Before him was not a narrow vein of ore waiting to be mined.
It was an open ritual site, with several eerie heads hanging high on the sacrificial altar at the highest point.
Six figures dressed in voluminous black robes sat cross-legged in six directions, absorbing the blood qi from the surrounding blood pool.
The blood-stained sacrificial altar had witnessed countless lives lost upon it.
Surrounding the altar was a vast artificial blood pool. Facing it were four extremely strange statues, each with different expressions.
Yet their eyes seemed to harbor a fierce light, glaring angrily at the central altar.
The blood pool was filled with corpses, both demonic beasts and humans, their bodies withered but emitting a dark red energy.
A path wide enough for only two people to pass led from Li Xingtian's feet straight to the center of the sacrificial altar and then through the entire altar to the other side.
His pupils dilated in shock as he looked around at the people, only to find that no one seemed abnormal.
They still seemed to think they were in the crowded tunnels, squeezing through the narrow mine shafts, heading towards the deepest part.
Was this... a large-scale illusion?
Could the Foundation Establishment stage resist such illusions, or was there something else that allowed one to withstand this environment?
Suppressing his unease, Li Xingtian chose to continue following the crowd for the time being. He needed to understand what the Qingfeng Sect was really up to and what was behind him.
His plan might be completely overturned upon witnessing this scene.
Could the true nature of the Qingfeng Sect really be that of a cult?
Li Xingtian lowered his head and cautiously followed the crowd, slowly walking past the altar in the middle of the path.
Beyond the altar, deeper inside, lay the normal minefield. Everyone held mining tools, ready to start work.
The minefield appeared to be a real one for now, but... what was that sacrificial ritual?
This doubt was instantly clarified when the first miner, holding a pickaxe, began to dig.
With each strike, a faint dark red energy wafted up from the miner's crown and flowed towards the blood pool.
All the miners were the same, with strands of dark red energy gradually converging, forming a significant force that could not be underestimated.
Li Xingtian's gaze was fixed on one miner, and he suddenly realized that this dark red energy seemed to be extracted from the spiritual roots.
It consumed not only the miners' flesh, blood, and spiritual energy but also wore down their spiritual roots, the foundation of cultivation.
No wonder those miners looked so emaciated. They were being drained of their flesh and blood every day while working. How could they not be skinny?
This was a pure evil cultivation technique, unheard of, and the array covered such a vast area!
Li Xingtian dared not dig because, from his observation, the amount of blood qi provided depended on one's spiritual root and cultivation level.
If he dug, his cultivation and spiritual root would be drained. Instead of just strands of dark red energy, it would be as thick as an arm.
He would stand out too much among these people.
He had to find a way out and notify his master.
As for Ning Qianqian's father, according to his master's instructions, self-preservation was the most important principle when the situation was unclear.
He could only hope that he would be safe and sound.
Li Xingtian could sense that the six black-robed figures were around the Foundation Establishment stage.
If the necklace he was given was reliable, fighting his way out might be a good idea, especially since he was quite confident.
On the day Li Xingtian successfully reached the Foundation Establishment stage, his master had given him a divine ability that perfectly suited him.
Moreover, it was an extremely high-quality divine ability, as if it had been prepared long ago, just waiting for him to reach the Foundation Establishment stage.
This made Li Xingtian, who thought he had understood some of his master's mysteries, feel that his master had become even more enigmatic.
However, these were not the main concerns. From the beginning, as long as his master had not truly wronged him and was not like the Qingfeng Sect, Li Xingtian would stay in the sect and repay his master's kindness.
During his time here, this small sect with only three people had made Li Xingtian feel incredibly warm.
Although the senior sister was sometimes naughty, she treated him, her junior brother, like family.
She genuinely caught beasts for him to practice with every day and urged him to cultivate diligently.
Although her eyes sometimes seemed to show a hint of disgust towards him, her actions were sincere.
Not to mention his master, who sometimes seemed frivolous and immature.
But his master also had a unique charisma that seemed somewhat out of place in this cultivation world yet was very convincing.
Except for that strange alchemy skill he didn't know where he learned.
His master had been genuinely good to him, from giving up an opportunity that had already come his way when they first met to continuously selflessly contributing.
If it was just out of gratitude for saving his life at first, it was hard to refuse his benefactor's kindness. But after spending time with him, Li Xingtian genuinely felt that he had willingly joined this small family-like sect.
From cultivation techniques to divine abilities.
Li Xingtian naturally cherished all of this, but extremely high-quality divine abilities were also very difficult to master.
After all... not everyone had a senior sister with such incredible aptitude.
However, by simply borrowing some of its power and combining it with the divine ability from his previous life, his combat strength should be considerable.
He didn't think that the six black-robed figures before him would have divine abilities.
After scanning his surroundings, Li Xingtian stuck to his usual approach: strike first and enjoy the advantage; strike later and suffer the consequences!
He suddenly tightened his grip on the pickaxe and turned around, heading back towards the sacrificial altar.
A Qingfeng Sect disciple guarding the site immediately noticed Li Xingtian and harshly shouted,
"What are you doing?!"
A hint of fear appeared on Li Xingtian's face as he slowly approached the disciple, as if his legs were weak, and said,
"I... I need to use the bathroom."
"The work deadline is tight! You have to keep working even if you have to go in your pants! Get back to work!"
When he was close enough, Li Xingtian erupted into action, instantly appearing in front of the Qingfeng Sect disciple. His internal spiritual energy burst forth.
He used the divine ability from his previous life, Nine Heavens Mysterious Luo Dagger, combined with the roughly studied divine ability, Soul-Slaughtering Nine Yins Dagger.
It was easy to borrow some of the dagger techniques' power and movements.
Li Xingtian's pickaxe suddenly transformed into a large dagger. Dark red energy, carrying endless power, fiercely chopped towards the Qingfeng Sect disciple's head.
The disciple couldn't react in time, especially to a divine ability as fast as this!
He felt his whole body freeze, and his soul was intimidated by this aura.
All he could do was show fear before being decapitated by Li Xingtian in one strike.
After the strike, Li Xingtian cursed inwardly.
Damn, that consumed a lot.
Li Xingtian felt that nearly half of his internal spiritual energy had been used up in that one attack!
He hadn't expected that just borrowing some of its power and movement would double the consumption compared to his previous divine ability.
But the effect was also very impressive.
What Li Xingtian hadn't expected was that when he mobilized his internal spiritual energy, he also seemed to vaguely sense the energy of the blood pool.
Before Li Xingtian could continue sensing it, the six black-robed figures suddenly stood up and turned towards him.
One of them shouted in a hoarse, androgynous voice,
"Where did this brat come from, causing trouble here?!
"A Foundation Establishment cultivator?! Today, you will become our blood nourishment! Let us show you the true meaning of cultivation!"