Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

Roar!

The river of Qi Blood transformed into a blood Jiao, stretching its body, with the resounding crisp harmony of muscles and bones echoing ever clearer, spiraling upward. In the Hall, an incipient sun subtly began to rise, releasing waves of scorching heat and high temperature.

The air in the side hall twisted violently, terrorizingly hot, roasting the bluestone bricks that turned visibly from blue to dark-brown scorched earth. Even the distant begonias ignited without flame, burning fiercely.

Eighty-six feet.

Eighty-seven feet.

Nine yards!

After breaking through nine yards, the river of Qi Blood slowed down and eventually stabilized at nine yards and one foot, compared to the increase of exactly three yards and eight feet since the completed third Blood Exchange.

A single Blood Exchange’s improvement was equivalent to an ordinary Martial Artist’s entire four Blood Exchanges!

The Fourth Blood Exchange, the Realm of Qi Blood Furnace achieved!

The Qi Blood Furnace is not only the ultimate of four Blood Transformations, but also the pinnacle of Fifth Grade. At this level, a Martial Artist’s Qi Blood becomes incredibly abundant and scorching, as if an eternally burning forge exists within them.

With the heart repeatedly nourished, baptized, and refined by fresh blood, it beats as the Qi Blood circulates like fiery magma within, helping the martial artist unleash terrifying temperatures and destructive power in combat.

Martial Artists in this realm are virtually impervious to normal ailments, experiencing a rebirth akin to Rebirth, their heart like a furnace, allowing perpetual circulation and vitality of Qi Blood.

"The fourth blood refining is completed; one step further is Fifth Grade!"

Su Mu clenched his fist, his mouth opened as he spat out a breath of White Jiao Gang Force, instantaneously transforming into a wild gust extinguishing the fires on the begonias burning several yards away.

[Longevity: 1021 Years]

Though there was no increase in comprehension this time, the completion of the fourth Blood Exchange was like a small rebirth, increasing Su Mu’s lifespan by thirty years, directly breaking through the thousand mark!

A lifespan over a thousand, even among the elite of the Three Religions Great Cultivators, would be just this. Su Mu at the Sixth-Grade realm had reached the level of the Three Religions Great Cultivators regarding longevity.

"Huh?"

In introspection, he found that post-fourth Blood Exchange, each drop of blood within his body was crimson, even faintly showing an extremely subtle golden hue.

Moreover, upon closer observation, attaining the Realm of Qi Blood Furnace, Su Mu realized his blood seemed to have come alive, faintly exuding a spirituality, far surpassing what had existed before.

Su Mu pondered briefly, his right palm transformed into a handblade, casually chopping downward.

Yet before this handblade truly struck, it needed no control from Su Mu; not only did his Gang Force circulate autonomously to protect him, even his Qi Blood accelerated its flow, swiftly gathering at the impending impact point, condensing into a thin veil of blood to shield him of its own accord.

"Sizzle!"

The handblade clearly felt the heat and not insignificant resistance; this thin veil of blood was not as fragile as it appeared, but rather quite tough, estimated to withstand the blows and force of ordinary Martial Artists entering the Sixth Grade.

Only after this handblade broke through the blood veil did it strike the second layer of self-protecting Gang Force.

"The fourth Blood Exchange has made my Qi Blood bear some of the capabilities for self-protection like Gang Force!"

Su Mu’s eyes lit up, yet doubt arose in his heart. Prior encounters with opponents who had undergone four Blood Exchanges hadn’t shown these people’s Qi Blood to possess self-protective abilities.

Whether it was Guo Zhen of the White Whale Gang or the Cyan Fish Gang’s Vice Hall Masters who met their doom at Su Mu’s hands, they exhibited none of these traits.

While Su Mu pondered, he noticed his almost yard-filling, surpassing nine yards of vigorous Qi Blood river. An idea faintly floated within his mind.

"Could it be that my Qi Blood’s vigor exceeds that of ordinary Martial Artists?"

Indeed, as Su Mu suspected, ordinary Martial Artists with four Blood Transformations possess merely a four-yard Qi Blood river, while Su Mu’s Qi Blood vigor surpasses nine yards.

While appearing to be more than double, considering the refinement, quality, liveliness, and overall quantity of Qi Blood, the disparity far exceeds mere doubling, at least advancing upwards toward three to five times or more.

Capabilities such as self-protecting Qi Blood or the golden transformation of blood aren’t attributes of a Fifth-Grade Martial Artist but belong to the upper three grades of Martial Arts Grandmasters.

Yet, with Su Mu’s martial foundation so overwhelmingly robust, merely completing four Blood Exchanges prematurely leaps across several major realms to grasp the ability for Qi Blood’s self-protection.

Upon examining the transformation from the fourth Blood Exchange, Su Mu reached out into the void, the Gold Jiao Spear appearing in his grasp.

"Sizzle!"

On the Gold Jiao Spear, bursts of purple lightning danced silver, suppressing the atmosphere within a three-yard radius centered on Su Mu, as though a looming storm was about to erupt around him, thunderclouds gently coalesced around.

"Boom!"

Su Mu casually thrust the spear, multiple bolts of lightning instantly converged into a purple Jiao several yards thick and broad, roaring through the air, the sky filled with the acrid scent akin to a lightning-struck tree.

The electricity tore through the sky, leaving a misty passage until Su Mu retracted the spear, and only then did the lightning Jiao passage dissipate.

Thunder Shock Fist (Perfection)

Comprehension: 210 (Heaven-Star Descendant)

The heat of comprehension internally flowed warmly into Su Mu’s limbs and veins, integrating fully into his muscles and bones, his Jiao Tendons Jade Bone greedily absorbing every stream of comprehension warmth.

After a quarter hour.

With a twitch of the Gold Jiao Spear in Su Mu’s hand, while previously comprehending the Thunderbolt Spear Momentum, the Thunder Shock Fist had nearly reached Perfection, now borrowing the transformed vigor after the fourth Blood Exchange, it finally attained the Realm of Perfection!