Deep into the night, in the ancient, green stone city...
Since the outsiders had left the Ghost Sect, long-lost peace was stored to the city. Disciples of the Ghost Sect who were lucky enough to have survived the calamity were either weeping over their loved ones’ deaths or cultivating wholeheartedly, preparing themselves for the challenges that were to come.
The sectmasters of the h.e.l.l Sect, the Ghost Sect, and the Blood Sect, along with their sect elders, were discussing their plans to deal with the pressure that might come from the other eight realms.
Nie Tian, on the other hand, was resting in a residence arranged for him by Zou Yi in the southwest part of the city.
The enormous Bone Blood Demon was placed in the middle of his courtyard, exposed under silver moonlight.
Nie Tian was sitting cross-legged in his room, the door to which was left open. He held an unfurled scroll in his hands, which carried an incantation that Li Jing had instructed him to memorize by heart.
Written on the scroll were the words: Blood Refining Incantation.
It was the Blood Sect’s most fundamental spiritual incantation. Every disciple of the Blood Sect would have to practice cultivation with it.
Unlike the spiritual incantations of the other sects in the Realm of Flame Heaven, the Blood Refining Incantation needed to be practiced with spirit beast blood.
The Blood Refining Incantation would allow its users to absorb spiritual energy from spirit beast blood and channel it to their spiritual sea.
Aside from the Blood Refining Incantation, Li Jing had also bestowed three Blood Pills upon him, so that he could channel the spiritual power within them to his spiritual sea and thus create a vortex of blood power there.
Since the incantation was quite plain and simple, Nie Tian went through it and grasped the essence of it rapidly.
However, when he tried to refine a Blood Pill with it, he found that he couldn’t channel the wisps of blood power that the Blood Pill released to his spiritual sea at all, no matter how hard he tried.
He discovered that some blood power wisps were attracted to his heart, where they were devoured by the green energy thread that resided in it, while the others dissipated into his blood on their way to his spiritual sea.
“The way the Blood Refining Incantation works is basically to gather blood power to the cultivator"s spiritual sea. It seems it doesn’t suit me very well." By the time the medicinal efficacy of the Blood Pill wore out, Nie Tian threw the scroll back into his bracelet of holding and started meditating with his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
After a thorough self-examination, he found that, although the blood power of the Blood Pill had made him feel more energetic and the green energy thread in his heart seemed to have grown a bit larger, none of the blood power had flowed to his spiritual sea.
He didn’t understand what had gone wrong.
Subconsciously, he cast a glance at the Bone Blood Demon in the courtyard.
It immediately occurred to him that the Bone Blood Demon had used that very Incantation to refine the blood of numerous low-tier outsiders in the Blood Sect and the Ghost Sect, but as far as he knew, Bone Giants didn’t have dantians or spiritual seas.
The blood essence that the Bone Blood Demon had absorbed with the Blood Refining Incantation seemed to have also dispersed into its blood.
“Can this be because I have a special bloodline within me?” The thought suddenly occurred to Nie Tian.
“Blood Refining Incantation?” It was at that moment a figure appeared in the courtyard. Nie Tian’s eyes searched for the source of the voice, and then he saw a blurry figure in the courtyard. As the figure approached, it grew clearer and clearer.
“Mister Hua?” Nie Tian’s expression flickered. “What brings you here?”
“I’ve come for you,” A gentle smile appeared on Hua Mu’s face as he said. “I think I saw you practice the Blood Sect’s Blood Refining Incantation.”
Nie Tian nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t think it suits me.”
“You’re wrong.” Hua Mu shook his head and said with a sincere tone. “That incantation suits you perfectly. It’s just that you don’t need to stick to the method written on that scroll. You only need to use it to refine and acc.u.mulate blood power. Forget the rest.”
Nie Tian was shocked by Hua Mu’s words. “Just like the way I practiced it just now? That was the right way?”
“Yes, only those who don’t have a special bloodline in them will need to channel blood power to their spiritual sea. But you’re different. You have life blood running through your veins, and from what I can tell, you’ve already awakened your bloodline.” Hua Mu seemed a bit excited as he continued, “You can use the Blood Refining Incantation to strengthen your life blood, and that’s why I said this incantation suits you perfectly.”
“How did you know, Mr. Hua?!” Nie Tian was taken aback.
Then, he remembered that right before he had left for the Heaven Gate trial, Hua Mu told him that he might learn about his own secrets during the trial. At that time, he hadn’t been able to understand what Hua Mu meant.
As he recalled it now, Hua Mu must have been talking about the green aura in his heart, which was the embodiment of his awakened bloodline power.
He had also awakened his first bloodline talent: Life Transfer.
The more he thought about it, the more he found that everything Hua Mu had done contained deep meanings.
“I saw your uniqueness the day I met you.” Hua Mu nodded and said.
Then, after a moment of silence, he sighed and continued, “Although, there’s another reason why I helped refine your body and rid you of impurities.”
“What do you mean?” Nie Tian asked with a serious expression.
He was aware that Hua Mu had done many things to help him, whether it was killing Lai Yi and Gan Kang in the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range, or informing him about the Heaven Gate.
For that, he had been nothing but graceful.
“Just like your master, I’m also nearing the end of my life. I hope you can use your life blood to extend my lifespan for me. Of course, your current bloodline power level doesn’t allow you to do that now.” With a smile on his face, Hua Mu continued, “But I can wait for few more decades. I believe that, given time and considering your talent, it won’t be hard for you to give me more years then.”
“Life Transfer?!” Nie Tian’s expression flickered.
Hua Mu’s eyes lit up. “You’ve already awakened the Life Transfer bloodline talent?”
Nie Tian nodded and answered, “Yes, it’s the first and only bloodline talent I’ve awakened.”
“Excellent!” Hua Mu seemed very excited upon hearing Nie Tian’s answer. “This is amazing. I knew you had it in you! If that’s the case, you might just need ten years to acc.u.mulate enough strength to perform Life Transfer on me! I made the right choice!”
Then, Hua Mu went on to say, “By the way, your grandfather and aunt are safe. I took them to a safe place before Black Cloud City was flooded by low-tier outsiders. They are probably being taken to the Cloudsoaring Sect as we speak. Don’t you worry about them.”
Nie Tian hastily rose to his feet and bowed deeply towards Hua Mu. “Many thanks, Mr. Hua!!”
Hua Mu waved his hand and said, “There’s no need for this. Oh right, did you make any gains during the Heaven Gate trial?”
“I obtained the first and middle part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation.” Nie Tian answered, without holding anything back.
For unknown reasons, he had a feeling that he could completely trust Hua Mu.
“You obtained the first and middle part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation?!” Hua Mu’s eyes widened.
Nie Tian raised his s.h.i.+rt and showed the two hexagrams on his chest to Hua Mu.
With a glimpse of it, Hua Mu’s eyes further widened and he shuddered slightly, as he seemed to be truly shocked.
Hua Mu stared at the hexagram for a while before moving his complicated gaze up to look Nie Tian in the eye while saying, “I already considered taking you to another realm after you got the Flame Dragon Armor. Now that you’ve obtained the first and middle parts of the Fragmentary Star Incantation, there are even more reasons that you can’t stay in the Realm of Flame Heaven.”
“What?!” Nie Tian was surprised.
“Those two hexagrams on your chest are of great importance. Their significance may surpa.s.s your imagination. If you continue to stay in the Realm of Flame Heaven, I’m afraid catastrophic things will happen to you, things even I won’t be able to protect you from.” Hua Mu took a deep breath and continued, “If you can trust me, leave with me tonight.”
“But my master Wu Ji and the sectmaster Li Jing will protect me.” Nie Tian explained.
Hua Mu shook his head. “They won’t be able to. If the Heaven Palace Sect from the Realm of Mystic Heaven demands something, no one in the entire Realm of Flame Heaven will dare to say no.”
“So... where do we go?” Nie Tian asked while he seemed to be in a state of bewilderment.
“I’ll take you to a place where you can sit the turmoils out, and then you can return to the Realm of Flame Heaven when it’s safe.” Hua Mu sounded somewhat anxious after learning that Nie Tian had obtained two hexagrams. “It’s better that we leave tonight. Delaying means trouble!”
“Leave the Realm of Flame Heaven?”
Hua Mu nodded vigorously. “Exactly, I have to take you to a place out of the Heaven Palace Sect’s reach, where you’ll conceal your ident.i.ty and spend some time to draw enlightenment from the first and middle part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation. When you’ve gained thorough understandings of the profound mysteries within those two hexagrams, even if the Heaven Palace Sect somehow found you, they won’t be able to forcibly take them away from you.
“At that time, they’ll have to rely on you, whether they’re willing to or not. They might even take you to the Heaven Palace Sect.
“Once you’re in the Heaven Palace Sect, you won’t have to worry about those people from the Realm of Dark Underworld any more. They won’t dare to make a move, even if they know that the Flame Dragon Armor is in your possession.”
Hua Mu’s words were very overwhelming to Nie Tian. Confused and disoriented, Nie Tian said, “I’ll do what you think is the best.”
“Okay, let’s go.”