"There exist Daos that require no cultivation—Only blood… and a host strong enough not to be devoured by it."
As the final ashes of the Blood-Law Acolyte faded into silence, Lâm Mạc cast his gaze into the fractured remnants of the blood formation.
At its farthest edge, a door of pale bone slowly emerged—Its surface bore no characters, only crooked gashes, as though clawed by a thousand desperate nails.
The door did not open,and yet blood seeped from Lâm Mạc's palm on its own—summoned by a primordial instinct older than memory.
"This… is the Forbidden Grounds of Veinblood.""The birthplace of the earliest Blood-Dao Entities."
He stepped through the bone gate.
Inside, the world was drenched in crimson—not soil, not stone, but the rotted texture of pulsing innards, soaked with viscous liquid and ancient, discarded blood.
At the heart of this chamber, a gigantic blood womb hovered, suspended midair—and within it curled a figure in fetal form.
Lâm Mạc didn't know why he had come—but ever since awakening the Third Layer of Hollow Fate, his blood had begun to resonate with things no longer of this era.
The womb stirred—and began to speak in a language born of blood:
"You… are the inheritor?""I… was an ancient Dao, experimented upon, corroded, discarded…""But I live on… through the blood within you."
Suddenly, the womb shuddered.
Dozens of blood threads surged out like scarlet tendrils—piercing directly into Lâm Mạc's chest.
He did not resist.He understood—This was not an attack,but a ritual of parasitic recognition.
A torrent of foreign memories surged into his mind.
A man once entered this womb—only to be drained into a husk.A female cultivator tried to control this Dao—but went mad hearing "voices from blood."A lost bloodline once used it to create "immortals"—only to become mindless worms writhing in their own veins.
The Ancient Dao Parasite was not a cultivation technique.It was not a method.
It was a sentient presence,a conscious existence that could only live through blood—formless, will-less, goal-less.
It could only survive through a host strong enough to endure it—and not be devoured.
Lâm Mạc opened his eyes.
A new sigil bloomed across his sternum—a blood drop ringed with thorn-like spikes.
The Fourth Layer of Hollow Fate awakened:
[Layer 4 – Primordial Blood Womb: Parasitic Rebirth]
And in that moment,a phantom of blood emerged behind him—not soul, not spirit, but a primordial Dao-form.
"I will not devour you…""Because you hold something I lack:A conviction unmoved—Even when your blood boils, and your heart is chaos."
Lâm Mạc nodded.
"Then try me.""If I am consumed, this Dao shall be buried again.""But if I live…""Then you—shall exist for me."
The blood womb exploded.
A torrent of blood energy surged into Lâm Mạc—transforming his body.
His blood now possessed the ability to generate auxiliary blood-daos with every injury—Not only healing,but reorganizing his internal cultivation path,making conventional techniques incompatible.
He emerged from the Forbidden Veins,a glint of deep crimson flickering in his eyes—Not mere bloodlust,but the sign of a Dao-being now housed within his veins.
And upon the outer wall,an ancient inscription appeared—carved with bone:
"He who carries this Dao…Shall either become its First Patriarch—…Or the progenitor of monsters yet unnamed."
Lâm Mạc stepped into the wind.
"From this day forth,My blood is no longer mere blood—It is the dwelling place of an Ancient DaoThat none dared to shelter."