Making Use of Waste

Early morning, the sky had only just begun to brighten.

In the small courtyard, Jiang Chen looked solemnly at the wild boar, black bear, and three little mice that had just been delivered.

The wild boar's fur was dark brown, its entire body caked in mud. It was quite large, weighing over three hundred jin, and would have counted as no small prey on Rooster-Cry Mountain. Yet it was already dead. The black bear was much the same, though even in death, a violent aura still lingered around it, its residual might undiminished.

As for the three little mice, they were lively and restless, refusing to settle down even while trapped inside a bamboo cage.

"The Bloodflame Art can refine blood qi. Today, I should test its power and see whether it can meet my expectations."

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

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

"Go!"

With a casual wave, the bloodfire split apart and landed separately upon the wild boar and black bear. It was weak at first, but upon encountering flesh and blood, it was like fire meeting kindling, surging higher at a visible rate. Within only a few breaths, it had completely engulfed both the boar and the bear.

Watching the rampaging bloodfire, as if they had sensed something, the three mice squealed wildly and threw themselves against the bamboo cage with all their might, desperate to escape. They were terrified beyond measure.

Jiang Chen's expression did not change. He carefully watched the changes in the bloodfire, controlling its power at every moment. The most wondrous aspect of the Bloodflame Art was that it could burn flesh and blood and convert it into blood qi, but the process was in truth exceedingly tyrannical. Without control, nothing would remain in the end.

Thus, under Jiang Chen's control, the originally enormous wild boar and black bear began to shrink continuously. Their flesh and blood were all scorched away by the bloodfire.

A moment later, the rampaging bloodfire subsided, once more turning fist-sized as it returned to Jiang Chen's hand. Compared with before, however, its color had become far richer, changing from bright red to dark crimson.

"Truly tyrannical. It left nothing behind."

Holding the bloodfire in his palm, Jiang Chen looked at the remains of the wild boar and black bear, and a dim gleam flashed through his eyes. Their corpses still retained their complete forms and had not been burned away by the bloodfire, but all their flesh had shriveled entirely, leaving only skin wrapped around bone.

The next instant, a light breeze drifted in from outside the courtyard. The boar's and bear's remains both turned to ash, scattering with the wind and leaving behind no trace whatsoever.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Chen gained a deeper understanding of the Bloodflame Art's power. At the same time, his curiosity toward this world's path of cultivation grew even stronger.

The Bloodflame Art was merely a lowest-grade talisman art. Above it were true spells, and even more powerful methods. A mere talisman art was already so extraordinary—who knew how wondrous the spells above it would be?

"Compared to this world's spells, Xuan Star's 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."

As the thought arose, Jiang Chen curled a finger, separating three sparks from the bloodfire in his palm.

"Blood qi is the source of life. Without blood qi, life is like withered wood deprived of water. Conversely, with sufficient blood qi to support it, life may become 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 their bodies, all three mice writhed and rolled across the ground in agony, as though something were rampaging within them.

Jiang Chen's brow furrowed slightly at the sight.

After discarding the dross and retaining the essence, this blood qi had already been refined, yet merging it into one's body was still excruciatingly painful, no less agonizing than being flayed and having one's bones pulled out.

Fortunately, Jiang Chen had not separated much blood qi this time, only a small portion of what had been refined. After a period of torment, one mouse could not endure it and died on the spot, but the other two successfully survived.

However, they were now utterly exhausted, collapsing limply onto the ground as though they might stop breathing at any moment.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen fell into thought.

"Life has limits. This is related to race, but also to the individual. The blood qi I separated this time was actually very little. The mouse that died was likely one with an exceptionally low upper limit within its group—a lower-grade mouse."

As thoughts collided, combined with the experiences of his previous life, some conjectures formed in his heart. Whether they were true or false still required further verification.

But after glancing at the sky, Jiang Chen temporarily set aside the idea. He still needed to meet the true leader of this bandit den later, and such verification could not be completed in a single day.

"Although these two mice successfully survived, they likely are not suited to absorb more blood qi anytime soon. They need time to digest it."

He looked at the two mice that had collapsed into sleep, then at the bloodflame in his hand. Jiang Chen frowned slightly. At present, he had no means to seal blood qi. The Dao scripture did mention such methods, but he lacked the materials for them.

A moment later, his gaze fell upon the peach tree in the courtyard.

It was now March, but Qinghe County's weather had yet to truly warm. The peach tree's leaves had long since withered and fallen away, leaving only bare branches. It looked rather desolate.

"Though plants do not possess flesh and blood, they are still living things. I simply do not know whether this blood qi will have any effect on it."

With that thought, Jiang Chen directly threw all the remaining bloodfire at the peach tree before him.

The next instant, the bloodfire melted away. It burned upon the peach tree's trunk for a moment before vanishing, and throughout the process, Jiang Chen detected no unusual changes.

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

In the Dao scripture Jiang Wang had left behind, the Bloodflame Art's main purpose was to refine blood qi, because this blood qi was a form of cultivation resource needed during the Qi Refining stage. Though it had other uses, they were not valued, and the Dao scripture contained no clear record of them.

"For now, it is entirely possible to strengthen one's physical body by absorbing blood qi. But whether there will be hidden dangers remains unclear. After all, though it has been purified, this blood qi is still foreign blood qi, still an outsider to a person's body."

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

Naturally, his actions drew the attention of many people. Some who were well-informed even knew that Jiang Chen was going to pay respects to the chief. If nothing unexpected happened, the position of Fourth Chief might soon be decided.