Chapter 276: Dragon Transformation (II)

The two techniques he had just obtained were enough to keep him cultivating for some time. After mastering the Ninefold Origin Lock Art, he could continue to raise his blood qi and increase the number of blood qi qualitative changes. As he left the market, Lin Zheyu casually purchased six sets of Blazing Flame Blood Burning Powder medicinal herbs. He only had thirty-one Essence and Qi Pills left. Now that he had the opportunity to use Blazing Flame Blood Burning Powder, which offered far better value, he did not plan to continue using Essence and Qi Pills to improve himself.

When he returned to the residence, Li Mengxi and the others had not yet come back. Li Yanming was also nowhere to be seen.

Lin Zheyu fetched a basin of water and entered his room. He then took out the Blazing Flame Blood Burning Powder, rubbed it between his palms into powder, and sprinkled it into the basin.

"Although the Ninefold Origin Lock Art is difficult to cultivate, the main challenge lies in controlling the body, essence, qi, and spirit. For me, that is not much of a problem. It probably will not even require 2 units of Origin Force. I will try enhancing it with 1 unit of Origin Force first," Lin Zheyu said to himself.

He took out the Ninefold Origin Lock Art manual, memorized its contents, closed his eyes, and sent out his thought.

Use 1 unit of Origin Force to enhance the Ninefold Origin Lock Art.

In an instant, vast mysterious energy surged forth from the depths of his cells, tempering his body. After cultivating the Tortoise Breath True Technique, Lin Zheyu's body had already undergone transformation, leaving little that still needed improvement. His mind grew hazy as he entered the consciousness space and began endless cultivation.

Lin Zheyu's control over his body, essence, qi, and spirit surpassed that of most transforming force martial artists. Within the cultivation time of 1 unit of Origin Force, he used less than half the time to fully master the Ninefold Origin Lock Art. The remaining time was spent repeatedly activating the technique and then releasing it, cycling through it again and again.

The reason it was called the Ninefold Origin Lock Art was that the technique effectively had nine levels. With each additional level, more life origin qi, essence, qi, and blood would be sealed. Once it reached the ninth level, nearly all life origin qi, essence, qi, and blood would be firmly locked away. Even a cultivated, powerful physique would be affected, making the effect extremely astonishing.

After a few breaths, Lin Zheyu slowly opened his eyes, genuine admiration appearing in his gaze.

[Heaven Rewards the Diligent]

[Name: Lin Zheyu]

[Origin Force: 44]

[Skills: Violet Thunder Blood Condensing Technique (Perfection), Ninefold Origin Lock Art (Perfection), Tortoise Breath True Technique (Sixth Stage: 0%), Golden Goose Technique (Tenth Stage: 100%), Violet Thunder Dominance Fist (Seventh Stage: 100%), Spirit Wondrous Movement Technique (Fifth Stage: 100%)]

"What a miraculous effect. Even a cultivated, powerful physique is influenced by the Ninefold Origin Lock Art," Lin Zheyu said in astonishment.

After this secret art locked and preserved life origin qi, essence, qi, and blood through a special means, not only could blood qi no longer be mobilized, but even the powerful physique Lin Zheyu cultivated through training was greatly affected. When he tested it in the consciousness space, once it was operated to the ninth turn, his physical strength dropped to about 50% of its original level.

Let me try and see how effective it is,

Lin Zheyu thought to himself, unable to resist testing the miraculous effects of the technique in reality.

He let out a long breath. As the technique began to circulate, the vast blood qi energy within his body, along with the life origin qi and essence within his cells, were continuously drawn out and then sealed within the acupoints throughout his body.

Lin Zheyu could feel his body weakening at an astonishing speed. This weakness was different from when circulating the Tortoise Breath True Technique. It was a genuine weakness, whereas the Tortoise Breath True Technique was merely a form of concealment and had almost no effect on actual strength. After a few breaths, although he was not circulating the Tortoise Breath True Technique, the aura around his body was extremely faint, like that of an ordinary person. There was not the slightest trace of blood qi aura leaking out.

The sealed energy cannot be used. If I do not release the Ninefold Origin Lock Art, my body will remain in this weakened state.

Lin Zheyu assessed his condition and felt extremely satisfied with this technique. With this method of sealing away powerful energy, combined with the Tortoise Breath True Technique, even Grandmaster realm experts likely would not be able to discern his true state.

"This technique is quite interesting. While circulating the technique to lock away bodily energy, it feels as though the body has truly lost that much energy. Even after supplementing with an Essence and Qi Pill, the body cannot recover the lost portion. It can only be regained through cultivation, by training it back again." Lin Zheyu swallowed an Essence and Qi Pill and spoke with some amazement.

The bodily energy sealed by the Ninefold Origin Lock Art was truly completely severed, as if the body had permanently lost that portion of energy.

This characteristic remained the same even when relying on the powerful effects of Origin Force. While cultivating in the consciousness space, every time Lin Zheyu circulated the Ninefold Origin Lock Art and sealed his bodily energy, the consciousness space was unable to help his body recover. Only after releasing the Ninefold Origin Lock Art would that portion of energy return to his body. Only then would the powerful restorative effects of the consciousness space begin to function, rapidly repairing the damage and foundational depletion caused by using the Ninefold Origin Lock Art.

Interesting. If I use the Ninefold Origin Lock Art to seal all my energy, cultivate back the sealed energy, and then release the Ninefold Origin Lock Art, what kind of effect would that produce? Would it become even stronger?

This was something other martial artists could not do. Only with the assistance of Origin Force was he able to attempt such an approach.

"Could this break through the shackle on total blood qi?" Lin Zheyu murmured, his eyes shining brightly.

While wandering through the market earlier, he had seen a miraculous secret art that could increase total blood qi. Its price was frighteningly high. The stall owner had opened with 1,000,000 taels of silver. Even with Lin Zheyu's bargaining ability, reducing it to 500,000 would have been the absolute limit. Even among true techniques, only those written by Grandmaster realm experts could sell for such a price. This alone showed how precious that secret art was.

The Blood Qi realm was the realm in which a martial artist laid their foundation. The number of blood qi qualitative changes, the total amount of blood qi, and the strength of the physique all affected the roots and latent potential formed during the advancement to the Marrow Refining realm. At the same time, they also influenced the total amount and strength of true strength after advancing to the Force Transformation realm. Even advancement to the Grandmaster and Martial Innate realms would still be affected. It could be said that the Blood Qi realm was of vital importance.

This was knowledge Lin Zheyu had learned while staying at the Li Residence, through casual conversations with the siblings Li Mengqi and Li Mengxi. Through them, he gained a deeper understanding of the martial cultivation realms beyond the Marrow Refining realm. According to Li Mengxi, many martial artists, after being unable to further increase the number of blood qi qualitative changes, would instead turn to increasing their total blood qi.

Increasing the total amount of blood qi was also a way to solidify the foundation of martial cultivation and strengthen a martial artist's own latent potential and roots. Both Li Mengxi and Li Mengqi had cultivated related secret arts. Such methods were non-transmitted secrets of the Li Family, and although Lin Zheyu was curious, he had no way to borrow them for a look. However, the appearance of the Ninefold Origin Lock Art allowed him to see a glimmer of hope for increasing his total blood qi.

"Whether it works or not will be verified shortly." Lin Zheyu took a deep breath and immersed his hands in the basin of water infused with Blazing Flame Blood-Burning Powder.

He did not release the Ninefold Origin Lock Art and instead planned to cultivate the Violet Thunder Blood Condensing Technique in this state. Although the vast blood qi within his body was locked away, the nature of his blood qi was still at the eighth transformation, and close to the ninth. It was only that the quantity of blood qi had permanently decreased, leaving just a few faint strands dispersed throughout his body. Because it had dispersed, the strength and energy of the blood qi in his body became extremely thin.

Cultivating in this state was equivalent to retracing the path from the Organ Forging realm to the blood qi gauze stage. With the highly efficient blood qi condensing effect of the Violet Thunder Blood Condensing Technique, it would likely take less than 2 units of Origin Force to cultivate it back.

Use 5 units of Origin Force to cultivate the Violet Thunder Blood Condensing Technique.

As the thought was transmitted, Lin Zheyu entered a familiar state of cultivation.

The medicinal power within the six sets of Blazing Flame Blood-Burning Powder soaked in the basin surged into his body under the mobilization of mysterious energy. Within his extremely weakened body, whose energy had been locked by the Ninefold Origin Lock Art, strands of blood qi began to condense. The moment these strands formed, they already possessed the quality of blood qi at the eighth transformation.

Very quickly, the total amount of blood qi in his body reached its limit, and beneath the surface of his skin, a layer of blood qi gauze was born. Even after cultivating his blood qi back, the process still did not stop. His blood qi, already close to the ninth transformation, continued to be refined under the influence of mysterious energy, with the energy contained within growing increasingly terrifying.

Vaguely, the powerful blood qi force seemed to transform into a long blood qi dragon, rampaging through his body and roaring wildly. Even Lin Zheyu's body began to emit a faint bloody aura. This bloody aura resonated with the surging blood qi within him, manifesting as a blood colored long dragon that roared around his body.

This scene was extremely astonishing. The immensely powerful blood qi energy seeped through the room, spreading a faint bloody aura. It was only because there was no one in the courtyard at the moment that Lin Zheyu would even try this. Otherwise, such powerful blood qi energy would certainly have been sensed by others.

After a few breaths, Lin Zheyu slowly opened his eyes, a trace of blood color appearing in his gaze as well. This was caused by blood qi energy unintentionally overflowing after becoming terrifyingly powerful. Sensing the leakage of blood qi energy, he was startled and hurriedly circulated the Tortoise Breath True Technique, drawing the escaping blood qi energy back in. The blood colored long dragon surrounding him faded along with the blood qi fluctuations and vanished without a trace.

Fortunately, there is no one else in the courtyard right now. Otherwise, such powerful blood qi fluctuations would certainly have been noticed.

He had deliberately checked that no one was around the courtyard before making the breakthrough. This was to prevent losing control over his excessively powerful blood qi after advancing to the Dragon Transformation and causing unnecessary trouble.

The Dragon Transformation is truly aptly named. After advancing to the Dragon Transformation, the energy within my blood qi became so powerful that it spontaneously took on the form of a mythical long dragon.

Lin Zheyu felt the incomparably powerful blood qi within his body and was filled with amazement. He controlled the strands of blood qi emanating outward as bloody aura seeped from his body. If he did not actively restrain it, the bloody aura would spontaneously gather around him and form the shape of a blood colored long dragon.