The three other elders knew the meaning of being called cultivators, and the three of them fell in deep thoughts after that. The reactions on their bodies and faces showed the internal struggle they were facing. They knew that it wouldn"t be as easy as the Golden elder had made it sound.Silence prevailed in the room, and only the faintest sound of breathing coming from the group of cultivators could be heard. The golden family elder sat in silence; his heart had long since calmed down after exposing his plan to his allies. He decided to give the other elders time to swallow the harsh truth before beginning the execution of their plans regarding Fell.
As of whether they would choose to leave with him, that was something he couldn"t force on them. The four otherworldly guests stood in the same position, the gaze they interchanged clearly showed that they were talking with unknown means. The golden elder didn"t mind that, as what he had told them earlier was akin to a proposal.
After the time it took to boil water, the rest of the elders could only agree with what he had proposed. Their path as cultivators meant much more to them than their families, and although they had difficulty swallowing the harsh truth. In the end, they could only accept it as they couldn"t change it.
The power they had at hand was too limited, and their monetary resources were far from sufficient to move their numerous family members. With varying degrees of emotions, gritted teeth on the verge of breaking, and near mental breakdown from having to choose between survival and their descendant. They agreed.
"When do we start?", asked the Merendinis elder with gorged red eyes.
"Our family members and enemies are all downstairs. We will begin now.", he responded before taking a pill out of the wooden box. "The Blood Compendium Pill will unlock the potential inherent in your blood; while it will help us ascend to the second step, it will also cause us to enter a state where our own blood essence will be damage."
"It will be akin to dehydration, and might even cause us to attain a near maddened state. This is where come our families, we will use the fact that they are our own descendants to absorb their blood essence.", he said matter of fact before throwing a pill in his mouth.
As the pill entered his mouth, he couldn"t help but shudder as painful sting a.s.saulted his senses. With a numbed tongue, the sensation of the nauseous liquid filling his mouth nearly caused him to throw up. But he pushed through and swallowed it without any hesitation.
The armrest of his chair broke into splintered bits of woods, and his figure constantly shook from the demonic pill"s effect.
The three other elders followed suit and sent a pill down their throat. One of the elders from the Henrys family couldn"t help but exhale a long sigh before consuming the pill.
That sight made him seem as if he had aged dozens of years. And within that breath was contained the last bit of remorse he had for what he was going to do.
A nauseous, metallic odor filled the dimly lighted room, and a cloud burst of vapor appeared in it. In the hidden veil of red caused by the reaction of the pill with their blood essence, the elders" bodies were changing at a fast pace. The contents of the pills were nourishing the energy in their meridians. As it was aided with the burst of their blood essence, it was refined further beyond. Their cultivation base that was blocked at the top of the first step began making progress again, and with every little second that pa.s.sed, was advancing to the second step.
The otherworldly guests had, for long, stood up from the table and had distanced themselves from the four elders. Even if the four elders were far from being a danger to them, aided with the pill and the madness that would come with it, it was a completely different matter.
A ghastly howl escaped from the veil, and what seemed like the voice of the golden elder resounded from it. A voice similar to a ghastly murmur escaped his thin lips. "Persist…".
Even as their lifespan was reduced at a fast pace. Even when their hairs began turning grey, and started falling apart. Even as they felt their innards rot and turn into useless organs, they couldn"t stop now as that meant death. The dice were thrown, and now the gamble was on. Those that will survive this challenge will benefit from a tremendous breakthrough.
The moment those pills entered their system. The only path to survival was to persist till their energy made its breakthrough. And when that happened, even if their body was only reduced to a sack of bones and skin, they could regrow back to the peak of their youths with their descendant"s blood.
Their eyes turned into a bloodied crimson ball from the abnormal concentration of blood essence in their bodies. Their gritted teeth turned into powder as they fell off their mouths. Bone rattled with a macabre noise that even sent a chill in one of the guest"s spine. They were told about the effects of the pill. Before accepting the offer, they were also explained in detail what it would cause to their bodies and how dangerous it is. But hearing about it and seeing it was completely different.
The h.e.l.lish noises of bones aging at a fast rate could even scare the bravest of men.
Yet even in this state that caused endless pain and suffering, they saw the golden family elder"s bony arm advanced toward the wooden box on the table. His hand grabbed dozens of those pills; during the entire movement, his bones trembled and shivered, and if it wasn"t for the ma.s.sive influx of energy in his meridians, his body would have since long fallen apart.