"This boy must not be allowed to live!"
A thought that even Shen Fan found unbelievable surfaced in his mind.
Shaking his head, Shen Fan snuffed out the thought.
Old Man Duan had disregarded his own safety and risked assassinating Zhao Erhu, all to seek justice for him.
Now that the matter had been exposed, Old Man Duan had resolutely shouldered all the blame and stepped onto a road of no return.
How could he entertain such an ungrateful, rebellious thought?
Shen Fan dragged his heavy steps back to the dilapidated Waste Elixir Chamber.
The moment he entered, he impatiently took out all the medicinal herbs he had hoarded and piled them onto the table.
Then he took a deep breath, sat cross-legged according to the cultivation method of the "Blood Spirit Unification Art," and began circulating his spiritual power.
This "Blood Spirit Unification Art" was roughly a mid-grade Yellow Rank technique. Only Outer Sect Disciples were qualified to cultivate a technique of this grade.
"The divine soul kindles blood and qi; Blood Spirit Qi forms as one within the body!"
"It courses through the body, bolstering strength and courage; qi rises layer by layer, shattering the mysterious pass!"
Shen Fan muttered the chant as spiritual power slowly circulated through his body according to its verses.
In an instant, he felt the qi and blood within him begin to boil violently like scalding water.
"S-So hot!"
Shen Fan's skin turned crimson at a visible rate, as though it were being roasted by blazing flames.
As spiritual power surged endlessly through every meridian in his body, the blood throughout him seemed to ignite and burn fiercely.
Yet before that searing heat could last long, an intense dizziness swept over him like a tide.
Shen Fan's vision went black, and his body pitched forward out of control, crashing heavily onto the floor.
The world spun around him, and Shen Fan could no longer hold on. He fainted.
When Shen Fan gradually came to, the sky had already darkened.
He struggled into a sitting position and discovered that his clothes had long been soaked through with sweat, then dried stiff from his body heat, giving off a pungent stench of perspiration.
"Why did I pass out?"
Suppressing his dizzy spell, Shen Fan struggled to his feet, barely washed himself, wolfed down some food, and began to ponder carefully.
A moment later, realization dawned on him.
"The qi and blood within my body alone simply aren't enough to support cultivation of the Blood Spirit Unification Art.
"If my qi and blood are burned excessively, I'll naturally pass out.
"When cultivating, I must supplement it with medicinal herbs that replenish qi and blood in order to successfully condense Blood Spirit Qi!"
With that in mind, Shen Fan prepared himself again.
This time, he placed every qi-and-blood medicinal herb within easy reach.
As spiritual power circulated once more, the nearly depleted qi and blood within his body were ignited again, burning fiercely.
Without hesitation, Shen Fan picked up the three-hundred-year-old Crimson Essence Ginseng and swallowed it in one gulp.
The medicinal potency of the Crimson Essence Ginseng was rapidly absorbed by his fleshly body like melting snow in spring, replenishing his expended qi and blood.
As his qi and blood continued to burn, Shen Fan looked inward and clearly saw the blood vapor rising from the burning qi and blood slowly gathering within his dantian.
"This is Blood Spirit Qi!"
Shen Fan's heart surged with excitement.
But this small amount of qi and blood was still far from enough to condense complete Blood Spirit Qi.
Shen Fan did not hesitate. He immediately swallowed the other Blood Vein He Shou Wu as well.
Surging qi-and-blood power boiled within him like blazing fire, while the evaporated Blood Spirit Qi gradually gathered into a visible red current.
On closer inspection, the red current resembled a surging river, wondrous and profound beyond measure.
"Success!"
Seeing that the current lingered without dispersing and floated steadily within his dantian, Shen Fan could clearly feel that the qi and blood within his body had become far more vigorous than before, and his strength had increased greatly as well.
A moment later, Shen Fan slowly opened his eyes and clenched both fists. Feeling the powerful strength coursing through this body, joy immediately welled up in his heart.
"This strength is more than several times greater than before!"
If Shen Fan's strength before cultivation had been like that of a tender child, then he now possessed the strength of a grown adult.
The power unleashed during the early stages of body cultivation was something Dharma cultivators simply could not compare with.
Dharma cultivators thought highly of themselves and looked down on the seemingly insignificant explosive power of early-stage body cultivators, believing they had no potential and could never pursue the great path of immortality.
Yet whenever Dharma cultivators fought body cultivators, they would obediently shut their mouths, for they knew full well how formidable body cultivators were.
"This is only one strand of Blood Spirit Qi! If I condensed several more, wouldn't I be invincible among those of the same rank, perhaps even able to challenge those above my level?"
Shen Fan looked at the remaining Blood Ignition Pill, and a surge of lofty ambition rose within him.
Then, while the iron was hot, he swallowed the Blood Ignition Pill outright, circulated his spiritual power again, and condensed a second strand of Blood Spirit Qi.
According to the technique's description, one strand of Blood Spirit Qi was equivalent to the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage.
Shen Fan was now already a third-layer Qi Refining Stage cultivator and a second-layer Blood Refining Stage body cultivator.
"Wait! This Blood Spirit Unification Art doesn't seem to be complete!"
Shen Fan pondered inwardly.
Judging by the divisions in this technique, this should be the cultivation method for the first five layers.
What came after that?
Upon realizing that the technique was incomplete, Shen Fan immediately grew so anxious that he scratched at his ears and cheeks.
This was a mid-grade Yellow Rank technique with astonishing effects. If he could learn the complete version, wouldn't its power be even greater?
"Right!"
Shen Fan's eyes lit up as he suddenly thought of something.
"This Treasure Gathering Universe Bowl can duplicate, strengthen, catalyze, and repair items. In theory, it operates on items.
"But this technique is also classified as incomplete. If I place it into the bowl, could it automatically restore the missing parts?"
Shen Fan was immediately stunned by his own wild and fanciful idea.
This would practically elevate the Treasure Gathering Universe Bowl to the heights of a conceptual treasure.
"Whether it works or not, won't it naturally be revealed after tonight?"
Thinking this, Shen Fan immediately placed the technique into the Treasure Gathering Universe Bowl and waited quietly for tomorrow to arrive.
The night passed without incident.
As the morning sun broke over the horizon, golden light spilled across the earth.
The instant Shen Fan opened his eyes, he immediately focused his attention on the Treasure Gathering Universe Bowl in his mind.
He examined it closely and saw that the technique still lay quietly within the bowl.
As for whether its contents had changed, he had no way of knowing yet.
With excitement and unease in his heart, Shen Fan took the technique out of the bowl.
Holding it in his hands, Shen Fan clearly felt that this "Blood Spirit Unification Art" had become much thicker.
"Could it... really have worked?"
Shen Fan's hands trembled with excitement, and his heartbeat quickened.
He slowly opened to the first page, only to find that its contents were exactly the same as yesterday's.
But when Shen Fan turned to the fifth layer, he discovered that there was actually more content afterward.
"Success! It really succeeded!"
Shen Fan's breathing became rapid.
Yesterday, the page after the fifth layer had been the final page, with no further content.
But now, after the fifth layer, it was clear that another half of the content had yet to be revealed.
When Shen Fan continued flipping through it, he was utterly dumbfounded.
The "Blood Spirit Unification Art" had truly been completed!
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