Blood Refining

"Uncle Nine, we found the things."

That afternoon, a Zhou Family disciple brought over a box.

Zhou Juechen opened it.

Inside lay an ancient book, a token of unknown material, and a map.

"Also, Uncle Nine, I heard something when I went out. Last night, intruders broke into the Dingfeng Marquis Estate, leaving dozens dead or injured. First Madam Mo Caiying also met an unfortunate end. They say she was violated before her death..."

The Zhou Family disciple gave his report.

Zhou Juechen's hand paused slightly as he opened the ancient book.

Still, he replied, "Understood. Tell the family head that this has nothing to do with our Dragon Spring Martial Arts Hall. If any unfavorable rumors spread, remember to clear things up."

"Yes."

The Zhou Family disciple acknowledged his orders and soon left.

Zhou Juechen continued leafing through the ancient book...

"Blood Refining Technique?"

After reading for a while, surprise appeared on his face. "Is this... the authentic Blood Jade Art? No, the Blood Jade Art is a simplified version of this..."

By the time he finished reading the manual, his expression had gradually grown grave. "Now this is a true demonic art!"

This secret technique required Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing before one could practice it.

After cultivating it, the blood in the human body was no longer merely essential to sustaining life, but a form of energy that could be refined and wielded.

Not only could one refine blood into Transforming Force, amplifying its power like True Qi, but one could also condense blood into arrows and refine blood into an aura.

But cultivating this Secret Art consumed enormous amounts of blood and qi.

So much that no medicinal meal could replenish the loss.

And so...

One had to replenish blood with blood-by drinking it!

The blood of martial artists at the Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing realm was best, allowing rapid progress.

Without that, one could only make up for it with quantity.

"This shouldn't be called the Blood Refining Technique, but the Blood Demon Art!"

Zhou Juechen drew a deep breath and was about to tear the demonic manual apart at once and throw it into the furnace to burn.

Yet just as he was about to tear it apart, his gaze could not help settling on certain passages.

The process of refining blood and qi into blood essence was essentially blood and qi mastery.

Only after mastering blood and qi could one truly complete the refinement of blood essence, allowing it to unleash power like True Qi, condense blood into arrows, and refine blood into an aura.

I won't cultivate this Secret Art, but there's no reason I can't simply use its process for refining blood essence to help me master blood and qi sooner.

Zhou Juechen pondered.

After mastering blood and qi, as long as he did not cultivate the Secret Art further or rely on it in combat, he naturally would not suffer the loss of blood and qi that forced him to replenish blood with blood.

"Whether a cultivation art is good or evil depends not on the art itself, but on the person cultivating it."

As he thought, he turned his gaze toward the token and map.

He squeezed the token for a while.

Despite his strength, he could not damage it in the slightest.

As for the map...

It was quite finely drawn.

He studied it, but could not match it to the contours of any mountains or rivers in his memory.

He immediately rose and took the box to the West Courtyard.

In the courtyard, Li Xian was still circulating his blood and qi, practicing some unknown Secret Art.

Only after Li Xian finished a round of cultivation did Zhou Juechen approach and greet him. He sat down at the courtyard's stone table and opened the box. "Here, take a look."

Li Xian glanced at the Blood Refining Technique, and within moments, his eyes lit up. "An excellent cultivation art. This will be tremendously useful for our blood and qi mastery, and even for refining the void into reality."

"It is an excellent cultivation art, but..."

Zhou Juechen said, "To cultivate it, you have to replenish blood with blood... That's the crooked path of demons."

"No."

Li Xian spotted the crux at a glance. "It isn't a crooked demonic path. The cultivator simply lacks either the strength or the resources."

"Hmm?"

Zhou Juechen froze.

"This Secret Art consumes tremendous amounts of blood and qi, more than an ordinary person can bear. But if someone possessed innate divine strength and extraordinary talent, with two or three times—even four or five times—the blood and qi of someone at Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing, wouldn't cultivating it be effortless?"

Li Xian said.

"A physique and blood and qi two or three times, even four or five times, those of someone at Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing?"

Zhou Juechen considered it briefly. "Would that still be human?"

"Leave that aside for now. Even without such an extraordinarily gifted person, this cultivation art can still be practiced."

Li Xian said, "In theory, conventional means can't replenish what cultivating this Secret Art consumes. Even Blood Spirit Powder won't do. But I remember there are Blood-Nourishing Pills above Blood Spirit Powder, aren't there? So long as their increase in potency is comparable to the difference between Precious Jade Soup and Blood Spirit Powder, cultivating this technique with those pills would be no problem."

"Blood-Nourishing Pills..."

Zhou Juechen shook his head.

They could not even obtain Blood Spirit Powder through exchange, let alone the more precious Blood-Nourishing Pills.

Still, Li Xian's words brought him around.

This Secret Art did not necessarily deserve to be branded a demonic art.

It might even...

Simply be a transitional method those transcendent powers prepared for their core disciples to advance from Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing to Refining the Void into Reality.

"I've never found the way to master blood and qi. This cultivation art has come at just the right time."

As Li Xian spoke, he looked at Zhou Juechen. "Where did it come from?"

Zhou Juechen immediately explained the cultivation art's origins.

After hearing him out, Li Xian felt some regret.

But death extinguished a person like a lamp; there was no point saying more.

"Let me take a look?"

"Go ahead."

Zhou Juechen said, "I'll take the opportunity to make the arrangements here."

"All right."

Li Xian answered and soon immersed himself in the secret manual.

The more he read, the more exquisite he found the Secret Art.

If someone with abundant blood and qi and extraordinary gifts truly cultivated this Secret Art, their progress from Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing to Blood and Qi Mastery would cover a thousand miles a day.

They would not even need to comprehend Primordial Unity. They could rely on their abundant blood and qi to forcibly sense its presence, then begin using the false to cultivate the true.

Even without extraordinary gifts, as long as one had enough Blood-Nourishing Pills, mastering this Secret Art and thereby gaining mastery over blood and qi would not be difficult.

"With insufficient resources and an inadequate background, you can only rely on your own bitter training, comprehend Primordial Unity, and use its ceaseless regeneration to reduce internal depletion until your essence and qi are perfected. Only then can you begin mastering blood and qi."

It was like fishing with a hook-entirely a matter of luck.

But the Blood Refining Technique's approach to mastering blood and qi was to cast a net directly.

Casting a large net might cost more and consume more, but compared to angling, the chances of catching a fish were far more than just a little higher.

The Limit-Breaking State can effectively release my body's restrictions, while the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique uses embracing the core and burning blood and qi to push a body already at its limit toward an even higher limit. Combining them is no less than shattering the shackles of the flesh, giving me the foundation for a physique twice or even three times that of someone at Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing. Supplement that with the Blood Refining Technique...

After briefly studying the ancient book, Li Xian already had a plan.

As for the token and map in the box...

What a joke. With transportation conditions in ancient times, he might get lost just leaving Lijiang City, let alone follow a map to its marked location.

Li Xian immediately gathered his thoughts.

While nursing his body back to health, he refined the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique and the Limit-Breaking State, and began extracting blood essence at the same time.

Without Blood-Nourishing Pills, he was naturally extremely cautious when refining blood essence.

If the refinement was slower, so be it.

With his talent, so long as it worked, he would refine his first drop of blood essence sooner or later.

Under these circumstances, he gained something almost every day and made progress every day.

It was a fulfillment he had never experienced on Blue Star, after reaching his limits and having no choice but to while away his time practicing fist techniques, saber techniques, and movement techniques.

That fulfillment immersed him so deeply that he forgot all else, even the passage of time.

In a flash, six days had passed.

On the seventh day, however reluctant Zhou Juechen was to disturb him, he still had no choice but to seek out Li Xian, who was so absorbed in cultivation that he could not tear himself away.

"We have to leave. Unless you want to wait another five-year cycle, that is... The Dragon Gate Convention officially begins in just over twenty days. It's twenty-three hundred li from Lijiang to the Royal Capital, and the journey will take about half a month. If we don't set out now, we won't make it."

(End of chapter)