Cultivating the Spirit Blood Art and Shadow Art

Li Qing was quite surprised; that figure was truly peculiar, shrouded in a hazy black mist that obscured their form.

It was clearly a mysterious individual who had mastered essence energy.

After a brief pause, Li Qing did not follow, but instead turned and headed quickly toward the All-Under-Heaven Escort Agency.

It seems there are quite a few practitioners here in Jade City.

Dao Lineage? I wonder what kind of world lies within that.

He soon returned to his courtyard, already impatient to begin his cultivation.

This world is too dangerous; I must seize every moment to cultivate.

Back in his room, he picked up the bowl and brush once more to begin practicing the brand-new Spirit Blood Curse.

Following the old routine, he performed bloodletting from his ten fingers, then used the brush to write the Three Talents Blood Curse: Heaven, Earth, and Man.

As the final character was inscribed, the Three Talents Blood Curse began to surge.

Waves of excruciating pain flooded his heart. Li Qing lay on the bed, twitching incessantly like a skinned shrimp.

He endured for a full hour, his body nearly exhausted, before he finally survived the Blood Curse Body Refining.

Li Qing's face was deathly pale as he sensed the flow of essence energy within him.

He was astonished to discover that his essence energy had transformed into a pure, blood-colored radiance, as if a spiritual light were flickering within it.

This essence energy occupied one-fifth of his entire circulatory system, flowing through his body like a river.

His whole body felt as if it were being massaged, and the pain from moments ago was rapidly fading away.

He could clearly feel his body changing, bit by bit.

The effects of this new technique are simply too powerful.

Just then, the essence energy converged in his lower abdomen, and a strange, blood-colored structure emerged.

Strands of essence energy wove together like thread, knitting this blood-colored seed into existence.

The blood-colored seed was a three-dimensional structure, appearing vaguely like a cluster of flames.

The seed bloomed with a red radiance, illuminating a mysterious black space within his lower abdomen.

He felt as though this radiance had unlocked some hidden place within his body.

What is this?

A thought stirred in his mind, and he lifted his hand slightly.

Half of the essence energy circulating in his body vanished into thin air. The strange blood-colored seed in his lower abdomen trembled, and a crimson light surged along a peculiar channel, extending from his lower abdomen all the way to his palm.

A cluster of red flames appeared in his hand, floating silently.

Li Qing could clearly feel that he could manipulate this flame at will.

Under his mental command, the flame slowly rose from his right hand.

It danced nimbly in mid-air, as if it possessed a life of its own.

However, Li Qing could feel the power of the flame depleting rapidly.

After sustaining it for a few breaths, the flame gradually flickered out and vanished into the air.

Was that the Burning Blood Flame spell? A seed form composed of essence energy?

And that mysterious black space in my lower abdomen, along with the channel this power traveled through when the spell was cast...

They seem to exist naturally within my body. Could they be... meridians?

Li Qing's expression was quite strange. In all the cultivation and martial arts novels I've read, cultivation always utilized meridians.

They circulated various forms of true energy, spiritual energy, or primordial essence.

But the Spirit Blood Art doesn't seem to be that.

It circulates essence energy through the blood vessels, yet this innate spell condenses the foundation of the technique in a location suspected to be the Dantian.

It is truly full of secrets. Is this Cthulhu-style cultivation? I have a feeling all sorts of situations will arise in the future.

Shaking his head slightly, Li Qing rolled off the bed.

Next, he wanted to practice the Shadow Art.

He recalled all the information regarding this spell in his mind.

The method for practicing this spell was simple.

It contained a passage of incantation that needed to be chanted continuously within a shadow to absorb a specific type of essence energy.

The manual specifically noted that it must be practiced in a place teeming with human vitality; it was impossible to learn this spell in the wilderness.

Li Qing looked at the contents of the spell, his eyes thoughtful.

Teeming with human vitality—could it be to absorb those multicolored essence energies in the sky, the essence energy radiated by countless humans?

The Dao Lineage hides within human society, and practicing this spell requires a place of great human vitality? Does all the essence energy required for cultivation have to be absorbed from what humans radiate?

Is that why the Dao Lineage hides within human society?

Vaguely, Li Qing felt as though he had discovered the secrets of the mysterious world of Dao Lineage.

After a moment of quiet contemplation, Li Qing climbed onto his bed to rest.

He planned to cultivate this spell tomorrow, as it came with certain requirements.

I must notify Wang Kuohai and tell him not to send anyone to disturb me.

In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived. Li Qing greeted Wang Kuohai and instructed him not to let anyone else enter before he began cultivating the Shadow Art.

He sat cross-legged in his room, hidden in a corner of pure shadow, a place where the sunlight from the outside world could not reach.

He began to silently chant the corresponding incantations, and time ticked away second by second.

In the ethereal void, as the incantations were chanted continuously, some strange black essence seemed to gather in the air.

This essence was incredibly dark, as if some kind of gloomy emotion were flickering within it.

As it gradually gathered, it slowly shrouded Li Qing on all sides.

This darkness surged and rolled, seemingly forging an inexplicable connection with the surrounding shadows.

It gradually transformed into a kind of illusory darkness, as if it were the shadow itself.

Enveloped by the shadows, Li Qing seemed to be gradually sinking into them.

An inexplicable chill covered every corner of his body.

He could feel that amidst this cold, his own vital essence was being slightly consumed, as if resisting the invasion of this frigid chill.

The dark shadows seeped into his body, gathering at the position in his lower abdomen suspected to be the dantian.

A marvelous seed composed of black essence appeared there.

Within the seed, a layer of black mist seemed to flicker; it was a pure yet illusory black essence.

However, at this moment, the essence no longer possessed its original eeriness; it seemed to have been baptized by the structure, stripping away the strange gloom within.

The spell seed was completely formed, and Li Qing opened his eyes.

He could feel the existence of the black seed within his body.

With a slight shift of his thoughts, a formless black light diffused from the seed, traveling along the channels in his body to cover his entire frame.

Li Qing looked down at himself; his body was shrouded in a layer of black gauze, as if he were isolated from the world.

He looked left and right; he seemed to have vanished into the shadows. An inexplicable chill permeated his surroundings, and the essence within the spell seed was being consumed bit by bit.

He turned and walked toward the wall, passing through it without a sound.

Outside, the light was brilliant, and the sun was slowly rising.

Under the sunlight, he was a mass of illusory shadow, moving while standing in the sun.

Li Qing was lost in thought, "I can walk while detached from the shadows."