Looking at the chicken soup in his hands, Li Qing felt his scalp go numb.
Fear flickered in his eyes, and his whole body trembled involuntarily.
Just then, the door suddenly opened, and Mr. Huayue appeared before him, his face utterly impassive.
A strange, faint smell of blood crept into Li Qing's nose.
Li Qing felt as if his head were about to explode. Every hair on his body stood on end, as though he had encountered some immense danger.
"Why didn't you knock when you arrived?" Mr. Huayue asked, his gaze cold.
His eyes scrutinized Li Qing from head to toe. Li Qing felt like a venomous snake had fixed its gaze on him, and goose bumps rose all over his skin.
In a flash of inspiration, Li Qing hurriedly plastered a smile across his face. "I only just got here. Before I had a chance to knock, sir had already opened the door."
"I've finished making the chicken soup."
Mr. Huayue studied him, and silence settled over the back courtyard.
Li Qing wore an ingratiating smile. Not a hint of anything amiss showed on his face.
He respectfully held out the chicken soup. "Sir, should I bring it inside for you, or...?"
A faint smile suddenly tugged at the corner of Mr. Huayue's mouth. "Just hand it to me."
As he spoke, he took the bowl from Li Qing's hands.
The instant Mr. Huayue took the bowl, Li Qing's heart sank, plunging into an icy abyss.
Mr. Huayue looked at him with a smile. "Go to the kitchen and serve yourself a bowl, too. You're growing, so you should eat more."
"You need to eat well to grow well."
Li Qing hurriedly nodded, a smile on his face. "Thank you for your generosity, sir."
He quickly turned around and trotted toward the kitchen, looking delighted.
After Li Qing turned away, Mr. Huayue's face and eyes grew icily cold. He watched Li Qing's retreating figure until it disappeared from view.
The door closed. Once again, strange chewing sounds came from inside the room, along with the wet slurping of soup and a low laugh.
"Grow nice and strong. Heh heh. The bigger you grow, the better you'll taste..."
In the kitchen, Li Qing stood beside a basin of water, studying his reflection.
A deathly pale face, an ordinary face—the kind no one would notice in a crowd.
At fifteen, he would have been just a boy in his previous life. Here, he was already an adult.
In an ordinary family, he might even have been working the fields.
His whole body trembled, and beads of cold sweat rolled down his face.
"That was dangerous. I almost lost my nerve."
"Those ten years of studying weren't for nothing. My ability to keep my composure is damn impressive."
"I think I handled that without batting an eye or missing a breath."
"I should have fooled him."
"But I can't stay here. I have to leave, or I'll probably die here."
He had already realized something was wrong. There was that strange smell of blood and the sound of chewing—Mr. Huayue was eating raw food in his room.
Whether it was a person or an animal, he couldn't say.
"But can I get away? I feel like that guy has already set his sights on me."
"Essence Blood Art. Only this improved version of the technique can save me."
At the thought, he felt as if he had grabbed a straw that could save his life.
Li Qing quickly focused his will on the Jade Tablet in his mind and carefully studied the contents of the Essence Blood Art.
At the same time, he served himself a bowl of chicken soup, poured a bowl of rice into it, and began eating quickly.
The technique clearly stated that he had to halt the loss of his vital essence in order to cultivate. That meant eating his fill was crucial.
Sharpening the axe doesn't delay the work of chopping wood.
He studied as he ate. It took half an hour to finish the entire chicken, along with two bowls of rice.
His stomach was stuffed, and Li Qing had a general understanding of the technique.
The Essence Blood Art had two most important steps.
Step one: the improved Blood Curse. He had to use his own heart's blood to write the incantation on his body.
The incantation consisted of three thousand characters. He could write it anywhere on his skin, as long as he wrote it without interruption.
Once he had finished writing the Blood Curse, he had to recite the incantation from beginning to end to activate it.
Step two: endure the torment of Blood Curse Body Refining. Only after surviving the Blood Curse's transformation of his body could he truly begin cultivating and steadily accumulate vital essence.
The vital essence would merge with his blood, circulate through his body along his veins, and form a cycle through all the meridians, nourishing his body and strengthening his essence.
The Essence Blood Art also contained a minor technique, Blood Transformation, which consumed vital essence to use.
If this minor technique struck an enemy, any wound on the target's body would gush blood without stopping. The wound would not heal on its own, and the victim would eventually bleed to death.
He quickly tidied up the kitchen, then took a small bowl and a kitchen knife back to his room.
There was no oil lamp in his room. Something like that wasn't for a lowly clerk in the study to enjoy.
By then, the sky had begun to darken. The setting sun's afterglow still lingered in the distance, and a little light could just barely filter through the paper-covered window.
Li Qing took off his shirt, hurriedly cut his index finger with the kitchen knife, and let the blood drip into the small bowl.
The fingers were connected to the heart. Pain stung his finger, and soon the bowl was half full.
He stopped the bleeding and immediately began writing the improved Blood Curse on his body.
He took out a small brush, dipped it in blood, and began writing furiously.
Three thousand characters—even copying them from the Jade Tablet in his mind would take a great deal of time and effort.
The three thousand characters took more than an hour to write. By the time he finished, the blood had already begun to clot.
There was no space left on the front of his body.
The wounds on all ten fingers continued to sting. He let out a deep breath, and a trace of determination crossed his face.
"The last step."
He had lost blood, and now he had to write three thousand characters on his body by the faint light. His mental and physical strength were nearly at their limits.
He sat down slowly on his bed and closed his eyes, beginning to recite the mysterious Blood Curse from the Jade Tablet in his mind.
"Boundless True Blood, pave the way with blood, essence enters the blood vessels..."
The lines of the incantation spilled from his lips. His voice was very low, yet unusually clear, echoing slowly through his bedroom.
After an unknown amount of time, he finished reciting all three thousand characters.
The bloody characters covering his body glowed faintly red. As if they had come alive, they began to spread across him.
They covered every inch of his body, joining together like a network.
Looking closely, from the very first character to the last, the incantation resembled a long blood-red serpent, coiling over his entire body.
The characters seeped into him, seemingly penetrating his blood vessels. An unimaginable pain spread throughout his body.
Li Qing's eyes bulged, filled with blood. Looking closely, something seemed to writhe strangely along his veins—the Radiance of the Blood Curse characters.
The pain left him unable to make even the faintest sound.
In the midst of his agony, a figure appeared outside the door without a sound.
"Knock, knock, knock."