The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

The entrance to the Blood Soul Cave is located deep underground behind the main hall, via a stone staircase that slopes downwards.

The twelve elders stood in two neat rows on either side of the passageway, a scene resembling a funeral procession.

Yin Wuxie stood at the entrance of the passageway, her hands behind her back. Her face was expressionless, her blood-red eyes fixed on Shen Yifei as he slowly walked towards her.

Ah Qi stood behind her, his hand on the hilt of his knife, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Shen Yifei walked up to Yin Wuxie and cupped his hands in greeting: "Sect Leader".

"Ready?"

"Ready."

"Once the Blood Soul Cave opens, the entrance will be sealed. It will reopen after three days. If you can't get out within three days, you'll never get out. There's no spiritual energy inside; every bit of your cultivation you use inside will diminish. Use it sparingly."

Yin Wuxie went on and on, giving a long list of instructions.

"Master, I'm not used to you saying that," Shen Yifei grinned. "If you can't bear to part with me, just say so."

Yin Wuxie's face darkened, a flash of anger crossing his eyes: "I can't bear to part with you? I can't bear to part with my natal blood jade. If you die in there, the blood jade will be ruined."

"Alright, alright, I can't bear to part with the Blood Jade." Shen Yifei waved his hand and turned to walk into the passageway.

The Grand Elder stood on the left side of the passageway, his old face expressionless. Beside him stood a man in his thirties, Han Yue, the Grand Elder's son, who was at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm and looked exactly like his father.

When Han Yue saw Shen Yifei approaching, he couldn't help but smile smugly: "Guest Elder, have a safe journey."

Shen Yifei paused in his steps.

"Senior Brother Han," Shen Yifei laughed, "What are you laughing at?"

"I laugh at the guest elder's audacity." Han Yue cupped his hands in greeting. "The Blood Soul Cave contains twenty-seven great demon souls. My father almost didn't come out when he went in. The guest elder is only at the Foundation Establishment stage. I admire his courage."

Shen Yifei chuckled, "Senior Brother Han, your father almost didn't make it out back then, which means he wasn't very capable."

Han Yue's smile froze.

The Grand Elder frowned slightly.

"What do you mean?" Han Yue took a step forward.

Shen Yifei stood still, not moving. "The Grand Elder, with his peak Golden Core cultivation, almost couldn't make it out of the Blood Soul Cave. If I, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, managed to get out, doesn't that mean the Grand Elder is incompetent?!"

Han Yue's face turned a deep purplish-red.

His father, the Grand Elder, was second only to the leader in the Blood Soul Sect, and no one dared to say to his face that he was incompetent.

Shen Yifei, a guest elder in the Foundation Establishment stage, said in front of twelve elders that his father was no good.

How could he swallow this insult?

"Fine, you've got guts." Han Yue gritted his teeth. "If you manage to get out of here alive, I'll kowtow to you three times and call you grandpa."

"You said it yourself." Shen Yifei pointed at him with his finger. "All the elders heard it and are here to bear witness."

None of the twelve elders uttered a sound.

Han Yue angrily replied loudly, "It's a deal!"

"Enough." Yin Wuxie's voice came from the entrance of the passageway. "Shen Yifei, go in."

Shen Yifei grinned at Han Yue, then turned and walked deeper into the passageway.

The passageway was dark. After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Shen Yifei reached the end of the stone steps.

There was a stone door in front of us.

The door was three zhang tall, and a beam of blood-red light shone through the crack in the door, like a vertical eye staring at him.

Shen Yifei stood in front of the door and took a deep breath.

The entrance to the Blood Soul Cave will close after three days. If you don't come out within three days, you'll never come out again. There is no spiritual energy inside; every bit of your cultivation is used up. It contains the souls of twenty-seven great demons, ranging from the peak of the Golden Core stage to the late Nascent Soul stage.

He placed his hand on the stone door, and the blood-red light on the stone door suddenly opened, shooting out a beam of blood-red light that shone on Shen Yifei.

He felt a sudden lightness in his body, as if an invisible hand had grabbed his collar and pulled him violently into the doorway.

It's black in front of you.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing inside the Blood Soul Cave.

The stone gate behind him disappeared, and in front of him was an endless, blood-red void.

Shen Yifei tried circulating his spiritual energy. The spiritual energy in his dantian was still there, but there was absolutely no spiritual energy in the surrounding air that he could absorb. Yin Wuxie was right; every bit of cultivation he used here was precious, so he had to use it sparingly.

He took the Cauldron of All Things out of his ring and held it in his palm.

The monster on the cauldron opened its eyes, its pupils rolled around, and its mouth opened slightly, revealing two rows of fangs. It seemed to like the environment very much; its fangs were longer than usual, and it made a "gurgling" sound in its throat, like a cat smelling fish.

"Can you smell it?" Shen Yifei looked down at it.

The monster ignored him, opened its mouth even wider, and a cloud of black mist poured out of its throat, spreading around Shen Yifei and enveloping him completely.

Shen Yifei looked down at the black mist enveloping his body, then at the monster inside the Cauldron of Myriad Things that was spitting out black mist from its mouth.

"What do you mean by that?"

The monster, of course, did not answer him.

Liu Mengli's voice drifted out from the cauldron: "It's disguising you. The black mist of the Cauldron of All Things can conceal the living aura on your body, making those great demon souls think you are one of them."

"How's the result?"

"I don't know, let's give it a try. You'll know when those spirits rush over. If they rush over, the effect is bad; if they don't, the effect is good."

Shen Yifei wanted to drag her out of the cauldron and beat her up.

He was shrouded in black mist and walked forward through the blood mist. After walking for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, a blurry figure appeared in the blood mist ahead.

The shadow was more than two people tall, its outline resembling a wolf standing upright, but much more robust, with its forearms hanging down to below its knees. It stood motionless in the blood mist, like a statue.

Shen Yifei stopped and reached into his storage ring to touch the blood jade given to him by Yin Wuxie.

The shadow suddenly moved.

It turned its head, and two eerie green lights appeared where its eyes should have been. They had no pupils, just two green flames, flickering in the blood mist.

Shen Yifei saw what it looked like.

It was indeed a wolf demon, but more than three times the size of an ordinary wolf. It had no fur on its body, only exposed dark red muscle, as if it had been skinned alive.

"Living people?" the wolf demon mumbled incoherently. "How long has it been since I've seen a living person... how long..."

It started walking towards Shen Yifei, and stopped abruptly when it was three steps away from him.

"You're not alive?" It moved closer, its nose almost touching the black mist. "What are you?"

The black fog worked.

Shen Yifei dared not breathe and remained motionless.

The wolf demon circled him once, its nose twitching. On the third circle, it suddenly stopped, its eyes widening sharply.

"No...no, no, no...you have a scent...the scent of a living person...under the black fog...I can smell it..."

Its mouth opened as wide as it could, and it let out a deafening howl. With a kick of its four legs, it pounced on Shen Yifei.

Shen Yifei pushed the Cauldron of All Things forward.

The monster on the cauldron suddenly opened its eyes wide, and its mouth stretched out from the cauldron, turning into a blood-red maw larger than the wolf demon's head, which bit down on the wolf demon's neck.

The wolf demon's howling abruptly stopped.

Its four legs kicked wildly in the air, and its front paws tried to pry open the monster's mouth. The monster let out a low roar and its mouth snapped shut.

"Click."

The monster swallowed the wolf demon's head and body together, chewed twice, and swallowed. Then its mouth retracted back onto the cauldron, returning to its original size. It licked the black blood from its mouth, its eyes half-closed, a look of satisfaction on its face.

Shen Yifei looked down at it.

"You just swallowed it like that?"

The monster burped and exhaled a cloud of black smoke.