"Compress the blood, mobilize the blood, consume the high-grade demon beast’s flesh...
This is the secret to breaking through the Eighth Grade."
...
About a month later.
The cold wind howled...
This was the third winter since Li Yuan had traversed to this world.
And on this day, he felt something in his heart, only to feel an infinite profoundness welling up within, and one of the two Shadow Blood Beads in his body suddenly expanded, then cracked, transforming into several beads, but not many...
But this quantity was enough to complete the initial coverage of his body surface, thus forming a simple Shadow Blood Shirt.
Li Yuan glanced at the "Skills" information:
??? (Eighth Grade) (1/300).
Without the slightest hesitation, Li Yuan directly pushed 299 points over.
In an instant, a peculiar memory unique to himself surged up in his mind.
So-called cultivation is to continue repeating the work of breaking through, compressing blood, consuming flesh, then mobilizing the blood to ensure such a high-pressure environment isn’t enough to claim your life.
The next moment, his self-created Nameless Skill had already reached Eighth Grade Perfection.
The Shadow Blood Beads within him suddenly expanded, then cracked open, turning into more beads, quietly flowing within his blood.
These Shadow Blood Beads sometimes touched his bones, but were starkly incompatible and were repelled...
Li Yuan grabbed the Dragon Blade Spear and glanced at his own information:
305~705!
"I have already surpassed General Gu Xiang.
However, this value of 705 must require me to detonate all the Shadow Blood Drops in my body to reach."
Li Yuan slightly sensed that this method of instantaneously detonating all the Shadow Blood Drops gave him a feeling of heart palpitations, "It should belong to the type of dharma gate that would injure oneself and fall into weakness after use, and should not be used lightly."
"Next is Seventh Grade."
"Seventh Grade requires replacing Shadow Bone.
In the normal range, Shadow Bone cannot be replaced.
But since my body can host three types of Shadow Blood, why not?"
Li Yuan was already extremely familiar with "Soul-Throwing Technique," and at this moment, he merely imitated "Soul-Throwing Technique"’s method to break through Seventh Grade, as well as "Earth Fire Travel Technique"’s method to break through Seventh Grade, starting to grind for Seventh Grade.
...
In the blink of an eye, another month passed.
Immersed in cultivation, Li Yuan rarely went out, oblivious to matters beyond his window, fully engrossed in cultivation.
Apart from accompanying his wife and child, and routinely sweeping around with White Sparrow, he devoted all his time to cultivation.
Funny enough, the emotion driving him to do so was actually fear.
He did not feel any sense of security in his heart.
This world did not give him a sense of security.
Whether it was the Ghost Realm or the Central Plains, both were like great mountains pressing down on his heart.
...
On this day, he felt something within, his whole body trembling, experiencing a difficult-to-describe shivering sensation.
Li Yuan suddenly realized something, hurriedly getting up, running to the inner chamber, tenderly watching Lady Yan, who was holding the child asleep, and the hostess, who was feeding milk.
"Sister Yan, Sister Xue, I need to enter the secret chamber for closed cultivation... you don’t need to worry..."
After he said this, he only felt his heart "thump," a blade’s edge abruptly pressing painfully against his bone.
But even in such pain, he still smiled, pretending to be nonchalant before his child and wife, showing no sign of suffering.
He had not experienced the pain of changing Shadow Blood, as his Shadow Blood could coexist.
But... no one in the world had ever had the possibility of changing Shadow Bone...
Yet if it were possible to change bone, that pain would be unimaginable.
The hostess hadn’t realized anything, but Lady Yan looked at him deeply, saying, "We will all wait for you to return."
The hostess also smiled, playfully teasing the little Ping’an in her arms, calling, "Say, ’Daddy.’"
Little Ping’an called out, "Wah~"
The hostess held the little hand, gently waving it, smiling, "Say, ’Daddy, keep going.’"
Little Ping’an cried, "Wah wah wah~"
Lady Yan glanced at the bundle in her arms. The eldest daughter was quietly asleep, and except for crying a few times after birth, she didn’t make a fuss, smiling peacefully like a naturally gentle girl.
However... anyone knows, if all you see is darkness, how can it be so quiet?
Lady Yan was both heartbroken and pained.
Fortunately, she had some strange dreams recently.
In the dream, she returned to that eerie little house.
Outside the little house’s window, the sun was so close it could incinerate the human soul with blinding golden light. Yet at the window, a white figure stood quietly, its hem hanging like dead water, mysterious yet not frightening her.
She couldn’t move or speak, but this time, a small hand tightly held her large hand.
The baby girl was still wrapped in a swaddling cloth but stood in the dream, letting out an adorable, childish laugh.
This laughter melted Lady Yan’s heart.
The door gently closed.
Li Yuan escaped into the inner chamber of the secret room, then closed the door from inside.
The heavy soundproofing could completely isolate sound inside and out.
In the next moment, the youth fell to the ground in agony, tearing off clothes and biting down on them, then sweating all over, emitting a muffled, piercing scream.
Er Ye scraped bones to heal poison, but this torment seemed like a hundred knives were scraping his bones... Even tormenting couldn’t compare to this.
Fortunately, Li Yuan was already at Seventh Grade Perfection, his body extremely robust, thus only experiencing severe pain, without the risk of death.
Before long, his body started oozing blood.
First, blood droplets seeped out, then bloodlines spurted...
In the secret chamber, the youth cried out in agony to the sky.
"Ah ah ah!!!"
He understood; this was replacing the Shadow Bone.
To replace the bone, you first had to scrape the bone...
The path was his own choice.
Feeling pain in the secret chamber is better than getting hurt outside.