Problem: Qi and Blood Control

On the grounds, the hunting team members stood in a neat row.

Everyone stood tall, their weapons resting at hand, their gazes fixed squarely on Lin Yi.

In those eyes, tempered by savage beasts and blowing sand, there was curiosity.

"Hey, I told everyone to gather ages ago. We've been waiting for you." Biao's booming voice had returned to normal. "But I didn't tell them what this was about. You tell them yourself."

Lin Yi looked at the thirteen faces before him, and the small flame in his heart slowly began to burn. He took two steps forward and stood before them, dispensing with any further pleasantries.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why you were gathered here." His voice was not loud, yet every word reached each person's ears clearly. "Next, I'll be teaching you a martial skill."

The instant his words fell, the Bluestone Grounds fell silent for the space of a breath.

Then the crowd erupted like a pot boiling over.

"What? A martial skill?"

"For real? A martial skill? The kind only large tribes have?"

"We can learn martial skills too?"

"Brother Lin, where did you get it?"

The overlapping barrage of questions made everyone's ears buzz.

Every face was written with disbelief. Some of the older hunters even began breathing heavily, their rough palms unconsciously tightening around their weapon grips.

For these people, who had spent their entire lives cultivating only the Bluestone Blood-Transporting Method, the words "martial skill" carried a weight like clouds on the horizon—visible, yet untouchable. They had never dared imagine that one day it would fall into their own hands.

Biao stepped forward at just the right time and pressed his fan-sized palm through the air. "Stop making noise! Quiet down! It's real! I saw Lin use it with my own eyes! He created it himself, so learn it without worry!"

The three words "created it himself" struck the crowd, stirring an even fiercer commotion than before.

This time, however, the murmurs were lowered, laden with amazement and reverence.

"He's only been here for a few days... Is that even something a person can do?"

"A monster. He really is a monster."

"Our Bluestone Tribe... are we about to produce a great figure?"

Under the stares of these broad-shouldered, thick-waisted men, who looked at him as if he were some sort of monster, Lin Yi could only brace himself and raise his hand again. "All right, all right, quiet down. I'll demonstrate it now."

He stopped wasting words and walked into an open space at the center of the grounds.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. The blood and qi within him moved with his will, surging thunderously along the crimson patterns of the Savage Bull Diagram.

Those patterns swiftly surfaced beneath his skin. Blood-gold light shone so brightly under the sun that it was almost blinding, instantly spreading across both his arms, chest, and back.

The heavy phantom of a Savage Bull vaguely condensed behind him. Though it was only a fleeting outline, the pressure it unleashed made several hunters in the front row unconsciously retreat half a step.

Lin Yi opened his eyes, and the patterns on his body slowly faded.

Turning sideways, he began to explain, "This is the Savage Bull Diagram. Once activated, it increases one's strength by a little more than double."

"Now I'll go through the steps in detail first. Follow along and feel the flow of your blood and qi."

Over the next half hour, Lin Yi broke the pattern-condensing process of the Savage Bull Diagram into seven or eight stages, explaining each one alongside its breathing rhythm and points of exertion.

At the same time, he used his fingers to indicate the corresponding acupoints on his body, allowing everyone to clearly see the direction in which the patterns rose and fell.

After finishing, he stepped back a few paces. "Now each of you, give it a try. Don't force yourselves to complete the whole pattern. First, try guiding your blood and qi toward the corresponding acupoints. Just feel out the pattern's initial outline."

The hunting team members scattered, each finding an open patch of ground. Following Lin Yi's example, they closed their eyes, calmed their breathing, and tried to push the blood and qi within them toward the skin of their limbs.

Lin Yi paced back and forth through the grounds, observing them.

The first team member strained until his face turned red. Several crooked blood lines surfaced on his arm, only to disperse halfway through.

The second member pushed for a long time. His blood and qi did surge up, but it simply would not take shape, flowing wildly down his arm like a puddle of water with no master.

The third had it even worse. He strained until his face turned purple, then coughed sharply twice in the end. He failed to condense anything at all.

After making a full round, Lin Yi's heart sank little by little.

Not a single person managed to condense a complete pattern.

Forget a complete one—even the most basic segment was beyond most of them.

Biao was the worst of all. He nearly made his blood and qi explode inside his body. His blood and qi were immense, and once he drove them, they burst forth completely beyond his control. Usually, when he moved his blood and qi, he simply struck it outward. Now, trying to use it within his body, he had nearly caused an explosion.

Fortunately, Lin Yi stopped him in time.

Most of them struggled even to guide their blood and qi steadily to the surface of their bodies, let alone condense it into fixed patterns on their skin and connect it to the corresponding acupoints.

Lin Yi suddenly realized a problem he had never anticipated before.

Controlling his own blood and qi had always come naturally to him. He could make it go wherever he wanted and take whatever shape he wished.

He had thought that was normal. But now, it seemed that precise control over blood and qi was itself a talent—and he happened to possess it.

Perhaps it was the fine control granted by the Super Brain, or perhaps the spiritual energy's transformation during his transmigration had given him command over his body far beyond that of ordinary people.

But the people of the tribe did not have that.

These men had spent their lives smashing rocks with brute force. Their blood and qi were indeed powerful, and their foundations in the Tidal Surge Realm were as solid as could be.

But asking them to turn their blood and qi into fine threads and embroider patterns across their skin was truly making things difficult for them.

Lin Yi clapped his hands, signaling everyone to stop.

"Everyone, stop for now." He walked to the center of the crowd. There was no disappointment on his face; instead, it carried a new vigor.

"I've already seen the problem. Your blood and qi are abundant, and your foundations are solid, but your control isn't refined enough. You can't condense your blood and qi into fixed patterns."

He swept his gaze over those somewhat dejected and bewildered faces, then smiled. "It's all right. This is merely the first hurdle we've encountered."

"Next, I'll train you specifically in controlling blood and qi."

"Once you learn how to finely control the blood and qi within your bodies, learning the Savage Bull Diagram will be as natural as water flowing downhill."

Biao scratched the back of his head and asked in a low, embarrassed voice, "Um... is blood and qi control easy to learn?"

Lin Yi looked at him and revealed a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. I have a way."

He had already begun rapidly devising a training plan in his mind. Since direct pattern condensation would not work, they would start with the fundamentals and make their blood and qi travel narrow paths.

Step by step, they would hone the precision of their control.