Martial Arts: My talent multiplier increased

It wasn't blood. There was no liquid. It was a translucent, misty substance with a dark red undertone. It was seeping out from the pores, corners of the eyes, and corners of the mouth of the evil cultivator simultaneously. The process was very slow, like something leaking slowly from a broken container.

A fishy smell filled Fang Yuan's nostrils. It wasn't the metallic rust of normal blood. It was stronger. Thicker. Mixed with it was an indescribable sweetness—a sweetness that was unpleasant. It made him nauseous.

The vital energy of the heretical practitioner is dissipating.

However, the way it dissipates is completely different from that of a normal martial artist.

When a martial artist dies, their vital energy returns to the world. The speed at which it dissipates is directly proportional to their cultivation level—the higher the cultivation level, the denser the vital energy within the body, and the longer it takes to dissipate. For a martial artist in the early stage of the Bone Refining Realm, their vital energy dissipates completely within about half an hour after death.

This heretical practitioner's vital energy was not dissipating.

It's sticking.

The dark red, misty substance seeped from the corpse but did not spread evenly in all directions. It hovered two inches above the corpse, slowly rotating. Like a swarm of directionless insects, it swirled in the air, constantly extending its extremely fine tentacles outwards.

Looking for a host.

Fang Yuan's hand was still hovering above the corpse, less than half a foot away from the dark red mist.

A very thin, dark red tentacle touched Fang Yuan's fingertip.

ice.

A bone-chilling cold pierced his fingertips. Fang Yuan's fingertip muscles involuntarily contracted for a moment—his eight-fold stance training kept this reflexive movement to a minimum.

But at the very moment that tentacle touched Fang Yuan's skin—

The palm of the right hand.

The panel lit up.

A semi-transparent light screen appeared on the inside of his palm. It wasn't something Fang Yuan actively activated; it popped up automatically.

Fang Yuan's pupils contracted by half a millimeter.

The system has never proactively displayed a panel. Since he acquired the system, every time the panel has appeared, it has been triggered by his own will.

the first time.

The text on the panel was unlike any prompt he had ever seen before.

This is not a talent list. This is not a saved number. This is not an amplification option.

A new line of characters.

"Foreign essence blood energy detected. Absorb?"

Fang Yuan's breathing paused for a moment. His fourfold Root Bone pulled his breathing back to a normal rhythm in the next heartbeat cycle.

He crouched beside the evil cultivator's corpse. His right hand hovered above the dark red mist. Only he could see the light emanating from the panel.

Fang Yuan's gaze was fixed on that line of text.

Heterogeneous essence and blood energy.

It's not "qi and blood". It's "essence and blood".

The difference between these two terms in the martial arts system is that Qi and Blood are produced through the body's own cultivation. Essence and Blood, on the other hand, are the essence of Qi and Blood, extracted from them, and are the core energy that carries the foundation and vitality of a martial artist.

The heretical cultivator drained the life essence of others to cultivate. After death, the remaining foreign life essence in his body did not return to heaven and earth, but instead turned into this dark red mist.

The system can detect it.

The system asked him if he wanted to absorb it.

Fang Yuan's finger hovered above the mist for three breaths.

Within three breaths, his brain raced along two lines of reasoning.

Article 1: Absorption. Unknown risks. The source of the heterogeneous essence blood is that it is extracted from living people by evil cultivators using evil techniques. This energy may carry remnants of evil techniques—what if it causes irreversible damage to one's own meridians after absorption?

Second rule: Do not absorb. Zero risk. But at the same time, you give up a possible path to becoming stronger.

Fang Yuan's finger twitched.

system.

Since he acquired the system, every function it has provided—talent boosting, silver consumption—has never caused him any trouble.

The talent boost is permanent. The effects are real and tangible. The system's "business reputation" has been verified multiple times and is reliable to date.

If there is any risk in this new pop-up notification, the system will most likely flag it.

There are no risk warnings on the panel.

The three breaths ended.

Fang Yuan's thoughts triggered "Yes".

Change happens in an instant.

The dark red mist hovering above the corpse seemed to be sucked in by an invisible tube the instant Fang Yuan chose "yes." All the mist-like substance surged towards Fang Yuan's right palm. The speed was extremely fast. So fast that Fang Yuan's eight-times-powered stance training didn't even have time to react—not because it was too late, but because it didn't need to.

The sensation of those dark red mists flowing into my palm was strange.

It doesn't hurt. It doesn't itch. It feels cool.

Extremely cold.

It felt like putting your hand into a river in the twelfth lunar month. The icy water seeped into the skin along the lines of your palm, creeping up the veins towards your wrist.

Then—it stopped.

The icy sensation was stopped at my wrist by something. It didn't spread further down my arm.

Fang Yuan looked down at his palm.

The skin on my palms is perfectly normal. There is no discoloration. There is no swelling. The flow of Qi and blood in my meridians is exactly the same as before absorption—the foundation of Qi and blood, strengthened by four times the root bone, is as stable as an iron stake cast into the bone.

New information popped up on the panel.

"Absorption complete."

"Gained: Temporary Amplification Points +1".

"Temporary Boost Points Description: Temporarily doubles the boost to any talent. Duration: One hour. Disappears after use."

"Current temporary increase in points: 1."

Fang Yuan stared at the panel for five breaths.

Temporary increase. Doubled. One hour.

His innate talent is four times greater. If it's temporarily doubled—it becomes five times greater. This effect lasts for one hour.

Eight times the skill level. Temporary boost—nine times.

Comprehension doubled. Temporary boost—tripled.

Soul power doubled. Temporary boost—tripled.

Fang Yuan clenched his fingers in his palm. Then he loosened them. Then he clenched them again.

A heretical cultivator at the early stage of the Bone Refining Realm. Upon death, he generates a temporary boost point.

What about the late stage of the Bone Refining Realm? The peak of the Bone Refining Realm? The Dirty Refining Realm?

Will it generate more points? Will it last longer? Will the multiplier be higher?

There is no answer from Fang Yuan. The sample size is too small. A single data point cannot reveal a functional relationship.

But the direction has been clear.

Fang Yuan closed the panel.

He lowered his head, looking at the corpse of the heretical cultivator before him.

After the dark red mist was absorbed, the corpse shrank. Its already emaciated body now resembled a thin layer of skin clinging to its skeleton. Its dark red fingernails turned grayish-white. The faint dark red light in its eye sockets vanished.

Shriveled. Empty. Drained dry.

Fang Yuan's gaze shifted from the evil cultivator's corpse to the three victims' corpses beside him, whose life essence had been drained.

the same.

The same withered state. The same grayish-white color. The same—after being squeezed dry of its last drop of value, it became a pile of useless wreckage.

Heretical cultivators drain the life essence of living people and turn it into nourishment for their own cultivation.

Fang Yuan killed the evil cultivator and absorbed the remaining foreign essence blood in his body, turning it into a temporary amplification point for the system.

Food chain.

This thought lingered in Fang Yuan's mind.