Pingcang Kingdom.
The capital.
Inside the Li Family's secret archive, Hong Yuan sat cross-legged. Scrolls and books lay on the low table before him, all secret techniques and mystic arts the Li Family had collected over the years.
Any one of these martial arts, if released into the martial world, would have stirred up a storm of blood as countless martial artists fought to claim it.
But the cultivation art the Li Family treasured most was not here.
It was already in Hong Yuan's mind.
As the price for securing his help, Li Cang had promised to open their secret inheritance to him, letting him browse freely. He had indeed kept his word.
The Li Family's true inheritance was the "Red Scale Sea-Subduing Art," created by the founding ruler of the Pingcang Kingdom. Besides the Nine-Rank Body-Refining Martial Path, it also recorded methods of refinement beyond the first rank: accumulating the momentum of a nation's destiny and harnessing it for oneself.
The three techniques dropped by Black Wind and Li Wuhen, the two Demon Palace Heavenly Demon Generals, also touched upon the Refiner level.
Their focus, however, was application rather than refining the Human Dao.
The "Blood-Coagulating Divine Claw" and "Bloodfiend Demon Saber" both gathered vicious bloodfiend energy, forging weapons from baleful energy and using murderous intent to cow the soul.
As for the "Blood Shadow Clone," its name spoke for itself: manifesting clones.
When Li Wuhen fought Hong Yuan, he had conjured three clones, each as tangible as a real body. His true body could shift freely between the three at any moment, making him slippery and exceedingly difficult to handle. Even Hong Yuan had needed some effort to finish him off.
Within his sea of consciousness, thoughts blazed like fire, radiating streaks of light. Hong Yuan analyzed and