Power in Blood

Although Zul'ra had reached a compromise with the Witch Doctors of Jintha'Alor, he did not let his guard down against them. These individuals held significant influence over Jintha'Alor; their current alignment was merely a result of his strength and their weakness. Should the tides turn in the future, there was no guarantee they wouldn't betray him.

To prevent being undermined, Zul'ra dared not let those Witch Doctors teach the Vilebranch Trolls directly. Instead, he had them first instruct his own followers—who were still largely illiterate—and his other soldiers. Among the three hundred followers he had brought were literate craftsmen and farmers, but they were currently essential technical workers who could not be spared.

While he had the Witch Doctors open classes to teach his followers and soldiers, Zul'ra did not remain idle. He personally steered the political direction, mobilized the Vilebranch Trolls and soldiers to assist in production, and during breaks, lectured them on history. While spreading new ideologies, he also worked to establish a proper worldview.

Beyond managing politics and production, Zul'ra also carved out time to pursue his own interests, such as having craftsmen experiment with papermaking. Paper was a powerful tool for advancing knowledge; it was not without reason that it was hailed as one of the Four Great Inventions.

Azeroth did have paper, but most of it was parchment. In troll society, parchment used for recording was rare. Firstly, troll society was largely illiterate; secondly, trolls believed animal hides were easily destroyed and could not withstand the erosion of time, so they mostly recorded important matters on stone tablets.

Zul'ra wanted to produce paper to accelerate the spread of knowledge, but papermaking was no easy task. He lacked detailed knowledge of the process; he only knew vaguely about pulping wood and forming sheets. He knew wood pulp was made from plant fibers, but the specific steps—how to beat the pulp, how to form the sheets—were all uncertain and required trial and error.

Consequently, alongside his papermaking efforts, Zul'ra had to find other things to occupy himself. Amidst the clutter, he unearthed several stone tablets left behind by Hex. They were inscribed in Zandalar script with records regarding Hakkar the Soulflayer and the methods for performing rituals to him.

Zul'ra studied the tablets carefully. He had no interest in performing rituals for Hakkar, but he was very interested in the magical knowledge they contained. Beyond being the Soulflayer and the destroyer and guardian of the Gurubashi Empire, Hakkar also held the title of "Blood God."

Indeed, the Loa who had once enslaved the Jungle Trolls of the Gurubashi Empire shared a nickname with that Old God imprisoned beneath Zandalar. Not only were their titles identical, but the priestly abilities associated with both figures shared a commonality: the use of blood as a source of magical power.

In Nazmir, Zul'ra had witnessed the magic of the Blood Trolls firsthand. They channeled their power into totem poles, which not only absorbed the blood and life force of their enemies but also reflected it back into the caster's body in a certain way.

The blood magic of the Blood Trolls was similar to Hex's magic, yet there were distinctions. That day, Hex had directly extracted blood from her wounded guards and converted it into energy, injecting it into her final guard. This caused the Vilebranch Troll's power to surge instantly, dealing Zul'ra a significant setback.

Having encountered blood magic twice, Zul'ra naturally became intrigued. He carefully studied the tablets left by Hex, analyzing the knowledge within. Whether it was the Old God blood magic of the Blood Trolls or the Hakkar blood magic of Hex, both involved manipulating blood, and both utilized an intermediary—like a Loa—to convert blood into energy.

Although Zul'ra was very interested in blood magic, he did not want to deal with those evil Loa. Thus, he groped for a method, attempting to bypass the intermediary and use his own mana to manipulate blood. However, blood was not easily controlled directly.

Blood was a tangible liquid, unlike energy forms such as shadow or hexes. It flowed within the bodies of living beings. Zul'ra could feel that his mana could not interfere with blood, but he did discover a mysterious connection between the blood in his own body and his internal life force.

While mana could do nothing about the blood within, Zul'ra understood that life force could be controlled through breathing and intent. Therefore, he slowly began to try to control the blood in his body through his life force, given their mysterious connection.

Gradually, Zul'ra felt that the blood and life force within him were like fuel and an engine. Whenever his life force was vigorous, he felt the temperature of the blood in his body rise; whenever his life force flowed quietly through his body, the blood flowed just as calmly in his veins, nourishing his organs.

Yet, unlike the interdependent relationship between fuel and an engine, blood and life force were distinct entities, each flowing through the body to serve it, merely influencing one another. From his past memories, Zul'ra found a term that better described their relationship: Qi and blood.

Qi, blood, and body fluids were the material foundations of the human body according to traditional Chinese medicine. Qi referred to the life force within the body, while blood was literal blood; body fluids referred to the various secretions within the body. Much of the health maintenance in traditional Chinese medicine involved regulating these four to nourish the internal organs.

Zul'ra had once been a dock worker and had skimmed through some theories of traditional Chinese medicine. As time passed, those memories had faded significantly, but he could still dig them out from the depths of his mind through meditation.

Using the theories of Qi, blood, and Yin-Yang from traditional Chinese medicine, Zul'ra formulated a method: by regulating the life force and blood within his body, he could gain the power to manipulate blood and, in turn, strengthen his own body.

Blood was the fundamental substance that constituted the human body and maintained life activities. It flowed throughout the body, possessing high nutritional value, nourishing the internal organs, skin, flesh, tendons, and bones. Furthermore, blood contained red and white blood cells, which held the body's DNA.

He remembered an old American blockbuster where scientists extracted blood from mosquitoes that had bitten prehistoric dinosaurs, then isolated the dinosaur's genetic sequence to clone and resurrect various dinosaurs. If he could control blood, did that mean he could control genes and bloodlines?

If he could control genes, he could strengthen his body however he pleased. If he felt his strength was lacking, he could write in the genes of an ant. A troll's lifting capacity was similar to a human's, capable of lifting at most twice their body weight; Zul'ra had not exceeded this number. But if he obtained the genes of an ant, he could lift objects twenty times his body weight.

From the piecemeal scientific knowledge he had gathered, Zul'ra saw a wonderfully bright prospect. He began to cautiously advance in verifying this knowledge, using breathing and intent to control the Qi within his body—that is, the life force—making it vigorous and vibrant.

Life force and blood influenced each other. When the life force became vigorous, the blood naturally rose in temperature and began to boil. The two were like water and fire, one Yin and one Yang, mutually influencing one another.

The feeling of blood boiling in his body was not pleasant. His whole body felt as if it were immersed in scalding hot water; his muscles, bones, and internal organs felt as if they were being burned by fire. Every time Zul'ra raised his life force for a few minutes, he felt he could no longer endure it and had to lower his body's "temperature."