Soul Skill: Blood Refinement (Please Keep Reading, Please Vote Monthly)

This area was the territory of the Blood Crystal Bats. Ordinary hundred-year and thousand-year soul beasts would not come here.

But this time, six Blood Crystal Bats had died, their blood spilling all over the ground. The stench of blood was far too thick.

There was no telling which soul beast might catch the scent and be unable to resist rushing over.

So, the absorption of the soul ring had to be finished as quickly as possible.

Gu Yi made a slight adjustment to his internal condition, then sat cross-legged on the ground and raised his right hand. A mass of bright red blood appeared.

With a thought, Gu Yi used his Soul Power to draw over the thousand-year Blood Crystal Bat's soul ring.

As the thousand-year soul ring enveloped that mass of blood, he felt a powerful pressure acting upon every inch of his skin. Vast energy surged wildly from the soul ring into his limbs and bones.

In an instant, Gu Yi felt as though flames were scorching his organs, while his bones groaned. His Bone Martial Soul emerged of its own accord, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

However, this was still within Gu Yi's limits.

After all, his physical body could unleash two thousand jin of force. That was no joke.

Gu Yi held fast to his mind and circulated the Iron Blood Malice Art with all his strength. Using his own Soul Power, he guided the vast energy through the meridians of his body in a full cycle. One portion was converted into his own Soul Power, while another was used to temper his body and nourish his Blood Martial Soul.

Even the Bone Martial Soul received a small portion of that energy, its quality gradually improving.

The purple thousand-year soul ring continuously revolved around the Blood Martial Soul. Its size condensed and shrank, gradually becoming bracelet-sized before entering Gu Yi's body together with the Blood Martial Soul.

Half an hour later, Gu Yi opened his eyes and slowly exhaled.

He had succeeded!

A smile appeared in Gu Yi's eyes as he raised his right hand again. A blood mass the size of a human head emerged, within which a faint, bewitching purple gleam could vaguely be seen.

A purple soul ring emerged beneath his feet, slowly rotating before finally hovering over the Blood Martial Soul and radiating powerful Soul Power fluctuations.

Two thousand four hundred years! His first ring!

What an astonishing soul ring age. It was several hundred years higher than even the third ring of other soul masters with the optimal soul ring configuration.

—In this era of Douluo Continent, soul masters' third soul rings were all below one thousand seven hundred and sixty years.

Owner: Gu Yi

Age: Six

Cultivation: Level 16 Soul Master (Soul Ring: 2400-year Purple), Qi Martial Realm Level 2

Source Energy: 3590 points

Talents: Blood Martial Soul, Bone Martial Soul

Abilities: Iron Blood Malice Art (Yellow-tier High-grade), Charge Spear Technique (Yellow-tier High-grade), Basic Spear Arts (Yellow-tier Low-grade), Basic Arrow Arts (Yellow-tier Low-grade), Consecutive Meteor Arrows (Yellow-tier Mid-grade), Wind-Following Steps (Yellow-tier Mid-grade), First Soul Skill—Blood Refinement (Purple Soul Ring)

Items: Myriad Worlds Gate, Iron Spear, Iron Bow

"As expected of a soul ring more than two thousand years old. Not only did it directly raise my Soul Power cultivation by three levels, it also greatly improved my physical condition, adding nearly five hundred jin of strength!"

Gu Yi looked at the information on the panel, his expression delighted. "I now possess two thousand five hundred jin of strength. That counts as entering the middle stage of the second level of the Qi Martial Realm."

In truth, that two-thousand-four-hundred-year purple soul ring contained far more energy than this. It could have raised Gu Yi's strength even further.

The energy of a two-thousand-four-hundred-year soul beast was roughly equivalent to that of a level thirty-six or thirty-seven Soul Elder.

Even if the soul ring contained only half, or even one-tenth, of its Soul Power, it still far exceeded that of a soul master in the teens. It could easily have raised Gu Yi by another six or seven levels.

The reason he had gained only three levels and five hundred jin of strength was because of the first soul skill Gu Yi had just obtained!

Blood Refinement!

This soul skill from the Blood Crystal Bat was not quite the effect Gu Yi had imagined, directly burning blood and Soul Power, but it was close enough.

Blood Refinement: It could refine the blood and Soul Power within the body, condensing them into blood essence. When necessary, the blood essence could be reversed back into Soul Power to replenish consumption.

This blood essence was like the Blood Crystal Bat's blood crystals. It contained abundant Soul Power and could serve as Gu Yi's hidden reserve of energy.

Beyond that, he could also burn blood essence or Soul Power to comprehensively amplify his strength, increasing his attack, defense, reaction speed, agility, and more!

As for how much his strength would increase and how long it would last, that depended entirely on the amount of blood essence and Soul Power.

The more blood essence and Soul Power he burned at once, the greater the increase in strength.

Gu Yi estimated that if he burned a single drop of blood essence now, he could increase his strength by 100% for roughly half a minute.

If he directly burned Soul Power, the effect would be somewhat weaker, likely only increasing his strength by 50%.

Do not underestimate such a small increase. Among warriors and soul masters of the same level, a sudden doubling or half-increase in strength was enough to determine the outcome of a battle.

Not to mention that if he burned dozens or even hundreds of drops of blood essence at once, Gu Yi's strength might instantly surge sevenfold, eightfold, or even higher.

Challenging opponents above his level would be no issue at all.

It was only after absorbing the soul ring and discovering this soul skill that Gu Yi had used it to refine a portion of the thousand-year soul ring's energy into more than ten drops of blood essence.

After all, aside from the reasons above, increasing his strength too much at once was not a good thing either. It could easily make his Soul Power unstable, weaken his foundation, and reduce his combat ability.

Every drop of blood essence inside Gu Yi's body was far heavier than ordinary blood, like mercury.

As this blood essence flowed through his body, Gu Yi seemed to hear rumbling thunder.

Blood like mercury!

This phrase instantly flashed through Gu Yi's mind.

This was a realm found only in the Blood Essence Martial Path systems of other worlds from Gu Yi's memories. He had never expected to reach it today—though only a tiny portion of his blood had attained this state.

Gu Yi suddenly thought that if all the blood in his body were converted into blood essence, just what level could his strength reach?

Perhaps he could directly reach the ninth level of the Qi Martial Realm, or even break through into the Spirit Martial Realm.

"This Blood Refinement soul skill has a fairly good effect. Once I grow stronger in the future, I can still use it."

After all, as Gu Yi's strength increased, the energy his blood essence could contain would become even more immense, so its effectiveness would not diminish by much.

Its only drawback was that Gu Yi needed sufficient energy to condense more blood essence.

Gu Yi looked at the Blood Crystal Bats around him. After hesitating for a moment, he used his spear to pry open their chests and found blood crystals one after another.

The blood crystals from the five eight-hundred-year bats were about the size of longan fruit, while the blood crystal from the two-thousand-year one was the size of a ping-pong ball.

"When I have time, I'll enter enlightenment and see whether I can improve the Blood Refinement soul skill further. Perhaps I can make it like the Blood Crystal Bats, able to directly absorb the blood and Soul Power of other living beings to condense blood crystals and blood essence."

Gu Yi's gaze flickered as this thought inevitably arose in his heart.

If it truly worked, then Blood Refinement's weakness would no longer be a weakness. Gu Yi could slaughter soul beasts to rapidly condense more blood essence and continuously raise his cultivation.

But if that happened, Gu Yi would truly become one of the Evil Soul Masters of Douluo Continent's later generations...