Waste Not

At dawn, the sky had only just begun to lighten.

Inside the small courtyard, Jiang Chen looked solemnly at the freshly delivered wild boar, black bear, and three little mice.

The wild boar had dark brown bristles and was caked head to toe in mud. It was no small creature, weighing more than three hundred jin. On Rooster-Cry Mountain, it counted as quite a sizable prey animal. Yet it was already dead. The black bear was much the same, except that even in death, a violent, savage aura still lingered around it—its lingering might had yet to fade.

As for the three little mice, they were lively and restless. Even locked inside a bamboo cage, they would not settle down.

"Bloodflame Art can refine blood qi. Today is the right time to test its power and see whether it meets my expectations."

With a thought, Jiang Chen activated the technique. The flame-pattern on his chest began to radiate heat.

The next instant, a fist-sized ball of bloodflame appeared in his palm.

"Go!"

With a casual wave, the bloodflame split apart and landed separately upon the wild boar and black bear. It was weak at first, but flesh and blood were like firewood to it. The flames surged visibly, and within only a few breaths, they completely engulfed both creatures.

As they watched the rampaging bloodflame, as though sensing something, the three mice squealed madly and hurled themselves against the bamboo cage, desperately trying to escape. They were terrified beyond measure.

Jiang Chen's expression remained unchanged. He carefully observed the changes in the bloodflame, controlling its strength at every moment. The most wondrous aspect of the Bloodflame Art was that it could burn flesh and blood, transforming it into blood qi. Yet the process itself was exceedingly tyrannical. Without control, nothing would remain in the end.

Thus, under Jiang Chen's control, the massive bodies of the wild boar and black bear steadily shrank as their flesh was seared away by the bloodflame.

A moment later, the rampaging bloodflame withdrew, returning to Jiang Chen's hand in its fist-sized form. Compared to before, however, its color had deepened considerably, changing from bright red to dark crimson.

"Truly tyrannical. It left nothing behind."

Holding the bloodflame in his palm, Jiang Chen looked at the remains of the wild boar and black bear, and a dim glint flickered through his eyes. Their corpses still appeared whole and had not been burned away by the bloodflame, but all their flesh had shriveled completely, leaving only skin wrapped around bone.

The next instant, a faint breeze blew in from beyond the courtyard. The corpses of the wild boar and black bear turned entirely to ash and scattered with the wind, leaving not a trace behind.

Watching this scene, Jiang Chen gained a deeper understanding of the Bloodflame Art's power. At the same time, he grew even more curious about the path of cultivation in this world.

The Bloodflame Art was merely the lowest grade of talisman arts. Above it were true spells and even more formidable methods. A single talisman art was already so extraordinary—who knew how wondrous the spells above it might be?

"Compared to this world's spells, Xuan Star's supernatural abilities are far too crude. They are more like seeds."

"Now that the blood qi has been refined, it is time for the next step."

At the rise of that thought, Jiang Chen curled a finger, separating three sparks from the bloodflame in his palm.

"Blood qi is the source of life. Without blood qi, life is like a withered tree deprived of water. Likewise, if it has enough blood qi to sustain it, life may grow stronger."

His soul stirred as he controlled the three sparks and fused them into the bodies of the three mice.

The essence of these three sparks was dense blood qi. As they entered the mice, all three writhed and rolled across the ground in agony, as if something were rampaging through their bodies.

Jiang Chen frowned slightly at the sight.

Cast away the dross and retain the essence—though this blood qi had been refined, merging it into one's body was still immensely painful, no less agonizing than being skinned and having one's bones pulled out.

Fortunately, Jiang Chen had not split off much blood qi this time, only a small fraction of what he had refined. After struggling for some time, one mouse was unable to endure and died on the spot, but the other two survived.

At that point, however, they were already utterly exhausted. They collapsed limply on the ground, looking as if they might breathe their last at any moment.

Jiang Chen fell into thought.

"Life has limits. Those limits are related to both species and individuals. The blood qi I split off this time was actually very little. The mouse that died was likely one with an exceptionally low upper limit among its kind—a lesser mouse."

As thoughts collided, combined with his experiences from his previous life, a few conjectures formed in his mind. Whether they were true or false still required further verification.

But after glancing at the sky, Jiang Chen temporarily set the matter aside. Before long, he still needed to meet the true master of this bandit den, and such verification could not be completed in a short time.

"Though these two mice survived, they likely cannot absorb blood qi again anytime soon. They need time to digest it."

He looked at the two mice, which had fallen asleep the moment they toppled over, then at the bloodflame in his hand. Jiang Chen frowned slightly. At present, he had no means of sealing blood qi away. The Daoist tome did mention such methods, but he currently lacked the materials.

After a moment, his gaze fell upon the peach tree in the courtyard.

It was now the third month. Qinghe County's climate had yet to truly warm, and the peach tree's leaves had long since fallen away, leaving only bare branches. It looked rather desolate.

"Plants may not be creatures of flesh and blood, but they are still living things. I wonder whether this blood qi will have any effect on it."

With that thought, Jiang Chen directly cast all the remaining bloodflame onto the peach tree before him.

The next instant, the bloodflame melted away. It burned briefly upon the peach tree's trunk before vanishing, but throughout the process, Jiang Chen noticed no unusual changes.

Jiang Chen was not disappointed. This was merely making use of waste.

In the Daoist tome Jiang Wang had left behind, the Bloodflame Art's primary purpose was to refine blood qi, as this blood qi was a form of sustenance needed for cultivation during the Qi Refining realm. Though it had other uses as well, they were not valued, and the Daoist tome contained no clear records of them.

"For now, it seems entirely possible to strengthen one's body by absorbing blood qi. But whether there will be hidden dangers remains unclear. Even though it has been purified, this blood qi still belongs to another species. To a person's body, it remains an outsider."

With that final thought, Jiang Chen stopped dwelling on it. He called Stone over, gave him a few simple instructions, then turned and left the small courtyard, heading toward Wooden Fish Island's true central area. This was the first time in all these days that he had truly appeared before everyone.

Such an action naturally drew the attention of many people. Some who were well-informed even knew that Jiang Chen was going to pay a visit to the chief. If nothing unexpected happened, the position of Fourth Chief might soon be decided.