267: Chapter 267 Shortcomings!

Standing in the boat, he looked at the boundless, slowly churning dark red "blood plasma" surrounding him.

Feeling the faint pulse transmitted from the blood boat beneath his feet and the dense, suffocating bloody energy outside the shield.

For the first time, Qin Yan truly felt his own insignificance.

This blood river that traversed Ancient Yue was like a blood vessel of a slumbering ancient behemoth, containing unimaginable power and secrets.

A sense of awe for such immense power spontaneously arose within him.

Qin Yan shook off these thoughts, his gaze turning sharp.

"Next is the time to hunt Blood Spirits, collect Blood Qi, and condense Blood Pills!

Whether I can break through the Third Grade Limit in one go here depends on today's harvest!"

Once the Blood River Spirit Boat was generated, it would automatically carry the trial-taker along a fixed trajectory, sailing from one bank of the river to the other.

The entire journey lasted approximately one hour.

During this period, the trial-taker could not control the direction or speed of the spirit boat; they could only perform actions like attacking and collecting while on board.

Once the journey ended and the boat reached the opposite bank, it would automatically dissipate.

Furthermore, each trial-taker could only summon the spirit boat from the blood river once every ten days using their own Qi and Blood.

This meant Qin Yan had only this one hour of opportunity to collect Blood Qi!

If the quality or quantity of the Blood Pills condensed this time was insufficient, he would have to wait a long ten days before trying again!

And the collected Blood Qi could only be maintained for one day!

After one day, its effectiveness would greatly diminish!

Time was exceptionally precious!

Qin Yan took out the black seed he always carried close to his body from an inner pocket and placed it in a relatively stable corner at the rear of the spirit boat.

He wasn't worried the seed might accidentally fall overboard—the layer of blood-colored shield surrounding the spirit boat wasn't just for show. It isolated the inside from the outside, both resisting the erosion of the blood river's energy and preventing items on the boat from falling into the water.

After securing the seed, Qin Yan gripped his long spear tightly, focusing his entire attention on the river surface ahead.

The small boat began moving at a constant, slow speed towards the opposite bank of the blood river.

Qin Yan understood that the only thing he could do was maximize the use of this one hour: kill every Blood Spirit encountered along the way and collect every floating blood-colored flower that passed by!

He had to ensure that wherever he passed, Blood Spirits were exterminated and flowers were fully collected!

Only in this way could he possibly accumulate enough Blood Qi essence to refine high-quality Blood Pills!

The blood boat moved forward slowly. Qin Yan's gaze swept over the surrounding blood river like the keenest eagle.

The Blood Spirits were neither evenly distributed nor stationary.

They would sometimes coalesce, sometimes dissipate, devour blood flowers, and wander aimlessly.

Suddenly, about ten feet to the right front of the blood boat, the blood water rippled.

A blood-red, slightly illusory wolf-shaped Blood Spirit had just coalesced half of its body. Its crimson eyes curiously looked at this intruder.

Now!

Qin Yan's eyes flashed fiercely. With a light tap of his foot on the boat, his body moved slightly, and the Ink-Marked Spear in his hand shot out like a thunderbolt!

A faint golden Spear Aura shimmered on the spear shaft, and the Spear Light tore through the viscous air!

"Sss—Boom!"

The golden-red Spear Light precisely pierced through the wolf-shaped Blood Spirit's not yet fully formed body!

The Blood Spirit couldn't even let out a howl before its entire energy body exploded with a bang.

Immediately after, a wisp of faint but extremely condensed pale red Blood Qi essence, as if drawn, penetrated the blood-light shield, drifted into the blood boat, and finally landed in Qin Yan's open palm.

Qin Yan could clearly feel that this wisp of Blood Qi held an almost instinctive, fatal attraction for him.

The blood within his body grew slightly restless in response.

But he knew the quantity of this single wisp was far too little.

Direct absorption would have a negligible effect; he must accumulate enough quantity and condense it into a Blood Pill to achieve significant results.

"According to records, a wolf-shaped Blood Spirit's strength is equivalent to the third grade mid-stage, and its Blood Qi is the most diluted.

To condense the lowest-grade 'Low Grade Blood Pill,' one probably needs to kill about ten such wolf-shaped Blood Spirits; the total Blood Qi obtained would barely be usable."

"As for a 'mid-grade Blood Pill,' it requires the total Blood Qi from a hundred wolf-shaped Blood Spirits."

"'High Grade Blood Pill'... requires a full thousand!"

Qin Yan quickly calculated in his mind, his brow slightly furrowed.

"Leopard-shaped Blood Spirits have strength equivalent to the third grade mid-stage, and their Blood Qi intensity is about ten times that of a wolf-shaped Blood Spirit.

Tiger-shaped Blood Spirits are equivalent to the third grade late stage, their Blood Qi intensity is another ten times that of a leopard-shaped Blood Spirit, equivalent to a hundred wolf-shaped Blood Spirits!"

"If I want to condense a High Grade Blood Pill during this journey, or even dare to hope for a supreme-grade one... I must hunt as many Tiger-shaped Blood Spirits as possible!

Otherwise, relying solely on wolf and leopard-shaped ones, even if I kill until my arms go weak, it would be extremely difficult to gather the required Blood Qi within one hour."

The small boat continued its steady forward journey.

Along the way, Qin Yan collected a few more blood-colored flowers of varying sizes.

The Blood Qi essence contained in these flowers was relatively mild, but the quantity wasn't large either; often, one flower was only equivalent to two or three wolf-shaped Blood Spirits.

He also successfully killed several leopard-shaped Blood Spirits.

The Blood Qi essence obtained was indeed much denser than from wolf-shaped ones; a single wisp equaled ten wisps of wolf-shaped Blood Spirit Qi and Blood.

However, what made him somewhat anxious was that after all this time, he hadn't encountered a single Tiger-shaped Blood Spirit!

Those powerful, Blood Qi-prolific big guys seemed to prefer operating in the more turbulent energy core areas or specific river sections of the blood river where blood flowers were denser.

And his spirit boat's route didn't seem to pass through those areas.

He looked up towards the boats of other prodigies in the distance.

Some Elf Prodigies stood at the bows of their boats, longbows drawn to full draw. Arrows shot out like meteors, crossing dozens of feet to accurately hit distant Blood Spirits;

Some Storm Winged People flapped their wings, whipping up sharp wind blades that sliced across the river surface;

...

Watching these diverse methods, especially those adept at mid-to-long-range attacks, obtaining wisps of Blood Qi, Qin Yan couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy.

His *Nine Revolutions Golden Body Spear* was indeed fierce and sharp, peerless in close combat, but its attack range primarily relied on the extension of Spear Light.

The blood boat's speed was fixed; he couldn't actively chase distant Blood Spirits and could only attack those that entered his attack range.

For situations where targets were slightly farther away, or where multiple targets needed to be dealt with quickly, it seemed somewhat... "clumsy" and "ineffective."

"Long-range attack methods..."

For the first time, Qin Yan so clearly realized his shortcoming in this aspect.

In open areas or arena battles, this might not be a problem.

But in special environments like the blood river, or in more complex environmental explorations in the future, having one or two reliable long-range attacks or large-scale killing methods would undoubtedly greatly improve efficiency and survival ability.

"If only I could step into the Fourth Rank or reach the fifth stage in Spear Technique." Qin Yan sighed.

At the fifth stage of Spear Technique, Spear Qi could leave the body.

Fourth Rank Martial Artists gave birth to True Qi!

Both could attack from a distance!

But for now, he could only rely on the long spear in his hand, racing against time within this limited hour, doing his utmost to hunt and collect as much as possible.