Chapter 193 - 26: Blood Exchange

Chapter 193: Chapter 26: Blood Exchange

Lin Qinghe explained the situation to Lin Yan but didn’t linger in the plaza. He had to return to the Library Pavilion to register the clan members who were there to choose their Cultivation Techniques.

Watching Lin Qinghe leave, Lin Yan turned his gaze to the stone chambers. There were thirty in total, arranged in a perfect circle around the plaza.

Although he hadn’t seen anyone else, Lin Yan was certain a place like this had to be guarded by a Lin Family powerhouse, so there was no need for him to be overly curious.

Choosing a stone chamber on the left with a wooden token reading "Vacant" hanging on the door, Lin Yan flipped the token over, pushed open the stone door, and slowly walked inside.

The stone chamber wasn’t large, just a simple square room about twenty feet across.

Apart from a stone bed against the far wall and a meditation cushion in the very center, it was completely bare.

At that moment, wisps of cold air were seeping out from under the meditation cushion.

The cold air wasn’t bone-chilling. In fact, it felt pleasantly cool against his skin. Lin Yan could feel his normally surging Qi Blood quiet down under its influence, growing more subdued.

It hadn’t weakened—it had simply become more docile, like a fierce beast that had been soothed into tranquility.

’It seems the effect of suppressing agitated Qi Blood is even stronger inside this chamber than it was outside.’

Curious, Lin Yan stepped forward to move the meditation cushion, only to find it wouldn’t budge. It was fixed in place.

He could probably force it, of course, but after a moment’s thought, Lin Yan decided against it.

’I’m curious, but not *that* curious.’

’The family must have its reasons for securing the cushion in place.’

He looked up at a skylight, about three feet wide, which kept the stone chamber from feeling stuffy.

After inspecting the chamber, Lin Yan’s gaze fell upon the wall to his left.

A passage was carved into the wall. As Lin Yan read it, he realized it was the very Mantra for breaking through to the Blood Exchange Realm.

The Mantra wasn’t long, only about a hundred characters in total. ℯℯ𝑙.

The first half detailed how to precisely control one’s Qi Blood. Only after mastering that could one begin the Refinement process described in the second half.

After reading the Mantra, Lin Yan mused, ’This doesn’t feel like a complete Cultivation Technique. It’s more like a fragment, designed specifically to bridge the gap between the Fourth-Time of Skin Smoothing and the Blood Exchange Realm.’

’A Main Technique should be comprehensive, like the Mountain-Splitting Fist and Thunder Sound Technique I practice. Those cover everything from Single-Time Skin Smoothing all the way to the Fourth-Time. But this technique on the wall doesn’t seem to cover the entire Blood Exchange Realm; it’s purely for the initial Refinement of Qi Blood.’

’So, does that mean I’ll have to choose a different Cultivation Technique for my Cultivation after I reach the Blood Exchange Realm?’

After mulling it over for a moment, Lin Yan pushed the thought aside. ’Whether I’m right or not, I’ll find out once I break through to the Blood Exchange Realm.’

Lin Yan sat down on the meditation cushion, closed his eyes, and began to circulate his energy according to the Mantra.

He already possessed exceptionally precise control over his own Qi Blood, so by following the Mantra’s instructions, he reached the first stage with ease.

The first day.

The second day.

The third day.

Lin Yan directed his Qi Blood to flow into the Eight Meridians, each of the eight streams moving independently, without interfering with the others.

With this, he had fulfilled the requirements of the Mantra’s first stage.

The first step had been completed with surprising ease. Next came the true Refinement—the most crucial step of all.

Lin Yan opened his eyes and glanced once more at the Mantra carved on the wall.

Following the method of "Eight Meridian Refinement" described in the Mantra, he guided the Qi Blood from his Eight Meridians toward his Dantian and began to compress it.

The Eight Meridian Refinement technique involved continuously channeling Qi Blood from the Eight Meridians into the Dantian for repeated compression. Furthermore, the speed and frequency of the flow from each of the Eight Meridians had to vary.

It was like forging a fist-sized iron ingot on an anvil. While a great hammer struck it, blow by blow, to beat out impurities, the ingot itself was simultaneously being heated in a furnace, the flames burning away other dross.

The two forces worked in concert, continuously compressing the Qi Blood within his Dantian.

With every compression, traces of impure Qi Blood were stripped away, flowing out of his body through his meridians.

The Blood Exchange would be complete only when no impure Qi Blood remained.

The process wasn’t painful, at least not that Lin Yan noticed. The only frustrating part was how slow his progress was.

For the first seven days, his progress was almost negligible.

His Qi Blood was simply too dense and abundant; just the initial act of compressing it into his Dantian consumed a massive amount of his stamina.

Each day, he would sit motionless on the meditation cushion for hours on end, the only movement being the slow churning and contracting of the Qi Blood within his Dantian.

He lost track of the days. His complexion, along with the skin on his arms, feet, and torso, grew deathly pale, completely devoid of color.

All of his Qi Blood was now compressed within his Dantian, forming a single, crimson mass.

The rest of his body was being sustained by the bare minimum of blood required for basic organ function.

Lin Yan had long since stopped counting the days. He would only stir to retrieve the meals left at his door, eating quickly before returning to his seated meditation. His entire consciousness was immersed in compressing the mass of blood in his Dantian.

Compress. And compress again.

Compress it to its absolute limit, until the final burst!

「One day.」

Sensing the crimson mass in his Dantian begin to roil, Lin Yan suddenly let out a ferocious roar.

"Break!"

At his roar, the crimson mass, already compressed to its absolute limit, violently exploded. It atomized into countless fine streams of blood that simultaneously surged back out along the Eight Meridians.

This newborn blood was completely different from what had flowed into his Dantian before. It was thicker, heavier. It surged back up the Eight Meridians with incredible speed, breaking through all resistance. The old, unrefined blood that still lingered in the Eight Meridians was instantly scoured away upon contact with this new torrent, expelled from his body through the pores of his skin.

The new blood coursed through the Eight Meridians, scouring the inner walls of each channel until they were pristine. Then, it erupted from the ends of the Eight Meridians simultaneously, spreading through his entire network of vessels to every corner of his body.

As it spread, a series of pops and cracks echoed from his muscles and bones—not the sound of damage, but something more like a cheer of celebration from his very frame.

His skin tone visibly shifted from deathly pale to a healthy, ruddy hue. Beneath the surface, a faint crimson light seemed to flow, like a thin, living membrane.

The Blood Gang had appeared. The Blood Exchange was complete.

Lin Yan didn’t open his eyes. Instead, he immediately turned his focus inward, to the Martial Arts Tree in his mind.

The Martial Arts Tree, now nearly seven feet tall, stood proudly in his mind.

Its main trunk was a full twice as thick as before.

Its various branches had also thickened considerably.

Only after taking in the changes to his Martial Arts Tree did Lin Yan slowly open his eyes. When he saw the density of the Blood Gang enveloping his body, he couldn’t help but grin. Although it couldn’t compare to what Brother Yuan had displayed, it far surpassed what Lin Mingyu had possessed.

’After nearly three years of bitter Cultivation, I’ve finally stepped into the Blood Exchange Realm.’

’If I returned to Guangping County Town now, I could rightly be called its number one powerhouse.’