Chapter 2: Rebirth

A sudden change occurred in the blood pool!

Shi Yan stood in the blood pool, the water reaching only to his waist. However, the blood in the pool seemed to come to life, condensing like vines and wrapping around his body. In just a few seconds, he was completely covered in blood, tightly enveloped in a massive blood cocoon.

The blood in the pool seemed to transform into countless crimson blood snakes, continuing to wrap around him, forming a huge blood cocoon.

Pain spread throughout his body, as if his brain was being brutally torn apart, causing unbearable agony.

It felt as if billions of tiny insects were crawling through his pores into his body, wriggling in his limbs, organs, and internal organs, gnawing at his flesh, causing a pain akin to being cut by a thousand knives.

Shi Yan could not see or make a sound, and his body was completely immobilized.

A strange liquid began to flow through his veins, like a gentle stream. As it flowed, his previously untouched meridians seemed to be torn apart. The liquid rapidly divided into countless streams, crazily injecting into his 720 acupoints.

Shi Yan felt as if his 720 acupoints had suddenly expanded countless times, alternating between scorching heat and bone-chilling cold, making him extremely uncomfortable.

The pain in his head grew more intense, and in a daze, Shi Yan seemed to see his acupoints undergoing bizarre changes as the strange liquid was injected. Each acupoint seemed to transform into a small vortex, spinning wildly.

A thread of crimson liquid was injected into these vortices, rapidly being absorbed and becoming part of them. As the vortices absorbed the liquid, they grew larger, and the speed at which they absorbed the liquid increased.

Perhaps because the pain exceeded his tolerance, Shi Yan, in a dazed state, felt his body become a massive container. The strange liquid entering his body through his pores seemed to be changing him in a way he could not understand.

To be precise, it was changing his 720 acupoints!

As this thought flashed through his mind, the next moment, an unbearable pain exploded in his head, and he lost consciousness.

After an unknown period, Shi Yan slowly regained consciousness.

He immediately noticed that the pain in his head and body was gone, and the strange liquid was no longer flowing inside him. Upon careful examination, he found that except for a slight ache in his acupoints, his body seemed to have returned to normal.

Suddenly, he felt a warm current, like a small snake, moving through his meridians. After one small cycle, he felt comfortable all over, and his limbs seemed to have gained more strength.

Essence!

Shi Yan's heart raced. He immediately realized that the blood pool had brought him some benefit. The warm current moving through his meridians was clearly the essence that only martial artists could possess!

Through the memories of the other Shi Yan, he knew that essence was the source of power for martial artists in this world and the foundation for releasing powerful martial techniques.

Martial artists were strictly divided into ten levels based on the strength of their essence and their cultivation realm: Postnatal, Prenatal, Human Rank, Hundred Tribulations, Earth Rank, Nirvana, Heaven Rank, Divine Sense, True God, and God King. Each realm was further divided into three stages.

Martial artists were the strong in this world, and the primary distinction between martial artists and ordinary people was the presence of essence in their bodies. As long as a person had even a small amount of essence, they could be called a martial artist.

Many people could never possess essence in their entire lives, but once a person had essence, they could strengthen it through diligent practice. Therefore, any martial artist with essence had a place in this world.

Feeling the weak essence flowing in his body, Shi Yan felt a bit more at ease. He knew that even if he could not return to his original world, he would not starve to death in this one.

Relieved, Shi Yan noticed that the blood cocoon still covered his body, tightly wrapping him.

Shi Yan struggled to break free.

"Rip!"

The blood cocoon split open, and Shi Yan jumped out, looking around. He found himself still in the peculiar stone cave, surrounded by bones.

However, the blood in the pool had completely dried up, not a drop remained!

In the dried-up blood pool, only a few broken bones remained. The once crimson and thick blood had vanished without a trace.

A massive blood cocoon stood in the center of the blood pool, thin as a cicada's wing and glowing faintly. However, as soon as he glanced at it, small flames began to rise from the bottom, growing larger and eventually burning the bones in the pool. In a short while, the blood cocoon and the bones were completely burned away.

In the dried-up blood pool, a red light shimmered, and an ancient ring with intricate blood patterns lay quietly in the pool.

Staring at the strange ring for a moment, Shi Yan felt that it was closely related to the blood pool. After hesitating, he picked up the ring and slipped it onto his left ring finger.

A warm sensation came from the ring, and Shi Yan suddenly felt a connection with it, as if it had become a part of his body. The weak essence in his body, without his control, rushed toward the dark red ring, but was blocked by the skin on his ring finger, unable to enter the ring.

Shocked, Shi Yan immediately felt that the ring was strange and tried to remove it, but found that it was firmly attached to his ring finger, as if it had taken root. No matter how hard he tried, he could not remove the peculiar ring.

The essence, unable to break through the skin barrier, soon returned to normal, sinking back into his abdomen. The red light on the ring flickered for a while and then dimmed, and the warm sensation disappeared.

Shaking his finger for a while, Shi Yan found no abnormalities with the ring and stopped paying attention to it. He carefully observed his surroundings and thought deeply.

Soon, Shi Yan reached a shocking conclusion—the blood in the pool had all entered his body!

The blood pool was about ten square meters, not large, but it contained at least a few tons of blood. Even an elephant could not drink that much blood in one go!

Shi Yan's face turned grim. He subconsciously looked at his body, wondering if it had become bloated.

To his surprise, he was not bloated at all. Instead, his body was even thinner, almost skeletal. The clothes that had previously fit him well now hung loosely, and his limbs and body were almost devoid of flesh, resembling a skeleton wrapped in skin.

He looked more like a withered mummy than a thin person.

Shi Yan's face darkened. He had not expected the blood pool to bring such a bizarre change, and it had not returned him to his familiar world.

"Rumble! Rumble!"

His stomach growled, and Shi Yan suddenly felt an insatiable hunger, as if he could eat an elephant.

The stone cave was filled with bones, and there was nothing to eat. Looking at the dried-up blood pool, Shi Yan realized he might never return to his original world.

Shi Yan wanted to find a weapon to leave, remembering the clashing of swords and the sound of metal during the guards' fight. However, after searching the cave, he found that all the weapons had been corroded and were unusable.

With no choice, Shi Yan left the cave empty-handed.

The air was humid and hot, and the sound of flowing water came from the distance. Ancient trees towered, reaching dozens of meters high, and dense shrubs blocked most of the sunlight, allowing only a few rays to penetrate the wet ground.

This was the Dark Forest. As soon as he emerged, Shi Yan understood his location from the memories of his original body.

The forest was vast, and due to the dense trees, sunlight rarely penetrated, making the forest dark and damp even during the day. The Dark Forest separated the Merchant Alliance, the Fire Empire, and the Divine Protection Empire. The Merchant Alliance was to the north, the Divine Protection Empire to the south, and the Fire Empire to the west. The Dark Forest was a necessary route for trade caravans from these countries.

The Dark Forest was home to many demonic beasts, and even sixth- and seventh-level demonic beasts were not uncommon. However, the caravans, mercenaries, and martial artists who frequently traveled through the forest knew that powerful demonic beasts generally stayed in specific areas, while lower-level demonic beasts roamed freely.

Generally, as long as caravans followed specific routes and avoided areas with high-level demonic beasts, they would be safe. Only mercenaries and martial artists who specifically targeted high-level demonic beasts were likely to encounter them and suffer heavy casualties.

High risk came with high rewards. If mercenaries and adventurers could slay sixth- or seventh-level demonic beasts in the Dark Forest, they would immediately receive a large amount of crystal coins. Sixth-level demonic beasts had demonic crystals, which were valuable to martial artists, alchemists, and weapon masters.

In addition to demonic crystals, the fur, fangs, bones, and even venom of demonic beasts were also valuable, making high-level demonic beasts a treasure trove.

Because of this, many fearless martial artists and mercenaries often ventured into the Dark Forest to hunt high-level demonic beasts, but only a few succeeded. Many underestimated the intelligence and power of the demonic beasts, failing to achieve their goals and becoming prey themselves.

After leaving the cave, Shi Yan observed his surroundings for a while. He heard the sound of water and the chatter of people, mostly about women, with occasional lewd laughter.

As Shi Yan hesitated whether to approach, he suddenly noticed a slight rustling sound in a nearby bush, as if someone was moving the leaves.

Shi Yan instinctively looked in that direction.

He saw a graceful woman in the bush, slowly untying her white sash and squatting with her back to him, revealing a peach-shaped, snow-white buttock. She waved her delicate hands to drive away annoying mosquitoes while urinating happily.

The woman, unaware of his presence, hummed a tune, clearly in a good mood.

Shi Yan was initially stunned, then he shamelessly admired her dazzling white buttocks, marveling at how captivating they were and wondering what her face looked like.

"Slap!"

The woman suddenly slapped her left buttock, killing a bold mosquito. Her buttock muscles contracted seductively and then rippled enticingly, showing excellent elasticity, which made Shi Yan's heart race.

As the woman finished urinating and tied her sash, she muttered, "Damn mosquitoes..."

Suddenly, she turned around, and two green arcs of light appeared in her hands, instantly killing the mosquitoes behind her.

As she turned, her face was revealed. She had a delicate, moon-like face, was about twenty years old, and stood at around 1.68 meters. She was graceful and beautiful, with a slender waist, full chest, and a well-proportioned figure. She wore a light purple shirt and a silver-gray soft armor that clung to her body, unable to hide her captivating curves, like a legendary mountain beauty.

Shi Yan's gaze was intense, and he secretly praised her beauty, comparing her to the most famous actresses in his world.

As his greedy eyes roamed over her beautiful body, the woman suddenly became alert and, despite the large banana leaves between them, accurately found Shi Yan's eyes.

Her eyes suddenly flashed with a sharp light!