After Li Tui returned to the cellar where he was temporarily hiding, he sat cross-legged and poured out the thirty-seven crystals from his robes.
He picked up one, sent his spiritual sense inside, and felt the muddled, chaotic Killing Intent within.
Not enough.
Refining ten of them had increased his spiritual energy by a negligible amount. At this rate, to break through to the fifth level of Qi Refining, he would need at least a thousand fresh corpses—ones that had died only recently, their resentment not yet dispersed.
If he slaughtered people himself, the risk would be too great. What if he drew the attention of the authorities or cultivation clans?
Li Tui closed his eyes, and scenes from nearly the past year passed through his mind: corpses, deathly aura, refinement after refinement.
When he opened his eyes, Li Tui had a new idea.
Why did he have to wait for them to die?
Couldn't the Killing Intent of living people be... raised in advance?
Once the thought arose, he could no longer suppress it.
He paced through the cramped cellar, his shadow swaying across the earthen walls.
He needed a cultivation art.
One that mortal martial artists would scramble to practice, and after practicing it, feel that they had gained an immense boon. On the surface, it had to resemble a superior body-tempering method—strengthening the body and bones, with quick results.
Yet in truth, it would quietly plant "seeds" within their bodies, slowly nurturing Killing Intent from their flesh. When the time came, he would reclaim it all with interest.
Li Tui sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to deduce it.
Seven days later, he opened his eyes, dark light flowing through their depths.
It was done.
Baleful Gathering and Origin Cultivation Art.
The name was plain and unadorned.