One of the Sages stared at the sky in awe. "Just what kind of True Artifact can draw in so much spirit energy the moment it's activated?"

"The blood aura rose straight into the sky and formed a sea of blood clouds. They may have turned into fire clouds afterward, but that was clearly a Blood Path enchanted treasure."

Zhou Yunshen was also among the crowd, and his expression shifted slightly. He drew a deep breath and said, "I've seen something like this before. When Blood Hermit revealed the True Artifact he had spent centuries refining, it caused a very similar phenomenon."

Everyone turned toward him in shock. 

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, are you talking about the Divine Fortified Blood Blade?"

Zhou Yunshen nodded.

That acknowledgement only deepened their shock. The amount of ambient spirit energy a True Artifact could mobilize depended not only on its inherent quality but also on its wielder's cultivation and the time spent refining it. Blood Hermit's Divine Fortified Blood Blade had earned its terrifying reputation over several centuries, and no one knew how many souls had perished beneath its edge. Luo Chen, by contrast, had only recently entered the Nascent Soul Realm. Yet the True...