Chapter Eight: Cultivating Qi

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Almost every newly arrived Blood Slave here experiences the excruciating agony known as the Shattered Heart Pain during their first mission. By the second month, once they have laid some foundation in their cultivation methods, learned a spell or two, and can defeat some of the weaker beasts, they might barely manage to complete their tasks.

The reason the Heavenly Star Wolf Sect established such a system is to motivate these Blood Slaves to gradually adapt to the Myriad Demon Forest behind the Abyssless Valley. Only in this way can the Blood Slaves continuously collect the blood of demonic beasts, which the sect requires for practicing demonic arts.

The mere mention of the Shattered Heart Pain is enough to instill dread; no one wishes to endure such torment again. In fact, most would rather end their own lives than suffer through it once more.

Cao Yun snorted coldly, pointing towards the front of Abyssless Valley, his tone tinged with disdain: “Is it true that if you pass through this grove and walk all the way to the stone monument of the Myriad Demon Forest, you can enter the forest and find the demonic beasts you mentioned?”

By now, Cao Yun no longer showed the respect he had before. Since the other party only wanted to use him to obtain demonic beast blood, naturally, he would no longer pretend with false politeness.

Elder Gui was slightly taken aback and let out a soft “hmm”: “You’ve been to the Myriad Demon Forest?”

Cao Yun replied calmly, “No, I only stood at the monument and already sensed the lurking dangers inside, so I didn’t go any deeper.”

Elder Gui didn’t pay much attention to Cao Yun’s words. After all, he knew that Cao Yun was not the only Blood Slave to have scouted the Myriad Demon Forest; there were even some who had rashly ventured inside and lost their lives in vain.

Moreover, after understanding the role of Blood Slaves, many, like Cao Yun, changed their attitudes.

Therefore, he did not dwell on it.

Elder Gui cared nothing for the lives of Blood Slaves.

What mattered to him was completing the inner sect’s assigned tasks. Though others respectfully called him an elder, in truth, he was merely an outer sect disciple who had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment.

Compared to the young geniuses in the inner sect whose cultivation surpassed his, his status was worlds apart.

And compared to the true sect elders, he was utterly insignificant.

“Hmph, you’d better keep your cleverness in check here,” Elder Gui warned with a wave of his robe. “After collecting the demonic beast blood, go straight to the Blood Slave Hall to submit your task. If I’m not around, other elders will delay your Shattered Heart Technique for you. Take care of yourself.”

With that, the golden eagle let out a long cry, spreading its wings to stir a gust of wind. Soon, both the eagle and Elder Gui shrank to a mere speck and vanished from Cao Yun’s sight.

Cao Yun instinctively licked his slightly dry lips, tightly gripped the bamboo scroll, and without hesitation turned to enter the woods.

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Back in the cave, he carefully unrolled the bamboo scroll.

For someone who had once practiced countless secret arts, the content on the bamboo scroll was not obscure or difficult; instead, it carried a novel and unique cultivation method.

He studied it meticulously, committing every word to memory, then carefully stored the scroll in his bosom.

Following the method described, he began to sense the pervasive fiery spiritual energy in the world and slowly guided it into his body.

As his cultivation deepened, countless tiny orbs of firelight seemed to gather in the air, eagerly flowing into him. Cao Yun’s abdomen gradually emitted a flickering glow like flames.

At times, where his torn clothing exposed his skin, faintly visible fiery spheres linked along his meridians, wandering within his body.

He cultivated thus until deep into the night. If his meridians had not reached their limit, he might have continued even longer.

After all, having once practiced numerous mortal secret arts, he understood the dangers of overexertion.

He slowly ended his cultivation, now clearly feeling a strand of fiery spiritual energy as fine as a hair gathering in his dantian. With a slight movement of his mind, the energy flowed through his body as he willed.

“At this pace, reaching the first level of Qi Refinement and mastering Fireball Technique within a month seems exceedingly difficult,” Cao Yun thought to himself.

Before he could ponder further, a sudden sharp pain came from the glove on his hand.

The newly condensed fiery energy seemed to be instantly absorbed by the glove.

Immediately, the fine hairs that had deeply embedded into his skin and flesh seemed to come alive, frantically sucking his blood.

Fortunately, this blood-sucking ceased after just a moment. Otherwise, Cao Yun might have been drained completely, just as Elder Gui had warned.

Now, staring at the glove in his hand, a complicated mixture of emotions welled up inside him. Wearing it meant enduring the absorption of both spiritual energy and blood; not wearing it, he stood no chance against the demonic beasts that even immortals found troublesome.

Cao Yun couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.

It seemed that from the moment of his birth, his fate was destined to endure this endless suffering. Even enjoying one more day of peaceful life was a luxury for him.

After careful consideration, Cao Yun made a wise decision: first ensure his internal spiritual energy was sufficient to supply the glove’s daily absorption, then consider venturing into the Myriad Demon Forest.

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He knew well that acting rashly without sufficient preparation would only plunge him into greater danger.

So, he began employing mortal cultivation secrets to nurture his body, hoping to help his meridians adapt more quickly to the flow of fiery spiritual energy, thereby prolonging his cultivation time.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and Cao Yun’s cultivation had made remarkable progress.

Now, he could cultivate enough spiritual energy to satisfy the glove’s absorption needs daily, with some left over to throw a few punches. Although this energy was far weaker than what Elder Gui had bestowed, it was already much stronger than when he wielded his short blade.

At this moment, Cao Yun finally understood why those two insignificant disciples from the Green Mountain Sect looked down on mortals so disdainfully.

Just from cultivating a trace of spiritual energy, he had several times their previous destructive power.

Reaching the level of those two Green Mountain Sect disciples, mortals who were experts likely seemed like mere ants to them.

Recalling the encounter with those Green Mountain disciples, Cao Yun felt fortunate.

Fortunately, they had not unleashed their thunderous techniques upon meeting him, or he might have died on the spot.

On the other side, the female disciple of the Green Mountain Sect was equally puzzled that a mere mortal could evade her Fireball and Flying Sword Techniques—something she had not expected.

As night fell, Cao Yun decided to cautiously scout the Myriad Demon Forest.

He knew that blindly rushing in would only endanger himself, so he intended to understand the forest’s nature first and then plan accordingly. In his mind, demonic beasts, like wild beasts, probably hunted more during the day and appeared less at night. More importantly, the constant assassin training in the Imperial City had already given him eyes capable of seeing in the dark.

His purpose was clear: this was merely a reconnaissance; he would not actively hunt the demonic beasts.

Of course, if he encountered injured or particularly weak demonic beasts, he would show no mercy—after all, this was a valuable opportunity to gather resources.