Facing the Abyss as a Demon Cultivator

“Shua!”

Chu Xiu flicked his right hand, flinging the viscous black blood off the spear tip. He stood in the middle of the living room, surrounded by a scene straight out of hell.

The wardrobe that had served as cover and the corridors on both sides were long destroyed. The battlefield had expanded to encompass the entire living room. The shattered bodies of ghouls lay scattered everywhere. Severed limbs, yellow-green internal organs, and intestines sliding in slime were all too common.

Silence hung heavy in the apartment building, not a single sound could be heard anymore, only Chu Xiu's own heavy panting.

In the past ten minutes, he had experienced the most intense battle since descending into the abyss.

Wave after wave of ghouls surged forward, giving Chu Xiu no chance to breathe. They were frenzied, fearless of pain. Despite their lack of reason, they possessed extremely high combat instincts. They leaped onto the ceiling, their sharp nails digging into the walls, crawling, and launching attacks from all directions.

He remembered his cover being quickly destroyed, two ghouls pouncing on him, their mouths wide open, gnawing at his shoulders. Even though the spikes on his armor pierced their mouths, these crazed creatures showed no sign of stopping their assault.

He could only brandish his bone spear to block the oncoming ghouls while using his heavily armored left hand to smash their heads, again and again, until blood splattered, revealing their white brains.

It was a slaughter driven by primal instinct, exceeding anything he could have imagined.

By the end, Chu Xiu had gone berserk. He couldn't remember how many times he had been hit, only that even with the protection of the +6 Energy Absorption Armor, his entire body ached.

Fortunately, after absorbing the ghouls' blood, the power of the Bone Blood Devouring Formation increased dramatically.

After withstanding the first wave of attacks, things became much easier. By the end, the ghouls that entered the formation had to exert all their strength just to move. It was as if countless hands from the depths of hell were dragging at their bodies.

With the help of the Bone Blood Devouring Formation, he successfully killed the last ghoul that attacked.

Unfortunately, the temporary power boost from the blood sacrifice would gradually disappear. Otherwise, relying on this formation, Chu Xiu could continuously expand an invincible domain.

At this moment, Chu Xiu had little stamina or energy left. The high consumption of Shadow Wind Blade had almost drained him.

But his weary face was full of joy.

Twenty-one!

In these ten minutes, he had killed a total of twenty-one ghouls!

It was a bit less than he had estimated, but it was enough. Compared to the daytime, it was more than double the number he had killed in the entire morning!

Killing so many ghouls caused his challenge task progress of killing one hundred F-rank lifeforms to skyrocket! He was only 48 away from completion!

Moreover, these twenty-one black-furred ghouls had exploded with a total of 32 Karma Points and two pieces of Common quality equipment! They were a saber and a wolf-tooth mace, respectively.

It was a pity that these two pieces of equipment were not very useful and could only be sold after he returned.

Of course, these were just pleasant surprises. The most important thing was...

【Slaughtering living beings, Profession Experience +818】

【Level Up!】

【Current Rank: Mortal Tier Level 5】

He leveled up!

A brand-new surge of power flowed into Chu Xiu's body. This feeling of increased strength made him forget his fatigue.

【Name】Chu Xiu

【Rank】Mortal Tier Level 5 (45/1000)

【Constitution】7.52
【Spirit】6.10
【Energy Level】18.05
【Other】Omitted
All his attributes had been greatly enhanced again!

Of course, what Chu Xiu was most looking forward to was naturally the newly unlocked Inheritance!

【Holy Sect Secret Art Unlocked】

【Bloodthirst Heart Refining Art】

【Rank: Mortal】

【Quality: Superior】

【Description: A basic secret art included in the "Golden Embryo Netherworld Technique," one of the top inheritances of the Holy Sect. By enhancing the heart's blood supply capacity, it greatly improves the cultivator's physique.】

【Endurance +11, Strength +6, Life Recovery Speed +3.5, Nerve Reaction Speed +2 (comprehensively reflected as Constitution +7.6)】

【Evaluation: Congratulations! You have unlocked the first chapter of the "Golden Embryo Netherworld Technique"!】

【In order to better slaughter living beings, demonic cultivators pay great attention to physical training. The image of gloomy and withered figures in those novels is undoubtedly a blatant smear campaign by the righteous hypocrites against us demonic cultivators!】
【Back to the topic, the "Golden Embryo Netherworld Technique" is the top body tempering inheritance prepared by the Holy Sect for its disciples!】
【The mastery of each secret art within will bring your physique a great leap forward.】

【However, you must also be prepared. As an orthodox inheritance of the Holy Sect, its cultivation difficulty is far from comparable to the previous insignificant techniques.】
【After all, how can there be power gained effortlessly?】

After reading the information in front of him, Chu Xiu couldn't help but be overjoyed!

Finally, an Inheritance that enhanced basic attributes!

He had to admit, no matter how powerful the effects of other Inheritances were, Chu Xiu always felt a sense of insecurity.

He knew very well that when facing enemies with superior basic attributes, those fancy techniques would be greatly discounted.

The saying "One force breaks all techniques" and "In martial arts, speed is king" all spoke to the importance of basic attributes!

If his own physique wasn't strong enough, many times, he wouldn't even have the chance to unleash those magical artifacts and secret arts before being instantly killed by the enemy!

It was like how even with powerful firearms, humans would still fear lions and tigers.

And this secret art perfectly made up for this point.

Just by mastering it, he could gain a whopping 7.6 points in Constitution! This was even more than the Constitution increase of an A-rank melee Profession after two level-ups!

This secret art alone could make up for the shortcomings in Chu Xiu's attributes, allowing his attribute growth to be directly comparable to an SSS-rank Profession!

"If I had these 7.6 points in Constitution, even without the Bone Blood Devouring Formation, I would be able to slaughter these ghouls with ease during the night!"

"And according to the evaluation, this is just the most basic one, and there's a whole set of complete inheritance after this!"

"As expected of a [MAX] rank Profession!"

Chu Xiu couldn't help but smile.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he hurriedly checked the cultivation requirements of this secret art.

However, it didn't take long for him to frown slightly.

As expected from the evaluation, this secret art was not easy to cultivate.

In the original world, before being digitized by the abyss, it required the heart blood of one hundred boys and one hundred girls, supplemented by the flesh and blood of one hundred large livestock such as cattle and horses. This concoction was then used to create a blood pool, in which one would soak and circulate their energy for forty-nine days to achieve mastery.

"The blood essence of children contains a large amount of life essence accumulated from the womb, which has not been completely consumed, while large livestock such as cattle and horses can provide abundant energy and vitality."

"Demonic cultivation techniques are truly thorough!"

Chu Xiu stroked his chin, "With Perfect Refinement, I don't need to go through the troublesome process of absorbing blood essence. It's just that blood essence is not easy to find."

Chu Xiu tried to extract and absorb the blood essence from the ghouls on the ground, but found that the progress was extremely slow. One ghoul could only provide less than one percent.

As for forcefully cultivating with Karma Points, it would probably require eight to nine hundred points, which was not cost-effective.

"It seems the problem still lies in the so-called 'life essence.' These ghouls have enough energy and vitality, but their 'life essence' is probably even worse than that of ordinary people!"

Chu Xiu even suspected that the so-called ghoul curse transformed the infected's life essence into power.

"Perhaps higher-level ghouls would have better effects?"

At this moment, Chu Xiu's eyes suddenly flickered, and a thought emerged in his mind.

He didn't know if high-level ghouls had more life essence, but high-level Awakened definitely did…

Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought in his mind with amusement.

He would consider these things later. There were more pressing matters at hand.

Chu Xiu looked at the pile of corpses in the room, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

"[Perfect Refinement], activate!"

As Chu Xiu's thoughts moved, the corpses on the ground began to melt, gradually condensing into pure essence, and finally, all merged into the Bone Yin Soul Banner.

After absorbing the souls of these twenty-one black-furred ghouls, this demonic artifact had finally met the requirements for the birth of a Yin Ghost!

Chu Xiu was very much looking forward to this ghost that required a hundred living souls to refine!
(End of chapter)