169: Tree Shadow Change

“No wonder the notes for Blood Vein Finger mentioned that it’s best to kill Blood Martial Realm martial artists. Only by killing Blood Martial Realm martial artists can one absorb their Blood Power, thereby maximizing the enhancement of Blood Vein Finger.”

Xiao Shi suddenly understood.

If he killed martial artists of other realms,

the Blood Power absorbed would be far less abundant and potent than from the Blood Martial Realm.

Therefore, for the improvement of Blood Vein Finger, the Blood Martial Realm was undoubtedly the best choice.

At the same time,

as Xiao Shi killed all five Blood Martial Realm Servants, he successfully obtained five Blood Martial Grade items.

He was now tallying these five Blood Martial Grade items.

Among these five Blood Martial Grade items,

two were materials similar to Extreme Cold Heavenly Freeze,

suitable for Blood Refining Art.

The remaining three Blood Martial Grade items were…

[Name: Blood Escape Pearl]

[Type: Pearl]

[Description: A peculiar pearl that allows one to escape using Blood Power after use.]

[Note 1: When using, Blood Power must be injected into the pearl. The more Blood Power injected, the faster the escape speed and the farther the escape distance.]

[Note 2: The pearl can only be used once.]

… [Name: Mysterious Blood]

[Type: Blood]

[Description: A mysterious blood of unknown origin. No one knows its specific source.]

[Note: Due to its extreme mystery, using it may bring improvements or some unknown side effects. Please use with caution.]

… [Name: Yan Blood Human Skin]

[Type: Disguise]

[Description: Can achieve a perfect disguise using the Natal Martial Blood of others.]

[Note 1: Only effective on Blood Martial Realm martial artists.]

[Note 2: Can only disguise as one person at a time.]

[Note 3: After disguise, the physique, appearance, temperament, and aura will be completely identical.]

… Xiao Shi looked at these three items.

He had to admit,

these three items were all quite good.

Especially the last one, Yan Blood Human Skin, which would undoubtedly have endless uses if utilized well.

The first item, Blood Escape Pearl, was excellent for escaping.

This Blood Escape would surely be far superior to his current Taiyin Escape.

Only the Mysterious Blood left Xiao Shi pondering.

Since he didn't know its specific function or origin,

Xiao Shi didn't dare to use it rashly.

He worried it might bring harm to himself.

But if he didn't use it and just left it to gather dust in his storage bag, it would undoubtedly be a waste.

Xiao Shi thought carefully.

He felt that he still needed to find a way to figure out the function of this Mysterious Blood first.

After all, Blood Martial Grade items were inherently rare.

Every Blood Martial Grade item was incredibly important to him.

It was rare to drop such an item.

He couldn't just ignore it entirely.

He looked at the Mysterious Blood in his hand.

This Mysterious Blood was contained in a black bottle, faintly revealing the red blood flowing within.

The bottle's opening was hawk-billed.

Xiao Shi tried, cautiously pouring out a drop of blood from the bottle.

This was a drop of crimson blood, with swirling patterns inside the blood droplet, making it appear very mysterious and extraordinary.

The temperature of the blood droplet was sometimes icy cold, sometimes scorching hot.

Xiao Shi gazed intently at this drop of blood.

He continuously used the Crimson Tiger Totem on his back to carefully sense it.

However, even the Crimson Tiger Totem couldn't sense its function or effect from this drop of Mysterious Blood.

Clearly, he would only understand its specific efficacy after personally trying to use it.

But with Xiao Shi's cautious nature,

he couldn't risk such an unknown danger to try it.

“Perhaps I can find a few guinea pigs to test it…”

Xiao Shi pondered thoughtfully.

But then he had another thought.

If he found others to test the blood, although he could see superficial changes,

the internal sensations and effects would remain unknown.

“I need to know its function, and at the same time, ensure my own safety…”

Xiao Shi scratched his head.

After much deliberation,

he finally thought of the most suitable method.

Whoosh!

Behind Xiao Shi, a shadow suddenly appeared.

However, this shadow was not his own shadow, but a Tree Shadow.

By now,

the entire Tree Shadow was no longer the initial sapling; it had grown significantly.

Its trunk was thicker, and its branches and leaves were more luxuriant.

At this moment, it immediately extended out from the ground's shadow under Xiao Shi's command.

Xiao Shi placed the drop of Mysterious Blood in his hand directly onto a branch.

As the branch of the Tree Shadow coiled,

it instantly absorbed this drop of Mysterious Blood!

This was the best way Xiao Shi thought of… to verify the Mysterious Blood!

As long as it was verified through the Tree Shadow,

he could both ensure his own safety and understand the function and effect of the Mysterious Blood through the internal and external changes of the Tree Shadow.

Even if some side effects occurred, they wouldn't affect Xiao Shi himself.

Boom!

The moment it absorbed this drop of Mysterious Blood,

an incredibly astonishing aura fluctuation erupted from the Tree Shadow.

All its branches and leaves began to grow at a visible speed.

However, these newly grown branches and leaves were somewhat different from the previous ones.

All these new branches and leaves exuded an eerie aura.

Xiao Shi focused his attention on the changes of the entire Tree Shadow.

He cared not only about its superficial changes but also about the internal changes of the Tree Shadow.

He wanted to prevent any undesirable side effects from appearing.

After his careful observation,

he found that after the Tree Shadow absorbed the Mysterious Blood, although the changes were significant, no undesirable side effects appeared.

All the changes that occurred were enhancements.

“Perhaps… I can continue!”

Xiao Shi discovered that this Mysterious Blood seemed very suitable for the growth of the Tree Shadow.

After some thought,

he once again poured out Mysterious Blood from the bottle, allowing it to be absorbed.

He wanted to see to what extent the Tree Shadow could grow after absorbing more Mysterious Blood!

For a time,

when Xiao Shi gave more than half a bottle of Mysterious Blood to the Tree Shadow for absorption,

the entire Tree Shadow directly grew into a tall tree over ten meters high.

The branches that grew from this large tree were far more than ten meters long, extremely lengthy.

An eerie aura continuously emanated from the Tree Shadow.

If the previous Tree Shadow was only at the Qi Martial Realm stage, then the current Tree Shadow, after absorbing this Mysterious Blood, had already reached the Blood Martial Realm stage!

Not only was it more powerful,

but Xiao Shi also felt a powerful ability from the Tree Shadow that it previously did not possess!

“Try it!”

As Xiao Shi's thought moved,

Whoosh!

Immediately, a branch shot out like lightning.

It instantly reached the nearby corpse as it flew.

This was one of the Blood Martial Realm Servants Xiao Shi had killed earlier.

When this branch reached the corpse, it directly pierced into the back of the corpse's neck.

This caused the corpse lying on the ground to float up from the ground.

Although the corpse's limbs hung limply,

and its head was bowed,

the parts of the corpse that Xiao Shi had previously damaged were continuously recovering at a visible speed.

New flesh and blood grew out,

restoring it to its intact state.

At the same time,

Buzz!

The corpse's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened.

In its pale pupils, numerous tree roots spread out, covering the entire pupil.

The bowed head slowly lifted, looking at Xiao Shi.

Its hands and feet also seemed to regain strength.

They no longer hung limply.

Instead, somewhat awkwardly and stiffly, it knelt and worshipped towards Xiao Shi.

Xiao Shi's eyes showed a strange glint at this.

He was pleasantly surprised to find… that the current Tree Shadow already possessed the ability to manipulate corpses!

This corpse was now completely under the control of the Tree Shadow.

“Then…”

“What kind of strength will this corpse possess?”

With this question in mind,

Xiao Shi immediately issued a command to the Tree Shadow.

He ordered the Tree Shadow to control this corpse to attack him.

He wanted to personally feel the strength of this corpse.

Buzz!

Immediately,

a fierce glint flashed in the corpse's eyes.

With a flicker,

it rushed towards Xiao Shi at an astonishing speed.

The moment it reached Xiao Shi,

its entire right hand lifted high, fingers forming a claw, and it fiercely clawed at Xiao Shi.

Hiss!

It stirred up a burst of explosive sound that seemed to tear the air apart.

Xiao Shi quickly raised his hand to block.

It felt like colliding with some incredibly hard metal, and the corpse's hands and feet had now become incredibly solid.

At the same time, the power transmitted by the corpse's claw was incredibly astonishing.

Upon impact,

Xiao Shi was actually sent reeling backward.

“This is…”

Xiao Shi's mind was shaken.

He instantly realized.

The power unleashed by this corpse was actually comparable to the Blood Martial Realm's… physical strength!

Usually, to elevate physical strength to this extent,

it could only be achieved through body refining techniques.

Since Xiao Shi currently lacked Blood Martial Realm body refining techniques,

his physical strength had always been limited to the Invincible Vajra Body.

Although his combat power when using the Invincible Vajra Body was sufficient to contend with ordinary Blood Martial Realm martial artists, it could only contend with the weakest kind of Blood Martial Realm.

Once he encountered a stronger Blood Martial Realm, it would be insufficient.

However, the corpse now manipulated by the Tree Shadow

directly possessed powerful physical strength approaching the Second Blood of the Blood Martial Realm!

This greatly shocked Xiao Shi.

Subsequently,

he also tested the corpse's durability.

When he used Blood Vein Finger to strike the corpse, with the current power of Blood Vein Finger, it only barely blasted a hole in the corpse's chest, failing to pierce through its body!

Moreover, the entire corpse even had a self-repair function.

The entire hole healed at a visible speed.

In the blink of an eye, it had fully recovered.

“Not only does it possess strength close to the Two-Blood Blood Warrior Realm, its physical durability is also extremely strong, and it comes with self-recovery…”

“And because it's a corpse, there are no fatal weaknesses.”

“Even if its head is blown off, it can continue fighting!”

Xiao Shi took a deep breath.

He profoundly felt the formidable power of this corpse.

Even he,

would find such a corpse troublesome.

However, he also knew the true weakness of this corpse, which primarily lay in the branch pierced into its back neck.

After all, the “resurrection” of this corpse, as well as its power, originated from the branch in its back neck.

It's just that this branch was usually completely hidden.

Aside from Xiao Shi, ordinary people often couldn't see or touch it.

Therefore, trying to destroy this branch during combat was clearly not easy.

Not only that,

Xiao Shi was also pleasantly surprised to find that

the Tree Shadow was not only capable of manipulating one corpse,

but could manipulate multiple corpses.

However, the Tree Shadow could not maintain the strength of each manipulated corpse at this level.

The more corpses it manipulated, the lower the strength of each corpse would be.

If it could manipulate numerous corpses and maintain their strength at this level… then Xiao Shi could create a powerful Blood Martial Realm corpse army in minutes!

Fortunately, the Tree Shadow possessed growth potential.

As it continuously grew,

the strength of the corpses manipulated by the Tree Shadow would also continuously increase.

Overall,

the enhancement brought to the entire Tree Shadow by this Mysterious Blood was immense.

It provided Xiao Shi with another powerful means.

In addition to this,

when Xiao Shi retrieved all the Blood Seals from the five Blood Martial Realm Servants, the enhancement brought by the Blood Seals immediately greatly improved his Natal Martial Blood.

The entire Natal Martial Blood expanded by more than double its original size.

Its Blood Power was rich,

and its Blood Power was incredibly profound.

Xiao Shi carefully sensed it.

He mused that after absorbing these Blood Seals, his Natal Martial Blood was already close to the First Blood Realm peak.

Once he refined the remaining Natal Martial Blood,

then his Natal Martial Blood would reach a new stage!

This made Xiao Shi incredibly excited.

At the same time, his gains were not limited to these.

The last time he killed those Blood Martial Realm martial artists in Zhongjiu City, because all their belongings were taken by Wu Muzhen, Xiao Shi did not acquire any treasures from them after killing them.

Now, the storage bags on these five Blood Martial Realm Servants were intact.

After Xiao Shi killed them,

he successfully obtained their storage bags.

From them, he acquired some more items.

After organizing his gains from this time,

he returned to Bi Xin City.

Although everyone from the Red Tiger Sect was now safe, they were facing another problem.

That was regarding their resettlement…

Currently, Bi Xin City had been partially destroyed in the earlier battles between those Martial Soul Realm powerhouses.

And the Demonic Path forces powerhouse who occupied Bi Xin City also made Bi Xin City difficult to inhabit.

It could be said that this city was almost ruined.

Thus,

the resettlement of the Red Tiger Sect became a problem.

When Xiao Shi returned to Bi Xin City,

he saw the bewildered people of the Red Tiger Sect.

They were all somewhat at a loss now.

Xiao Shi thought for a moment.

He felt that this might be an opportunity for the Red Tiger Sect to become independent and thus break free from the Rapid Shadow Palace!

Although Cen Qingci and the others were still in the Rapid Shadow Palace,

as long as they were in Tree Shadow City, Xiao Shi could ensure their safety, and even the powerhouses within the Rapid Shadow Palace wouldn't be able to harm them!