The Imprint's Wonders

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Imprint's Wonders

The fruit shattered.

Taiyi stared at the cluster of translucent peel fragments in his hand and the dark red mist constantly changing shape as it seeped out. The mist was extremely restless. One moment, it gathered into the shape of a tiny sword; the next, it dispersed into a twisted human face. Fine lightning patterns crackled within it, like a living thing trapped inside.

The old bat Styx's enraged pressure from the check-in earlier still lingered in the air, and amid the sweet, fishy stench was a trace of icy killing intent. Taiyi's back still rested against the cold bone wall. Every gap between his bones ached, as though he had been torn apart and haphazardly glued back together with cheap adhesive.

But his gaze was calm.

As calm as a stone settled at the bottom of a deep pool.

He had only tasted a trace of this fruit before, yet it had already given him many new insights into the forces fighting one another within him. Now, the fruit had completely shattered. Its energy was right before him, within easy reach.

Eat it? Or not?

If he ate it, this energy—clearly mixed with Blood Sea baleful aura, bizarre vitality, and faint masculine lightning intent—would certainly stir up another storm in his already chaotic body. If things went badly, his injuries would only worsen.

If he did not eat it, should he let such pure—albeit strange—energy dissipate for nothing? In this damned place, it was not easy to find anything capable of replenishing his vitality. He did not dare touch the bowl of Blood Dew Styx had sent, nor did he dare study the runes on the Bone Fragment too deeply. The only things he could rely on seemed to be the imprint he had obtained by gambling with his life, and this fruit, which he had likewise won through a gamble.

His hesitation lasted only an instant.

Taiyi suddenly drew in a breath—not through his nose, but through his mouth. Facing that mass of dark red mist, he inhaled fiercely!

Hiss...

The mist seemed to be drawn in by some force, spiraling into his mouth. It did not pass through his throat, instead dissolving directly into a bizarre torrent—scalding yet icy, spicy yet sweetly fishy—that roared toward every limb and bone in his body!

"Ugh!"

Taiyi grunted, his body instantly tightening like a drawn bow! Veins bulged beneath his skin, but they were not their normal bluish-purple. Instead, dark red, golden red, and ash-black patterns intertwined in a grotesque web, as though countless venomous snakes were slithering beneath his flesh!

Pain!

Pain a hundred times worse than when he had drawn in that first trace of energy!

This foreign energy was too tyrannical, too chaotic. It was as though several entirely unrelated powers had been forcibly kneaded together, conflicting with one another yet depending on one another. The instant it entered Taiyi's body, it pounced madly upon the earth-vein baleful aura lingering in his meridians, the residual vicious blood power, and even the "ice shell" left behind by Xuan Ming's frost, like starving wild dogs spotting meat-covered bones!

Even worse, it tried to provoke the relatively well-behaved spark of True Sun Fire in his dantian!

The already fragile balance within his body was instantly and completely shattered! Stirred up by this intruder, the various powers erupted into chaos, madly colliding, tearing, and annihilating one another through his meridians, organs, and even the gaps between his bones!

Taiyi's vision darkened in waves, his ears rang, and his mouth was full of the taste of blood. He could feel the newly formed "concrete patches" in his meridians groaning under the violent impact, the three flowers in his dantian swaying precariously, and even his sea of consciousness trembling without end from the agonizing pain and energy shock.

But he did not panic.

Not only did he not panic, he instead took the initiative to loosen part of his forced containment over those powers!

He did not intend to destroy them. He intended to... guide this chaos!

He sank most of his focus into his sea of consciousness, firmly guarding that last point of clarity, then activated the fragment of "commanding will" he had comprehended from the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint. Rather than forcibly suppressing any one power, he acted like a commander standing apart from the fray, observing this "multi-sided melee" inside his body.

He "watched" as the blood-fiend portion of the foreign energy merged with the earth-vein baleful aura and became even more violent; he watched the strange vitality attempt to repair the meridians torn apart by the conflict, only to be blocked by the brutality of vicious blood; he watched that faint masculine lightning intent charge about like a tiny blade among the cold, yin powers, trying to carve out a passage...

The pain was truly agonizing. Every breath felt like rolling across a mountain of blades.

Yet amid this ultimate pain and chaos, Taiyi's "perception" of his own powers became clearer than ever before! He "saw" many subtle nodes he had previously overlooked, the weakest points where different forces clashed, and the most delicate signs at the very instant energy transformed.

More importantly, the incomplete Blood Sea Origin Imprint in his palm began to emit steady, faintly cool ripples as the violent yin-turbid powers within him—especially the blood-fiend aura and vicious blood—were fully stirred into motion.

The ripples were weak, yet like a stabilizing needle in the sea, they silently "smoothed" the excessive agitation of those powers from the same source, keeping the entire chaotic conflict restrained below a certain "threshold" where it would not completely collapse.

It even faintly guided a portion of the pure yin-turbid energy scattered by the conflict to slowly nourish and reinforce Taiyi's damaged meridian walls and internal organs—though the process was extremely slow, it was truly happening.

So it really works... Taiyi caught that change amid the pain, and his heart steadied slightly.

He no longer merely endured the pain. He began attempting more precise "adjustments."

For example, when the vitality within the foreign energy tried to repair a critical meridian, he would consciously guide a portion of the relatively gentle residual warmth of the True Sun Fire to "assist" it. Although the two clashed in nature, after forming a brief "counterforce" at certain nodes, they instead created a strange tempering effect, making the newly formed meridian tissue tougher.

Or, when that masculine lightning intent charged around without finding a way out and was about to dissipate on its own, he would use his will to slightly "redirect" the flow of a strand of blood-fiend power, opening an incredibly narrow path for the lightning intent. It would pierce through and strike a blocked acupoint. Though weak, the lightning carried the qualities of dispelling evil and cleansing turbidity. Such a strike often scattered some stubborn congestion or remnants of cold poison.

The entire process consumed an immense amount of focus. It was like steering a tiny boat that could fall apart at any moment through raging waves while also repairing its hull. Taiyi was already soaked through with sweat, blood, and energy impurities forced from his pores. His face was frighteningly pale, and deep bloody marks had been bitten into his lips.

Yet the light in his eyes only grew brighter.

He could feel slow yet solid changes taking place within his body under this self-torturing "chaotic tempering."

His broken bones were repeatedly washed and compressed by the chaotic energy. Though they did not heal immediately, the newly formed callus around the fractures seemed to carry a strange resilience, and its color became deeper.

Those crude "concrete patches" on his meridians became more tightly integrated with the surrounding tissue after repeated "baptism" by the energy torrent. They even began actively absorbing and transforming some of the relatively gentle chaotic energy produced by the conflict into nourishment to sustain and strengthen themselves. Both the width and resilience of his meridians improved.

Within his dantian, the tiny flame of True Sun Fire burned with greater restraint and focus under the "pressure" of the surrounding chaotic energy. The color at its core became purer, faintly acquiring an unshakable quality. It seemed to have learned how to preserve itself more efficiently and draw strength in a harsh environment.

The ash-black Chaos Lotus rotated slightly. Between its petals, nearly imperceptible whirlpools seemed to quietly absorb the most fundamental dao rhythm of "chaos" and "disorder" produced by the conflict, its color growing ever deeper and more unfathomable.

The most obvious change was still in the Blood Sea Origin Imprint. As the blood-fiend aura and vicious blood within Taiyi became active and were guided, its connection with him seemed to deepen further. Those faintly cool ripples that soothed agitation became easier to wield, and it even began faintly feeding back clearer "sensations" of the surrounding Blood Sea environment.

After an unknown amount of time, the foreign energy brought by that strange fruit was finally exhausted.

The battle within his body gradually subsided, leaving only familiar dull pain and bone-deep exhaustion, as though he had just endured a brutal war that had dragged on for ages.

Taiyi collapsed against the bone wall. Even breathing felt laborious, and every heartbeat tugged at the pain throughout his body.

But he could clearly feel that some things had changed.

His injuries remained severe, far from healed. His mana had recovered only slightly, and his dantian was still empty.

But the foundation of his body seemed to have been hammered more "solid." His meridians were broader and tougher, his bones heavier and harder, and his organs were clearly more tolerant of energy conflicts. The "method of maintaining internal order" based on the will of the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint also seemed to have become much more refined and practiced after undergoing this fiercer test of actual combat. Guiding and balancing the powers inside him was still difficult and painful, but it no longer carried so much of that perilous sensation of imminent loss of control.

More importantly, his use of the Blood Sea Origin Imprint seemed to have "unlocked" more functions along with the activity of the yin-turbid powers within him.

With a thought, he sank a faint strand of divine sense into the imprint in his palm.

This time, the imprint's response was clearer and swifter.

Outside the side chamber's entrance, he could faintly sense the subtle rhythm of energy flowing inside the two Blood Slave guards formed from blood plasma.

Farther away, around a corner in the palace corridor, he also "marked" a place where dark red energy was relatively concentrated, seemingly the location of some small warning node.

He could even vaguely "sense" the density and direction of the slowly flowing Blood Sea energy within roughly a hundred zhang of himself—though it had been greatly diluted and transformed inside this palace.

The range of his detection had not increased by much, but the precision and depth of his perception had clearly improved.

He tried sending a more explicit "request" to the imprint with his mind—not to draw upon energy, but to create a trace of "resonance" with the relatively "calm" Blood Sea energy somewhere within a hundred zhang, allowing him to perceive the details of that area more clearly.

The imprint warmed slightly, and an indescribable sense of "connection" formed.

In an instant, the scene within a bone chamber piled with miscellaneous objects thirty zhang diagonally across from the side chamber—though blurry—along with the subtle movements of energy particles in the air there, fed back into his consciousness.

It was like suddenly gaining eyes capable of seeing in dim light amid absolute darkness.

"Detection... perception... resonance..." Taiyi closed his eyes and silently contemplated it.

This was only the initial stage of development. If he could understand the imprint more deeply, if he could recover more strength, could he... do even more? For instance, guide Blood Sea energy within a small area? Or even... use some "same-frequency" characteristic of the Blood Sea energy to make an extremely brief, difficult-to-detect positional movement?

The thought made his heart skip a beat.

If he could truly do it, even if it only meant moving a few feet, it might mean the difference between life and death at a critical moment.

After resting for about half an hour, once the deadly exhaustion had faded somewhat, Taiyi struggled upright. He did not touch the bowl of Blood Dew or the Bone Fragment again. Instead, he focused entirely on recovering himself and growing more familiar with the imprint.

His injuries healed slowly, relying mainly on his body's instincts and the imprint's faint nourishment. His mana recovered even more slowly, and he could only draw it bit by bit from the spark of True Sun Fire and the sparse spiritual energy around him, if there was any.

But he was not in a hurry.

Through the imprint's perception, he began consciously "reading" this palace of bones and understanding the operational logic of the Blood Sea's unique environment.

He "saw" how the palace's structure connected with the Blood Sea's main veins deep underground, how it absorbed and transformed energy to sustain itself.

He "felt" the patterns and weak points in the energy flow between the patrolling Blood Slaves and the hidden restriction nodes.

He even faintly noticed that deeper within the Blood Sea, there seemed to be older and more enormous "wills" or "existences." Like slumbering beasts, they were closely linked to Styx's will while maintaining a subtle independence.

The more he "read," the heavier his heart became—and the brighter it grew.

Heavy, because Styx had managed the Blood Sea for countless years and had long turned this place into an impregnable fortress. The seemingly crude palace of bones was actually a precise super-fortress combining offense and defense. Trying to pull tricks here would be harder than reaching the heavens.

Bright, because... any fortress, so long as it was operated by a person—or some sort of will—would inevitably have patterns, consumption, and "gaps" that had to be left behind for the sake of efficiency.

For example, although those Blood Slaves were obedient, their energy responses were stiff, and their patrol routes seemed to follow fixed patterns.

For example, certain energy nodes might experience brief "windows" of weaker surveillance at particular times—such as when Styx was cultivating with all his strength or handling important matters.

For example, the Blood Sea's own immense and chaotic flow of energy might be the best cover and tool for someone familiar with its characteristics...

A clearer and bolder "plan for lurking within and exploiting the Blood Sea" gradually took shape in his mind.

He needed time. He needed to recover more strength. He needed a deeper understanding of the imprint and the Blood Sea. He needed to wait for the right opportunity.

But now, at least, he had a direction.

Three days later.

Taiyi, still in the side chamber, remained pale and weak. But upon closer inspection, the originally chaotic and mixed aura within him, which had seemed ready to collapse at any moment, had become much denser and heavier. Like crude iron repeatedly hammered and tempered, it was still rough, yet exceptionally tough.

Most of the wounds on his body had scabbed over, their color dark red. The mutation in his left arm had not faded, but its stiff sluggishness had lessened somewhat, as though it was slowly beginning to "adapt" to this body.

His mana had recovered to around fifteen percent. It was not much, but at least it could support some basic actions and minor techniques.

Most importantly, he had become increasingly adept at using the Blood Sea Origin Imprint. Detailed detection within a hundred zhang had become routine, and his faint resonance with Blood Sea energy had grown clearer. He had even secretly attempted to guide the imprint into stronger "same-frequency" resonance with the surrounding energy while his yin-turbid powers were active, giving his body an extremely brief tendency toward "insubstantiality." He was still far from true phase movement, but he could already slightly interfere with low-level energy locks.

It was time.

If he remained in this side chamber, his recovery would be too slow, and it would be easy for that old bat Styx to notice more clues.

He needed to "move." He needed to begin carrying out the first step of his plan—leaving the Blood Sea.

Not by leaving immediately. That would be courting death. Rather, he needed to begin preparing and searching for an opportunity.

He slowly rose from the ground and moved his stiff body. His bones let out faint creaks. Reaching the blood-colored curtain at the side chamber's entrance, he stopped, straightened his tattered robes, and concealed the last deliberate traces of "grave injury and weakness" from his face. In their place, he wore the cold, proud expression that belonged to Eastern Emperor Taiyi—still unyielding even in ruin.

Then he reached out and lifted the curtain.

It was time to go "bid farewell" to that old bat—of course, the kind of farewell that marked the beginning of a plan.