Li Fan drew one of the jars of vital blood through the air and crushed it.
Kunpeng vital blood shimmering with fierce malice surged forth, squirming toward its surroundings like a living creature.
Li Fan reached out, and his grotto-heaven domain enveloped it.
He began to analyze and comprehend it in fine detail.
The purpose of his research was naturally to replicate the three divine abilities Ye Feipeng had displayed in his previous life:
Kun Devour, Peng Flight, and Bloodline Transfer.
Among them, now that Li Fan possessed the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven, the Kun Devour divine ability had become expendable to him.
The Peng Flight escape art was worth learning from.
The most important, and what Li Fan urgently needed to master, was naturally Bloodline Transfer.
Originating from an ancient demonic beast, this divine ability allowed one to subtly influence and alter another person's mind by transferring one's own vital blood into them.
Ultimately, it reduced the target into a fiercely loyal vassal who thought entirely on behalf of the vital blood's master.
In his previous life, Ye Feipeng had initially loathed his own demonic beast bloodline, but later he had even grown proud of harboring the blood of a Kunpeng.
The "demonic beast" he once spoke of had gradually become a "sacred beast."
Such a divine ability was tailor-made for controlling the people of the Medicine King Sect.
After all, managing one or two people was easy enough; he could make them temporarily submit through threats and inducements,
just as Li Fan currently did with He Zhenghao, Gao Yuan, and the like.
However, once the numbers grew, the risk of such methods would rise precipitously.
Moreover, the people inside the Medicine King Cauldron belonged to the same sect and knew one another intimately.
Li Fan only needed them to concoct pills for him and occasionally serve as enforcers; he could not keep his eyes on them constantly.
Without absolute means of control, there was no guaranteeing they would not spring some "surprises" on him.
Nor could Li Fan rest easy.
Therefore, mastering Bloodline Transfer was utterly essential.
Under Li Fan's perception, every minute particle of the Kunpeng vital blood seemed to possess its own consciousness, emitting shrill, chilling shrieks.
This caused Li Fan to frown slightly.
Separating out a single drop of the vital blood, he absorbed it through his fingertip and observed the process by which it modified his physical body.
Once the Kunpeng vital blood came into contact with Li Fan's flesh and blood, those piercing screeches vanished in an instant.
It became utterly silent, only extending tiny tentacles that latched onto Li Fan's flesh.
Gleams of flickering red light were siphoned from his flesh into the Kunpeng vital blood along the straw-like tentacles.
Then, as if boiling, the Kunpeng vital blood underwent an internal evolution.
In mere moments, it became virtually identical to Li Fan's own flesh and blood.
Even Li Fan, who had witnessed the entire process and was the master of that flesh, could hardly discern any difference between the two without close inspection.
Having completed its evolution, the Kunpeng vital blood did not release its tentacles.
Instead, it transmitted dark red light back in the reverse direction. As the attached flesh was continually infused with this dark red vital blood, it also began to undergo an inexplicable transformation.
Soon, under Li Fan's watchful gaze, they too abruptly sprouted tiny "tentacles," lashing out aggressively toward the adjacent, untransformed flesh.
"Homomorphic evolution...?"
Li Fan murmured thoughtfully. The power of his grotto-heaven domain suddenly flared, reducing the corrupted flesh along with the original Kunpeng vital blood to ashes.
With a piece of his body suddenly missing, a flush of crimson colored Li Fan's face.
Yet in the very next moment, he returned to normal.
"The grotto-heaven does not perish; the cultivator does not die. The new method is surprisingly handy in this regard. If an ancient cultivator of the Nascent Soul realm had their flesh hollowed out like this, recovering would surely take some effort," Li Fan sighed softly.
Once fully recovered, Li Fan absorbed another clump of Kunpeng vital blood.
Swallowing a Dao Comprehension Pill at the same time, he closed his eyes and sensed the process of Bloodline Transfer.
Before long, he eradicated the altered flesh tissues once more.
Then he drew out more Kunpeng vital blood to contemplate.
Round and round the cycle went.
This continued until only the very last jar of vital blood remained in the entire secret chamber, whereupon Li Fan finally ceased his actions.
A gleam flashed across his eyes as he pondered.
"It seems the process by which this Kunpeng vital blood modifies the human body bears some resemblance to how the new method plunders heaven and earth, ultimately usurping heaven.
"Both first absorb a portion to analyze, then undergo homomorphic evolution to pass off the sham as real.
"And finally, through massive proliferation, they replace it entirely."
With a thought, Li Fan retrieved a slumbering Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Medicine King Sect from the Medicine King Cauldron.
Wrapping a drop of his own vital blood in spiritual energy, he slowly injected it into the man's body.
The Medicine King Sect cultivator jolted awake in an instant.
Yet he was pinned rigidly by the Insect Binding divine ability, incapable of moving.
He could only stare in panic at Li Fan, struggling violently in vain.
Li Fan remained entirely unmoved, calmly manipulating his drop of vital blood.
At first, the invasion proceeded very smoothly.
Following homomorphic evolution, it quickly occupied most of the space within the cultivator's body.
Yet somehow, something slipped.
The Medicine King Sect cultivator's body began to suffer a rejection reaction to the flesh controlled by Li Fan.
His body convulsed uncontrollably and violently, vomiting mouthful after mouthful of blood.
Before long, he breathed his last.
"My apologies," Li Fan said expressionlessly.
With that, he looked up at the sky.
The clouds were light, the breeze gentle; no abnormal phenomenon occurred.
"It seems Heaven has no objections regarding you old method cultivators."
Li Fan randomly selected another Medicine King Sect cultivator and resumed his experiments.
...
Seven days later.
Having failed once again, Li Fan paused for the moment.
"I was still too hasty.
"Expanding too quickly easily provokes a backlash from the human body itself."
...
"If the target cultivator is viewed as a complete world, then my drop of vital blood corresponds to a cultivator practicing the new method.
"I may not excel at the Kunpeng divine ability innately, but can I not cultivate step by step?"
Li Fan suddenly gained an insight.
This round of testing took extraordinarily long.
Li Fan also consumed a great deal of mental effort.
Yet the result was gratifying: from start to finish, this fortunate fellow remained completely oblivious to the abnormalities occurring within his body.
He slept soundly and sweetly.
Yet Li Fan felt a wondrous connection forge between them.
It was not like an avatar that moved at his beck and call.
Rather, he could clearly discern the other party's physical condition and could even faintly perceive the fleeting thoughts passing through his mind.
Li Fan checked the True Reversion interface.
Sure enough, the divine ability list now bore an additional entry: Bloodline Transfer.
Yet, remarkably, there was little excitement on Li Fan's face.
During the process of comprehending Bloodline Transfer, he had dimly realized certain things.
He recalled the sudden inspiration that had once flashed through his mind, only to be forcibly forgotten in the blink of an eye.
If the fortunate fellow before him were seen as the Xuanhuang Realm...
...and the cultivators across heaven and earth practicing the new method were, without a doubt, the "mutated vital blood" subtly transforming the Xuanhuang Realm...
Then...
...what role did the legendary Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable play in all of this?
Chapter 611