Chapter 315: Chapter 113: The Attempt (Seeking Monthly Votes)
The Demon Clan should be a race that primarily relies on the Divine Soul, with the Flesh as a secondary aspect! They say there is no path beyond the Grandmaster, yet from another perspective, the path the Demon Evil tread is already the path ahead—
Shen Changqing’s expression was solemn. If Demon Evil were compared to Martial Artists, he seemed to have seen the path ahead for Martial Artists. Although the path of Demon Evil definitely differs from that of the Human Clan, one must know that all Myriad Laws return to one origin. Regardless of whether it’s Demon Evil or the Human Clan, there must be some common ground between the two.
At this thought, Shen Changqing almost conceived of a solution. He calmed his mind, all his attention focusing inward on his Sea of Consciousness.
Inside the Sea of Consciousness, the six-petaled Blood Lotus gently swayed. Although there was no wind within the Sea of Consciousness, the lotus maintained a delicate state, swaying gently as if it were a real, living lotus.
Looking at the Blood Lotus, Shen Changqing hesitated at first. Then, with a slight thought, his mind transformed into a long saber, slashing directly towards the Blood Lotus. Instantly, the Blood Lotus trembled violently. A pain that seemed to come from the deepest part of his soul turned his face deathly pale. In that moment, Shen Changqing’s mind nearly collapsed. But he forcibly endured the suffocating pain and, with the saber formed from his Divine Sense in the Sea of Consciousness, he cut off a small petal.
As the petal shattered, a surge of intense pain welled up from deep within his soul again.
"Ugh!" he grunted, not doing anything else. He merely kept calm and silently waited for the severe pain to subside.
After a long time, the pain faded away. When he looked again at his Sea of Consciousness, the Blood Lotus, which originally had six petals, now had its sixth petal damaged, as if a knife had brutally sliced off half of it. The severed half-petal just lay there, isolated in the Sea of Consciousness.
Then, Shen Changqing’s focus fell upon that half-petal. Suddenly, the petal gradually dissolved, seeming to detach from the Sea of Consciousness and fall towards his Flesh. When this power entered his Flesh, it was as if attracted by something. Without any special control from Shen Changqing, that power merged with his Flesh.
His mind withdrew, and he opened his closed eyes. Then, with another thought, the skin on his finger split open, and a droplet of Essence Blood emerged from the wound.
Unlike ordinary Essence Blood, this droplet seemed alive. After flowing out from the wound, it didn’t fall to the ground but instead hovered in place, neither moving forward nor dropping down.
Immediately, Shen Changqing flicked his finger. The droplet of Essence Blood broke free from his finger and fell to the ground. Then, with a thought, he saw the Essence Blood that had landed directly transform into a person.
At first glance, this person had the same appearance, stature, and attire as him, with no discernible difference. But, compared to Shen Changqing himself, the person in front of him had a dull expression, like a wooden Puppet, and his form appeared somewhat illusory, lacking the solidity of a real person.
"Attack me!" Shen Changqing ordered.
The person transformed from Essence Blood immediately attacked him. Its actions were swift, its strength fierce. A simple punch produced the sound of exploding air. Facing such an attack, Shen Changqing did not dodge but fought back.
In the small room, the two exchanged blows. The person transformed from Essence Blood was going all out, while Shen Changqing controlled his strength within a certain limit, neither crushing his opponent nor allowing the residual force to escape and destroy the surroundings.
After a quarter of an hour, the strength of the person transformed from Essence Blood gradually weakened. Seeing this, Shen Changqing said, "Stop!"
As his words fell, the other party immediately stopped.
Afterward, with a thought from him, the person transformed back into a droplet of Essence Blood suspended in mid-air. However, compared to before, the Essence Blood was now somewhat depleted and lacked its former might.
Shen Changqing opened his mouth. The Essence Blood, as if under control, flew into it. Once the Essence Blood reached his stomach, the Spiritual Power fused within it began to separate and dissolve, then flowed back into his Sea of Consciousness, repairing the damaged petal.
No significant consumption of Spiritual Power, and only about half of the Essence Blood depleted. Not bad, not bad! A smile appeared on Shen Changqing’s face. The experiment felt like discovering a new continent.
It turns out that even after reaching the Grandmaster Ultimate Summit, one can still employ different methods! Splitting Spiritual Power and then merging it into Essence Blood enables the Essence Blood to be nourished by Spiritual Power, giving birth to an alternative form of life. Such life is significantly different from normal life. The biggest difference is that this alternative life form doesn’t possess much intelligence; at best, it can understand some simple commands. Furthermore, the entire being of this life form comes from the power of Essence Blood. Once the Essence Blood’s energy is exhausted, the entity will completely disappear. Moreover, according to my speculation, if the Essence Blood is exhausted, then the Spiritual Power blended within it will also be directly depleted, with no chance of recovery. Only if the Essence Blood isn’t exhausted and is swallowed back in time can the consumption of Spiritual Power be avoided.
Strictly speaking, such a method is rather impractical. It’s simple: a Grandmaster at the Ultimate Summit would have to sever part of their own spirit and then extract their Essence Blood just to temporarily possess such a minion. As for the minion’s strength, based on the preceding test, it’s at most that of an early-stage Grandmaster. In fact, it’s slightly inferior to a Grandmaster. At best, it’s akin to a Half-Step Grandmaster.
The Blood Lotus is the embodiment of the True Intent of countless battles. But when the True Intent came into existence, it had already fused with my own spirit. In other words, the Blood Lotus is the materialization of my Spiritual Power. Severing the Blood Lotus is tantamount to splitting off my own Spiritual Power. As a result, my own strength will also be somewhat damaged. Then, I consume a drop of Essence Blood to enable the fusion of Spiritual Power and vital energy, and only then can a Half-Step Grandmaster minion truly be born. There isn’t much significant use to it.
Shen Changqing silently shook his head.
Is a Half-Step Grandmaster strong? For the average person, a Half-Step Grandmaster is definitely extremely powerful. But for him, a Half-Step Grandmaster is an existence that can be crushed with one hand. Considering the energy expenditure, summoning one Half-Step Grandmaster minion consumes at least one-twentieth of his strength. If he summons too many, this consumption will increase even more.
Shen Changqing felt that if he disregarded the damage to himself, he could at most summon ten to twenty Half-Step Grandmaster minions. But by that point, his strength would have diminished by more than half from its original level. Exchanging fifty percent of his power for twenty Half-Step Grandmaster minions is utterly pointless. At my level, even with only fifty percent of my power, I am no weaker than a Grandmaster who has just stepped into the peak realm. A peak realm Grandmaster, even one who has just broken through, would find no difficulty in obliterating twenty Half-Step Grandmasters. Therefore, this method is, in fact, of little real use.
Shen Changqing suspected that Demon Evil also knew of such a method. After all, he hadn’t truly nurtured a Divine Soul; his Spiritual Power was still only at the True Intent Manifestation stage. The Demon Clan nurture their Divine Souls; they are completely superior to him in terms of Spiritual Power. If he could conceive of such a tactic, undoubtedly the Demon Clan could as well. So far, few Demon Evil have been seen doing this. It’s clear that those Demon Evil also know that unless absolutely necessary, fragmenting their power to create a few minions of moderate strength is a mere waste of time. No, it’s not just a waste of time, but a waste of their own power. The earlier comparison made it obvious that sacrificing one’s power to create such things is a losing proposition.
However— Shen Changqing looked at the candle in front of him, which had gone out at some unknown point. His expression had already returned to calm.
The Demon Evil lurking in Fengqiu Mountain fears my strength and is hiding. If I have someone carry my Essence Blood inside—someone with the strength of a Half-Step Grandmaster—it might not be enough to suppress that Demon Evil, but it should be able to occupy it for a while without any problems. As long as the battle commences, I can immediately hurry over. This way, the Demon Evil will have no chance to escape. Individuals forged from Essence Blood and Spiritual Power can, to some extent, achieve a mutual connection. As long as the Essence Blood is activated, I will be able to sense it. At that time, by entering Fengqiu Mountain, I could certainly suppress the Demon Evil. For now, I face only one problem: how to transport the Essence Blood unnoticed into Fengqiu Mountain. Otherwise, the mere aura emitted by the Essence Blood would prevent a Martial Artist in the Pulse Condensation Realm from even approaching, let alone carrying it. Moreover, if the aura was obvious, even if it were possible to take it into Fengqiu Mountain, the Demon Evil inside would sense it. I’m not sure if the Demon Evil would continue to hide upon detecting the presence of the Essence Blood. The best strategy would be to find some means to completely seal off the aura of the Essence Blood’s power until it encountered the Demon Evil, and then unleash it.
What exactly could carry and seal the power of the Essence Blood—? He frowned deeply. The power of Essence Blood is not ordinary. Finding something to contain it would be no easy task.
Perhaps this can work! Shen Changqing took out the jade box that had previously contained the Tiankui Inner Core.
There was no trace of blood left in the jade box, but inside, the unique scent of the inner core lingered.
The Tiankui, which had been lying on the table, got up and sniffed with its snout when the jade box was opened, its round eyes filled with confusion. That scent is so familiar. Yet, this is clearly a jade box—why would it feel familiar? Strange!
Tiankui shook its fluffy head and then lay down again. There’s no point in pondering the inexplicable.