Mysterious Blood

A faint, almost imperceptible crack rang out within the desolate Ancient Tomb like a thunderclap, exploding beside Zhang Chen's ear. He hurriedly followed the sound with his gaze, only to discover that it had come from the Jade Tablet beneath his hand.

Crack~

Crack~

Crisp cracks spread continuously through the air, one after another, like beans popping in a pan.

Zhang Chen stared at the Jade Tablet and saw that fine cracks had appeared across it at some unknown time. As though triggering a chain reaction, those cracks rapidly spread, covering the entire Jade Tablet within a few breaths.

"It broke! The Jade Tablet actually broke!" Zhang Chen looked at the Jade Tablet before him, overjoyed beyond measure. Even his breathing became ragged with excitement. Fine lines continued to multiply over the tablet, as dense and countless as cracks in a shattered screen protector.

Yet the more this happened, the more cautious Zhang Chen became. He feared that the strange Jade Tablet might still have some terrifying means of striking back.

Golden light circulated around Zhang Chen's body. With a solemn expression, he stared at the Jade Tablet before him and stood there in silence for a long time.

No one knew how much time passed before the bean-popping sounds from the Jade Tablet finally ceased, yet no further change came. Zhang Chen watched it for an hour without seeing it shatter. At last, he gathered his courage and reached out, lightly touching the Jade Tablet. In the next instant, the entire tablet exploded into powder out of thin air, scattering throughout the Ancient Tomb. When the powder fell to the ground, it turned into dust and blended into the soil.

Yet at the center of the Jade Tablet, a ball of red light fell out and landed motionlessly amid the dust.

The red light was dazzling, like a radiant crystal, giving off a brilliant crimson glow.

"What is that?" Zhang Chen looked at the fallen red light. His Golden Finger showed no response, which clearly meant this was not equipment dropped by the Golden Finger.

"What kind of thing is this?" Zhang Chen scrutinized the crystal carefully. It was not large, only the size of a peanut, but it glittered brightly and was exceedingly eye-catching.

Just then, Zhang Chen's palm itched sharply. An abnormal movement came from his third skill, Bloodsucking. The bat head appeared on its own in the center of his palm, and an incomparably immense longing flooded into Zhang Chen's heart.

"This thing is beneficial to my third skill?" Zhang Chen looked at the blood-red crystal on the ground, then raised his hand to look at the bat head in his palm. He immediately suppressed the bat head, and his palm shifted back to its original appearance.

Zhang Chen studied the blood-red crystal for a while before slowly extending his hand and cautiously touching it.

Nothing unusual happened upon contact. Only then did Zhang Chen feel at ease enough to pick up the blood-red crystal and inspect it in his palm.

At that moment, his third skill stirred again, but Zhang Chen suppressed it with a single thought, refusing to give it any chance to act up.

"What treasure is this crystal?" After examining the blood-red crystal for a while, Zhang Chen's face filled with astonishment. "What a wondrous thing."

The crystal shell was hard, with a texture much like glass. But upon closer inspection, Zhang Chen discovered that it contained a deep crimson liquid. The liquid was vividly scarlet, seeming to be a drop of blood.

Most eye-catching of all, however, was a blood-red gleam flowing within that blood. It tumbled endlessly up and down inside, like a bat constantly ramming about within it, as if trying to break free of the crystal's restraints and fly away.

Zhang Chen watched for a long while, only to realize that there truly was a bat inside the blood.

"This seems to be a drop of blood, but it doesn't quite look like one either. The Jade Tablet was destroyed and left behind only this object. Logically, this should be the Jade Tablet's core—in other words, this blood is the core of the Jade Tablet." Zhang Chen stroked the crystal with both hands, a trace of surprise in his eyes.

"My third skill, Bloodsucking, came from the Jade Tablet, and this crystal also came from the Jade Tablet. Now my third skill feels such an urgent need for the crystal. Could there be some unknown connection between them?"

Zhang Chen was filled with astonishment. Yet no matter how he looked at the deep crimson blood and the blood-red bat constantly crashing about within it, neither seemed to come from any good source.

"But my third skill is transmitting such an urgent need..." Zhang Chen pondered for a long time. In the end, his thoughts stirred, and a ferocious mouth appeared in his palm. Two fangs gleamed with cold light as they pierced the crystal's surface. Then the fangs suddenly lengthened, plunging directly into the blood-red liquid.

There was very little blood-red liquid, no more than a few drops of blood from a wild rabbit. Yet this time, the pair of fangs fed on it extremely slowly.

Zhang Chen could drain a wild rabbit in the span of a few breaths, but absorbing that tiny amount of liquid from the crystal took a full six hours.

As though sensing danger from being absorbed by the fangs, the red bat within the blood flapped its wings and repeatedly rammed into them, trying to shatter the fangs. But those two fangs glinted with cold light, like pillars holding up the heavens. Mere waves from a little river could not harm Zhang Chen in the slightest.

"Interesting."

Zhang Chen watched the changes in the blood within the crystal, a strange gleam appearing in his eyes.

Bang~

At last, in a certain moment, the crystal turned into a Streaking Light and was absorbed by the fangs along with the blood. Then the mouth in Zhang Chen's palm vanished, as though nothing unusual had happened.

"That's it? After absorbing the liquid inside that mysterious Jade Tablet, there should at least be some reaction, right?" A baffled look appeared in Zhang Chen's eyes. But before his thoughts could even turn, a blazing heat suddenly rose within his body.

"So hot! It's as hot as standing before a blazing furnace in summer!" Zhang Chen stood within the underground cavern. Even the bone-chilling cold there no longer made him feel cold.

Moreover, although Zhang Chen felt scorching hot, not a single drop of sweat emerged from his pores.

Hot!

Extremely hot!

And the temperature continued to rise, making Zhang Chen feel as if he had fallen into a Fire Pit. The blood in his body boiled, and even his flesh seemed to give off wisps of green smoke.

Yet from the outside, Zhang Chen still looked the same. Other than his slightly flushed face, it seemed as though nothing had happened.

"How can it be this hot? Damn it, I feel like my whole body is about to catch fire. It must be the effect of that crystal." Zhang Chen walked straight into the depths of the underground cavern and pressed himself against the soil covered in frost. Yet after touching the earth, it had no effect at all. It was as if the scorching force inside Zhang Chen's body did not exist—even the frost hanging on the walls did not melt.