Blood Burning Technique

Dawn broke.

Xianlin Town was deathly silent.

Every household kept their doors and windows tightly shut, and the shops along the street remained closed.

Only a few yamen runners and soldiers in armor leaned against the street walls to rest.

Inside a house.

Over a dozen inner disciples of the Divine Sword Sect were gathered together.

Almost everyone was injured; it was clear they had just been through a fierce battle.

"Sigh, we miscalculated this time. I didn't expect that old guy to have reached the half-step xiantian stage, and he even practiced a secret technique to stimulate his potential. That's the only reason he managed to escape."

There was still blood on Pang Bai's bald head that he hadn't had time to wash off.

Although the followers of Jihuo Temple had all been cleared out, the biggest target, the temple master Daoist Yehuo, had escaped.

This meant their mission was essentially a failure.

At this moment, someone rushed in. "Senior brothers, the people from the Xuanjian Bureau say they found a corpse near Wutang Village that is suspected to be Daoist Yehuo."

"What?"

The three of them looked surprised and suspicious.

Immediately, the three of them took the other inner disciples, left Xianlin Town, and rode fast horses straight toward Wutang Village.

By the time they arrived at Wutang Village, the men from the Xuanjian Bureau had already cordoned off the scene.

"Good heavens, was this Daoist Yehuo sliced in two by a single blade?"

Pang Bai looked at the scene, his face showing astonishment.

He looked at a hundred-household from the Xuanjian Bureau at the scene. "Lord Liu, have you found any clues?"

"Hero Pang, we asked the people of Wutang Village. They said that last night, a carriage stopped outside Wutang Village and later left. They didn't dare to come out and look, so they don't know who it was. We inspected the scene and there are indeed traces of two carriages having stopped here. There should have been no fewer than nine people, both adults and children," Hundred-household Liu of the Xuanjian Bureau said hurriedly.

"I suspect that Daoist Yehuo fled all the way here, and because he had used a secret technique, his condition wasn't good. He probably wanted to drain the blood of the people camping here to recover, but he didn't expect to run into a tough opponent."

The white-clad youth Chu Yuan, who was standing to the side, suddenly spoke up. "Do you think it could be Li Gan?"

"Li Gan?"

Pang Bai and Yuan Mingzhu were stunned upon hearing this.

"It is possible. When I first saw Li Gan, there were indeed two carriages at the scene, and the direction they were heading was also this way," Yuan Mingzhu said after some thought.

"Judging by their strength, Daoist Yehuo was wounded by us and had already used a secret technique, so his strength had declined significantly. Even if this Li Gan's strength is inflated, the possibility of him killing him is still very high," Chu Yuan added.

A half-step xiantian like Daoist Yehuo was someone who had reached the postnatal realm ninth layer and luckily broken through after taking a xiantian pill. Because he had not comprehended any secret techniques or even martial intent, he was not considered a true xiantian martial artist.

Within the Divine Sword Sect, such individuals were only classified as half-step xiantian.

"Hmm, that possibility is indeed very high. Well, since Daoist Yehuo is dead, our mission can be considered successfully completed."

Pang Bai nodded, his mood brightening.

Although there had been a small accident, they had finished the job in the end.

A few days later.

The caravan slowly arrived outside Linjian City.

"Madam Lin, my escort ends here; my mission is complete."

Li Gan rode his horse up to the side of the carriage and said.

"Young Hero Li, you have worked hard on this journey."

Lin Yun stepped down from the carriage.

The journey had been exhausting even for her while sitting in the carriage, let alone for Li Gan, who had to escort them the entire way while constantly monitoring the surroundings.

"Farewell."

Li Gan cupped his hands, then pulled on the reins. His steed turned around and galloped off in the direction of the Divine Sword Sect.

Chenzhong Terrace.

He had been away for quite a while this time, a full twenty-plus days.

The interior of the bell tower was covered in dust.

When he first returned, he even saw a pheasant flapping its wings and flying away.

Li Gan did not rush to clean up. Instead, he first calculated the approximate time and began to adjust the hourglass that had long since stopped working.

Once that was done, Li Gan finally began to clear the dust from the room.

By the hour of the Hai, Li Gan arrived at the bell platform.

Touching the striking ram, which had long since been polished to a sheen, Li Gan felt his heart suddenly grow incredibly calm.

Having not struck the bell for over twenty days, he felt no sense of rustiness at all.

The connection between him and the Chen Bell remained intact, no matter the distance.

Standing beside the Chen Bell at this moment, he felt a very special sense of intimacy, as if he and the bell were connected by flesh and blood.

When the time arrived, he took a deep breath, pushed the striking ram, and slammed it violently against the Chen Bell.

Accompanied by the clear, resonant tolling, the sound of the Chen Bell, which had vanished for over twenty days, once again echoed across the various peaks and hills of the Divine Sword Sect.

Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong.

Six strikes in succession, the bell tolling incessantly.

Li Gan felt the internal qi and spirit that had been sealed within his body for so long suddenly awaken, becoming incredibly lively and invigorated.

Thus, he began to practice the Immaculate Sword Body right beside the Chen Bell.

During the twenty-plus days he spent on the escort mission, he had still practiced the Immaculate Sword Body once every day.

Influenced by the bell's toll, it had been somewhat effective.

But compared to practicing right beside the Chen Bell after striking it, the difference was vast.

In any case, during his twenty days of cultivation, the Immaculate Sword Body had only progressed by a tiny margin.

After finishing one cycle of the Immaculate Sword Body, Li Gan felt a faint, aching soreness in his meridians, yet he felt immensely refreshed.

Not long after, the voice of Chen Yong rang out from below.

"Brother Gan."

Chen Yong was overjoyed right now.

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

"You got here fast, didn't you?"

Seeing Chen Yong panting as he ran up, Li Gan asked with a smile.

"Brother Gan, I heard from others that over at the inner sect, because of some clearing mission, quite a few inner disciples were killed or injured," Chen Yong said hurriedly.

Although he was a menial disciple, after climbing to the tail end of the combat ranking list, his social circle within the chore hall had gradually expanded, allowing him to obtain some information regarding the inner sect.

Li Gan had been away from Chenzhong Terrace for some time; he must have gone to perform an inner sect mission.

That was why he was a bit worried about Li Gan.

"I'm fine."

Li Gan jumped down from the bell terrace. "I see your yang energy is abundant and your temples are bulging. I assume you've reached the du meridian?"

The du meridian runs along the dorsal side of the body. Since the back is associated with yang, the circulation of internal force drives the yang energy within the body, creating various signs on the surface of the skin.

Bulging temples were a major characteristic of this.

It often indicated that one's cultivation of internal force had reached a certain level.

"I only started practicing it half a month ago, but the du meridian is truly difficult to cultivate."

Chen Yong said this, but his face was full of joy.

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

All of this was not only due to his own diligent practice but also the guidance of Li Gan, an inner disciple.

The biggest problem for menial disciples, aside from cultivation resources, was the lack of guidance. Having to rely entirely on self-exploration meant taking many unnecessary detours, which wasted a vast amount of time.

The chore hall did have instructors specifically for guidance who had already attained a rank, but their fees were often high—far beyond what an ordinary menial disciple could afford.

Moreover, these instructors were themselves menial disciples who had mostly figured out their own cultivation through trial and error, so one could imagine the quality of their guidance.

Why were the menial chores at the seven main peaks so highly sought after?

Was it not precisely because they offered a chance to come into contact with inner disciples?

If one were lucky, an inner disciple or even an elder might have a sudden whim and offer a bit of guidance.

"Mm, compared to the other six meridians, it is indeed much harder to cultivate."

Li Gan nodded.

He had a deep understanding of this.

If it weren't for the assistance of the Chenzhong Terrace in his cultivation, given his own aptitude and talent, he feared his situation would be similar to Chen Yong's—no, perhaps even worse.

Having transmigrated from Earth, he lacked the hardworking and enduring nature that Chen Yong possessed.

Li Gan then offered Chen Yong some pointers regarding his sword piercing fist.

In the end, a deeply enlightened Chen Yong happily headed down the mountain.

Chenzhong Terrace returned to peace once again.

Li Gan returned to the bell tower and took out the two halves of the cowhide booklet, which were wrapped in a silk scarf, from his pack.

A faint scent of blood still lingered on them.

Li Gan carefully pieced the cowhide booklet back together.

This blood transformation star-absorbing method was divided into two parts, upper and lower.

The upper part detailed how to consume the blood of living creatures to transform it into blood and refine internal qi.

The lower part contained two secret techniques: the blood burning technique and the spirit-severing finger.

The blood burning technique involved burning one's own vital blood to unleash power beyond one's limits for a short period, though it came with severe side effects.

The spirit-severing finger was an offensive secret technique that allowed one to snap off a section of finger bone and fire it like a hidden weapon, possessing considerable power.

Although it is a demonic martial art, the logic behind it certainly has its merits.

After reading and memorizing it, Li Gan silently used his internal qi to shatter the blood transformation star-absorbing method, tossing all the fragments into the furnace.

For instance, the blood burning technique had significant side effects after use.

However, his bell had the effect of restoring the body; even if there were side effects, they could be slowly eliminated by the sound of the bell.

What he valued most was the power the blood burning technique could unleash beyond his own limits; perhaps at a critical moment, it could allow him to turn the tables.

Although he cultivated within the divine sword sect and the possibility of encountering life-threatening danger was low, one could never be too careful.

The only problem now was that both the blood burning technique and the spirit-severing finger relied on the blood transformation star-absorbing method to be mastered.

He could not cultivate such a vicious and sinister demonic art.

Once discovered, it would lead to great trouble.

Therefore, he pondered whether he could borrow the principles of the blood burning technique to improve and create a burst secret technique suitable for his own cultivation.

Even if some issues arose in his body while improving the secret technique, he could rely on the bell to recover.