Crow Immortal
Chapter 31: Regaining the Spirit Blood Vine

After pushing his spiritual breath to the limit today, Han Yu felt the weakness in his body from cultivation and began to activate the Blood Refinement Technique. 

As he activated it, Han Yu immediately sensed his vital essence slowly being consumed to compensate for his lack of original qi. 

Each activation of the Blood Refinement Technique caused a drop of vital essence to disperse directly into his body, and the weak, sickly feeling gradually faded away, replaced by a warmth as if bathed in sunlight. 

The damage caused by cultivating the Spirit Refining Technique was superficially repaired, but Han Yu felt that he still needed a few more days to find the optimal balance between cultivation and recovery before continuing to activate the Spirit Refining Technique. 

Refining the spiritual roots to improve aptitude was undoubtedly important, but not harming the foundation or endangering the future cultivation path was equally crucial. 

While estimating the cost of cultivating the Spirit Refining Technique, Han Yu suddenly sensed something and stood up to look out the window. 

He quickly withdrew his gaze; Wei Kunyi was walking toward Steward Wang’s residence, which was nothing noteworthy. 

Something had happened in the Spirit Fields today. Han Yu’s crows had already developed sentience and knew to avoid danger and seek benefit, so they did not come over to interact with him as they usually did. 

Early the next morning, Han Yu was inspecting the Spirit Fields. 

An outer sect disciple surnamed Hua was leading a person who had been whipped through the entire Spirit Fields, shouting, “From now on, anyone who neglects their duty to guard the Spirit Fields and does not focus on cultivation will meet the same fate!” 

Wherever they passed, many menial disciples burst into laughter because without the overseers and inner sect disciples around, disciple Hua was less severe than Steward Wang and even allowed some teasing remarks. 

“Junior Brother Lu, you’re truly one of a kind!” 

“The sect summoned everyone, yet Junior Brother Lu was too busy having fun—what a waste of every precious moment!” 

It turned out the whipped man, used as an example, was that eccentric menial disciple named Lu who had indulged himself yesterday. He was small and skinny, seeming not fully grown. 

Faced with everyone’s mockery, disciple Lu was thick-skinned and grinned, saying, “Thanks to Steward Wang’s teachings, I deeply recognize my mistakes; I used to indulge four times a day, but from now on it’s only twice a day. I won’t dare to miss any more important sect summons!” 

The menial disciples who were laughing at him were dumbfounded and speechless for a moment. 

Disciple Hua’s face darkened, and he kicked the scoundrel hard, sending him sprawling in the dirt. “You worthless brat, not only do you lack ambition, but you shamelessly parade it in front of everyone?” 

He warned everyone, “Anyone who dares to imitate him will be severely punished without mercy!” 

All the menial disciples nodded in agreement. After disciple Hua led disciple Lu away, many began to chuckle and discuss among themselves. 

“Junior Brother Lu is really extraordinary…” 

“Exactly, his skills are beyond our reach anyway… better to focus on cultivation and join the outer sect properly!” 

“I wonder how much he eats to make up for it all?” 

Han Yu, still young, wasn’t interested in this and merely watched before returning to his cultivation. 

That day, after activating the Green Sprout Qi Cultivation Technique again and confirming his daily absorption limit had increased slightly, Han Yu wanted to continue cultivating the Spirit Refining Technique to further improve his aptitude. 

However, after activating the Blood Refinement Technique and noticing his vital energy was still being consumed to repair himself, Han Yu calmed down. 

The damage caused by the Spirit Refining Technique was indeed considerable. Even after two days, his blood energy had not fully recovered; although outwardly fine, his body’s absorption of blood energy proved further repair was necessary. 

Only after another day did Han Yu feel his body fully restored, no longer absorbing extra blood energy. 

As the cost of cultivating the Spirit Refining Technique this time, Han Yu had consumed three whole drops of vital essence to repair himself thoroughly without leaving any aftereffects. 

The effect of the Spirit Refining Technique was astonishingly good, but the cost was equally shocking! 

Han Yu could only cultivate the Spirit Refining Technique once every five days—three days to recover himself, two days to cultivate the Blood Refinement Technique to replenish his vital essence, and only then could he activate the Spirit Refining Technique again to increase his cultivation aptitude slightly. 

Until the Fire Spiritual Root was completely refined, turning into the Three Spiritual Roots, the Spirit Refining Technique at the Qi Refining realm would reach its peak. 

“Caw!” 

That night, a large and a small crow flew across the night sky and landed inside Han Yu’s stone house. 

One of them held a section of Spirit Blood Vine in its claws. 

Han Yu smiled and said, “You found Spirit Blood Vine again?” 

“Caw, caw!” 

The large crow nodded, its dark golden eyes gleaming with anticipation, clearly wanting to consume this spiritual item. 

The small crow quietly hopped onto Han Yu’s shoulder and chirped softly, obviously also wanting to eat. 

The large crow immediately spread its wings threateningly at the small crow, which sadly hopped down, no longer daring to compete for its exclusive spot. 

This time, Han Yu did not immediately agree but pondered for a moment. 

His cultivation of the Blood Refinement Technique required vital energy, and repairing his body after cultivating the Spirit Refining Technique also needed blood energy. The consumption was quite high. Having this Spirit Blood Vine to increase his blood energy was definitely a good thing. 

After copying this piece of Spirit Blood Vine, Han Yu gave one portion to the large and small crows to share. 

The two crows ate their fill and, full of energy, spread their wings and flew toward the night sky. 

Han Yu watched them leave and then saw a flock of black specks of birds appear under the moonlight above the Spirit Fields, cawing as they flew away. 

Had the crow team led by the large crow grown in number again? 

Han Yu thought quietly to himself. 

Early the next morning, Han Yu once again inspected the Spirit Fields. For some unknown reason, the secrets concerning Zhang Shan suddenly spread widely starting today. Both Sun Kang and Liu Lan had inquired with Wei Kunyi and learned quite a detailed story. 

“So Zhang Shan was bought by the Spirit Beast Sect!” 

“He even secretly raised Spirit-Stealing Mice to steal others’ Green Sprout Spirit Rice!” 

Liu Lan wiped her tears again, this time from anger: Seeing her Spirit Rice harvest fail and Zhang Shan loaning her cultivation resources was all part of Zhang Shan’s trap from the beginning. 

She had harbored quite some goodwill toward Zhang Shan, but it turned out she had been conned from the very start! 

“That silver-white spindle was deliberately left by the Minor Heavenly Net Sect, maybe to mark their identity or to warn Wangu Valley!” Sun Kang told Han Yu, “I’m afraid Wangu Valley won’t have peace anymore!” 

Han Yu was a bit puzzled, so Sun Kang explained, “Recently, demonic cultivators from the Demon Blood Sect, disciples bought by the Spirit Beast Sect, and even people from the Minor Heavenly Net Sect have appeared one after another… Wangu Valley has never been known for warfare but specializes in planting spiritual herbs and fruits. These sects clearly have ill intentions!” 

“The Minor Heavenly Net Sect deliberately left their sect token, which might also be a warning to Wangu Valley that they have been targeted by other sects.” 

Han Yu was surprised and asked in detail. Sun Kang, Liu Lan, and Wei Kunyi explained the current situation outside Wangu Valley in a few words. 

A century ago, the five great sects of the southern cultivation region—Wangu Valley, Spirit Beast Sect, Minor Heavenly Net Sect, Spirit Sword Sect, and Xuan Yi Sect—jointly wiped out the Demon Blood Sect, which had been recklessly attacking cultivators to increase its power. Since then, only the five great sects remained in the southern region. If demonic cultivators from the Demon Blood Sect appeared, they would be hunted down by the five great sects without mercy. 

Among the five great sects, Wangu Valley was the least adept at magical combat and warfare, marked by a ten-thousand-year-old ancient spiritual tree as their sect’s spiritual symbol, with planting spiritual items as their greatest source of profit. 

Now, other sects sending people to infiltrate Wangu Valley and buying off Wangu Valley disciples were likely harboring sinister intentions.