Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 364: The Final Consolidation

Xue Canghai had no clue about Zhao Changhe’s love for Gu Long’s works. To him, naming a move with such poetic softness seemed utterly pointless, especially for a man cultivating such fierce blood and qi.

Is he trying to impress some young lady? Oh, right... The campaign in Jiangnan seems to be under Tang Wanzhuang’s leadership now...

Xue Canghai’s expression turned extremely strange.

Zhao Changhe gazed at the sky. After waiting for a while and seeing that the Tome of Troubled Times did not flash in the sky, he breathed a sigh of relief and cheerfully said, “Let’s call it a day. Everyone, go back and rest. From now on, I’ll be sparring with Cult Leader Xue every day.”

Xue Canghai’s heart stopped.

The cult members suddenly felt that their cult leader’s life had suddenly gotten a lot more miserable. At least when he was merely a gatekeeper in the Ranking of Man, while many wanted to challenge him, none of them ever succeeded. But now, he was going to be beaten every day like a practice dummy.

Come to think of it, the cult leader broke through to the Profound Mysteries first and he’s been comprehending Profound Mysteries-level techniques for many years. On the other hand, Zhao Changhe just broke through and he had barely been exposed to any advanced techniques before. Comparing the two of them, the cult leader should be at a higher level. Does this mean that the cult leader was surpassed by someone below him again?

The cult members quickly dispersed to avoid showing their sympathetic faces to the cult leader.

Fortunately, the Tome of Troubled Times didn’t make an appearance. Otherwise, the cult leader would really have been too pitiful...

Xue Canghai, unaware of what the cult members were thinking, was instead contemplating Zhao Changhe’s strike. He finally realized, “I thought that you created a new move, but upon reflection, it’s still based on the framework of Hell on Earth. It’s just that it incorporates other elements. I noticed that it includes the essence of the Yellow Sand Saber Art that you taught the Beimang cult members.”

“Yes, my vicious blood qi isn’t strong enough, so I have to incorporate other techniques. You, on the other hand, don’t need to follow my path and you can simply focus on refining your vicious blood qi.”

“If you continue like this, you could truly create your own saber art.”

Zhao Changhe considered it. “It’s not just about creating my own saber art; ideally, I should create my own cultivation technique. Someone once advised me not to get too obsessed with inheritances from the ancient times. You should heed that advice as well.”

That’s easy to say, but how difficult is it to create your own cultivation technique? Do you think everyone is Xia Longyuan?

Xue Canghai did not say that and instead said, “If you feel your vicious blood is insufficient, you could use the array plate to cultivate it. Especially now that the sacred artifact is activated, it’s full of energy. As long as you can keep your mind steady, cultivating vicious blood qi through it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I had the same thought. I’ll give it a try later.” Zhao Changhe then asked, “Cult Leader Xue, in your last move, and the one from our previous fight, your saber strikes were light yet powerful, and the force they carried was both contained and solid. How are you able to achieve such concentrated power without it dissipating?”

“Oh, about that... There’s a trick to it when channeling your energy...”

The two of them walked into the secret chamber, chatting like old friends and exchanging insights. In the distance, Instructor Sun scratched his head, feeling somewhat abandoned.

When did these two get so close? It’s really strange.

As the two arrived at the array plate, Zhao Changhe took out the blood bead and tried fitting it into various similarly shaped slots. Finally, with a click, it fit perfectly into one of the slots.

Although he had absorbed some of the vicious blood qi contained within the bead, the amount he had taken when he was at the Profound Gate was like scooping a cup of water from the ocean—it made no significant impact on the sacred artifact.

Beside him, Xue Canghai was overjoyed. “We’ve been searching for the components of the array plate for generations with little success. We found some components early on, but none recently. Where did you get this?”

“I got it from Maitreya,” Zhao Changhe replied. “Maybe they have more? Doesn’t their philosophy of killing to achieve enlightenment seem similar?”

Xue Canghai laughed. “No need to say anything else, I understand.”

“Ahem.” Zhao Changhe continued, “Anyway, from now on, the main goal of the cult will be to look for these components. This isn’t a task I can handle alone.”

This was one of the key benefits of reconciling with and becoming a part of the Blood God Cult.

Zhao Changhe himself had a keen interest in the complete array plate. The power of a fully restored sacred artifact was unquestionable. Even in the previous era, this array plate would have been among the top-tier artifacts. If they could fully assemble it in the current era, then they might really just become an unstoppable force. Even the likes of the blind woman might not withstand a single attack from it.

However, Zhao Changhe did not have the time to search for all of the scattered pieces of the array plate on his own. Having a cult dedicated to this task made it much more manageable. Once the pieces were gathered, he would still hold significant influence over how it was to be used.

As for the cult’s previous difficulty in finding the components, that was closely related to their limiter power and connections. It was only normal for the Blood God Cult to have been unable to find any treasures with how it had been hiding and not daring to roam around. But now that Zhao Changhe was part of the cult, he significantly improved their capabilities and broadened their network. Most importantly, he had Ying Five as a collaborator.

Xue Canghai did not know about Ying Five, but he understood that with Zhao Changhe, the Blood God Cult’s circumstances were likely to change.

He sincerely bowed. “Thank you very much, Saint.”

Zhao Changhe said, “It’s late. You should get some rest. I’ll try absorbing some vicious blood qi for my cultivation.”

Catching the hint to leave, Xue Canghai instead warned him, “Absorbing external vicious blood qi can be troublesome as it will often come with various negative impurities that can affect the mind and gradually change one’s temperament. I assume you’re aware of this?”

“Yes, I’ve absorbed energy from the bead before.”

“You might have used other methods to calm your mind and suppress the impurities in the past, but that only works against weaker energies. Absorbing energy from a sacred artifact is a different thing altogether due to its far higher level. Our cult actually has a specialized technique to directly eliminate the negative impurities and specifically extract the vicious blood qi. Our specialized technique should help you get much better results. You can also use the technique on other items containing vicious blood qi in the future.”

Whoa, these guys really are professionals.

Zhao Changhe was pleasantly surprised and said, “Please teach me then.”

Xue Canghai imparted the technique and then took his leave. Zhao Changhe lightly touched the array plate, closed his eyes, and began to sense and extract the vicious blood qi from within.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Tome opened up a VR-like display. “Blood God Array Plate, created by the Blood God in his final moments, a slaughter array made from the blood of tens of thousands. It contains the Blood God’s own blood and flesh, and also the culmination of his lifelong practice of martial arts. Analysis: ...”

“Wait, don’t analyze the Blood God’s martial arts right now. Analyze the energy inside first.”

The Heavenly Tome seemed to glitch, as if this request fell outside its scope. After a while, it replied: “Due to containing the Blood God’s own blood, extracting a portion can serve as nourishment for the advancement of the Blood Asura Body. However, due to the significant difference in bloodline power, in order to avoid bloodline replacement or implosion, dilution is required.”

Zhao Changhe was intrigued, “How do I extract and dilute it?”

The Heavenly Tome fell silent.

Its purpose was to analyze martial arts, not to be a guide for everything. Hinting about the requirement for dilution to Zhao Changhe was already a significant deviation from its primary function. It could not possibly just list all the methods for him.

Zhao Changhe did not mind. He had been contemplating his next step in cultivation, and here it was, right in front of him.

As for the exact method, he would figure it out eventually.

He stopped interacting with the Heavenly Tome and quietly used the technique that Xue Canghai taught him, directly eliminating impurities and extracting the vicious blood qi.

His vicious blood qi was indeed lacking. Because of that, even if Xue Canghai mocked him for it, there was nothing he could really do. He had only been in the jianghu for such a short time. How many people could he have killed, particularly compared to the members of a demonic cult? Fortunately, his deep incursions into the battlefield had somewhat increased his kill count, providing him with some vicious blood qi. Had he remained in the Central Plains, he might never have accumulated enough vicious blood qi to break through to the Profound Mysteries.

This step filled the last piece of the puzzle and further solidified the foundation of the Blood Asura Body. Without sufficient vicious blood qi, there was no point refining the Blood Asura Body.

*

The next morning, Zhao Changhe arrived at the training grounds, looking invigorated. Instructor Sun and an elder were guiding the cult members in their practice. Upon seeing Zhao Changhe, they all greeted him, “Saint.”

They were secretly astonished. The previous day, Zhao Changhe had an air of scholarly elegance, hardly fitting his moniker as the Bloodthirsty Asura. But after just one night, he seemed to have regained the ferocity that matched his nickname.

If he and Cult Leader Xue were to fight today, the cult leader would probably be defeated even faster. Is this guy a monster? His rate of improvement is simply too ridiculous.

As they thought this, Zhao Changhe waved cheerfully and said, “Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Instructor Sun.”

His smile instantly dispelled half of the ferocity in his aura. Everyone sighed in relief, and the elder greeted him, “Good morning, Saint. Would you like to show us a few moves? Everyone is eager to learn.”

Zhao Changhe replied, “Uh, I came to have a spar with Old Xue.”

Instructor Sun remained silent for a moment, then he slowly said, “Cult Leader Xue left early this morning, saying only an idiot would continue being a training dummy.”

Zhao Changhe’s gaze shifted past Instructor Sun and landed on the nearby elder, who took a step back and looked at him warily.

Zhao Changhe grinned. “Elder, you just mentioned that I should show everyone a few moves...”

The elder laughed wryly, “We can’t provide the kind of challenge you need...”

“Sure you can,” Zhao Changhe said earnestly. “Sparring with the cult leader is for honing myself in one-on-one combat. Here, I can practice against group combat... How many of you are here? Come at me all at once.”

Everyone: “...”

What did Cult Leader Xue say earlier? Only an idiot would continue being a training dummy.

Instructor Sun sighed.

The elder patted his shoulder. “Now I believe it. You definitely aren’t some reclusive old man selling wontons... This bastard got where he is today entirely because he’s a madman.”