Turning Point I

Whether the body itself can be changed, let's try it first and see.

Zhang Rongfang couldn't possibly abandon this idea just because he heard a few words from White Scale.

Immediately, he closed his eyes, concentrated his mind, and began to manipulate the blood in his body while sitting cross-legged.

His innate ability grants him perfect control, allowing him to effortlessly display the state of every part of his body.

Muscles, bones, internal organs, bone marrow, nerves—all the parts that need blood to nourish them—all took on an eerie pale red hue.

'So, how do I reshape more of the digestive system? Should I just cut out a cavity with a knife? But there's not enough space in the abdominal cavity anymore.'

My original digestive system would have increased in size as my body grew. Now, even if I were to build another digestive system, there wouldn't be room for it unless it didn't take up space inside my body?

As soon as the idea came to mind, Zhang Rongfang's eyes suddenly lit up.

'If it doesn't take up space in my body, then I could easily use external attachments to accelerate absorption. For example, leaves can photosynthesize; perhaps I could also have several external digestive systems. Wait a minute!'

Suddenly, a better idea popped into his head.

'Instead of creating an external digestive and absorption system, why not start with the blood itself! I already have the ability to manipulate blood, making modifications much easier and more direct. Besides, blood can be used as an external system for extended periods!! For example...'

In an instant, the knowledge and experience of his previous life expanded with the martial arts system of this life, sparking a great deal of inspiration.

'If I could preserve my blood outside the body for a longer period, since blood itself has the function of transporting nutrients, then all I need to do is add the step of absorption and digestion.'

Therefore, there are two directions.

'First: By pre-processing nutrients and energy substances to a level that allows for direct absorption into the bloodstream, the three steps of grinding, acidification, and absorption in the digestive system can be skipped.'

'Second: Directly enhance the phagocytic and absorptive capabilities of blood cells. My blood already possesses corrosive properties and can also engulf and assimilate other blood types. With just a slight modification, this should be successful!'

Zhang Rongfang was inspired by countless ideas and immediately stood up and walked to a corner of the Human Immortal Cave.

He waved his hand and grabbed.

In an instant, claw shadows flashed, and a stone pit the size of a bathtub appeared on the ground.

Then, with a thought, a large amount of blood dripped from his palm, flowing into the stone pit and rising upwards.

'Now, let's try it out carefully.'

Zhang Rongfang took out Grain Avoidance Pill from his person, placed one in his palm, and gently squeezed it, mimicking chewing in his mouth.

'Then, simulating the components of saliva and stomach acid, pretreatment is performed: purification and filtration.'

To simulate saliva and stomach acid, you first need to take some samples.

Zhang Rongfang thought for a moment, then took an empty small bottle, uncorked it, and prepared it.

Then, with his right hand, he suddenly stabbed himself in the stomach.

Pfft!

The powerful thrust was combined with the deliberate relaxation of the body's muscles.

His palm plunged into the abdominal cavity, forcefully pulling out the entire stomach.

The blood vessels and membranes connecting to the stomach broke off under the immense force.

After controlling the wound and stopping the bleeding, Zhang Rongfang ignored White Scale's shrill cries and began extracting gastric fluid. Time flew by.

More than half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

The area within the Wish Woman Canyon is now completely different from what it was before.

Groups of Daoist priests dressed in blood-red robes kept going in and out of the Human Immortal Cave. Many of them carried basins of thick, unidentifiable liquid.

These liquids, some brown and some pale yellow, all emitted various food aromas.

When Zhang Zhenhai came out of his cave and saw such a strange sight in the canyon, he was not surprised.

The Daoist Temple has been like this for many days now.

She grabbed a Daoist priest who was hurrying along, asked him a few questions, and then walked straight toward the Human Immortal Cave.

We crossed the stream and passed through an open space where someone was cooking something in a large pot.

She followed the newly built stone steps up the mountainside.

Soon they arrived at a brand new place called the Human Immortal Platform.

On one side of the Human Immortal Platform is the Human Immortal Cave, and at this moment, a rusty, sweet-smelling odor is slowly spreading from the cave entrance.

Zhang Zhenhai sniffed.

The scent of blood has grown stronger.

She stopped and stood quietly at the cave entrance, waiting.

Time passed little by little.

About ten minutes later.

A voice drifted out from inside the cave.

"Come in, Zhenhai."

"Yes!" Zhang Zhenhai strode forward and entered the cave.

Copper lamps were hanging everywhere inside the cave.

There were dozens of copper lotus-shaped oil lamps, illuminating the entire cave as if it were daytime.

But aside from the oil lamp, what truly made Zhang Zhenhai's scalp tingle was a huge circular pool in one corner of the cave.

However, the pool didn't contain water.

It was blood!

A burly figure stood with his hands behind his back by the blood pool, quietly watching the Daoists around him pour basins of food solution into the large Pill Furnace beside the pool.

The lids of those Pill Furnace were Unveiling, revealing thick layers of flesh and blood covering the inside, and a pungent, acidic smell wafted from them.

Zhang Zhenhai noticed that there were nine Pill Furnace in total, each with dark red flesh and blood pipes at the bottom that connected to the blood pool from underground.

Within the blood pool, one could vaguely see long, fleshy snakes undulating within it.

"Is something the matter, Zhenhai?" Zhang Rongfang's voice rang out again.

"Yes," Zhang Zhenhai composed himself, clasped his hands in a fist and bowed his head. "We have deployed several hundred people to form an intelligence network targeting Great Ling. It is now in its initial stages of completion."

"With the lure of Blood Descendant and Daoist Registry, and the yearning for immortality, I doubt anyone would refuse," Zhang Rongfang nodded slightly.

"So, what about the whereabouts of the Spirit Flight Teaching? How is the search going? How is Master Yue's condition?" he continued to ask.

"The Spirit Flight Teaching is extremely secretive. Whenever our network touches on any sensitive areas, members mysteriously disappear." Zhang Zhenhai, as Zhang Rongfang's most loyal follower, was assigned to head a dedicated intelligence agency.

"To date, thirty-five peripheral members have gone missing as a result. We need more and stronger personnel." She paused, then continued.

"In addition, we are already able to replenish the funds for the newly established organization by exchanging them in the treasure vault. The treasure vault mainly consists of elixirs produced by the Daoists within the temple, secret manuals of Civilian Skill and Martial Arts Manual, and the essence of Daoist Registry at various levels, etc., as a progressive system."

Finally, you will also need to determine the name of the organization.

"A name." Zhang Rongfang sighed slightly. "Let's call it Golden Wing Tower."

The Golden Wing Tower changed hands several times before finally being completely destroyed.

Now, let's just consider it a memory of the past.

"It would be bad if this inherited the infamous reputation of the Golden Wing Tower," Zhang Zhenhai said hesitantly.

"It's alright. The Golden Wing Tower used to have people all over the country, so we can use that to make connections and bring them under our control. Go."

Zhang Rongfang waved his hand.

"Understood!" Zhang Zhenhai replied, bowing his head. He glanced curiously at the blood pool, which was more than ten meters in diameter, one last time, before turning and quickly leaving.

Zhang Rongfang was left alone, silently gazing at the pool of blood before him.

Over the past two weeks, he tried many methods and made hundreds of mistakes before finally settling on a plan to build the blood pool.

The blood pool contains all the special essence blood he modified.

He named this essence blood "Void Blood," which is blank blood that does not carry nutrients or metabolic waste and has been stripped of all other active and aggressive substances.

In terms of structural essence, it is not even as good as the essence of three generations of Blood Descendant. But it has the advantage of large quantity, simple structure, and extremely strong Life Force.

He then devised a process to pre-process the food, remove its nutrients, and then pour it into the Stomach-Intestine Pill Furnace.

The Stomach-Intestine Pill Furnace consists of nine devices built around the blood pool.

These Pill Furnace, on the surface, are Pill Furnace, but in reality, their interiors are all imitations of stomachs and intestines.

The intestinal tube beneath the Pill Furnace extends and connects to the blood pool.

Beneath the blood, a large number of fleshy organs resembling small intestines were found at the bottom of the pool.

These organs can break down and absorb nutrients, allowing them to permeate into the blood and transform depleted Void Blood into Solid Blood.

In this way, a pool of Void Blood will be transformed into Solid Blood full of nutrients.

That's about it.

Looking at the pool of blood in front of him, Zhang Rongfang walked forward step by step, reached the edge of the pool, and stepped into the bloody water along the stone steps.

Now, it's time to see if his method works!

'You're getting more and more perverted,' White Scale couldn't help but think to himself.

"How could that be? I've always adhered to the bottom line of being a human being; I've only been building a body system outside the body. It's not a big deal," Zhang Rongfang responded calmly.

"Is this blood poisonous?" White Scale asked.

'It's non-toxic, just a bit too active. From now on, anyone of my Human Immortal Dao Blood Descendant can come here to accelerate their body repair.'

Zhang Rongfang was completely submerged in blood, with only his head and neck visible.

'Absorbing blood from the blood pool is much, much faster than healing on your own.'

He closed his eyes, held his breath, and suddenly dived down.

He immediately lay supine in the pool of blood.

Warm blood covered his entire body. This was accompanied by Zhang Rongfang's activation of his abilities.

Countless drops of blood began to seep out of the skin, exchanging and flowing with the blood in the blood pool.

The nutrient-carrying Void Blood within the body rapidly absorbs the nutrients from the blood pool and then supplies them back to the body. This significantly accelerates the rate of nutrient absorption.

That was his method.

He lay supine in the pool of blood. Zhang Rongfang felt incredibly comfortable, as if his entire body were immersed in a hot spring.

Muscles, bones, and skin all feel relaxed and soothed.

Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

While he was resting completely, the Available Attributes points on his Attribute Panel were increasing at a rate far exceeding usual.

*** Great Capital · Heavenly Sincerity Palace.

"The Sunny Flower the mountainside are as beautiful as ever."

At the foot of the mountain, an old man wearing a straw hat looked up admiringly at what was once Heavenly Treasure Palace, now Heavenly Sincerity Palace.

The old man was dressed in a dark blue robe, with Taiji Ink Jade hanging from his waist, and a small brown cloth bag slung over his back. It seemed to be luggage or something similar.

A wisp of gray hair was faintly visible through the edge of his straw hat.

"Old man, have you been to the Heavenly Treasure Palace before?" a vendor with a cart next to the steps asked with a smile.

"Yes, I came here once many, many years ago. Since then I've been staying in other places and haven't had the chance to come back," the old man in the straw hat nodded in reply.

"Then you've come to the right place. This Heavenly Treasure Palace, now called Heavenly Sincerity Palace, is where the National Preceptor was born and in charge. The Celestial Venerable deities and gods enshrined inside are the most complete in the entire Great Ling."

"Whether you're seeking wealth, good fortune, official position, or peace, you can find it here," the vendor explained with a smile.

"That's really comprehensive," the old man nodded with a smile. "Then I'll have to give it a try."

"Of course, you're here to light incense? You have to be sincere when you pray to the gods, don't you?" the vendor said with a smile.

The old man smiled, took out his money, bought a few sticks of incense, and followed the somewhat crowded flow of people uphill.

They soon arrived at the palace gate.

Standing in front of the palace gate, he could only watch as other pilgrims and tourists came and went, led in by the Greeting Daoist.

But he didn't move forward; he just watched.

"Old man, why don't you go in?" A young man in blue robes, accompanied by two maids and holding a folding fan, asked as he passed by.

"You can't go in, you can't go in now." The old man in the straw hat shook his head with a smile.

"Why can't we go in? Isn't the gate wide open?" the young man asked in surprise.

"I cannot enter, but I really wish to pay my respects. If you have the time, young master, could you please offer incense to the Yujing Hanshi Celestial Lord?" The old man took out a silver ingot from his pocket and handed over the incense and the money together.

"No need for money. The old man needs to leave his name so that the Celestial Venerable will know who you are. Otherwise, it would be like I'm worshipping myself," the young man in blue reminded him.

"Hehe, thank you, young master. My surname is Xue, and my given name is Tong." A strange light flashed in the old man's eyes.