julai turned his head to look at Lu Ye, his expression seeking guidance.
Lu Ye pondered for a moment and said, “From now on, this Bright Moon Cave is yours to lead!”
According to his original plan, he had intended to slaughter all the Blood Race members here.
However, he hadn’t expected that there were some abducted Human women here, and that these Human women were all pregnant!
Killing all the Blood Race members here wasn’t a difficult task, but what would happen afterward? How were these women to be settled?
Leaving them here was never a good solution. If they were sent to nearby villages for settlement, it might be fine for a short time, but once they gave birth to Blood Race infants, the situation would only become even more dire.
There needed to be a space where they could survive in peace, and Bright Moon Cave was the only choice. Therefore, he could only temporarily maintain the status quo of Bright Moon Cave.
Only after they gave birth to the Blood Race infants could they be settled elsewhere.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Julai was overjoyed. He turned around, bowed, cut off Sun Miaozhu’s head, carried it in his hand, and strode out the door.
A group of Blood Race members rushed over from various places. Upon seeing the wide-eyed, death-staring head in his hand, they were all shocked.
One Blood Race member barked, “Zhang Julai, you killed the Cave Master? How dare you!”
Zhang Julai snorted coldly and threw Sun Miaozhu’s head away. “From now on, I am the Cave Master of Bright Moon Cave. Who agrees? Who objects?”
The blood-stained head rolled a few times on the ground until it reached the feet of the Blood Race member who had spoken. He took a step forward, his face cold and fierce. “You think you’re qualified to be the Cave Master? I’m afraid you don’t have the qualifications.”
In Bright Moon Cave, Sun Miaozhu’s strength was undoubtedly the strongest, followed by this Blood Race member who had spoken up, and only then would it be Zhang Julai’s turn, along with another Blood Race member of similar cultivation.
Sun Miaozhu was dead. Regardless of how Zhang Julai killed her, according to the rules of the Blood Race, only the strongest had the qualification to inherit the position of Cave Master. Naturally, this strongest Blood Race member was not convinced.
“Then I’ll let you see if I have the qualifications.” In the past, Zhang Julai naturally wouldn’t have vied for the position of Cave Master, as he knew his own limits. But now that Lu Ye had spoken, how could he dare not to obey?
Moreover, with Lu Ye and Dao Thirteen standing behind him, who in this Bright Moon Cave did he have to fear?
“Dao Thirteen!” Zhang Julai shouted sternly.
Lu Ye immediately gave Dao Thirteen a look.
Dao Thirteen strode out from behind Zhang Julai and headed straight toward the Blood Race member who had spoken, his Spiritual Power surging.
That Blood Race member couldn’t help but laugh loudly. “A mere Spirit Creek Realm Blood Slave, and you dare to act so presumptuously!”
As he spoke, he lunged forward and swiped his hand at Dao Thirteen’s head. His sharp fingernails hooked onto Dao Thirteen’s forehead. As blood energy and Spiritual Power surged, the Blood Race member’s expression suddenly changed. The scene he had expected—crushing this Blood Slave’s head—didn’t happen. He felt that what he was gripping wasn’t a head, but a piece of indestructible metal.
What was going on?
Just as a look of doubt appeared on his face, a fist rapidly magnified in his field of vision.
With a loud boom, a visible shockwave of air blasted out, and blood splattered everywhere.
Under Dao Thirteen’s single punch, the head of this Blood Race member, who had the cultivation of the Eighth-Order Cloud River Realm, was blown apart.
Blood gushed wildly from the severed neck.
This shocking scene caused all the Blood Race members present to turn pale. They looked at Dao Thirteen in terror, finally understanding where Zhang Julai got the ability to kill the Cave Master, and where he got the confidence to succeed as the Cave Master.
They had initially thought he had only acquired a sturdy-looking Blood Slave, but who knew this Blood Slave possessed such terrifying brute force?
The headless corpse swayed for a moment before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
This sound hit the hearts of all the Blood Race members like a heavy hammer. They suddenly came to their senses, and the looks they gave Zhang Julai had changed.
There was some fear, but more of it was envy.
“Is there anyone else who thinks I’m not qualified to inherit the position of Cave Master?” Zhang Julai scanned them with cold eyes.
The crowd of Blood Race members looked at one another before kneeling on one knee, reaching out to touch their chests, and shouting in unison: “Greetings, Cave Master!”
Zhang Julai couldn’t help but straighten his back, a sense of self-satisfaction welling up from within.
He had never thought he would have a day where he would inherit the position of Cave Master. Of course, he didn’t forget that all of this was brought about by Lu Ye.
Although it was Dao Thirteen who made the move, Dao Thirteen was only following Lu Ye’s orders.
Internal strife among the Blood Race was frequent and severe. Of course, for Blood Race members gathered in the same cave dwelling, conflicts generally wouldn’t occur, as they understood the principle of sticking together for warmth.
But there were always exceptions. Within the same cave dwelling, acts of usurpation could occasionally be seen.
This was also the reason why the many Blood Race members could quickly accept Zhang Julai. Now that he had such a powerful Blood Slave, he was naturally qualified to be the Cave Master.
If it were anyone else, any other Blood Race member sitting in that position would have been difficult to convince the masses.
“You may all withdraw. Go back to what you were doing. I will call you if there is anything.” Zhang Julai waved his hand.
The Blood Race members dared not object and returned to where they had come from.
After the Blood Race members retreated, Zhang Julai walked forward, took out the Blood Crystal from Sun Miaozhu, whom Dao Thirteen had punched to death, held it in both hands, and respectfully handed it to Lu Ye.
He also knew that this thing was of great use to Lu Ye.
Lu Ye nodded slightly. “Find a clean place for me.”
Zhang Julai immediately led the way.
A moment later, they arrived in a fairly spacious cave dwelling. Lu Ye set up some simple restrictions, sat down cross-legged, and began to meditate.
He took out clear water, thoroughly cleaned the two Blood Crystals, chose the one from Sun Miaozhu, and threw it into his mouth to bite it to pieces.
His cultivation had now recovered to the Seventh-Order Spirit Creek Realm level, and the benefits of consuming the Blood Crystal were much greater than hunting in the mountains and eating the flesh and blood of ordinary beasts. He could clearly feel the restrictive force within him dissipating.
After consuming this Blood Crystal, recovering his Cloud River Realm cultivation would be a breeze.
Crunch, crunch…
As he chewed, Lu Ye beckoned to Dao Thirteen, who was standing to the side.
Dao Thirteen sat down beside him.
Lu Ye handed him the other Blood Crystal. “Try it!”
After being sent to this world by the Heavens of Jiu Zhou, his biggest and only helper was undoubtedly Dao Thirteen. He needed to recover his strength as soon as possible, and Dao Thirteen did too.
However, Lu Ye was not sure if Dao Thirteen could absorb the energy within the Blood Crystal.
Although this thing could rapidly dissolve the restrictive force, it contained a lot of impurities. At this very moment, a large amount of grey mist was rising from the Tree of Glyphs, which was clearly the Tree of Glyphs burning off those impurities.
Dao Thirteen didn’t have a Tree of Glyphs, and Lu Ye didn’t know if there would be any trouble after he consumed the Blood Crystal.
But he was a Divine Ocean Realm Master in terms of physique, after all. Even if there were any issues, it shouldn’t be life-threatening. At the very least, it wouldn’t kill him. Therefore, Lu Ye intended to let him give it a try.
Dao Thirteen took the Blood Crystal, his brow furrowed into a knot. It was evident that he was very resistant to eating this thing.
But since it was Lu Ye’s order, he wouldn’t disobey. He threw the Blood Crystal into his mouth and began to chew.
Crunch, crunch…
One master and one servant, both with bulging cheeks, created a rhythmic crunching sound.
Soon, Dao Thirteen had some unusual reactions. A layer of blood light appeared on his skin, flickering on and off. Even his eyes were bloodshot, and the whole person seemed unusually irritable, yet he had nowhere to vent it, only spurting visible air blasts from his nostrils, like an enraged beast.
Lu Ye could clearly feel that the spirit light on Dao Thirteen’s body became somewhat obscure.
His Spiritual Power fluctuations, however, had clearly improved.
Lu Ye understood it instantly: consuming Blood Crystals was useful to Dao Thirteen, but the utility wasn’t as great as it was for him because he lacked the Tree of Glyphs, so he couldn’t refine all the power of the Blood Crystal like he did.
He relied on his powerful Divine Ocean Realm physique to refine only a small portion of its power.
Moreover, because the power in the Blood Crystal belonged to the Blood Race, it also had a certain degree of impact on Dao Thirteen’s Spiritual Power. This was the same logic as when a cultivator consumed too many Spirit Pills in a short time, leading to Pill Poison accumulation.
The obscurity of the spirit light on his body was the best proof of this.
In the end, Lu Ye concluded that Dao Thirteen could consume Blood Crystals to recover his cultivation, but the frequency had to be controlled; otherwise, it would do him more harm than good.
Lu Ye had already refined all the energy of the Blood Crystal, and as he had expected, his cultivation had recovered to the Cloud River Realm level.
However, judging by the external Spiritual Power fluctuations, it was only at the level of the First-Order Cloud River Realm.
Still need more Blood Crystals!
After organizing the various pieces of information about the Blood Race in his mind, Lu Ye made his plans.
A moment later, he summoned Zhang Julai, gave him some instructions, and Zhang Julai nodded repeatedly.
After a while, in a cave dwelling in Bright Moon Cave, Zhang Julai sat on a stone chair, with Lu Ye and Dao Thirteen acting as his left and right bodyguards, while below him stood a dozen or so Blood Race members.
This was the first time Zhang Julai had held a meeting since he became Cave Master. The Blood Race members naturally rushed over, coming in full force. Apart from the Blood Race member guarding the entrance of Bright Moon Cave, the rest had all arrived.
It was also thanks to the prestige Dao Thirteen had established earlier that the Blood Race members were so terrified. After they saw Dao Thirteen punch through a Cloud River Realm Eighth-Order Blood Race member’s head with their own eyes, no Blood Race member thought they could withstand a punch from him.
With their backs against the wall, it was easy for all the Blood Race members to accept Zhang Julai as their new Cave Master. In the Blood Refining Boundary, strength was king.
“I called everyone here to announce two things.” Zhang Julai followed Lu Ye’s previous instructions and spoke up.
The group of Blood Race members listened quietly.
“First, from today onwards, the Humans under the jurisdiction of Bright Moon Cave are not to be hunted or bullied at will. Anyone who violates this order, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
This statement caused an uproar in the entire hall.
Zhang Julai was now the Cave Master, so they had no opinions on that, given that he was lucky enough to have such a strong blood slave. In the Blood Refining Boundary, it was always the survival of the fittest.
But Zhang Julai’s order for them not to hunt or bully Human blood food was something that the Blood Race found difficult to accept. In the inherent values of the Blood Race, Humans were just livestock to be taken at will. It was the way of life for the Blood Race in the Blood Refining Boundary for countless years. Zhang Julai’s order was in direct conflict with their deeply rooted concepts and was indeed hard to implement. After all, they needed to cultivate, and if they really followed this order, their cultivation speed would be hindered in the future.
Although the Blood Race could also improve their cultivation by absorbing World Spiritual Qi or drawing power from Spirit Stones, such methods were far slower than absorbing the fresh blood of blood food.
“Is there any problem?” Zhang Julai’s gaze swept across the hall.
The Blood Race members looked at each other, but no one dared to raise an objection.
“The second thing.” Zhang Julai didn’t give them time to think. “Starting from today, I want everyone to find out the location of other Blood Race caves nearby and report back to me.”
“Why, Cave Master?”
“I have my own reasons. Do you have to ask?” Zhang Julai snorted.
The Blood Race members hurriedly lowered their heads, not daring to speak anymore.
(End of Chapter)