The Blood Burning Technique

Dawn had broken.

Xianlin Town lay silent as the grave.

Every household had its doors and windows tightly shut, and the shops along the streets had yet to open.

Only a few constables and soldiers in armor were resting by the roadside.

Inside a house.

A dozen or so disciples of the Divine Sword Sect had gathered together.

Almost all of them were wounded, clearly having just been through a fierce battle.

"Ah, we miscalculated this time. Who would've thought that old bastard had become a Half-step Xiantian and had even mastered a Secret Technique that unleashed his potential? That's how he managed to escape."

Blood still streaked Pang Bai's bald head. He hadn't had time to wash it off.

Although they had wiped out all the Jihuo Temple cultists,

their biggest target, the temple's master, Daoist Yehuo, had escaped.

That meant their mission had essentially failed.

Just then, someone hurried in. "Senior Brothers, the Xuanjian Bureau says they found a corpse near Wutang Village that may be Daoist Yehuo's."

"What?"

The three men exchanged startled looks.

At once, they led the other Inner Disciples out of Xianlin Town, riding hard toward Wutang Village.

By the time they arrived, the Xuanjian Bureau had already sealed off the scene.

"Well, would you look at that. Daoist Yehuo was cut in half with a single slash?"

Pang Bai looked over the scene, his face full of surprise.

He turned to a Hundred-Household officer from the Xuanjian Bureau. "Lord Liu, have you found any clues?"

"Hero Pang, we questioned the people of Wutang Village. They said that a carriage stopped outside the village last night, then left later. They didn't dare go out to look, so they don't know who it was. We examined the scene and confirmed that two carriages had stopped here. There must have been at least nine people, both adults and children."

Hundred-Household Liu hurriedly explained.

"My guess is that Daoist Yehuo fled all the way here. After using his Secret Technique, he was in poor shape, so he meant to suck the blood from the people camping here and recover. He just happened to run into someone tougher than him."

The white-robed young man, Chu Yuan, suddenly spoke. "Do you think it could have been Li Gan?"

"Li Gan?"

Pang Bai and Yuan Mingzhu couldn't help but stare at him in surprise.

"It's possible. When I saw Li Gan back then, there were indeed two carriages at the scene. And they were headed this way when they left."

Yuan Mingzhu thought for a moment before answering.

"Judging by their strength, Daoist Yehuo had been wounded by us and had also used a Secret Technique, so his power had fallen considerably. Even if Li Gan was in poor shape, it's entirely plausible he could have killed him."

Chu Yuan continued.

A Half-step Xiantian like Daoist Yehuo had reached the Postnatal Realm Ninth Layer, then luckily broken through by taking an Xiantian Pill. Since he had comprehended neither a Secret Technique nor Martial Intent, he wasn't a true Xiantian Martial Artist.

In the Divine Sword Sect, someone like him could only be considered Half-step Xiantian.

"Mm, that does seem likely. Well, since Daoist Yehuo is dead, we can count this mission as a complete success."

Pang Bai nodded, his spirits lifting.

There had been a minor hiccup, but they had completed the mission in the end.

A few days later.

The caravan slowly approached the outskirts of Linjian City.

"Madam Lin, I've escorted you this far, so my mission is complete."

Li Gan rode up beside the carriage and spoke.

"Young Hero Li, thank you for all your hard work on this journey."

Lin Yun climbed down from the carriage.

The journey had been tiring even for her, riding in the carriage. Li Gan had it even worse, escorting them the whole way and constantly keeping an eye on their surroundings.

"Farewell."

Li Gan cupped his hands, then tugged the reins. His horse turned around and galloped toward the Divine Sword Sect.

Chenzhong Terrace.

He had been away for quite a while this time, more than twenty days.

Dust covered every corner of the Bell Tower.

When he'd first returned, he'd even seen a pheasant flapping away into the distance.

Li Gan didn't hurry to clean up. First, he worked out the approximate time and began adjusting the Hourglass, which had been out of operation for a long while.

Only after he had finished did Li Gan start cleaning the dust from the room.

When the Hai hour arrived, Li Gan climbed onto the bell platform.

As he felt the Striking Pole, its surface long since worn smooth and glossy, an overwhelming calm settled over him.

Though he hadn't rung the bell in more than twenty days, he felt not the slightest rustiness.

His connection to the Chen Bell had endured, no matter how far away he was.

Standing beside the bell now, he felt a special sense of closeness, as if the Chen Bell and he were bound by flesh and blood.

When the time came, he drew a deep breath, pushed the Striking Pole, and slammed it into the Chen Bell.

The clear, resonant peal rang out.

The sound of the Chen Bell, absent for more than twenty days, once again carried across the Divine Sword Sect's peaks and mountains.

Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong.

Six strikes rang out in succession, their echoes lingering in the air.

Li Gan felt as if his long-dormant Internal Qi and spirit had awakened all at once, surging with life and vigor.

So he began cultivating the Immaculate Sword Body right there beside the Chen Bell.

During the more than twenty days he'd spent on the Escort Mission, he had still practiced the Immaculate Sword Body once each day.

The bell's influence had helped a little.

But compared to cultivating beside the Chen Bell after ringing it, the difference was enormous.

Even after more than twenty days of practice, he had made only a little progress in the Immaculate Sword Body.

After completing one round of the Immaculate Sword Body, he felt a dull, swelling ache in his meridians, yet it left him feeling exceptionally refreshed.

Before long, Chen Yong's voice rose from below.

"Brother Gan!"

Chen Yong was overjoyed.

The moment he heard the bell, he knew Li Gan had returned.

"You got here fast," Li Gan said with a smile, seeing Chen Yong panting from the run.

"Brother Gan, I heard that quite a few Inner Disciples were killed or wounded while carrying out some kind of Suppression Mission."

Chen Yong hurriedly explained.

Though he was a Menial Disciple, after reaching the bottom of the Combat Ranking List, his circle of connections in the Chore Hall had gradually grown. He could now learn a little about what was happening among the Inner Disciples.

Li Gan had been away from Chenzhong Terrace for a while, and must have gone to carry out an Inner Sect mission.

So Chen Yong had been worried about him.

"I'm fine."

Li Gan jumped down from the platform. "Your yang energy is abundant, and your temples are raised. You must have trained as far as the Du Meridian."

The Du Meridian ran along the back of the body. Since the back was yang, circulating Internal Force would stir the body's yang energy, causing various signs to appear on the surface.

Raised temples were one of the most prominent signs.

They often meant that someone's Internal Force had reached a certain level.

"I only started training it half a month ago, but the Du Meridian is really hard to work on..."

Chen Yong said the words, but his face was full of delight.

Given his age and the extremely limited resources at his disposal, reaching this level was already quite impressive.

That was thanks not only to his diligent practice but also to the guidance he'd received from Li Gan, an Inner Disciple.

Besides a lack of cultivation resources, the biggest problem Menial Disciples faced was having no one to guide them. They had to figure everything out on their own, taking countless unnecessary detours and wasting a great deal of time.

The Chore Hall had instructors who offered personal guidance, and they had all reached the ranks of the martial world. But their fees were often steep, beyond what ordinary Menial Disciples could afford.

Besides, those instructors were Menial Disciples themselves, and most had worked out their cultivation through trial and error. It was easy to guess how qualified their guidance could be.

Why were menial jobs on the Seven Main Peaks so coveted?

Wasn't it because they gave people a chance to meet Inner Disciples?

If they were lucky, an Inner Disciple—or even an elder—might take a sudden interest and offer them some pointers.

"Mm. Compared to the other six meridians, it really is much harder to train."

Li Gan nodded.

He knew that all too well.

Without the Chen Bell's help, someone with his aptitude and constitution would probably have struggled just as much as Chen Yong. No, he might have done even worse.

He had come from Earth to this world; he simply didn't have Chen Yong's grit and endurance.

Then Li Gan gave Chen Yong some pointers on his Sword Piercing Fist.

At last, Chen Yong went happily down the mountain, having gained a great deal from the advice.

Chenzhong Terrace fell quiet once more.

Back in the Bell Tower, Li Gan took the two halves of the oxhide booklet wrapped in a silk scarf from his pack.

A faint smell of blood still clung to them.

Li Gan carefully fitted the halves of the oxhide booklet together.

The Blood Transformation Star-Absorbing Method was divided into two parts.

The first explained how to drain the blood of living creatures and transform it into Qi.

The second contained two Secret Techniques: the Blood Burning Technique and the Spirit-Severing Finger.

The Blood Burning Technique burned one's own essence and blood to unleash power beyond one's limits for a short time, but it came with severe side effects.

The Spirit-Severing Finger was an offensive Secret Technique. It could snap off a section of one's finger bone and shoot it like a hidden weapon, with considerable power.

"Even though it's an evil art, the underlying idea does have some merit."

After reading through it and committing it to memory, Li Gan used his Internal Qi to shatter the Blood Transformation Star-Absorbing Method. He tossed every last fragment into the furnace.

Using the Blood Burning Technique would bring severe side effects.

But his Chen Bell could restore the body. Even if he suffered side effects, its peals could gradually dispel them.

What he cared about most was the power the Blood Burning Technique could unleash beyond his limits. At a critical moment, it might let him turn the tables when he was on the brink of defeat.

Although the chance of running into mortal danger while cultivating in the Divine Sword Sect was low,

it was better to be safe than sorry.

The only problem was that both the Blood Burning Technique and the Spirit-Severing Finger depended on the Blood Transformation Star-Absorbing Method to be cultivated.

He couldn't possibly practice such a vicious, underhanded evil art.

If anyone discovered it, he'd be in serious trouble.

So he wondered if he could borrow the principles behind the Blood Burning Technique and adapt them into an explosive Secret Technique suitable for him.

Even if something went wrong with his body while he was adapting it, he could recover with the Chen Bell.