Stranger Danger

Ye Qing took out the Annon Sutra and put the container holding the mysterious blood on the table. When he unfurled the vellum, he noticed something odd. That’s strange. I’m pretty sure that rune wasn’t glowing before.

One of the strange runes on the Annon Sutra was emanating a grayish glow.

Is it because I killed a Red Walker earlier? Yes, that has to be it!

Last night, a rune had lit up after the yin spirit was dead. Today, the same thing happened again after he killed the Red Walker. It made sense that the ignition of these runes were tied to the Strangers he killed.

I wonder what they’re for? Never mind, that can wait. My question is more important right now.

Ye Qing bit his finger and squeezed out a drop of blood. Then, he asked, “How can I increase my cultivation speed?”

The blood drop wriggled on the vellum as if it was alive before vanishing into the material. But contrary to Ye Qing’s expectations, no words appeared on the Annon Sutra at all.

“Why isn’t it working? It’s not broken, is it? No, that doesn’t make sense!” Ye Qing racked his brain with a frown. “Maybe it just needs more blood?”

A moment of hesitation later, Ye Qing went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. When he returned, he gritted his teeth and cut open his finger, spilling a steady stream of blood on the Annon Sutra. The blood wriggled, and the vellum began glowing once more. Four or five breaths later, a familiar blood red text finally came into view:

“My body is too weak to withstand the effects of a Body Tempering stage cultivation art, but I do not have the option to grow at a slow and steady pace. If I do not become strong as soon as possible, it won’t be long before I succumb to the Strangers haunting the wilderness, or the enemies lurking within the village. What should I do? Can I really do nothing but wait to die?”

“No, I’m not out of ideas yet. Perhaps the dragon-serpent runes on the Annon Sutra may offer me a solution.”

“... Okay, the dragon-serpent runes on the Annon Sutra may be able to help me. But how? What do I do exactly?” Ye Qing blinked dumbfoundedly. “Finish your sentence, man. Don’t you know it’s bad manners to leave someone hanging?”

Ye Qing subconsciously put his right hand on the gray rune as he complained. That turned out to be the right thing to do. The rune flashed once before disappearing into his body.

Boom!

An immense amount of energy filled with strength and vigor detonated inside him. Before he realized what was happening, it spread throughout his body and filled him with staggering warmth. His wounds, his weakness, and even the invisible damage that had been accumulating inside his body were all gone. However, there were far, far more energy in the rune than was necessary to restore him to full health. It began charging all over the place like a living creature, smacking its shapeless head against the confines of his physical body until his eyes turned bloodshot, and his face became as red as an apple. Blood jetted out of his nostrils like he was in a comic, and his skin began cracking inch by inch while oozing red blood.

The blood itself was overflowing with vitality. His cracked skin was also healing, breaking, healing, then breaking again in an endless cycle. Ye Qing understood at once that this was happening because he had absorbed too much vitality. Just like how a common man might die if he ate solid food after a prolonged period of starvation, he was suffering because his body was frail, and he didn’t know how to control the bursting vitality.

“Oh dear. I’m not about to die from ‘excessive intake’, am I?” Ye Qing chuckled helplessly. He really didn’t want to die like this. He would become the biggest laughingstock of all time if he did.

“Wait, the ‘Seven Forms of Demon Subjugation’! Now’s the perfect time to temper my body, isn’t it?”

Earlier, he was troubled because he lacked the strength and vigor to practice the Body Tempering stage cultivation art properly. But now, he was literally bursting with it. If now wasn’t the time to cultivate his power, then when?

Ye Qing was a man of action, so he immediately rose to his feet and emulated the first form of the “Seven Forms of Demon Subjugation” once more. Even as he fell into position, he could feel the energy in his body slowing down and flowing in a more controlled fashion. At the very least, it wasn’t barging all over the place like a headless fly anymore. It was relieving in more ways than one.

Unlike his first attempt, Ye Qing was able to finish the first form without any problems whatsoever. It was the same when he moved on to the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh form, completing a full cycle. By the time he was done, Ye Qing felt like every part of his body had become healthier. His strength was also much bigger than before.

“That’s what I’m talking about! Again!”

Ye Qing was ecstatic. Most people tempered their body starting from their limbs, their torso, and finally their internal organs. It wasn’t because they didn’t want to temper them all at the same time, but because they simply did not have the strength and vigor to do it. However, he had the opposite “problem”. He had so much energy in him he was in danger of exploding if he didn’t use them up somehow. It was why he could temper every part of his body at the same time.

Not about to waste this golden opportunity or wait for his body to explode, Ye Qing immediately went back to the first form and resumed his training. He was so absorbed in the activity that he did not notice that the container beside the Annon Sutra wobbling suddenly as if something was trying to break out.

Clatter… clatter… clatter…

A moment later, the container wobbled one last time before an eerie red seeped out into the open. It looked both evil and terrifying.

Bang!

The next second, the container abruptly exploded into smithereens, and a single drop of dark red blood shot toward Ye Qing. It entered his body before he even realized what just happened.

“The hell?”

Ye Qing frowned when felt something foreign entering his body, but before he could react a cold, dark, evil, terrible and deathly energy exploded within him and consumed all of his blood in an instant.

Blood made up approximately ten percent of an adult's weight. To lose it all was to wither away until one was nothing but skin and bones. That was what had happened to Ye Qing. A deathly aura surrounded him. If not for the fact that he was still breathing, Ye Qing certainly could’ve been mistaken for a shriveled corpse.

“What the fuck! What’s going on? Why is this happening?!”

Ye Qing could feel his vitality being greedily devoured by something. At the same time, images of death, slaughter, profanity and darkness were contaminating his mind and dulling his consciousness. If not for the dragon-serpent rune’s immense energy working tirelessly to repair his body and restore his vitality, he would be dead already.

This could not go on though. The unknown entity eating him from the inside out seemed to possess a bottomless appetite. No matter how much new blood and vitality were being produced, it had devoured it all like a blackhole. At this rate, he was going to die!

“Wait a second, where’s the container? Is it the blood?”

Ye Qing was panicking when he noticed that the container bearing the mysterious blood was gone. He immediately put two and two together and felt his heart clenching in horror.

“Fuck! I should’ve known this would happen!”

Ye Qing was overflowing with bitter regret. He would not have ended up in this situation if he hadn’t gotten greedy and taken the blood home. Now, he was reaping what he sowed.

“What do I do? I don’t want to die!”

Ye Qing abruptly slapped himself in the head and forced himself to calm down. Regret would not change anything. He could bask in self-recrimination all he wanted after he had saved himself.

After shaking his head strongly in an attempt to regain some clarity, he took a step forward and snatched the Annon Sutra from the table. Even in his addled state, he knew that it was the only thing that might save his life!

The second he made contact with the vellum, the dragon-serpent runes on its surface shook and swam around like they were alive. At the same time, an icy sensation entered his body and slowly pushed away the negative emotions that were raging inside his head. A couple more seconds later, his initial panic had subsided as well.

“Don’t fail me now, Annon Sutra…”

Ye Qing bit his finger and attempted to squeeze out some blood, but to his surprise, nothing came out. Unwilling to believe this was happening, he chewed his finger until he damned ripped it in half, but still he wasn’t able to squeeze out even a drop of blood.

“...”

How is this possible?! I… Right, the damn thing is sucking up all my blood! Even the new blood is gone before they can enter my finger!

The Annon Sutra hadn’t failed him, but he had failed the Annon Sutra. What the flying fuck was he supposed to do now?

Not yet! It’s not over yet! This is a cultivation universe, and the blood is inside my body, right? What if I try refining it?

Since the Annon Sutra was useless at the moment, he had no choice but to try something else. He had never been a giver-upper in his first life, and he wasn’t about to start in his second life. Based on his rich experience in fiction over the years, blood that contained vast and mysterious powers like this one could usually be refined and absorbed. If the characters in those novels could pull off such a feat, then why not him?

Without further ado, Ye Qing took a pose and began practicing the “Seven Forms of Demon Subjugation”. To his utmost delight, it worked. Almost as soon as he made his move, the blood flowing through his veins suddenly became much louder, and a small portion of the vitality and energy that were being pulled into the blood suddenly stopped in their tracks. It was because the cultivation art had intercepted them to temper his tattered body.

“It’s working!”

Greatly encouraged by the success, Ye Qing hurriedly moved onto the next form. At first, the cultivation art could only intercept a small portion of his vitality and energy. But after he went through a total of forty-nine cycles, he was able to wrestle most of them back under his control. The corruptive power of the blood was also much weaker than before.

“Oh shit! The dragon-serpent rune is about to run out of power!”

Unfortunately, Ye Qing still wasn’t out of danger. The dragon-serpent rune had been feeding the blood and over fifty cycles of cultivation, so it was only natural that it would be close to running out of power. However, Ye Qing hadn’t finished refining the blood yet, and without a steady supply of vitality and energy to keep it at bay, he was still going to be sucked dry and killed in the end. All of his efforts would’ve been for naught.

“Wait! I still have another rune!”

He had ignited one rune when he killed the yin spirit, and another when he took out the Red Walker. It was exactly what he needed to save his life.

The heavens haven’t abandoned me yet!

Ye Qing immediately slapped his hand over the gray rune. The next second, it slipped into his body and erupted into a tremendous vortex of energy, shielding him from the blood’s influence once more.

Ye Qing immediately started cultivating the “Seven Forms of Demon Subjugation” again. He did not dare to waste even a second.

One time…

Five times…

Ten times…

Twenty times…

Like a tireless machine, Ye Qing practiced the Body-Tempering cultivation art again and again. Slowly but surely, his shriveled, decaying body began to fill up. His muscles bulged, his vitality was restored, and the aura of death that had surrounded him up until this point was gone before he knew it.

That wasn’t all. The false death experience had completed his cultivation in a way Ye Qing couldn’t possibly imagine. To have “died” once and come back to life as if reborn, his skin, flesh, bone, blood and internal organs were tougher and stronger than they would’ve been. More importantly, the corruptive power of the blood was steadily fading thanks to his persistent effort. Even if he were to stop now, he wouldn’t be in danger of dropping dead without warning anymore.

Rumble…

Around half a teatime [1] later, the corruptive power of the blood finally vanished. Something unexpected happened to him then. The refined blood abruptly merged with his blood and flooded him with heat, making him feel like his blood was boiling over a stove. At the same time, a vast, profound and terrible power he could not even describe washed over his whole body and filled him with strength.

“What incredible power!”

Ye Qing was as flushed as a boiled crab as every pore in his body opened and released a thin mist of blood. Like a blood red sun, he emitted so much heat and light that the entire room was dyed red.

Ye Qing was caught off guard at first. It wasn’t every day you turned into a blood red sun after all. Then, he jumped in delight because he knew that the energy came from the mysterious blood. Previously, it was overflowing with powers of darkness, death, cold, extinction, and anything else that was in direct opposition to the concept of vitality. Now, all that was left was pure energy and the truest essence of its power.

The amount of energy contained within the drop of blood was easily greater than the two dragon-serpent runes combined, and that was before including the arcane essence. If he hadn’t accidentally tempered his body once before the blood attacked him, the sheer amount of energy within the blood would have burst him like a balloon. Even now, his skin was cracking ominously and oozing blood all over the floor.

“Cough! Cough… Well, it’d be a shame not to put all this energy to good use. Time to grind like no tomorrow!” Ye Qing coughed as blood jetted out of his nose again. He wasn’t going to die from “excessive intake” after all the shit he just went through!

Ye Qing wiped away his nosebleed and assumed a pose. Once more, he practiced the “Seven Forms of Demon Subjugation”.

“Hoo… hoo…”

His form was the fuel, and his body the furnace. Every time he moved, steam would rise from his flushed skin and float around him like a layer of mist. Bit by bit, his skin, flesh, blood, bone, and internal organs were reforged to become better than before. Some time during the cultivation, he lost track of time completely. It wasn’t until sunlight flooded through narrow windows and illuminated the floor when a profound transformation came over Ye Qing. His skin and muscles abruptly became as hard as steel, his bones crackled and popped as loud as thunder, his blood rushed in his ears like a river, and every contraction of his heart resonated like the rumble of a heavenly gong. A terrifying yet magnificent aura began rising from his body.

“Hmm!”

Ye Qing abruptly clenched his fist. The surrounding air immediately boomed as if it had been crushed between his fingers.

“‘Skin as tough as layered leather, muscles as firm as iron, blood as brimful as river, bones as hard as steel, organs as solid as jade, and heartbeats as loud as thunder’… these are all signs that a warrior has reached the adept level in the Body Tempering stage, isn’t it? Am I really an adept Reforged already?” Ye Qing’s eyes lit up when he recalled a certain passage from the cultivation manual. Assuming he wasn’t deluding himself, it was a near perfect fit with his physical condition.

Snap!

Ye Qing tried leaning against his table when suddenly, the furniture snapped and threw him off balance. When he regained his footing and looked down on his feet, he realized he had stomped down the limestone floor so hard that a number of footprints several inches deep had been left behind.

“What the… What is this strength?!” Ye Qing’s eyes widened like saucers as he gulped. For a time, he could only stare disbelievingly at his own hands until a silly giggle overcame him.

To say he was ten or even twenty times stronger than he was before would be an understatement. It was the same for his vigor and resilience. Not only that, he was pretty sure he was a lot stronger than the average adept Reforged that was described in the cultivation manual. According to the text, a warrior who had reached the adept level in the Body Tempering stage would be “as strong as a fiery stallion”. However, he was pretty sure he could physically tear a tiger in half if he wanted to.

“Hahaha! I’m not just an adept Reforged, I’m an exceptional adept Reforged! Now I feel like I can actually protect myself!” exclaimed Ye Qing in delight while stomping his feet. It was a mistake because half his leg sank into the floor like it was soft mud. He knew it was because he wasn’t used to his newfound strength.

“It took me only half a day to reach completion in the Body Tempering stage. Man, I’m such a genius!” Ye Qing couldn’t help boast smugly to himself.

“The form fuels, the body forges.

River of blood hot enough to boil a hill.

Muscles stretch, insides weep.

When harmony is reached, the titan bellows a thousand autumns.”

Warriors often sang this short mantra while they were cultivating the “Seven Forms of Demon Subjugation”. It was basically a description of the method and process of the Body Tempering stage. The form was the fuel, the body was the furnace, and the blood was the fire. All three components were essential in the body tempering process and complemented each other like yin and yang. Together, they eliminated all the impurities in one’s skin, flesh, blood, bone and internal organs and forged them anew. At the end of the process, when every part of the body had resonated with one another and entered a harmonious state, the warrior would become a mighty adept Reforged whose strength and vigor knew no bounds.

Ye Qing had the “Seven Forms of Demon Subjugation” and a near inexhaustible supply of strength and vigor. That was why he was able to reach the adept level in less than a day.

Of course, it was mostly luck that he succeeded at all in the first place. If it wasn’t for the Annon Sutra, the dragon-serpent runes, and even the drop of blood that nearly cost him his life, forget becoming an adept Reforged, he wouldn’t be anything!

“Wait… I think there’s more?”

Ye Qing noticed something odd while he was inspecting his body. Besides his obviously changed physique, his blood also felt very different from normal. For starters, it was as viscous as glue. Second, it was easily tens of times richer than it was before. Third, each drop of blood contained an unimaginable amount of power, and finally, they were constantly dividing into new blood and battling each other like hungry, aggressive beasts. Not only that, he quickly found himself taken in by their desire to fight and consume as well. To be exact, he desired to consume blood and vitality.

“Gulp…”

The mere thought of blood caused him to swallow like it was the finest delicacy. As if responding to his thoughts, his blood grew increasingly restless and manic as well. They buzzed incessantly like annoying flies.

He exclaimed in realization, “I see… It’s the blood.”

He had refined the Stranger’s blood and absorbed it. It made sense he would inherit its power to consume as well as its bloodlust.

To snap himself out of the unnatural desire, Ye Qing bit down hard on his lip. It was enough for him to regain clarity of the mind and, over time, calm down his bloodlust as well.

“This isn’t ideal, but it’s not a huge problem either. I should just continue my cultivation and get used to my new power!” muttered Ye Qing to himself. He didn’t think that the bloodlust would affect him too much. For now at least, it took only a token effort to push it away. He just wondered if it would turn out to be a blessing or a curse down the line.

Well, we’ll see.

Ye Qing shook away the thoughts and went back to his cultivation. The sooner he got used to his newfound power, the better. He should use up the remnant energy in his body as well.

1. One teatime is the time it takes for a cup of tea to cool down after being served. About 10 ~ 20 minutes. ☜