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

My Body Strengthening Art has reached the Ninth Layer, my blood qi at 150,000 points, and my mental strength at 175,000 Hz.

This lightning dragon is merely a low-rank ninth-tier beast; absorbing its blood won't cause me any side effects.

Xu Jingming spoke next.

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

Now that my mental strength is strong enough, and my mental sea is guarded by a Guardian Spirit, there's no chance I'll 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 out the purple lightning dragon's blood through the wound at its neck.

Three minutes later, all the purple lightning 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 lightning dragon, drained of all its blood, clearly lost much of its vitality.

Its aura still lingered, but no longer carried the same oppressive weight.

"Condense!"

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

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

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

Purple Lightning 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 lightning dragon was not a King-tier beast—it was a Royal-tier quality beast!

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 surge of blood qi.

Thump! Thump! Thump!...

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

Though his rank remained at mid-ninth-tier, the oppressive aura emanating from Xu Jingming's body grew even more terrifying!

"Such a strong oppressive aura..."

Su Qingli muttered in awe.

Even without relying on his lightning ability, merely with this body alone, Xu Jingming might already be stronger than many ninth-tier Martial Saints of Great Xia.

Boom—!

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

Each cycle infused the essence blood deeper into Xu Jingming's body, continuously enhancing his physical form!

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

'Deep Blue!'

He silently called out, and a pale blue virtual interface appeared in his mind; he looked at the Body Strengthening Art entry.

【Body Strengthening Art】: Divine Thunder Blood Demon Body (SSS-grade, Ninth Layer+)

"Forget it—just spend the points. After absorbing this essence blood, it shouldn't take many Ability Points to level up."

Ability Points -1,650,000!

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

Roar—

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 Ironthread Lotus immediately extended countless roots, burying themselves into the soil, stabilizing the entire area.

"Jingming's blood qi can still rise further?"

Su Qingli's expression was stunned.

She had clearly sensed Xu Jingming's blood qi growth slowing, the dragon essence blood nearly depleted.

What caused this second surge?

"It's the Body Strengthening Art—it broke through!" Yiwa exclaimed joyfully.

"Body Strengthening Art? How could it...?"

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-rank ninth-tier beast king shouldn't have triggered an immediate breakthrough.

"Still, this beast king's quality is different from ordinary ones—its essence blood might be 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 finally began to subside.

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

That indifferent gaze made her feel a heavy sense of oppression!

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

"Jingming, how much did your bloodline increase? Why is the pressure so intense?"

Su Qingli patted her chest, still shaken.

In that instant, she felt Xu Jingming could kill her with just a flick of his finger!

"I'm not sure—I'll need to test it fully to know."

Xu Jingming smiled.

Inside, he quietly opened his system panel and looked at the Physique column.

【Physique】:

"240,000 bloodline!"

Xu Jingming's heart jolted.

Before his Body Strengthening Art had broken through, his bloodline had only been 150,000.

That meant this single breakthrough had instantly increased his bloodline by 90,000!

"No wonder even after absorbing essence blood, I still needed 1.65 million energy points to add points to Body Strengthening Art..."

As his self-created SSS-grade Body Strengthening Art, Doushen Shenlei Blood Chaos Body, has fourteen layers, each subsequent breakthrough grants him a massive surge of bloodline!

"Let's try absorbing the Meltfire Colossus essence blood."

Swish—

The space ring glowed faintly, and the familiar Meltfire Colossus essence blood appeared before Xu Jingming.

With his bloodline greatly increased, he no longer felt crushed by this seething essence blood as he had before.

Yet his body still sent waves of discomfort, unlike the craving he felt when facing the Purple Lightning Colossus essence blood.

"My Physique still isn't strong enough to absorb this essence blood," Xu Jingming frowned.

"The Meltfire Colossus is a Dominator-level ferocious beast; even just this essence blood isn't easy to absorb."

"But don't lose heart, S-rank—when your Body Strengthening Art breaks through to the next layer, you should be able to."

The little girl, Eva, floated in midair and sniffed.

That's precisely why the Tianming Sect listed Li Hao as the 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 bloodline rising to 240,000 was already an astonishing breakthrough.

"If I activate Thunderstorm State, my bloodline might surge close to two million..."

Xu Jingming speculated inwardly.