Cultivating in Different Professions

It wasn’t because they had anything against Su Mu. They simply felt that for someone so young, a promotion to Taiping Captain would be too conspicuous.

A tree that rises above the forest will be broken by the wind.

Normally, the Taiping Bureau would have had enough power to deter all sorts of monsters and ghouls, so Su Mu’s promotion would have been a simple matter.

But the Taiping Bureau was currently in a period of turmoil. The newly established Inspection Bureau was keeping a close watch on them, and demons were stirring restlessly in the shadows.

If Su Mu were promoted to Taiping Captain now, he would be exposed to the world too early, which could bring him trouble.

So, the Marquises at Headquarters decided not to promote him to Taiping Captain for the time being, opting for a different reward instead.

"I can understand not getting the promotion."

Su Mu muttered to himself, "But this reward... couldn’t they have given me something else? I can’t even use two Blood Strengthening Pills."

A speechless expression crossed his face.

He had no idea what the Marquises were thinking, trading a promotion for a single Blood Strengthening Pill.

Speaking of which, Su Mu’s contributions in repelling the Tier Five Demon Tide were simply immense.

Beyond a special commendation, his remaining merits were enough to promote him to Taiping Captain.

For the special commendation, Wan Qing took the initiative to exchange it for the Divine Phoenix Rebirth Technique on his behalf.

Furthermore, Wan Qing and the others used their own merits to get Su Mu a Blood Strengthening Pill.

As for Su Mu’s remaining merits—the ones that were originally for his promotion—Headquarters awarded him another Blood Strengthening Pill.

So now, in addition to the Divine Phoenix Rebirth Technique, he had two Blood Strengthening Pills.

A Blood Strengthening Pill was worth a fortune, but it was only effective the first time a Martial Artist took it.

Taking more was completely useless.

Therefore, the second Blood Strengthening Pill was no different from a piece of candy to him.

"Maybe I should sell it for money?"

Su Mu said to himself, "The problem is, I don’t need money either."

He wasn’t short on cash. The Taiping Bureau’s salary was high, and he had a side job that brought in money ridiculously fast.

He still hadn’t finished spending the silver he’d saved up back when he was the East City Bureau Captain.

Since becoming a Taiping Capital Captain, he hadn’t even touched his salary.

’Whatever. A treasure is still a treasure. I’ll hold onto it for now.’

Su Mu took out one Blood Strengthening Pill, stored the other one away, and then popped the pill into his mouth.

The elixir dissolved in his mouth, turning into a stream of heat that flowed down his throat and into his stomach.

Immediately after, a burst of heat exploded in his lower abdomen.

In an instant, Su Mu felt the blood throughout his entire body begin to boil.

The particles of Profound Yellow Blood began to collide and merge.

Su Mu felt his body growing heavier and heavier. The drops of his Profound Yellow Blood had become even thicker than before, each one growing more crystalline and translucent, as beautiful as a work of art.

As they flowed through his blood vessels, their collisions produced a crisp, pleasant sound.

This was the effect of one’s blood solidifying to a certain degree.

At the eleventh level of blood transformation, a single drop of Su Mu’s Profound Yellow Blood was eleven times heavier than that of an ordinary person, condensed to the point of being almost solid.

If a drop like that fell to the ground, it could blast a small crater.

After an unknown amount of time, Su Mu exhaled a long breath. The stream of air was like a sharp arrow, punching a finger-sized hole through the table in front of him with a soft *PFFT*.

Su Mu clenched his fists. His Profound Yellow Blood surged within him, and a sound like rushing water emanated from his body. He felt completely filled with power.

"I’ve finally reached the eleventh level of blood transformation."

A look of joy appeared on Su Mu’s face.

Suddenly, the expression on his face froze.

Immediately after, his face flushed crimson, and the skin all over his body turned red as a boiled shrimp.

He clenched his fists tightly, veins popping on his forehead, his entire being contorted in extreme pain.

A dozen or so breaths passed before the redness gradually faded. Su Mu’s expression returned to normal, his entire body soaked in sweat.

He took a deep gulp of air, a look of delighted surprise dawning on his face.

"I never expected—"

Su Mu muttered, "—that the eleventh level of blood transformation would awaken a second Physical Divine Technique..."

At the Body Tempering Limit, he had awakened his first Physical Divine Technique, Indestructible Golden Body.

In the Indestructible Golden Body state, his physical defense was astonishing.

Ever since he acquired Indestructible Golden Body, Su Mu had barely been injured. Even when charging in and out of the Tier Five Demon Tide multiple times, the demonic beasts couldn’t harm him in the slightest.

Divine Techniques simply defied logic and could not be compared to ordinary martial skills.

Even experts who specialized in body-hardening arts couldn’t compare to Su Mu in terms of physical defense.

This was a Physical Divine Technique.

And now, he had actually awakened a second one.

Physical Divine Technique: Blood Body.

Consume half of the user’s Profound Yellow Blood to temporarily condense an external avatar for one day.

The Blood Body’s strength would be half that of the original body.

"Creating a clone with only half my strength, and it only lasts for a day."

Su Mu mumbled to himself, "And it costs half my Profound Yellow Blood. Sounds like a bit of a raw deal."

Replenishing half of his Profound Yellow Blood would take at least ten days to half a month.

This new Physical Divine Technique seemed to have too high a cost, far less practical than Indestructible Golden Body.

’It never hurts to have another skill. Who knows when it might come in handy? Besides, it was an unexpected bonus.’

He had achieved his goal of eleventh-level blood transformation; Blood Body was just an extra reward.

’I’ve reached the eleventh level of blood transformation. The next step is to start practicing a Rebirth Technique.’

Su Mu first took a bath, then returned to his room feeling refreshed and invigorated.

He placed the Divine Phoenix Rebirth Technique in front of him, then set a piece of a rib bone on the table.

"Who would have thought," Su Mu muttered with emotion, "that Shi Ji actually managed to obtain the Four Symbols Rebirth Technique."

After killing Dai Jin and the others, Su Mu had gotten this rib bone from Wang Guan.

Upon returning to Wuling City, Su Mu found a way to make a rubbing of the micro-carvings on the rib.

After enlarging it, he was delighted to discover that the text on the rib bone was none other than the Four Symbols Rebirth Technique!

He had his suspicions from the start, but he was still pleasantly surprised when his guess was confirmed.

"The Four Symbols Rebirth Technique requires at least the tenth level of blood transformation to practice. Attempting it with insufficient qi and blood will result in self-injury."

"No wonder Shi Ji failed to master the Four Symbols Rebirth Technique even after obtaining it, and had to join the Shennong Hundred Herbs Sect to learn a Rebirth Technique."

’I was originally going to practice the Divine Phoenix Rebirth Technique from Headquarters,’ Su Mu mused, ’but since I have a better option now—’

The Four Symbols Rebirth Technique was very demanding on the Cultivator, but its effects after mastery were extraordinary.

The Four Symbols Rebirth Technique combined the strengths of four Divine Bodies: Cyan Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise. The profundity of the Vermilion Bird Divine Body was no less than that of the Divine Phoenix Body.

Practicing this one Rebirth Technique was equivalent to cultivating four Divine Bodies.

’With my foundation of eleventh-level blood transformation, practicing the Four Symbols Rebirth Technique will be more than enough.’

’The Four Symbols Body itself includes the Vermilion Bird Divine Body, which is similar to the Divine Phoenix Body. As long as I only display the characteristics of the Vermilion Bird Divine Body, everyone will just assume I’m practicing the Divine Phoenix Rebirth Technique.’

’If someone tries to target my Divine Phoenix Rebirth Technique like Dai Jin did,’ Su Mu continued to ponder, ’I’ll be able to give them a huge surprise.’

After the incident with Dai Jin, Su Mu understood the importance of an information advantage. No matter how strong a person was, they would always have weaknesses. It was extremely dangerous to be targeted.

Therefore, he had to have more trump cards.

The Four Symbols Rebirth Technique clearly offered a unique advantage.

Having made his decision, Su Mu’s thoughts stirred, and he once again summoned his system panel.

[Name: Su Mu]

[Identity: Silver-faced Killer (Part-time), Taiping Capital Captain (Seventh-Rank)]

[Points: 15,000]

[Realm: Blood Transformation Realm (Body Tempering Extreme Realm)]

[Divine Techniques: Indestructible Golden Body, Blood Body]

[Cultivation Technique: Xuanhuang Blood Exchange Technique (Perfection)...]

[Martial Arts: Li Fire Realm (Lesser Accomplishment), Kan Water Realm (Greater Accomplishment), Xun Wind Realm (Greater Accomplishment), Gen Mountain Realm (Greater Accomplishment), Archery (Perfection)]

Dai Jin, Jia Ren, and Du Yuehua had all been on the Golden Wind Tower’s assassination list.

After killing them, Su Mu had reaped a huge amount of Points. Coupled with his unwavering dedication to his duties these past days...

...he had once again amassed a fortune of 15,000 Points!