This scorching power came on so suddenly, as if it had always lain hidden inside Su Ming and had been activated by the Dust-Clearing Powder. His body jolted violently. For an instant, he felt as though his whole body were about to burn, and he was even reminded of the burly man from the Black Mountain Tribe who had died beneath the Blood Powder.
Su Ming did not panic. His expression remained calm. Though he felt as if he were burning, that calm allowed him to slowly discern what was happening. The sensation did not come from his blood boiling. Rather, at that moment, the blood coursing through his entire body had reached a terrifying speed.
It was flowing so fast that it gave him the illusion of burning. He could even hear his heartbeat accelerating madly, as if his heart were about to burst.
"What potent medicine!" Su Ming's face was flushed, but there was not the slightest lessening of the calm in his eyes. He murmured slowly, closed his eyes, and immediately immersed himself in the circulation of his qi and blood.
Sweat poured from his body, and eleven blood lines appeared at once, radiating dazzling red light. The glow illuminated the cavern, making it seem as if it had become a blood-red Yellow Springs.
As the qi and blood within him circulated, the red glow radiating from his body grew ever brighter. Veins rose across his skin, seeming to writhe beneath it, giving Su Ming a somewhat ferocious appearance.
An hour passed in a flash. During that hour, Su Ming's animal-hide clothes became as soaked as if they had been dipped in water, dripping with sweat. His body was red all over, and the eleven blood lines flickered like eleven gaping wounds in his flesh.
Just then, Su Ming's eyes flew open. They were bloodshot as he let out a roar. His body rumbled, and a twelfth blood line abruptly emerged!
It appeared almost instantly, going from faint and indistinct to fully solid. Su Ming's qi and blood grew stronger once more.
But it was not over. After the twelfth blood line appeared, the fiery red hue of Su Ming's body faded slightly. Then, with another low growl, a thirteenth blood line burst into being!
As the thirteenth blood line appeared, Su Ming's hair stirred without a breeze. A powerful sensation suddenly erupted from his lean frame.
The blood within him surged at incredible speed. He no longer felt as if he lacked blood; instead, there was too much. If he did not condense it into blood lines, it felt as though his flesh and blood would burst apart. Two blood lines had appeared in succession, yet some of that burning heat still remained in his body.
Su Ming's expression twisted. The heat was almost unbearable. He raised his right hand and, on instinct, tore off his animal-hide clothes, baring his upper body and clearly revealing the thirteen blood lines. They were irregularly scattered across his chest, back, and arms.
The blood lines were crimson, as if they could drip blood at any moment. Beads of sweat streamed down Su Ming's body, catching the red glow and giving him an eerie beauty.
Su Ming's eyes grew even redder, but there was no madness in them. He remained calm. Everything was still within his control. Feeling the qi and blood within him, Su Ming did not hesitate. Following the inheritance of Barbarian Cultivation, he circulated his blood again and again, tempering it until it grew viscous.
Another half hour passed. With a low roar toward the heavens, a faint fourteenth blood line appeared on Su Ming's body!
His roar echoed through the cavern, stirring countless echoes. At first listen, it sounded as if countless people were howling.
"The fourteenth blood line—come out!" Su Ming's body trembled, and the powerful sensation within him grew ever stronger. The fourteenth blood line quickly solidified. At this rate, it seemed it would soon fully emerge.
But a quarter of an hour passed, and the fourteenth blood line was still struggling to form, as if it were always missing one last burst of strength.
Su Ming could feel the qi and blood inside him slowing. The burning heat in his body was almost gone. If he stopped now before condensing the fourteenth blood line, he would have to wait until next time.
Su Ming's eyes flashed. Without a moment's hesitation, he raised his right hand and reached to the side. There was still one Mountain Spirit Powder there!
Grabbing the medicine stone, Su Ming immediately put it in his mouth and bit down hard. He crushed and swallowed it, then took out a packet of Dust-Clearing Powder and swallowed that too. His body trembled violently. The fiery red hue fading from his skin flared back up, reaching an astonishing intensity in an instant.
The burning sensation within him surged wildly, its vastness surpassing what he had felt before and reaching a level he could barely endure.
"The fourteenth blood line—come out!" Su Ming had a fierce streak deep in his bones, one he had never even noticed himself. It had been buried there for a very long time, hidden in the little details of his life.
As he growled, a rumble rose within him once more. The fourteenth blood line instantly solidified, radiating an eerie red glow. But even after it appeared, Su Ming did not stop. He swallowed two packets of Mountain Spirit Powder in a row, intent on pushing his cultivation higher in one unstoppable surge.
Throughout these seven days of Powder Refining, he had often thought about Moon Wing's premature appearance and the worry hidden beneath Grandpa's smile in the tribe. Su Ming had noticed it all. Though he had said nothing, he had a vague sense that a dark cloud hung over the tribe.
He thought of the Black Mountain Tribe's Barbarian Duke breaking through in cultivation, and of Grandpa's words that there was a traitor in the tribe and that it was unsafe. Su Ming was deeply worried. He wanted to help Grandpa and the tribe, but with his cultivation as it was, he clearly was not strong enough.
He wanted to grow stronger. He wanted to become powerful!
After the fourteenth blood line appeared, Su Ming once more circulated the qi and blood within him. As his blood surged wildly, it seemed that the fifteenth blood line was about to be forced out.
After a long while, the trembling of Su Ming's body brought a wave of pain, but he did not hesitate. As his blood flowed within him, he roared—and the fifteenth blood line burst into being!
The fifteen blood lines were like fifteen scars across his bare upper body. They radiated red light, making Su Ming look even more powerful.
But fifteen blood lines were not enough for Su Ming. He kept circulating his qi and blood as time passed.
The sixteenth blood line suddenly condensed into being!
At last, the burning heat in his body faded over a wide area, as if everything were about to end. But a cold glint flashed in Su Ming's eyes. Without a word, he raised his right hand and struck his chest hard. The blow sent a surge of force into his body, stimulating his rapidly beating heart.
"Seventeenth blood line—appear!"
Stimulated by that force, his heart abruptly pumped out even more blood. It rushed through his entire body, once again surging at high speed, and a seventeenth blood line appeared over his heart!
Once the seventeenth blood line appeared, Su Ming's body was like a flame going out. Not a trace of heat remained, either in his body or within him. That boundless sensation vanished in an instant, leaving him feeling hollow. He knew the medicine had worn off.
At the same time, faint stabs of pain rose from within his body. They meant that his body had suffered some injuries from forcing himself to cultivate.
"As a Barbarian Cultivator, a little pain and a few injuries are nothing!" Su Ming murmured. Feeling the strength within him—plainly more than half again what it had been—he let a resolute glint flash through his eyes.
He did not get up. Instead, from the torn animal-hide clothes beside him, he took out a medicinal herb. It was none other than Sky Rock Grass!
This was the most potent herb he had obtained besides the medicine stones. He had given some to Lei Chen and rarely used what remained, but now he took it out without hesitation. He wanted to seize the opportunity and raise his cultivation as much as he could.
Holding the herb, Su Ming set aside one leaf for later and swallowed the rest. He also took Dust-Clearing Powder to amplify its effects.
A cool sensation erupted within him. It instantly mingled with the last traces of heat, and wisps of cold air shimmered around Su Ming's body, making the seventeen red blood lines stand out even more vividly.
In that cold air, Su Ming's body took on a faint bluish tinge. Yet the blood within him began to flow faster once more. One hour passed, then two. By the time the sky outside had turned pale, and Xiao Hong had returned from playing, Su Ming was still sitting cross-legged in the same spot, motionless.
Xiao Hong knew Su Ming was cultivating. It lay down nearby, glancing over at him now and then before yawning and falling asleep.
The sky gradually shifted from morning to noon, then from noon to dusk. Soon, it was pitch-black again. Only the moon shone bright, casting its light upon the earth as snowflakes drifted down.
There were no longer seventeen blood lines on Su Ming's body. There were nineteen!
The two additional lines ran along his arms, flickering with red light...
Late that night, Su Ming's body radiated red light that filled the entire cavern. He slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air. His gaze shone sharply. He saw Xiao Hong sleeping soundly, giving soft snores and occasionally scratching at its fur. A smile touched his lips.
He withdrew his gaze from Xiao Hong and instinctively looked up at the small holes in the rock wall. From where he sat, he could see the sky outside and the bright moon through them. After a glance, Su Ming slowly closed his eyes, preparing to circulate his qi and blood and soothe the injuries his cultivation had caused.
But the instant his eyes closed, Su Ming suddenly opened them again. He had a vague feeling that the moon he had just seen through those holes looked a little different.
He looked again. Gradually, his eyes widened!
The moon in the sky had taken on a faint red hue...
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