Refining, Growing Stronger

"This is Pangu's Blood. Nearly all the Pangu's Blood used by the combat police recruited across the country every year originates right here." ... "This is Yinglong's Blood. We produce five hundred jin annually, all of which is dedicated to equipment manufacturing and research." ... "This is Leizhenzi's Blood. Be careful—it carries high-voltage electricity, so don't get too close." ... "This is Bull Demon King's Blood..." ... "This is Xingtian's Blood..." ... "This is Chiyou's Blood..." Inside the warehouse, Bai Jinze introduced the preserved Transcendent bloodlines to the two of them. One of Yu Xian's eyeballs had been replaced by Zhenwo Changjing's eye, so what he saw was completely different from what Bai Jinze and Yu Lie saw. The Yinglong bloodline was an amalgamation of fifteen Transcendent bloodlines, most of which were flood dragon bloodlines, and the wings even came from a Western dragon. Yu Xian estimated that even if he absorbed the Yinglong bloodline and then used the Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method to refine its purity to the absolute peak, it would at best provide him with roughly 0.5 to 0.9 points of combat strength. The rest of the lineages were basically the same as the Yinglong bloodline—patchwork puzzles rather than complete, unified bloodlines. Moreover, not all of them were high-grade lineages. For instance, looking through Zhenwo Changjing's eye at the Leizhenzi bloodline, Yu Xian could see that it was cobbled together from Transcendent-tier electric eels, electric mice, thunder snakes, and other small magical beasts. He estimated that after applying the Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method, it would only grant him around 0.1 points of combat strength. Granted, a combat strength of 0.1 was hardly weak on Earth. It was at least on the threshold of Dragon-rank, but in Yu Xian's eyes now, it was far too meager. What followed, however, was even worse: the Yellow Lion Demon bloodline, the Immortal Antelope Power bloodline, the Immortal Tiger Power bloodline, the Baiye bloodline, the Bingfeng bloodline... All of these were patched together from severely fragmented remnants. Even pushed to the absolute limit, they would probably grant no more than 0.001 points of strength. Yu Xian had originally hoped to pick up some hidden gems, but the more he looked, the more disappointed he became. As the saying went, greater expectations only led to greater disappointment. "What's wrong? Not satisfied?" Noticing Yu Xian's disappointment, Yu Lie walked over beside him and asked with a smile. He wasn't surprised by Yu Xian's reaction. The country indeed had plenty of good things, but when it came to truly heaven-defying bloodlines, there were very few. The main reason was that most people knew not to make overly outrageous wishes, or they wouldn't be able to pay the required price. In later days, almost everyone who obtained a Forbidden Fruit exercised restraint in their wishes, resulting in bloodlines that grew more and more ordinary. "It's... far worse than I imagined," Yu Xian whispered, nodding after hearing Yu Lie's explanation. Yu Lie chuckled. "After all, those who were too greedy in the past paid terrible prices. Those who came after naturally grew more cautious, so the bloodlines became progressively weaker." "There's actually another reason: how could a truly powerful lifeform be easily swallowed by the Abyss? Since the Abyss couldn't devour such beings, the Forbidden Fruit naturally wouldn't contain any trace of them," Zhenwo Changjing added with a smile. *Right!* The stronger an entity was, the harder it was to kill. And the harder it was to kill, the less likely its bloodline would leak out. As a result, the Forbidden Fruit simply couldn't contain those truly mighty bloodlines. Having heard them both out, Yu Xian understood and relaxed, accompanying Bai Jinze as they finished viewing the rest of the bloodlines. Once Bai Jinze finished the introductions, the three of them went together into a spacious, empty room. A minute later, two soldiers carried in five hundred jin of blood. It was Pangu's Blood. After understanding what it was, Yu Xian said, "Never mind the Pangu's Blood. Just prepare a portion of each of the other blood types." "Understood. Take it away," Bai Jinze said, nodding to the two soldiers. Every single gram of this blood had to be logged on record. Yu Xian couldn't just gorge himself upon arrival; the staff had to catalog everything first before delivering it to him as his allocated resources. Soon, barrels of various bloodlines were carried inside, and Yu Xian began to feed. Primordial Pure Blood possessed the ability to manipulate blood. He no longer needed to drink it directly; by simply controlling the unowned blood around him, he could draw it over through the air and absorb it at his own pace. Moments later, massive spheres of blood floated suspended in the room. At the center of them all was an even larger sphere of blood, within which Yu Xian ravenously absorbed the vital essence. After utilizing the Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method previously, only one heart had remained in his chest. But now, as he continuously drew in blood, new hearts began to sprout within his body. In theory, he could still bask in the sun to activate the skill trees contained within these hearts. With the Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method, however, he could refine and integrate these bloodlines far faster, without any of that hassle. Of course, the Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method did not grant strength out of thin air; executing it required an immense amount of nourishment. Back within the Golden Gate, he had succeeded in his first metamorphosis largely because the World Tree among the prisoners had refused to answer his question at the time. When his energy had run dry, he had instinctively drained the World Tree's internal energy to replenish himself, which allowed him to complete the transformation. Now, utilizing the Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method required fulfilling two conditions: obtaining new bloodlines, and possessing sufficient energy to sustain the metamorphosis to completion. He had already thought it through: once he gathered enough bloodlines, he would apply to collect Little Dumb's eight remaining siblings from the Bronze Sacred Tree. At that point, he would have ten suns providing him with energy. As long as he slowed the pace of the metamorphosis, it should provide more than enough energy to see him through a second transformation with the Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method. During his first time using the technique, he had lacked experience and refined all the bloodlines at once. Now, he could refine them one by one. As he drank blood up to a certain point, a feeling of bursting fullness welled up inside him. Even as a vampire, he had his limits. No matter how much he could drink, he couldn't possibly consume thousands of tons of blood in a single breath. In truth, roughly a ton of blood was already close to his capacity. "Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method!" Feeling an overwhelming surplus of blood coursing through him, Yu Xian resolved to go all the way and refine the bloodlines right there and then. Of course, he only chose the weaker lineages for now. The stronger ones demanded far more energy, so they would be saved for later. First was the Star Lord of the Pleiades bloodline. This was a bloodline composed of thirty Transcendent fire-attribute chicken monsters. During the refinement process, Yu Xian's eyebrows rapidly turned crimson, and blazing flames erupted across his body. Yet Yu Xian felt no heat at all. Instead, he opened his mouth and inhaled, drawing all the flames into his belly. When he opened his eyes, his blood-red pupils had turned even more vivid and luminous. He could sense that his control over fire and light had grown stronger, and his resistance to fire elements had increased substantially. Ordinary flames would find it difficult to harm him now. *Combat strength +0.005.* Yu Xian checked his stats, then closed his eyes, selected another heart, and refined it, rapidly consuming the blood in his body as fuel to feed the Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method. *Combat strength +0.003.* ... *Combat strength +0.006.* ... *Combat strength +0.02.* ... *Combat strength +0.01.* ... As Yu Xian continuously refined each heart, his combat strength rose slowly and steadily. Though the combat strength gained from each refinement was modest, when gathered together, it became a formidable power.