All-class Gu Immortal

Chapter 186 Great Advancement in Strength! The Degenerated Divine Seed!

"Wow~"

Zhou Qing felt his meridians expanding continuously, and his blood and qi flowing like a surging tide. A powerful force was surging from his limbs and bones. He had never felt such a wonderful sensation before!

At the same time, Zhou Qing's dantian was also expanding. When the true qi flowed through the meridians along with the blood and qi, it automatically transformed from a gaseous state into a liquid state of true essence without the need for the transformation by the wine insect.

They converge from the meridians into the dantian, eventually forming a lake of true essence within the dantian.

For ordinary martial artists to break through from the Bone Refining Realm to the Blood Exchange Realm, both the strengthening of their blood and qi and the condensation of their true essence require a certain amount of time.

Zhou Qing had already condensed true essence through the wine worm when he was in the Bone Refining Realm. His use of true essence was no less than that of a typical Blood Exchange Realm cultivator. Therefore, as soon as he broke through, he naturally transformed the true qi in every meridian of his body into true essence.

Moreover, with the help of the Heavenly Fire Essence, his Qi and blood were greatly refined, which solidified his foundation ahead of time, allowing him to reach the perfect state even though he was just a little short.

Zhou Qing was originally unable to refine the Yuanhun Golden Liquid, but now, with the help of the Qiantian Fire Essence, the extreme cold power that could freeze an ordinary Blood Exchange Realm cultivator was neutralized.

As his blood and true essence circulated throughout his body, the power of the Ice Soul Mystic Spider bloodline within the Yuan Soul Golden Liquid was continuously refined.

His dantian, as well as the blue and green true essence of the Azure Water and Azure Wood in his primordial aperture, were all stained with a layer of white.

Not only that, even Zhou Qing's bright red blood energy was stained with a layer of crystal-clear white.

This layer of white allowed his blood and qi to be strengthened continuously in a very short time.

The final outward manifestation was the thin veil of qi and blood attached to his body. Compared to the normal red veil, it had an additional layer of white mist. The mist seemed to be neither real nor illusory, constantly transforming between reality and illusion. A powerful chill condensed on Zhou Qing's body.

Even though he was currently refining the Heavenly Fire Essence and his body was surging with heat, he could not overcome this chill.

At this moment, Zhou Qing was experiencing an unprecedented sensation. His body was fluctuating between hot and cold; sometimes his left side was cold and his right side was hot, and sometimes the opposite happened.

After a while, my upper body felt cold, while my lower body felt hot.

Finally, it turned into a cold feeling in my internal organs and a burning sensation on my skin.

However, as Zhou Qing broke through to the Blood Exchange Realm, his physical body, blood and qi, and true essence were strengthened in all aspects. The extreme cold and heat that were originally unbearable seemed to become less terrifying.

Kaka!

Zhou Qing extended his right hand, and as the blood and qi converged towards it, his entire palm swelled up in an instant. His skin became as hard as metal, and the protruding meridians on it twisted and turned like earth dragons. An invisible force gathered in his palm, and at the same time, this force had an extra layer of tangible whiteness, instantly freezing the moisture in the air.

"Is this the Blood Exchange Realm? I feel incredibly strong right now!" Zhou Qing slowly clenched his fist, feeling the force compressing the surrounding air, producing a muffled explosion.

The sudden surge in physical strength, multiplying several times over, can indeed make one feel inflated.

Zhou Qing looked inward at his dantian. As he broke through to the Blood Exchange Realm, although his Yuan Aperture had not changed, his dantian had expanded more than twice as much as before, allowing him to store more true essence.

Especially after he refined the Yuanhun Golden Liquid, his blood and qi contained a chill, and even the Azure Water True Essence and Green Wood True Essence in his dantian, after merging, also carried a chill.

It seems that the dual-attribute true essence of water and wood is showing signs of transforming into true essence of ice.

If this is true, the quality of true essence will be further improved. Although the upper limit of true essence stored in the dantian will not be increased, the power of true essence will actually be greatly improved. Whether it is to perform martial arts or to drive the Gu worms, it will be more enduring.

Moreover, Zhou Qing has not yet cultivated the Heavenly Origin Technique, the Yuan Condensation Secret Technique left behind by Venerable Xuanzhu. After cultivating the Heavenly Origin Technique, his true essence will be able to solidify by 50% on the original basis, which is equivalent to increasing his strength by a small realm out of thin air.

Generally speaking, after a martial artist breaks through to the Blood Exchange Realm, their Qi and blood will increase by 50% with each blood exchange, and the difference in Qi and blood between each realm will be more than double.

"It seems that to deal with a martial artist at the Qi and Blood Wolf Smoke Realm, I still have to rely on the Ice Fiend Gu." Zhou Qing sensed the changes in his Qi and Blood and had recovered from his previous arrogance.

The advantage of martial arts is that it is a gradual process, with each realm divided into detailed sub-realms, which allows for continuous feedback on one's progress.

The downside is that it's very difficult to fight opponents of higher levels, especially since the gap between each level is very significant.

A difference of 100% in Qi and Blood can translate to a difference of more than 200% in actual combat strength.

Just like the difference between the Bone Refining Realm and a Blood Exchange, in terms of blood and qi alone, it is about three or four times. However, even if seven or eight ordinary Bone Refining Realm cultivators joined forces, they could not do anything to an ordinary person who had undergone a Blood Exchange.

With Zhou Qing's combat strength before breaking through to the Blood Exchange Realm, he could easily take on seven or eight Bone Refining Realm cultivators without using Gu worms, but he couldn't break through their defenses after a Blood Exchange Realm.

This is the absolute difference between great realms.

"I don't know how big the gap is between me now and the Qi and Blood Wolf Smoke Realm." Zhou Qing stood up from the stone chamber.

Rumble!
As the Heavenly Fire Essence within his body was completely refined, the Primordial Soul Golden Liquid also merged with his body, and the tightly closed door of the stone chamber slowly opened.

boom!
boom!
boom!
Before Zhou Qing had even stepped out of the stone chamber, he heard a tremendous sound echoing in the middle of the square.

As he stepped out of the stone chamber, he saw the three Blood Transformation Realm Grand Martial Masters already in the middle of the plaza. The three of them were staring at the fire-attribute spirit seed in the dragon's mouth with greedy eyes. They were constantly gathering true essence to attack the dragon's body, which was carved from fire crystal, trying to shatter it and seize the fire-attribute spirit seed from the dragon's mouth.

"So fast? They've all undergone one blood transfusion." Zhou Qing raised an eyebrow. Judging from the power of the three men's actions, two of them had undergone one blood transfusion, and the other had undergone two.

Zhou Qing was surprised that these three Blood Exchange Realm Grand Martial Masters had refined the Heavenly Fire Essence so quickly.

However, what Zhou Qing didn't know was that the deeper a person's foundation, the better the effect of the Heavenly Fire Essence's blood-washing and marrow-purifying process would be, and the longer it would take to refine.

The reason he was able to come out so quickly was because the coldness of the Yuanhun Golden Liquid counteracted the extreme heat of the Qiantian Fire Essence.

As for the three Blood Exchange Realm cultivators, two of them were Great Martial Masters who had undergone a Blood Exchange once, and their foundations when they were in the Bone Refining Realm were far inferior to his. Now that they have broken through to the Blood Exchange Realm, the effects of the Heavenly Fire Essence will naturally not be very good.

The remaining one underwent a second blood exchange, cultivating a fire-attribute technique, so the refining speed was slightly faster. "So fast?!" The commotion of Zhou Qing walking out of the stone chamber also attracted the attention of the three. The three stared at Zhou Qing in astonishment, not expecting that the first to emerge was not the strongest person in the room, the Mad Lion Elder, but Zhou Qing.

"This kid actually broke through to the Blood Exchange Realm?!"

At this moment, the highest-ranking martial artist among the three, a second-stage blood transfusion master, noticed the fluctuations in the blood and qi within Zhou Qing's body.

However, the three of them did not take him seriously. A newly awakened Blood Exchange Realm cultivator was not worth worrying about at all.

boom! boom! boom!
The three launched another attack on the Fire Crystal Dragon, but as soon as their moves touched the dragon's body, they were neutralized by an invisible red ripple.

"It seems that obtaining the spirit seed is not a simple matter." Seeing that the Fire Crystal Dragon's defense was so strong, Zhou Qing was happy to let the three of them expend their energy.

“Something’s strange.” Xuanzhu’s voice echoed in Zhou Qing’s mind.

"What do you mean? Is there a problem with the spirit seed?" Zhou Qing's expression changed slightly.

"Generally speaking, unowned spirit seeds wouldn't have such strong defensive capabilities. Look at this fire-attribute spirit seed; it remains unmoved even under the siege of three Blood Exchange Realm experts. Unless the owner of this spirit seed is still alive, or..."

Xuanzhu was somewhat puzzled.

"What?" Zhou Qing asked hurriedly.

"Perhaps this isn't a spirit seed at all! It's a degenerated divine seed! This is a divine seed left behind by a Martial Saint at the Five Qi Convergence Realm. Because it hasn't received replenishment from the Martial Saint's divine power for a long time, it has degenerated into a spirit seed!" Xuanzhu exclaimed in shock.

"A degenerated divine seed?! Are you sure?!" Zhou Qing was shocked.

"Whether it is or not, we must seize it! At worst, we can flee far away after seizing it, cultivate for ten or eight years, break through the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, and then come back! Or we can kill everyone present to prevent anyone from leaking the secret." Xuan Zhu's voice turned cold.

Zhou Qing's lips twitched.

"You think too highly of me."

There's also the Mad Lion Elder, a master on the scene. Even if he uses the Ice Fiend Gu, he might not be able to win for sure.

Moreover, the extreme heat actually helped to restrain him.

Moreover, he couldn't bring himself to kill everyone present.

He could let others go, but how could he possibly harm Han Qingqing and Lu Yan? Su Wuhen had also been a great help this time.

"However, if it really is a divine seed, then the trouble will be considerable." Xuanzhu changed the subject.

"What trouble?"

"The divine seed contains supernatural power and has already developed a certain degree of self-awareness. It is very likely that it will recognize a master on its own. However, this divine seed has degenerated and should not have such a strong self-awareness. In short, try your best to seize it. If you can't seize the divine seed, seize more Qian Tian Fire Essence, which will also be of great benefit to your cultivation. Anyway, your main goal is to improve your Gu Master cultivation, not your martial arts cultivation."

Xuanzhu explained.

"Alright." Zhou Qing nodded.

Rumble!
Just then, the stone chamber opposite Zhou Qing opened, and the Mad Lion Elder, dressed in a red robe and with a ruddy face, walked out of the chamber. Judging from his expression, the Heavenly Fire Essence must have brought him considerable benefits.

However, when he saw three Blood Transformation Realm Grand Martial Masters launching a fierce attack on the Fire Crystal Flood Dragon, trying to seize the Spirit Seed, his face instantly darkened.

"stop!"

The old man roared, and powerful sound waves formed ripples that echoed throughout the wide square.

All three Blood Exchange Realm Grand Martial Masters were shaken.

Standing opposite, Zhou Qing frowned slightly, feeling a buzzing sound in his ears. However, as he used his blood and qi to form a thin veil to protect his body and used the Spirit Nourishing Technique and Skin Refining Realm to protect his mind, the attack did not have any obvious effect on him.

Sure enough, after breaking through the Blood Exchange Realm, there was a qualitative change.

If it were just now, he would probably have had to exert all his strength to barely block the Mad Lion Elder's sonic attack.

At this moment, the Mad Lion Elder's soul-capturing sonic wave technique sounded to him nothing more than loud noise.

"Old Man Mad Lion, what do you mean?" The Grand Martial Master who had undergone a second blood transfusion was the first to come to his senses. He looked at Old Man Mad Lion with a gloomy expression and his eyes were full of fear.

The other two Grand Martial Masters, who had undergone a complete blood transfusion, looked terrified. If they had faced the Mad Lion Elder alone, they would probably have been defeated in a single exchange by his Soul-Seizing Sonic Wave Technique.

"The more you attack, the stronger the spirit seed will resist. Instead of wasting your true essence, you should provide it to the spirit seed!" the Mad Lion Elder said in a deep voice.

At this moment, he also noticed Zhou Qing appearing on the other side.

The stone chambers around him opened one after another, and Su Wuhen's aura was much stronger than before, having broken through from the first blood exchange to the second blood exchange.

Although Han Qingqing and Lu Yan did not break through, their qi and blood were significantly stronger.

As the strongest person in the arena, he knew that he could be surrounded and attacked by everyone if he was not careful.

"Let's all contribute our true essence and release goodwill towards the spirit seed. This way, the spirit seed won't use its remaining power to resist. You've all witnessed the power of the Qiantian Fire Essence just now. If the spirit seed were to release all of the Qiantian Fire Essence at once, I'm afraid no one could withstand it."

The old man with the mad lion spoke to the crowd.

(End of this chapter)