Rapid Progress, Blood Stench Sky-High

He went up the wooden stairs to the third floor. The corridor was short, with several wooden doors on each side, each bearing a room number.

301.

This was it.

Ye Xunhuan glanced up at the number plate, unlocked the door with his key, and pushed it open.

Clean. That was Ye Xunhuan's first impression.

The room was extremely spacious, far larger than he had expected.

There was even a bathroom with separate wet and dry areas.

The furnishings were exactly as Cao Feng had described: two beds stood side by side against the wall, separated by a long table. There was a wooden wardrobe against each wall, and a small bookshelf by the window.

Ye Xunhuan swept his gaze around. The bed on the left had already been made, and a canvas bag sat beside the pillow.

That was his roommate's bed.

Then his gaze became fixed on the color of his roommate's bedding set.

Pink.

The sheets were pink, the quilt cover was pink, and even the pillowcase was pink.

The entire soft pink bedding set had been neatly laid out, standing out especially sharply against the dorm's gray-white walls.

Ye Xunhuan froze for two seconds.

A dormitory. A double room. Pink bedding.

A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

Some rather unpleasant memories from his previous life surged up.

No, he couldn't decide someone's orientation was questionable just because they liked pink.

He himself had liked green as a child and yellow when he grew up.

Ye Xunhuan silently gave himself a mental pep talk, but his body was more honest. He still shifted his own bed a little farther away.

After moving the bed, Ye Xunhuan did not continue looking around.

He tossed his luggage onto the bed and sat down cross-legged.

It was time to get down to business.

He had been traveling all this time and had had no opportunity to deal with the rewards issued by the system, nor the External Spirit Bone.

Now that he was finally settled, it was time to begin cultivating.

Ye Xunhuan closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into his sea of consciousness as he first brought up the Primordial Unity Art.

The circulation route of the Primordial Unity Art unfolded in his mind.

Following the art's guidance, he directed his soul power from his dantian, through his main meridians to every limb and bone, then back along the branch meridians.

The moment he began cultivating, Ye Xunhuan was startled.

Fast.

Too fast.

The cultivation speed of the Primordial Unity Art was more than a level beyond what he had imagined.

At this rate, a full major circulation would take only twelve hours.

Moreover, there was almost no loss of soul power during circulation. Each time it passed through a meridian, the soul power did not disperse. Instead, it was compressed into something even denser.

His soul power was tempering his meridians.

As expected, anything from the system is top-notch. You've got this, bro!

Ye Xunhuan gave the system a mental thumbs-up, then stopped wasting time and immersed himself in cultivation.

An hour later, Ye Xunhuan emerged from meditation and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

After completing one minor circulation, his soul power had been pushed to the peak of level thirteen. He was only one step away from level fourteen.

If those soul masters outside who cultivated so painstakingly learned of this speed, they would probably cough up blood.

But Ye Xunhuan was not satisfied.

The peak of level thirteen was still nothing in the genius class.

Most of the older students had soul power above level twenty. He was nearly ten levels behind them. Simply charging ahead with the Primordial Unity Art would not be enough; he had to absorb the other two rewards as well.

Ye Xunhuan opened his eyes and looked toward the Bronze Behemoth Bloodline in the system space.

Before fusing with the bloodline, however, he decided to deal with the Bloodcrazed War Bear's palm bone first.

He took the Bloodcrazed War Bear's right palm bone out of his Soul Tool.

The palm bone was not large, about the length of a forearm. It was dark red throughout, with a fierce aura lingering on its surface.

The instant Ye Xunhuan held it, his palm began to burn.

He tried injecting soul power into the palm bone and guiding it to fuse.

A powerful suction force suddenly surged forth.

Ye Xunhuan felt a sharp pain shoot through his hand, as though something were drilling into his flesh.

Immediately afterward, the dark red glow on the palm bone's surface rapidly faded. The bone itself shrank and lightened at a visible rate, eventually turning into a stream of blood-colored light that sank into his right palm.

And then...

That was it?

Ye Xunhuan was slightly stunned. Was it already over?

He turned his palm over. It was slightly hot, but otherwise there was nothing unusual.

There was no intense pain, no lengthy fusion process. The palm bone had been completely absorbed without even a ripple.

That had gone far too smoothly, hadn't it?

If his soul power had not directly risen to level fifteen and he had not gained a Spirit Bone skill called Heaven-Rending Claw, he would never have believed that he had just absorbed an External Spirit Bone.

Ye Xunhuan scratched his head. It was probably the Behemoth Bloodline's suppression over bear-type soul beasts.

Although the palm bone contained the Bloodcrazed War Bear's resentment, to the Behemoth Bloodline, that resentment was not even an obstacle. It simply swallowed it whole.

After all, what adult would get angry with a child?

He flexed his right hand. The bones in his palm felt sturdier than before, and his fist carried considerably more force. Though the fusion process had been absurdly simple, the effects were real enough.

Heaven-Rending Claw!

At his silent invocation, a heavy dark red glow abruptly spread across Ye Xunhuan's right arm as soul power erupted.

An enormous Behemoth claw appeared, its black talons gleaming with a chilling cold light. Their sharpness had visibly increased by a huge margin.

Ye Xunhuan did not continue the attack. The latter half of Heaven-Rending Claw would unleash three claw slashes. If he did, most of the student dormitory would be torn apart.

Satisfied, Ye Xunhuan withdrew the Spirit Bone and turned his attention to the Bronze Behemoth Bloodline.

He searched the room and found a large wooden basin gathering dust in a corner of the bathroom.

He did not know which previous resident had left it behind. After washing it, he decided to make do with it.

After carrying the wooden basin to the bedside, Ye Xunhuan finally took the Bronze Behemoth Bloodline out of the system space.

That was right. The Bronze Behemoth Bloodline was not some energy orb or ball of light that could be directly fused into his body. It was an entire basin of Bronze-rank Behemoth blood essence.

A whole basin of thick dark golden blood, contained within the sealed ceramic jar provided by the system.

The moment he opened the lid, an overpowering stench of blood exploded with a boom, instantly filling the entire dorm room.

The smell was like soaking a hundred pounds of raw beef in pig's blood, then leaving it beneath the blazing sun for three days. It was foul and pungent, boring straight into his nostrils.

Ye Xunhuan nearly threw up on the spot. Pinching his nose shut, he forcibly poured the jar of blood essence into the wooden basin.

The dark golden blood formed a thick layer across the bottom of the basin. It was as viscous as molten bronze, and bubbles occasionally rose to the surface, bursting with a gurgle and releasing another wave of bloody stench.

Ye Xunhuan took a deep breath.

Then he regretted it. That breath had been nothing but the smell of blood.

After steadying himself, Ye Xunhuan began brainwashing himself.

For improvement, for the championship, for revenge, all of this was worth it!

Once he had mentally prepared himself, he quickly stripped off his clothes and stood bare-chested beside the wooden basin.

The basin was small, barely large enough for him to sit in.

Gritting his teeth, Ye Xunhuan pinched his nose and stepped in, lowering his entire body into the dark golden blood.