132: The key to breaking through the blood realm

In Cheng Tianhao and their perception,

ancient tree crystal has always been only one.

There has never been a situation where multiple ancient tree crystals appeared.

But now... Xiao Shi actually has so many ancient tree crystals in his hand.

This greatly shocked them.

“How... how did he get so many ancient tree crystals?”

Their hearts were filled with doubt.

They increasingly felt that Xiao Shi was unfathomable.

Far from being as simple as they superficially saw.

This couldn't help but make their minds tremble, and they suddenly felt that being his servant... might not be a bad thing!

Especially for Cheng Tianhao, who had obtained the ancient tree crystal this time.

He was even more sincerely convinced by Xiao Shi.

Xiao Shi was quite satisfied with everyone's reaction.

Although he had completely controlled them through the Taiyin Seal, if he could make them genuinely recognize him from the bottom of their hearts, and feel that becoming his servant was not a helpless act but a fortunate one, it would be even more beneficial for controlling them.

As long as they could do things well for him,

Xiao Shi wouldn't mind helping them improve their strength.

And to make them submit from the bottom of their hearts, he first had to show them his ability and value.

He had to let them know that

following him would bring them immense prospects.

After giving the ancient tree crystal to Cheng Tianhao,

Xiao Shi began to discuss with them the external narrative after their departure.

After some discussion,

they unified their statements.

They significantly modified the events that occurred inside the ancient tree,

concealing Xiao Shi's role in it.

They prominently highlighted Cheng Tianhao's excellence.

At the same time, a reasonable explanation was given for why Xiao Shi was able to survive in the end.

They stated that during the process of passing through, as Xiao Shi's cultivation fell to the Qi Martial Realm mid-stage, no one paid attention to him anymore, which allowed him to survive until the end.

As for Wei Chen's death, it was attributed to their combined efforts of the four of them.

After refining the details and ensuring there were no omissions, they then left the interior of the ancient tree.

As long as each of their statements was consistent,

then Rapid Shadow Palace would have no doubts.

Whoosh!

When they left the interior of the ancient tree and appeared outside,

several strong individuals from Rapid Shadow Palace were already waiting there.

Upon seeing them,

their eyes all lit up.

However, the faces of several of the strong individuals darkened when they didn't see Wei Chen.

Earlier, through conversations with Cheng Tianhao and the others,

Xiao Shi had also learned that behind each of these sequence contenders were different sequence factions.

Within Rapid Shadow Palace,

there were multiple different factions among the sequence disciples.

Their current competition also involved struggles between the factions behind them.

However, Xiao Shi was not interested in these factional struggles.

Soon,

Cheng Tianhao and the other three successively left with the strong individuals of their respective factions.

Xiao Shi was not questioned by anyone.

He was happy with this.

After returning to the treehouse all the way,

Xiao Shi began to plan his next move.

Now that he had become the master of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, he had completely established himself in Tree Shadow City.

It was even no exaggeration to say... the entire Tree Shadow City was now under his control.

He also had these four servants, including Cheng Tianhao.

Next was to wait for the nourishment of the Crimson Tiger Totem, and find an opportunity to expand the remaining four Qi Vortexes to their limit.

Then he could proceed with the final step of Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection.

The combination and condensation of Qi Vortexes!

Since Xiao Shi was following the path of the Crimson Tiger Art,

especially after he possessed the Crimson Tiger Totem, he could no longer change his cultivation method.

Therefore, the combination and condensation he was to perform would also be in the Crimson Tiger Form.

After completing the condensation of the Crimson Tiger Form,

he could prepare for the Impact into the Blood Martial Realm.

Of course, the prerequisite was... that he would successfully drop Qi Warrior Grade Martial Emperor Regalia in the subsequent kills.

If he failed to drop the Martial Emperor Regalia,

he would definitely have to stay in the Qi Martial Realm for a period of time.

Therefore, the most important thing for him next was to find more targets to kill.

However, those below Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection clearly could no longer satisfy his needs.

After all, they couldn't drop high-quality items.

Xiao Shi needed to find Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection to kill.

And currently, among the many tasks in Tree Shadow City, there were no tasks that allowed killing Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection.

Xiao Shi pondered that he could only see if Cheng Tianhao and the others could make some arrangements for him.

At the same time, Xiao Shi also planned to use Cheng Tianhao and the others to look after Cen Qingci and the others.

Previously, he was constrained by the issue of identity exposure.

It was not convenient to help them.

Now with these servants like Cheng Tianhao, it would be very easy to make Cen Qingci and the others live well in Tree Shadow City.

However, the scale of assistance also needed to be carefully managed.

It couldn't be too sudden or too significant an improvement, which would attract the attention of Rapid Shadow Palace.

After all, as a hostage, Cen Qingci would always be under the watchful eye of Rapid Shadow Palace.

If Cen Qingci received too great an improvement all at once, it would definitely attract attention.

That would only be counterproductive.

Just like this.

Two days later,

Xiao Shi arrived at a luxurious treehouse in Tree Shadow City.

Inside the treehouse,

Cheng Tianhao was already waiting there.

Upon seeing Xiao Shi,

he immediately respectfully bowed to Xiao Shi.

“Master.”

Xiao Shi nodded.

With his current authority in Tree Shadow City, he could easily shield this treehouse, making it impossible for even the high-ranking officials of Rapid Shadow Palace to eavesdrop on their conversation through the treehouse.

Xiao Shi's external identity was Cheng Tianhao's former bodyguard.

Now, it was very reasonable for him to be summoned by Cheng Tianhao to the treehouse to meet him.

This sequence competition of Cheng Tianhao and the others had also caused a certain degree of sensation within Rapid Shadow Palace.

After all, this competition resulted in significant casualties.

Especially the death of Wei Chen, which greatly angered the faction behind him.

This time, in order to allow Wei Chen to compete for the ancient tree crystal,

the faction behind him had provided many Shadow Comprehension Talismans, believing victory was assured, but unexpectedly... Wei Chen died directly inside.

This also caused huge losses to the faction behind him.

They wanted to reclaim some Shadow Comprehension Talismans from Cheng Tianhao and the others.

However, the factions behind Cheng Tianhao and the others were not so easily swayed, and the two sides became very tense over this.

Finally, the high-ranking officials of Rapid Shadow Palace intervened.

Only then was the matter settled.

In this incident,

Cheng Tianhao's faction was undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary.

Cheng Tianhao also became a sequence disciple of Rapid Shadow Palace as a result.

He now held a relatively high status and position within the entire Rapid Shadow Palace.

However, due to the animosity between factions, Cheng Tianhao, Meng Que, Lin Ying, and Qin Long were not suitable to meet each other at this time.

Xiao Shi could only summon them individually.

Xiao Shi first instructed Cheng Tianhao on the matter of looking after Cen Qingci and the others.

With Cheng Tianhao's current status as a sequence disciple, accomplishing this task was very simple, basically without difficulty.

Then, Xiao Shi inquired about any opportunities to kill Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection.

After thinking, Cheng Tianhao shook his head.

Although there were many Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection in Rapid Shadow Palace, Rapid Shadow Palace valued these Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection quite a bit.

They would provide them with a certain degree of protection, not allowing them to easily take risks.

After all, one more step beyond Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection was the Blood Martial Realm!

Unless it was a major event like the sequence competition,

would Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection be allowed to participate.

Under normal circumstances, Rapid Shadow Palace would have some travel restrictions and such for Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection.

They would protect these Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection to the greatest extent possible.

To ensure that they could break through to the Blood Martial Realm!

Although Tian Dou Province was not like Seven Stars Province, where the Blood Martial Realm was already the highest realm for martial artists.

In Tian Dou Province, there were martial artists of higher realms above the Blood Martial Realm.

But every Blood Martial Realm was equally important to Rapid Shadow Palace.

They could be said to be the main force of their entire sect.

Therefore, trying to kill Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection here... was basically unrealistic.

“What about outside? Are there any tasks that can be performed outside?”

Xiao Shi pondered that since he couldn't kill Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection within Rapid Shadow Palace, he would go outside to kill them.

However, Cheng Tianhao still shook his head.

He stated that most Rapid Shadow Palace disciples could only perform tasks within the city, at most performing tasks between five different cities.

Tasks requiring Going out usually needed to be designated by the high-ranking officials of Rapid Shadow Palace before those special tasks could be performed outside.

And even if one left Rapid Shadow Palace,

it wasn't that easy to find Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection to kill outside.

It wasn't just their Rapid Shadow Palace in Tian Dou Province that adopted a protective attitude towards Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection.

Other forces would also do the same.

After all, Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection directly concerned the Blood Martial Realm.

No force would allow its Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection underlings to run around freely.

Unless there were some important major events,

otherwise, in Tian Dou Province, it was extremely difficult to encounter Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection.

Xiao Shi frowned tightly at this.

He didn't expect Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection to be so difficult to kill!

If there were no Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection to kill, the time required for him to expand the remaining Qi Vortexes to their limit would be incredibly long.

Don't look at his current Qi Vortexes, there were only four left.

Among these four Qi Vortexes, there was a main vortex.

The items required to expand this main vortex to its limit would undoubtedly be extremely vast.

At the same time, Xiao Shi also needed to perform a large number of kills to drop Qi Warrior Grade Martial Emperor Regalia.

Although killing other Qi Martial Realm martial artists also had a chance to drop Martial Emperor Regalia, Xiao Shi speculated that the chance of dropping it by killing Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection should be greater than by killing other Qi Martial Realm martial artists.

“Currently, there should be no opportunity to kill Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection, but in a short while, there might be an opportunity...”

Cheng Tianhao thought for a moment and said.

“Tell me about it.”

Xiao Shi's heart stirred slightly.

“Now, this batch of us has already reached Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection, and the next step is the breakthrough to the Blood Martial Realm.”

“Based on my understanding of the sect, the sect should arrange opportunities for us to break through.”

Cheng Tianhao said.

“What will happen then?”

Xiao Shi expressed confusion about this.

Cheng Tianhao was stunned upon hearing this.

He realized that Xiao Shi seemed not to be very knowledgeable about the situation of breaking through from Qi Martial Realm to Blood Martial Realm.

“Does Master not yet know how to break through the Qi Martial Realm?”

He asked, puzzled.

Xiao Shi shook his head.

He indeed didn't know yet.

Each realm of martial arts had different breakthrough methods.

The method for breaking through from Qi Martial Realm to Blood Martial Realm must be different from when breaking through from Entering Martial Realm to Qi Martial Realm.

Although Cheng Tianhao was a bit surprised that this mysterious and powerful Master didn't know the method for breaking through from Qi Martial Realm to Blood Martial Realm, he still explained it to him.

“Qi Martial Realm primarily focuses on opening Qi Vortexes.”

“What is cultivated is Qi!”

“And what the Blood Martial Realm cultivates is Blood!”

“Of course, the Blood to be cultivated here is not Blood in the conventional sense, but a special Natal Martial Blood.”

“The key to crossing from Qi Martial Realm to Blood Martial Realm lies in refining a cluster of Natal Martial Blood.”

“However...”

“To perform Blood refining, one first needs to possess a Blood Source.”

“Like those ordinary Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection in our Rapid Shadow Palace, they can choose their Blood Source before breaking through.”

“However, the Blood Sources they can choose from usually originate from the Blood Martial Realm martial artists within the sect.”

“And in the selection of Blood Source, it usually depends on two main points.”

“One is the type of Blood Source, and the other is the generation of the Blood Source.”

“There are many different types of Blood Sources.”

“Some are strong, some are weak.”

“Powerful Blood Sources such as 'Underworld Eye Blood Source', 'Blazing Flame Bloodsource', 'Wind Erosion Blood Source', etc., are all well-known Blood Sources.”

“At the same time, the generation of the Blood Source is also very important.”

“For example, there will be a huge difference between the fifth-generation Underworld Eye Blood Source and the sixth-generation Underworld Eye Blood Source.”

“In short... each generation is inferior to the last.”

“And the further back each generation goes, the more impurities the Blood Source will have, thus becoming weaker.”

He paused.

Cheng Tianhao continued, “Of course, this is the way ordinary Qi Martial Realm martial artists break through to the Blood Martial Realm.”

“Whether it is refining Natal Martial Blood with a tenth-generation Blood Source or with a second-generation Blood Source, although there will be extremely huge differences between the two, such Natal Martial Blood is merely Mortal Blood...”

“Only by refining Natal Martial Blood with a first-generation Blood Source can it be... True Blood among the Blood Martial Realm!”

“In our Rapid Shadow Palace, sequence disciples are not allowed to enter the Blood Martial Realm with Mortal Blood.”

“They must enter the Blood Martial Realm with True Blood.”

“And even without this rule, anyone who pursues martial arts will choose to enter the Blood Martial Realm with True Blood.”

“Like Meng Que and the others, the reason they have remained at Qi Warrior Realm Great Perfection and never rushed to break through is also because of this point.”

“They are unwilling to enter the Blood Martial Realm with Mortal Blood.”

“Even a second-generation Blood Source is, after all, just Mortal Blood.”

“Their goal is all to enter the Blood Martial Realm with True Blood.”

Xiao Shi suddenly understood.

He finally had a certain degree of understanding of the Blood Martial Realm.

Simply put,

the Blood Martial Realm is divided into Mortal Blood and True Blood.

Mortal Blood is all Natal Martial Blood refined from Blood Sources after the first generation.

And True Blood is Natal Martial Blood refined from a first-generation Blood Source.

If one obtains a Blood Source from other Blood Martial Realm martial artists, there will be a generational drop.

For example, if one obtains a Blood Source from a Blood Martial Realm martial artist who possesses first-generation True Blood, then the Blood Source one obtains will be a second-generation Blood Source.

“So that means...”

“To enter the Blood Martial Realm with True Blood, one cannot obtain a Blood Source from other Blood Martial Realm martial artists?”