A month later, the nine Outer Disciples who had signed up appeared punctually in Yang Jing’s Cave Mansion.

After receiving the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment Chapters of the Blood Spirit Scripture, they found this Cultivation Technique even more bizarre and completely different from any they had seen before.

But now, the nine of them were in a predicament they couldn’t back out of. Even if they wanted to regret their decision, it was too late.

The will of a Golden Core Cultivator was not something that mere Outer Disciples like them could defy.

Iron Head had already prepared a large cauldron of medicinal soup and purchased nine man-sized vats, which were placed in an open area of the Cave Mansion.

After being skinned, the Cultivators would immediately be soaked in these vats to maintain their bodies’ vitality. This would prevent new skin from growing while their original skin was being refined, saving them from the agony of being skinned a second time.

Yang Jing scanned the room, looking at the nine Outer Disciples, and nodded with satisfaction.

The nine of them had already discarded all of their Five Talisman Scripture Magical Power. A faint Blood Spirit Technique Magical Power now surged through their bodies.

However, because they hadn’t been skinned and had the Restrictions carved into them yet, they could only cultivate a faint wisp of Blood Spirit Technique Magical Power, unable to advance any further. The one thing that gave these Outer Disciples some small comfort was that, unlike the balanced and gentle Five Talisman Scripture Magical Power, the Blood Spirit Technique Magical Power was extremely potent.

"Who wants to go first?"

Yang Jing asked, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked at the nine people before him.

The nine exchanged glances. The youngest among them, an Outer Disciple, stepped forward.

"Greetings, Master Yang. This disciple is willing to be the first."

Yang Jing looked at the disciple, whose face was set with determination, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. What is your name?"

"This disciple is Shao Zhongguang."

With a flick of his finger, Yang Jing sent a cyan Sword Light flying out. The Sword Light was as thin as a strand of hair, and as it flew, the faint sound of a dragon’s roar could be heard.

After forming his Golden Core, he had also comprehended the Azure Dragon Sword Scripture, the next part of the Five Dragons Sword Scripture. Of the Five Elements, only the Yellow Dragon Sword Scripture remained.

Shao Zhongguang didn’t even have time to react before his skin was completely flayed off by this single strand of Sword Silk. Because Yang Jing’s Swordsmanship was so superb, he had only peeled off the outermost epidermal layer. Shao Zhongguang appeared to be covered in blood, a horrifying sight, but in reality, not a single drop of blood had been spilled.

Yang Jing used his Magical Power to lift Shao Zhongguang’s body and submerge it in one of the large vats. The medicinal liquid inside had paralyzing, pain-relieving, and sedative effects. On Shao Zhongguang’s blood-red face, his eyes closed, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Seeing that the skinning process seemed entirely painless, the remaining eight people stepped forward one by one. Yang Jing skinned them all and submerged them in the vats of medicinal liquid.

Yang Jing used his Magical Power to levitate the nine sheets of human skin, suppressing them with his Celestial True Yang to prevent them from becoming necrotic after being separated from their bodies.

He levitated a prepared Golden Needle with his Magical Power, dipped it into an ointment mixed with a drop of Profound Yin Blood Demon True Blood, and began to tattoo the Restrictions onto the human skin.

The corrosive power of the Profound Yin True Blood was too strong, so Yang Jing used a very small amount to prevent them from being overwhelmed by the True Blood.

When it was time to inscribe the Restrictions for Chi Yu, he would be able to use more, as she herself possessed the Profound Yin Blood Demon Bloodline.

Yang Jing had devised these Talismanic Script Restrictions combined with those from the Ghost Book himself, so he worked flawlessly, swiftly completing all the Restriction tattoos on the nine sheets of skin.

After that, he took out the Nine Cranes Furnace and used Yang Fire to refine the nine sheets of human skin, permanently searing the inscribed Restrictions onto them.

Any yang-attribute Spiritual Fire would have worked for this step, but the Yang Fire produced by Yang Jing’s Celestial True Gang was the most suitable.

The nine sheets of skin floated back and forth inside the furnace, refined by the Yang Fire.

The skins were refined in the Nine Cranes Furnace for nearly nine hours before Yang Jing used his Magical Power to retrieve them.

After being refined by the Yang Fire, not only did the skins have no burn marks, but they also faintly radiated Yang Qi, having become translucent and pliable.

Yang Jing lifted the Cultivators from the vats one by one and, as if dressing them in clothes, put their skins back on them.

At this moment, the advantage of his Celestial True Gang was on full display. This Gang Qi, created by harmonizing Wood Qi and Sun Essence Qi through the True Yang Body’s Secret Technique, was like a blazing Great Sun to Celestial Demons and Demons, capable of destroying their souls and melting their bones. For ordinary Cultivators, however, it possessed a powerful healing effect.

In a daze, the nine Outer Disciples felt their flayed skin reattach and heal back onto their bodies.

The sedative effect of the medicinal soup gradually wore off, and the nine Outer Disciples began to wake up. If not for the pile of their clothes to the side, they might have even suspected their skin had never been removed at all.

’Master Yang’s skills are simply divine.’

After scrambling to put on their clothes to cover themselves, they examined the nearly invisible wounds on their bodies—the incisions left by the Flying Sword.

"Circulate your Magical Power. How does it feel?"

Yang Jing asked.

Hearing Yang Jing’s words, the nine Outer Disciples immediately sat cross-legged on the ground and tried to perform Energy Introduction, refining the Spiritual Qi into Blood Spirit Technique Magical Power.

Before, they had constantly tried to increase their Blood Spirit Technique Magical Power, but after cultivating the first wisp, it was as if an invisible barrier in their bodies was preventing them from refining more Spiritual Qi.

But after receiving the tattoos, that hard, invisible barrier had suddenly vanished.

As Spiritual Qi was drawn into their bodies, it was dyed a blood-red color by the Restrictions beneath their skin and was converted into Blood Spirit Technique Magical Power with almost no effort.

As Outer Disciples, they had naturally never condensed a Five Elements Wheel in their Dantian, so they had never experienced the cultivation speed of the Five Talisman Scripture’s unified Five Elements Spirit Root. On the contrary, due to the danger of the Five Elements becoming imbalanced, they never dared to fully breathe in and out spiritual energy, struggling to maintain the balance of their Five Elements Magical Power.

A Cyan Gold Light flashed in Yang Jing’s eyes, and the sight of them refining Spiritual Qi filled his vision.

The Restrictions under their skin filtered out all sorts of unneeded, impure qi, leaving only the required Spiritual Qi to be absorbed into their bodies.

’It worked. My hypothesis was correct.’

A sharp glint shone in Yang Jing’s eyes.

While experimenting with the Profound Yin Blood Demon True Blood, he had discovered that the True Blood had an extremely high affinity for a type of Spiritual Qi called Huabei Essence Qi. He had then thought to amplify this affinity with the Restrictions, allowing Cultivators of the Blood Demon Scripture to exclusively breathe in this type of Spiritual Qi during their cultivation. The Magical Power produced this way would naturally be purer.

"Release a burst of Magical Power for me to see."

Yang Jing said to Shao Zhongguang.

Hearing this, Shao Zhongguang flicked his finger, and a ray of blood-red light shot out from his fingertip. After discarding his Five Talisman Scripture Magical Power, his Cultivation had fallen back to the first level of Qi Refining. This ray of blood-red light was almost all the Magical Power he had.

Yang Jing caught the burst of Magical Power.

With his Body Refining Cultivation, this bit of Magical Power naturally couldn’t affect him in any way. However, he could still feel a force from it that pulled at and disturbed one’s qi and blood.

If a Cultivator only at the Early Stage of Qi Refining were to be hit by such a finger attack, they would completely lose control of their own qi and blood.