Pfw!
The blade shimmered past, splitting the giant rat that lunged towards him in two. In the moment that the foul rat blood splashed over him, Ye Zhen immediately rolled to the side, his hand raising the woodcutter's blade, expertly disemboweling another giant rat that pounced from the side.
This slash and flick were as smooth as flowing water, without any hesitation.
The blade in his hand was a woodcutter's blade, a thick-backed one issued to servant disciples by the Qiyun Sect. With daily sharpening by Ye Zhen, it was incredibly sharp.
Ever since the first time he was attacked by this pair of giant rats, Ye Zhen always carried his woodcutter's blade every time he came to this area.
The blade technique was the Woodcutter Blade Technique.
Ye Zhen, a servant at the Qiyun Sect, had developed the Pine-Splitting Blade Technique from chopping Iron Branch Pine every day for a year, which was sharp and straightforward, without any frills.
Moreover, although the Fierce Beasts and Demon Beasts within the boundaries of the Qiyun Sect had long been eradicated, ordinary wild animals remained.
Over the year, more than ten fierce animals like wild boars had fallen under Ye Zhen's woodcutter's blade, and slaughtering these two mutated giant rats was indeed easy for him.
However, if another year or two passed, and these two giant rats grew into Fierce Beasts, the outcome of tonight's battle might have been different.
The smell of blood stimulated all of Ye Zhen's nerves, making them tremble with excitement – this scent of blood after slaying a target was enough to excite any man.
Taking a deep breath, Ye Zhen casually tore a leafy vine from the mountain wall, and placed it under the sparkling translucent Stone Bamboo Shoot column, where a few droplets of water had already gathered at the tip of the shoot.
Soon, the sparkling translucent Stone Bamboo Shoot dribbled out two drops of aquamarine-colored liquid. The light around the Stone Bamboo Shoot slowly began to dim.
Looking at the fragrant two drops of aquamarine-colored Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid on the vine leaf, Ye Zhen felt somewhat excited – true Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
Ye Zhen had also read through the Medicine Book of Qiyun Sect, which mostly covered the identification of herbs or older Spiritual Medicines, with few records of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
But from conversations with his fellow disciples, Ye Zhen was sure of one thing: anything like Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid, regardless of the type, was an excellent treasure.
The only concern for Ye Zhen now was whether the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid he faced was of too high a Grade. The power contained within it might be too overwhelming and could potentially burst him upon consumption.
A senior servant disciple had mentioned that Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were valuable, but some extremely high-Grade Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures contained terrifying energy. If consumed by someone with too low cultivation, the user might literally explode.
However, since even two ordinary rats had managed to consume this aquamarine Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid and grow into giant rats, Ye Zhen, a human much larger than a rat, presumed that consuming this aquamarine Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid would not cause his body to burst.
Without any hesitation, Ye Zhen swallowed the two drops of Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid and even consumed the vine leaf connected to it.
A fragrant flavor filled his mouth as the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid instantly transformed into an endless heat spreading throughout Ye Zhen's limbs and bones.
Instinctively, Ye Zhen sat down cross-legged and began to circulate the Blood Qi Technique passed down by the Qiyun Sect, starting to move his Blood Qi and refine and absorb the powerful medicinal strength of the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid.
The powerful medicinal strength in the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid allowed Ye Zhen to clearly sense the routes through which the Blood Qi flowed inside his body.
But just as the Blood Qi Technique had begun to reach his chest, Ye Zhen's eyebrows suddenly furrowed unexpectedly.
When the Blood Qi Technique guided the medicinal power transformed from the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid to his chest, a mysterious suction force suddenly appeared, taking away a small part of the Blood Qi passing through there.
This discovery startled Ye Zhen, prompting him to carefully inspect it.
This careful observation led to an even more startling discovery.
Ye Zhen found that when the Blood Qi Technique mobilized the circulating Blood Qi in his chest, the surging Blood Qi was partly absorbed by the mysterious suction force.
The amount of Blood Qi absorbed was as high as twenty percent.
After sensing carefully, Ye Zhen was surprised to find that the source of the suction force that absorbed twenty percent of his Blood Qi came from a dove egg-sized bead hanging on his chest.
The Blood Qi absorbed by this bead was also completely devoured by it.
This bizarre change reminded Ye Zhen of the origin of the bead on his chest.
The bead, made of a special material, was called the Peace Pearl by Ye Zhen.
It was a family heirloom passed down to Ye Zhen by his grandfather on his dying bed, said to have been passed down through several generations of the Ye Family.
It had been in Ye Zhen's hands for seven or eight years now, and as for calling it a treasure, that would be an overstatement. Ye Zhen had always treated it as an old family heirloom, a legacy handed down in the family.
Now, the sudden phenomenon of it absorbing blood qi was astonishing to Ye Zhen.
Instinctively, Ye Zhen wanted to remove the Peace Pearl that was absorbing his own qi and blood.
When his hand touched the cold Peace Pearl, Ye Zhen suddenly paused, and a series of associations flashed through his mind.
A few months ago, Ye Zhen had sustained an injury on his chest, and a large amount of fresh blood had flowed onto the Peace Pearl.
However, once the fresh blood touched the Peace Pearl, it seemed to seep into the sand, directly penetrating the Pearl without leaving a trace of blood behind.
At that time, Ye Zhen had not minded it and simply thought that the material of this family heirloom was somewhat special.
Now upon reflection, it seemed that all the changes in Ye Zhen's body were related to that injury and the blood-sucking change of the Peace Pearl.
It was after the Peace Pearl had absorbed the blood that Ye Zhen's cultivation progress dramatically slowed down.
Before that, Ye Zhen's cultivation speed had always been among the top few among the servant disciples who had just joined the Hundred Pine Peak.
Among the hundred servant disciples who joined Hundred Pine Peak simultaneously, Ye Zhen's cultivation speed could rank in the top five.
But since the Peace Pearl sucked blood, Ye Zhen's cultivation speed plummeted, no matter how hard Ye Zhen tried, his cultivation advanced very slowly.
Now it seemed, it must be because of the Peace Pearl's absorption of blood qi that Ye Zhen's cultivation was extremely slow.
Every time Ye Zhen cultivated, the Peace Pearl would absorb 20% of his blood qi, but since Ye Zhen's blood qi was rather weak, he couldn't notice this slight loss of blood qi.
This time after Ye Zhen consumed the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid, a Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasure, his blood qi surged, turning the 20% absorbed by the Peace Pearl into a considerable force, revealing this secret to Ye Zhen.
Moreover, Ye Zhen also thought of another thing—his little secret of understanding the Beast Language was also accidentally discovered after the Peace Pearl had sucked blood.
"Could it be that this ancestral Peace Pearl is indeed a treasure?" A thrilling idea suddenly surged in Ye Zhen's mind.
As this thought arose, it sparked immense curiosity in Ye Zhen.
The left hand resting on the Peace Pearl, involuntarily let go.
Ye Zhen was curious to see what changes would occur to this Peace Pearl if it had absorbed enough blood qi?
After all, now that Ye Zhen had consumed the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid, his body's qi and blood strength had increased to almost an uncontainable level; letting it absorb some would not be a problem.
Under Ye Zhen's urging, the Blood Qi Technique continuously operated, and with each circulation, Ye Zhen felt his blood qi grow stronger.
The powerful blood qi flowed throughout his body, nourishing every bone and flesh in Ye Zhen, and even his internal organs began to subtly grow stronger.
The suction became stronger and stronger, the originally ice-cold Peace Pearl also began to heat up, and the originally pale red Peace Pearl turned blood-red, emitting a faint red blood glow.
When the red blood glow emitted by the Peace Pearl reached its peak brightness, the dazzling red blood light suddenly burst forth. Ye Zhen only felt as if his chest had been struck by lightning, a surge of heat fiercely burrowed into Ye Zhen's chest.
The pain caused Ye Zhen's eyes to roll back white, and without even a cry of pain, he fainted.
...
Ye Zhen was awoken by a foul smell.
The source of the odor was Ye Zhen's own body, sticky and covered with a layer of grimy oil, emitting a foul smell.
"Gone?" The moment he awoke, Ye Zhen instinctively looked towards his chest.
Before fainting, something unusual had happened with the Peace Pearl at his chest, so Ye Zhen wanted to see what changes had occurred to the Peace Pearl.
However, at that moment, only an empty leather cord was left on Ye Zhen's chest; the Peace Pearl that had hung there was nowhere to be seen, but there was a new mark at his chest, almost identical to the imprint of the Peace Pearl.
The moment Ye Zhen's gaze fell on it, a forceful suction suddenly emanated from the mark, and a series of bizarre and disjointed images began to appear before Ye Zhen.