Changes

Wu Ming knew that his body's "aptitude" had not improved, but after his senses had sharpened, his control over his body had become far greater than before. From the same two bowls of coarse grain and a few red dates, his body drew the same amount of "Blood Qi" as it had before, yet under his meticulous guidance, almost none of that Blood Qi went to waste or leaked away.

By avoiding so much waste of Blood Qi, his body's recovery ability naturally improved greatly as well.

For someone like him, whose Qi and Blood had been drained and whose body had suffered grievous damage, the body had been like a sieve leaking wind, losing Qi and Blood from every corner. But with keen senses and control, avoiding most of that loss naturally made him vastly different from ordinary people.

In just five days, he was able to get out of bed and walk.

By Wu Ming's current estimate, at most another seven or eight days would be needed for his body to recover to the state of an ordinary person, no longer weak. Then, within a month at the latest, he would return to the condition he had been in before his ordeal!

In other words,

One month would equal the hard work of the previous year and a half!

Although that year and a half of cultivation had taken him from an infant learning to walk to gradually becoming proficient, with a long period spent treading water in place, meaning the truly effective cultivation time had not amounted to a year and a half, the fact that he now needed only one month to complete that process undoubtedly showed that the changes in him compared to before were anything but ordinary.

After walking a few laps around the courtyard and loosening up his limbs, Wu Ming did not waste much more strength. He soon returned to the room, climbed onto the bed, and reclined halfway against the wall.

He closed his eyes.

He gathered his thoughts.

Within the boundless sea of consciousness, Wu Ming once again saw the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram, vast enough to blot out the sky and cover the earth.

"Black Emperor's Demon Subduing..."

Gazing up at that immense and majestic scroll, Wu Ming murmured softly.

Over these past five days, while recovering in bed, he had been studying the changes in the diagram. Yet ever since it had suppressed and slain the sinister black aura that had invaded his body that day, the diagram seemed to have sunk back into silence, showing no further changes.

However, after suffering the sinister entity's assault and having his divine soul strengthened, Wu Ming no longer knew nothing at all about the diagram. At the very least, he now knew that it could suppress and slay evil demons, while nourishing the divine soul.

It was only that

He could not actively wield this power.

Wu Ming had tried using his thoughts to touch the scroll, but it felt like an ant trying to shake a mountain. He could not make it budge in the slightest, much less awaken it on his own and stir the power within.

As for the origin of the diagram, he remained completely in the dark and knew nothing whatsoever.

"The true nature of this diagram must far exceed imagination. In my current state, I still cannot investigate it. If I can make good use of it, I will surely soar straight into the blue clouds on the path of martial arts."

"But... this diagram remains unmoved by thunder and cannot be commanded. If I want to borrow its power, must I, as before, deliberately allow a sinister entity to enter my body, then awaken it and have it suppress the entity?"

Wu Ming fell into deep thought.

He still had not figured out that black-aura sinister entity. He only knew that it seemed to be one kind of "evil demon" ravaging the world. The usual method for martial artists to deal with such evil demons was to break them with Pure Yang Blood Qi.

The more Blood Qi a martial artist condensed, the more vigorous and powerful it became, and the stronger its effect in driving away demons and warding off evil.

But this ability to drive away demons and ward off evil was often limited to outside the body. Before an evil demon came near, one needed to use Pure Yang Blood Qi to shatter or repel it. Once it invaded the body, however, it would bore directly into the sea of consciousness behind the brow. At that point, one's Blood Qi would not only be useless, but the evil demon would seize the consciousness and draw out all the Blood Qi in the body as its food.

Just as before, when the black-aura sinister entity entered his body, even though it had been suppressed and slain by the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram in only an instant, it had still used the sea of consciousness behind his brow as its foundation to forcibly draw upon all the Blood Qi in his body, leaving him in a state of depleted Qi and Blood.

There was no doubt about it.

Allowing a sinister entity to enter the body was an extremely dangerous act.

After all, if the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram had awakened even a little more slowly, and the black-aura sinister entity had drawn out a little more Qi and Blood, it might have drained all the Blood Qi from his body. Even if the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram could then suppress, slay, and refine it to nourish his divine soul, his body would have been drained dry of Qi and Blood and turned into a desiccated corpse, losing all life directly. That was clearly a major problem.

Wu Ming's intuition told him that the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram was absolutely not meant to be used so rashly, nor could it possibly carry such enormous risk. There had to be a more complete method, but he had yet to discover it.

"Mm, there is no need to rush it for now."

After pondering for a long while, Wu Ming temporarily put it out of his mind.

By a fortunate accident and stroke of fate, awakening the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram this time had already brought him tremendous gains. Over the coming period, he needed to slowly digest those gains. There was indeed no need to hurry into exploring the deeper power of the diagram.

In the blink of an eye,

More than ten days passed.

Wu Ming's body had already fully recovered. Only his Qi and Blood had yet to return to the state they had been in before the sinister entity's assault, but complete recovery, and even condensing Blood Qi to step into the ranks of martial artists, was merely a matter of time.

Liu Shi and Wu Yu were both overjoyed by how quickly Wu Ming had recovered, attributing it to Heaven's blessing. After all, clan head Wu Qu had said that Wu Ming would need at least a month of recuperation before he could get out of bed and walk, yet Wu Ming had been able to do so within just a few days.

Wu Qu, the clan head of Wu Village, had been busy investigating why the sinister entity had appeared and had not continued paying attention to Wu Ming's condition. A few days ago, when he learned that Wu Ming could already get out of bed and walk, he was only mildly surprised and did not think much of it.

He had carefully examined Wu Ming's condition. After suffering a sinister entity's invasion, Wu Ming's Qi and Blood had been depleted to an extreme degree. Even if he could get out of bed and walk in only half a month, looking like an ordinary person on the surface, that was likely only skin-deep. The emptiness within could not be replenished in a short time.

On this day,

In the courtyard, Wu Ming assumed the stance of the Pure Yang Blood-Drawing Stance. After holding it for some time, he slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

"The progress is indeed fast, not much different from what I expected."

A trace of gratification flashed through his eyes. His earlier judgment had indeed been more or less correct. After his divine soul had grown stronger, with the ability of Inner Vision and more powerful methods of guiding his Qi and Blood, his cultivation of Blood Qi had become twice the result with half the effort, utterly incomparable to before.

Only a few days after his body had fully recovered, he had already accumulated a great deal of Qi and Blood.

"Whew."

Wu Ming did not cultivate for long before stopping.

His body had not yet recovered to its former peak condition. Moreover, after gaining sharper senses, he had discovered that blood-condensing cultivation also required a proper balance between tension and relaxation; he could not force it recklessly, or he would instead deplete his Qi and Blood.

The Pure Yang Blood-Drawing Stance, for instance, was not suitable for prolonged cultivation. Holding the stance for one shichen at a time was most appropriate. Beyond that limit, not only would the results be half the effort for twice the work, but it would also harm one's Qi and Blood. One needed to rest for a while before repeating the cultivation.

Such details differed from Wu Qu's instruction.

Wu Qu's guidance for cultivating the Pure Yang Blood-Drawing Stance was to hold the stance for two shichen at a time, then rest.

Of course,

Wu Ming did not think Wu Qu had deliberately failed to explain things properly. Rather, based on his current detailed exploration and understanding of the human body, every person's bones, constitution, and physique were completely different, so the degree to which each person could adapt should also differ.

Holding the stance for two shichen was likely the most broadly applicable approach, and it indeed would not cause excessive depletion.

But for individuals, the suitable duration varied from person to person. For him, about one shichen was ideal, while some people blessed with extraordinary bones might have no problem even after three shichen.

From this point, Wu Ming could roughly tell that clan head Wu Qu's perception of the body was probably not much stronger than his own now. Wu Qu gave the same instruction of holding the stance for two shichen even to his own sons. He likely could not carefully assess every person's bones and create the most suitable cultivation method for different people.

But on second thought, that made sense.

If Wu Qu could do such a thing, there would be no need for him to serve as a clan head in a village outside the city. He could simply open a martial arts school in the inner city and recruit disciples far and wide. Surely many people would be willing to seek his instruction.

Even Wu Ming himself could, at most, clearly sense his own condition; he could not accurately probe that of others.