Breaking Through to Spirit Blood

The pain throughout his body had never numbed; it only grew more intense. Huo Hai wished his soul could go numb, but he could not achieve it. Instead, his consciousness became clearer and clearer. The violent pain made Huo Hai feel increasingly miserable.

His physical condition was perfectly fine, yet his senses were abnormally numb. Huo Hai did not know how long he had endured, nor did he know how much longer he would have to endure. There were only two words in his mind: keep going. That was all. Keep going, continue enduring—no matter what lay ahead, he had to persist. He had even cast the thought of giving up to the back of his mind.

It felt as though several centuries had passed, and Huo Hai was almost used to the pain. But at that moment, he suddenly felt it rapidly fading away. A cool sensation swept through his entire body.

His whole body felt cool and incomparably comfortable, as though everything he had suffered before had been for this moment of refreshment. This feeling was far more pleasant than anything else. Huo Hai even felt like immersing himself in it and never waking up.

After an unknown amount of time passed, Huo Hai slowly came to, his eyes filled with confusion. After a long while, the confusion gradually faded, replaced by resolve and clarity. "I remember now. I am Huo Hai, Huo Hai of Earth and Huo Hai of the Spirit Realm Continent. I finally held on." Huo Hai spoke calmly as the things he had forgotten gradually returned to him.

Though he did not know how long had passed, everything that had happened felt incredibly distant to Huo Hai. Yet it also seemed close enough to touch. This contradictory feeling struck him as very strange.

Everything around him felt refreshing, as though something extra had appeared in the air. After thinking briefly, Huo Hai understood that it was spiritual energy. Unlike before, when he could only sense its existence while cultivating the basic Spirit Art.

"Ha ha, I never expected this body to be so sensitive to spiritual energy. Doesn't that mean I'm cultivating every moment of every day?" Huo Hai closed his eyes. Much of that refreshing sensation came from the spiritual energy around him. The feeling rapidly weakened until it became faint.

Yet he could still clearly sense the spiritual energy around him. Huo Hai felt like a fish living in an ocean of spiritual energy. As far as the eye could see, it seemed boundless and endless, impossible to exhaust no matter how much he used.

His body was naturally absorbing spiritual energy, inhaling and exhaling it bit by bit. Unfortunately, because he had already reached the peak of the Spirit Body Realm and his Spirit Body was flawless, his compatibility with spiritual energy had reached its highest point. There was no way to improve it further.

After being refined, the spiritual energy he absorbed was released again and merged back into the ocean of spiritual energy. This was simply a waste. "No, I need to break through to the next level as soon as possible." Huo Hai muttered to himself, his tone incomparably resolute. Turning around, he saw that the hourglass he had placed nearby showed that only two days had passed.

Two days were nothing. He had said that he would cultivate in seclusion for several days. Since that was the case, he might as well continue cultivating. Just as Huo Hai was about to begin, he suddenly felt hungry, and his stomach began growling.

Huo Hai's face reddened as he glanced around like a thief. Even a spiritual master would not feel well after going two days without food. With an embarrassed smile, Huo Hai ran to the nearby table, took out the food he had prepared beforehand, and wolfed it down. After sweeping everything clean, Huo Hai patted his stomach in satisfaction, his face full of comfort.

"Eating when you're hungry is still the most comfortable feeling. It's even better than breaking through." Huo Hai muttered. After resting for a moment, he prepared to continue his breakthrough. Once the Spirit Body had reached perfection, Huo Hai could break through at any time.

Sitting down again, Huo Hai stirred his mind, and vast amounts of spiritual energy continuously gathered toward him. Huo Hai did not know that only a perfect Spirit Body could accomplish this. Even those in the Spirit Blood Realm could not achieve it.

The enormous amount of spiritual energy was absorbed and instantly flowed through Huo Hai's entire body. The spiritual energy did not linger at all, something Huo Hai had long expected. With a thought, he began circulating the spiritual energy throughout his body according to the method for breaking through realms described in the Spirit Art.

Before he had formed a Spirit Body, he simply could not truly circulate it. But now that his Spirit Body was complete and his spirit veins had been tempered anew, he possessed a portion of pure spiritual power. This spiritual power could not yet be used directly in battle, but it could barely be circulated. As it moved, the spiritual power within his body was gradually drawn in, undergoing a series of changes Huo Hai could not understand.

Just as the circulation of spiritual power reached its limit, all the spiritual power in his body suddenly shuddered. Vast amounts of spiritual energy passed through his spirit veins and through his body, entering the blood vessels they had previously been unable to enter. A tingling sensation surged through him.

It was just like when he had tempered his body before, except now the spiritual energy was tempering his own bloodline. With this sensation, Huo Hai knew that he had finally broken through the Spirit Body Realm and reached the Spirit Blood Realm.

The Spirit Body Realm tempered the body and formed the Spirit Body. But in the Spirit Blood Realm, one tempered one's own bloodline, awakening and strengthening the power at its source. The strength of one's bloodline determined how far one could advance in the future and how powerful one's body could become. Some especially powerful Spirit Arts even required one's bloodline to be tempered to a certain degree before they could be cultivated; otherwise, cultivation was impossible.

Huo Hai opened his eyes, and a sharp gleam flashed through them before vanishing. Clenching his fists, the corners of his mouth rose uncontrollably. "Ha ha, my strength has increased more than tenfold. I'm finally no longer an ordinary person." Huo Hai's heart was filled with excitement.

If the Spirit Body Realm was basically just tempering the body, without much actual improvement, then it was merely equivalent to an ordinary person who had trained. The Spirit Blood Realm was different. Even someone who had just entered the Spirit Blood Realm possessed physical qualities more than ten times greater than an ordinary person's. For ordinary people, facing someone in the Spirit Blood Realm was like delivering food to the table.

Huo Hai threw two punches at the empty air and even heard the sound of them tearing through the wind. If this had been on Earth, it would have been the stuff of legends. Perhaps only those superhumans from legends could reach such a level. Ordinary people could forget about it.

That he himself could one day reach such a level—how could Huo Hai not be excited? From this moment onward, he finally felt a little like a spiritual master. He felt that his life had gained some security, that he could finally gain a foothold in this world.

"This is only the first step of my journey in this world. In the future, I will become even stronger—stronger than anyone." Huo Hai roared inwardly, unleashing a roar that belonged to him alone. After venting for a long while, Huo Hai stopped attacking the air. The stamina he had gained from his recent breakthrough had also been completely spent, and he was panting from exhaustion.

Huo Hai understood that this was not because his cultivation was poor, nor because his stamina was lacking. It was because he did not understand combat techniques. He had wasted an enormous amount of strength for nothing. Even punching at empty air had left him thoroughly exhausted.

It seemed it was time to learn some combat techniques. Before he had broken through, his father had said that he needed to lay a solid foundation and had not allowed him to come into contact with such combat techniques. Now that he had broken through to the Spirit Blood Realm, his father should have nothing more to say.

"Also, I should ask Father for the cultivation method for the Spirit Blood Realm. Otherwise, I won't even know how to continue cultivating." Huo Hai suddenly remembered that he seemed to possess only the Spirit Art for cultivating the Spirit Body Realm. Once he broke through to the Spirit Blood Realm, he had no Spirit Art to cultivate. Honestly, why had his father not given him everything at once? Wouldn't that have been better?

After muttering to himself for a while, Huo Hai headed outside. Once he reached the courtyard, he looked up at the sky, then turned and walked back into his room. "Honestly, why is it already dark? It was still daytime when I was cultivating just now. Forget it, I'll go tomorrow."

Back on his bed, Huo Hai tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep no matter what he did. Having just broken through, his energy was exceptionally abundant. After being tormented by the body-tempering spirit array for so long, he was not sleepy in the slightest; instead, he was even more awake. No matter what he did, he could not sleep. Moreover, the surging excitement from his breakthrough would not settle down. It seemed he truly would not be sleeping.

"Ah, if I can't sleep, I'll go take a look at those adorable insects. What kind of Gu Insects should I refine next?" Huo Hai was too weak to capture powerful insects, so he could only use low-level insects to raise Gu.

The true art of raising insects involved nurturing insects that were naturally powerful. Gu Insects were merely a compromise, something only ordinary people would use. Once one's cultivation reached a certain level, these Gu Insects would be completely useless.

Perhaps powerful insects could also be cultivated, but doing so would only reduce their potential, and the cost would be enormous, making the gains not worth the losses. But for now, Gu Insects were still more important. Without Gu Insects like Little Gold, how could Huo Hai have gained such tremendous benefits? What should the next one be? Should it be stronger, or more imposing?

Hmm, it could not be too ugly, or Little Sister Yun would probably get angry. But what insects were pretty? Huo Hai pondered slowly as he fed the insects that had not been properly fed for two days. Luckily, he had given them enough food before cultivating.

Otherwise, after two days, who knew how many insects would have starved to death. Time slipped away unnoticed as Huo Hai fed the insects. Gradually, Huo Hai began to feel sleepy. Looking at the time, it seemed to be midnight already.

"Ah, I should rest first. I'll think about it tomorrow." In the end, he had been put through the wringer for two whole days. No matter how full of energy he was, his heart was deeply weary. When that exhaustion rose from the depths of his heart, Huo Hai lay down on the bed and soon fell into a deep sleep. The room was silent, and in the courtyard, only the sounds of insects gnawing at their food could be heard.

Huo Hai had no idea when the next day arrived. In his dreams, he heard familiar chirps from insects. When he woke up, he discovered that it was already light outside. The one making those insect cries was Little Gold.