Chapter 126: Chapter 125: Mastering Magic, Progress in Puppetry

The next day, at the first light of dawn, a damp, cold mist thick with the stench of insects blanketed the garrison. Lu Zhao slipped out of the stronghold without alerting anyone. He expertly avoided the patrol routes, his figure disappearing into the woods on the garrison’s periphery, an area overrun by crimson Blood Spirit Worms.

In a low-lying area dense with the insect swarm, Lu Zhao’s gaze was chilling. He didn’t use a large-scale Magic, but instead held his fingers together like a blade. The Water Blade from his Thousand Overlapping Waves Skill, condensed at his fingertips, instantly split into several streams of faint blue light that precisely pierced the swarm’s key points. A sound like tearing silk filled the air. Wherever the Water Blades passed, the Blood Spirit Worms fell in silent swathes as if cut down by an invisible scythe. Their foul-smelling fluids splattered, staining the ground in patches of dark red.

With a flick of his sleeve, a gentle suction pulled the insect corpses, piled like small hills, from the ground and into a large, thick leather sack. He was like the most seasoned hunter, moving silently through the sea of insects, harvesting his prey. In less than half an hour, the sack was already bulging and heavy, stuffed with tens of thousands of insect corpses.

Returning to his simple wooden cabin, Lu Zhao immediately began to process these "provisions." He took out a prepared apparatus, dumped out the insect corpses, formed a hand seal, and activated the Blood Absorption Rune. Dark red blood trickled from the corpses, pooling at the bottom of the container. It gave off an increasingly strong, sickeningly sweet smell and a faint trace of Evil Qi.

He repeated the process of collecting, dumping, and activating the rune until all the insect corpses were desiccated. In the end, three large basins filled with dark red, paste-like Insect Blood sat before him.

A vile stench filled the wooden cabin, but Lu Zhao’s expression remained as calm as still water. He sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion and began to circulate the Technique for the Blood Evil Body Protection Technique. Dipping his fingertip into the Insect Blood, he used it as ink to trace complex and bizarre blood-red Runes on his chest, arms, and back. The instant the Runes took shape, a bone-chilling cold mixed with a violent, evil aura madly burrowed into his body through his pores!

"Nngh..." Lu Zhao let out a muffled grunt, his brow furrowed in pain. The savage Evil Qi, sourced from countless Blood Spirit Worms, transformed into thousands of invisible ice needles that rampaged through his meridians, even attempting to corrode his mind. He staunchly guarded his Spirit Platform, his Divine Sense as steady as a rock. He pushed the Little Spirit Rain Technique to its absolute limit, and the pure Water Spirit Power formed a gentle stream that enveloped, guided, and began Refining the rampaging, foreign energy. Wisps of the Evil Qi were stripped away, tamed, and merged into his own Magical Power, slowly permeating toward the surface of his body.

From then on, aside from the days he was scheduled for patrol, Lu Zhao’s life fell into a near-ascetic cycle: harvesting insect corpses in the morning, returning to extract their blood, and then spending several hours refining the Evil Qi. Each refining session was like walking on thin ice; he had to endure the pain of the Evil Qi invading his body while remaining ever vigilant that his Heart Spirit was not tainted by the violent energy. Fortunately, his willpower was as solid as a rock. Coupled with a Divine Sense comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he managed to forcibly assimilate this malevolent power for his own use.

With an ample supply of Insect Blood, his cultivation of the Blood Evil Body Protection Technique progressed by leaps and bounds. Half a month later, the Blood Evil Qi accumulated within Lu Zhao’s body was already quite substantial. A thin, bloody halo faintly flowed across the surface of his skin, and his intimidating presence over the surrounding Blood Spirit Worms had also quietly grown.

But how could the path of Cultivation be a smooth one? On the tenth day of practicing this art, an accident nearly cost Lu Zhao dearly.

That day, while collecting insect corpses at the edge of a swamp, Lu Zhao stumbled upon a Tier One Middle-Grade Demon Beast rolling in a mud pit: an Iron Armor Crocodile. The beast’s hide was tough and thick, and its Essence Blood was exceptionally valuable.

Seeing no one around, an idea sparked in Lu Zhao’s mind: he would hunt it. He held his breath, focused his spirit, and struck like lightning, slaying the giant crocodile.

Slaying the beast should have been a cause for celebration, but what he did next was the beginning of a disaster.

He cast a Magic for extracting Essence Blood. Though the art was refined, the moment of Casting required reversing a trace of his Magical Power’s flow. This caused his Protective Spiritual Light to show an extremely faint, almost imperceptible lag and fluctuation!

In that instant, in a flash of lightning that lasted less than a breath—

"BZZZZ—!"

As if they had smelled the tempting "morsel" leaking from the gap in his Protective Spiritual Light, the swarm of worms, which had been lazily squirming several yards away, instantly erupted like a spark in boiling oil! Countless Blood Spirit Worms let out ear-piercing shrieks, transforming into streaks of crimson. With a frenzy far exceeding their usual state, they fearlessly flung themselves at the fleeting flaw in Lu Zhao’s Protective Spiritual Light!

Lu Zhao’s pupils contracted! Before him were countless savage mouthparts, rapidly growing larger! A chill shot up from his tailbone to the crown of his head! He had never imagined that these insignificant little worms could be so sensitive to fluctuations in Magical Power, or that their aggression could be so hysterical!

’Shit!’ The alarms in his Heart Spirit screamed. Lu Zhao’s reaction was instantaneous! He forcibly aborted the Essence Blood extraction Magic. The Little Spirit Rain Technique activated in a flash, wrenching the reversed Spiritual Power in his body back onto its proper course! In the nick of time, the pale blue Protective Spiritual Light stabilized, its radiance flaring brightly!

"PUFF PUFF PUFF PUFF PUFF!"

A dense thrumming, like a torrential downpour on a roof, exploded against the barrier of Spirit Light! Most of the Blood Spirit Worms smashed against the restabilized Spirit Light and instantly exploded into dust. However, a few of them, taking advantage of that momentary gap and their frenzied charge, had barely managed to slip through the last, thinnest wisp of the barrier! If not for his powerful Divine Sense and unparalleled reflexes, allowing him to summon a Puppet to block for him in the nick of time, Lu Zhao would have been done for!

This near-disaster made Lu Zhao understand why even experienced Outer Sect Stewards could fall prey to the worms. In this sea of insects, any abnormality in the circulation of one’s Magical Power, no matter how slight, could become a fatal opening. He became even more determined to master the Blood Evil Body Protection Technique.

Afterward, Lu Zhao became even more cautious and focused when cultivating this art. Finally, on the sixteenth day, as he sat cross-legged in his wooden cabin and merged the last stream of refined Blood Evil Qi into the Magical Power circulating over the surface of his body—

"WENG!"

A low hum vibrated out from within his body! The pores all over Lu Zhao’s body opened. A dense, bloody radiance seeped from him, flowing and condensing on the surface of his skin like ripples on water. It finally formed a blood-red membrane as thin as a cicada’s wing, which radiated a faint, malevolent pressure!

The Blood Gang was formed!

This blood-red membrane was the Blood Gang, the sign of reaching the Entry Level of the Blood Evil Body Protection Technique! Though thin, its Defense was already comparable to a Tier One Middle-Grade Magical Artifact. Moreover, the unique Evil Qi it contained—refined from the Essence Blood of thousands of Blood Spirit Worms—held a natural and powerful deterrent effect against its homologous Blood Spirit Worms!

Lu Zhao slowly opened his eyes. He looked at the bloody halo flowing over his skin and felt the Evil Qi that seemed to make the very air around him congeal. He let out a long, foul breath. The tension that had gripped him for half a month finally eased.

This layer of Blood Gang would be a huge asset to him here. From now on, ordinary Blood Spirit Worms would avoid him like the plague. He would no longer need to constantly expend Magical Power to maintain his Protective Spiritual Light, nor would he have to worry about those impossible-to-defend-against sneak attacks.

The initial formation of the Blood Gang meant the first layer of the Blood Evil Body Protection Technique was now stable. The subsequent cultivation would be a matter of patient, grinding work. He just needed to keep refining Insect Blood and continuously merge the Evil Qi into the Blood Gang, making it denser and thicker by the day. Its power would naturally increase in turn.

Lu Zhao was in no rush to advance recklessly. He decided to slow his progress with this art, refining just enough Insect Blood each day to maintain the Blood Gang’s activity and allow it to strengthen steadily.

Lu Zhao’s gaze then turned to two other important matters.

With a thought, two Jade Scrolls appeared in his palm. One was the Hundred Waters Spirit Enhancement Skill, and the other contained the cultivation notes of the Foundation Establishment Cultivator, Liuu Yang.

For the next two months, Lu Zhao’s life entered a period of unprecedented regularity and focus.

At first light of dawn, he would always begin by studying the Jade Scroll containing Liuu Yang’s notes. Every word from this Foundation Establishment Elder was a pearl of wisdom. While he offered no profound insights into the Great Dao, he had uniquely practical perspectives on how a Late-stage Qi Cultivation cultivator could polish their Magical Power, widen their meridians, solidify their foundation, and even accelerate the accumulation of Magical Power.

Lu Zhao absorbed the knowledge voraciously. Every time he finished reading, he felt as if he had been suddenly enlightened, and his control over his own Magical Power and his understanding of the Little Spirit Rain Technique would deepen another level.

After studying the notes, it was time for his unshakeable cultivation session. He would sit cross-legged and enter Meditation, circulating the Little Spirit Rain Technique with all his might. He absorbed the relatively thin Spiritual Qi within the garrison, supplemented it with Pills, and slowly but surely pushed his Cultivation toward the peak of the Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer.

In the afternoon light, it was time to cultivate the Hundred Waters Spirit Enhancement Skill. This art was designed to enhance the power of his Magic and faintly resonated with his Thousand Overlapping Waves Skill. Lu Zhao used his powerful Divine Sense as a guide, carefully directing his Water Spirit Power to flow, compress, and condense along specific meridians. With every circulation, the Dantian Magical Power grew a bit more lively and agile. His progress was rapid. Lu Zhao estimated there was a high chance he could cultivate this art to the Minor Achievement stage within a year.

As night fell, a corner of the wooden cabin, lit by the faint glow of a fluorite stone, became Lu Zhao’s "workshop." He took out his Cyan Heavy Iron Carving Saber and prepared materials, then began to craft the Puppet Core for the Ice Wind Wolf Puppet.

His greatly expanded Divine Sense granted him an unprecedented level of focus for Puppetry. His Divine Sense Threads moved as an extension of his own limbs, precisely controlling the Carving Knife to etch complex and esoteric Spirit Pattern lines onto the hard Ice Wind Stone. Failure was still unavoidable, but success came more often. Lu Zhao’s skill in Puppetry was quietly improving.

During these two months, Lu Zhao had remained in seclusion. He would only venture out once every three days to harvest enough Blood Spirit Worms and extract their Insect Blood to maintain his Blood Evil Body Protection Technique.

Time flew by in this state of extreme focus. Two months passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, Lu Zhao was taking inventory of the neatly stacked Ice Wind Wolf Puppet Puppet Cores in his Storage Bag. His fingertips brushed over the successful pieces—smooth, cool to the touch, and imbued with a contained Spirit Light. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

Fifty percent!

Two months of single-minded focus and repeated practice, regardless of the cost in materials, had finally pushed his success rate for crafting this Tier One Middle-Grade Puppet Core to a solid fifty percent! This was a crucial threshold, a sign that his mastery over this type of core had reached a high level of proficiency, his technique becoming both skilled and stable.

Lu Zhao’s gaze couldn’t help but shift to the depths of his Storage Bag. There lay a few remnant vines and several large chunks of ink-green iron ore that exuded a cold, sinister aura. These were the Main Materials for crafting the top-tier Tier One Middle-Grade Puppet: the "Vine Snake."

’Vine Snake Puppet...’ Lu Zhao murmured to himself, a flicker of longing in his eyes that vanished as quickly as it appeared. A fifty percent success rate meant he could already give it a try. But he wasn’t impulsive. The consolidation of the past two months had taught him that every new ascent required one to be in peak condition and have the most solid foundation.

’Another month or two of consolidation,’ Lu Zhao decided. ’Once I’ve adjusted my condition to its absolute peak and further solidified my crafting technique for the Ice Wind Wolf Puppet, then I will begin crafting the Vine Snake!’

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