Peace Pearl's Transformation

Pfft!

A flash of blade light cut through the air. The Giant Rat charging straight at Ye Zhen was split in two by a single slash. At the instant the stinking rat blood poured down over his head, Ye Zhen rolled to the side where he stood, then swept his woodcutter's blade upward, accurately gutting another Giant Rat pouncing at him from the side.

That slash and upward sweep flowed like drifting clouds and running water, without the slightest hitch.

The blade in his hand was a woodcutter's knife, a thick-backed chopping knife issued by the Qi Yun Sect to its Menial Disciples. Under Ye Zhen's daily sharpening, it had become incomparably keen.

Ever since he had first been attacked by this pair of Giant Rats, Ye Zhen had brought his chopping knife with him every time he came here.

His blade technique was the Chopping Knife Technique.

As a menial at the Qi Yun Sect, Ye Zhen had spent a year chopping Iron Branch Pines every day, honing the Pine Splitting Blade Technique. It was sharp and direct, without any fancy flourishes.

Moreover, although the ferocious beasts and Monster Beasts within the Qi Yun Sect's territory had long since been slaughtered clean, ordinary wild animals still remained.

Over the past year, no fewer than ten fierce beasts, such as wild boars, had died beneath Ye Zhen's chopping knife. Killing these two mutated Giant Rats had truly been as easy as turning over his hand.

However, if another year or two passed and these two Giant Rats grew into ferocious beasts, tonight's outcome might have been different.

The stimulation of blood stench made every nerve in Ye Zhen's body tremble with excitement. The smell of blood after killing a target was enough to excite any man.

Drawing in a deep breath, Ye Zhen casually tore a broad vine leaf from the mountain wall and held it beneath the crystal-clear Stone Shoot pillar. Tiny droplets had already begun gathering at the tip of the Stone Shoot.

Before long, the crystal-clear Stone Shoot pillar released two consecutive drops of bluish-green liquid. The watery gleam around the Stone Shoot gradually dimmed.

Looking at the two drops of blue Marrow Spirit Liquid on the vine leaf, each giving off a strange fragrance, Ye Zhen felt somewhat excited. Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures!

Ye Zhen had read the Qi Yun Sect's Herbal Medicine Classic as well, but it mostly recorded methods for identifying medicinal herbs and aged spirit medicines. Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were rarely mentioned.

Yet from his usual conversations with fellow disciples, Ye Zhen could be certain of one thing: anything like Marrow Spirit Liquid, regardless of what kind it was, was an exceptionally precious treasure.

The only thing Ye Zhen had to worry about now was whether the Marrow Spirit Liquid before him was of too high a grade, with power too immense within it. If he consumed it, he might be directly burst apart.

A senior menial disciple had once said that Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were good things, but some of the highest-grade ones contained terrifyingly excessive energy. If someone with too low a cultivation consumed them, they might be directly burst apart.

However, since two ordinary rats could consume this blue Marrow Spirit Liquid and grow into Giant Rats, then he, Ye Zhen—a human many times larger than a rat—should not explode from consuming it.

Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Zhen swallowed the two drops of Marrow Spirit Liquid. He even swallowed the vine leaf holding the liquid.

An exotic fragrance filled his mouth. The Marrow Spirit Liquid immediately transformed into boundless heat that spread through Ye Zhen's limbs and bones.

Instinctively, Ye Zhen sat cross-legged and began circulating the Blood Qi Art passed down by the Qi Yun Sect. He started moving his blood and qi, refining and absorbing the powerful medicinal force of the Marrow Spirit Liquid.

The immense medicinal force contained within the Marrow Spirit Liquid allowed Ye Zhen to sense with extreme clarity the route his blood and qi traveled through his body.

But at the instant the Blood Qi Art had just begun circulating through his chest, Ye Zhen's brows furrowed in surprise.

When the Blood Qi Art guided the medicinal force transformed from the Marrow Spirit Liquid through his chest, an inexplicable suction force appeared and actually drew away a small portion of the blood and qi passing through that spot.

This discovery gave Ye Zhen a great fright, and he hurriedly focused his mind to examine it closely.

Yet this careful observation brought Ye Zhen an even more astonishing discovery.

Ye Zhen found that when the Blood Qi Art drove the blood and qi in his body through his chest, a portion of that surging, roaring blood and qi would be drawn away by that inexplicable suction force.

The portion drawn away amounted to as much as twenty percent.

After sensing it carefully, Ye Zhen discovered in astonishment that the source of the suction force that absorbed twenty percent of his blood and qi was the pigeon-egg-sized pearl hanging at his chest.

The twenty percent of blood and qi that was drawn away had been completely devoured by the pearl on his chest.

This bizarre change reminded Ye Zhen of the origin of the pearl at his chest.

This pearl, made of a peculiar material, was called the Peace Pearl by Ye Zhen.

His grandfather had passed it on to Ye Zhen before his death. It was said to be a treasure handed down by the Ye Family ancestors, passed through several generations.

It had been in Ye Zhen's hands for seven or eight years. As for it being some sort of treasure, Ye Zhen had never thought so. He had always treated it merely as an old family heirloom.

This strange occurrence of it suddenly absorbing blood and qi left Ye Zhen utterly shocked.

Instinctively, Ye Zhen wanted to take off the Peace Pearl that was absorbing his blood and qi.

When his hand touched the icy-cold Peace Pearl, Ye Zhen suddenly froze. A chain of associations instantly surfaced in his mind.

Several months earlier, Ye Zhen had suffered an injury to his chest. A great amount of blood had flowed out and stained the Peace Pearl.

But after the blood touched the Peace Pearl, it had seeped into it like water soaking into sand, vanishing completely without leaving even a trace.

At the time, Ye Zhen had not paid it any mind, merely thinking that this family heirloom was made of some unusual material.

Thinking carefully now, it seemed that every change in Ye Zhen's body had begun after that injury, after the Peace Pearl had absorbed his blood.

It was also after the Peace Pearl absorbed his blood that Ye Zhen's cultivation progress had abruptly slowed.

Before that, Ye Zhen's cultivation speed had always ranked among the best of the newly inducted Menial Disciples on Hundred Pine Peak.

Among the hundred menial disciples who had joined Hundred Pine Peak at the same time, Ye Zhen's cultivation speed could rank in the top five.

But after the Peace Pearl absorbed his blood, Ye Zhen's cultivation speed plummeted. No matter how hard he worked, his cultivation improved only very slowly.

Thinking about it now, the reason his cultivation had advanced so slowly was likely because the Peace Pearl was absorbing his blood and qi.

Every time Ye Zhen cultivated, the Peace Pearl absorbed twenty percent of his blood and qi. However, because Ye Zhen's blood and qi had been rather weak, he had been unable to notice such a small loss.

This time, Ye Zhen had consumed a Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure like the Marrow Spirit Liquid, causing the blood and qi within his body to surge to a level he could scarcely contain. The twenty percent taken by the Peace Pearl had suddenly become a substantial amount, allowing Ye Zhen to discover this secret.

Not only that, Ye Zhen recalled something else—his little secret, the strange ability to understand beast speech, had also been accidentally discovered after the Peace Pearl absorbed his blood.

"Could this ancestral Peace Pearl really be a treasure?" A thought that made Ye Zhen's heart race suddenly arose in his mind.

The moment that thought appeared, it stirred boundless curiosity within Ye Zhen.

His left hand resting on the Peace Pearl loosened of its own accord.

Ye Zhen wanted to see what changes the Peace Pearl would undergo if it absorbed enough blood and qi power.

In any case, after consuming the Marrow Spirit Liquid, the blood and qi in Ye Zhen's body had surged to the point of nearly being impossible to contain. Letting it absorb some would do no harm.

Under Ye Zhen's control, the Blood Qi Art circulated without pause. With every cycle, Ye Zhen felt his blood and qi grow stronger by another degree.

The powerful blood and qi coursed through his entire body, nourishing every bone and every piece of flesh, even causing his internal organs to begin growing stronger little by little.

The suction force grew ever stronger. The originally ice-cold Peace Pearl began to warm, then turn hot. Its formerly pale-red surface became crimson, radiating a faint Crimson Blood Radiance.

At the instant the Crimson Blood Radiance emitted by the Peace Pearl reached its peak, the dazzling light abruptly erupted. Ye Zhen only felt as though his chest had been struck by lightning, and a scorching heat suddenly drilled into his chest.

The pain made Ye Zhen's eyes roll back. Without even letting out a cry, he fainted.

Ye Zhen was awakened by a foul stench.

The source of the smell was Ye Zhen himself. His entire body felt sticky, and a layer of black, grimy oil had seeped from all over him, giving off an unbearable odor.

"It's gone?" The instant he woke, Ye Zhen instinctively looked toward his chest.

Before he fainted, the Peace Pearl on his chest had undergone an abnormal change, so Ye Zhen wanted to see exactly what had happened to it.

But now, only an empty leather cord remained on his chest. The Peace Pearl that had hung from it had vanished. Yet an imprint had appeared on his chest, almost identical to the Peace Pearl itself.

The instant Ye Zhen's gaze fell upon it, a suction force that made the world spin around him suddenly surged from the imprint. One bizarre and fantastical scene after another began unfolding before his eyes.