Kapitel 418: Chapter 418: Bones sucking one's blood
Those last few weeks, Cao Yun had mostly abandoned his blood cultivation for several reasons. He had just too many things to take care of. In fact, he had even been forced to neglect his martial arts to some extent. Yes, he had trained with Yun Ping and Yong Ke, but to be honest, it had mostly been directed as a training of Yun Ping's Spear Aura. Then, he had to focus on his alchemy in order to be ready for the Alchemy Conference. Although he could refine a Heaven pill to some degree, it didn't mean he was the best alchemist in the younger generation. First of all, he suspected that Feng Yingyue was better since she had the same mind cultivation. But there were probably other alchemists who could rival with him in many other areas of the craft. It wasn't just about refining pills after all, even if it was essential.
When it came to his Qi cultivation, by combining Water Qi, Fire Qi and the Wood element now present in his Five Prodigious Gates, he had advanced very fast. He would still need some months before officially becoming a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior, but he was getting closer to that point. It would have been nice to be one before facing Gu Song, but to be fair, it wouldn't have changed things by much. An early or middle Mortal Warrior fighting a middle Spirit Warrior was just impossible, even surviving a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior would be difficult. Without his Spirit Condensation Barrier, Cao Yun would have probably been forced to run away. But the idea of losing all the information Gu Song might have, and the frustration of not being able to do anything had compelled Cao Yun to stand his ground. Besides, his plan might just work.
Finally, he had his mind cultivation. Everything was also going at a steady pace. There was no real way to speed things up as Cao Yun was waiting for something. Besides he wanted a stable and deep cultivation, especially when it came to his mind. Bit by bit, he was taking out every ounce of the Flying Poison out of his Po the Metal Corporeal Soul. As he was doing so, there were now pure white filaments coiling around each other that were floating around his Po. They looked like a small bone being formed. Of course, this forming bone was Cao Yun's Po of Jing. But here and there, there were still green traces, like moss. It truly looked like the Bone Demons he had met.
Every single time he practiced his meditation on the Flying Poison, he was getting closer and closer to his goal. From his Po character, he was extracting every ounce of this Po of Jing. Having control over it would have beneficial consequences on not only his postnatal Jing but maybe even his prenatal Jing as well. However, at the same time, the Flying Poison of the Drop of Wrath was getting agitated. Although it was devoid of consciousness, it reacted instinctively to a threat. Indeed, Cao Yun's Po of Jing was trying to replace this Flying Poison which was a corrupted version of the remnants of Axiu Qian's Po.
During the sessions, Cao Yun had to relive his past memories. But there were also other memories, memories from Axiu Qian and Cleansed Asura because of the Drop of Wrath that had resided in both of their bodies. Besides them, there were also memories of things that had never happened. They truly felt like memories but were just inventions of his mind and it was difficult to differentiate them from one another. In fact, without Cao Yun's prior experience in mind cultivation, he might have been fooled. And what is true and false would have become confused in his mind. Whoever had created this 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks' had really thought it through.
By creating a firm foundation first, that writer had made sure that every step of the process was easier to climb. Of course, it totally spoke to Cao Yun who now wanted a very firm base with all of his cultivation. After the disaster of his Bai Hui in the Demon Palace, he was maybe even a bit too careful. But he was slowly finding the right compromise between being daring and being overcautious. Staying secluded and progressing too slow was not a good thing for cultivation. In fact, in itself, it could create inner demons and Qi deviation. Moreover, Cao Yun knew that he had to get stronger if he had any hope of finding justice.
Unfortunately, although it had helped him a lot, the Drop of Wrath had made his mind cultivation more difficult. During 'Subdue the Seven Demons', he was supposed to take control of the seven souls of his Po. Most likely, it was a way to make the Accomplished Demon realm easier for demons. In that realm, the demons would turn each Po into a Turbid Demon, so this was very risky. If they could obtain more control over their Po first, this realm would become that much easier. But his Drop of Wrath already contained a Turbid Demon. As Cao Yun had been trying to replace it with his Po of Jing, he had understood that he would need to form a Turbid Demon to do so. The problem was whether or not he could subdue a Turbid Demon. Thankfully, he had found a way, but it would have to wait the right opportunity.
As all of that was a lot, Cao Yun had neglected his blood cultivation. In addition, his blood cultivation was affecting the Drop of Wrath and the Flying Poison, so he was reluctant to go too fast for now. Besides, it wasn't that useful to him right now as he was still only a 6th-grade Blood Child. But according to the cultivation manual he had, he was soon to start tempering his marrow. That would make things more interesting.
Now that he had forged his pill though, it would be a waste not to try and advance his blood cultivation. Cao Yun ingested the best Merging Minerals and Seas pill he had refined. In it, there was 97% of the medicinal essence from the ingredients and only 4% of the toxins. Refining a better pill was almost impossible for him right now so he didn't hesitate at all before eating the pill. And as soon as it dissolved in his body, he began to direct the medicinal essence where he needed it. At the same time, he contained most of the toxins. Sadly, it was impossible to get rid of all toxins as some were just intertwined with medicinal essence. But his ability to control Qi had evolved a lot.
That way, he pushed the efficiency of the pill to its upper limit. The medicinal essence merged with his blood that he had focused around his bones. As a matter of fact, the Merging Minerals and Seas pill was used to strengthen the bones by opening them to absorb more fluids. They were used to fuse back broken bones or to help cultivators grow stronger bones even richer in Qi. It could have have a tiny effect on Jing. The marrow indeed contained most of the postnatal Jing in the human body. Postnatal Jing was produced either by consumption of Jing, or by transfiguration within the Lower Dantian through the use of the prenatal Jing stored in one's kidneys.
Obviously, a 5-star Human pill wouldn't increase the amount of Jing by much at all. However, it allowed the bones to store a bit more of it. As such, the body would gather more of the postnatal Jing it was absorbing, thus preserving the prenatal Jing more than it would have been otherwise. Hence, this pill was very useful and Cao Yun was certain he would make a great impression with his new recipe. But he was hoping to attract the attention of someone in particular, knowing that Mo Tian had been working on blood and Jing.
As the medicinal essence merged with his blood, Cao Yun directed it toward his bones. Then, he began to cultivate his blood while the medicinal was working on his bones. Sending blood to strengthen his bones became much easier all of a sudden. In a few days, he had the equivalent of a few weeks of cultivation. His bones were fully opened to his blood, namely his ribs and his sacrum. Tempering all his spine would take more time as it was more delicate. But most of his rib cage had already reached the 7th-grade Blood Child stage. The fact that his heart and the Drop of Wrath were so close helped a lot of course.
As the medicinal essence was still within his body, he would naturally reach the 7th-grade Blood Child stage in a matter of weeks. Then, Cao Yun would have to 'open the floodgates'. Simply put, this stage consisted in sending his blood through very specific pores in his bones so that the blood would overflow within the marrow in the core of each bone. The last Blood Child stages were very similar as they focused on the bones and sending blood in them. Dian Mo explained them to Cao Yun as he was working on his blood cultivation again.
"Those stages don't really have names but my master had found nicknames for them: 'The Rigid Drinks Up', 'Knocking at the Palace's Door', 'Bursting the Palaces Open' and 'Freeing the Blood'. In the 6th-grade, you just pour your blood within the inner structure of your bones to temper and nourish them. In itself, it's useful as your bones become sturdier, denser, but also more flexible and bendable. Not only will they resist higher constraints, they will also be more difficult to break and will heal faster. The advantage demons have over humans is their physique after all.
"But this is also a way to prepare for the next grade of the Blood Child realm. From there, you'll need to help your blood seep through the innermost part of your bones, the marrow. The main sites where there is marrow is within your pelvis, your rib cage and above all else, your spine, all the way to the brain. It depends on the physicians but the brain itself is often considered as a marrow as much as a separate organ. To tell the truth, the brain is the most complicated thing in the body, be it human or demon. After all, it also harbors the Upper Dantian and the sea of consciousness. Those are very complicated and delicate things.
"Although the heart is sometimes considered as the sea of blood, this is not the origin of the blood within one's body. No, the origin of blood comes from the marrow. Thus, you will use your blood to slowly enter this marrow in order to transform it. In turn, the marrow will completely transform your blood as well. In fact, in the higher stages of the demon cultivation system, your blood and your marrow will melt into one another to turn into something completely new, sometimes referred to as the Golden Blood, hence the name Golden Blood Child.
"As a 7th-grade Blood Child, your goal will be to slowly pour your blood through your outer bones inside their innermost parts. The bones where marrow is plentiful are seen as palaces full of this golden treasure. But to get to this wealth, you must slowly knock at the doors. Slowly, your blood will enter your bones. As they're more resistant, they won't explode because of the increase in pressure. In fact, this pressure and heat from within will temper them even more. But of course, this is predicated on the assumption you won't destroy your bones to enter into the marrow. In order to avoid that, you must choose the right doors. Although there are books on this, they completely depend on your own bones. You should feel your own body and choose wisely. But I'm not too concerned for that...
"Then, in the 8th-grade Blood Child stage, you will completely open those palaces that are your bones from within. Your blood will connect all the marrow in your body in a complex system through various door in each bone. At that stage, your blood will be able to navigate through all your marrow as if it was your natural bloodstream. And then you'll finally be able to reach the true height of the Blood Child realm when your body will truly become transparent to blood. Although you had the impression that you had reached this stage before, this was just an illusion. Yes, your blood could flow through your entire body and nourish all your cells. But some deep parts of your organs and especially of your marrow were still unreachable.
"I must say that starting your blood cultivation from scratch was a good idea. Your patience will be rewarded. But you shouldn't rush things. The next realm, the Golden Blood Child realm, will require you to have a great control over your marrow. Besides, you will start to activate the fires of your body. It would be best to start this phase after you've already begun to accumulate Fire Qi. In other words, you shouldn't try to progress within the Golden Blood Child realm before you've entered the 4th-grade Mortal Warrior stage.
"The Blood Child realm is also known as 'Making the Blood Flow' while the Golden Blood Child realm is called 'Forging the Marrow'."
Of course Cao Yun could read it in 'Crimson Inferno Road'. However, presenting it in such a way was very efficient. Rather than watching each grade separately, it was good to have an overview of the entire cultivation system. Sometimes, there were stages that seemed disconnected from the others. In fact, some realms also seemed to not be directly related to what had been done before. But in the end, everything was meant to work together in harmony. As there were many things to work within one's being, everything could not be done at the same time. And some things had to be prepared before beginning to temper more difficult or dangerous aspects of one's being.
It also reminded Cao Yun that he should really see his cultivation as a whole, not just as separate things. Even his alchemy and his array formations were helping him in his Qi cultivation and his blood cultivation. His mind cultivation was also essential to everything else. And his martial arts were heavily dependent on his overall cultivation. Since he was working on so many things at the same time, it could be easy for him to forget that they were all working toward the same goal, the Dao. As such, he had to always try to draw connections between everything he was doing.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein