Qi and Blood Second Stage

White Snake Martial School.

The morning sunlight slanted through the window lattice, carving streaks of light across the floor.

Lin Nan woke from his pallet on the floor, his muscles aching all over. He had run without stopping all through the night, and fortunately, he hadn't been caught by the men in black.

This black market is truly dangerous; one moment of carelessness and I would have capsized. It's a good thing I'm in the habit of being fully prepared before taking action, or I would have suffered greatly.

Lin Nan sighed. To encounter bandits just from buying a piece of demon meat—his luck was truly something else.

The Lime Martial Saint never deceives me; it really is useful!

He got up to stretch and slowly began a set of the White Snake Stance. As his qi and blood circulated, the soreness in his body faded significantly.

After the hour of the snake.

Lin Nan scanned his surroundings. Confirming he was alone, he opened his private wooden cabinet and took out the demon meat wrapped in coarse black cloth.

He kept several sachets in the cabinet to mask the scent of the meat.

During his time at the martial school, he hadn't been idle; he had gathered quite a bit of intelligence from Liu Feng regarding demons and evil spirits.

Demons were divided into monsters and fiends; monsters specifically referred to animals and spirits, while fiends referred to monsters with special abilities.

As for evil spirits, they were more like malevolent entities that followed certain patterns of behavior.

I've heard that this demon meat requires special processing techniques from the inner city. Swallowing it directly leads to the infiltration of yin-evil energy, causing qi and blood to decay.

Although he lacked the special processing techniques, he had the Creation Furnace!

The Creation Furnace possessed the ability to forge away all yin-evil substances and temper one's true self!

However, Lin Nan didn't swallow it whole. He opened the cloth, picked up a steel knife from the table, and gently sliced off a small piece of meat.

The slice bore black and red patterns, resembling a piece of black-red jade.

Then, Lin Nan carefully placed the slice into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.

The moment it went down, his expression changed abruptly.

"So disgusting!"

Immediately after, a familiar chill, as if he had been soaked in ice water, spread from his stomach.

He felt a searing pain begin to surge in his gut. The sensation of being both freezing and burning caused his entire stomach to spasm uncontrollably, and cold sweat began to bead on his forehead.

"Creation Furnace!"

The crimson furnace hanging high in Lin Nan's mind began to hum, as if countless flames were rising within it.

[Yin-evil energy has entered the body. Do you wish to smelt it?]

It really works! The yin-evil energy that ordinary martial artists wouldn't dare touch is a great supplement for me!

Lin Nan was overjoyed; even the pain in his stomach seemed to diminish slightly.

[Smelt immediately!]

Above the mouth of the Creation Furnace, countless illusory flames seemed to intertwine, smelting all the yin-evil energy in one go.

A moment later, the pain in Lin Nan's stomach receded like a receding tide.

He scanned the information on the furnace.

[Available Yin Energy Points: 0.1.]

[Convert to proficiency?]

Convert!

The information on the furnace blurred for a moment. The 0.1 yin energy points were converted into 10 points of proficiency, all of which Lin Nan added to the Coiling Snake Frame.

Hum!

Memories of Lin Nan practicing the Coiling Snake Frame for countless days surfaced in his mind, and his understanding of the "Coiling Snake Frame" became increasingly clear.

When he looked at the information on the furnace again, the original "Coiling Snake Frame" text had vanished, replaced by "Serpent Flow Force."

[Fist Technique: White Snake Fist · Serpent Flow Force (0/200)]

Serpent Flow Force: The force mimics the movement of a slithering snake, continuous and unbroken. It can coil around an opponent's force to neutralize it, belonging to the category of soft fist techniques.

"Continue!"

Lin Nan steeled his heart and picked up the steel knife to slice and swallow more meat.

An hour later.

He carefully wrapped the remaining large portion of demon meat, placed it back into the wooden cabinet, and laid a partition board and several sachets in front of it to isolate the scent.

Afterward, Lin Nan picked up the hot water he had boiled earlier and drank it all in one go.

As a warm current surged through his stomach, he felt much more comfortable, and the cold, yin sensation in his gut had mostly vanished.

I can't swallow any more.

In the past hour, he had consumed a full four taels of demon meat, even though the Creation Furnace could smelt the yin-evil energy within it.

His stomach had a limit for digesting this unprocessed demon meat. During the process, he had clearly felt the onset of minor damage to his stomach lining.

Countless minor injuries accumulating could potentially damage the foundation of this body, and Lin Nan could clearly feel it.

I cannot be too hasty; as long as I remain steady, I will not make any mistakes.

Lin Nan looked at the furnace information:

[Technique: White Snake Stance (Level 2 10/300)]

[Fist Art: White Snake Fist · Serpent Flow Force (10/200)]

At this rate, I can fully afford to consume four taels of meat every three days. One jin of demon meat can roughly be exchanged for 3 Yin-Qi points. Within fifteen days, I will be able to push my blood-qi to the third realm!

Lin Nan felt a surge of excitement in his heart.

That was the third realm of blood-qi, a level the original owner of this body wouldn't have even dared to imagine!

In the Tile-House District of the South City.

Bang!

A man in black violently kicked open the wooden door of the tile house.

Tu Kui walked through the door with a look of utter disgust on his face.

What met his eyes was a crude, small room with mottled, peeling furniture, a wooden bed, and a lingering scent of dust.

"No one?"

"Reporting to boss, it seems he has been gone for several days."

The black-clad underling reported.

"Left early? A coincidence?"

Tu Kui frowned and looked at the booklet in his hand, where the name "Lin Nan" was heavily circled in red ink.

"Who is this Lin Nan?"

"Reporting to boss, Lin Nan is a dissolute man who often lingers in pleasure houses. I heard that not long ago he stumbled upon good fortune, succeeded in breaking through his blood-qi barrier, and transformed into a newly promoted inner disciple of the White Snake Martial School. He also had a minor conflict with Scar Lord on the street."

"Oh?"

Tu Kui's eyelids twitched, and he seemed to take a bit of interest.

"Lingering in pleasure houses, yet still able to break through his blood-qi barrier? A bit interesting. The White Snake Martial School, is it?"

Seven days later.

Inside the training grounds of the White Snake Martial School.

Lin Nan struck the wooden dummy repeatedly, his blood-qi circulating through his meridians as he adapted to the force-generating method of the Serpent Flow Force.

Dozens of breaths later, he slowly withdrew his hands. A surge of heat churned within his body, and wisps of white steam seemed to begin rising from him.

[Technique: White Snake Stance (Level 2 240/300)]

[Fist Art: White Snake Fist · Serpent Flow Force (20/200)]

Over these past few days, he had consumed a full eight taels of demon meat, finally pushing his White Snake Stance to the peak of the second level.

He was likely among the best compared to the disciples of his same batch.

It was just a pity...

The seven-day temporary residence period is almost up. If I return to the tile house, there will ultimately be hidden dangers.

Furthermore, it was incredibly awkward that he was running out of money again.

The Blood-Qi Soup and demon meat during these days were like a bottomless pit, instantly draining his entire savings of five taels of silver.

He didn't have enough spare money to rent a new room in the East City.

The East City was the most prosperous and safest area of the Black Dragon Outer City, with many jade talismans hanging along the streets. In that area, renting a room cost at least one tael of silver per month.

Strange, there seem to be quite a few people in the courtyard today.

Lin Nan suddenly discovered, to his surprise, that the courtyard deep within the martial school was surrounded by many people, not just the newly promoted inner disciples from his own batch.

Many senior brothers who had left the White Snake Martial School in previous years to work as guards had also arrived. Even Master Jie had been stirred; he stood in the center of the courtyard, looking at the Strength-Testing Stone with an excited expression.

"It's Zhong Jing who has broken through again, reaching the third realm of blood-qi."

Liu Feng walked up to Lin Nan's side at this moment, a complex emotion appearing on his face.

Complexity, envy, bitterness—it was all there...