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Half a day later.
"Little Red."
"Brother Xun?"
"Lend me a drop of your essence blood."
"Alright!"
Without a second thought or any questions, Little Red forced a drop of essence blood from within and handed it to Chen Xun.
However, after reaching the Nascent Soul stage, the physical body ascends, making every drop of essence blood incredibly precious and slow to recover. For spirit beasts, in particular, recovery requires a significant amount of rare spirit medicines.
Little Red immediately looked drained, and the big black ox let out two "moos" before going to the storage to select spirit medicines. It had plenty of thousand-year-old herbs.
"Old ox, take care of Little Red," Chen Xun said, carefully placing the drop of essence blood in a jade bottle and then storing it in a specially preserved box under the Spirit Crane Tree.
"Moo?" The big black ox nudged Chen Xun, curious about his purpose for using the essence of blood.
"I have already opened my body acupoints, but the power of tribulation to temper the body reached its limit back when I was in the foundation body-forging phase."
As Chen Xun spoke, his skin emitted a soft, jade-like glow. Every inch appeared flawless and polished, exuding an unimaginable strength.
He began explaining to the big black ox, revealing that they could now systematically allocate points to enhance their strength, which, when combined with their body-forging techniques, could result in exponential growth.
Now, even without using spiritual energy, Chen Xun could shatter mountains with a single punch. Even if he ran out of the five-elemental power, he could still stand toe-to-toe with a Nascent Soul cultivator—and if he couldn’t win, he’d just run!
Little Red, who had been feeling weak, was now fully captivated by Chen Xun’s arms.
Within the glow, faintly visible rotating acupoints seemed to pulsate. The mighty energy of his blood and qi surged through these acupoints, endlessly cycling.
"Brother Xun… might not be human," Little Red murmured to himself, swallowing hard. Over the years, he had dealt with enough human corpses to know that human bodies didn’t have structures like this.
With wide eyes, he didn’t quite understand the concepts of "tribulation-tempering" and other details, but he didn’t need to. He was becoming increasingly convinced that Brother Xun was no ordinary human.
Perhaps he was some kind of unique creature he had never seen before, just with a human appearance!
As Little Red pondered this, a strange happiness bubbled up within him. No wonder he had always felt Brother Xun was entirely different from regular humans, in both personality and actions.
"Old ox, I may need to collect essence blood from myriad beings, or perhaps from countless races…" Chen Xun said with solemnity, his gaze filled with unprecedented determination. "But I will make sure to compensate appropriately and avoid causing any calamity to intelligent species."
This was a grand plan, almost unimaginable, but he would never follow the destructive methods outlined in typical body-forging techniques, like drenching oneself in blood or extracting bone marrow at the expense of other races.
He had already opened eighty acupoints within his body, with the power of his blood and qi circulating continuously through them.
Chen Xun knew he was becoming less and less like a human. But this was a world of cultivation, filled with boundless mysteries. All he needed was to stay true to himself; exploration was what mattered most.
Besides, his appearance hadn’t changed. He was still Chen Xun, a human. His companions were still spirited and unchanged. That was enough.
“Essence blood of all races…” Little Red’s jaw dropped; Brother Xun was a bit too bold.
"Moo~~"
The big black ox nodded firmly, without a hint of doubt in Chen Xun’s decision. If it was asked to retrieve a drop of essence blood from the Buddha himself, it would go and give it a try without hesitation.
"There’s a great secret to body-forging. Who knows what mysteries we might uncover by following this path?"
Chen Xun’s eyes glinted with clarity as he looked at the big black ox. "Old ox, I want to cultivate a Rootless Vital Qi Flower, and I need essence blood from all races for that. The method comes from analyzing countless body-forging techniques."
He took a deep breath, his aura becoming profound, and began sharing his insights with the big black ox from these past years.
Chen Xun had uncovered the secret of using medicinal herbs in the Qi Refinement stage and irrigating the body with spirit beast flesh and blood—both had an inseparable connection to the primordial energy of heaven and earth.
"Moo~~" The big black ox snorted, impressed. Big Brother had indeed discovered yet another profound truth about the universe.
Little Red was sweating profusely. He didn’t fully understand, but Chen Xun's words hinted at a path that sounded daunting and terrifying…
Buzz!
Suddenly, streams of energy from all directions began to converge, yet there was no oppressive force. Chen Xun raised his hand.
His blood and qi surged vigorously, giving his body an indescribable strength, transcendent and powerful.
Little Red and the big black ox stared in awe. This energy flow seemed strange, yet it was all converging on Chen Xun’s body.
Before him, a large mass of icy light and mist condensed from the flowing energy. He plunged his hands into it, his face showing a hint of pain.
"This is the primordial energy of heaven and earth. Spiritual energy moves with one’s spiritual roots, but this primordial energy... is drawn by one’s boundless blood and qi." Chen Xun spoke clearly, each word resonating with power. "But to condense this rootless Vital Qi Flower, the five elements and tribulation-forged power are essential. Without understanding the five elements, it’s impossible to grasp this path."
"Moo~~" The big black ox nodded vigorously without blinking. The five elements were indeed the perfect medium, capable of transforming elemental spiritual energy into the neutral spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
It snorted heavily, realizing that all the knowledge it had accumulated over so many years was finally making sense. Living long had its benefits!
Little Red, however, looked confused. He glanced at his own body, not understanding what “primordial energy” or “five elements” really were. He, too, was a body cultivator and trained with spiritual energy, yet he’d never sensed any of this.
His inherited memories held nothing of what Brother Xun was describing, leaving him utterly baffled.
Before long, a faint, ethereal, rootless Vital Qi Flower began to take shape in mid-air, surrounded by glimmering light, mesmerizing and dreamlike.
"Over the past fifty years, I spent the last thirty comprehending the primordial energy of heaven and earth, but it remained like rootless duckweed—my body couldn’t absorb it," Chen Xun said, a slight smile forming on his lips as he demonstrated step by step for the big black ox. "But I won’t let this gift from heaven go to waste. Using my qi and blood as roots, guided by the five elements, I’ll plant this flower!"
"Moo!" The big black ox’s eyes went wide. With Brother Xun’s current strength and insights, it couldn’t fathom why it would take him so long to develop a body-forging technique.
Now it understood he’d been working on this the whole time. The process was likely even more complicated than Chen Xun described. Every technique he taught them was already polished.
Their five-elemental spiritual roots also manifested as five flowers, and Big Brother must have discovered something from that and connected it all together.
"But this flower isn’t fully formed yet. It needs to be irrigated with essence blood, just like body forging. I came up with the idea after seeing how medicinal herbs are used to temper the body." Chen Xun took a few steps, and the ethereal rootless Vital Qi Flower floated along with him. "Once it’s fully formed, we can begin cultivating a unique path of body forging!"
He had tried before, but ordinary essence didn’t affect it—only the primordial energy could sustain it.
As for how to fully form it, he would have to follow the path of the ancient masters and experiment with essence blood.
He had tested this by drawing blood from several black fish. After forcefully extracting a drop of essence blood and irrigating it onto the flower, it did indeed respond, but subsequent attempts showed no reaction.
Afterwards, he tried using the essence blood of several sea beasts, most of which were in the Foundation Establishment stage and saw real effects.
He speculated that it was quality, not quantity, that mattered. This led him to the idea of collecting