I Steal the Ancestors' Sacrifices to Nourish Myself-Chapter 37 - 8: The Second Celestial Vein Martial Artist
Three troughs of blood from the Tier Three Monster Fish were taken in total. Shen Can kept one trough, and this time, only Uncle Huo Kui and Uncle Huo Qii from the tribe soaked in it.
In the previous training, Huo Shan had the most progress, followed by Huo Kui, and Huo Qii performed the worst.
The tribe’s original Tier Three improved witchcraft consists of three ingredients.
He added seven more after deducing it.
However, due to the anesthetic strength in the fish blood, Shen Can added a witch medicine to neutralize the anesthetic to reduce its residue.
This means there are up to twenty components of witch medicine in the fish blood.
Although the witch medicines, like a hodgepodge, have reached a balanced state, it is nevertheless used by people.
During the deduction process, Shen Can also obtained a by-product from the results, and the hodgepodge prescription seems to stimulate the potential of the physique.
Among them, Uncle Huo Qii, after the training session, had already reached a bottleneck in increasing his Qi strength.
Just right to test the side effects of the deduced medicinal effects.
...
When a Martial Artist advances from Mountain Opening to Celestial Vein, it’s no longer purely about strength, but the need to engender blood Qi within the body.
Once a thread of blood Qi is nurtured, it signifies becoming a Celestial Vein Realm Martial Artist.
And cultivating in the Celestial Vein Realm requires the martial arts technique to open the Celestial Veins within the body.
For years, Huo Chang has been lingering between the first Celestial Vein, difficult to make any progress.
Huo Kui and Huo Qii immersed themselves in the beast blood, immediately unable to resist letting out hissing sounds.
But neither of them jumped out; instead, they endured the excruciating pain of the beast blood washing over them, keeping their bodies pressed in the blood trough.
In the cave, Huo Chang and Huo Shan were also present.
The Celestial Vein Realm is the foundational basis for the tribe’s standing, naturally making the promotion of clansmen to the Celestial Vein a top priority.
Huo Chang came over wanting to see if there was any way he could help, but after considering it, he found he had no suitable cultivation experience to offer.
It was the same within the tribe; related Celestial Vein resources were pitifully scarce.
They rely on the clansmen to tough it out.
With little experience and lacking a systematic cultivation, in daily life or hunting if they get injured, they can’t recover well.
Even as Celestial Vein Realm Martial Artists, they sometimes live no longer than common clansmen, not fully realizing the evolutionary transformations after martial arts cultivation.
Within the blood trough, the two with only their heads exposed had their foreheads bulging with blue veins, teeth clenched, continuously hissing.
Shen Can carefully observed the two clansmen, also afraid any accident might occur.
"Splash!"
Huo Qii was the first to jump from the blood trough; he hadn’t advanced to the Celestial Vein yet, so the Kui Ox Fist was still effective.
Everyone cleared a space, allowing Huo Qii to practice the fist.
Steaming hot air swirled from his body, forming a wave of heat above his head.
While practicing, Huo Qii’s fist momentum suddenly softened, but then quickly recovered, returning to the blood trough.
About half an hour later, Huo Kui also jumped out of the blood trough, steaming hot air pouring from his body.
"Boom!"
When Huo Kui executed the Kui Ox Fist for the tenth time, his steaming body suddenly shook, and a stream of crimson blood Qi emitted from all his pores.
"Succeeded!"
Seeing this, Huo Chang clapped his hands and murmured.
"Three hundred years, our Blazing Flame Division finally has two Celestial Vein Martial Artists standing together."
Beside him, Huo Shan glanced at Shen Can somewhat resentfully, feeling that he too could breakthrough soon, but quickly regained his focus.
The current accumulation is for becoming stronger in the future.
After over a month of intensive training and martial arts practice, his Qi strength increased far more than that of Huo Kui and Huo Qii, indicating slightly better talent.
Previously, the simplest hope within the tribe was to have another Celestial Vein; now, the Blazing Flame has a different perspective, looking for Celestial Vein Martial Artists with a more extended vision.
After Huo Kui’s breakthrough, Huo Chang immediately directed him to another cave to leave Huo Qii enough space.
However, good luck did not favor the Blazing Flame again.
Huo Qii soaked in the beast blood four times in a row without nurturing blood Qi from the violence in the blood; instead, he nearly collapsed into the blood trough in exhaustion.
Huo Shan quickly dragged him from the blood trough.
"Ah!"
Huo Qii screamed wretchedly, his whole body convulsing; blood spots appeared on his skin, making his hands flail uncontrollably.
Huo Qii struggled fiercely, his limbs flailing and kicking, and kicked Huo Shan away quickly.
His entire body, red like a perfectly cooked shrimp, nearly curled up.
Huo Shan pressed down on him again.
"Hold him down!"
Seeing this, Shen Can dug out a slightly rough pellet from his pocket and stuffed it into Huo Qii’s mouth.
Huo Shan held him down for almost half an hour before Huo Qii’s thrashing body gradually relaxed, and the redness of his skin slowly subsided.
The person seemed completely exhausted, with sweat pooling into small puddles beneath.
Shen Can checked on Huo Qii, "Is your body numb?"
Huo Qii nodded, speaking hoarsely, "I feel stinging all over, my arms are numb, legs weak."
"Uncle, stay in the cave next to the Ancestral Temple these days. I need to conduct a comprehensive assessment of you."
Huo Qii glanced at Shen Can, suddenly feeling a cold chill down his back.
"Uncle, rest assured, you’re contributing to the Blazing Flame. I’m not going to harm you, am I?"
Huo Qii licked the blood at the corner of his mouth, trusting Acan not to harm him, but still feeling a bit scared.
Shen Can quickly took out a Beast Hide Scroll from the ear cave and began to record.
"After some rest, Uncle, you need to continue practicing martial arts. Uncle Huo Shan, the same goes for you, until you feel your Qi strength stops increasing."
Huo Chang, who came over, also relaxed when he saw Huo Qii was alright.
Instead, he wasn’t too concerned about Huo Qii getting injured while attempting to breakthrough.
Martial arts heritage is weak, and each step is equivalent to experimentation.
And what experimentation comes without a price?
"Acan, how to use this beast blood?"
Keep in mind, Shen Can still had one trough of beast blood left unused.
"These two used troughs can be saved for the younger generation, the unused one is naturally for the Clan Leader and Uncle Huo Kui to have with meals."
Shen Can replied without hesitation.
Martial arts cultivation is from the ground up; there’s no skipping Tier One and Tier Two to directly reach Tier Three like a castle in the air.
The foundation of Blazing Flame Division is quite poor, so poor that from ordinary clansmen, Tier One, Tier Two, to Tier Three Martial Artists, all rely on sheer luck for advancement.
This is a common plight for tribes with poor foundations.
But since receiving external resources from other tribes, paired with the Top-Grade Kui Ox Fist, the tribe’s martial arts have shattered the luck-based advancement path, achieving a meat-fueled promotion.
Using several times more meat than before for martial arts practice, the tribe temporarily gained some more Martial Artists, but this martial arts development was seriously deforming, beyond descriptively borrowing from tomorrow to make today’s ends meet.
A true martial arts system requires a vast population base, birthing enough Stone-Breaking Martial Artists.
Then, the Stone-Breaking Realm births the Mountain Opening, and the Mountain Opening births the Celestial Vein, presenting a pyramid structure.
But a large population base is not accomplished in a short time; coincidentally, the tribe hunted a Tier Three Wild Beast, leaving behind such beast blood.
Shen Can intends to use the leftover beast blood from advancing to mend the clansmen’s martial arts deficiencies, reinforcing the foundation of their martial arts cultivation.
With clansmen physically stronger, more children will be born, and their physiques will be better.
While leveraging external forces to raise the tribe’s martial arts cultivation limit, they used some resources to compensate for the clansmen’s lack of foundation, tackling both aspects simultaneously.
...
Days later, inside the Ancestral Temple.
Around the fire pit, several figures gathered together.
"Clan Leader, we can’t go on exhausting resources like this," elderly clansman Huo Yuo spoke.
Elderly Huo Yun followed, "I’ve already arranged for some clansmen to open fields in good places outside the city, but it takes several months for the millet seedlings to mature."
"Didn’t we establish a strategy long ago? Stick to the schedule within the tribe; the real path for the tribe lies outside."
With another Celestial Vein Martial Artist in the tribe, and more Martial Artists appearing,
Huo Chang felt increasingly reassured.
"The clan’s population is still too small, based on our previous discussions, we can absorb some of the external displaced people in small amounts."
Everyone nodded; for the clan elders, more clansmen means a stronger tribe.
However, absorbing external displaced people must be limited; adults can be taken, but not too many, otherwise it would be difficult for them to integrate into the tribe.
"In the short term, our tribe’s living materials still rely on external acquisition."
The areas around the tribe had been stripped clean, but plagues ravaged the mountains and forests, making distant places still unexplored by them.
"With Huo Kui overseeing the tribe, I can lead a team out next."
