The fairies I flirted with in the game became real?!

"It is said that the followers of the Blood Lotus Cult can be resurrected through the Si Fang Cauldron."

"Then, given that the Blood Lotus Cult has been established for many years, there should be an increasing number of followers, right? How come there were only a few hundred thousand followers before the recent uprising?"

Under the ghostly shrouded city walls, Li Muyang curiously controlled the Jade Mantis to write: "What about the previous followers of the Blood Lotus Cult? And the past helmsmen and sect hierarchs?"

"After taking the blood oath, they should be immortal, right? Why haven't I seen them?"

Li Muyang was very curious about this matter.

Because up until now, no one within the Blood Lotus Cult had ever discussed the details of this miraculous resurrection with him in detail.

The only one who could answer his questions now was the young girl before him.

Upon seeing the question posed by Li Muyang, Shen Yan, clad in a plain white vestment robe on the city wall, tilted her head in surprise.

"Eh? Haven't I told you before?"

Shen Miao tilted her head in thought: "It seems I really haven't mentioned it..."

The girl muttered to herself, then unhesitatingly revealed the secret to Li Muyang.

"The Blood Lotus Cult obtained the Si Fang Cauldron a long time ago, but it had always been dormant."

"The power of the Si Fang Cauldron could only be used after my father became the sect hierarch."

"He performed a blood sacrifice with me to the Si Fang Cauldron, allowing my soul to lead in the Cauldron, replacing the dormant Artifact Spirit, and thus the Cauldron gained the power to resurrect the dead."

After Shen Miao explained, she saw the giant mantis raising its blade arm, preparing to write something else.

She quickly spoke up, "You want to ask where my father went... right?"

Communicating through writing on the ground with the giant mantis was too cumbersome, so Shen Miao kindly saved Li Muyang the trouble.

The giant mantis then withdrew its blade arm and nodded.

Shen Miao cheerfully said, "My father's divine soul dissipated, so you can't see him."

Seeing that Li Muyang appeared confused, Shen Miao explained.

"The resurrection divine power of the Si Fang Cauldron isn't without cost."

"Each resurrection, apart from consuming spiritual power to reshape the body, also consumes the soul power of the resurrected... that is, their lifespan."

"Moreover, the higher the cultivation level of the individual, the more lifespan is consumed for each resurrection."

"Ordinary people lose half a year of their lifespan for each resurrection."

"Foundation Establishment cultivators lose one year per resurrection."

"Core Formation Realm is three years, Purple Mansion Realm is ten years, Spirit Travel Realm is thirty years, and the Purple Mansion Realm is seventy years."

"The Purple Mansion Realm is the most severe, needing two hundred years of lifespan per resurrection."

Having said this, Shen Miao shrugged: "My father was resurrected twice, exhausted his lifespan, and thus perished."

The explanation from the young girl in white left Li Muyang silent.

In this world where the path to immortality is severed, even those at the pinnacle of the cultivation world in the Purple Mansion Realm can live for at most 500 years.

Those like True Person Qingye, who lived for over a thousand years, were an anomaly only seen once since the Dharma-Ending Age.

It seems that even an immortal artifact like the Si Fang Cauldron couldn't resurrect indefinitely.

But this conforms to reason.

No matter how powerful the Si Fang Cauldron is, it's still just an immortal artifact.

If it could grant infinite resurrections, that would be too exaggerated, far surpassing the capabilities expected of an immortal artifact.

However, the death of Shen Miao's father due to his exhausted lifespan was unforeseen by Li Muyang.

He had previously suspected that he might have been secretly cross-checked by Fang Yingtian for power.

It turns out it was a normal transfer of power.

"So your father actually died a natural death, not assassinated by Fang Yingtian?" Li Muyang had the Jade Mantis write this on the ground.

The girl on the city wall nodded in agreement: "Yes, though Uncle Fang is a bad egg, petty, vengeful, sinister, and ruthless, he still has more of a bottom line than my father."

Shen Miao happily discussed her own father.

"My father is a real scumbag, offending people everywhere. The Blood Lotus Sect almost fell apart under his leadership, only stabilized after my Uncle Fang became the Sect Hierarch. Thanks to him, the sect didn't collapse."

Shen Miao commented, "However, the merit my father earned for discovering the profound uses of the Quadra Cauldron still places him among the top in the lineage of sect leaders of the Blood Lotus Sect."

"With the Quadra Cauldron, Uncle Fang was able to develop the Blood Lotus Sect from the brink of disintegration to the powerful stature it holds today."

This girl, who had been sacrificed in blood rites since her childhood, had indeed been subjected to some sort of evil spell that bound her emotions.

She was always optimistic and cheerful, always innocent and naive.

Even when talking about her despicable father, she was happy and bore no resentment.

Li Muyang controlled the Jade Mantis and nodded, indicating he understood.

"I get it now, I need to be cautious of your Uncle Fang."

Shen Miao was always able to see every move of Fang Yingtian; she should have the most say in judging his character.

This Sect Hierarch of the Blood Lotus Sect, Fang Yingtian, indeed did not appear very friendly.

After briefly placating Shen Miao with a few words, Li Muyang, prompted by the girl's enthusiastic call of "Brother-in-law, come see me again tomorrow~," turned the Jade Mantis to leave.

The evolution value of the Jade Mantis was now at 97%, only 3% away from further evolution.

This threshold, with the hunting of two residual souls, could be reached tonight.

Half an hour later, the Jade Mantis crossed a vast wilderness, cautiously avoiding several powerful wandering spirits, and finally, led by the system's arrow, arrived at a set of dilapidated ruins.

Inside the ruins, a ghastly pale ghost shadow roamed. Upon the Jade Mantis stepping into this area, the danger value under its health bar rose to 40.

Generally hazardous.

Li Muyang controlled the Jade Mantis and charged in.

...

"Flag Leader, we've caught a madman!"

In the courtyard of the Enforcement Hall where Li Muyang sat drinking tea, he looked up at the disturbance and saw several followers of the Yellow Banner dragging a blood-covered man in.

This man's vestment robe featured three lotus petals, the most common rank within the Blood Lotus Sect, a Third Order Lotus Disciple, typically in charge of fifty people.

But now, he had been so thrashed, dragged in like a dead dog by the enforcement disciples, looking utterly wretched.

Having just signed off on official duties and planning to rest for a bit, Li Muyang was somewhat surprised by the sight of his subordinates bringing in such a person.

"What laws did this man break?"

Typically, the arrested culprits, though disgruntled, wouldn't dare openly resist the Enforcement Hall disciples.

In this case, the man's terribly beaten, blood-soaked appearance was clearly that of a resentful troublemaker who had resisted arrest, hence subdued violently by the Enforcement Hall disciples.

Li Muyang's gaze was curious as his subordinate reported the man's alleged crime.

"Returning to the Flag Leader, this man is a Third Order Lotus Disciple from Liehai Hall, named Dai Shan. Last night, he secretly entered the Sin Alley and stayed there overnight..."

The subordinate's report made Li Muyang frown.

"Again, the Sin Alley..."

Sin Alley was a set of streets marked off by Sect Hierarch Fang Yingtian within the city, confining the womenfolk and cultivators of Tianjiao City's former prominent families.

According to the rules of the Blood Lotus Sect, families previously depending on the Refinement Demon Sect for survival were innately sinful.

The cultivators captured in the city and their families and relatives were all detained within various Sin Alleys.

These individuals would eventually be sacrificed in the Quadra Cauldron, transformed into spiritual power for the cauldron.

Entry into the Sin Alley by ordinary people was forbidden, to prevent the confined cultivators and their families from escaping.

However, in reality, this prohibition was effectively ineffectual.

In the eyes of Li Muyang, the parts of Sin Alley specially holding the womenfolk and female cultivators had become places of scandal.

Frequently, leaders of the Blood Lotus Sect, and even flag leaders, would enter the Sin Alleys and stay overnight.

Even the high and mighty demonesses and daughters of noble families from the past, now stripped of their cultivation, were just like ordinary people, utterly unable to resist the overpowering members of the Blood Lotus Sect.