"Uggh."
A soft, yet shaky groan escaped the dry throat of a dehydrated and starved young child. His light brown skin was hidden by the wrinkles and dry flaky skin that layered his body throughout. His cracked lips let out another desperate groan until he finally fell into the eternal rest he had been wishing upon for the past three torturous years. Those were the last moments that Chris had in this unforgiving world. That was until another being took his body, a being not from this world.
As Damien opened his eyes, the pain from just moving his eyelids caused him to shudder.
'Fucking hell, Master said he would try to put me in a good world, but what the fuck is this.'
Damien felt completely helpless. Pain assaulted him from every inch of his body, not allowing him to even move a centimeter, except for the occasional unintentional shiver when the pain overdrew his nerves.
'Fuck!'
'After waiting for so long, for so fucking long. To finally taste the feeling of cultivation. It can't be that I won't be able to. No. Master said he would give me his inheritance.'
Without allowing Damien to question further, his consciousness was quickly awoken inside his mental sphere. He appeared floating above a cloud in which he discovered the figure of his Master.
"Master. I thought your soul had been extinguished?"
"Damien, I am dead. This is just a sliver of my soul that I placed inside of your mental sphere. I placed it here so that I could transfer my Blood Arts to you and so that I could steer your soul into this body of yours. I can't remain alive for long as my soul has been extinguished and your mind is not a good enough vessel to hold my existence. Here just as I promised, the chance for my arts to not be forgotten and your chance to finally cultivate as you had dreamed in that small planet of yours."
With the Blood Demon's last word his figure turned into a rainbow mist that flew into Damien's figure.
Instantly a rush of information overwhelmed Damien's mind forcing him to fall into a slumber once again.
It was only a day later that he awoke, now even more starved and in a severe decrepit state. His body was smaller than what his age should show and his body was thin with his skin holding tightly to the bone. Barely any flesh and blood remained in his body for it had begun to cannibalize itself to remain alive. With no other method to get out of the precarious situation, Damien began to explore the cultivation art he had been desiring when he inhabited Earth.
'Finally, I will find out what these Blood Arts are about.'
After analyzing the knowledge his master, the Blood Demon, had given him, he understood now that the Blood Art Manual encompassed a total of 13 techniques, each one with a specific use. For example, the first and most important technique was the foundation of the manual, Blood Art: Blood Qi Refining. It was supposed to allow him to awaken and absorb Blood Qi, a form of Qi that represented the essence of life. Absorbing and controlling Blood Qi would give various benefits, for example, the ability to use this life essence to heal injuries and strengthen his body. Without further analysis of his new knowledge, Damien began to attempt to use the first technique to heal himself since he had begun to feel that he did not have much time left. Although he began to attempt to use the technique he remained wary since he still had worries that he wouldn't be able to cultivate.
The technique consisted of a chant that would use his soul as a medium to manipulate the energies of the world and give him control over Blood Qi.
And so he began to chant in his mind.
With the chant, he began to feel a connection with something his, yet something he had never felt before. His soul had finally begun to activate and harmonize with the chant. He didn't know how long it took until he finally had yet another weird sensation, a connection to a chaotic yet stable and positive energy that slowly awoke from its slumber and flowed through his constricted blood vessels. In his mind, an image of an abysmal amount of blood-red mist flowed through his body forming an interconnecting web of qi. Due to his sudden gain of knowledge, he understood the principle behind this Blood Qi. It was in fact the retainer for his life essence. The problem was that normal people would never even begin to use it because there is no need for it since they receive their energy from the absorption of other organisms, for example, the food that is consumed every day. It was difficult to control it at first since the chant had to be in constant use to connect with the Blood Qi and it was difficult to multitask and attempt to manipulate it while chanting.
But slowly Damien became accustomed to it and began to finally control Blood Qi using his soul. According to the manual, a person's talent would be shown at this moment since people with stronger souls would be able to handle stronger techniques.
Although the first technique was a basic technique and the foundation for the manual, it was anything but simple. The technique would allow the user to harness life essence, one of the most powerful Qis in existence.
Damien knew he wasn't special, the only reason he was able to become the Blood Demon's successor was because his talent was so pitiful. The Blood Demon himself was born with the worst talent possible, and so for this reason he created Blood Arts, a method to break the shackles one called talent.
The Blood Demon wished for someone like himself to receive his inheritance because he was similar to him when he began, someone with poor talent with a hunger for cultivation. And it so happened that when he was searching for someone, he came across a lost soul wandering outside of the reincarnation cycle.