The Blood Plane

Yaan was torn away from the Southern Continent, forcefully bound by the karmic chains and dragged into the spatial tear. He watched the lands below him rapidly disappear from view as the spatial tear closed, causing an unfamiliar sense of despair to build up within him.

Yaan had experienced many strange things in his life, but this was simply too much! Karmic chains had dragged him away from the world that he was familiar with, into a seemingly endless river of glowing green chains!

Facing these chains, Yaan felt extremely helpless. He was like an ant trying to cross the sea…this river was far too vast, the chains far too shocking!

These green chains resembled the karmic connections which he had encountered on multiple occasions, but some of the chains were simply incomparable to those he had seen previously. There were small threads the width of a hair, but likewise, there were enormous lengths of chain, towering around Yaan like endless mountain ranges!

The scale of these larger chains was so vast that Yaan could not even see where they started and where they ended.

When he tried to utilise his cultivation to protect himself, Yaan's expression changed. His face became pale and he coughed out a lungful of blood, stumbling forwards with blurred vision.

It was only now that he realised that 'devouring' the Fragment of Qi had resulted in some negative consequences after all; unknowingly, a crack had appeared on his Vital Qi Core!

If Yaan continued to actively utilise his cultivation, this crack would grow larger. Right now, it wasn't a fatal injury, it could be healed with time, but if he pushed it any further, he would fall into a terrible state.

Without the ability to resist the powerful currents, Yaan could only allow himself to be swept up with the river's flow, until the overwhelming pressure of the karmic river caused him to lose consciousness.

Yaan's small body seemed so insignificant amongst the raging stream of glowing green karmic chains. If he was left alone in this place, without anyone to step in and save him, he would certainly lose his life.

The Primordial Sage stood atop a particular chain and looked down at Yaan calmly. After following him into the karmic river, she did not act immediately, but simply watched as he struggled, waiting until he lost consciousness naturally. After his eyes slowly closed, she stretched out one hand to the side, then lightly tapped the chain link beside her.

WAM!

In an instant, a shockwave spread across this region of the river. The very same chains which had bound Yaan and dragged him into this place, now absorbed a significant amount of the splendour of the countless surrounding chains, tightening their grip over his frail body. Black runes lit up all over these chains. The complexity of these runes was so extreme that there was likely nobody in this universe capable of comprehending them.

That is, nobody aside from the Primordial Sage.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, the chains which bound Yaan were rekindled with life, hastily dragging his unconscious self in a certain direction. These chains weaved in and out of the other karmic connections that made up the endless karmic river, until eventually, another spatial tear spontaneously formed.

Yaan was thrust through the spatial tear - he was now being pushed by the chains rather than pulled.

The Primordial Sage was focussed, constantly manipulating the black runes to drive Yaan towards her desired direction.

In the end, even she could not perfectly manipulate karma. Even so, the result of where Yaan ended up was good enough.

The young girl silently stepped through the spatial tear, following Yaan onto the Blood Plane.

CRACK!

A giant black crack tore open the sky, creating a deafening sound that echoed for miles in every direction. However, it was currently the dead of the night in this place. There was nobody around to see the crack form and disappear within a few seconds, neither did anyone notice a small, injured body, dropping out from the crack, before landing with a soft thud on the grassy plains below.

Yaan lay motionlessly on the fertile land, staining the grass red with his blood. His figure looked extremely out of place. He was out here in open air, in the middle of an unpopulated area, wearing a red silk robe, whilst sleeping soundly on the soft grass.

Day and night passed by, time and time again…before long, Yaan had been lying here for more than ten days. He was injured, but with his constitution, he would wake up eventually; it was only a matter of time.

A few miles away from Yaan, a group of men and women fled from their pursuers on horse back. They wore beast furs and had relatively dark skin, but those chasing them were a shade darker, and far larger at that…in fact, their pursuers were members of the Aztec Tribe!

The fleeing tribesmen were only ordinary humans, they came from the nearby Burning Lotus Tribe. The Burning Lotus Tribe was only a small tribe, it could not compare to the Aztec Tribe, a renowned lineage with history spanning back for hundreds of thousands of years, and branches placed all across the world of the Blood Plane!

These Aztec Tribesmen were from one such branch. It was only a small branch of the Aztec Tribe as a whole, but even a small branch of the Aztec Tribe would ignite fear in the hearts of ordinary humans.

The Burning Lotus Tribesmen showed fearful expressions as they fled. They glanced back to check on their distance from the Aztec Tribesmen, only to discover that their pursuers were now almost upon them!

"Pahaha! Little men, stop and surrender, we might consider sparing your lives!" A giant of a man roared out with laughter when he saw the fearful expressions of his prey. He was clearly enjoying this hunt, he often tormented those whom he chased like this.

Members of the Aztec Tribe were considered 'human', but they were certainly not ordinary humans. These tribesmen were more suited towards body tempering cultivation compared to regular humans, they also grew much larger than any normal human as they progressed further through their cultivation. Even the smallest of these Aztecs was a seven-foot tall woman, whilst the group leader was actually nine feet tall!

Not only was the leader of the Aztecs large in stature, but he was strong too, stronger than anyone else present. He was also the only member of the Aztec hunting party with astral tattoos on his body, giving him a strong position of authority within the group. The Aztec Tribe respected those who were able to dominate astral spirits and form Astral Tattoos - this was their tribal tradition that had been passed down through countless generations.

That said, astral cultivation was too difficult for most people, even the Aztecs only cultivated the astral path as a side endeavour. Their main path of cultivation was the same as the path followed by almost every intelligent being on the Blood Plane; the true body tempering path!

The Aztec leader decided that he had toyed with the pitiful Burning Lotus Tribesmen enough. These people were only at the Silver Class, and whilst most of the pursuing Aztecs were also at the Silver Class, Aztecs were naturally more powerful than other humans at the same level.

As for the Aztec leader in this group, he was an esteemed Gold Class warrior!

Whilst Gold Class was far from the peak in their tribe's branch, it was still quite a good achievement compared to the masses. Even in the Aztec Tribe, where body tempering cultivation was the main focus of almost all the people, the majority of individuals could only reach Iron or Bronze Class. Reaching Silver Class made one an elite, whilst those able to attain Gold Class cultivation became the leaders of hunting groups and captains of units within the war forces.

After chasing them for multiple hours, the Aztec Tribesmen finally caught up. The Burning Lotus Tribesmen were unable to defend against their horseback assault. Four members of their group fell victim to the towering Aztecs and their sharpened bone blades.

Seeing four of their companions' heads rolling along the grass below them severely shocked the remaining group members. They fell into despair, and before long, they decided to surrender to the Aztecs.

At least if they surrendered, there was a chance for them to survive for a while longer…

That said, the Aztecs were renowned for their brutal traditions. They often sacrificed their captured enemies in ceremonies, or sometimes even before battle, to ignite their own side's bloodlust whilst quenching their opponent's morale.

Just as the Aztec Tribesmen were prepared to return to their tribe, having tied up their captives in black steel shackles, the leader of the group paused. As he squinted into the distance, he caught sight of a faint glimmer from the corner of his eye.

"Wait." The towering man lifted up one hand, immediately bringing the group to a halt. The others didn't question his order and simply waited respectfully as he rode his horse across three hills, before finally coming to a stop.

"A child?" The Aztec man muttered as he stared down at the unconscious robed child. This child who lay in a patch of red within the otherwise flawless meadow had pale skin, far paler than most humans within this region. Not only that, but his hair looked like silk, whilst his features were almost like that of a doll.

For a moment, the Aztec man was dazed, before he snapped back to reality and narrowed his eyes.

After examining the child curiously for some time, he determined that the boy was still alive. He found this strange…this child was out here alone and severely injured, he must have been here for some time…how could he have survived for so long?

In the end, the Aztec man decided to tie the boy to the back of his horse, bringing him back to the tribe.

Three days into their return journey, Yaan slowly opened his eyes. He didn't move, but glanced around and quickly assessed the situation.

After determining that these people were far too weak to cause him any harm, he shut his eyes again and continued to focus on his recovery.