Blood Baleful Intent Across the Sky

It would have been strange if this art weren't powerful. Something the foremost expert on the Heaven Ranking had left for his own child to practice-if that were a low-grade art, it would have been incomprehensible.

When he had only just begun cultivating, Zhao Changhe couldn't sense anything special about it, and he had no point of reference for judging its quality. Now that Yue Hongling was here, it was the perfect opportunity to have her analyze it.

But although he trusted Yue Hongling deeply, he still didn't dare spill every secret. Zhao Changhe could only say, "I don't know what art this is either. Look, it doesn't even have breathing methods or mental instructions. I'm just practicing whatever the hell. Uh, might as well call it Whatever-the-Hell Refinement... Help me check the quality of my true qi?"

Yue Hongling gave him an exasperated glare. "Give me your hand. I'll examine it."

Zhao Changhe obediently held out his hand. Yue Hongling pressed her palm against his and briefly examined him, her expression growing more astonished by the moment.

The quality of the true qi Zhao Changhe had cultivated through this art was absurd. Even though she had already estimated it as generously as possible, it still exceeded her expectations.

Why were cultivation realms divided into levels? Whether one cultivated internally or externally, their capabilities could be quantified. People at the same level were roughly comparable, allowing those levels to serve as standards. Being able to fight above one's level was therefore something worth boasting about; otherwise, what meaning would levels have?

To give a simple example, when your quantity of true qi reached one, you were at the First Level of the Profound Pass. The upper limit of that realm was ten. Once you reached ten, you would become stuck at the threshold and have to open the second Profound Pass before you could increase your true qi further. It was the same for everyone.

This meant the results were less immediate than with external cultivation. Once an external cultivator broke through a barrier, their physical strength increased substantially, perhaps enough to turn the tables and kill their opponent on the spot. An internal cultivator still needed to keep accumulating after a breakthrough before they could widen the gap.

A typical difference between a divine art and an ordinary art was that someone practicing a divine art might need only three days to accumulate from one to ten, and breaking through the threshold would be easy. With a trash art, it might take three years, and the threshold could torment you until you wished you were dead.

Moreover, a good art could take you straight to the Secret Storehouse, whereas a trash art might only get you to the second or third level, with nothing beyond that.

Most importantly, different arts produced true qi of different properties or quality. Everyone's dantian was a reservoir of roughly the same size, but some stored ordinary clear water, some stored poison, some stored flammable oil, and some stored life-restoring sweet rain. Then there were the cheats whose entire reservoirs were frozen solid-when they actually drew on them, they had several times as much water as everyone else...

This was where the gap opened between great sects, aristocratic clans, and ordinary martial artists. A single divine art appearing in the world could provoke a struggle of bloody storms and slaughter, all because of this.

Zhao Changhe had only just broken through to the second level. His dantian and meridians were merely a second-level-sized reservoir, and there was nothing wrong with that.

The problem was that its quality was utterly outrageous. That cheat with a reservoir full of ice she had just described was him!

At this stage of cultivation, other people's true qi was essentially shapeless and insubstantial, yet Yue Hongling could almost see the white qi swirling within this fellow, like smoke and mist.

If he had been stuck at the Second Level of the Profound Pass for a long time, unable to break through its upper limit and forced to refine the quality of his true qi instead, then reaching this state through years of accumulation would have been fairly common. But he had only just broken through, and it was already this good? What would happen if he deliberately refined it? Was he trying to defy heaven?

What art was this?

Whatever-the-Hell Refinement... She had never heard of it.

After hearing Yue Hongling's explanation, Zhao Changhe rubbed his chin. "So does that mean this art has already solved my problem of supposedly starting martial training too late?"

"No." Yue Hongling shook her head. "Why do people say you need to cultivate from childhood? Because children are highly malleable. Their dantian and meridians gradually expand as they cultivate, whereas yours have already taken shape. Your meridians are only so wide and can't withstand overly violent bursts or flows of true qi. Your dantian is only so large; even if you break through to the ninth level, you'll find it can no longer contain that much true qi. Without some extraordinary opportunity, I'm afraid your lifetime achievements will be limited."

Zhao Changhe smiled. "So that's how it works. Thanks for explaining. I understand."

Yue Hongling asked in surprise, "How can you take it so calmly?"

A treasure capable of Meridian Washing and Marrow Tempering had once been right before his eyes, and he had readily given it up. At least that proved such things truly existed in the world, so Zhao Changhe really wasn't that troubled. He smiled easily. "Heaven never bars every path. There are always heavenly treasures somewhere in the world. Things are already this way, so what good would fretting do? I'll keep practicing the Blood Baleful Art for now. You said it was powerful too."

Yue Hongling had to admit that this fellow's easygoing attitude suited her tastes. She reassured him, "The Blood Baleful Art cultivates qi and blood, so young men are actually best suited to it. It really can turn your age disadvantage into an advantage, and its upper limit isn't low. Just focus on practicing it for now. When the time comes, who knows whether an opportunity might descend?"

"Exactly," Zhao Changhe said leisurely. "I've endured so many drawbacks for its sake. Nothing to be done about it. Oh, speaking of which, my Blood Baleful Saber Technique has a finishing move called Gods and Buddhas Scattered. It requires an outrageous amount of blood baleful qi. Supposedly, you need to be at least at the third level of the Profound Pass just to barely use it once. Could I substitute this true qi? If so, judging by the quality you described, I should barely be able to use it once."

"Of course. It would simply lack that vicious baleful force, so its effect would be somewhat reduced. After all, martial techniques designed to accompany a cultivation art certainly have unique effects when paired with it, which other arts cannot replace. But as far as the saber move itself is concerned, its power would remain."

"So it would just lose special effects like paralysis or fear, without losing much power. That works."

Yue Hongling found his description strange, but rather apt. This bandit chief seemed better educated than she was... After thinking for a moment, she asked, "It feels as though you have a specific target in mind when you ask that. What are you planning?"

Zhao Changhe smiled faintly. "How could I get by without a finishing move or two? I don't necessarily need a specific target."

Yue Hongling eyed him sidelong. That smile irritated her, as though he were harboring some wicked scheme. She said, "Do you remember what I said earlier? I could teach you in three areas. Guiding your internal cultivation was only the first."

Zhao Changhe scratched his head. With all the interruptions, he had nearly forgotten. Yue Hongling really had said she could teach him in three areas; internal cultivation was merely "first."

He asked with an ingratiating smile, "I'm already very grateful for the internal cultivation help. So what comes second?"

Yue Hongling unobtrusively ground her teeth and leisurely drew her sword. "Sparring with you."

Zhao Changhe recoiled a step in alarm. "How am I supposed to fight you? I'd just get taken out instantly. There wouldn't be any training benefit."

"If you keep fighting those rotten fish and shrimps, you won't develop any real skill. Without facing genuinely difficult challenges or tasting defeat, what value is there in that kind of training?" Yue Hongling was brimming with enthusiasm. "Enough nonsense. Stick your head over... Oh, draw your saber!"

Zhao Changhe took to his heels. "Wait, you're still injured! Can't we do this another day...?"

Yue Hongling pursued with her sword leveled. "What's this little injury? I'm more than fit enough to beat you!"

"I think you just want to hit me!"

"Don't slander me. I, Yue Hongling, am upright and honorable. I don't take my anger out on others."

"Ow, fuck... I'm fighting back!"

"Come on, then. Let me see just how much Chief Zhao is worth, daring to call me Yue'er."

"So that's what you were waiting for..." Zhao Changhe didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but his steps as he fled around the courtyard abruptly halted.

"If knocking you down means I can call you Yue'er, then I'd like to give it a try!"

Yue Hongling stopped chasing him, intrigued. Just as she was about to speak, Zhao Changhe stamped his right foot into the ground, suddenly twisted around, and leaped up with his saber raised, bringing it down in a swift slash.

The scene at that moment was uncannily wondrous-and very much of the Demon Cult.

On New Year's Eve, the waning moon hung like a hook in the sky. The blood-colored saber light seemed to plunge from the nine heavens, eclipsing the crescent moon perfectly, as though a crescent of blood were descending from above and cleaving through the firmament.

In the darkness, Zhao Changhe's face was invisible, but a pair of blood-red eyes could be seen suspended overhead, like a god or a demon.

Blood baleful intent swept across the sky. Gods and Buddhas Scattered!

This was no third-level Profound Pass saber technique... The third level merely allowed someone to barely use it once.

This was an ultimate technique that required at least the fifth or sixth level of the Profound Pass to use routinely, one of the Blood God Cult's most renowned saber techniques. In Zhao Changhe's hands, it bared its terrifying fangs for the first time.

Yue Hongling had seen this strike before. Cult Master Xue had used it. If the strike was driven entirely by the Blood Baleful Art, the "fear" effect Zhao Changhe had guessed at truly existed. An opponent of weak resolve could genuinely have their heart and courage shattered by this blow.

Yet whether it was because her injury had weakened her qi, or because the setting and atmosphere happened to be just right... Yue Hongling kept feeling that when she had faced Xue Canghai, he hadn't possessed this same presence Zhao Changhe had now, like the Blood God wielding a crescent moon to furiously cleave heaven and earth.

Was he truly a born bandit...? This Demon Cult art suited him so perfectly.

The thought flashed past, and Yue Hongling's sword had already touched the edge of the blood moon.

Brilliant crimson clouds illuminated the vast sky. The setting sun and blood moon shared the horizon, then both sank into silence.

Bang! Zhao Changhe went tumbling backward several yards and slammed heavily into the courtyard wall, coughing painfully.

When he looked up, Yue Hongling was also leaning on her sword with some difficulty. A little blood seeped through at her lower abdomen; the exertion had torn her wound open. As she watched Zhao Changhe coughing beside the wall, genuine admiration entered her eyes. How could she have foreseen such an outcome?

Originally, her little injury should have been irrelevant. It would have been like an adult fighting a child; with a casual sword stroke, she might not even have needed to exert her lower abdomen. How could that possibly disturb her wound? But Zhao Changhe's strike had been far stronger than expected, making her instinctively engage her abdominal muscles for that sword stroke, naturally pulling at the wound.

She had truly brought this on herself. She had come here to recover and recuperate, only to reopen her own wound instead.

Mm, it doesn't count as him cutting me, so he doesn't get to call me Yue'er... The Book of Troubled Times probably won't flash either. Otherwise, Zhao Changhe would become famous for this strike.

Over by the wall, Zhao Changhe struggled to prop himself up, then suddenly laughed. "Exhilarating, exhilarating! You were right... This is the kind of fight that's worth having... Once your injury heals, let's go again!"