Chapter 100 - 64: Cultivation Surges, True Blood Secret Technique

Chapter 100: Chapter 64: Cultivation Surges, True Blood Secret Technique

In the Grotto Heaven.

Li Yinsheng sat cross-legged on the White Jade Platform and slowly opened his eyes. Two streaks of divine light flashed across his pupils before vanishing.

His current secluded meditation was nearing its end. In total, he had gained ninety-four years of Cultivation and finished deducing the dozen or so Arrays recorded in the Yin Yang Cave Profound Array. He now possessed three hundred years of Cultivation.

Li Yinsheng massaged his temples. As his Cultivation improved, the number of problems he faced seemed to multiply instead.

Even before this seclusion, the Qingxuan Scripture had reached its limit at the twelfth layer and could not be advanced any further. Although this didn’t immediately affect his Cultivation or the growth of his Magical Power, the inability to break through meant he missed out on the qualitative changes to his Magical Power that normally accompanied advancing a Cultivation Technique.

While his Magical Power was much deeper than before his seclusion, its quality had only improved slightly. Given his current Cultivation base, the Qingxuan Scripture was starting to fall behind, even if it didn’t outright hinder his progress yet. Fortunately, the Magical Power cultivated through the Qingxuan Scripture was neutral and peaceful. If he could retrieve the Treasure Illumination Scripture in the future, or obtain a better Qi Refining Technique, switching his foundation wouldn’t be difficult.

Moreover, while the Qingxuan Scripture had peaked, the True Blood Secret Scripture had not yet reached its limit.

Like the Qingxuan Scripture, the True Blood Secret Scripture had twelve layers, but its Cultivation requirements for each layer were significantly higher. Before his seclusion, the technique had been at the eighth layer, verging on the ninth. After gaining less than five years of Cultivation, it had naturally broken through to the ninth layer. However, the subsequent ninety years of Cultivation were only enough to barely push it into the eleventh layer. And that was only because his profound Cultivation foundation indirectly lowered the difficulty of the breakthroughs. Otherwise, he might still be stuck at the tenth layer.

It was no wonder Body Cultivators were so rare in the Cultivation Realm, even fewer in number than Sword Cultivators. Lacking the dashing flair of Sword Cultivators was merely a trivial flaw for Body Cultivators; their true fatal flaw was the agonizingly slow progression. No matter how many advantages they possessed, the sheer difficulty of their training was enough to deter the vast majority of cultivators. Then again, the fact that Body Cultivators hadn’t been reduced to the bottom of the barrel like Ancient Cultivators, despite these difficulties, was a testament to their sheer power.

Li Yinsheng formed a sword hand sign and lightly swiped his fingers toward the lake in front of him.

This wasn’t a Sword Technique, but rather a Body Cultivator’s strike fueled by Qi Blood. Amidst an overwhelming surge of force, a trench over a hundred zhang long and nearly ten zhang deep was carved directly into the lake’s surface, remaining parted for a long time.

Li Yinsheng nodded in satisfaction. He might not be a Sword Cultivator, but this certainly made him look the part.

According to the True Blood Secret Scripture, the human body contained exactly 129,600 drops of Mortal Blood, matching the cyclical number of an epoch. When the technique reached the ninth layer, ten percent of the cultivator’s Mortal Blood would transform into True Blood. For every layer advanced thereafter, another ten percent would follow suit.

Currently, thirty percent of the Mortal Blood in Li Yinsheng’s body had been converted into True Blood. His muscles, bones, skin, flesh, and internal organs had all been completely reborn several times over.

Furthermore, upon reaching the ninth layer, the True Blood Secret Scripture unlocked a new miraculous effect. At the cost of consuming a massive amount of vital essence in a single breath, the cultivator could condense their True Blood into Treasure Armor and weapons of immense power. According to the records, weapons formed from True Blood were vastly superior to ordinary Magical Treasures, and the Treasure Armor was virtually indestructible.

In a sense, even though Li Yinsheng didn’t possess a Magical Treasure yet, he now had a means to counter one in times of need. However, such a Secret Technique exacted a heavy toll on his True Blood, meaning it wasn’t something he could use casually.

But more than the Secret Technique itself, Li Yinsheng was concerned that with thirty percent True Blood, the Blood Refining Core was no longer effective enough. When a cultivator circulated their energy, the Blood Refining Core would temper their Qi Blood using C Fire Qi. But for the current Li Yinsheng, this C Fire Qi tempering was no longer yielding results. If he couldn’t swap it out for a better cultivating Magical Artifact, his progress in the already slow True Blood Secret Scripture would only crawl at an even more agonizing pace.

Li Yinsheng immediately decided that once his guard duty at the Huang Bamboo Temple was over, he would make a trip to the Zulu Temple to inquire about better cultivating Magical Artifacts. He had purchased the Blood Refining Core from a shop run by the Zulu Temple. If he wanted a superior Magical Artifact of the same type, a regular storefront wouldn’t cut it; he needed to go directly into the Zulu Temple itself.

Moreover, he needed to have his junior sister’s Black Stone refined into an Upper Grade Magical Artifact. To custom-order an Upper Grade Magical Artifact, the Zulu Temple was his only option. He could kill two birds with one stone on this trip.

Having made up his mind, Li Yinsheng recalled that reaching the ninth layer of the True Blood Secret Scripture and the subsequent qualitative change in his Qi Blood would trigger further physical transformations. This time, the changes would reflect on his skin, making the cultivator’s "flesh radiant and flawless like jade."

He raised his hand and inspected it; his skin was indeed noticeably better than before. Half-closing his eyes, he focused his mind on Introspection, observing the changes across his entire body.

After this bitter cultivation session, the Heart Seal Scripture had also advanced from the third layer to the sixth layer. Not only had his Sea of Consciousness expanded significantly, but his Soul—which was already quite solid—was now completely corporeal. It was no longer the slightest bit transparent and looked almost identical to a flesh-and-blood body.

With such transformations to his Soul and Sea of Consciousness, his Divine Sense had naturally surged, becoming several times stronger than before. Yet, even under the Introspection of such a powerful Divine Sense, he couldn’t find a single flaw on his skin. It was as if he had truly turned into a statue carved from flawless white jade, save for the rosy hue of his Qi Blood.

Li Yinsheng mused with a touch of wicked amusement, "If I completely conceal my Qi Blood and stay perfectly still, would I really be mistaken for a lifelike jade carving? I might even be able to use this trick to scare someone..."

But soon, he lost interest in observing his physical changes. He hadn’t used his Divine Sense during his continuous cultivation, but now, driven by curiosity, he had mobilized more than half of it to repeatedly and carefully inspect his body. That was when he noticed something amiss.

As he channeled his Divine Sense, his Soul, sitting firmly at the center of his Sea of Consciousness, suddenly experienced a strange sensation. He felt that his Sea of Consciousness could be "left" behind.

This feeling came out of nowhere. It felt like pure instinct, much like a baby innately knowing how to crawl. Li Yinsheng had never considered letting his Soul leave his Sea of Consciousness before, but now that the sensation had struck, his curiosity was piqued.

What would happen if his Soul left his Sea of Consciousness?

He didn’t rashly attempt to let his entire Soul follow this instinct out of his Sea of Consciousness all at once. Instead, he started with his left index finger.

Within the Sea of Consciousness, the left index finger of his flesh-like Soul slowly faded, leaving only a faint, ethereal outline where the finger had been. In the outside world, an identical index finger slowly lifted from Li Yinsheng’s physical left index finger. The two overlapping fingers separated, one hovering above the other.

They both looked like solid entities, but Li Yinsheng knew perfectly well that the extra digit was merely his solidified Soul. He could also clearly feel that as this soul finger detached from his body, a portion of his internal Magical Power flowed into it.

He then tried returning the soul finger to his Sea of Consciousness. The finger instantly vanished from the outside world and reappeared in his mind. The Magical Power that had merged into it also flowed back into his Dantian.

Next, he began cautiously experimenting with letting more parts of his body leave the Sea of Consciousness. He went from one finger to five, then to a whole hand, an entire arm, and eventually both arms and his whole upper torso...

During this process, he discovered that the more of his Soul that manifested in the outside world, the more Magical Power flowed into it. Even the Qingxuan Divine Light would stream into his Soul alongside it.

A moment later, an identical figure stood up from the cross-legged Li Yinsheng.

One "Li Yinsheng" remained seated, while the standing one shifted his thoughts. His figure flickered, instantly appearing mid-air.

Suspended in the air in his Soul form, Li Yinsheng felt an unprecedented sense of weightlessness. Although the range of his Divine Sense hadn’t expanded, its clarity had suddenly magnified countless times over. As the moonlight bathed his Soul, he even felt a tactile sensation, as if he could physically "touch" the light.

It was as though a thick veil—his physical body—had always separated him from heaven and earth. Now, as his Soul left his fleshly vessel, that veil was unreservedly torn away.