As this was happening, color was already returning to his body. Despite the name of the fruit, its effect was vastly different from the tree.
The tree itself was the blood absorber, while the fruit used the absorbed blood for its effect.
The fruit took the absorbed blood and, depending on the state of the blood, would purify it and boost it's quality. Beast Nobles would use this tree to enhance their bloodlines and awaken latent abilities.
For example, An Ox-kin Beast with an impure bloodline would be unable to use the abilities available to one with a pure bloodline.
After a few visits to the Blood-Absorbing Tree, they would be able to become pure blooded Ox-kin Beasts. Of course, the Method Yuan Zhen had chosen was almost suicidal.
He had actually chosen to perform multiple miracles all at once.
First, he prepared his spiritual energy channels for instant evolution. Now he possessed the best possible channels. He also brought his blood to the worst state possible. The tree would recognize this as a horrible bloodline, absorb the toxins and then use that to purify the blood accordingly.
Since it thought his blood was of the worst quality imaginable, it pushed his bloodline to become something else entirely.
An Evolved Pure-Blooded Beast.
This was something that he had discovered was possible in his past life, but had refused to share it with anyone. When he had initially crossed over and saw his reflection, he realized that he was Pure-Blooded. Much like the past Yuan Zhen, he was a Pure-Blooded Beast.
Yet still, the past Yuan Zhen had been unable to upgrade his bloodline after countless tries. He had discovered that poison could be used to trick the tree. Sadly, he discovered this late in his life. He had already matured far too much.
Thus, the upgrade was essentially wasted on him. Also, he was schemed against and killed soon after, so he hadn't even been able to utilize the added potential he did receive.
Now, though, he was in a much better position.
He would be able to receive all the benefits of the new bloodline and allow it to shape his future growth. He was all smiles as he woke up, feeling the power in his body. However, he was not satisfied just yet. He went out and found various other similar bright red insects, for they were quite common. Using them, he repeated the process a total of seven times, each time absorbing more and more pure spiritual energy.
His channels were now pushed to a higher limit and his bloodline was also upgraded to perfection. Once he found that the tree's efficiency couldn't increase anymore, he was satisfied.
He had now perfected his new bloodline. Now, he could begin. Without further ado, he climbed up into the tree and found a suitable position to sit cross legged and close his eyes.
His plan now was simple.
Thanks to his knowledge of modern machinations, applications and other various concepts, he was going to use the spiritual energy to reform the functions of his body. For example, certain weaknesses.
What was one undeniable weakness that plagued all mortal beings?
The characteristics of life clearly state that most living things will grow, among other things. However, that rule applies only to mortal beings.
What stimulates growth? Nutrition perhaps? What supplies nutrients? Food? Then, what if the need for food could be eliminated? To do this, one would have to reprogram the body.
However, the precision needed to perform such a task was beyond human limits. This was why the development of robotic surgeons had attracted serious attention. Operations that humans couldn't complete were easily dealt with by machines.
While Yuan Zhen did not have a machine, he had spiritual energy. This meant that he had two times an advantage. Not only was he able to allow it to perform the precise movements, but he could also affect his body on a far greater scale.
From his flesh and bone straight down to his spirit, there was no limit to where his spiritual energy could reach. With a small smile, he began to probe his being with spiritual energy. He found that he could even affect the very cells that made up his body.
He found that a main problem was his physical brain. Although his consciousness was connected to his brain, it was essentially a separate existence thanks to his spiritual energy. This gave him a thought.
He would start here. Using his spiritual-energy-rich consciousness, he would supplement his brain with pure energy and eliminate the need for glucose. Once he established a system of autonomic spiritual energy input to the brain, he went on from there.
He reconstructed each cell on a wide scale, and thus was slowly able to eliminate the need for food.
This was his first major project.
"Now that my entire body is supplemented by spiritual energy, it is sure to mutate."
He could only imagine the possibilities of a body that literally ate spiritual energy. His reason for eliminating the need for food and, in the process, water, was now plain to see. He was going to spend a substantial amount of time taking in spiritual energy.
However, there was one more problem he needed to erase.
Rapid advancement in cultivation caused unstable foundations. This was due to the fact that the increase in strength wasn't properly comprehended by the body, and it couldn't adjust fast enough. To rectify this, he merely decided to reshape his channels.
This was a major reason why he had brought them to the highest possible quality. If they were of a poor quality and he had to divide them throughout his body, he wouldn't be getting enough spiritual energy. They were naturally concentrated in one place and then spread out from there.
However, if he brought pure, unrefined energy to key locations throughout his body, and then refined them in all those places, it would bring his entire being to a higher level at the same time. In other words, it was the equivalent of his entire body growing stronger despite only focusing on one part of it.
This eliminated the need for constant adjustment. However, it did not eliminate the need for stabilization of spiritual energy. This was unavoidable, as he would have to refine the spiritual energy if he wanted to increase his cultivation in the first place.
Once his preparations were complete, he took a breath. In the tree, unless you looked especially hard, you could not see him. His clothes had been died red by the amount of blood he had been covered in.
He blended in perfectly with the tree. Unless you had a sharp spiritual sense, you would not notice him without seeing him. Yuan Zhen carefully began to draw in the spiritual energy, reveling in the feeling of ecstasy.
This was where his path would begin. He had been an Origin Evolving level cultivator before his death, putting him a level below the apex of the world. Despite that, his new bloodline gave him a great advantage, and he could fight with the apex martial artist without being at a disadvantage.
Still, too many of them came together. Even with his advantage, he was torn apart mercilessly. Now, however, he would have an even greater advantage. Not only thanks to his bloodline, but also thanks to the otherworldly knowledge he had acquired.
In the Golden Purgatory Realm, cultivation was designed by the higher powers of heaven and worked like so:
Spiritual energy creates passageways in the body. First Realm of Cultivation, Spiritual Awakening, divided into eight levels.
Once the passageways are created, the concentration of energy gives birth to a unique manifestation. Second Realm of Cultivation, Spirit Manifestation, divided into eight levels.
The Spirit Manifestation establishes a link with the cultivator's soul, thus strengthening the soul. Third Realm of Cultivation, Soul Nourishing, divided into eight levels.
The Soul attains aspects of an eternal flame, thus becoming an Origin Soul. Fourth Realm of Cultivation, Origin Establishment, divided into six levels.
The Origin Soul merges with the Spirit Manifestation, transforming it. Fifth Realm of Cultivation, Origin Evolving, divided into six levels.
Finally, the merging of Origin Soul and Spirit Manifestation creates an Immortal Spirit, pouring forth endless energy. This stage is thought to be the height of cultivation in the Golden Purgatory Realm, and is divided into three stages.
Currently, Yuan Zhen had more or less skipped the Realm of Spiritual Awakening. He had perfected the channels in his body and then divided them among the key points in his body.
As he continuously gathered and refined energy, his body quickly broke through the first Realm of Cultivation.
Seeing this, he wasted no time in breaking through to the Spirit Manifestation Realm. He urged his energy to make continuous circulations in his body, and then have it gather at the end of each passageway.
This caused his channel walls to tear and bleed, since this was something that was not normal. What Yuan Zhen was currently attempting would basically create eight different Spirit Manifestations. Though he suffered the internal bleeding, his endless supply of spiritual energy was continuously being refined.
He did not let up, allowing more and more spiritual energy to gather at the eight key points he had chosen.
Soon enough, the spiritual energy at the first point began to take shape. It wriggled and warped, taking the shape of a curved blade. Before long, the curved blade continued to form before the energy then took the shape of a long, yet thin body to support the blade. This was undoubtedly a large scythe.
Spirit Manifestation, success!
It seemed that thanks to his special case, the distinction in his levels would be decided by the amount of Manifestations he had.
Since he had eight of them, and there were eight levels, his unique cultivation system adapted to suit.
Yuan Zhen then frowned. Why had his Spirit Manifestation taken this shape?
In his previous life, his Manifestation was the image of a blood red sword. This was long before he acquired the new bloodline, however, so he credited it to the fact that he now had the perfect upgraded bloodline.
Still not satisfied, he continued trying to create more Manifestations. A few days passed and, even though the rain fell and soaked him through and through, he didn't let up. Before long, the second Manifestation took shape.
This time, he was even more confused.
The second Manifestation had taken the form of a raging flame. Unable to find an answer, he continued with his efforts. He did not wish to stop cultivating until the energy in his body grew unstable. When that time came, he would end his cultivation and move on with the next step to his plan.
After almost a month, he was at the Fourth Level of Spirit Manifestation. His other two Manifestations were a pair of curved horns and an illusory mask. The expression on the mask seemed to be a vengeful scowl, but Yuan Zhen was still unsure.
After another two weeks, the fifth manifestation took shape.
Under Yuan Zhen's watchful gaze, the spiritual energy poured into the fifth location and actually gave birth to a key. This even further perplexed him. Now he was sure that the Manifestations were definitely random and meaningless.
How else could he explain such a phenomenon.
Unfortunately, he had only acquired the knowledge of another world and had not been able to further his knowledge of his own world. There were still a few unknowns that even he wasn't sure of. Despite that, he decided to go in blind. Cultivation was, in and of itself, a lifelong experiment.
Once he arrived at the Fifth Stage of Spirit Manifestation, he felt the energy in his body begin to thrash about wildly. It was constantly beating against the walls of his energy channels, which were now quite resilient. It seemed they had even more room for growth.
Yuan Zhen finally moved his body, noticing some vines had begun to cover him. A blood-colored light was emitted from those vines, bringing an aura of vitality.
"King Xie, you will be the first to suffer."