Outside the secret chamber door, Dugu Bo, Dugu Yan, and Ye Lingling waited quietly.
Just as lunch was cleared away, Ye Han turned to look at the three of them, his expression solemn.
"Senior Dugu, Sister Yanyan, Sister Lingling."
"I am ready to ingest the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng."
The gazes of the few fell upon him in unison.
"Now?" Dugu Bo's brow twitched.
"Mm." Ye Han nodded, a resolute certainty in the depths of his eyes. "I have a premonition that what this Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng brings me will be a qualitative leap."
He looked at Dugu Bo. "So I must trouble Senior to guard for me."
Dugu Bo waved a hand, smiling faintly. "Go on and rest assured, with this old man guarding right here, no trouble will arise."
Before long, Ye Han stepped once more into this familiar cultivation secret chamber, preparing for seclusion.
He sat cross-legged in the center of the chamber, not rushing to take out the ginseng, first calming and adjusting his own state.
His breathing slowly lengthened, his heartbeat steady and powerful, his entire person gradually settling into stillness.
Once his body and mind were adjusted to their peak, he raised a hand, reached into the Wishful Hundred Treasure Pouch, and drew out the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng he had treasured for so long.
The ginseng felt warm to the touch, its texture smooth and moist, as if harboring vibrant vitality.
Ye Han opened his mouth and bit down toward the root of the ginseng.
The instant his tooth-tips pierced the ginseng body, sweet and mellow juices flooded into his mouth, melting upon contact and transforming into a warm, gentle current that sank down the esophagus into his abdomen.
This ginseng looked quite large in volume, but the great majority of it was simply pure juice.
Under Ye Han's extraction, the body of the ginseng rapidly shriveled.
A moment later, the entire ginseng along with the shriveled flesh was swallowed entirely into his stomach.
In an instant, every single cell throughout his body seemed to cheer, frantically seizing the majestic medicinal power unleashed by the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng.
Time flowed slowly.
A faint layer of bloody halo emerged from Ye Han's skin, the halo circulating and vaguely condensing into a bloody dragon shadow that slowly wandered across the surface of his body.
Ye Han sat quietly without moving, like a stone sculpture.
His breathing grew increasingly faint, his heartbeat continuously slowing until the bloody halo gradually contracted inward, sinking entirely into his body.
The secret chamber returned to silence, and Ye Han entered an extremely rare state of Deep Meditation.
Ever since he began practicing, this was the first time he had stepped into such a prolonged Deep Meditation.
Outside the secret chamber, days passed one by one.
Dugu Bo's heart gradually birthed a trace of worry.
In the past when Ye Han entered seclusion, even during extended periods of bitter cultivation, he would occasionally come out to eat and move around.
Yet this time, after stepping into the secret chamber he never showed his face again, and the chamber was terrifyingly quiet.
Ye Han was still merely a Soul King, far from reaching the Grain Avoidance realm, and this point made Dugu Bo unable to let his heart rest.
Soon, however, relying on his soul power perception, he sensed Ye Han's state; this was the sort of prolonged Deep Meditation that Soul Masters could only encounter by luck and never by seeking.
Only then did his hanging heart let go.
Two months flashed by in the blink of an eye.
Inside the secret chamber, Ye Han slowly opened his eyes.
The next moment, the bloodline within his body suddenly churned, and a rich, dense blood-aura erupted with a boom, filling the entire chamber.
Ye Han raised a hand, palm facing upward, and the scattered blood-aura was guided and gathered by him, condensing into a fist-sized bloody sphere that hovered in his palm.
He gently toyed with this cluster of blood-aura, his face filled with satisfaction.
The Qilin Bloodline within his body had received a strengthening.
Faint dragon roars even echoed from within his body.
Ye Han collected his thoughts and gazed at the martial soul panel visible only to himself.
Under the Body Martial Soul column, a brand-new part had been added-Flesh.
The Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng had aided his Body Martial Soul in completing the awakening of the flesh part.
The vast majority of the medicinal power was used to awaken the Body Martial Soul and complete the qualitative change of the bloodline, while his soul power merely came along for the ride, rising by one rank to reach level fifty-seven.
Even so, Ye Han remained brimming with joy.
He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, feeling the endlessly surging bloodline within his body. After the flesh part of his Body Martial Soul awakened, his whole-body perception became incomparably acute.
Before he could even contemplate it in detail, a violent spasm in his abdomen interrupted his thoughts.
Gurgle-
Having gone without a drop of water for two consecutive months, the Deep Meditation had exhausted his body's reserves.
Although the bloodline had completed a qualitative change, its total volume was practically dried up.
His throat felt dry, sore, and his lips were chapped.
Ye Han tried to stand up, but his legs suddenly went weak, and he hurriedly reached out to steady himself against the wall.
Looking down, his arms were much thinner, his muscle lines were slender, and the clothes on his body appeared much looser.
I need to get out first.
The heavy stone door of the secret chamber was pushed open from the outside.
Dugu Bo had long been waiting outside, and seeing Ye Han's frail appearance, his brow furrowed.
"Brat, you're finally awake."
Hearing the sound, Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling hurried forward, supporting Ye Han left and right.
Ye Han's cheeks were slightly sunken and his figure was emaciated, yet his pair of eyes shone astonishingly bright.
"How did you get so thin?" Dugu Yan's tone was full of worry.
Ye Han's lips were dry and cracked, making it difficult for him to voice a sound for the moment.
Ye Lingling had been prepared; she retrieved a small piece of Whale Rubber from her Storage Soul Tool and handed it to his lips. "Eat this first."
Ye Han did not refuse, taking the Whale Rubber into his mouth.
The Whale Rubber melted upon contact, a warm current sliding down into his abdomen, and the cramping in his stomach quickly eased.
Eating five or six pieces of Whale Rubber in succession, his strength gradually recovered and the bloodline within his body slowly filled, at least no longer frail enough to keep him from standing steady.
Whale Rubber was a pure-yang supplementing treasure, most suited for replenishing bloodline.
The special effects attached to century-old and millennium-old Whale Rubber were now difficult to produce any impact on the current Ye Han.
The Body Martial Soul possessed extremely strong control over the physical body, easily suppressing any side effects, and what he had valued all along was precisely the nourishing efficacy of the Whale Rubber for his bloodline.
Before long, Dugu Bo instructed the kitchen to prepare a lavish feast.
Golden and glistening roasted beast legs, thick and tender soul beast meat soup, delicate pastries, and fresh fruits filled the entire long table.
At this moment Ye Han could not care about manners, grabbing a beast leg and eating in large bites.
Food continuously entered his abdomen, his physical strength rapidly recovering, and his withered bloodline little by little filled and plumped up.
Dugu Bo sat at the side, watching the wolfing-down Ye Han, and spoke to ask, "How does it feel? What changes are there to your martial soul?"
Ye Han swallowed the meat in his mouth, raised his eyes, and replied, "The bloodline completed a qualitative change, the Body Martial Soul awakened the flesh part, and soul power is at level fifty-seven. The harvest far exceeds expectations."
A sharp light flashed in Dugu Bo's eyes, and he slightly nodded. "A qualitative change in bloodline... Good fellow, this Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng truly did not live up to your thousands of miles of travel. Rest well and replenish your physical foundation."
Dugu Yan curiously pursued the question from the side, "After the qualitative change in bloodline, what will be different when fighting?"
Well-fed and satisfied, Ye Han let out a contented burp and put down his bowl and chopsticks. Dugu Bo had sat opposite him in silence the entire time, and now he spoke to ask, "This seclusion-how was the harvest?"
Ye Han nodded gently. "Relying on the medicinal power of the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng, I sustained a full two months of Deep Meditation, and the effect was exceptionally good."
"The growth of soul power was merely incidental, only rising by one rank," Ye Han said slowly. "The true core harvest is that the Bloodline Power of my Body Martial Soul has completed a qualitative change."
He raised his right hand, palm upward, and with a thought, a wisp of faint blood-aura rose leisurely from his palm.
As long as one carefully sensed it, one could perceive that this wisp of blood-aura was utterly different from before, the quality of the outwardly released blood-aura having undergone a heaven-shaking leap.
"A qualitative change?" Dugu Bo's gaze suddenly condensed.
"Precisely," Ye Han answered. "The gap between the bloodline before and after is just like the flame of an ordinary fire-attribute Soul Master compared to the Ultimate Fire under the Fire Qilin's peak state-the difference can be distinguished at a glance."
"Aside from the leap in the attribute itself, I have also awakened a new ability."
As his voice fell, accompanied by a ring of extremely faint blood-aura fluctuations, Ye Han's appearance began to undergo drastic changes.
The cheeks that had just been slightly emaciated rapidly filled and plumped, his facial contours fine-tuning bit by bit.
In just a short moment, his appearance had practically changed to that of another person.
Even people who spent every day with him like Dugu Bo, Dugu Yan, and Ye Lingling-if they had not witnessed him transforming on the spot with their own eyes-would have fundamentally been unable to believe that this person before them was Ye Han.
Dugu Yan's eyes widened abruptly, and Ye Lingling's mouth also parted slightly, her face full of shock.
Dugu Bo's pupils contracted sharply, a Titled Douluo's perception spreading out to its fullest extent to carefully investigate the aura on Ye Han's body.
He could clearly perceive that the origin of Ye Han's aura had not changed; he was still that same youth. Yet his external form, his appearance, had all been reshaped by the newborn flesh and blood-aura inside his body.
"An ability brought by the awakening of the flesh part? Changing one's own appearance?" Dugu Bo asked in a deep voice.
Ye Han nodded slightly, his thoughts shifting again, and his appearance slowly recovered back to its original look.
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