Chapter 166: Ao Blood Tattoo

"Since it's the clan chief's order, you must already know the difference between the two tattoos, so which one do you want to choose?"

After entering the house, the tattoo elder began preparing the tattoo tools and kindly asked Chen Shicheng which tattoo he wanted to choose.

Many pattern pictures hang on the wall, and the top two should be the appearances of the two tattoo rewards after completion.

The Fire Crow pattern is a crow spreading its wings high, surrounded by flames just like what Chen Shicheng saw outside, while the Fusan split‑branch tattoo is a towering tree, identical to the one on the mountain peak.

If judging by coolness, Chen Shicheng would of course choose the Fire Crow without hesitation, but none of his skills involve fire; instead his Taiyin Cold Ice Curse is of the opposite attribute.

But having a tree tattoo on his body is something he cannot accept.

After all, Chen Shicheng has always held that strength is temporary, but coolness is a lifelong principle, and while he was still pondering whether to learn a fire skill on the spot, the tattoo elder had already prepared all the tools; seeing him hesitating before the patterns, she gave a slight smile and said.

"The two bowls contain the dyes for the tattoo; the one that can increase fire damage is made from Fire Crow Blood, and the one that reduces damage is made from the juice of the Fusan split‑branch; you can look at them at your leisure and tell me when you've decided."

Hearing the tattoo elder's words, Chen Shicheng felt a stir in his heart and tentatively asked, "According to your explanation, does the ability after the tattoo depend on the material used?"

"That's right."

"What if I provide the material myself?" Chen Shicheng said excitedly, "Beast blood or some plant's juice!"

"This"

The tattoo elder hadn't expected Chen Shicheng to have such an idea, and was momentarily stunned, but quickly recovered and smiled while explaining.

"Of course you can, but you also need to provide the exact appearance of the beast or plant, and the resulting effect is uncertain; the tattoo's ability also depends on the grade of the material you provide."

According to the clan chief's requirement, Chen Shicheng should have only two options, but the tattoo elder, seeing the young man also from Zhongyuan, felt a pang of homesickness and decided to give him a small favor, even if it was a bit troublesome.

Chen Shicheng of course realized the tattoo elder was being partial to him, immediately bowed in thanks, and then began to think.

The materials he can currently obtain amount to three kinds: Ao Blood, Tai Sui Blood, and La Tiao's blood!

But the saying still holds: coolness is a lifelong matter!

Therefore the little black lump of Tai Sui was the first to be eliminated, even though its tattoo effect relates to Healing.

The second to be discarded was La Tiao; the tattoo requires more than a trivial amount of blood, and given La Tiao's size, it would take two or three extractions to meet the need, so after a moment of hesitation Chen Shicheng abandoned the idea.

So now there is only one choice: Ao Blood!

The level of the Ao Elder needs no explanation; even if Ao Blood has lost most of its potency, it is still a hundred times stronger than that so‑called Fire Crow Blood.

Moreover, Chen Shicheng has seen the Ao Elder's spirit body in battle against a newborn spirit body; although not as handsome as the Black Tortoise, it can still be described as overwhelmingly imposing, and a tattoo of it would be incredibly flashy.

As for the so‑called tattoo effect, the two existing options aren't particularly important, so Chen Shicheng decided to gamble on Ao Blood; he stopped hesitating, scanned the surroundings with Divine Perception, found no one, and poured a drop of Ao Blood from a gourd.

"Elder, could you check if this blood works?"

The moment the Ao Blood appeared, the tattoo elder showed a surprised expression, quickly used the tools to test the blood's quality, and after a while said with admiration.

"I didn't expect you to have such a fate; this blood isn't from an ordinary beast." "Hehe, lucky, lucky." Chen Shicheng scratched the back of his hand and said proudly.

But before he could revel for a few seconds, the tattoo elder doused him with a bucket of cold water and said, "This blood is too good, so my auxiliary materials can't match it."

"Huh?"

Chen Shicheng stared dumbfounded at the elder.

No matter how much he calculated, he hadn't anticipated that the excellent material would become his biggest obstacle; this reminded him of the Ao Shell in his storage bag, which is so hard that, with his current means, he can't scrape off even a single fragment.

"Hehe, it's not that there's no way."

Seeing Chen Shicheng's disappointed expression, the tattoo elder couldn't help but laugh, "About ten miles west of the village there is a lake surrounded by a special kind of Gardenia; you can go pick some and bring them back."

【Discovery Task: Harvest Gardenia】

【Task Introduction: Go to the Danshuihu west of the Fire Crow Division, find the growth area of the special Gardenia, and harvest more than one jin of Gardenia.】

【Task Reward: Ao Blood Tattoo】

"I'll be right back!"

Chen Shicheng immediately accepted the task, gave a brief greeting, and set off westward at a brisk pace.

Although he didn't know the exact location and had no map, on the mountain where the Fire Crow Division lives there is a spring whose continuously gushing water forms a small stream.

Following the direction of the stream, Chen Shicheng soon found a lake at the stream's end.

It was a clear and tranquil lake, with the azure sky and white clouds reflected upon it, giving a feeling of heaven on earth, beautiful enough to take one's breath away.

At the lake's edge, small groups of animals could be seen drinking, herbivores and carnivores coexisting without disturbance, in perfect harmony.

Chen Shicheng was stunned by the scenery as soon as he arrived, and after admiring it for a while, he remembered the purpose of his journey.

The Gardenia the tattoo elder mentioned shouldn't be common, after all it's something that can serve as an auxiliary material for Ao Blood.

In fact, it was the same; Chen Shicheng circled the lake a few times and found only seven Gardenia plants, and all the ripe fruits had vanished, leaving only some underdeveloped ones still hanging.

To ensure his tattoo wouldn't go wrong, he would never use those unripe Gardenia as auxiliary material.

But that's fine; the fruits not being ripe is no problem, he can accelerate ripening! He randomly chose a decent‑looking Gardenia and immediately cast a Universal Rainfall on it.

Green light rain fell, and the Gardenia and surrounding weeds visibly began to grow; after a dozen seconds, the Gardenia was again laden with ripe fruits.

"That's me; if someone else tried, they'd just stare blankly!"

After giving his Stealing Heaven Pendant another like, Chen Shicheng hurriedly harvested all the ripe Gardenia fruits, then without pause cast another Universal Rainfall.

(End of Chapter)