Journey of True Cultivation

At this distance, the man's features were unmistakable, deep wrinkles lined his face, his black eyes had grown cloudy with age, and his snow white hair gently swayed in the breeze.

Yet, despite Yuan's sudden appearance, the old man didn't panic. He simply looked straight into Yuan's eyes, calm and composed, before opening his mouth to speak to Yuan.

Why had he stopped here?

Shaking his head, he continued walking toward the sect, his thoughts began to slowly shift as he walked back to the spoils of war he had collected.

Opening the bag of holding that was once sealed and formerly owned by Anna, he examined its contents. Most of the items of the Silver Snakes were unremarkable. As it seems only the bags of holdings belonging to Anna and Emilia held anything of real value to him.

There were a few pills inside that might help with his cultivation, but the rest… those could be handed over to Ming Ze. He'd find better use for them.

After checking through everything, Yuan's mind wandered back to the battle he had just fought.

The idea to disguise himself as a young boy hadn't been part of his original plan, it came to him only a few hours before the confrontation.

To pull it off, he had drawn upon the spiritual blood of the Meridian Awakening cultivators he had previously stored. Using nearly a third of it, he managed to create a convincing outer illusion of a child's body.

But the process hadn't been simple.

To channel the spiritual blood, Yuan first inscribed a series of Lower Skin Transformation Meaning Runes onto his skin. These runes helped forcibly reshape his form, compressing his body into a smaller, childlike state.

Still, the transformation was only skin deep.

Anyone who inspected his body more carefully, especially his internal organs, would immediately notice that it was far from a child's physiology. His organs had been painfully compressed, twisted into unnatural positions.

It was a grueling experience, one that left lingering soreness even now.

As for the change in hair and eye color?

That was an unexpected side effect of the spiritual blood. The transformation had blended together various traits from the cultivators whose blood he used, creating a new, unique appearance, a change drawn from many sources.

As for the poison stained dagger? Well, he had simply asked Ming Ze for a pain inducing poison. Ming Ze had given him one, along with a single dose of the antidote.

Regarding the fight itself, Yuan would say he did okay, considering it was five against one.

Well… four, afterall he killed the first one before even the fight started.

The rest of the battle had gone relatively smoothly, but something kept gnawing at him.

Even though his spiritual blood quantity had surpassed that of a peak layer Blood Purification cultivator, almost nearing the Meridian Awakening Stage, he still found his attacks lacking.

His techniques were too simple.

His strongest attack was more harmful to himself than to the enemy. Worse, if he were to use it against someone beyond a freshly advanced Meridian Awakening cultivator, it would be useless, or even suicidal.

Not only that, but most of his success in the fight had come from sneak attacks and surprise tactics. When it came to direct confrontation, he could only hold his ground… not finishing the enemy directly.

He lacked killing power.

These flaws needed to be covered quickly.

Half a day passed.

Yuan had already returned to his cultivation cave and entered seclusion.

During his recent breakthrough to the peak of the Middle Layer, he had realized something important, he could likely reach the High Layer within one or two months.

So, he formally requested a period of seclusion from the sect.

The request was approved without issue. After all, he had completed more than enough sect missions to earn a few months of Secluded cultivation time.

Now, seated in a lotus position, Yuan closed his eyes and began the process.

He circulated his spiritual blood, guiding it slowly through his veins to infect his remaining normal blood.

Because of his recent rapid increase in spiritual blood, his body was still disoriented, his normal blood became weakened and confused by the sudden change.

The process was harder than the breakthrough to the Middle Layer had been, but by not that much, but now, Yuan's spiritual blood had become far stronger and so the cultivation became uncomplicated to advance his Spiritual Blood.

With this edge, he managed to successfully advance to the High Layer in just one week.

The result left Yuan genuinely surprised and pleased.

"It was thanks to the Azure Basilisk Flame devouring Emilia's special spirit," Yuan concluded.

Because of the sudden surge of explosive power during the devouring process, it had unintentionally affected his spiritual blood. Without him actively doing anything, a large portion of his normal blood was transformed into spiritual blood.

Now, however, that blood was still adjusting, slowly getting used to the new power. The transformation had happened too quickly, leaving the blood unorganized and unstable.

With this simple conclusion in mind, Yuan happily continued his seclusion.

Just as he'd predicted, managing the new spiritual blood was far easier than normal. And after only two months, he had already reached 80% mark.

This was something he never could have imagined.

The speed of his advancement in the Blood Purification Stage was nothing short of astonishing. When he first joined the sect, he had assumed it would take him ten years to reach the Meridian Awakening Stage.

But now, Yuan could see himself reaching the Peak Layer of the Blood Purification Stage within two years, and breaking through to Meridian Awakening in just needing one more year.

What was once a ten year process had suddenly become an six year process.

That thought made him genuinely smile, as everything became much more simplier than he could have though.

With his seclusion complete for now, Yuan activated a communication rune and contacted Ming Ze, as he usually did.

But this time, there was no immediate response.

He waited a few hours before finally receiving a reply.

Once it came, Yuan left his cultivation cave and made his way toward the familiar little house he had visited before.

The place was quiet, with no one around.

He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

There sat Ming Ze, holding a cup of tea, sipping it in silence as usual. As the door creaked open and Yuan walked in, Ming Ze looked up, recognized him, and stood to greet him.

"Greetings, Boss. You're here for information, or?"His tone was calm and respectful.

Yuan simply nodded, then walked over to a vacant wooden chair and sat down.

Closing his eyes, he exhaled deeply, silent, composed, and waiting.

As Yuan sat on the wooden chair, Ming Ze reached into his sleeve and pulled out a small wooden cup, placing it gently in front of him. He then lifted the teapot, already filled with freshly brewed spiritual tea and slowly poured it until the cup was full.

The soft sound of the spiritual tea pouring ceased, and Yuan opened his eyes.

He picked up the wooden cup and examined the tea.

The spiritual tea was a deep, rich green. He brought it closer to his nose and inhaled its smell.

To his surprise, the fragrance was far superior to the last tea he had tasted with Ming Ze. It was stronger, more refined, pleasant and smooth, without being overwhelming.

Of course, it made sense.

Much Time had already passed since Yuan gave him the flame controlling alchemy technique, now he should have already known a thing or two more tricks and so, Ming Ze naturally had grown.

The scent was even beautifully balanced, and from the smell alone, Yuan could tell that the spiritual herbs used in this tea were of high quality, probebly of Blood Purification Stage herbs.

And not only that, but they were well aged, as he could smell it.

If he had to guess, the herbs used were around nine to ten years old, impressive, especially for someone at the Blood Purification Beginner Alchemy Stage.

The only noticeable flaw was in the spiritual essence itself, it wasn't quite balanced. But that was understandable.

Blood Purification Beginner Alchemy Stage couldn't fully master that level of precision.

Still, the spiritual tea was excellent.

Yuan nodded in appreciation and brought the cup to his lips, taking a small sip.

To his surprise, the tea was cold.

Not freezing, but refreshingly chilled, followed a few seconds later by a gentle wave of warmth spreading through his chest.

"Wonderful," Yuan said, swallowing the first sip. He looked at Ming Ze with a smile. "You've truly improved. I'm genuinely impressed."

Hearing such praise made Ming Ze beam with joy. He straightened up and saluted.

"Thank you, Boss Yuan, for your kind words, but I still have a long way to go!"

"How humble of you, Ming Ze," Yuan replied lightheartedly, which made Ming Ze laugh softly.

Ming ze then returned to his seat and sitting now, he took a few sips from his own cup of spiritual tea, after all, this spiritual tea was no ordinary brew.

It was refined enough to aid his cultivation in subtle ways.

A few moments passed in peaceful silence before Yuan finally placed his cup down and looked into Ming Ze's eyes.

"So," Yuan asked calmly, "is there anything noteworthy I should know?"

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