26: Chapter 26 Breakthrough: Mid-Rank Knight!

After obtaining the promotion potion, Nie Ning couldn't wait to leave the tavern and found a nearby inn to stay at.

With exactly two days left, he planned to take this opportunity to advance to an Intermediate Knight first.

At this moment, Nie Ning sat cross-legged on the bed, his Dou Qi flowing through his meridians across his entire body, then converging toward his heart.

After briefly calming his mood, Nie Ning took out the promotion potion and consumed it.

The liquid flowed down his throat into his stomach, the burning sensation feeling just like drinking high-concentration strong liquor.

Nie Ning circulated his Dou Qi, causing the medicinal power to diffuse, and then followed the circulation route of the Swift Fox Method to flow throughout his body.

A breakthrough involves using the power of blood energy to improve one's physique, and then using that to break through the body's limitations, making the body's endurance stronger.

Unknowingly, Nie Ning activated his Strange Beast Body.

Two horns grew on his head, sharp claws sprouted from his fingertips, his skin became congested and red, his body slowly grew taller, and the surrounding temperature began to rise accordingly.

During this process, the blood energy within Nie Ning's body began to riot uncontrollably.

Normally, blood energy flows along established paths, and forcing interference would lead to abnormal states like ruptured blood vessels.

However, with the protection of Dou Qi, the destruction caused by the blood energy would be limited to a controllable range, and the body would then be constantly strengthened and improved through destruction and restructuring.

But when it cannot be controlled, the body suffers a backlash, and the violent blood energy will directly destroy bodily functions, causing internal injuries that are difficult to repair.

Nie Ning tried his best to control his own blood energy, keeping it limited to a critical threshold.

The only thing that needed attention was that the Dou Qi would temporarily convert into blood energy, keeping the amount of Dou Qi and blood energy in a state of equilibrium.

Because if the Dou Qi were too strong, the power of the blood energy would not be able to serve the purpose of tempering the body; conversely, it would cause harm to the body.

...

The time for the breakthrough was very long, continuing until late at night without ending.

As time passed, Nie Ning became increasingly anxious, and it was only now that he realized a very serious problem.

Malice Perception!

He didn't know what was wrong with the Human-Faced Balloon, but it kept continuously triggering Malice Perception.

If it were normal times, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

But the problem was that the breakthrough took too long, causing his mind to gradually fall into a weakened state, and the frequent triggering of Malice Perception made it impossible for him to focus on controlling the power of the blood energy.

At this moment, Nie Ning faced two choices: either release the Human-Faced Balloon to reduce mental pressure, or persist and wait for the body's improvement to end.

But there was also a possibility of the breakthrough failing.

And the reason Nie Ning kept holding on, besides being afraid of causing irreversible consequences, was the special nature of the Human-Faced Balloon.

Even without conducting experiments, Nie Ning could be certain that the Human-Faced Balloon was different from other souls.

At least the abilities displayed by the Human-Faced Balloon were definitely not what ordinary things should exhibit.

If he let it go, he might not necessarily be able to catch it again, and it might cause certain death incidents.

Just as Nie Ning was hesitating about whether to give up on the Human-Faced Balloon, the medicine bottle placed on the head of the bed suddenly tipped over.

Immediately following, a stream of black water potion pushed open the bottle cap and slowly flowed toward Nie Ning.

The moment the black water potion touched Nie Ning, he sensed a trace of anomaly, but this also interfered with Nie Ning's tightly strung nerves.

In an instant, the blood energy within his body began to riot, starting to wantonly destroy Nie Ning's body.

A trace of blood spilled from the corner of Nie Ning's mouth as he tried hard to regain control of the power of the blood energy.

This step was extremely difficult; even his Dou Qi began to spiral out of control, madly converting into the power of blood energy at this moment.

But the situation quickly changed.

While the blood energy was destroying his body, a dark, damp, and icy power appeared inexplicably and began to continuously repair his damaged body.

This bought Nie Ning time to control the power of the blood energy.

Slowly, the power of the blood energy returned to his control, and the Dou Qi and blood energy returned to a state of equilibrium.

After an unknown amount of time, Nie Ning's body suddenly shook, the power of the blood energy within his body began to convert into Dou Qi, and the Seed of Dou Qi at his heart began to expand and condense.

When the Seed of Dou Qi expanded to its limit, it suddenly contracted, turning into a slightly white, water-drop-shaped crystal, and a powerful force quickly filled Nie Ning's entire body.

A few breaths later, Nie Ning slowly opened his eyes, a flash of brilliance passing through his amber pupils.

Intermediate Knight!

[Rank: Intermediate Knight (Early Stage)]

[Talent: Supernatural Adaptability]

[Bloodline: ??? (Not Activated)]

[Derived Traits: Strange Beast Body, Beginner Self-Healing (Alienated), Strength of an Ox, Elementary Agility, Limb Coordination, Elementary Poison Resistance, Elementary Cold Resistance, Malice Perception, Strong Physique, Elementary Wood Affinity, Elementary Fire Elemental Affinity]

[Derived Skills: Assisting Evil, Elementary Fire Control]

[Cultivation Method: Basic Knight Method, Swift Fox Method]

[Skills: Hedal Combat Technique (Mastery), Swift Swordsmanship (Mastery), Breath Condensation Technique (Mastery), Shadow Gliding Steps (Mastery), Concentrated Heavy Strike (Mastery), Single Stroke Slash (Mastery)]

"Hmm???"

Nie Ning was immersed in the joy of the breakthrough, but discovered a slight change in the panel.

He didn't know when, but the words "Alienated" had appeared after Beginner Self-Healing.

This made Nie Ning think of the cold, dark power during the breakthrough.

At the time, he thought he was going to fail the breakthrough, but his body inexplicably began to heal rapidly, allowing him to survive the blood energy rampage stage.

There weren't many things related to self-healing, and Nie Ning could be certain that it was definitely not a capability his body should have.

Except for the Human-Faced Balloon...

Nie Ning turned his head to look at the head of the bed; the bottle containing the black water potion was lying there, and there was no mark of black water left on the bed.

Seeing this, Nie Ning's expression darkened, but he immediately let out a sigh.

"As expected, one cannot be greedy; things related to gods are not so easy to take."

Originally, he wanted to find a safe way to avoid that god and see if he could obtain the self-healing trait carried in the black water potion.

Now, there was no need to think about how to avoid the god; instead, he should consider whether there were other dangers in this.

After all, he had read quite a few novels; in case this god wanted to do something like possession, with his current strength, there was absolutely no possibility of resisting.

"I can only take it one step at a time; at least I have now broken through to an Intermediate Knight."

Although that was what he said, Nie Ning couldn't be happy at all.

For him, his current living environment was quite good, and his goal was to hide and survive until the day he was invincible in the world.

Now his strength had indeed broken through to the Intermediate Knight level, but the god had become a sharp blade hanging over his head; no one knew what kind of consequences it would trigger.

At least Nie Ning learned from Raimond that if one was not a believer, one could not use the black water potion, which was the reason why there were so many infected people in Poyi Town.

And he was not a believer, yet he had integrated the power of the black water potion; this was clearly not a good thing.