Chapter 18

Tang Yan gave Tang Ying a meaningful look and said, "Go back and help Mentor Ailinda. I'll take a breather and be back soon."

"I'll stay here with you. What if someone else...” Tang Ying followed Tang Yan’s gaze to the corpse not far away, understanding the situation. “Don’t go too far. We’ll be back soon.”

Tang Yan sat quietly in place, focusing on restoring his energy, but his attention never left the corpse covered in green flames.

Du Yang, hiding in the dark, lingered for a moment. Seeing no unusual circumstances, he left.

After a full ten minutes, the flames gradually weakened, and a faint green liquid, about the size of a broad bean, could be seen. Dense and pure energy silently drifted through the forest.

A hint of excitement flashed in Tang Yan’s eyes. The white-robed man’s strength was at the level of a Third-Rank Martial Spirit, and the Lingyuan Liquid contained abundant spiritual energy. The residual resentment and hatred might even enhance the power of the 'Nirvana Eye'.

A long-lost excitement spread in his heart. Tang Yan stared intently at the dancing flames and secretly observed the surroundings. Soon, the green flames completely incinerated the corpse, and the Lingyuan Liquid, like a crystal-clear jade bead, shimmered among the ashes.

Without hesitation, Tang Yan grabbed the Lingyuan Liquid and quickly dashed deep into the forest. This time, he ran for a full half hour and found an extremely hidden treetop to hide in.

He sat cross-legged, focusing his mind and calming his breath.

In the past, he had directly swallowed and absorbed the Lingyuan Liquid. This time, as soon as it entered his body, Tang Yan began to silently recite the Immortal Derivation Heaven Technique.

His acupoints activated in sequence, guiding the Lingyuan Liquid to sink into his chest and abdomen. The strange energy generated by martial techniques, like countless threads, intertwined with the Lingyuan Liquid, conducting a meticulous search.

Soon, Tang Yan discovered two special substances in the core of the Lingyuan Liquid: one blood-red, the other gray, both very small and weak, blending harmoniously with the Lingyuan Liquid’s rich spiritual energy.

The moment he discovered them, the dense threads quickly gathered, first enveloping the blood-red substance and carefully extracting it.

Instantly, a rich life force filled his body, making Tang Yan feel refreshed and invigorated, as if a vibrant flame of life was leaping and nurturing.

This was the Essence of Life!

The Essence of Life sank into his dantian and quickly dissolved in the vast sea, showing no significant changes. Even when Tang Yan searched hard, he only found a barely noticeable trace of blood energy floating in the upper part of the sea, as if it could dissipate at any moment.

What made Tang Yan slightly relieved was that there was no evil mutation like when he absorbed the four-winged scaled python egg.

Having successfully extracted the Essence of Life, Tang Yan focused on the gray substance, carefully separating and guiding it.

But...

Ah! The moment it separated from the Lingyuan Liquid, the gray shadow suddenly emitted a sharp scream in Tang Yan’s mind, releasing a wave of resentment and brutality. The shadow even transformed into a human form, clearly the white-robed man.

"Behave!" Tang Yan coldly snorted, accelerating the Immortal Derivation Heaven Technique. The qi spirals in his acupoints spun faster, pulling it into the 'Chengqi' acupoint and quickly refining it.

Soon, the 'Chengqi' acupoint emitted a faint glow, not as bright as the 'Four Hundred' acupoints, but it had changed.

With everything separated, Tang Yan breathed a sigh of relief and focused on refining the Lingyuan.

The dense energy rapidly spread, and the qi spirals in his acupoints spun wildly, guiding the liquid spiritual energy to surge through his meridians. Faint green mist emanated, blending with the surrounding green leaves, forming a natural barrier that hid Tang Yan deep in the treetop.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Inside his body, it felt like a surging river, waves crashing, tearing through meridians, and wreaking havoc. The intense pain made Tang Yan’s face pale, and blood mixed with impurities seeped from his skin.

Tang Yan steadied his mind, forgetting all dangers, and focused on absorbing the Lingyuan Liquid’s energy, guiding the spiritual energy to refine the torn meridians. In the pain and perseverance, Tang Yan entered a state of self-forgetfulness.

After an unknown amount of time, the rampant spiritual energy in his body gradually calmed down, and the misty green mist surrounding him was absorbed back into his body, guided into his acupoints.

At this moment, the spiritual energy in his body became incredibly thick and condensed!

In just ten breaths, it had thickened by five to six times, becoming part of him, moving freely with his will.

Tang Yan was overjoyed and immediately guided the suddenly enhanced spiritual energy to continue refining his meridians, acupoints, muscles, and bones.

He held his breath, focused his mind, and thought of nothing, cared about nothing.

The thick spiritual energy flowed through Tang Yan’s body according to the Grand Circulation meridians, healing the torn meridians, making them wider and stronger.

"…Sigh…" Tang Yan exhaled deeply, the last meridian having been refined. He completed a full Grand Circulation, then woke from his intense cultivation, looking up at the blood-red sky, feeling a sense of relief and comfort.

His injuries had healed, and his meridians were now more open and expanded, indicating a successful breakthrough to the Third-Rank Martial Master realm.

In just five days, he had broken through two major ranks, a speed that even surprised Tang Yan.

The greatest contributor was the green flame. Without it refining the Lingyuan Liquid, he might not have even broken through to the Second Rank.

A thought crossed his mind, and the spiritual energy surged, like a river suddenly meeting a cliff, boiling up. Intense green flames instantly covered his entire right hand, no longer confined to his fingertips, and no longer so difficult to control.

The green flames were real fire but emitted a slight coldness, which was very strange. Tang Yan was somewhat puzzled about what this green flame was. Could it really be the 'Ghost Green Flame' mentioned in the Immortal Derivation Heaven Technique?

How did it appear in his body?

After thinking for a long time without an answer, Tang Yan stopped wasting his energy. Feeling the surging spiritual energy in his body, he clenched his fists, regaining a long-lost confidence.

But upon seeing the dark surroundings, he realized it was already late and quickly descended from the tree, sprinting towards the valley.

He hadn’t expected the breakthrough to take so long, and he was worried about Ailinda and the others.

A pale moon hung in the sky, and the lake’s surface splashed with cold, crystalline waves. The valley’s grass was silent, a contrast of stillness and movement, creating a unique sense of tranquility.

Tang Yan slowly entered the valley, his brows furrowed. The ground was littered with chaotic footprints, shattered ice blocks, and scorched marks, and the air was thick with the smell of blood.

It seemed a fierce battle had taken place, but strangely, there were no corpses or much blood.

Tang Yan’s brows furrowed even tighter. He didn’t shout out but cautiously approached the cave, which was empty, with no sign of Ailinda or Tang Ying.

Where were they? They might have left early, unable to find him.

Tang Yan remembered that during the battle with the two white-robed men, they had fired signals into the sky. If his guess was correct, they were calling for reinforcements.

He hoped they were safe.

Looking at the darkening sky, Tang Yan didn’t blindly chase after them.

The forest was most dangerous after dark, with dangerous beasts preferring to be active at night. Although he had broken through to the Third-Rank Martial Master, he was no longer a 'newborn calf' and knew the dangers of the forest, especially at night.

Moreover, this stage was crucial for him, and he needed to focus on refining his body and consolidating his cultivation.

According to the memories of the Second Young Master Tang, the leap from Martial Master to Martial Spirit was a qualitative transformation.

If a Martial Practitioner becoming a Martial Master meant they could possess and control spiritual energy, then the leap from Martial Master to Martial Spirit meant they could have abundant spiritual energy and freely use martial techniques, becoming a truly powerful warrior!

During the leap from Martial Master to Martial Spirit, there was a crucial step: the altar baptism to activate the spirit veins!

The Second Young Master Tang’s memories contained little information about this, just fragmented and somewhat chaotic impressions. However, after carefully summarizing these memory fragments, Tang Yan could make a rough summary.

Activating the spirit veins meant refining the body and awakening the inheritance marks deep within the blood, or unlocking the body’s hidden treasures, providing direct guidance for future martial arts development.

For example, Ailinda’s main focus was on cold energy, the white-robed men had white mist of water or ice attributes, the Tang family had fire energy, and the Yang family had ghost shadow techniques.

In addition, the Second Young Master Tang’s memories included some 'interesting things'—the beast control lineage, the berserker lineage, the beast soul lineage, the mind control lineage, the lightning spirit lineage, and many others, too numerous to count.

The baptism during the leap from Martial Master to Martial Spirit was crucial for any martial practitioner. For certain families, organizations, and empires, the altar baptism was also a significant event, sometimes even opening their doors to martial masters from humble backgrounds.

Because the baptism might bring unexpected results! These 'unexpected results' could be the emergence of mutated bloodlines or special abilities, which might bring new hope to various forces.

Plop! Tang Yan leaped into the lake, struggling towards the waterfall. Since he had to spend the night, he needed to find a safe place.

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