Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Fusion

“Comprehensive power ranges from nine to twenty?”

Li Yuan’s pupils slightly narrowed as he reached for that fine steel longbow.

He took another look.

To his surprise, the value had changed to “54~110”.

The lower limit remained constant, while the upper limit had doubled!

Li Yuan’s right hand moved like the wind, quickly drawing an arrow, nocking it, and slowly pulling the string back while sensing the changes within the strength of his body.

Twang… twang, twang, twang…

The bowstring stretched into a full moon, and at this moment, Li Yuan felt his power had reached its limit.

This bow was also nearing its limit.

However, he could determine with certainty that his current power absolutely did not exceed the original limit of “55”.

In the moonlight like frost, under the cold frost, the young man maintained the posture of drawing the bow, carefully pondering the movements of the two streams of warmth within him and contemplating what he needed to do to bring his power up to “110”.

The two streams of warmth seemed like two entirely different fishes, swimming leisurely inside him, not interfering with each other.

If he did not exert control, the fishes would follow along with the flow of blood, but if he controlled them, they seemed to come alive and could be maneuvered to any part of his body.

Li Yuan tried for a while but felt that his strength remained unchanged.

How could he achieve this “110”?

Suddenly, an idea struck him.

At this moment, the two streams of shadow blood were moving to a position close to each other; although they quickly diverged again, their closeness gave him an indescribable feeling of unease.

He thought for a moment and then maneuvered the two streams of shadow blood to approach again.

Getting closer…

As the two streams of shadow blood fully converged, it seemed as though time had slowed down, with Li Yuan carefully controlling them, letting them gently and slowly make contact.

Boom!!!

As soon as the blood touched, it was as if two stars collided, and a formidable power rushed with force into Li Yuan’s organs, muscles, and skin, a terrible strength gushing into his body like volcanic lava!

Bang!!!!!!

The long string of the fine steel longbow snapped immediately.

The bow itself swiftly recovered, and its limbs swung back fiercely with enormous rebound force. However, the recoil force that should have flung his hand back vanished between Li Yuan’s fingers.

Those five fingers were already engorged, turning red, with waves of blood surging to the surface of the skin.

The intense sense of expansion and stretch made Li Yuan feel an explosive power had been added to his body.

If anyone were here, they would surely be startled into shouting.

The young man originally in the back courtyard had vanished, replaced by a terrifying man with black hair dancing wildly without wind, a flushed face, reddish skin, and blood-red eyes filled with oppressive power.

“Such immense power.”

Li Yuan looked at his slightly reddened hands, a thoughtful expression appearing in his eyes.

But in the next moment, he saw numerous tiny red dots emerge from his pores, followed by streams of blood pouring forth, instantly dyeing his skin a true blood color.

Li Yuan’s mind stirred and hurriedly pulled the two streams of shadow blood apart.

As the shadow blood separated, the dreadful strength within him disappeared, and at the same time, a faint sense of weakness set in.

Yet, Li Yuan remained calm.

He sat cross-legged, and as if a great tide receded, the blood faded away and no longer surged forth.

“The teacher said that only one type of shadow blood can exist within the human body.

This is easy to understand; after all… nobody would have two blood types.”

“But for some reason, I have two types of shadow blood, and when they touch, they trigger explosive power.

This is why my comprehensive power limit reaches 110.”

He paused slightly and pondered:

“The power just now lasted about five seconds…”

“But if I reach the realm of Eighth Grade Skin Refining, this duration should extend.”

“Once skin refining is successful, a layer of blood shirt will cover my skin, and this ordinary blood will no longer breach the surface.

At that time, I can maintain the previous state for much longer.”

As he thought, Li Yuan suddenly felt an unexplainable hunger in his stomach.

He didn’t want to enter the house, fearing to dirty it, so he shouted towards the front yard: “Aunt Wang, boil water, I want to bathe! Oh, and prepare some food.”

“Yes, Master~~” Aunt Wang dutifully responded, not asking questions like, “Didn’t you just eat?” or “Didn’t you bathe before returning?” and simply went about her tasks.

Yan Yu, however, concerned, ran to the backyard, and upon seeing her man turned into a bloodied figure, her beautiful eyes widened, and she covered her mouth in fear, a thin mist lacing over them.

“I’m okay.” Li Yuan said calmly.

“Okay… okay?” Lady Yan’s voice wavered with a sob.

Li Yuan smiled and said, “I’m really okay.”

He thought and said, “Sister Yan, if you would, please move the bath barrel over, and make sure no one finds out I’m covered in blood. If Aunt Wang notices the blood, just say I had a slight mishap during cultivation.”

He worried that if others had the same condition, it would draw the attention of those with unsavory intentions.

Better save it than sorry, everything under wraps is for the best.

“Mm…” Lady Yan responded, turning again to the wall, her shoulders trembling slightly as she discreetly wiped her tears.

“Sister Yan, I really am okay.”

“Husband, you have to take care…”

“I’m really fine.”

“Hmm…”

“I haven’t lied to you, have I?”

“You… really didn’t lie to me? Nothing’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

Only then did Lady Yan take a deep breath and quickly run into the house, heading to the front yard.

From afar, sounds like “Aunt Wang, after you boil the water, cook some meat,” “Husband had a little mishap while training today and needs to replenish,” “I’ll take care of the bath barrel myself” could be heard.

After a while, Lady Yan brought over a wooden tub and began to pour water into it.

Li Yuan took off his blood-stained clothes and pants and entered the tub.

Lady Yan grabbed some soapwort and quietly went aside to wash the clothes and pants.

…

As night fell, the two lay together.

Li Yuan had bled a lot today and wasn’t feeling energetic.

Lady Yan was considerate and didn’t ask for anything.

They just lay there quietly, talking for a while, until all was silent and they embraced each other to sleep.

The next morning…

Li Yuan opened his eyes, surprised to see a message flash before him:

[You and Yan Yu spent a harmonious night together, gaining 7 remaining points]

Li Yuan: ???

What the heck? This???

He looked down at the delicate girl in his arms, a bit dumbfounded.

So just sleeping peacefully together counted as a harmonious night?

“Sister Yan…”

His hand moved slightly, covering the snowy white skin, pulling the delicate girl in his arms closer.

A lazy voice softly came: “What are you doing…”

“Nothing.”

Li Yuan tightened his embrace on the delicate girl.

…

The recovery ability of a Ninth Grade Martial Artist is very strong.

The flow of two Shadow Bloods made Li Yuan recover almost completely in one night.

As usual, he went to the nameless little pavilion at the main entrance of the Black Market, reported to Master Li, and then went to Master Li’s courtyard.

He didn’t plan on telling his teacher about his breakthrough and the coexistence of two Shadow Bloods.

It’s not a matter of trust, it’s about his greatest secret.

Entering the courtyard, he used the excuse of needing quiet for cultivation, having Xi Yan lead him to a secret room.

This secret room was where Master Li meditated, so it was naturally open to him as well.

Once inside the secret room, all was silent.

Li Yuan opened the cultivation skill book, his gaze quietly scanning the Eighth Grade stage of the “Soul-Throwing Technique.”

“The Great River Flows Through the Wilderness” is the general outline of this Eighth Grade.

Simply put, to reach the Eighth Grade, two aspects are needed.

First, repeatedly temper oneself while using cultivation skill circulation to make the internal Shadow Blood increasingly abundant.

Second, through skill coordination, allowing the Shadow Blood to form a natural layer of Blood Shirt on the body surface.

However, reaching the Eighth Grade requires a high demand for devouring flesh and blood.

Ordinary flesh offers very little room for improvement,

whereas progressing at a normal pace requires eating Demon Beast meat.

Hunting Demon Beasts is quite unreliable.

But Demon Beast meat is sold in the Black Market, though Li Yuan couldn’t possibly purchase it under his identity, as this would be equivalent to telling others that he… has broken through to Eighth Grade, or is even already at Eighth Grade.

He closed his eyes, reflecting that most trades in the Black Market weren’t clean, so many people wore masks and conical hats.

This, too, was convenient for him.

Yet at the same time… two problems arose.

The first was money.

His money was sufficient for living expenses but far from enough to buy Demon Beast meat.

The second was trading.

The best time for him to enter the Black Market was at night.

But the Black Market at night… was filled with danger.

Li Yuan didn’t want to enter the Black Market after dark…

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