The Second Heaven Vein Warrior

Shen Can kept one slot of the three slots of beast blood from the third-order odd fish. The tribesmen soaking this time were only Uncle Huo Kui and Uncle Huo Qi.

During the previous intensive training, Huo Shan had made the most progress, followed by Huo Kui, and Huo Qi had the worst.

The tribe's original three-stage improved witch medicine formula had only three ingredients.

After his deduction, he added seven more.

However, because the fish blood contained the medicinal power of the numbing and boiling powder, Shen Can added another dose of witch medicine to neutralize it in order to reduce the residual numbing and boiling powder.

In other words, there were as many as twenty kinds of witch medicine ingredients in the fish blood.

Although the mixed witch medicine had reached a balanced state, it was still being used by people.

During the deduction process, Shen Can also obtained a byproduct of the deduction results: the mixed medicinal formula seemed to be able to stimulate the potential of the physical body.

And among the three, Uncle Huo Qi, after intensive training, had already reached a bottleneck in the increase of his internal energy.

It was just right to test the side effects of the medicinal effects in the deduction results.

For a warrior to advance from the Mountain Splitting Realm to the Celestial Meridian Realm, it was no longer just about pure strength but about cultivating blood energy within the body.

When a wisp of blood energy was cultivated, it signified becoming a Celestial Meridian Realm warrior.

And the cultivation in the Celestial Meridian Realm was to unblock the Heavenly Meridians within the body, which also required a true martial arts cultivation technique.

For many years, Huo Tang had only been hovering around the first Heavenly Meridian, unable to make any further progress.

Huo Kui and Huo Qi were immersed in the beast blood and immediately let out hoarse cries.

However, the two did not jump out. Instead, they endured the excruciating pain of the beast blood washing over them and pressed their bodies firmly into the blood trough.

In the cave, Huo Tang and Huo Shan were also present.

The Celestial Meridian Realm was the foundation of the tribe's standing, and the promotion of tribesmen to the Celestial Meridian was naturally of utmost importance.

Huo Tang came over wanting to see if he could help, but after thinking about it, he realized he had no relevant cultivation experience to offer.

It was the same in the tribe; there was very little related to the Celestial Meridian.

They all relied on the tribesmen to endure it themselves.

With little experience and no systematic cultivation, coupled with injuries from hunting in the past that were not properly healed.

As Celestial Meridian Realm warriors, they lived even shorter lives than ordinary tribesmen, completely failing to embody the life transformation that came with evolved martial arts cultivation.

In the blood trough, only their heads were exposed. The two had bulging veins on their foreheads and clenched teeth, continuously letting out hoarse cries.

Shen Can carefully observed the two tribesmen, fearing any unexpected developments.

"Splash!"

Huo Qi was the first to jump out of the blood trough. He had not yet advanced to the Celestial Meridian, so the Kui Ox Fist was still effective.

Everyone made way for Huo Qi to practice his fist techniques.

Hot airflow swirled up from his body, forming a heat haze above his head.

As he was practicing, Huo Qi's fist momentum suddenly softened, but then it quickly recovered, and he returned to the blood trough.

About half an hour later, Huo Kui also jumped out of the blood trough, with heat billowing out from his body.

"Boom!"

When Huo Kui was practicing the Kui Ox Fist for the tenth or so time, his steaming body suddenly trembled, and a surge of crimson blood energy erupted from all his pores.

"He did it!"

Seeing this, Huo Tang clapped his hands and murmured.

"After three hundred years, my Blazing Flame Tribe finally has two Celestial Meridian warriors standing side by side."

Huo Shan on the side cast a slightly resentful glance at Shen Can. He felt that he could also break through, but he quickly regained his composure.

The current accumulation was for becoming stronger in the future.

After more than a month of intensive training and cultivation, the increase in his internal energy was far greater than that of Huo Kui and Huo Qi, indicating better talent.

In the past, the simplest wish of the tribe was to have one more Celestial Meridian. Now, the Blazing Flame was different; when pursuing Celestial Meridian warriors, they also looked further ahead.

After Huo Kui broke through, Huo Tang immediately called him to another cave to leave enough space for Huo Qi.

However, good fortune did not favor the Blazing Flame again.

Huo Qi soaked in the beast blood four times consecutively without being able to cultivate blood energy with the ferocity of the blood. Instead, he was so exhausted that he almost drowned in the blood trough.

Huo Shan quickly dragged him out of the blood trough.

"Ah!"

Huo Qi let out a scream, his body convulsing, and blood spots appeared on his skin, causing him to flail his hands.

Huo Qi struggled violently, his limbs flailing and kicking chaotically, and he kicked Huo Shan away.

His entire body was flushed red, resembling a cooked shrimp, only needing to curl up.

Huo Shan pressed down on him again.

"Hold him down!"

Shen Can then took out a lumpy pill from his embrace and stuffed it into Huo Qi's mouth.

Huo Shan held him down for nearly half an hour before Huo Qi's wildly thrashing body gradually relaxed, and the redness all over his body slowly dissipated.

He looked as if he had been completely drained, with sweat pooling into small puddles beneath him.

Shen Can checked on Huo Qi, "Do you feel numb all over?"

Huo Qi nodded and said hoarsely, "I feel a stinging pain all over, my arms are numb, and my legs are weak."

"Uncle, you'll be staying in the cave next to the Ancestral Temple for the next few days. I need to understand you thoroughly."

Huo Qi glanced at Shen Can and suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

"Don't worry, Uncle. You're contributing to the Blazing Flame Tribe. How could I harm you?"

Huo Qi licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. He believed that A-Can wouldn't harm him, but he was still a little scared.

Shen Can quickly took out a beast hide scroll from his ear and began to record.

"After resting for a few days, Uncle, you need to continue practicing martial arts. Uncle Huo Shan, you too. Practice until you feel your internal energy can no longer increase."

Huo Tang, who had rushed over, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Huo Qi was fine.

Instead, he didn't think much of Huo Qi's injury from breaking through.

With a weak martial arts heritage, every step was essentially an experiment.

And experiments always came with a price.

"A-Can, how do we use this beast blood?"

After all, Shen Can had left a trough of beast blood unused.

"These two used troughs can be given to the younger generation. The unused trough is naturally for the Chieftain and Uncle Huo Kui to mix with their food."

Shen Can replied without hesitation.

Martial arts cultivation was a bottom-up process; there were no castles in the air that reached the third stage without going through the first and second.

The Blazing Flame Tribe's foundation was actually very poor, so poor that ordinary tribesmen, and warriors of the first, second, and third stages, all advanced through sheer luck.

This was a common problem for tribes with weak foundations.

However, since they started receiving resources from outside tribes and combined with the Superior Kui Ox Fist, the tribe's martial arts had broken through the path of lucky advancement and achieved advancement through "pay-to-win".

They used several times more meat for cultivation than they had consumed in the past, which allowed the tribe to increase the number of martial artists in a short period. However, this kind of martial arts development was severely distorted, and "eating the future to satisfy the present" was an understatement.

A true martial arts system should have a large population as its foundation, producing a sufficient number of Stone Splitter Realm warriors.

From the Stone Splitter Realm, they would produce Mountain Splitters, and from Mountain Splitters, they would produce Celestial Meridian Realm experts, forming a pyramid structure.

However, a large tribal population couldn't be achieved in a short time. Coincidentally, the tribe had hunted a third-stage desolate beast, and there was still this beast blood left.

Shen Can planned to use the remaining beast blood from the advancement to compensate for the tribe's weak martial arts foundation, to strengthen everyone from the root and build a solid foundation for martial arts cultivation.

If the tribesmen's physiques became stronger, they would also have more children, and their constitutions would be better.

They would simultaneously use external forces to improve the upper limit of martial arts cultivation within the tribe and allocate some resources to compensate for the tribe's lack of foundation, a two-pronged approach.

A few days later, in the Ancestral Temple.

By the fire pit, several figures were gathered.

"Chieftain, we can't keep living like this, eating and drinking until we're broke," said Clan Elder Huo Yu.

Another Clan Elder, Huo Yun, added, "I've already arranged for tribesmen to open up farmland in a good location outside the city, but it will take several months for the millet seedlings to mature."

"Haven't we already decided on our strategy? The tribe should proceed as usual. The tribe's real way out is outside the tribe."

With the addition of a Celestial Meridian warrior to the tribe, and seeing the number of other warriors increasing, Huo Tang's confidence grew.

"The number of tribesmen is still too small. According to what we discussed earlier, we can absorb a small number of refugees from outside."

Everyone nodded. To the Clan Elders, a larger population meant a stronger tribe.

However, there were limits to taking in outside refugees. They could take in young and strong individuals, but not too many, as it would be difficult for them to integrate into the tribe.

"In the short term, our tribe's living supplies will still be obtained from outside."

The tribes near them had been thoroughly plundered, but the forests were rampant with plague, and they hadn't ventured further.

"With Huo Kui guarding the tribe, I'll lead a team out next."