Cultivating the Essence Blood Art

Wang Kuohai arranged a room for Li Qing, which turned out to be an independent small courtyard.

The All-Under-Heaven Escort Agency's residence in Jade City was by no means small; it housed several dozen people, after all.

After accepting Wang Kuohai's warm hospitality, Li Qing finally managed to lie down on the bed.

Feeling the soft quilt and watching the faint candlelight flicker, he let out a long, deep breath.

Finally, I'm safe. The outside world is truly too dangerous.

After resting for a short while, Li Qing rolled over and got up.

He walked toward the table, where a brush and a small bowl sat—items he had asked the servants to bring him when he returned.

Now that I'm temporarily safe, I should first cultivate the new Essence Blood Art.

This world is too perilous; I must increase my ability to protect myself as much as possible.

The encounters of the past few days had given Li Qing a sense of urgency, as if some disaster were drawing near.

He took off his shirt and picked up his Hundred-Forged Steel Blade, slicing open the five fingers of his left hand to let a large amount of blood drip out.

His blood was now incredibly red, looking as bright as rubies.

It was clearly no longer the blood of a normal person.

Li Qing looked at the bowl of blood, his expression shifting in an unreadable way.

If this cultivation goes to the end, I'm afraid I really won't be human anymore.

But there's no choice; this world is too strange.

Shaking his head slightly, he picked up the brush, dipped it into the blood, and began to write the two different blood curses—Earth and Heaven—onto his own body.

The blood curses were as if branded into his mind; he only needed to write them continuously.

In the blink of an eye, an hour passed, and the Heaven and Earth Blood Curses totaled over 6,000 characters.

After finishing, Li Qing felt his right wrist aching.

As the final character was completed, the Heaven and Earth Blood Curses on his body began to emit a bright, bloody light. As if possessed of life, they rapidly crawled across his entire body before sinking beneath his skin.

Excruciating pain erupted from within his body, and Li Qing struggled to collapse onto the bed.

Countless blood-colored characters transformed into two massive networks, covering every blood vessel in his body.

A strange rhythm began to pulse incessantly, and his blood surged wildly.

His vital energy accelerated its circulation within him, driving the agony deep into his very marrow.

"Hnn..."

Li Qing let out a muffled groan, his muscles and bones twitching uncontrollably. He writhed instinctively, like a lobster being pulled from its shell.

His eyes were wide open, his hands gripping the bedding tightly, his skin flushed a deep, burning red.

His eyes were filled with dense bloodshot veins, and traces of the characters seemed to flicker within them.

This pain was at least twice as intense as his first time cultivating, and Li Qing felt his consciousness beginning to blur.

Yet, he did not pass out. According to the requirements of the Essence Blood Art, one must never lose consciousness during the process of Blood Curse Body Refining.

Otherwise, the blood curse would backfire, leading to death.

Li Qing bit his lip until it bled, not making a sound; he did not want anyone to discover his cultivation.

The Blood Refining Art and Blood Fusion Art were 100% derived from some demonic sect.

They were typical "quick-success" techniques. Although they had been optimized by the Jade Tablet, their demonic essence remained unchanged.

The cultivation of any demonic technique inevitably came with a price. While the most severe costs had been eliminated by the Jade Tablet, the pain during cultivation could not be eradicated.

A full hour passed. Li Qing was drenched in sweat, lying motionless on the floor.

"Haa... haa..."

Panting heavily, a faint smile rose on Li Qing's face; he had finally made it through.

Within him, his vital energy surged. He could clearly feel that it had become a deeper shade of red. Although the quantity remained the same—still occupying only one-fifth of his total blood volume—the purity had at least doubled.

"With this, my ability to survive should have improved once again."

After resting for a moment, Li Qing slowly stood up.

He silently circulated his vital energy, and as it trembled slightly, he activated the innate minor technique contained within the Essence Blood Art: Blood Burning.

In an instant, he felt one-third of his vital energy vanish into thin air.

Then, he sensed the changes in his body.

He grabbed the Hundred-Forged Steel Blade and began to swing it around the room.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Every strike sliced through the air, carrying a sharp, whistling sound as it tore through the void.

The blood-red glow on the blade grew increasingly brilliant, as if a scorching flame were burning upon it.

It possessed a peculiar quality.

A flash of blade-light cleaved into a stool.

The stool snapped in two at the sound, and where the blade-light had passed, a faint, inexplicable charred stench emerged.

Li Qing's eyes lit up; he hurried over to examine it closely.

The severed surface of the stool bore a layer of charred black, looking exactly as if it had been scorched by intense fire.

"The ability of Blood Burning is quite formidable."

"First, my body can clearly feel an increase in strength and speed; second, my vital energy seems to have taken on a trace of scorching property."

"This heat is different from ordinary fire; it appears to lack physical warmth, yet its effect seems much the same as burning."

"Is this equivalent to the elemental true qi found in martial arts novels?"

Li Qing was lost in thought. "Now, I possess a blade technique, granting me a certain degree of melee capability."

"Coupled with the Spirit Summoning Tablet, I have a certain degree of ranged capability. It seems I have no obvious shortcomings."

"The Jade Tablet's ability is to optimize all knowledge. What I must do is find ways to continuously collect cultivation techniques, of all types of power."

"Thereby incorporating a hundred schools into one, and forging my own path."

"However, the techniques in this world are usually very dangerous and require a price to be paid."

"For now, the techniques optimized by the Jade Tablet show no issues."

"But for more profound techniques in the future, perhaps the price will be unavoidable."

"It is only a matter of the severity of the cost."

"Therefore, I must be cautious. Unsuitable techniques must never be practiced. I must strive to find a path of cultivation that requires no price, or at least a negligible one."

"I do not wish to spend another ten years as a shop assistant; that life was truly unbearable."

Thinking of the ten years he spent living in the Huayue Study, it was nothing more than the life of a servant.

Having finally grasped power and attained freedom, Li Qing was absolutely unwilling to return to that state.

Returning to his bed in a few strides, Li Qing pondered his path forward in his mind.

"Martial artists can condense qi and blood through their cultivation; it sounds similar to the vital energy I cultivate, both seemingly rooted in the bloodline."

"Perhaps I can collect more martial arts manuals and have the Jade Tablet optimize them. It might just be possible to fuse many martial arts into one, transforming them into a more powerful technique that complements the Essence Blood Art."

"This is the most viable path for me at present."

With a goal set in his heart, Li Qing slowly lay down, drifting into sleep amidst a hazy, drowsy state.

His vital energy circulated naturally, and his entire being was bathed in a wondrous, faint red glow.

"Knock, knock, knock."

He knew not how much time had passed when the sound of knocking suddenly echoed slowly.