Cultivation through Skin Making

Song Yan hesitated a bit.

The Blood Corpse Peak disciple said, "It's a bit expensive, but I'm from the Puppet Sect, and this market is organized by our sect. Since I dare to show my face here to sell it, it won't be fake."

Song Yan said, "Then you must tell me where you got it."

His information was quite limited.

He had no idea how fellow cultivators of the same realm encountered opportunities and collected treasures outside.

Like this Blood Corpse Peak disciple... where did he get a cultivation fragment?

The Puppet Sect doesn't even have this for exchange.

The Blood Corpse Peak disciple thought for a moment and said, "Alright."

Then, Song Yan took out two slightly broken Profound Crystals.

The Blood Corpse Peak disciple was taken aback and said, "Why are they damaged?"

Song Yan said, "Unlike your large sect, but the weight is correct."

The Blood Corpse Peak disciple weighed them twice and took out a fairly new paper copy from his robe and handed it over.

Three characters were written on the copy: "Blood Fusion Technique."

Song Yan quickly flipped through and examined it.

This item would be time-consuming and laborious to deduce on his own, so having a ready-made version would be much better.

The Blood Corpse Peak disciple said, "Don't worry, I've shown it to our Peak Master, and there's no problem with this cultivation technique."

After speaking, he chuckled and said, "The Cold Pool Valley Market will be our trademark in the future, I dare not ruin it."

Song Yan briefly flipped through and asked, "Why doesn't it have the Contemplation Method?"

The Blood Corpse Peak disciple said, "If it had a Visualization Map, it wouldn't be at this price."

Song Yan helplessly put it away, but fortunately, the cultivation technique did contain a lot of important information, which he planned to study carefully later.

The Blood Corpse Peak disciple continued, "I got this 'Blood Fusion Technique' in a secret realm called 'Giant Elephant Plain.' That 'Giant Elephant Plain' is not a secret; it's about six to seven hundred miles west of here.

The place is guarded by a restriction, which opens in summer and closes in the fall, so you must go in and out quickly.

When the time comes, you will meet fellow cultivators and form a team."

Giant Elephant Plain?

Secret Realm?

Restriction?

Song Yan suddenly thought of the Demon Swamp Secret Realm at the "Snake Corpse Market," so he asked again, "Does this secret realm change location?"

The Blood Corpse Peak disciple said, "You don't know this?"

Song Yan said, "Please enlighten me."

The Blood Corpse Peak disciple said, "The secret realm certainly doesn't change location."

After speaking, he waved his hand, indicating that the transaction was complete.

Song Yan frowned; he remembered... that the Demon Swamp Secret Realm at the "Snake Corpse Market" moves with the market, so what's going on here?

...

...

Guan Wu and Song Yan, after finishing their stroll, came to the restaurant, intending to find Master Song to return together, but were stopped.

Yin Wutai appeared, somewhat forcefully, and said, "If you want to return to the sect, you go first; Brother Song must come with me."

Guan Wu wanted to ask more questions, but Yin Wutai waved his hand and directly returned.

On the loft above, Song Yan quietly watched this scene, his heart filled with more doubts.

Clearly, Yin Wutai had imprisoned him here.

But what was he waiting for?

...

...

The pages of the 'Blood Fusion Technique' were flipped.

The handwriting on them was neat and graceful, with a lingering scent of ink, clearly freshly copied by some servant.

Thinking of the Blood Corpse Peak disciple's words, Song Yan suddenly realized: This might be deliberately released by the Puppet Sect to enhance the status of 'Cold Pool Valley Market.' After all, after this, outside cultivators would know that this market even sells 'Crimson Palace Realm Techniques.'

The influence, naturally, would be vastly different.

As for the contents of the cultivation technique, it was verbose, yet perfectly suited for someone like Song Yan, who was clueless about the 'Crimson Palace Realm.'

After carefully studying it,

Song Yan roughly understood.

The essence of the Crimson Palace Realm should be "using powerful external bloodlines to enhance one's life level."

For humans, the "Foundation Establishment Blood" is crucially important.

Foundation Establishment Blood is the first blood ingested into the body.

This blood occupies the core palace position in the Crimson Palace Initial Realm, once confirmed, it cannot be changed unless the realm is abolished and rebuilt.

For safe ingestion, each blood needs a Pill Master to assist with Spirit Medicine Profound Flowers to refine it, removing toxins, increasing efficacy, and making it suitable for consumption by cultivators of the Ninth Layer of Refining Profound as 'Crimson Palace Pills.'

The higher the level of external blood, the more complex the refinements of Crimson Palace Pills, and some... never seen by Pill Masters, they can only fumble along.

Thus, for cultivators of the Three Kingdoms, using some 'common Demon Beast Blood' as a foundation is the safer approach.

But for demons, it's not that complicated.

Because demons don't need Foundation Establishment Blood.

They already have it.

Their innate bloodline is their Foundation Establishment Blood.

Therefore, while humans hold no distinction of nobility, demons are inherently ranked.

The strength of their life level naturally makes their flesh powerful, such that while in the Refining Profound Level, they need Profound Qi to maintain their invulnerability, in the Crimson Palace Realm, they can unleash immense power without Profound Qi.

This realm is a realm that elevates "body strength."

Profound Qi serves as mere support.

But different "external blood" brings effects that are highly variable.

The 'Blood Fusion Technique' also gives several common examples.

For instance, if you use the blood of a 'Silver Armored Elephant,' a high-level demon beast comparable to the Ninth Layer of Refining Profound, your skin can become incredibly hard, and if you practice Crimson Palace level Body Refining Techniques, your entire body can be said to be a defensive Profound Treasure.

The items at the Refining Profound Level are called Profound Artifacts.

At the Crimson Palace Level, they are called Profound Treasures.

Moreover, using 'Wind Profound Crane' blood as Foundation Blood occupying the core palace position, one can become remarkably agile, and paired with Concealing Form and Trace, Agility Class techniques, one can become elusive, ghost-like.

Considering wearing the 'Cold Prison Floating Life Bracelet' on his wrist, Song Yan further searched in the 'Blood Fusion Technique' for information related to 'Divine Soul.'

Although the booklet doesn't have a Visualization Map, it does have explanations.

The cultivation technique mentions "the mutual support and counteraction of flesh and soul."

Mutual support naturally means strong flesh can feed back to the Divine Soul, transitioning it from the "ethereal and shapeless gaseous state" to a "liquid state" in Crimson Palace Realm.

But this transition doesn't happen automatically, requiring a Visualization Map and external augmentations for the soul.

Counteraction means that a powerful Divine Soul can directly harm the weak flesh, and strong flesh can directly burn the feeble Divine Soul.

Here, it uses 'Evil Qi' as an example.

Even though a cultivator at the Refining Profound Level entering an 'Evil Qi Concentrated Area' needs to consistently resist with Profound Qi, the Crimson Palace Realm doesn't need it.

Seeing this, Song Yan squinted his eyes slightly.

If the book's description is accurate, the 'Cold Prison Floating Life Bracelet' is precisely the kind of external item that nourishes the Divine Soul, but given that this item was bestowed upon him by Gu Huangzi the old demon, there's obviously a big problem...

The reason the problem hasn't erupted yet is merely because he has not triggered the "mechanism."

According to the book's description, strong flesh can burn weak Divine Soul, so... strong flesh most likely is that "mechanism."

When flesh reaches a certain "threshold," the trap on the 'Cold Prison Floating Life Bracelet' will activate, Gu Huangzi the old demon will immediately notice.

If he doesn't perish in the trap, Gu Huangzi the old demon will come to "finish him off" if he's nearby, trapping him in a place of no return.

However, Gu Huangzi didn't give him this to finish him off.

Because on the surface, he's merely at the Seventh Layer of Refining Profound.

Song Yan squinted his eyes thoughtfully, a terrifying speculation flashed in his mind: if the "cage" inside is pyramid-shaped, what he saw in the "cage" is at the bottom level providing soul nourishment, while he at the middle level...

Eventually, at some point, this middle level will disperse the mist, making him realize he's trapped in a cage, like the struggling Divine Souls at the bottom, continuously providing soul nourishment for the one at the top level.

That one...

Is probably Gu Huangzi.

And that point in time...

Is probably after this return to the sect.