Blood Refiners and Uncle Dong

Everyone else was desperate to increase their Soul Power, but Chen Mo was a little worried that his Soul Power would rise too quickly, disrupting his plans and affecting his grand undertaking of cultivating immortality.

Perhaps this was the trouble that came with having a system!

╮(＾▽＾)╭

"Hydrangea, spirit-calming vine, bitter leaf, snake droplet..."

"Good thing I managed to get all the herbs I needed."

"The Douluo Continent really is a treasure trove. You can find all kinds of plants and medicinal herbs here. Plenty of herbs that are rare or even extinct in other worlds can be found here, and some of them really are just weeds on the Douluo Continent."

But on second thought, it made sense. Thanks to Martial Souls, minor illnesses needed no treatment, and treatment was no use for major ones.

He had four experience cards from other worlds in total. The two first-tier cards were duds, practically useless. The third-tier card was a trump card, and the second-tier experience card was pretty good too. It came from a world called the Blood Refinement Continent.

The Blood Refinement Continent's immortal cultivation system was that of the Blood Refinement Masters, who followed a purely body-cultivation path. This cultivation system was much like the Martial Dao System: weak in the early stages, but with combat power that shot through the roof in the later stages.

Moreover, the blood refinement system differed from those conventional, widely practiced body-refining methods. It was purer, more overbearing, and more dangerous.

With ordinary body-refining methods, once the body was tempered to a certain degree, spiritual power, true Qi, and the like would arise naturally. The cultivator would then communicate with heaven and earth and transform into various spiritual bodies of boundless power.

But Blood Refinement Masters were different from those gaudy bitches. Once their bodies had been tempered to the limit, they would begin tempering their blood, hunting powerful spirit beasts and demonic beasts and devouring their blood to break through their limits.

By the later stages, other body cultivators could basically all master some form of energy and manipulate the primordial Qi of heaven and earth. Blood Refinement Masters, however, had no energy in their bodies, could not manipulate the primordial Qi of heaven and earth, and could not even communicate with it.

If one insisted on calling something energy, it would be their blood. Their explosive power was also basically tied to various blood-burning secret arts.

At an extremely profound level of cultivation, a single drop of blood contained more energy than an entire world.

Quite a few body-refining systems across the myriad worlds also used the blood of powerful beings to further enhance their physiques through fusion.

But Blood Refinement Masters devoured it; they did not fuse with it.

During the process of devouring, every last trait of the demonic beast's blood had to be ground away, leaving only the purest energy. The slightest mistake would bring eternal damnation.

In fact, more than ninety percent of Blood Refinement Masters fell at this hurdle every year.

The person Chen Mo had experienced had fallen at this very step as well.

It was no exaggeration to say that Blood Refinement Masters were the freaks and madmen of body-refining systems.

The cultivation path of this system was fraught with peril, but anyone who made it through would reap equally rich rewards.

It was a pure case of seeking wealth and glory amid danger.

The Blood Refinement Master cultivation system consisted of the Life Nourishing Realm, Body Refining Realm, Blood Moving Realm, Blood Refining Realm, Divine Ability Realm, Dharma Form Realm, Heaven and Earth Realm, True Spirit Realm, and Indestructible Body.

According to the system's prompt, Life Nourishing and Body Refining were first-tier; Blood Moving and Blood Refining were second-tier; Divine Ability was third-tier; Dharma Form was fourth-tier; Heaven and Earth was fifth-tier; True Spirit was sixth-tier; and Indestructible Body was seventh-tier.

Without a doubt, the Blood Refinement Continent was a high-level world, at least a top-tier Middle Thousand World. It might even have been a Great Thousand World.

And Chen Mo had only obtained the cultivation methods for the stages before the Divine Ability Realm.

Still, Chen Mo had no intention of cultivating to the Divine Ability Realm. Reaching the Blood Moving Realm was the absolute limit; he wasn't worthy of the Blood Refining Realm that came after it.

It was too brutal. He wanted to live a few more years, so he would pass.

The medicinal solution Chen Mo was preparing at that moment was made from one of the recipes he had copied down through the experience card. Though the original owner had possessed the recipe, he had never actually used it himself.

In fact, there were many recipes for body-tempering medicinal solutions in that world, and getting hold of some was no trouble at all. The real difficulty was that many of the herbs in the recipes were impossible to obtain.

That, however, worked out nicely for Chen Mo.

In the blood refiner system, the first realm was the Life Nourishing Realm, but ordinary people generally skipped it and started directly with the Body Refining Realm.

It wasn't that they didn't want to go through it, but that they lacked the resources.

Across the myriad worlds, any body cultivator who had achieved success in cultivation was unimaginably fierce. Yet few people followed their example, not because they couldn't endure the hardship, but simply because they lacked the resources. They couldn't afford it.

The old saying that the poor studied and the rich practiced martial arts was one example. Practicing martial arts consumed far too many resources, and body refining even more so.

On the Blood Refinement Continent, those who could enjoy the Life Nourishing Realm were invariably legitimate sons of great clans or direct disciples of great sects.

And today, Chen Mo could enjoy that benefit too.

The essence of the Life Nourishing Realm lay in "nourishing." One could choose not to do it, but once the decision was made, it had to be sustained for at least ten years to have any effect.

That was why only great sects and great clans could afford it. Even then, places were limited, and only direct heirs and disciples qualified.

After ten years in the Life Nourishing Realm, as long as one did not fall along the way, reaching the Divine Ability Realm was guaranteed.

Even so, after ten years of nourishing life, more than seventy to eighty percent still fell at the blood-refining step.

That was why Chen Mo really didn't dare refine his blood!

That death rate chilled him to the bone.

After preparing the medicinal solution, Chen Mo stripped off his clothes and immersed himself in it.

It was warm and comfortable, as though someone were gently stroking him.

Before long, Chen Mo fell asleep in comfort.

When the medicinal bath was over, Chen Mo felt completely refreshed and full of strength.

After the medicinal bath, it was time to practice the Seven Forms of the Martial God. The Seven Forms of the Martial God consisted of seven sets of movements. Through them, one could increase the body's flexibility, speed up the flow of blood, and better absorb the medicine remaining in the body.

Long-term practice could strengthen one's perception of one's own blood flow. Most importantly, it could improve the purity and strength of one's blood.

In other words, the Life Nourishing Realm was actually already the beginning of blood refinement.

Of course, ordinary people without resources didn't dare practice like this every day. It consumed far too many resources.

Each practice session burned away a little of one's own blood. Without the support of medicine, one would exhaust one's life force and die in no more than three to five years.

Body refining had five stages in total: skin refining, flesh refining, bone forging, organ refining, and blood cleansing.

Ordinary people began body refining at five: three years to refine the skin, five to refine the flesh, ten to forge the bones, and a lifetime to refine the organs and cleanse the blood.

The core disciples of major powers, on the other hand, began nourishing life at five, spending ten years on it before starting body refining at fifteen.

After nourishing life, body refining could advance a thousand miles in a day.

One year to refine the skin, two to refine the flesh, three to forge the bones, a hundred days to refine the organs, and one day to cleanse the blood.

During life nourishing, their blood had already been slowly refined day by day. After ten years, the blood was more or less fully refined.

One could say that life nourishing was actually body refining in reverse, refining from the inside out, while ordinary body refining proceeded from the outside in.

By the time he finished practicing the Seven Forms of the Martial God, more than an hour had passed. Chen Mo was so tired he was practically exhausted. Hungry, so hungry-tired and hungry.

And this was after a medicinal bath. If he hadn't taken one beforehand, the practice might well have killed him.

Only after a hearty meal did Chen Mo finally feel alive again.

"Whew, body refining is really hard work. Can't I get a system where I can grow stronger while lying down? Like dual cultivation, or techniques of the yin-yang great dao."

Damn it.

Haier City Junior Soul Master Academy.

Today was Chen Mo's first day reporting to the academy, and he saw a few familiar faces. The one he knew best was, of course, Lin Yaodong, Uncle Dong.

He was as punchable as ever, with lines like "Uncle Dong is very happy" about this or that, followed by "but your tone and voice make Uncle Dong very unhappy."

Honestly, Chen Mo somewhat regretted teaching him those catchphrases back then. The Douluo Continent was different from Blue Star, after all.

On Blue Star, being arrogant made people want to punch you, but it wasn't against the law.

On the Douluo Continent, however, the law was mainly applied to commoners. Chen Mo was genuinely afraid that one day Uncle Dong would offend the wrong person and end up dead.

This kid had dared to act like that while awakening his Martial Soul; his chuunibyou had already gotten pretty bad. And when some people acted out, they wouldn't care whether he was a child.

They would leave his corpse lying in the street on the spot.

If that day really comes, wouldn't I be the one who got you killed?

"Are you going to say it again? Huh? Are you?"

Chen Mo used both his hands and his mouth, straddling Uncle Dong as he beat him, saying "Are you going to say it again?" while slapping him with both hands.

Although he had only practiced body refining for a few days, Chen Mo was already several times stronger than before. Combined with his Soul Power, his fighting strength was no weaker than that of an ordinary adult.

He easily subdued Uncle Dong, then straddled him and beat him.

Uncle Dong felt terribly wronged. Chen Mo was clearly the one who had taught him to say those things, and now he was beating him for it.

Unable to hold it in, Uncle Dong burst into tears on the spot.

He spoke through his sobs.

"Waaah... you're the one who, waaah, taught me to say it, and now you're, sniff, hitting me for it, waaah..."

"That's for talking back! That's for talking back..."

After a few more slaps, Uncle Dong cried even louder.

"Waaah..."

After crying for more than ten minutes, Uncle Dong tired himself out.

Chen Mo said, "Tired of crying?"

Lin Yaodong nodded weakly. "Yeah."

Chen Mo threatened him fiercely. "From today onward, if I hear you talking in that tone again, or hear from anyone else that you've been talking in that tone, I'll beat you up. Got that?"

Lin Yaodong nodded fearfully. "Yeah."

Chen Mo glared. "Did you leave your vocal cords at home? Louder."

Lin Yaodong hurriedly answered in fear, "Got it, got it."

Seeing how miserable he looked, Chen Mo felt a little guilty, even though he was the one who had beaten him.

Still, a brat needed a beating when he needed one. After all, trouble came out of the mouth, and if he ever really offended someone he shouldn't, Chen Mo would bear some responsibility too.

Chen Mo looked straight at Lin Yaodong. "Remember, from today onward, you're my underling. At the academy, wherever I go, you follow. Whatever I tell you to do, you do. If you do anything I tell you not to, I'll beat you once for every time you do it. Do it ten times, and I'll beat you ten times, until you get rid of those bad habits. Got that?"

Lin Yaodong answered with a sob, "D-Dong g-got it, b-boss."

Fortunately, Soul Master Academies were all boarding schools, and students could only go home for three days each month. If Uncle Dong's parents found out Lin Yaodong had been beaten so badly, they might well come knocking on Chen Mo's door.

Children recovered quickly. By the time he went home, he would be more or less healed.

Sigh! Why did I have to run my mouth and teach him those things back then?