The Source of Blood Essence

Lin Changheng was the cautious sort, and once he made up his mind, he acted.

And he was right to be cautious. It was perfectly normal for inferior pills to lose some blood essence during their formation or when their pill toxins were treated. But if not a drop remained—not even the slightest trace of its bloody smell—then unless everyone in the Li Family were idiots, they'd notice after just a few more batches!

That would draw attention and arouse suspicion, which was even worse.

It also ran counter to Lin Changheng's fundamental principle of developing steadily.

He did as he'd decided. His mind linked with the Origin Cauldron, and his palm swept quickly over the eight discarded pills.

The next instant, the red treasure seed changed, growing a little more substantial.

[Fire Crow Treasure Seed · Spirit Snatching Transformation in Progress]

[Spirit Snatch: 5/100]

[Effect: Inferior-grade demonic beast bloodline, naturally imbued with fire. Innate talents: Fire Control, Breath Attack, Beak Strike. Once Spirit Snatch is complete, choose one to refine into the seed.]

"Excellent!"

A flicker of excitement flashed in Lin Changheng's eyes.

But he didn't continue extracting the Fire Crow blood essence from the twenty remaining inferior pills. First, he needed to "destroy the evidence" by disposing of the discarded pills he'd drained.

That would prevent anyone from stumbling upon them and discovering what he'd done.

Lin Changheng was so cautious that he wouldn't allow even the slightest possibility!

He crushed the discarded pills into powder, lit the furnace, and controlled the Fire Gathering Array to burn them bit by bit.

Two incense sticks later,

the discarded pills had been dealt with, and he'd collected the ashes.

Then he began preparing a method to neutralize the inferior pills. Fortunately, the shop stocked all the necessary ingredients. It took a full hour of work before he finished mixing them.

Ignoring his fatigue, Lin Changheng drew a deep breath, rubbed his hands together excitedly, and began extracting the blood essence one pill at a time!

Each pill yielded about half its blood essence, give or take. The amount varied; there was no fixed proportion.

He extracted the essence from each pill, then neutralized it.

It went quickly, and soon he'd finished all twenty!

[Fire Crow Treasure Seed · Spirit Snatching Transformation in Progress]

[Spirit Snatch: 10/100]

"Excellent. It's only been a few days, and the Fire Crow Treasure Seed has already built up 'one-tenth' of its progress. It's progressing countless times faster than the Origin Treasure Seed! And with a batch of inferior pills to process each month, barring any mishaps, I'll complete Spirit Snatching for the treasure seed in ten months at most!"

"Over those ten months, with my current comprehension, I'll master the Crimson Flame Pill's method. Then, once I obtain the Fire Crow's Fire Control, I'll definitely succeed in one go and become an alchemist. I won't have to enter the Wilderness again! After that, I can hole up in the Xu Family or the market, refine pills, and collect blood essence..."

Lin Changheng felt secretly thrilled. But he soon took a deep breath and warned himself,

"The cultivation world is full of dangers. I must avoid conflict and struggle, and never let success go to my head. Only then can I make steady progress..."

After all, he had only one life.

Lin Changheng was clearheaded.

By the time he left the pill room, it was almost the hour of the Monkey.

Since it was still early, and he'd likely have to watch the furnace all day tomorrow if nothing unexpected happened, leaving him no time, Lin Changheng decided to make a trip to the Li Family Spirit Meat Shop now.

Although the market was fairly safe, Lin Changheng still wrapped the long wooden box tightly in a worn cloth bundle. After greeting the Xu Family clansmen in the shop, he headed out into the street.

There were still a fair number of cultivators on the street, but compared to the crowds of ten years ago, the difference was like heaven and earth.

The shopkeepers and attendants of many quiet shops were bored out of their minds. They'd drag stools to their doorways and chat with their neighbors, shooting the breeze. When the conversation got heated, they'd grow animated, spittle flying everywhere.

Some people recognized Lin Changheng and warmly invited him to join them. He had no choice but to say he was busy, promise to come next time, and hurry on to the Li Family Spirit Meat Shop.

"Customer, you came at just the right time. If you'd arrived any later, we'd have been completely out of this fine Savage Boar meat!"

"Come take a look. Which cut would you like? Or should I just wrap up the whole lot?"

Before Lin Changheng could speak, the brawny man carving meat with a knife at the entrance of the Li Family shop had already started calling out to customers.

"I'm not here to buy meat. I'm delivering pills on behalf of the Xu Family Alchemy Shop."

Lin Changheng smiled and shook his head, indicating that he wanted to see the shopkeeper.

"Please, come in. Our shopkeeper was just saying, 'How come our friend from the Xu Family hasn't arrived yet?'" The brawny man hurriedly set down his cleaver and led Lin Changheng inside.

A thick, bloody stench immediately filled his nostrils.

Normally, Lin Changheng would have frowned. It was far too pungent. But now, it smelled incredibly sweet.

Lin Changheng hadn't expected the shopkeeper to be a gaunt man with a thin mustache, a rather poor match for the business his shop was in.

He soon inspected a box of inferior pills in person. Lin Changheng kept a calm expression, though he couldn't help feeling a little uneasy inside.

"Not bad."

Clearly, the shopkeeper hadn't noticed anything amiss—or he didn't care about the small amount of blood essence in the inferior pills.

"The deal is done."

With the matter settled, Lin Changheng didn't hurry to leave. Seeing no customers come to buy meat, he struck up a casual conversation with the brawny man at the entrance.

Lin Changheng was skilled at conversation. He began by praising the meat and the man's knife work, both openly and subtly. Only once the man was in high spirits and felt he'd met a kindred spirit did Lin Changheng slowly steer the conversation toward "beast blood."

"Ha, so there really are people who like beast blood. We render it into Red Grease. If you're interested, just let me know in advance, and I'll save some for you tomorrow."

"Thank you!" Lin Changheng said with a smile. Feeling that he'd laid enough groundwork, he brought up the key question. "I wonder if you have any blood essence for sale?"

A demonic beast's blood and its blood essence were not the same thing. The former was ordinary blood within the beast's body, containing only a trace of demonic power and many impurities. The latter was the beast's vital heart's blood, concentrated life essence upon which its power depended.

"Blood essence?"

The brawny man was taken aback. Then he remembered who Lin Changheng was, and understanding dawned.

"Of course we have blood essence. But all the blood essence at my shop has already been reserved by a few spirit-wine shops and talisman shops in the market. We don't sell it to the public."

Afraid Lin Changheng might not understand, he added, "I'm afraid it's difficult for individual cultivators to get their hands on any..."

"Thank you for letting me know."

Though he hadn't gotten the answer he wanted, Lin Changheng still kept up appearances before taking his leave.

After all, the cultivation world wasn't all fighting and killing. It was also about human relationships and social graces.

"Come by anytime you need anything, friend! If there's anything I can do to help, Li won't turn you down!"

As the brawny man's chest-thumping echoed in his ears, Lin Changheng smiled and nodded, already walking away.

He'd only asked on a whim. It would've been even better if he could've opened up a new channel for obtaining demonic beast blood essence, but he wasn't bothered that he hadn't gotten the result he wanted.

Keeping a calm state of mind made it easier to judge things,

and was a kind of cultivation in itself.

After returning the spirit stones he'd earned from selling the inferior pills, along with the old booklet describing how to process discarded and inferior pills, to Master Mo, Lin Changheng had completed the task he'd been given.

"Not bad!"

Master Mo praised him with a genial smile.

Lin Changheng immediately declared his "loyalty," saying he was willing to share Master Mo's burdens. In the course of his words, he hinted that Master Mo could give him more responsibility!

He was only pretending to want more work. But when it came to discarded and inferior Wood Origin Pills, he was genuinely interested.