Blood Essence

Biodata

Power Progression

Documented Blood Essence milestones for Chen Mu.

Properties

Blood Essence is vital energy harvested by the Slaughter Register. When seized, it flows from Chen Mu’s blade into his body and settles in his dantian, strengthening his muscles, grip, reflexes, and physique. 1

An ordinary adult possesses no more than ten wisps of Blood Essence. Chen Mu originally required nearly half a year of livestock slaughter and medicinal nourishment to approach the Hundred-Blood Trial, a threshold that normally takes wealthy trainees several years of stance training to reach. 1

Blood Essence can also be increased through cultivation resources. Blood-Qi Pills and ginseng replenish blood and qi more mildly, while graded Bone-Strengthening Pills can rapidly accelerate Blood Essence circulation and physical strengthening. 3 9

The Mysterious Womb Pearl can gather the spiritual workings of heaven and earth and refine them into Primordial One Qi. This energy purifies Chen Mu’s Blood Essence and permits the early tempering of Martial True Blood. 103

The Azure Dragon Body Tempering Art uses stances and corresponding circulation routes to transport Blood Essence. While practicing its Dragon Form Chapter, Chen Mu’s Blood Essence begins to extend beyond his body and take shape; the associated Azure Dragon Seven-Slaying Fist can project it as a dragon-shaped attack. 140 141

Blood Essence is distinct from Karmic Slaughter:

• Blood Essence directly strengthens the body and supplies cultivation progress. 1 6
• Karmic Slaughter is a separate resource acquired from killing martial artists, demons, and evildoers; it can improve comprehension, proficiency, or derive martial arts. 1 6
• Karmic Slaughter gains are tied to a target’s evil deeds, while seized Blood Essence varies with the strength gap between Chen Mu and the target. 7
• A target may yield Karmic Slaughter without Blood Essence or vitality, as demonstrated by Daoist Li’s Earth Corpse avatar. 89

Cultivation Functions

Body Tempering

Circulating Blood Essence through meridians tempers the skin, flesh, sinews, and bones. The process is supported by stance training and medicinal resources. 6

• Completing the Hundred-Blood Trial permits formal martial training. 1
• At the Body-Tempering First Stage, Blood Essence begins circulating through the body to strengthen the physical form. 6
• Reaching 1,000 Blood Essence allows advancement into the second layer, where cultivation begins transforming the muscles and fascia. 6 15
• At the Body-Tempering Fifth Layer, martial artists conventionally begin refining blood and qi into inner force and True Qi. 12
• Chen Mu bypasses this usual progression by using the Yin Extremity Profound Baleful Art to condense Profound Yin True Qi while still in the Body Tempering Realm. 34
• Refining Nine-Nether Profound Baleful Force allows Chen Mu to cross the remaining Body Tempering tiers and enter Qi Accumulation with twelve strands of True Qi. 66
• The Heaven-Earth Infinite Art further uses Blood Essence as it grinds together yin and yang True Qi, tearing down and reshaping Chen’s flesh, blood, tendons, and bones during each circulation. 94
• The Azure Dragon Body Tempering Art’s 108 stances each have a circulation route and method for transporting Blood Essence. Chen Mu cultivates its incomplete Dragon Form Chapter using demon-beast essence blood. 116 140

Healing and Recovery

Blood Essence can restore combat capability after slaughter. Following his battle with Yan Rong and the black-clad attackers, the essence absorbed from corpses rapidly replenishes Chen Mu’s strength and helps restore his injuries. 18

Bone-Strengthening Pills greatly accelerate Blood Essence circulation, healing severe wounds while strengthening the body. One pill allows Chen Mu to complete more than a dozen circulation cycles and recover from a saber wound deep enough to expose bone. 9

The Yin Extremity Profound Baleful Art can also automatically absorb Corpse Venom and Killing Intent into Profound Yin True Qi, allowing Chen Mu to recover from venom-coated attacks within several breaths. 38

Chen Mu can replenish expended Blood Essence through cultivation. He confirms that the Heaven-Earth Infinite Art and Slaughter Register remain functional while traveling through the mirage realm associated with Lady Azure Luan. 140

Baleful-Energy Refinement

The Yin Extremity Profound Baleful Art can use overwhelming Blood Essence to grind down and absorb yin, ghostly, and baleful energies that ordinary martial artists avoid. 34

• Mysterious Yin Corpse Balefulness planted by Rakshasa Old Ghost is converted into nourishment rather than killing Chen Mu. 34
• Purified baleful energy can be condensed into Profound Yin True Qi for offensive use. 34
• This refinement produces extreme pain and risks damaging Chen Mu’s meridians, flesh, bones, and internal organs. 34
• In the Feng River Old Estate, the art refines exceptionally pure Nine-Nether Profound Baleful Force, enabling several consecutive realm breakthroughs. 66

True-Blood Tempering

At higher levels, Primordial One Qi can purify ordinary Blood Essence into Martial True Blood. The Mysterious Womb Pearl lets Chen Mu begin this normally Innate-realm process prematurely by gathering surrounding spiritual energy and converting it into Primordial One Qi. 103

• A thousand drops of ordinary blood are required to refine a single drop of Martial True Blood. 103
• A released drop of True Blood can become blood mist extending three feet around the user and condense into a formless long-range attack. 103
• The pearl’s refinement rapidly drains the spiritual energy of its surroundings, though Chen Mu can supplement it with Soul-Nourishing Pills. 103
• Chen Mu later acquires purified Black Tai Sui Flesh, which he believes could greatly accelerate his True Blood refinement once he enters the Innate Realm. 183

Documented Harvests

Limitations

• Blood Essence cannot be accumulated indefinitely once a cultivation threshold is reached; Chen Mu is unable to continue storing it at the Body-Tempering Second Layer until his internal cultivation progresses. 18
• When Chen’s reservoir is full after entering Qi Accumulation, newly seized Blood Essence can only convert into a small amount of internal-art experience until he breaks through again. 74
• Different internal arts may use incompatible circulation routes. Chen Mu’s attempt to cultivate Black Tiger Baleful Heart Art while retaining Rampaging Bull Force causes nausea and dangerous reverse flow toward his head. 19
• The direct absorption of gains through forced comprehension or major breakthroughs causes severe bodily pain, including sensations of torn sinews, shattered bones, and boiling Blood Essence. 16 34
• The Heaven-Earth Infinite Art’s fusion of yin and yang True Qi can overstrain Chen’s body; his Blood Essence and swollen muscles nearly tear him apart until the Golden Bell Iron Cloth Shirt stabilizes his physique. 94
• Blood Essence alone does not prevent supernatural contamination. Refined Corpses release Corpse Venom after death, requiring Chen Mu and Liu Meng to evade or withstand the resulting yin energy. 24
• The Mysterious Womb Pearl’s ability to generate Primordial One Qi is limited by available spiritual energy and can drain the vitality of plants and the surrounding environment if used without restraint. 103 113
• Blood Essence–based attacks can demand substantial reserves. Chen Mu’s Dragon Battles in the Wilds exhausts his accumulated Primordial One Qi, while using the Divine Lihuo Eyes consumes his own Blood Essence and Divine Sense, making a failed first strike difficult to repeat. 141 176
• Repeatedly destroying the same supernatural targets does not necessarily yield another harvest: the Nine Parasol Village Corpse Charms provide no Blood Essence when slain a second time. 183

Higher-Realm Manifestations

• Astral Force — Qin Tieya condenses powerful Blood Essence into a visible protective barrier at the Meridian Opening realm. The barrier burns away ghostly black smoke on contact. 24
• Astral-Force Armor and Blades — After entering Meridian Opening, Chen Mu can form solid Astral Force three inches beyond his body as armor and shape it into ranged blade attacks. 131
• Martial True Blood — Beyond Great Completion of Meridian Opening, Innate One Qi can temper Martial True Blood. Completing the first of the Nine Revolutions of Blood Exchange forges an Innate body. 29
• Pre-Innate True-Blood Tempering — Through the Mysterious Womb Pearl’s Primordial One Qi, Chen Mu begins purifying Blood Essence into Martial True Blood before reaching the Innate Realm. 103
• True Blood Taking Form — Liu Qingcang manifests his True Blood as a dragon-shaped phantom, using it to slaughter Rakshasa Gate disciples and destroy high-level Corpse Kings. 29
• Blood-Essence Dragon Form — Chen Mu’s Azure Dragon Seven-Slaying Fist projects Blood Essence as a dragon-shaped fist force. Its third form, Dragon Battles in the Wilds, can strengthen that manifestation with Primordial One Qi; Chen later uses the form to shatter the Qilin Thunder Beast’s lightning defense. 141 149

Terminology

• The resource is rendered as Blood Qi on Chen Mu’s panel during his first-stage cultivation, where it is recorded at 720/1000. 14
• Blood Essence, Blood Qi, Killing Intent, and True Qi are related but distinct: Blood Essence strengthens the body; Killing Intent can be gathered through martial arts; and True Qi is conventionally refined from blood and qi after sufficient cultivation. 12 13 34
• Martial True Blood is a higher-order refinement of ordinary Blood Essence achieved through Primordial One Qi and is associated with the Innate and Blood Exchange realms. 29 103
• The Slaughter Register may use vitality when assessing nonhuman or corpse-like targets. Such beings can yield Karmic Slaughter while providing no Blood Essence, as with Daoist Li’s Earth Corpse. 89