Chapter 200

The Divine Blood Paste entered his mouth, and at first he only felt a warm sensation.

But after swallowing it, it quickly turned into a scorching breath that spread from his intestines and stomach into his five viscera and six bowels, then transformed into an extremely restless heat that surged into his limbs and bones.

As this restless breath rapidly entered his dantian, he actually discovered that the vital energy in his dantian began to stir along with it, his entire dantian trembled and grew hot, the stimulating vital energy boiled, and then turned into a rolling torrent that rushed into all his meridians.

Xu Chen's face instantly turned red, as if he had gotten drunk.

But then came extreme delight.

Because under this scorching, restless breath, he actually felt a powerful vital energy tide constantly impacting all his apertures.

This is the manifestation of realm advancement!

Earlier he had absorbed several God Crystals, the stimulating Blue Light Treasure Bottle radiated with rosy clouds, instantly strengthening his soul several times over, and now under the stimulation of the Divine Blood Paste, his vital energy actually formed a tide.

Vital energy tide is the necessary method for breaking through into the Zhenyuan Realm.

Foundation Establishment aided by the medicinal effect of the Foundation Establishment Pill, which causes the vital energy tide, can open one hundred and eight vital apertures.

But the body has a total of seven hundred and twenty apertures; only by opening all of them can one enter the middle stage of the Zhenyuan Realm, which counts as complete Foundation Establishment success.

Although the remaining apertures are not vital apertures, opening them is still no easy task; likewise, one must continuously accumulate vital energy to form tides that slowly break through them—this is a painstaking process, relying entirely on time and energy slowly accumulated.

Without the strong medicinal push of the Foundation Establishment Pill, to form an effective vital energy tide requires at least the accumulation of several great circulations to complete one impact process, and such a vital energy tide can at most open only one aperture.

Completing one impact consumes a great deal of vital energy; with the vital energy reserves of an ordinary early-stage Zhenyuan Realm cultivator, at least twenty percent must be consumed, so after breaking open one aperture, one must retrain to replenish vital energy before beginning the next impact.

This process requires at least three days between intervals.

Although Qi Replenishing Pills can speed things up a bit, no one in the Immortal World is wealthy enough to consume large quantities of Qi Replenishing Pills like candy.

Moreover, upon reaching the Zhenyuan Realm, vital energy is already very profound; First-grade Spirit Pills have little effect, but a single Second-grade Spirit Pill is worth several Spirit Stones—even the Core Disciples of Yuqing Hall cannot afford them, so they still have to rely on slow daily accumulation.

Although Foundation Establishment Pills can assist in quickly forming vital energy tides, these spirit pills are even more precious; even Core Disciples can take at most one or two to assist Foundation Establishment, and there is absolutely no way to use them for daily cultivation consumption.

This is why many cultivators, after great difficulty breaking through into the Zhenyuan Realm, then go ten, twenty, or even thirty to fifty years without making further progress.

One reason is perhaps insufficient talent; the other is poverty.

The Taiyuan Sect is even poorer, with even fewer spirit pills, so since Xu Chen's Foundation Establishment, he has hardly continued cultivation, mainly because he has no time.

Moreover, his physical body is too strong; even forming an ordinary vital energy tide, combined with using the White Qi of the Demon Refining Art to impact the apertures' flesh and blood, makes it very difficult to open the apertures—he has tried several times, barely succeeding only once, so he now pays little attention to daily cultivation.

Because the gains are too small, unless he can treat Foundation Establishment Pills like candy, perhaps only then could he speed up his cultivation.

But the sudden appearance of Divine Blood Paste brought him unsurpassed delight.

This effect far surpasses that of the Foundation Establishment Pill, so he simply closed his eyes slightly and began to silently cultivate the Demon Refining Art, guiding the White Qi to cooperate with the vital energy tide and directly impact the apertures along the way.

A thunderous rumbling sound echoed within Xu Chen's body.

Accompanied by several puffs of red blood mist erupting from several apertures on Xu Chen's body, three apertures were almost simultaneously blasted open, vital energy suddenly flowed smoothly, several small meridians connected with the main meridian, and vital energy ran unobstructed.

Seeing Xu Chen suddenly turn flushed after drinking a mouthful of Divine Blood Paste, his body trembling and blood beginning to spray, Feng Feiyi turned pale with fright, tightly gripping him and transmitting her voice anxiously: "Are you alright?"

Xu Chen slowly opened his eyes, exhaled a breath slowly, and smiled: "I'm fine, I just didn't expect this Divine Blood Paste to be so miraculous—after drinking it, my body felt warm and cozy, and it actually helped me enhance my cultivation."

Feng Feiyi then relaxed and said: "Indeed, this Divine Blood Paste is rather restless, but it is precisely this effect that helps us resist the erosion of underworld qi. There is plenty of Divine Blood Paste here; if you find it useful, you can also collect more to take away—after all, the clan leader and elders won't blame you, and I won't tell anyone."

Xu Chen was overjoyed, took out a bucket of clear water from his Dazzling Gold Bracelet, gathered his vital energy to suspend the water in midair, then cast an ice-freezing spell, instantly condensing the bucket of water into a large block of ice in midair, then used his fingers to condense a thread of Wind Blade and slice across it, splitting the ice block into two pieces.

"You can have half of this water—I'll just use this bucket." Xu Chen said as he just put away half of the ice.

Feng Feiyi stared dumbfounded at Xu Chen's dazzling array of spells, then after a moment covered her mouth and chuckled softly, then used her soul power to sweep the half-block of ice into the blue crystal stone space in her chest; Xu Chen was not polite either, directly filled a bucket to the brim in the God Blood Pool and stored it in his storage bracelet.

This thing can both keep out the cold and enhance cultivation, and can also be used as water to quench thirst—for him, it is far better than a bucket of worthless mountain spring water.

As for poisoning, he feels it unlikely.

When he tasted it earlier, although he felt uncomfortable, like swallowing a mouthful of magma, with a sensation of uncontrolled boiling blood and qi, but this should be the property of a truly good spirit medicine.

Just like refining and taking Foundation Establishment Pills for Foundation Establishment—only when the medicinal properties are fierce and strong enough can they help break through barriers and advance.

And the main ingredient in Foundation Establishment Pills, including the Seven-Star Golden Toad Slough, is indeed a toxic substance; generally it cannot be taken directly, and the principle of Foundation Establishment is also to utilize the powerful effect released by this toxin, stimulating vital energy to boil and arouse tides to impact the apertures throughout the body.

However, such toxins generally do not remain in the cultivator's body, but rather disappear quickly after the refining process exerts its medicinal effect.

Blood God Grass is similarly so, and even more violent; otherwise it could not stimulate the Danyuan Realm cultivator's elixir to transform into spirit qi, break through the Purple Mansion, and nurture the Nascent Soul.

Xu Chen reckons he currently lacks the ability to refine Blood God Grass.

But this Divine Blood Paste that the Wind Clan children have been drinking since childhood—he feels his aberrantly powerful soul and body are certainly sufficient to resist the so-called blood poison.

Half an hour later, Xu Chen followed Feng Feiyi back to the artificial hall where they first began.

By now the news had spread, and everyone's attitude toward Xu Chen had completely changed—whether men, women, old or young, upon seeing him, they all showed extremely respectful and kind smiles.

Even Feng Zhao, who had almost come to blows with him at the cave entrance earlier, now came over obsequiously, enthusiastically greeting him with his divine sense; moreover, a group of tall, sturdy adult men also gathered around to express goodwill.

Three Wangchuan Flowers can almost solve the entire tribe's blood poison problem, so that no one needs to risk their lives anymore to search for and seize Ghost Soul Water.

Especially those adults suffering from blood poison outbreaks can also repress the blood poison again and slowly recover.

Moreover, many children who dare not use Divine Blood Paste to enhance their strength can also continue growing, and will soon become incredibly strong.

What excites everyone most is that Other Shore Flower.

If consumed, it can completely cleanse the corrosion of underworld qi and the toxins of Divine Blood Paste, then through continuous consumption of Divine Blood Paste to strengthen the body—perhaps the tribe will soon produce a powerhouse rivaling the strongest nearby nether beast; once these nether beasts are all slain and driven away, the Wind Clan's territory will expand countless times, and humanity will once again flourish and develop in the Minghuang region.

Xu Chen, having nothing else to do, began chatting and exchanging banter with a group of men, even producing the half-block of ice he had just frozen, shattering it and inviting everyone to taste it.

Such pure energy made the Wind Clan people ecstatic—each took a piece of ice, scraped it with a crackling sound, and started gnawing on it.

Then everyone suddenly discovered that after eating these ice pieces, the blood poison heat throughout their bodies seemed to have weakened considerably—although not as instantly effective as the chill of Wangchuan Flower, yet there flowed a cool, moist energy throughout the body, making everyone feel so comfortable they just wanted to moan.

News spread, and more people came running from various alleys to watch, even bold children came forward to ask for some.

Xu Chen was not stingy—each elder, adult, and child received a piece of ice.

Thus dozens or even hundreds of Wind Clan people crowded around Xu Chen, all eagerly beginning to gnaw on the ice, chatting loudly while eating, their emotions extremely excited.

Especially a group of children, while fiercely licking the ice, looked at Xu Chen with eyes full of utmost admiration.

Take people's handouts, eat people's food—mouth grows short.

Xu Chen, through this exchange of flowers and ice, not only improved his relations with everyone to become harmonious and avoidant, but also livened up the entire Wind Clan's atmosphere beyond compare, sweeping away the previous gloomy demeanor—it was as if the whole tribe had suddenly been reborn.

Amid the bustle, Feng Feiyi came again to the hall and transmitted to Xu Chen: "The clan leader and elders are preparing to use Wangchuan Flower to save my brother and some companions—do you want to go see?"

Xu Chen immediately nodded upon hearing it.

When he was chatting with a group of people earlier, they were all saying that the Clan Leader and Elder were planning to use the Wangchuan Flower to save several tribespeople whose Blood Poison had become severe.

Thus Xu Chen asked a few questions and learned that the Feng Clan actually had over two hundred people at present, but only over a hundred could move normally, while the rest were in a dormant state due to severe Blood Poison.

Dormancy is like animal hibernation or cultivator's tortoise-breathing, using a special method to enter a semi-conscious sleep state to reduce activity, thereby effectively alleviating the onset time of Blood Poison.

However, this method also has drawbacks: once dormant, if there is no Wangchuan Flower, a miraculous object that strongly dispels Blood Poison, then basically there is no possibility of waking up again.

Throughout the generations, many Feng Clan members have had to choose dormancy when their Blood Poison was about to erupt, but after falling asleep, they eventually died completely, because without eating or drinking, dormancy cannot be sustained for long, and ultimately the Blood Poison still slowly erupts, the body rotting from within, leaving only a desiccated shell in the end.

Of course, if they do not enter dormancy, once the Blood Poison erupts, it becomes even more terrifying: the person will not only lose rationality and go mad, killing innocents indiscriminately, but ultimately their flesh and blood will completely collapse and explode.

Therefore, among the human tribes living in Minghuang, as soon as someone's Blood Poison is about to erupt, they will be forced into dormancy; otherwise, they will be expelled or directly killed, to avoid harming the tribespeople.

Although this seems cruel, it is unavoidable for survival.

Although many Feng Clan members are currently in dormancy, only a few are truly worth saving with the Wangchuan Flower—just a handful, either not important figures or those who have only recently fallen into dormancy.

As for those who have been dormant for a long time or even have desiccated bodies, they are basically abandoned.

After all, those who have been dormant too long have both body and soul ruined; saving them would be like rescuing a dried corpse or a walking corpse—of no help, and instead a burden.

The place where the dormant are kept is in an artificially carved stone cave near the temple.

When Xu Chen followed Feng Feiyi here, he discovered that the Clan Leader, Elder, and several middle-aged men and women were all present here.

Seeing Feng Feiyi leading Xu Chen over, the Elder and Clan Leader actually showed a hint of a smile, nodded in greeting, and transmitted mentally:

"Thank you for bringing these three Wangchuan Flowers; we can now save a few tribespeople who have not been dormant for long. We invited you here to let you learn how to extract juice from the Wangchuan Flower to save people, which may help you find a way out later."

Xu Chen immediately showed gratitude, clasping his hands and saying: "Thank you, Clan Leader and Elder, thank you for providing this learning opportunity."

Regarding Xu Chen's humble attitude, the Elder was still very pleased, smiling and nodding: "Then let us begin!"

(End of Chapter)