— "Bloodburn Art"!
This was the Qi Refining stage cultivation method issued by the Reverse Blood Sect.
Even though Wang Yu had already prepared himself mentally for any cost, the sheer madness of the technique still left him stunned.
It was a pure, unfiltered demonic cultivation art—a true shortcut in every sense.
The practitioner burns their essence and blood, transmuting them into the most primitive form of Bloodfire Spiritual Energy.
Essence represents one's life force—the very root of existence. Blood, meanwhile, governs the body's vitality, strength, and health.
Deplete your blood, and you suffer premature aging—white hair, withered skin, frailty, and chronic illness.
Deplete your essence, and your organs begin to decay, your skin slackens, your lifespan shortens, and your body wastes away.
In other words—you trade your life for power.
With the sacrifice of three years of lifespan, any cultivator—no matter their aptitude—could break through to the First Layer of Qi Refining within a single month.
From that moment onward, one became a qualified Spirit Slave.
At first glance, it sounded like a one-time bargain—three years of life for the right to begin cultivation. Harsh, but manageable.
However, the true nightmare lay in the second part: the monthly Spirit Sand quota.
Each month, they would need to condense one or two taels of Spirit Sand—by consuming their cultivation.
And when cultivation drops, they must rebuild it. Rebuilding costs lifespan.
A vicious cycle of endless, consuming decline.
"That monthly Spirit Sand requirement… that's the real killer," Wang Yu muttered.
He flipped through the entire Bloodburn Art, thinking deeply before selecting it and assigning it to his one and only trump card—his mysterious [Idle Slot].
[Idle Slot 1: Bloodburn Art]
Bloodburn Art (0/100): Trains 48 times a day; achieves mastery in one year.
"???"
Wang Yu blinked.
This was the first time his Idle Slot had shown such a change. It had never happened before—likely because this was the first cultivation technique he had loaded into it.
But still—forty-eight sessions a day?!
"Half an hour per session? What am I, a human torch?!" he cursed. "I'll burn myself into dust!"
Just as he was about to remove it, hesitation stopped him.
This might be the only chance he had to rise again.
"…I'll try one session," he decided. "Wait thirty minutes, see what happens."
Half an hour later, Wang Yu opened his eyes.
To his surprise, nothing strange had happened. He wasn't exhausted, and he didn't feel his life burning away.
Instead, his mind felt clearer—filled with faint but detailed insight and experience about cultivating the Bloodburn Art.
Inside his body, a small current of warmth flowed briefly—three breaths long—then vanished.
No loss of lifespan. No blood-burning pain. And yet… it was working.
It was perplexing.
After years of studying his Idle Slot's peculiarities, Wang Yu suddenly understood.
The Bloodburn Art's "lifeburn" effect wasn't mandatory—it was simply an option, a dangerous shortcut. The technique could still absorb natural spiritual energy like any normal cultivation art.
That brief warmth earlier? That was likely the Idle Slot simulating a full cycle of the technique.
And since the Idle Slot never tires and never stops—forty-eight rounds a day now made sense.
He pondered further.
A cultivator's progress in early stages depended on three main factors—spiritual root aptitude, the surrounding spiritual vein, and the strength of one's body and mind.
A Heavenly Spiritual Root had an innate attraction to matching elements of spiritual qi; cultivation would flow naturally, gentle and smooth.
A wasted root like Wang Yu's, however, was a disaster.
His five-element root was complete, but with zero affinity—he had to manually sense and seize spiritual qi, which always came in violent, unrefined waves.
Out of ten threads of qi absorbed, he could refine only one—sometimes none.
That was why wasted roots almost never broke through Qi Refining Stage Four.
Fortunately, the Reverse Blood Sect's headquarters was built atop several Fourth-Tier spiritual veins.
Even if most of the energy was concentrated near the main peaks, the Stone House District still held enough qi to rival a First-Tier Superior Vein—a remarkably good environment for cultivation.
Yet good environment or not, poor aptitude remained the bottleneck.
Wang Yu's weak body and faint spiritual sense limited how long he could focus.
Most Qi Refining novices could run at most four full cycles of a cultivation method per day.
Even those with Heavenly Roots couldn't cultivate nonstop for twelve hours—their meridians simply couldn't handle the strain.
Only once a cultivator's spiritual sense matured and their meridians strengthened—usually after breaking into mid-Qi Refining—did it become easier.
This was why the talented grew faster and faster while the mediocre lagged behind.
By the time they reached Foundation Establishment, the gap became insurmountable.
Still, Wang Yu's Idle Slot changed everything.
Forty-eight cycles per day, nonstop.
Even with his poor aptitude, the cumulative effect would be extraordinary.
True, his meridians limited how much qi he could truly refine—hence why that inner warmth lasted only three breaths. But even so, he was elated.
To have the Idle Slot work at all—it was a miracle.
With time and growth, he could improve his root, enhance his conversion rate, and the Idle Slot's effects would multiply exponentially.
After all, each major realm breakthrough refined not only the soul and body, but also improved spiritual aptitude.
Most five-root mortals simply never lived long enough to reach that point—but now, Wang Yu had hope.
"And since the Idle Slot operates separately from my body," he realized, "I can cultivate in parallel!"
He resumed studying the technique. Every half hour, insights flooded his mind—refinements, corrections, instinctive understanding of the Bloodburn Art's flow and balance.
Even the faint spiritual energy that appeared intermittently, though too small to refine, nourished his body.
He was beginning to feel it—the gentle vitality of spiritual qi tempering his flesh.
Then came another discovery.
The Idle Slot didn't interact with his body—or the outside world—at all.
Meaning: the qi it produced came from nowhere.
It was generating energy from the void itself.
Which meant… even without spiritual veins, even in a dead land devoid of qi, he could still cultivate endlessly.
Infinite cycles. Constant progress.
The amount was small, yes—but the implications were vast.
The Idle Slot's "small conveniences," combined, became a terrifying advantage.
Thus passed a full day.
Even as Wang Yu slept, the Idle Slot continued to operate. Each hour brought new comprehension, new insights, new feedback.
By the time dawn touched the horizon, his understanding of the Bloodburn Art had already leapt an entire tier.
He didn't need to meditate. Didn't need to force enlightenment.
The breakthrough… might come today.
(End of Chapter 4)