Chapter Sixty-Four: The Power of Blood and Vitality

As soon as the words fell, the figure suspended in mid-air flashed golden light in its eyes, their sharp gaze seeming to pierce through space itself, fixing upon a silhouette that had sat in silence beyond the darkness for countless ages. That figure was as unyielding as a stone, utterly still and soundless, yet an invisible, oppressive aura radiated from it, blanketing all around.

Staring at the skeletal remains of himself, a trace of complex emotion flickered across the face of the refined man. Then, within the dark void, he waved his hand, and a beam of light shot forth, instantly slicing through the darkness and settling upon the silent skeleton.

A deep, resonant hum began the moment the beam entered the unmoving figure. An incessant roar issued from within the bones, as if something unfathomable was taking place inside. The rumbling grew ever more intense, and the skeleton trembled more and more violently.

At the climax of this trembling, an eerie, potent blood energy began to emanate from the fleshless bones, and within this miasma was an even stronger force than the blood itself. If a warrior of the Vital Force Realm had been present, they would have been shaken to the core, for this force surpassed mere blood energy—it was the essence of vital energy, condensed to its utmost, the very quintessence of a martial artist. To consume it would bring unimaginable benefit.

“The master of this stone cave is quite something. It seems I need not intervene after all.” Around Ye Cheng’s neck, within the jade pendant, Old Mu, seeing Ye Cheng’s dire straits and about to step in, paused upon witnessing the refined man's actions, and withdrew his intention to help.

“Lucky little fellow…”

As the blood energy thickened to near liquidity, the spectral figure smiled faintly, his golden eyes glimmering as he looked upon the youth shrouded in blood mist. With a casual gesture, the blood energy surging from the skeleton was drawn forth under the refined man’s command, erupting in torrents that pierced the darkness and poured directly into Ye Cheng.

No one could have imagined that the remains of one long dead could still harbor such formidable blood energy. It was precisely this energy that had preserved the skeleton through a century’s passage, keeping it intact rather than letting it crumble to dust.

Most would not understand what drawing forth this blood energy truly meant, but the refined man, the owner of those bones, knew all too well. Once the last of this energy was gone, nothing would remain of him in this world—not even a trace of his bones.

Naked came I into this world, and naked shall I depart!

Perhaps, for one already dead, such thoughts were of little importance. Yet to see his life’s dream realized anew in this youth, by whatever means, he gave everything he had left. Whether this hope would be fulfilled now depended on the boy’s own efforts. As the blood energy was channeled into Ye Cheng, the spectral glow around the refined man grew palpably thinner, fading at a pace that matched the stripping away of his own essence.

When the last of the blood energy was gone, his time in this world would be over—a fate he had long accepted. Now, having done all he could, he fixed his gaze on the youth below, sitting cross-legged, his face deathly pale, watching as the streams of energy flowed into him. In a soft murmur, he said,

“This is all I can do for you, little one. From here onward, it’s up to you. I hope you don’t disappoint me.”

As wave after wave of blood energy surged into him like pillars of water, Ye Cheng’s pallid, bloodless face began to regain its color at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Boom!

With the support of this energy, a vast wave of blood force erupted from within Ye Cheng, spreading like a shockwave and stirring the air into a whistling gale.

Within his body, streams of weakened fire—diminished by the sealing arts—raced wildly through his meridians, leaving devastation in their wake. Opposing them was a defensive membrane formed from congealed blood, layered between the meridians, but the onslaught of fire steadily eroded it.

Suddenly, a surge of blood energy, far surpassing even Ye Cheng’s peak, split into two currents. One joined the battle against the flaming streams, reviving the battered blood membrane. With each new infusion, the defenses thickened, meeting the fire head-on and successfully halting its advance.

Sensing resistance, the fiery streams grew even more violent, crashing harder against the blood defenses, each impact causing Ye Cheng’s body to convulse uncontrollably.

Meanwhile, another current of blood energy drove deep into the recesses of his meridians, reaching the hidden channels of his spirit veins. There, the faintly glowing veins pounced upon the incoming energy like starving wolves, unleashing a terrifying devouring force that consumed every drop.

No matter how much energy poured in, the countless spirit veins within Ye Cheng absorbed it all, like bottomless pits that could never be filled.

“Hm, this little one is rather unusual. No wonder his blood energy at mere mastery rivals that of someone at the pinnacle.” The refined man watched Ye Cheng’s trembling form with a strange expression, his golden eyes observing every detail within the youth’s body.

“In that case, let’s allow you to devour a little more.”

With that, he gestured once more, drawing forth the final stream of blood energy from the skeleton, this one a hundred times more concentrated than any before, and sent it into Ye Cheng’s body.

As the last vestige of essence left the bones, the skeleton could endure no more—there was a faint sound, and it crumbled at last into dust, vanishing into the air.