The phrase "just a drop of blood from the heart" made Qin Yue's face twitch.

As for a cultivator's ordinary blood, it's fine; they can easily replenish it by taking some blood-restoring pills or by their own bodies.

However, heart's blood is not an option. Putting aside how many rare and precious materials would be needed to replenish a single drop of heart's blood, the loss of even a single drop would affect a cultivator's cultivation level and strength.

However, since Zhenru had already concealed it, Qin Yue couldn't say much. He just watched as Zhenru's hands moved with magical incantations, and then a hollow fireball appeared. Qin Yue's eyes gradually widened.

This fireball... isn't it used to store the essence of the Golden Crow?

Qin Yue understood, and looking at the fireball, he said:

"Indeed, this is a good way to walk into a trap."

With a smile, Zhenru put the fireball into his spatial storage, gave a few instructions to Xiaosun in his mind, and then said to Qin Yue:

"Let's go, let's choose a suitable birthplace for this drop of 'essence blood' first."

That drop of conscious golden crow blood essence was unwilling to be merged with her, but it definitely wanted to devour other blood essences.

Moreover, the fact that they could think of a way to lure themselves away shows that they have become intelligent and wouldn't fall for a crude trap.

...

Three months later, at the foot of an unerupted volcano, Zhenru's divine sense swept over it, and he nodded in satisfaction, saying:

"This is it."

"Tsk, it's not bad. Even I can't stay in there for long now, so I won't go in."

Qin Yue shielded himself with a protective barrier and consciously kept his distance.

Zhenru then flew up to the top of the volcano, found a suitable spot, and leaped directly into the volcano, descending down the lava within the mountain.

"Boom boom boom—"

As if by a flick of the wrist, a few magic spells were used to clear a space in the mountain, where the pre-prepared decorations were placed.

"Alright, I'll just wait now. It's your turn, Xiaosun."

Nearly a year has passed, and today's bamboo shoots are no longer the same as before. They are no longer short, chubby lumps like little stones, but have become much thinner and taller, and are beginning to show signs of growing bamboo nodes.

Not only has the bamboo shoot changed in appearance, but its abilities have also improved.

Unlike before, you no longer need to go out of the space before you can unleash a powerful attack.

Upon hearing Zhenru's words, the little bamboo shoot did not leave the space in its true form, but instead conjured up a chubby little bamboo shoot phantom, commanding its extensive roots and the root systems of those plants and spiritual trees.

Once Xiaosun was almost ready, Zhenru took out the fireball and threw it onto the stone platform that had been prepared beforehand.

The rapidly growing roots of the bamboo shoot circled the fireball, then gathered a wisp of energy and carefully sent it out along the roots.

"Alright! Master, just wait patiently, that traitor will soon come to us on his own!"

After finishing his task, Xiaosun stood proudly with his hands on his hips.

Since Xiao Sun recognized its master, it has grown well in the space and has been loyal to Zhen. It believes that the Golden Crow essence blood should belong to its master and that it is a traitor if it does not obediently deliver itself to the master.

The person whom Xiao Sun considered a traitor, after a few days, secretly stirred the Golden Crow's essence blood that he had hidden away.

It seemed to have caught a scent of its own kind?

Thinking of that human cultivator who was covered in bloodline energy and posed a great threat to him, the Golden Crow Essence Blood's burgeoning devouring heart pressed down again.

After a while, the Golden Crow's essence blood stirred again.

It discovered that this aura was much weaker than that of the cultivator, and it was still in a state of being unclaimed.

My restless heart could no longer be contained.

The drop of golden crow essence blood flickered as it approached the aura. The flame shape that the essence blood transformed into showed excitement and agitation.

Unfortunately, when it got close to the aura, it found that there was nothing it was looking for. The source of the aura was actually the roots of the spirit bamboo, and it seemed that the roots were just passing by and would soon retreat.

Although the Golden Crow Essence Blood did not understand the Spirit Bamboo, it had seen such a thing before. It was the type that would never let go of a good thing, and it itself had been sucked in a mouthful before.

Moreover, the aura emanating from this spirit bamboo is considerably stronger than when it sucked me in before.

The Golden Crow's essence and blood could no longer remain still.

If it can fuse with this drop, it will not just be a conscious fire, but will be able to take on a different form and begin to cultivate autonomously.

Once it cultivates to a certain level, even if that woman with the rich bloodline finds it again, it won't have anything to fear.

With this thought, the Golden Crow Essence Blood felt even hotter and, without hesitation, drifted over following the aura on the roots of the Spirit Bamboo.

While floating along the road, the Golden Crow Essence Blood had brief moments of doubt, but whenever it was doubtful, it could smell that alluring aura and feel the other party's increasingly powerful strength on the roots of the Spirit Bamboo.

After all, it is a newly formed consciousness, and it has seen too little about the laws and methods of this world.

Having obtained the essence of the Golden Crow, it disguised itself to evade various covetous individuals and finally successfully entered the trap that Zhenru had tailored for it.

Unfortunately, at this moment, the Golden Crow's essence blood was blinded by the fireball on the stone platform and had no time to care about anything else. After confirming that there was no danger around, it rushed straight to the fireball with a "whoosh".

"It's delicious!"

If the essence of the Golden Crow had a human face, one would almost weep and sigh.

The feeling of rapidly growing strength is so wonderful! I really want to drain all the essence and blood from that person's body!

"Sure, I'll give you that chance."

Who? Who's speaking?

Just as the Golden Crow was desperately devouring that drop of essence blood, it suddenly heard someone answering its thoughts!

The Golden Crow stopped devouring the essence blood, and its consciousness cleared briefly.

The next instant, the Golden Crow's essence blood was horrified to discover that, although it had stopped devouring, the drop of essence blood had not stopped merging with it.

Before it could figure out why, the entire drop of essence blood completely merged with the Golden Crow's essence blood.

Belatedly sensing the danger, the Golden Crow Essence Blood turned to run away, but the newly merged essence blood remained firmly in place, preventing it from escaping for the time being.

The next instant, a dense net of fire descended from the sky, and a bronze mirror that looked tattered but was actually full of supreme intimidation blocked the only exit.

Once all the roads were blocked, Zhenru's figure slowly emerged from the distant lava, taking two seemingly slow but actually fast steps to reach him.

"You're really hard to catch!"

"It is a pleasure to meet you, even though we are thousands of miles apart."

While speaking slowly, his hands moved with lightning speed, giving the other party no chance to escape. Before he could finish speaking, he had already flashed into the space with the ball of fire.

Then, he threw the Golden Crow's essence blood, which had absorbed a drop of his heart's blood, directly into the boundless pond.

A layer of soft, gentle, and boundless water immediately enveloped the essence blood, just as Zhenru wished.