chapter 2

The python lay before him, blood dripping from its body and sipping into the ground. 

The aura emanating from the corpse was that of a rank 2 beast, equivalent to the human foundation realm cultivators. 

It had to have taken a lot of Qi realm cultivators working together to kill it given that magical beasts were generally stronger than humans at the same level.

"That Li Ming guy is not simple," Di Sheng thought to himself. To come out the winner of this hunt showed that he was quite good at scheming. 

He pushed it to the back of his mind and was ready to start extracting the blood. Soon this place will be crawling with beasts attracted by the smell of blood.

He started forming hand seals while chanting and soon the blood from all over the corpse was being pulled and merged into a ball of blood in Di Sheng's palm.

This was a technique developed by the AI after studying many other bloodline extraction techniques. He called it <blood refinement art>

The blood poured from all over Di Sheng's hand and kept compressing into the small blop in his palm, never increasing in volume no matter how much was added. 

Even the blood that had sipped into the soil was also pulled out as well as the blood in the snake's body, bone, and marrow. 

In less than 30 minutes, only the desiccated corpse of the python remained in front of Di Sheng.

Still, he kept on chanting and the blood ball began to spin. The process continued for a long time as the blood kept decreasing in size. It continued for about half an hour before he stopped.

At this moment, floating above his palm was a golden red blood drop. The aura emanating from it was ancient and desolate, inspiring awe to all that gazed upon it including Di Sheng at this moment.

He took out an already-prepared bottle and stored the blood within. He left the place and continued his hunt.

For the next two weeks, he hunted many pythons and the bottle was already full.

He continued the hunt, ignoring every other beast within the forest and only concentrated on his targets. 

Time passed and soon it was two months later. He had hunted over a hundred snakes from across the three species and was now in possession of a lot of blood essence from those beasts.

For the next week, he searched for a good place to go into seclusion and finally found a quiet mountain within the verdant forest. It had a high concentration of spiritual Qi. He dug out a cave in the mountain and blocked the entrance with rocks. After laying down some basic defensive formations, he took out all spirit stones on him and scattered them all over the small cave. Greatly increasing the Qi density within the cave.

Taking out more than ten bottles filled with blood, he began using the <blood refinement art> again. For a whole day, he used the technique in the refinement, and at this point, it had all merged into one drop as big as a table tennis ball. But the purity of the essence was very high and the golden red radiance was even more resplendent.

The next thing he had to do to practice the <blood serpent divine scripture> was to relinquish all his previous cultivation. And to that effect, he began scattering his cultivation gradually, in less than one hour, he had fallen back to Qi condensation and it kept dropping. He could not help but feel anxious the moment he lost the ability to use his spiritual sense and could no longer sense his spirit sea.

Soon his cultivation had dropped to Qi gathering and then finally, he had lost his entire cultivation.

He was now no different from an ordinary man and he was very vulnerable now. If he was attacked now, he would undoubtedly die, he was risking everything.

His body felt weak after that process and he needed to rest. 

Cultivation was divided into realms starting from the Qi realm to the foundation realm... And every increase in a realm not only brought greater power but an even longer lifespan.

The Qi realm was divided into three sub-realms from low to high; Qi gathering, Qi condensation, and finally Qi manifestation. At Qi gathering the aspiring cultivators sense Qi and pull it into their body but this Qi enters in wisps and as such exists in a gaseous state but the cultivators start compressing it into liquid form and this Is Qi condensation. When the Qi can be manifested outside the body and can be used to manipulate matter, it is known as Qi manifestation. It is also at this stage that one unlocks the spirit sea and awakens the spiritual sense ability.

An ability that enables one to pay greater attention to detail and be aware of everything in his surroundings even with his eyes closed.

After the Qi realm is the foundation realm, the realm that determines future possibilities. How far you go on the cultivation path is determined by the type of foundation built in this realm. It is divided into the foundation pillar stage, the purple mansion stage, and the golden hall stage. 

His sleep lasted nearly six hours before Di Sheng regained consciousness, though his face was still pale, he was better than before.

He immediately sat in a lotus position and without hesitation, swallowed the blood in the bottle. He felt the dense energy coursing through his body and began to recite the <blood serpent divine scripture> and circulate qi according to the method. 

The blood started merging with his body, flesh, and muscle but most of it was pulled towards the marrow. He kept the process up and as time passed his blood began to change, emitting a slight golden-red color.

Time passed and Di Sheng was lost in cultivation not even noticing how much time had passed. Two days later physical changes started occurring to his body as he grew Slimer and taller. Not even noticing it. His raven black hair grew even longer, with a metallic sheen to it.

One day later Di Sheng achieved Qi gathering again but did not stop as it kept increasing, low, middle, and high, and just like that two weeks later, he broke through Qi condensation.

Another month passed when he finally broke through to the Qi manifestation stage again. 

He did not stop as the aura around him kept increasing.

Two months later, Di Sheng whose eyes had been closed for about four months suddenly opened them. A wave of energy blew out outward with him as the center. 

He clenched his and sensed the energy coursing through his body. He was many times stronger than his previous self. He did not doubt that he could kill his previous self with the point of a finger.

"Is this the strength at the peak of the Qi realm? I was a frog at the bottom of the well" his strength amazed him. 

He surveyed his surroundings and as his now serpentine pupils dashed around with speed. Around him, you could see red serpents that circled him but you could easily see that these serpents were not real as they were made of Qi. In just a few moments they disappeared into Di Sheng's body. 

He now stood at 1.9m tall with long raven black hair shining with a metallic luster.

His body was slim, making his robe a little loose.

He went out to hunt and his strength astonished him. Upon his return, he was a bull magical beast in his possession. Surprisingly he ate it all and during the process, he felt as though his body strength was also increasing.

He sat down to comprehend his realm and techniques and soon started processing a lot of information as they poured into his mind.

The first level of the <blood serpent divine scripture> is the serpentine blood infusion. Granting the practitioner five main abilities.

- Blood empowerment: he gains the ability to infuse his blood with serpentine energy, enhancing his physical attributes, strength, and speed

- Serpent's grace: he develops heightened agility and flexibility, allowing him to move with the fluidity and precision of a serpent

- venomous strike: his attacks will now be imbued with a venomous effect, capable of poisoning and weakening opponents.

- Serpent's gaze: by activating the serpentine energy within his eyes, he gains heightened perception, enabling him to see through illusions and far distances

- Ascending serpent strike: this technique combines swift footwork with precise strikes, allowing him to unleash a series of lightning-fast attacks imbued with blood and serpentine energy. Each strike carries the potential to shatter defenses and crippled opponents.

It Di Sheng more than three months to understand these techniques.

Opening his eyes he stood up and decided to leave the verdant forest. 

Pointing his finger towards the rock that blocked the entrance to the cave, a red snake was released. It was fast as it hit the rock reducing it to rubble. 

Di Sheng walked out and pointed his finger at a tree and another serpent dashed out and bit the tree in front of him. This attack was different as the tree began to either at a speed visible to the naked eye. 

He had realized that he could decide if and when he wanted his attacks to be poisonous.

Without further delay, he shot into the forest at a terrifying speed. His movements were graceful and unpredictable. Looking at his disappearing figure one who thinks they were witnessing a terrifying serpent. 

He soon realized that he was now capable of seeing the heat signatures of every living thing in his vicinity. 

Only now did he fully understand how far he had traveled into the verdant forest. However, with his mind set on purpose, he arrives at Maple Leaf Town within the day. It had been more than a year since he left and was missing his interaction with fellow humans.

Arriving at his home in the town, he stayed the and tried to collect himself for the next week while making plans for his future development.

He needed a lot of resources if his cultivation was to go further and cultivation resources to improve bloodline were not easy to come by. 

A lot of thought had to be put into it. 

"At the level of my strength, this town is already small and I need more knowledge of how I am going to gather resources effectively." 

He made up his mind to leave the town. 

Having said his farewell to all the friends he had made there after living there all these years, he set out on his journey.

His destination was the flower capital of the Blue Lotus kingdom. This kingdom was the closest to the verdant forest and Maple Leaf Town was a small town under its jurisdiction. Above towns and cities were counties, all ruled by governors, and above those were kingdoms, Dukedoms, and Marquisdom.

The making of the celestial empire was very intricate and had many powerful individuals. 

Di Sheng knew that as of now he was just a tiny fish in the ocean. 

After traveling for two weeks without any incident, he finally arrived at the flower capital. 

Given his current speed, it spoke a lot about the distance traveled if it took him that long to cover the journey.

Looking at the majestic city that lay before him left him in awe. Humans were capable of great wonders but he did not doubt that no ordinary human could construct such a city. 

The city walls were more than 300m tall and were manned every 50 steps by heavily armored men.

The buildings within the city were ever taller as you could see them towering in the distance above the fence.

Amongst the tall buildings, one stood out in particular. It was a blue tower shrouded in dense clouds. 

Di Sheng recognized it, the Heavenly scroll pavilion, that was his objective for coming to the flower capital.