The slug house behind was destroyed, the slug dead, and the rest of the building was in too bad shape. 'Hmm…Maybe things in the market are still intact, and we can pick them up,' thought Mei Lin. She had never been inside the house in front, but it was engulfed in flames, so nothing would likely survive inside. Mei Lin went to Xu Jie and gently woke her up. Despite it being late at night, Mei Lin poked Xu Jie's face with a finger, which roused her. Xu Jie was half-asleep and not really responding to Mei Lin, but the disgusting smell of blood from Mei Lin's hand quickly sobered her up, and she felt like she wanted to vomit. "What was in the house over there? What did they sell?" Mei Lin asked, ignoring Xu Jie's choking reaction.
Xu Jie was scared of Mei Lin when she first arrived in their room on the first floor, but after she and Xu Yi to the second floor, Xu Jie saw Mei Lin cultivating her fear forward, and Mei Lin grew even more. As she tried to check if Mei Lin needed anything, she discovered that Mei Lin's tea cup was probably not filled with tea, but with blood which filled Xu Jie with a sense of dread. The smell of blood was slowly spreading from Mei Lin, and with the windows covered by the blinds, this disgusting smell permeated the entire second floor.
As Mei Lin asked sleepy Xu Jie questions about the slug houses around Xu Jie felt a shiver run down her s After just a second Xu Jie answered hastily.
"The house is selling different kinds of clothes. Good," Mei Lin interrupted. "How many supplies do we have?" she asked, completely changing the flow of the conversation.
"I don't know, maybe enough for a month?" replied Xu Jie hesitantly.
"Good, then when Xu Yi wakes up, he needs to prepare for a journey. If the slug is still alive, he needs to recover as many dead bodies as possible to feed the slug. Then we will help the slug find its leader, and we will be safe. No one has come to us, so that means they either left or are still fighting."
Mei Lin opened her right hand, and a knife suddenly appeared inside. "Someone will need to go to the marketplace for supplies. I can't go up there, so only one of you can go," she declared. Mei Lin placed the knife on the floor next to Xu Yi and then went back to pour herself another cup of tea. She set the crystal teapot on the table and discovered that the tea inside hadn't gotten cold. Mei Lin started to think about the reason why. 'Why didn't it get cold? It's probably because the master placed some kind of spell on the teapot.'
After pouring another cup of blood combined with spirit tea, Mei Lin immediately drank half of the cup. Soon after, she entered a cultivation state. It took a few hours to absorb the blood, and before Mei Lin ended her cultivation state, she made a discovery. Drinking the blood from the bandit girl, who was at the first stage of BT, elevated her cultivation stage to forty percent, bringing her closer to reaching the first stage of BT.
By absorbing natural energy from blood for more than half a day, Mei Lin raised her cultivation by five percent. She was surprised and immediately considered what could happen if she tried to absorb the blood of a second-stage BT. Her progress would likely be even faster, but it would take a very long time and be very difficult. Alternatively, she could consider the blood of Li Wei. Though his blood was poison, just one drop had helped her significantly. After all, this blood was from a peak first-stage BT.
Mei Lin immersed herself in the cultivation state, absorbing natural energy from the blood tea and converting it into her wisp of natural energy within the Blood Cultivation Sea inside her lower dantian. Within her cultivation sea, on the small amount of blood floated a wisp of Mei Lin's condensed natural energy in the form of a small ball. This ball was her first wish of natural energy.
The blood within Mei Lin's cultivation sea was formed by natural energy, serving as a potential resource for Mei Lin in battles. However, until she reaches into higher stage, she lacks a direct method to utilize it. Only cultivation in the QI Condensation realm could utilize natural energy in the Cultivation sea bec,ause until one steps into the Qi Condensation realm, they don't have cultivativation sea. Only in specific instances, such as when creating her blood or when entering her cultivation sea with her mind, could she access the blood's inner energy, but she couldn't do anything with it at all.
For cultivators, the ability to recover inner natural energy depended on cultivation potential and stage of cultivation. A cultivator with higher potential could replenish it faster and possess more reserves within the current cultivation stage. Similar to Li Wei's high cultivation potential, Mei Lin aimed to have a fuller cultivation sea, not just for immediate use but for increased longevity in passive utilization. Another factor was the stage of cultivation. A higher cultivation stage meant more natural energy one could recover, making it more convenient, especially against cultivators with lower stages or realms.
Mei Lin's biggest advantage lay in the fact that while ordinary cultivators can use their cultivation sea after successfully creating it and thereby enter the Qi Condensation realm, she could utilize the energy inside her cultivation sea to refine the blood she drinks and transform it into her cultivation. This unique ability allowed her to enhance her cultivation in a way that most cultivators couldn't.
*****
Early in the morning, Mei Lin slowly opened her eyes and noticed that Xu Jie wasn't in the room anymore. Only Xu Yi lay in front of her, covered by a blanket. Mei Lin stood up, but sudden pain pierced her head. Her vision started to blur, and she felt immense exhaustion wash over her. 'Ohh, my head,' Mei Lin muttered as she sat back down, waiting for the pain to subside. This was the result of sleep deprivation and a shortage of food. After a few minutes, the pain began to ease, and Mei Lin tried to stand again, this time much more slowly.
Mei Lin stood up and went to check on how Xu Yi was healing and if he would need more healing pills. 'Only one of the pills helped Xu Yi recover to this extent. These pills are very effective. I need to save them for later,' Mei Lin thought as she gently stroked his face until she heard a noise coming from the first floor.
After listening for a while, Mei Lin heard some rumbling, similar to someone moving pots. 'Xu Jie is probably cooking something,' Mei Lin thought. 'She must be preparing breakfast.' Without bothering to ask who was downstairs, Mei Lin descended slowly from the stairs to the kitchen.
Xu Jie was cooking noodles in one of the pans and soup in the pot diligently, so Mei Lin didn't disturb her and only watched her cooking. Suddenly, Mei Lin remembered watching her mother cook, and then she, her mother, and her father ate together in their home in the mountain village. Mei Lin felt like she was home again, but then her senses came crashing back as she remembered that all her family was dead. The terrible scene of her parents buried under the ceiling of their house, covered in blood and snow, flooded her mind. Just as Mei Lin remembered them, she felt a stream of blood slowly trickle from her cheeks. Mei Lin placed her hand under the veil, and as she withdrew it, her small hand was covered in blood, which flowed instead of tears.
Mei Lin finally went directly to the first floor, where the body of the female bandit still lay, and then into the kitchen. Xu Jie stopped her drill and looked at Mei Lin. "Xu Yi is still asleep. Did you go to the market house?" Mei Lin was curious if Xu Jie had gone there.
"No, I didn't go there. Someone needs to protect the tea-house," Xu Jie replied, smiling a little. Mei Lin didn't pay much attention and pulled out a crystal bottle from her master, showing it to Xu Jie. "Do you know where I can find these bottles?"
Xu Jie looked at the bottle and began inspecting it. "No, I've never seen this kind of bottle in the shops," she said, shaking her head. Mei Lin knew that only cultivators could probably buy this type of bottle, so she didn't ask any more questions.
"I will need more pots. Do you have any with the… No! Oh, then I will probably find something outside." Mei Lin picked up a crystal knife from the table and went outside. Xu Jie watched her, and despite her angry expression, she suddenly laughed. "Where are you going outside is not safe! No, it isn't but I can go take a look inside the market."
Mei Lin didn't care whether outside was safe or not because inside the tea house wasn't safe either. As she opened the door, she immediately smelled blood and burned things everywhere. It was extremely pleasant, but the battlefield was not calm and Mei Lin was in no state to fight. As she started to descend from the slug, she discovered that the slug wasn't moving at all.
After taking the final step from the stairs, Mei Lin went to the slug's mouth to figure out what to do next. As she approached, she found that the slug was probably sleeping. Its mouth was bloody red, likely from eating dead bodies. Mei Lin started to think about what to do with the slug. 'Surely not long after, it will regain its free will from the leader slug and start to move randomly, like a master's snail. If that happens, we will have no way to control the destination where we will arrive.'
With no one alive nearby, Mei Lin went directly to the market house. As she approached the slug with the market on top, she discovered that the slug was dead. She felt relieved that their slug hadn't died, allowing them to move with the tea-house. Though starting to move would be more dangerous, Mei Lin could freely cultivate on the way. However, as she tried to find a staircase to the market, she discovered that the stairs leading down were destroyed.
Mei Lin was not very happy, so she started walking around and tried to find cultivators' storage bags. However, no one had one, indicating they had already been robbed by the survivors. Her only hope was that blood flowers would start to grow there. It would be very good if at least one flower would emerge.
Mei Lin looked for spots where there were the most dead bodies, as the concentration of blood would be higher there, increasing the chance for blood flowers to grow. Though the book didn't specify how long it takes for blood flowers to grow, Mei Lin believed it would be soon. Not long after searching around, she went back to the tea-house. The tea-house wasn't damaged too much. A few windows on the first floor were destroyed, and the roof and walls were full of arrows. As for the slug, its skin was already healed, and it could start moving again once it woke up.