Awakening

The elderly Blood Servant carefully laid the stiff-bodied Yin Xuege on the bed. A trace of cautious worry showed on his aged face as he nervously rubbed his hands together and stared blankly at Yin Xuege's pale little face.

Every person knew good from evil, black from white. Among all the children of the Yin Clan, Yin Xuege had always been the kindest to Blood Servants like them, whose status was lower than livestock. Many of Yin Xuege's conflicts with Yin Xuejiao and the others had even arisen because he protected these pitiful Blood Servants.

Thus, in the hearts of the Yin Clan's Blood Servants and Blood Slaves, Yin Xuege was not the same kind of person as the Yin Clan members. Over the past few years, Yin Xuege had used his meager strength to care for and protect these Blood Servants and Blood Slaves as best he could, while they, in turn, had cautiously watched over him.

Yin Xuege lay on the bed, wracked by pain throughout his body. His internal organs ached fiercely, and the shattered bones in his back scraped against one another, causing pain so severe that death would have been preferable. He clenched his teeth tightly and laboriously shifted his eyes toward a cabinet by his bedside.

The old Blood Servant shuddered. He hurriedly glanced toward Yin Xuege's door, then carefully pulled open the cabinet. Following Yin Xuege's gaze, he found more than a dozen jade slips of varying colors in one of the drawers.

These were the Yin Clan's Merit Jade Slips. Jade slips of different colors represented different amounts of Lineage Merit Points. Pale white represented one Merit Point, while milky white represented two; pale red represented five Merit Points, while crimson represented ten. As for blood-colored jade slips, the same color as fresh blood, those inlaid with one silver stripe represented fifty Merit Points, while two silver stripes represented one hundred.

Yet among the Merit Jade Slips in Yin Xuege's cabinet, the highest denomination was merely pale red. Most were pale white or milky white. Added together, all the Merit Jade Slips only barely exceeded fifty Merit Points.

The old Blood Servant looked at Yin Xuege. The stiff-bodied Yin Xuege slowly nodded. That single motion exhausted all the strength in his body and triggered agonizing pain in his organs. Another thread of blood slid from the corner of his mouth.

The Yin Clan possessed Blood Demon Bodies, and every drop of blood was vital to a Blood Demon. Blood flowing from Yin Xuege's mouth at this moment proved that he had lost another trace of his vitality. For an eleven-year-old child, losing over half the blood in his body today was an unimaginably grievous injury, enough to reduce the fruits of more than half a year of hard cultivation to nothing.

Seeing Yin Xuege's eager gaze and the blood trickling from his mouth, the old Blood Servant hurriedly nodded. Trembling, he picked through the Merit Jade Slips and gathered fifty Merit Points' worth. Only two milky-white Merit Jade Slips remained in the cabinet. Yin Xuege had only four Merit Points left.

Stuffing all the Merit Jade Slips into his sleeve, the old Blood Servant rushed out of the room at a speed no slower than a young man's and hurried toward the Lineage's Merit Hall. Having toiled in the Yin Clan for decades, he knew what Yin Xuege needed now.

Yin Xuege softly exhaled, and even his breath carried a faint layer of red. Yin Jiwu's shameless sneak attack had inflicted an extremely serious injury on him. All his bodily functions had frozen. With Yin Xuege's frail vitality, recovering from the damage of that palm strike without three to five months was utterly impossible.

After all, he was only a child, a weak child who had not yet condensed even a single drop of Blood Demon Essence Blood.

He also knew that aside from the Blood Servants whom he had protected with his feeble strength over the years, not a single Yin Clan member would come to care for him. He had no foundation, no background, no patron within the Yin Clan. From the moment he had begun to understand the world, he had clashed with direct descendants of the Lineage such as Yin Xuejiao and Yin Xueao over many matters. He had practically offended the entire Yin Clan.

He coughed heavily, and another thread of blood flowed from his mouth.

Narrowing his eyes, Yin Xuege watched the crimson sky outside through the corner of his eye. The Blood Mist Barrier still enveloped the entire Yin Clan City-State. Night had not yet fallen, and sunlight was lethally harmful to Yin Clan children and ordinary warriors. Thus, unless darkness completely ruled the earth, the Blood Mist Barrier over the Yin Clan City-State could not be withdrawn.

Yet once the moon appeared, the Blood Mist Barrier would disperse at the fastest speed, allowing moonlight to shine over the entire city-state. Yin Xuege was waiting for moonlight as well. To recover from his injuries, he needed not only his own restorative power, but also external aid.

Only half a quarter-hour later, the old Blood Servant ran back to the small building where Yin Xuege lived, panting for breath. This time, things had gone smoothly. No one had deliberately caused trouble along the way. The old Blood Servant gently shut the door and came before Yin Xuege, holding a delicate little white jade bowl.

Like the bowl of Blood Essence Yin Xuege had consumed in the Children's Hall that morning, this was a bowl of Blood Essence blended from the Essence Blood of one hundred people's hearts and infused with various herbs to enhance its efficacy. Fifty Merit Points per serving, clearly priced in the Merit Hall, fair to old and young alike.

The old Blood Servant carefully attended Yin Xuege and helped him drink the bowl of Blood Essence. A warm current surged through Yin Xuege's body. The bones Yin Jiwu had shattered in his back gave off crisp crackling sounds. Under the wriggling of his muscles, those bones were piecing themselves back together, striving to repair Yin Xuege's injuries.

The intense pain in his body weakened greatly, while the bone-piercing chill was dispersed somewhat by the heat contained within the Blood Essence. Yin Xuege let out a heavy breath, then forced a smile at the old Blood Slave.

"Old Anderson, leave quickly. Don't stay here with me for too long! Otherwise, they'll make trouble for you!"

Old Blood Servant Anderson looked uneasily at Yin Xuege's pale smiling face. His lips moved slightly, as though he wanted to say something. But Yin Xuege looked at him with unwavering eyes, gritted his teeth, and drove him from the room in a low voice.

Since he had first understood the world, Yin Xuege had used his meager strength to protect these pitiful Blood Servants and Blood Slaves. Though this had led Yin Clan members to ostracize him, suppress him, and harm him through all manner of means, it had also won him tremendous standing in the hearts of the Yin Clan's Blood Servants and Blood Slaves. Every Blood Servant and Blood Slave was willing to do their utmost to care for Yin Xuege whenever possible.

But Yin Xuege could not allow Old Anderson and the others to show him any fondness, nor could he let the Yin Clan members discover the bond between himself and these "lowly" Blood Servants and Blood Slaves. Every year, more than a hundred thousand Blood Servants and Blood Slaves vanished without explanation from the Yin Clan City-State. Yin Xuege did not want Old Anderson and the others to become part of that number as well.

Old Anderson sighed softly and began to pray in a low voice. "Kind Young Master Xuege, may the omnipotent god protect you!"

Drawing a cross over his chest, Old Anderson lowered his head and walked weakly out the door.

Seeing Old Anderson's gesture, Yin Xuege smiled helplessly. If Yin Xuejiao and the others saw Old Anderson's prayer and hand sign just now, Old Anderson would probably be thrown straight into the Blood Transformation Pool as a sacrifice. An apostate who believed in the Light God—this was no light accusation in the West, in the place that had been called the European Continent several decades ago.

The bowl of Blood Essence inside him was exerting its powerful effects, and Yin Xuege's body gradually regained a little strength. He laboriously turned his head and looked toward the blood-colored sky beyond the window. A color like blood, a color that sickened the heart and made one want to vomit.

Within the rolling Blood Mist Barrier, Yin Xuege seemed to see the faces of an elderly couple.

Old Han and Old Han's wife, a pitiful pair of Blood Servants whose every last bit of energy had been squeezed dry by the Yin Clan. Yin Xuege had been raised under the care of Old Han and his wife, and it was precisely because of them that he had retained his last measure of kindness instead of being completely assimilated by the Yin Clan, that terrifying and cruel Lineage.

Not long after Yin Xuege had begun to understand the world, just after he had gained the strength to care for himself, Old Han and his wife suddenly vanished.

Though Yin Xuege had been young at the time, he knew that the Yin Clan had deliberately made the elderly couple disappear into thin air.

There were some things the Yin Clan elders did not want Yin Xuege to know.

"Sooner or later, I'll find out!" Yin Xuege pressed his lips together hard, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with force, and gripped the pale silver jade cicada hanging from his chest.

The pale silver jade cicada was about an inch long. It was made from a rare silver treasure jade that resembled metal. The carving was ancient and grand, a few simple strokes bringing out the lively spirit of a jade cicada dancing against the wind. Faint patches of cloud swirled and danced within it, yet whenever Yin Xuege tried his utmost to see them clearly, his vision blurred, and the jade cicada remained the same jade cicada.

A trace of blood stuck to his hand accidentally touched the jade cicada. Yin Xuege's hand trembled. He struggled to wipe the jade cicada clean with his clothes, but his hands had utterly lost their strength today. He could not even lift the jade cicada.

Old Han and his wife had solemnly entrusted this object to Yin Xuege. It was a treasure left to him by the mother he had never met, and they had told him never to lose it. Yin Xuege had never met his mother, but in his heart, he held all the beautiful longings that every child should have for their mother.

The discrimination and beatings he had suffered since childhood in the Yin Clan City-State had made Yin Xuege cherish this jade cicada all the more. He had never allowed any filth to stain it, not even his own blood. Yet today, a trace of his blood had adhered to the jade cicada, and he was powerless to wipe it away.

Clenching his teeth tightly, Yin Xuege muttered Yin Jiwu's name in a low voice.

Beyond Yin Xuege's sight, the ancient, grand silver jade cicada, which radiated a mysterious aura, had already absorbed that trace of blood completely. A faint blood-red color rolled within the jade cicada, while the clouds within it began to rise, fall, shrink, and expand, perfectly echoing Yin Xuege's breathing and heartbeat.

The Blood Mist Barrier gradually thinned, and the dark azure sky beyond became faintly visible.

A silver moon, slightly short of full, slowly climbed up from the east. Clear moonlight like water spilled across the earth.

The Blood Parrot drifted slowly across the high sky. Countless Demon Talismans faintly flickered across its dark green-black surface, like the eyes of Demons looking down upon the earth. Yin Xuege glanced at the Blood Parrot. The Demon Talismans drew upon the blood in his body, causing his blood qi to churn. Two drops of blood immediately fell from his nostrils, both landing on the silver jade cicada.

Yin Xuege hurriedly lowered his eyes and dared not look at the Blood Parrot again.

That was the Blood Parrot, a secret treasure for patrolling the skies forged through an arcane method. Over a century ago, the Yin Clan had sacrificed one million Blood Slaves and drawn upon an unknown existence from the upper realm to transmit it across worlds with immortal arts. Every Demon Talisman upon it contained the ultimate principles of heaven and earth and possessed boundless might. These Demon Talismans were not something a Yin Clan child was qualified to comprehend. Even a single glance would result in injury.

The silver jade cicada unceremoniously devoured those two drops of blood as well, making the clouds within it even more lively.

The silver moon's light shone over Yin Xuege. This was not a full moon night, and the moonlight did not contain the precious Innate Taiyin Qi, so the people from the Lineage's External Affairs Hall did not trouble Yin Xuege.

He laboriously propped himself up and sat cross-legged on the bed. A beam of moonlight shone in through the window, enveloping Yin Xuege's slender body. Faint blood-colored patterns lit up throughout Yin Xuege's small building. The Demon Race restrictions within activated, sealing off the interior from the outside world. No one would disturb Yin Xuege at this time.

Following the secret method passed down by the Children's Hall, after nine heartbeats, he opened his mouth and took a deep breath toward the moonlight.

Strands of silver mist, barely visible to the naked eye, separated from the moonlight and entered Yin Xuege's body with his breathing. The medicinal strength of the bowl of Blood Essence had reached its peak. Waves of heat circulated through his entire body. Every time Yin Xuege inhaled and exhaled moonlight, a great amount of chill entered his body, then continuously settled into his blood and muscles under the catalysis of the Blood Essence.

Thirty percent of the moonlight essence was absorbed by Yin Xuege's heart, gradually making it stronger and tougher.

The bloody palm print Yin Jiwu had left on his back was washed over again and again by Yin Xuege's blood, like waves pounding against a reef. Yin Xuege's blood qi crashed against the bloody handprint, yet could not shake it in the slightest. Just as Yin Xuege had estimated, recovering from this injury would require an extremely long time.

Yet the Blood Essence in his stomach and the moonlight essence had, after all, taken effect. The agonizing pain within Yin Xuege gradually eased, and the sinister yin qi Yin Jiwu's palm strike had sent into his body slowly dispersed beneath the washing of his blood qi. Although he could not budge the bloody palm print, Yin Xuege felt much better now.

As Yin Xuege cultivated, a thin layer of azure moonlight gradually enveloped his body. He sank into an ethereal state. His mind held not a single stray thought, and every sensation in his body faded away. He merely followed instinct, continuously breathing in and out the essence within the moonlight.

At that moment, the silver jade cicada stirred quietly. As though it sensed the pain and harm the bloody palm print on Yin Xuege's back had inflicted upon him, it suddenly burst forth with a silver radiance a foot wide. Like a streak of lightning, it leaped up and lightly swept across Yin Xuege's back. The bloody palm print immediately gave a wail of grief and vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The silver radiance swiftly circled Yin Xuege's body several times. His injuries recovered in an instant, and he completely returned to his peak condition.

In his ethereal state, Yin Xuege suddenly heard a high and clear cicada cry. The cry shook his soul, and a vast, irresistible torrent surged in through the crown of his head, rushing through every meridian and blood vessel in Yin Xuege's body in an instant.

Cracking sounds rang out without end as every blocked meridian and acupoint in Yin Xuege's body was broken open in one stroke by that mighty force brimming with life. His body swayed and trembled wildly. Countless layers of blackish-red grime emerged over his skin, quickly wrapping him in a thick coating.

A clear and arrogantly peerless voice quietly sounded in Yin Xuege's mind.

"The cicada is pure and noble, wandering beyond the heavens, unstained by dust. It lies dormant for three years without a cry; once it cries, the whole world is startled."

As the voice sounded, all the grime on Yin Xuege's body turned to nothing beneath the hazy silver radiance, revealing skin as fair and delicate as the finest mutton-fat jade. Unlike the pallor of the other Yin Clan members, a faint flush of blood could now be seen beneath Yin Xuege's skin.

At this moment, countless tiny silver immortal talisman inscriptions flowed through Yin Xuege's body. Gradually, they gathered within his five viscera and six bowels, transforming into a silver stream that flowed ceaselessly.

Blood Demon Physiques were not tolerated by heaven and earth, did not belong to the five elements, and threw yin and yang into disorder. They were wholly creatures of evil. They resembled the living, yet contained death qi within; they resembled the dead, yet could walk and speak. They were aberrant existences that should never have existed in this world.

Yin Xuege's body had originally been filled with dense yin qi and condensed countless traces of bloody karmic resentment. Yet under the impact of that mighty force and the cleansing of those silver immortal talisman inscriptions, the vitality concealed by his Blood Demon Physique burst forth. Like exquisite jade unearthed from raw stone, it erupted with its rightful splendid, lustrous radiance.

Between Yin Xuege's chest and abdomen, countless immortal talisman inscriptions flickered in and out of sight, condensing into a short, incisive chant that held boundless wonders—the Autumn Cicada Hibernation Art!

Without any need for Yin Xuege to cultivate it himself, the immortal talisman inscriptions, full of infinite mysteries, circulated on their own. Every abnormality within Yin Xuege's body was completely concealed, as if an autumn cicada had hidden three thousand zhang beneath the earth. Even if mortals exhausted all their hearts and minds, they would not be able to discover the slightest clue.

Knowing nothing of this, Yin Xuege breathed deeply. The silver radiance released by the jade cicada covered his entire body. At this moment, the efficiency with which Yin Xuege absorbed moonlight essence had increased not merely a thousandfold or ten-thousandfold. Even more shocking, the core through which he breathed in and out the moonlight essence was no longer his heart, as it was for the other Yin Clan members, but had shifted to the dantian in his lower abdomen.

An enormous amount of moonlight essence surged in, continuously entering Yin Xuege's dantian. After being purified and refined, thirty percent of it flowed into Yin Xuege's increasingly vigorous heart. Gradually, all the blood in Yin Xuege's body was dyed with a layer of azure brilliance, and his heart likewise slowly took on a layer of azure.

With a soft drip, a thumb-sized drop of Blood Demon Essence Blood formed within Yin Xuege's heart.

Then the dripping continued without end. In the blink of an eye, thirty-six drops of azure Essence Blood formed in succession.

The azure Essence Blood radiated a faint greenish light as it circulated through his body. Yin Xuege's bones, meridians, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs all wriggled at once, continuously producing crisp cracking sounds. Breaking through to become a Star Warrior, his entire body was being tempered at once, and Yin Xuege's physical strength was advancing by leaps and bounds.

Moonlight silently spilled down as earth-shattering changes quietly took place.

Please add this to your bookshelf and vote!

All kinds of votes are welcome—especially recommendation votes. Everyone passing by, throw in plenty of recommendation votes!