"No!"
"Absolutely not!"
"Under no circumstances!"
"Chen Fan, you're the most talented Martial Artist I've ever met, far more gifted than those so-called prodigies in Longyuan Prefecture. You absolutely mustn't ruin your own future!"
Lu Xuenning immediately spoke up when she heard him.
She had been hoping to have Chen Fan become her master's disciple. With his talent and her master's guidance, Chen Fan would surely become famous throughout Longyuan Prefecture, perhaps even all of Yun Prefecture.
But if Chen Fan cultivated the Blood Sha Skill and broke through into the Spirit Aperture Realm, Blood Sha would enter his body like a maggot clinging to his bones, and his path in martial arts would be ruined.
After that, he would have only two paths. He could cultivate the Blood Sha Skill to its limit, open all Thirty-Six Acupoints, and bring his martial arts journey to an end.
Or, like the astonishingly gifted Blood Demon of old, he could deduce the Blood Sha Skill to a higher level, then fall into demonic madness when the Blood Sha in his body erupted completely, becoming another Blood Demon!
As for switching to another Spirit Aperture Realm Cultivation Method, that was almost impossible. Only a transcendent-level method could suppress the Blood Sha and reverse which force held dominance.
But such methods were rare even across all of Yun Prefecture, let alone in Longyuan Prefecture. Chen Fan had no hope of obtaining one, and even her master had no right to borrow one.
Cultivating another Spirit Aperture Realm method alongside it would be far too dangerous. If different kinds of true qi tangled inside his body, the consequences would range from a ruined martial arts career to an exploding body.
So if Chen Fan cultivated the Blood Sha Skill and entered the Spirit Aperture Realm, he would be utterly ruined—worse off than she was.
But she would rather ruin herself than see Chen Fan destroy his own future. She believed he was more talented than her and far more worth cultivating!
"My mind is made up. There's no need to say more!"
Chen Fan gave Lu Xuenning a long look, then sprang back onto the roof of the county government office and began deducing the Spirit Aperture Realm Cultivation Method, the Blood Sha Skill!
[Year One: You open the beast-hide scroll containing the Spirit Aperture Realm Cultivation Method, the Blood Sha Skill. It feels both strange and familiar. The words are familiar because you recognize them all; they're strange because you have no idea what they mean when strung together. The Blood Sha Skill has not yet been learned!]
Chen Fan looked at the message on his status panel, his mind going completely blank. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
His aptitude and comprehension really were a headache.
[Year Three: You finally manage to understand the contents of the Blood Sha Skill. You also learn that to cultivate the Blood Sha Skill, you must find a place of extreme yin and refine a wisp of Taiyin Power into your body. Blood Sha Skill learned!] [Year Five: You still haven't found a place of extreme yin, so you've made no progress in the Blood Sha Skill and haven't opened a single acupoint. You can now be considered half a step into the Spirit Aperture Realm—or perhaps the weakest Spirit Aperture Realm cultivator in history!]
Chen Fan abruptly stopped cultivating and sighed. He knew that to continue deducing the Blood Sha Skill, he needed to find a place of extreme yin, refine Taiyin Power into his body, connect with the essence of heaven and earth, refine Myriad Spirit Essence Blood, and open the Blood Sha Spirit Aperture!
"How did Cao De learn it in the first place?"
"And where did he find a place of extreme yin?"
"I've got it!"
"There must be a place of extreme yin in Cao De's residence. He spent most of his time at home, where only his steward and a few servants lived."
"He was carrying on with the County Magistrate's favorite concubine, yet never brought any women home. Even his steward and servants were all men."
"That's because there's a place of extreme yin in his residence. Women belong to yin, and staying in a place like that for a long time would make them sick and shorten their lives."
"So, to keep people from getting suspicious, he cultivated the image of a martial arts fanatic who kept his distance from women."
Once Chen Fan figured this out, he immediately headed toward Cao De's residence, leaving Lu Xuenning and Huang Chengyue staring after him in astonishment.
"Did that kid change his mind again?"
Huang Chengyue asked, puzzled.
Chen Fan had been so firm that he and Lu Xuenning were about to stand guard for him, keeping anyone from disturbing his breakthrough into the Spirit Aperture Realm. Yet before long, he had jumped straight down from the roof of the county government office and run off.
"He must have learned the Blood Sha Skill and wants to find a place of extreme yin to break through. It's only been a short while, and he's already learned a Spirit Aperture Realm Cultivation Method. He's truly a monster!"
Lu Xuenning watched Chen Fan disappear into the distance and couldn't help sighing.
Chen Fan: Thanks for that. It took me five years to figure it out.
Cao De's residence had already been sealed, so Chen Fan climbed over the wall and went inside. The moment he entered, a frigid wind swept over him. Relying on his extraordinary senses, he finally found the heart of the place of extreme yin.
It was a study. A meditation cushion lay inside, making it clear Cao De often sat there to meditate and cultivate.
Chen Fan plopped down on the cushion and began deducing again:
[Year Ten: You find a place of extreme yin and begin circulating the Blood Sha Skill. You successfully capture Taiyin Power drifting through heaven and earth and draw it into your body. Since you possess an innate body, you connect with the essence of heaven and earth without the slightest difficulty and successfully draw qi into your body!] [Year Thirty: Cultivating the Blood Sha Skill requires Myriad Spirit Essence Blood. The purer and higher-grade it is, the better; the more singular the essence, the stronger it is, the more effective it is, and the fewer side effects it causes. But you're trapped in Ping'an County and can't obtain Myriad Spirit Essence Blood, so the Blood Sha Skill progresses slowly.] [Year Fifty: The Blood Sha Skill progresses slowly. After years of painstaking effort, you finally open your first acupoint. Your ability to connect with the essence of heaven and earth improves, and it flows through the extraordinary meridians and eight channels via your acupoint. A wisp of Blood Sha Qi enters your body.] [Year One Hundred: You gradually realize how important Myriad Spirit Essence Blood is to the Blood Sha Skill. You rack your brains, trying to figure out how to obtain high-quality essence blood. At last, you look at your body, which is comparable to that of a Fierce Beast cub, and your eyes light up. No matter how good someone else's essence blood is, it can't suit you as well as your own. You begin extracting the essence blood from your body to cultivate the Blood Sha Skill, as if a whole new world has opened before you. Soon, you open twelve acupoints. The Blood Sha Skill reaches minor success!] [Year Three Hundred: As the Blood Sha Skill improves, it requires more and more essence blood. Though your blood has become as smooth as mercury, your qi and blood rise like wolf smoke and surge like a sea, you still can't withstand this kind of strain. You have no choice but to restore your qi and blood while extracting essence blood to cultivate the Blood Sha Skill. You forge an entirely new approach to cultivating it. Three hundred years pass in a flash, and at last you open twenty acupoints. The Blood Sha Skill reaches major success!] [Year Five Hundred: As always, you cultivate the Blood Sha Skill. Your face grows paler and your body weaker, yet your strength keeps rising. One acupoint after another opens. You feel the essence of heaven and earth entering your body through your acupoints and transforming into Blood Sha Qi. At last, the Blood Sha Qi pours into your dantian, dyeing it completely red. You know the Blood Sha Power is corroding your dantian, but you have no other choice!] [Year Eight Hundred: You're withered and gaunt, looking as though you're on your last legs, but your eyes grow ever brighter and the Blood Sha Qi inside you grows ever more terrifying. At last, one day, you open all Thirty-Six Acupoints throughout your body and cultivate the Blood Sha Skill to perfection!] [Blood Sha Skill perfected!]
Chen Fan's eyes snapped open, a flash of crimson light glinting in them. The Blood Sha Qi inside his body surged out like an endless, rushing river, blasting the roof of Cao De's study into the air and bringing the whole building crashing down!
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