Chapter 226: Chapter 226: One Step to Blood Exchange

After completing the Blood Exchange, one’s Blood Qi becomes as potent as a Flood Dragon’s, and their Strength begins to penetrate deep into the bone marrow. Next, they refine their breath into a silver frost, and finally, they temper their internal organs to achieve a flawless Body of Perfection.

After a long while, Xu Yunfan slowly relaxed his stance and carefully examined his Attribute Panel.

’My Pure Yang Qi Skill is one thing, but my Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique isn’t far from reaching the Great Success stage.’ Including today’s progress, he only needed another one hundred and twenty-three Skill Level points. This was thanks to his daily absorption of the Ginseng Child’s Qi of Ginseng, converting his Pure Yang Inner Breath from the Pure Yang Qi Skill to bolster his Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength, and the support of Demon Flesh and Blood.

By training to the limits of his physical endurance every day, he could gain nearly twenty Skill Level points. If he managed to have an epiphany or gain new insights, the number could rise even higher.

In seven days at most, his Strength would saturate his flesh, seep into his bloodstream, and begin refining his Blood Qi, allowing him to achieve the Blood Exchange Realm.

An expert in the Blood Exchange Realm would be hailed as a renowned master in the Mortal World.

In a smaller region, they would even be qualified to establish their own sect and rule over the area.

Given the current decaying state of the Great Zhou, it might even be possible to carve out a territory and become a regional lord.

Setting those thoughts aside, Xu Yunfan’s momentary joy was replaced by a frown as he looked at the dissipating Spiritual Mist before him.

It was thinner than it had been a few days prior. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

’At this rate, I’m afraid I’ll have absorbed all this Primordial Spirit Qi within a month. Given the way the mountains are formed, this is a natural convergence point for the Primordial Spirit. For the Condensed Primordial Spirit Aura to return to its original density, it would take at least a year or two.’

’And that’s only because the Primordial Spirit Qi in the outside world has recovered somewhat. Otherwise, every bit I use would be gone for good.’

What truly unsettled Xu Yunfan was the realization that when the nine-foot-tall platform fell into the Molten Rock Pool, it had clearly triggered some mechanism that opened this Divine Weapon Secret Realm.

’Forcibly bonding with the Dragon Scale Armor, through the power of the Extreme Dao Relic Shell and the Linn Character Technique, was probably a prerequisite for opening this Secret Realm.’

’Still, it’s a good thing.’

’Where in the outside world could I find this much Spiritual Qi to cultivate? Only a Secret Realm, untouched for two thousand years, could enable me to progress this quickly.’

He looked up at the distant, overlapping mountain ranges, his eyes drawn to the convergence points between the peaks. ’There are definitely powerful Demon Fiends lurking in those places.’

’In seven days, once I reach the Blood Exchange Realm, I will slaughter you all!’

With his Hunting Skill, Xu Yunfan had no trouble finding game to eat over the past few days. However, after tasting the old ape’s flesh and experiencing the boost from a Demon Fiend’s Blood Qi, he had acquired a taste for it. Ordinary food, which only satisfied his palate, now seemed lackluster.

With the aid of his Attribute Panel’s Skill Level progression, breaking through to the Blood Exchange Realm within the next seven days was a foregone conclusion.

To avoid being dragged into dreams by the Extreme Dao Relic Shell and slowing his progress, Xu Yunfan trained without rest.

Every morning, he would stand on a precarious cliff, welcoming the East Coming Purple Qi and using his Pure Yang Qi Skill to refine the essence of the dawn.

At noon, he would roast and devour the last of the Demon Flesh and Blood, supplementing it with the Qi of Ginseng as he practiced his Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique.

At night, he followed his routine, absorbing a mouthful of the Qi of Ginseng and transforming it into searing, magma-like currents that flowed through his flesh, bones, and sinews.

Afterward, he would sit cross-legged, form the hand seal for the Linn Character Technique, and silently chant the Supreme Kindness Heart Spell.

Aided by the Qi of Ginseng and the ambient Spiritual Qi, his spirit was slowly but surely growing tougher through constant refinement, even though his Skill Level in the Linn Character Technique hadn’t increased by a single point.

Completely immersed in his cultivation, Xu Yunfan lost track of time. Before he knew it, seven days had passed, and he had consumed every last bit of the old ape’s Demon Flesh and Blood.

As his Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength completed its final cycle, Xu Yunfan felt a stir within him. An irrepressible urge rose in his throat.

A roar like that of a dragon and a tiger suddenly erupted from his throat. White mist shot out from every pore on his body, coalescing into three hundred and sixty whisker-like tendrils that fanned out into the air.

From deep within his body, the Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength rang out like clashing metal. It had almost completely saturated him, infusing every fiber of his flesh with Strength.

The mere lift of a hand or a foot produced the crackling sound of wind and thunder.

CRACK!

His shoulder blades abruptly jutted out by a foot, resembling two miniature volcanoes.

Boiling Strength surged down the great dragon of his spine, tearing through twelve layers of physical shackles as it went.

Like a great flood, his flesh could no longer contain the explosive surge of Strength. As a roar like a river bursting its banks echoed within him, Xu Yunfan was shocked to feel his blood slowly thickening into a mercury-like slurry. The instant it shattered the walls of his blood vessels, it produced a muffled boom like a collapsing mountain.

’Your Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer has advanced to the Great Success stage.’

’You have stepped into the Blood Exchange Realm.’

The moment the notifications popped up on his Attribute Panel, Xu Yunfan’s hearing vanished.

His world turned a bloody scarlet. He could see his own heart, which seemed to have transformed into a twelve-cylinder engine, pumping furiously and circulating an incredible volume of blood.

In this churning, crimson world of his inner vision, every muscle seemed to transform into a knotted, red copper chain, groaning as it was scoured by massive torrents of warmth that materialized from thin air.

His once dark-red blood vessels now gleamed with a metallic luster. As the surging, mercury-like blood crashed against their walls, it produced a roar that blended the cry of a dragon with the seething of molten rock.

He watched as the bulging veins on his arms transformed, inch by inch, into a jade-like substance. The network of fascia beneath his skin began to glow with a fiery light, as if it were Profound Iron under a blacksmith’s hammer.

He swallowed subconsciously. The warm current generated by the Attribute Panel was causing one hundred twenty-nine thousand, six hundred of his hematopoietic marrow cells to undergo a frenzied fission. The resulting blood cells were far stronger than their predecessors.

Tougher, more active, with a far more potent Blood Qi.

Wisps of Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength began to merge with his blood, stimulating his Blood Qi, which grew ever more solid and refined.

Driven by the rapid changes from the Attribute Panel, his mercury-like blood transformed into a river of molten rock. The surface of every blood cell radiated a toughness born from a thousand temperings.

The Red Flood Dragon Mountain Coiling Strength seeped deep into his bone marrow, causing all one hundred twenty-nine thousand, six hundred marrow cells to tremble in unison. The new blood that gushed forth was infused with a dragon-shaped Strength, forming a nine-layered spiral vortex within his vessels.

THUMP-THUMP!

The drumming of his heart was so powerful it cracked the very ground beneath him. A massive amount of Strength began to circulate with his blood, reaching even the most infinitesimal parts of his body it had never reached before.

This Realm represented a true evolution of one’s life form, greatly enhancing both vitality and Life Force.

His lifespan had now surpassed human limits; he could live for at least two hundred years.

Furthermore, the Life Force of a Blood Exchange Realm Martial Artist was unbelievably immense. Even if their heart were to be shattered or their organs destroyed, they could still recover by flooding the injuries with their powerful Blood Qi.

This was exactly the case with Qin Lie and Chu Mo, whom Xu Yunfan had hammered to death. If he hadn’t destroyed their heads, they could have used a Secret Martial Technique to briefly restore themselves to their peak combat strength.

As he processed the massive influx of memories about cultivating the Thousand-Pound Mountain-Shaking Hammer Technique, Xu Yunfan shook his head and couldn’t help but grin.

The cultivation depicted in those memories was far more arduous than his own—in fact, it was brutal to the extreme.

This infusion of cultivation memories from the Attribute Panel felt as if he had been locked in a dark room and forced to train until he reached the Blood Exchange Realm, at which point the memories of that ordeal were spliced into his mind.

(Thank you to readers 9275 and Xian Yun Bu for the donations! Thank you all for your support, and for the monthly and recommendation tickets. Thank you! Another Chapter is on its way, still writing.)