Chapter 16
Liang Chen sat in a room cross legged, bandages still wrapped around his abdomen and chest. Some were even wrapped around his head.
Even though the physician had warned him that it was not safe to cultivate, Liang Chen had lost precious while in the coma. He needed to break through now.
Breakthroughs happened rarely, a cultivator could go into seclusion for six months and only breakthrough twice. If one didn't breakthrough at a particular time, it was gone and the cultivator would need to wait again for a random breakthrough to come by.
His two marrow flowers, each nestled between the shoulder blades pulsed with life. They had been remade after getting destroyed. This time they were reformed from his blood and marrow as he was in a coma.
The marrow flowers no longer relied on qi to refine them, they relied on the very lifeforce of man. Blood.
Liang Chen inhaled deeply. His pulse slowed. The outside world bled away until it was just him… and the blood that swam beneath his skin.
And with every heartbeat, the flowers drank and drank.
The two flowers began to spin. They spun slow at first, then they began to spin faster. Their bone-petal-like structures flexed, expanding like grotesque lotuses in bloom. Blood surged toward them, drawn from every capillary, every vein.
The flower on his left shoulder pulled in the blood from his injuries, he slowly felt it, his injuries were now closing up.
The flower on his right shoulder flared with light as the very essence of blood was turned into strength.
The flowers twisted, overlapping at the center of his back like two gears grinding in perfect sync.
THRUM!
The blood in his body began to heat up.
Then he felt the sensation of his blood boiling. He held back a scream. If he screamed, that was a sign of weakness. Blood didn't thrive on weakness.
Then he felt his blood ignite.
His body shivered, every nerve was set ablaze. He felt his bones pop as new marrow, pushed out the old marrow like oil forcing water from a cracked vessel. When an old marrow was expunged, it immediately sizzled in the heat of his body.
Suddenly, the flowers behind his back flared wide open. The petals glistened with blood.
Veins crawled up his spine. They twisted and merged together. He heard a crack as the flowers rooted themselves in his shoulder blades.
For a moment, there was silence.
The blood vortex collapsed inward in a violent implosion and everything slammed into him.
For an instant, he saw black.
Then he saw red.
Then…
BANG!
The breakthrough hit.
It wasn't gentle. It was like being thrown in a pit of ravenous wolves.
Inside the room, Liang Chen finally exhaled.
His eyes snapped open.
They were glowing faintly red.
His muscles no longer trembled. His skin was smooth, untouched by wounds. The bandages fell away, some of them burning into ash midair.
Outside, he could hear the whispers.
"I smell blood…?"
"What was that just now?"
"Did someone just…"
"Breakthrough?!"
Then a familiar sound chimed in his head.
DING!
[System Notification]
Cultivation Realm increased: Qi Condensation – Sixth Level.
Marrow Flowers Awakened: Blood Refinement Path Initiated.
Current Level: 15.
Physique Mutation: Blood Reforged Vessel achieved.
Passive Skill Gained: Crimson Regeneration — All wounds now auto-heal over time.
Passive Skill Gained: Blood Zone — You can now absorb ambient or spilled blood within a 3-meter radius to regenerate and fuel attacks.
Passive Skill Gained: Draining Touch — You can extract blood essence on contact with a living being.
Physical Strength has drastically increased.
Marrow Flowers: Saturated and fully active.
Heaven-Eater Lineage mastery: 5%
Warning: Your presence now emits faint blood intent. Concealment recommended in civilian zones.
Liang Chen blinked.
Then blinked again.
The text faded from his vision like mist vanishing under sunlight.
A grin spread across his face.
Outside the room, someone gasped. A servant, maybe. One of the lesser disciples stationed to watch over his recovery.
"S-Senior Brother Liang?! You…"
The door creaked open slowly.
Light spilled in from the doorway.
Liang Chen turned.
His silhouette was cast in the light. His bandages were gone. His muscles were leaner and more refined. His injuries had completely healed, his skin didn't even have a blemish of a scar on it.
He looked at the servant boy. The boy looked back.
And he was sweating.
"I… I didn't mean to peek, p…please don't drain my blood!"
Liang Chen blinked, then laughed.
The kind of laugh one gave when they heard something very funny.
He walked past the kid.
Each step was deliberate. Each step made the blood under the boy's skin recoil in fear. Liang Chen could hear the boy's heart beating faster and faster.
Liang Chen stood beside him, and whispered into his ear.
"Relax. I don't drink the blood of the innocents."
Upon hearing this, the boy breathed a sigh of relief.
He stepped out into the hallway of the palace, the moonlight pouring through the windows. He walked outside.
Each time he passed someone, they'd stare at him in fear. Little children began weeping, holding onto their mothers. Weaker disciples passed out just by standing too close to him. And worse…
He reeked of blood.