Chapter 963: Body Strengthening Art Breakthrough! 240,000 Blood Qi!

My Body Strengthening Art has reached the ninth level, with blood qi at 150,000 points and mental strength at 175,000 Hz.

This Thunder Dragon is merely a low-tier ninth-rank beast; absorbing its blood won’t cause me any side effects.

Xu Jingming continued speaking.

The emotional side effects from absorbing beast blood stem fundamentally from insufficient mental strength.

Now my mental strength is strong enough, and my mental sea is guarded by a guardian spirit—I won’t experience the same emotional outbursts as when I was with Teacher Ling.

“Really? That’s good.”

Su Qingli nodded unconsciously.

Despite having every reason to feel happy, a tiny thread of disappointment lingered deep within her...

Whoosh—

A torrent of mental strength surged forth, continuously drawing the Purple Thunder Dragon’s blood out through the wound at its neck.

Three minutes later, all the Purple Thunder Dragon’s blood had been extracted, forming a massive blood sphere six meters in diameter!

Unlike ordinary blood, this sphere was not bright red, but purplish-red.

Across its surface, violent purple lightning flashed and crackled.

The corpse of the Purple Thunder Dragon, drained of all its blood, clearly lost much of its vitality.

Its aura still lingered, but it no longer felt as oppressive.

“Condense!”

With a piercing shriek, a pitch-black SSS-grade Chaos Divine Thunder roared out, swallowing the entire blood sphere.

Thunder rumbled, blood qi steamed, and impurities within the blood were continuously purged, leaving only the essence behind.

One minute later, the once six-meter-wide blood sphere had shrunk to the size of a ping-pong ball, glowing entirely with noble purple essence blood!

Purple Thunder Dragon Essence Blood!

Just this single portion of essence blood qualifies as an SSS-grade cultivation resource!

No, even higher than SSS-grade!

After all, this Purple Thunder Dragon wasn’t merely royal-tier—it was imperial-tier!

Without hesitation, Xu Jingming used his mental strength to draw the blood sphere toward himself.

The moment the purple blood sphere touched his skin, it instantly flowed into his body through his pores.

“Divine Thunder Blood Demon Body!”

Xu Jingming immediately activated his Body Strengthening Art; black thunder spread across his entire body, radiating an astonishing blood qi fluctuation.

Thump! Thump! Thump!...

His heart beat steadily, its deep, powerful rhythm echoing throughout the underground space.

Though his rank remained at mid-ninth level, the pressure emanating from his body grew increasingly terrifying!

“Such overwhelming pressure...”

Su Qingli muttered under her breath.

Even without relying on his Thunder ability, merely his physical body might already surpass many ninth-rank Martial Saints in Great Xia.

Boom!

The purple essence blood surged through his veins along the path of the Body Strengthening Art.

Each cycle infused the essence into Xu Jingming’s body, continuously enhancing his physique!

Yet as the purple essence blood neared exhaustion, Xu Jingming still felt no sign of his Body Strengthening Art about to breakthrough.

‘Deep Blue!’

He silently thought the name, and a pale blue virtual interface appeared in his mind; he glanced at the Body Strengthening Art entry.

[Body Strengthening Art]: Divine Thunder Blood Demon Body (SSS-grade, Ninth Level+)

“Forget it—just spend the points. After absorbing this essence blood, it shouldn’t take many energy points to level up.”

Energy Points -1,650,000!

Divine Thunder Blood Demon Body: Ninth Level → Tenth Level!

Ang—

A low, majestic dragon roar echoed through the underground space.

Xu Jingming’s blood qi, which had nearly stalled, surged upward again!

Boom!

The violent outburst of blood qi shook the entire underground space violently.

The Iron Lotus vines immediately extended countless roots, burrowing into the soil to stabilize the space.

“Jingming’s blood qi can still rise further?”

Su Qingli’s expression was stunned.

She had clearly sensed his blood qi growth slowing, that the dragon’s essence blood was nearly consumed.

What caused this second surge?

“It’s the Body Strengthening Art—it broke through to S-level!” Eva exclaimed happily.

“Body Strengthening Art? How could that...?”

Su Qingli knew Xu Jingming’s Body Strengthening Art had already reached an extremely high level.

Logically, absorbing the essence blood of just a low-tier ninth-rank beast emperor shouldn’t trigger a direct breakthrough.

“Still, this beast emperor’s quality differs from ordinary ones—perhaps its essence blood is purer.”

Shaking her head, Su Qingli didn’t dwell on it, continuing to observe Xu Jingming’s transformation.

Several minutes later, the crimson blood qi erupting from Xu Jingming’s body gradually faded.

When he opened his eyes, Su Qingli felt as if a top-tier beast had awakened from slumber.

That cold, indifferent gaze filled her with a crushing sense of pressure!

Fortunately, Xu Jingming quickly suppressed his aura, and the pressure vanished instantly.

“Jingming, how much did your blood qi increase? Why such overwhelming pressure?”

Su Qingli patted her chest, still shaken.

In that instant, she’d felt Xu Jingming could kill her with a single finger.

“I’m not sure—I’ll need to test it fully to know.”

Xu Jingming smiled.

Internally, he opened his system panel and checked the Physique section.

[Physique]:

“240,000 blood qi!”

Xu Jingming’s heart jolted.

Before his Body Strengthening Art breakthrough, his blood qi had only been 150,000.

Meaning, this single breakthrough had instantly boosted him by 90,000 blood qi!

“No wonder even after absorbing the essence blood, it still took 1.65 million energy points to level up the Body Strengthening Art...”

As his self-created SSS-grade Body Strengthening Art, Divine Thunder Blood Demon Body, has fourteen levels, each subsequent upgrade grants him a massive surge of blood qi!

“Let’s try absorbing the Magma Beast’s essence blood.”

Shh—

A faint glow from his space ring revealed the familiar Magma Beast essence blood before Xu Jingming.

With his blood qi greatly increased, he no longer felt crushed by the searing essence blood as he had before.

Yet his body still sent waves of discomfort—nothing like the craving he felt toward the Purple Thunder Dragon’s essence blood.

“My physique still isn’t strong enough to absorb this essence blood,” Xu Jingming frowned.

“The Magma Beast is a sovereign-tier beast; even just its essence blood isn’t easily absorbed.”

“But don’t lose heart, S-level. Once your Body Strengthening Art breaks through to the next level, you’ll be able to absorb it.”

The little girl hovering in midair sniffed.

That’s precisely why the Heavenly Fate Sect named Li Hao their Divine Son.

Such a naturally gifted being—there may not be another like him on the entire Blue Planet.

“Understood.”

Xu Jingming exhaled softly, knowing this couldn’t be rushed.

His blood qi rising to 240,000 was already an astonishing breakthrough.

“If I activate Thunder Storm Mode, my blood qi might surge close to two million...”

Xu Jingming speculated internally.