Blood-Baleful Bead

Standing before the stone pavilion, Shen Mo watched the Spirit-Hidden Rat finish its meat.

This time, it had eaten five pounds all by itself. It was finally full.

Unlike before, it didn't stare at him with the vacant look of a silly goose after finishing, waiting for him to serve up more meat.

Rubbing its round belly with delight, the Spirit-Hidden Rat burped contentedly, then prepared to leave.

"If you want more tomorrow, you can come back. Remember, bring something."

Shen Mo made the deal with a beaming smile.

"Squeak!"

The Spirit-Hidden Rat nodded, then shot off in a flash and disappeared.

Only after watching it leave did Shen Mo turn his attention back to the contents of the jade slip.

He returned to his room.

Following the instructions in the jade slip, Shen Mo sat cross-legged and gradually circulated the Lesser and Greater Celestial Circuits within his body.

"Whoosh!"

As the technique circulated, the blood and qi in Shen Mo's body gradually began to boil.

"Phew!"

When the first Greater Celestial Circuit was complete, the essence blood in Shen Mo's chakras surged into his qi sea all at once.

"Crack!"

The essence blood gradually gathered in his qi sea, eventually becoming a faint, translucent blood-red bead.

"Blood-Baleful Bead."

"To master this body-tempering technique and grasp its essential principles, one must supplement it with Blood Baleful essence."

Once the Blood-Baleful Bead had condensed, Shen Mo emerged from his meditative state.

The Dragon-Elephant Blood-Baleful Body, this body-tempering technique, was different from the other martial techniques and cultivation methods he practiced.

Simply cultivating it wouldn't be enough to master it.

He needed sufficient Blood Baleful essence to fill the Blood-Baleful Bead that had just formed.

Only once the bead was filled to capacity could he master the essence of this body-tempering technique.

"According to the information in the jade slip, Blood Baleful essence is formed when people, demons, and ghosts die and their flesh, blood, and Spirit Souls are devoured."

A glimmer flashed in Shen Mo's eyes as he thought to himself, If I want to gather Blood Baleful essence, I'll have to kill human cultivators, high-tier demon beasts, and Nether Soul Ghosts, then accumulate the flesh, blood, and Divine Soul power they leave behind when they die.

Aside from using external materials, if Shen Mo could withstand it, he could also use the essence of his own blood and qi to gather and replenish the Blood-Baleful Bead.

But he hadn't even considered that option.

The bead required an absolutely vast amount of blood and qi. Even though he could be considered vigorous in blood and qi and strong of body among Body Tempering Realm cultivators,

he was still nowhere near possessing enough power to condense the Blood-Baleful Bead.

Even if he drained himself dry, he would most likely still fall far short.

"I'll have to find a way to use external materials. They don't have to be freshly killed, either. Corpses, demon cores, or Spirit Souls left behind by nether ghosts can all be refined and absorbed."

"Let's give it a try!"

As he thought this, Shen Mo rummaged through his Qiankun Pouch. Before long, he found two smooth, translucent, pale-blue crystals.

They were the demon cores he had collected after killing the Two-Headed Silver-Ringed Pythons.

He had originally planned to find an opportunity to sell them at the marketplace.

But the price hadn't been right, so he hadn't sold them yet.

Now he could use them to try gathering Blood Baleful essence!

Shen Mo took a deep breath, tightly gripped one of the demon cores, and gradually set the technique in his body in motion.

Soon, a powerful force of devouring welled up within him, continuously drawing the remaining demonic power and spiritual essence from the demon core.

"Crack!"

Before long, the demon core had been completely drained. It split apart and became an ordinary rock.

Shen Mo casually tossed it aside, then examined the Blood-Baleful Bead in his qi sea.

"About one-tenth."

After inspecting it, he reached that conclusion.

That one demon core had only filled about one-tenth of the Blood-Baleful Bead.

If he wanted to fill the bead and begin his body-tempering journey, his two demon cores would be nowhere near enough.

"I'll refine these for now. When Senior Sister Chen and Senior Brother Guo get back, I'll see whether they have anything I need!"

Shen Mo thought to himself.

He didn't have much in reserve, but Chen Mengze and Guo Zhao were both Inner Sect disciples with substantial assets.

They should be able to find some demon beast corpses or something similar.

An hour later, Shen Mo had completely refined both demon cores.

Meanwhile, Guo Zhao and Chen Mengze had also returned to the cave abode.

Following his plan, he went to ask them whether they had any demon beast corpses.

He went to Chen Mengze's room first.

"Demon beast corpses?" Chen Mengze said, rummaging through her Qiankun Pouch. "I do have some, but they're all low-tier demon beasts, around the peak of the first rank."

"How many?"

"Twenty."

"Could you give them all to me?" Shen Mo took three bottles of Lesser Foundation Establishment Pills from his robes. "I can trade these for them."

The three jade bottles contained twelve Lesser Foundation Establishment Pills in total.

They were all pills Shen Mo had refined over the past few days.

These pills were excellent aids for Qi Gathering Realm cultivators, so Chen Mengze could use them in her daily cultivation.

"Here, take them."

Chen Mengze took all the demon beast corpses out of her Qiankun Pouch and let Shen Mo pack them away.

But she made no move to accept the Lesser Foundation Establishment Pills he offered.

"I have plenty of these pills. I don't need the few you've got."

Chen Mengze said, "Your daily cultivation consumes a huge amount of resources. You're already scraping by as it is, so you should keep them for yourself."

Though Chen Mengze could be rather sharp-tongued and mocking on the surface, she was still quite considerate of him.

Shen Mo didn't simply accept the gift. "Senior Sister Chen, if you won't take these pills, I won't feel right taking your things, either."

Even close brothers had to keep their accounts straight.

Thanks to Chen Mengze, he had already gotten quite a few benefits from Guo Zhao.

If he kept accepting things for free, he would feel he was taking advantage.

"Fine, I'll take them."

Seeing that Shen Mo insisted, Chen Mengze knitted her willow brows but accepted them all the same.

After leaving Chen Mengze's room, Shen Mo went to see Senior Brother Guo.

"Demon beast corpses?"

"I don't have any of those."

Guo Zhao shook his head, then changed the subject. "But I do have a second-rank, mid-stage demon core from a Mystic Water Soul-Refining Turtle. Do you want it?"

"A second-rank, mid-stage demon core?"

Shen Mo froze for a moment, then was overjoyed. "If you have that, it would be even better!"

That single demon core was worth more than the twenty first-rank demon beast corpses Chen Mengze had given him.

"Still, even if I pool together everything I have, it might not be worth as much as this second-rank, mid-stage demon core."

With a wry smile, Shen Mo rummaged through the contents of his Qiankun Pouch.

He took out all the odds and ends he had refined over the past few days: Lesser Foundation Establishment Pills, Separating Fire Talismans, Light Body Talismans, Focus Talismans, Strength Testing Talismans, and more.

There was a lot of it, but most of it was cheap.

Even combined, it would be difficult to match the demon core's value.

Fortunately, Senior Brother Guo didn't mind. "It's fine. Consider the difference an advance payment for your services."

"From now on, Brother Shen, you'll have to put in a good word for me with Junior Sister Chen."

He was still worried that Chen Mengze wouldn't give him the time of day.

"Don't worry, Brother Guo. I'll do my best." Hearing Guo Zhao's words, Shen Mo quickly thumped his chest and promised.