Devour It Clean and Drain the True Marrow

"Hiss—"

Only after drawing in a breath of cold air with great difficulty did Liu Dongqing seem to come back to life on that fresh breath.

It was not merely that his expression had suddenly gone out of control for an instant, turning savage.

At this moment.

An unprecedented agony also flooded every limb and bone in his body. By the time his consciousness had fully cleared, Liu Dongqing was no longer sitting upright as before; his entire body had curled up upon the cloud bed.

The cool midnight air was gulped in and exhaled in great mouthfuls by Liu Dongqing.

His chest heaved violently, producing a hoarse sound like a broken bellows.

After quite some time.

The waves upon waves of violent pain, layered like surging tides, finally dissipated like smoke in the wind.

At the same time, Liu Dongqing, having struggled back into a sitting position, raised his hands and rubbed his face, which had stiffened somewhat from that savage expression.

Why had that suddenly happened? Could something have gone wrong during my cultivation just now? Had I shown signs of qi deviation?

Uneasy at heart, Liu Dongqing reviewed the entire process of his recent cultivation, comparing it bit by bit against the main text of the art recorded in the inheritance.

There was absolutely no problem with the cultivation process of the art.

Yet this pain throughout my body, along with that furious emotion that erupted in an instant and wanted to destroy everything, was all so real. It even drove me toward a loss of control for a short time.

Why was that?

A flaw inherent in the art itself?

With that thought, Liu Dongqing continued searching through the vast sea of words in this art's inheritance.

Among the earliest batch of handwritten notes, there was no record of anything similar.

Only when Liu Dongqing searched into the latter portion did he find similar accounts in notes left behind by inheritors whose cultivation was clearly somewhat weaker.

This was because... during the process of using the art to refine the Fire Crow Dao Sigil, when the Original Demon Script was reshaped, the demon Sha Qi contained within was released as impurities...

The owner of the notes regretted inheriting only the Crimson Crow Spirit Incantation, without obtaining the baleful-dispelling art that had once accompanied the cultivators of this branch of the Demon Refining Mystic Sect.

It was said that an inheritor of the Ghost Vine Lineage had also fled to the Southern Border. He was trying to gather this lineage's inheritance, for rumor had it that the Ghost Vine Lineage possessed some ability to dispel demon blood Sha Qi.

If his search bore no fruit...

It was said that the natural birth of Original Demon Script would not be accompanied by such pain of demon Sha Qi flooding the flesh, nor by loss of control on the level of the seven emotions.

He would have no choice but to let more Original Demon Script be born within his own body...

The few cold lines on the notes might have represented the forlorn, miserable life of an heir to a great sect, left without anyone to rely upon.

The lingering echoes of pain and fury still reverberated through Liu Dongqing's body and soul.

Yet at this moment, Liu Dongqing's resolve suddenly hardened.

I must never compromise as that predecessor did!

Pain—whatever kind of pain it may be—have I endured little of it these past years?

Anger—whatever kind of anger it may be—have I swallowed little of it these past years?

If I lose heart, that would be a betrayal of myself! A betrayal of everything I have endured these past years!

No matter what, I must endure it and not take the forked path of birthing Original Demon Script.

Even if I cannot endure it, I must think of every possible way to endure it!

And besides...

The Ghost Vine Lineage?

The Ghost Vine Blood-Draining Bone-Devouring Pill-Subduing Art?

If this was the Ghost Vine Lineage art that could provide some measure of dispelling effect, then even if that predecessor truly got his wish, Heaven's will was still favoring Liu!

The instant that thought arose.

Another vast torrent of sigils from the Pill-Descending Art inheritance began surging through Liu Dongqing's mind.

This is an inheritance of the Yimu Wood Dao. The art itself can nurture and refine one's Yi Wood mana.

Yet if it is not cultivated as an art, it is also a pill art for auxiliary Dao cultivation!

An exceedingly bizarre pill art, utterly unlike ordinary principles!

Thinking this.

Liu Dongqing turned his head and looked toward the three birdcages from earlier.

He rose and retrieved a jade vat about as thick as a man's waist from a corner of the bedchamber.

This had once been the vessel Liu Dongqing used to cultivate Jade Cloud Fruit through grafting.

He carefully washed the jade vat clean.

Then, Liu Dongqing lifted the three birdcages in turn.

He meticulously poured into the jade vat the puddles of putrid, festering Blood Filth left behind from his cultivation, along with the broken and shattered bone fragments within that Blood Filth.

He had not noticed it just now.

But now that the Blood Filth from all three places had been gathered together, a rank, fishy stench rushed straight at him.

Then.

With a flip of his hand, Liu Dongqing took out once more the seed that had remained in his palm when the inheritance jade slip had crumbled into dust.

Green light flashed at his fingertip.

Liu Dongqing sliced open his own fingertip with mana. Deep red blood then dripped down, and Liu Dongqing smeared it bit by bit across the surface of the seed.

It was quite strange.

Liu Dongqing had cut himself rather viciously. Blood immediately gushed from his fingertip, and the amount of blood was nearly equivalent to the volume of dozens, even hundreds, of seeds.

Yet this seed was like a parched sponge. No matter how much blood Liu Dongqing poured into it, it silently sucked it all in with frenzied hunger.

Only because Liu Dongqing had just strengthened his blood and qi internally could he withstand such severe depletion for a short while.

After quite some time.

A lustrous sheen finally flickered over the seed's surface. It no longer absorbed any of the blood dripping from Liu Dongqing, and its surface changed from shriveled to full and crystalline.

This was also a transformation once recorded in the inheritance.

Finally.

Liu Dongqing tossed the entire seed directly into the jade vat that had just been filled with Blood Filth and bone fragments.

Perhaps even the force of that light toss was more than it could bear.

Crack—

Liu Dongqing first heard something split apart. Then, when he looked into the jade vat, slender rootlets had already burst from the cracked surface of the seed, growing wildly like weeds within a few breaths.

They naturally coiled the Blood Filth and bone fragments in the vat around their roots.

For a moment, bloody light blazed brightly.

And as the bloody radiance flourished, the rank stench that had gathered within the vat vanished without a trace.

Finally.

In no more than several hundred breaths.

Liu Dongqing watched with his own eyes as two-thirds of the Blood Filth and bone fragments were absorbed by the roots as nourishment. At the same time, the massive, interwoven roots at the bottom of the jade vat gradually supported a slender plant, like a vine yet also like a main trunk.

No leaves spread from this plant. Upon its dry, gnarled branches, only a single swelling like a flower bud had formed.

At this point.

The strange plant's speed of devouring Blood Filth and bone fragments suddenly slowed. Its progress could no longer be observed with the naked eye in mere moments.

This was a seed of the Bloodthirsty Demon Vine, cultivated by the sages of the Demon Refining Mystic Sect lineage through a unique method.

However, in the inheritance, this specially cultivated plant was renamed—the Bloodthirsty Medicinal Vine.

This Bloodthirsty Medicinal Vine grows by feeding specifically upon the flesh and bodies of demon beasts, using blood and bone as nourishment. Yet during its juvenile stage, it is best fed only the remains of demon beasts from the same race, or at the very least of the same attribute.

Otherwise, the Five Elements will fall out of balance and yin and yang will clash. This can easily leave the plant's foundation hollow, weakening its future effects.

In addition, it may be supplemented with certain heavenly treasures rich in spiritual Qi of the same attribute, as well as a small portion of the raw minerals listed in the handwritten notes. The plant can absorb some of these as well.

Then, while the Bloodthirsty Medicinal Vine draws nourishment and grows strong, it will also condense the essence of these resources and spiritual Qi into a single fruit within a short time.

Not a spirit fruit, not the fruit of an ordinary spirit plant, but an Elixir Fruit! A fruit nearly equivalent to a cultivation pill!

The process of tending the plant is the process of pill refinement!

But unlike ordinary pill methods, this method requires no ancient Pill Formula, nor any consideration of the proportions between sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy. Everything is naturally harmonized amid the growth of vegetation.

Furthermore, compared with ordinary pills, the Elixir Fruit is, first, exceedingly easy to refine; second, nearly free of any risk of pill toxins; and third, contains a wisp of natural power that can work over time to nourish the body and soul.

If the Elixir Fruit can aid my cultivation in dispelling Sha Qi, perhaps the key lies in this wisp of natural power!