After his first successful attempt, Lin Tian completely let loose and started fishing in troubled waters.
He followed along with the group, secretly weaving through the ranks and targeting only small, weak low-level Blood Monsters.
Although he had no cultivation, there were still differences in size, so he specifically picked the smaller ones.
These creatures had very low intelligence and acted entirely on instinct, so they didn't notice anything unusual.
Even when Lin Tian swallowed one of a creature's "good buddies" right in front of it, all it did was blink, then act as though nothing had happened—its brain simply couldn't process something so complicated.
The blood cells were the cells of his body. In the blood, each had a natural duty, and their instinct was to drive out invaders.
These Sea Soul Beasts and those evil cells were all like bacteria, threatening his health. Fighting them was instinctive for the Blood Sea Monsters, but they had little ability to react to anything else.
Lin Tian, meanwhile, was having the time of his life. He swallowed every Blood Ball Monster and Small Blood Blade Monster that came his way.
When he was lucky, he could even swallow several at once.
Still, he kept himself well in check. So he wouldn't be discovered, he only made his move from the rear each day.
The group didn't notice that its members were steadily disappearing, while Lin Tian's aura grew stronger and his various attributes doubled.
After swallowing blood cells, he could gain powerful blood energy and stack his vitality.
Swallowing White Blood Cell Monsters granted him defense, and their defensive power was astonishing.
Swallowing lymphocyte monsters granted him powerful attack strength.
Platelet Monsters, meanwhile, granted him mental power and healing abilities.
Platelet Monsters were the most useful to him. As long as he kept swallowing them, the regenerative ability throughout his body would continue to evolve, and he might even truly gain the power of immortality.
As his mental power accumulated, the blue Spirit Gem in his chest also grew brighter and more dazzling.
Lin Tian felt as if he were in heaven. Every day was an all-you-can-eat buffet: relaxing and a chance to level up. He didn't even want to leave.
And the farther he went, the safer he felt. As the group pressed on, more and more scattered Blood Cell Monsters joined them.
Countless Blood Sea cells were born every day, and the group swelled from ten thousand to several million, becoming a true Black Tide that blotted out the sky.
Hidden among them, Lin Tian thrived like a fish in water. His swallowing efficiency soared, and his cultivation rose at a visible pace, leaping from a thousand years to fifteen hundred. His mental power also grew more condensed: whereas before he could only see a hundred meters around him, now he could see a hundred and fifty.
During this time, the group ran into another powerful Blood Monster tribe, and the two sides fought a bloody battle.
Lin Tian stayed tucked away in the ranks the whole time, taking advantage of the chaos to frantically swallow the temporary remains of both sides. He gained energy several times faster than usual.
He didn't take part in the fight at all. He just played both sides.
When evil Blood Monsters accidentally scattered him from the group, he let his evil aura show.
Once he returned to the ordinary Blood Monsters, he concealed the evil aura on his body again.
That way, he profited from both sides and thrived like a fish in water.
Afterward, Lin Tian got used to this rhythm of battle. What was even funnier was that when they fought Sea Soul Beasts, some of them saw him caught among the Blood Cell Monsters and assumed he was a captive being forced along. They rushed to rescue him, only to get wiped out.
His conscience and his sense of humor were at war, but he happily swallowed the energy of those Sea Soul Beasts all the same.
It had to be said: Sea Soul Beasts contained energy many times more powerful than the Blood Sea Monsters. Swallowing them gave him a massive increase in Soul Power and sped up his cultivation.
But each had its advantages. His stomach was only so big, and there was only so much he could swallow each day.
Blood Sea Monsters could increase all kinds of attributes, offering an across-the-board boost.
Swallowing Sea Soul Beasts, on the other hand, gave him a massive amount of Soul Power. And if he got lucky and one dropped a Soul Bone, that was even better.
Each had its merits. What Lin Tian wanted most right now was to swallow Blood Sea Monsters and gain attribute points. Attributes mattered more than strength, whether in games or in real life. Levels could always be trained up later, but attribute points had to come first.
After that, he experienced another three-way battle involving Sea Soul Beasts. One side was a tribe of Octopus Soul Beasts with a ten-thousand-year-level leader, numbering several hundred or so.
Those few hundred killed millions of Blood Monsters without leaving a single one intact, but in the end they were worn down and killed. There was no answer to overwhelming numbers.
While picking through the battlefield's remains, Lin Tian found a little Octopus Soul Beast that was barely alive.
Its whole body was blue, and its eight sucker-lined tentacles were especially lively, even though it had only a hundred years of cultivation.
At that moment, it had a huge wound in its chest. Even after Lin Tian spotted it, it kept waving its tentacles in defiance. Interesting.
Lin Tian immediately wrapped its entire body in his stomach. He wasn't trying to eat it, though; he was using a skill to heal it.
He discovered that his stomach had many functions. Besides swallowing, as he gained more and more Platelet Monsters and his healing abilities grew stronger, he could even use the tentacles inside his stomach to transfer his own vitality to others and treat their injuries.
Take this Blue-Ringed Octopus Soul Beast that was on the verge of death. In just a moment, his life force flowed into its body and helped heal its injuries.
Before long, the little octopus was bouncing around, full of life.
As soon as it was back at full strength, the little octopus lunged at Lin Tian, ready to fight him to the death. But Lin Tian merely snapped his fingers, and it immediately began convulsing on the spot.
"Nice try. If I decided to save you, did you really think I wouldn't keep something up my sleeve?
"My blood contains neurotoxins, and they've already spread throughout your body. I can take your life whenever I want, just by willing it.
"Be a good little pet and behave."
Lin Tian also thought it was too boring by himself. Keeping a Sea Soul Beast as a pet seemed pretty nice.
The little octopus realized it couldn't fight back. Its body was trembling, and its eyes were filled with nothing but fear of Lin Tian.
Only after Lin Tian released his hold did it slowly recover.
It still hated Lin Tian, but octopuses were intelligent, especially when they'd reached the hundred-year level. It knew there was nothing to gain by opposing him, so it gradually calmed down. Its round eyes stayed fixed on him as it wrapped a tentacle around his body of its own accord and followed at his side.
The little one was good at reading the situation. The entire area was filled with Blood Sea Monsters. Even after a battle, there were still several million of them.
At this moment, the only Sea Soul Beast around that could blend in with the Blood Monsters and protect its life was the one before it, so it decisively chose to submit.
Lin Tian hid it among his tentacles and continued following the group.
After several days of drifting, he finally reached a vast region of underwater caves with the group.