Mystic Aegis City.
Crowds packed the edges of the vast training ground, yet it was so quiet that a falling pin could have been heard.
At the center of the training ground, a young man sat cross-legged, blood energy surging around him like a tide. His face was twisted, veins bulging on his forehead, as though he were enduring tremendous pain.
Around him lay the corpses of several enormous mutant beasts, their immense blood energy flowing toward him.
The disciples watching held their breath, their eyes fixed on him. Some looked hopeful, some fearful, but most were uneasy.
"Can Zhao Tieyi hold on?" someone asked softly.
No one answered.
Zhao Tieyi was a peak Transcendent Realm disciple of Xuan Gang Peak who had been stuck at his bottleneck for ten years. Three days earlier, he had signed up to cultivate the Myriad Transformations Return-to-Origin Art. Today was his first official attempt at cultivating by devouring mutant beast blood essence.
"Looks like another one's about to go mad!" Several disciples stood together in the crowd, watching coldly.
The speaker was Sun Heng, who was also at the peak of the Transcendent Realm. Looking at Zhao Tieyi in the center of the training ground, he shook his head. "Cultivating by devouring blood essence—isn't that the path of evil cultivators? Why would the sect promote a technique like this?"
"I heard the Sect Master created it. Combined with the Savage Body Refining Art, it lets you cultivate by devouring blood energy. The Peak Lord personally ordered every disciple to take it as an elective, or they won't be allowed to advance!" someone beside him said quietly.
"The Sect Master created it?" someone exclaimed. "Then maybe it's worth trying. If the Sect Master created it, we can still trust it!"
Sun Heng, however, frowned