Bloodstone's Effects

At dawn, the sun rose in the east, and sunlight squeezed through the window into the room.

Chen Mo stepped inside and first inspected himself thoroughly. Only after making all the necessary preparations did he take out the Crimson Bloodstone.

Yesterday, he had not rashly sent inner qi into it. The Crimson Bloodstone had come from the Gray Mist, and if something went wrong and it dragged him into the Gray Mist again, the risk would be far too great.

During the day, however, such a situation should not occur, so it was worth trying.

Most importantly, there were gongs and drums during the day. Chen Mo had just gone out and borrowed a gong and drum. If he encountered trouble while sending in his inner qi, he could still beat them to save himself.

Granted, his preparations might now prove unnecessary, and there was a high chance he was merely making a fuss over nothing.

But with things like this, either they were never needed, or when they were finally needed, they saved one's life.

Compared with wasting a little more time and energy, Chen Mo still cherished his life more.

Once he had made every preparation, he guided a thread of inner qi from his dantian and sent it into the Crimson Bloodstone in his right palm.

In an instant, the Crimson Bloodstone, which had long since dimmed, became bright and translucent once more. Waves of blood-colored light burst forth, and the stone instantly turned to powder.

A mass of blood qi then surged continuously along Chen Mo's arm and into his body, taking scarcely more than a single breath.

Chen Mo's face instantly flushed crimson. His entire body heated violently, turning red all over.

Far too much blood qi had poured into him in such a short time. Even with his current strength, digesting and absorbing it was quite strenuous.

Chen Mo decisively removed every piece of clothing and stood naked in the room. He picked up a towel, dipped it in clean water, and repeatedly wiped himself down.

Under the heat of his skin, the clean water constantly turned into vapor. As that mass of blood qi entered his body, the Mortal Transformation Pearl immediately went into action and began rapidly absorbing the excess blood qi.

Sensing this, Chen Mo immediately began practicing the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist. The blood qi within his body was abundant, nearly reaching the point of overflowing.

As a result, the effects of this cultivation were astonishingly good. A single round of the fist technique was equivalent to dozens of rounds in the past.

However, once he finished performing the entire set, Chen Mo had also completely absorbed and transformed all the blood qi in his body.

A considerable portion had been absorbed by the Mortal Transformation Pearl. Originally holding only thirty percent of its blood qi, the pearl now had nearly sixty percent accumulated within it.

The amount of blood qi he gained this time was equivalent to two months of accumulation.

If he obtained two or three more stones like this, he could undergo his third Mortal Transformation right now.

His inner qi, on the other hand, had not increased by much—at most, it was equivalent to six or seven days of hard cultivation.

That was normal. After all, the vast majority of the blood qi had been absorbed by the Mortal Transformation Pearl, and Chen Mo had not converted it into inner qi.

If he had converted all of it into inner qi, then the inner qi in his dantian would certainly have made considerable progress.

However, compared with cultivating inner qi, undergoing Mortal Transformation would bring him a greater improvement.

Thus, Chen Mo still prioritized strengthening his physical body. At present, cultivating inner qi merely served as icing on the cake.

If he could obtain two or three more Crimson Bloodstones like this, he would be able to accumulate sufficient blood qi right now and would not need to waste time waiting for it to build up slowly.

But Chen Mo knew clearly that obtaining Crimson Bloodstones like these would absolutely not be easy.

The situation within the Gray Mist was far too complicated. He could indeed defeat a Blood Monkey with ease now, and even if two or three came at him, they still would not be his match.

But who could guarantee that there were no other, even stronger and more bizarre creatures within the Gray Mist besides Blood Monkeys?

Moreover, he had been lucky the last time. When he fell into the Gray Mist, he had not immediately encountered a Blood Monkey.

Chen Mo did not dare gamble that he would be so lucky next time.

Besides, even now, he knew far too little about the Gray Mist. His belief that beating gongs and drums could disperse it was merely a guess he had made, and it had yet to be genuinely verified even once.

If he beat the gongs and drums within the Gray Mist, could they really disperse it? He actually did not dare to be certain.

Even if he set all those problems aside, Chen Mo still had an even more important difficulty to resolve.

That was how to enter the Gray Mist!

Considering how to get out had to be based on one thing: how to get in.

Compared with how to escape the Gray Mist, Chen Mo was even less clear on how to enter it, or how to ensure his own safety after entering.

In truth, even now, the information available to him given his identity and status contained no description of the Gray Mist whatsoever. It could even be said that there was not a single word about it.

He had once made subtle inquiries of his adoptive father, wanting to know why the military camp still had to arrange for people to beat gongs and drums to announce the time, requiring them to perform such a completely pointless task.

Even if they needed to announce the time, doing so once at dawn and once at dusk would have been entirely sufficient. There was no need to waste manpower on it during the rest of the day.

His adoptive father, however, had offered no explanation. He had merely said that it was a military order. There was no reason; it simply had to be carried out.

The imperial court had always done things this way. He only needed to follow along obediently and not play any clever tricks. His adoptive father had repeatedly warned him that if he ever led an army of his own, he could relax about other matters, but he absolutely could not slacken on this one.

Without explaining why, yet sternly warning him that he absolutely had to do it, his adoptive father had already revealed a great deal.

Either he himself did not know, but knew that the matter was extremely serious and could not be neglected.

Or he knew, but for some reason could not tell Chen Mo—and absolutely could not tell anyone who did not know about it.

Combined with the existence of such things as Ruins Realms in this world, many matters became clear.

The Gray Mist was very likely a Ruins Realm that covered the entire world. And the more people who knew about a Ruins Realm, the more bizarre and powerful it would become.

Thus, the imperial court was doing everything in its power to suppress the news, trying its utmost to keep anyone from learning of the Gray Mist's existence.

Of course, this was only Chen Mo's guess. Perhaps the Gray Mist Ruins Realm was simply special.

Otherwise, given that a Ruins Realm grew stronger the more people knew about it, Chen Mo clearly could not have survived the Gray Mist back then.

Regardless of which possibility was true, Chen Mo did not intend to investigate the Gray Mist again anytime soon. His strength was insufficient, and there was no need to take such a risk now.

Still, the gains from exploring the Gray Mist were indeed astonishingly high. If he got the chance to learn more about it, he could consider venturing inside again.

After all, the gains obtained that way were far greater than slowly accumulating them over time.

Carefully gathering the powder formed from the Crimson Bloodstone, Chen Mo put on his clothes, returned the gong and drum, then hurried to the kitchen to eat breakfast.

He arrived neither early nor late that day. Many personal guards had already gathered in the kitchen.

Chen Mo first took eight large plates of steamed buns and two dishes of pickles. After eating his fill, he drank five bowls of millet porridge.

That simple and unpretentious breakfast came to an end.

The days that followed were still filled with endless training and cultivation. In the blink of an eye, nearly another month passed, and Chen Mo was finally about to set out for the prefectural city to take the examination for the title of Cultivated Talent.