In the center of the clearing stood a platform constructed from black stone that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. The platform was circular, easily fifty meters in diameter, and raised about three meters off the ground. Wide steps led up to its surface from all four cardinal directions.

Levi's eyes changed the moment he saw what covered that platform.

Blood. Everywhere.

Not fresh blood from recent battles, but old blood that had soaked into the stone over what must have been years of use. The entire surface was stained a dark brownish-red, the color of dried blood that had been layered upon itself countless times. In some places, the blood was so thick it had formed a crust, like dried paint that had cracked and peeled.

But worse than the blood were the remains.

Human bones littered the platform's surface. Skulls stared with empty eye sockets. Ribcages lay scattered like discarded toys. Femurs and tibias created a macabre carpet across the stone. Some of the bones were whole, while others had been shattered and splintered.

Levi's Danger Sense didn't just activate—it screamed at him like an alarm bell that wouldn't stop ringing!

This was a place of death. A place of sacrifice. A place where hundreds, perhaps thousands of innocent people had been murdered in dark rituals to fuel forbidden techniques.

The sheer amount of accumulated death energy made the air itself feel heavy and oppressive. Each breath tasted like copper and decay. The temperature seemed lower here, as if the warmth of life couldn't survive in such a cursed location.

Luna pressed closer to Levi's neck, whimpering softly. Even her usually fearless nature was shaken by the overwhelming aura of death that permeated this place.

——

At the four corners of the platform stood four massive demonic statues, positioned at the cardinal points like guardians of this unholy place.

Each statue was carved from the same light-absorbing black stone as the platform itself. But unlike the platform, these statues were covered in intricate demonic runes that glowed with a faint crimson light, pulsing slowly like a heartbeat. The runes seemed to move when Levi wasn't looking directly at them, slithering across the stone surface like living things.

The first statue, positioned at the eastern corner, depicted a demon tiger. It stood approximately ten meters tall, frozen in mid-roar with its mouth opened impossibly wide. Its fangs were each the size of swords, and its eyes were empty sockets that somehow still seemed to stare with predatory hunger. The tiger's body was covered in geometric patterns that resembled both fur and scales. Its claws dug into the platform's surface, and its tail was wrapped around its own body like a coiled spring ready to unleash.

The second statue, at the southern corner, was a demonic humanoid minotaur. This one was also approximately ten meters tall, but its bulk made it seem even larger. Its body was massively muscled, each limb as thick as an ancient tree trunk. The bull-like head sat atop shoulders wide enough to support a building. In one hand it held a massive war axe covered in the same glowing runes. In the other hand it clutched a chain that wrapped around its own waist multiple times before disappearing into the platform beneath its hooved feet. Steam seemed to drift from its nostrils despite being made of stone, and its eyes glowed with a dull red light that never fully extinguished.

The third statue, at the western corner, depicted a massive serpent coiled upon itself like a spring. This one was also ten meters at its highest point, but if it were to uncoil, Levi estimated it would be at least thirty meters long. The serpent's body was covered in scales, each one individually carved with meticulous detail. Its head was raised, mouth open to display rows of needle-like fangs. Its forked tongue extended outward, frozen mid-flick. But what was most disturbing were its eyes—unlike the empty sockets of the tiger, the serpent's eyes were filled with what looked like crystallized blood that caught and reflected light in unsettling ways.

The fourth statue, positioned at the northern corner, was the most disturbing of all and significantly larger than its companions at twenty meters tall.

This one depicted a humanoid monster that stood upright on two legs like a human, but there was nothing human about its proportions. Its body was grotesquely elongated, with arms that hung down past its knees and fingers that ended in curved talons. Its torso was emaciated, ribs clearly visible beneath the stone surface as if the creature were starving.

But what truly made this statue horrifying were its two heads.

One head was that of a human male with a face frozen in an expression of pure, manic joy. Its mouth was stretched impossibly wide in a smile that revealed too many teeth, and its eyes were closed as if in ecstasy. Every detail of that smile was carved with disturbing precision—you could count the individual teeth, see the wrinkles at the corners of its eyes, observe the way its tongue pressed against its lower lip.

The other head, growing from the same neck right beside the first, was that of a beautiful human female. But where the male head smiled, this one was frozen in an expression of absolute agony and despair. Its mouth was open in a silent scream. Its eyes were wide with terror and pain. Tears were carved running down its cheeks, so detailed they seemed almost wet. The contrast between the two heads—one in joy, one in suffering—created a psychological horror that was worse than any monstrous visage could have been.

And extending from the creature's back were massive wings that spread outward and upward, each wing at least ten meters in span. The wings were not feathered like a bird's or leathery like a bat's, but instead appeared to be made of countless interlocking blades, each one sharp enough to cut. The wings were folded partially closed, but even in their resting position they dominated the statue's silhouette.

All four statues radiated an aura of malevolence so intense that Levi could feel it pressing against his skin like a physical force. The demonic runes covering their surfaces pulsed in a synchronized rhythm, all four statues breathing together as if sharing a single heartbeat.

These weren't just decorations. They were vessels. Containers for something dark and terrible, held in stasis by ancient techniques but not truly dead. Just sleeping. Waiting.

-----

Levi forced himself to look away from the horrifying statues and scan the rest of the clearing. His instincts told him that something valuable must be here to justify such elaborate protections.

Then he saw it, and his eyes widened with shock and recognition.

Near the edge of the platform, barely ten meters from the base of the serpent statue, grew a withered tree. It was perhaps five meters tall, with twisted black branches that looked like arthritic fingers reaching toward the sky. The bark was cracked and peeling, and no leaves grew from its limbs. By all appearances, it should have been dead for decades.

But growing from one of its central branches, impossibly vibrant against the dead wood, hung a single fruit.

The fruit was roughly the size of a human fist and shaped like a heart—not the symbolic heart shape, but an actual anatomical heart with chambers and vessels. Its surface was deep crimson, almost purple, and it pulsed visibly with a rhythmic beat that matched the pulsing of the demonic runes on the statues. With each pulse, faint veins of golden light spread across the fruit's surface before fading, only to reappear with the next pulse.

The fruit emitted a subtle glow that pushed back the oppressive darkness of the clearing. Just looking at it made Levi feel… hungry. Not with his stomach, but with his very cells. His body recognized instinctively that this fruit contained concentrated vitality, refined life essence, power in its purest form.

"Blood Refining Fruit," Levi whispered, his voice filled with awe and desire.

He'd read about these in the academy's library during his research into rare cultivation resources. Blood Refining Fruits were legendary treasures that appeared only in places where massive amounts of blood had been spilled over many years. The tree fed on the accumulated death energy and life essence of the slain, transforming that dark power into something pure and incredibly valuable.

When consumed, a Blood Refining Fruit would completely restructure the eater's physique from the inside out. It would refine every cell, strengthen every bone, enhance every organ. The consumer would develop what cultivation texts called a "Refined Blood Physique"—a rare body constitution that dramatically improved cultivation speed, increased physical capabilities, and enhanced regeneration even beyond what techniques could provide.

Someone with a Refined Blood Physique could cultivate two to three times faster than their peers. Their body would naturally resist poisons and diseases. Their blood would become so vital that even severe injuries would heal rapidly. Some texts even claimed that those with this physique could eventually develop abilities to manipulate their own blood as a weapon.

This single fruit could change Levi's entire future trajectory!

But there was a significant problem.

The Blood Refining Fruit wasn't unguarded. Far from it.

The clearing was filled with dark cultivators—at least fifty of them, possibly more. They weren't the weak Level 1 or Level 2 Genetic Soldiers that Levi had been picking off throughout the settlement. These were elites, the core strength of the dark cultivator base.

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