Duan Qiu stared blankly at Li Yunxian for quite a while before confirming that she hadn’t misheard.
This time, the lowest standard for the Xingji Exchange selection was indeed Foundation Establishment, but that was just the minimum requirement!
Was there really someone just scraping by on the bare minimum?!
Thinking of how hard she’d fought for this spot, Duan Qiu clutched her chest.
Just as Li Yunxian had guessed, she didn’t ask a bunch of questions.
Right now, she didn’t even feel like talking.
Listlessly, Duan Qiu waved to Li Yunxian, “Come with me.”
Li Yunxian observed Duan Qiu’s reaction.
Only now did she realize that the chance to participate in an exchange with other planets was a rare one.
She didn’t say anything more to provoke Duan Qiu, quietly following behind her.
They didn’t encounter anyone on the way, and soon enough, Li Yunxian saw two unoccupied cubicles.
“The process is the same as for Qi Refinement. Go on in.” Duan Qiu opened one cubicle and spoke to Li Yunxian.
Li Yunxian glanced inside, then smiled at Duan Qiu, “I want to pick a lucky number.”
Surprise flashed in Duan Qiu’s eyes.
She’d known Li Yunxian for a while and never thought she was the type to care about such things.
But since Li Yunxian said so, perhaps she had her own reasons. With keen judgment, Duan Qiu didn’t say anything and walked into a cubicle herself, “Then I’ll go first.”
“Alright.”
Li Yunxian responded.
Watching Duan Qiu close her cubicle door, Li Yunxian glanced at the current usage of the Jindan-period cubicles and picked one that was farther from everyone else.
Last time, not knowing the situation, she’d drained the entire Qi Refinement stage blood pool dry.
This time, even though she wasn’t sure if the same thing would happen, Li Yunxian decided to be more cautious.
She opened the cubicle.
Inside, the layout was no different from what she’d seen before, only now the blood pool’s aura was beyond ominous.
It was downright murderous.
Li Yunxian tidied her hair, tying it all up, and as usual stored away the odds and ends from her body into her magical artifact.
She stepped into the blood pool.
The parts of her skin submerged in the blood pool still ached as if flesh and blood were being gnawed away, but this time, her meridians and acupoints weren’t blocked like they’d been during the Qi Refinement stage.
Submerging herself in the blood pool, Li Yunxian began circulating her cultivation method.
The Demon Blood Power within the blood pool that eroded her flesh seemed to sense something was wrong, instinctively wanting to flee.
But how could it escape Li Yunxian’s absorption?
The Demon Blood Power in the blood pool seemed to be swallowed by a greedy giant maw, unable to even let out a pitiful cry.
Suddenly, the other Jindan-period cultivators in the blood pool sensed that all the Demon Blood Power was flowing in one direction.
What’s going on?
They all recalled the incident over a year ago—the accident in the Qi Refinement blood pool.
That time, no clear cause was ever found. Surely, they weren’t so unlucky that it would happen again now that it was their turn?
Only Duan’s eyes went dull for a moment.
She too remembered the blood pool incident, but she also remembered that over a year ago, Li Yunxian had entered the blood pool at the same time.
And now…
Calculating the time, there was no doubt—the current state of the blood pool was Li Yunxian’s doing.
…Clearly, she, Jinling Duan Qiu, was a genius too!!!
Duan Qiu clenched her teeth, enduring the bone-deep pain and steeling herself.
She would not allow her Demon Blood Power to be stolen!!
No longer passively enduring the blood pool’s torment, she let out a furious roar and began using every means at her disposal to absorb the Demon Blood Power around her.
A second current of Demon Blood Power began to surge, and others in the blood pool felt it too.
Though the flow was much less than the initial surge, it was clear Demon Blood Power was being snatched from them.
Everyone immediately understood what was happening.
Someone cursed angrily.
It was already agony to soak in the blood pool, and now someone was even competing for the resources!
This was just too much!!
But grumbling aside, no one was going to yield.
A third vortex of energy appeared, then a fourth, a fifth…
Li Yunxian opened her eyes.
She sensed that the flow of Demon Blood Power had decreased substantially.
She remembered the ‘occupancy rate’ of the Jindan Blood Pool wasn’t even a third—could it be there really wasn’t enough to go around?
While Li Yunxian pondered, she suddenly sensed the concentration of Demon Blood Power in the blood pool rise.
Someone had replenished the Jindan Blood Pool.
Li Yunxian blinked and calmly closed her eyes again.
Su Wenjing stood in the replenishment room, putting away a blood vial and wordlessly monitoring the state of the Jindan Blood Pool.
He knew it—anything Li Yunxian worried about was guaranteed to happen.
However…
This rate of consumption… Was Li Yunxian planning to directly temper her body to the Nascent Soul level?
Makes sense.
Her body’s limits were already near Jindan. If she didn’t want to reach Nascent Soul, Li Yunxian wouldn’t have come to the Jindan pool.
Thinking so, Su Wenjing remained by the replenishment pool.
He didn’t want to keep coming and going.
And indeed, Li Yunxian’s intentions were just as Su Wenjing guessed.
Her cultivation would be limited by her soul, but not her physical strength.
Other than body cultivators, most people trained their cultivation first, then tempered their bodies.
Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Jindan, Nascent Soul, Divided Spirit—these all referred to the progression of cultivation or spiritual soul changes.
Only after finishing those did one reach the Integration stage.
This meant uniting the body and soul.
Only after that could one be considered in the Grand Completion stage.
This was the simplest cultivation path—after all, as one’s cultivation increased, the spiritual energy absorbed would also transform the body.
But for Li Yunxian, enhancing her physical body was much more important than increasing her cultivation.
As Demon Blood Power was continually refined in Li Yunxian’s body, a faint golden hue appeared in her meridians, and her bone marrow glimmered jade-like.
Golden tendons and jade marrow—the second tempering of her body was complete.
Li Yunxian let out a long breath, but as she wanted to keep tempering, she sensed a faint fatigue in her flesh.
Jumping two stages at once wasn’t something easily done.
Li Yunxian wasn’t surprised, and she took out a pill from her storage artifact and swallowed it.
The moment the pill entered her mouth, it transformed into a surge of vital energy.
The fatigue in her body was instantly swept away.
Li Yunxian continued absorbing Demon Blood Power, but as she continued, she realized something was wrong.
The vital energy from the pill was being consumed much faster than she had expected.
Li Yunxian’s heart sank.
That meant her body’s tolerance was dropping.
She had enough pills prepared—it wouldn’t be impossible to keep taking them until the third tempering was done.
But Li Yunxian didn’t want to force it like that.
Taking a deep breath, Li Yunxian changed the focus of the Demon Blood Power she was refining.
Her internal organs.
Normally, this was only tempered during the fourth stage.
But having already undergone one body tempering, Li Yunxian knew it wasn’t impossible to start earlier.
It was just that tempering the internal organs was far more painful than the rest, so it was always left for last.
Li Yunxian took a deep breath… and set up a soundproofing array.
She knew Su Wenjing would definitely be here at the blood pool right now.
She had her pride!
***
The next moment, Li Yunxian let out a howl.
Su Wenjing blinked, watching the Jindan Blood Pool’s rate of depletion speed up once more.
He smacked his lips.
Was Li Yunxian really going to succeed at this rate?
Thinking so, Su Wenjing suddenly felt a bit tempted to start cultivating anew.
He’d been stuck at Divided Spirit for so long.
But Su Wenjing only felt tempted for a moment before calming down again.
He knew his own limits.
His trouble ascending to Integration wasn’t just damage to his body, but also his state of mind—recultivating wouldn’t fix that.
Half a month later, Su Wenjing sensed the Jindan Blood Pool’s depletion return to its usual pace.
He realized Li Yunxian’s training was done.
Su Wenjing’s spiritual sense instinctively swept toward the rest area, but he didn’t sense Li Yunxian.
Su Wenjing froze.
Just as he was wondering, he felt a cubicle door in the Jindan Blood Pool open.
Su Wenjing: “?”
He instinctively turned his attention over.
What he saw was Li Yunxian, cleaned up and dressed in fresh clothes, but still unable to hide the aura of blood pool fiendishness around her.
Su Wenjing blurted out, “First time seeing you with that hairstyle.”
Li Yunxian, who’d tied up her hair for convenience soaking in the blood pool: “?”
She’d learned her lesson from the last time and prepared plenty of spare clothes this time.
But she hadn’t expected that the moment she came out, Su Wenjing would appear.
And the first thing out of his mouth was actually that line.
Li Yunxian had thought this fox would nag about how much Demon Blood Power she’d consumed.
She looked at Su Wenjing speechlessly, “Last time I came out of the blood pool, I had this hairstyle too.”
What’s this about it being the first time?
Su Wenjing had his senses over the whole academy back then, he’d definitely seen it already.
Su Wenjing was speechless.
That was true, but he hadn’t noticed at the time.
Also… why was he asking such a random question?
Su Wenjing was speechless too.
He got back to the main topic, curiously examining Li Yunxian, “You reached Nascent Soul?”
Li Yunxian tugged her hair loose, letting it down into her usual style, and answered casually, “Yes and no.”
For ordinary Jindan, there’s no problem, even those at peak perfection.
But not at the Nascent Soul level.
Unless I condense my core right now.
After all, she was still at mid-Foundation Establishment~
Hearing this, Su Wenjing raised an eyebrow.
He understood Li Yunxian’s meaning.
Li Yunxian could condense her core at any moment, delivering a devastating blow if needed.
As he thought this, Su Wenjing suddenly saw Li Yunxian smile at him.
“Don’t worry, I have plenty of trump cards. If there’s danger, I’ll definitely make it back.”
She still remembered what they’d talked about before.
Su Wenjing really hated when people he knew died.
“I’m just a Foundation Establishment cultivator—no one’s going to pay much attention to me on other planets. Don’t worry!” Li Yunxian said confidently.
Li Yunxian spoke.
Su Wenjing:
He hated that he could read too much into other people’s words.
“I wasn’t concerned about that.” Su Wenjing said, embarrassed and annoyed.
“Oh.” Li Yunxian replied offhandedly, then looked toward the entrance to the blood pool, “Someone’s coming.”
As she finished speaking, Su Wenjing’s figure instantly vanished from in front of Li Yunxian.
Li Yunxian shrugged and headed out of the blood pool.
As for Su Wenjing after leaving the blood pool:
He doubted himself.
What was he doing coming out here alone?
Wasn’t his original plan to meet Li Yunxian as she came out, stop people from exiting through the entrance, and avoid attracting attention again?
It wasn’t like there was anything shady going on—why did he run?
As for Li Yunxian herself, she remembered the commotion she’d caused last time by leaving through the main entrance.
Now, she understood the blood pool’s workings.
But Li Yunxian still didn’t want to lose consciousness, so…
Approaching the entrance, Li Yunxian directly used Shrinking the Earth Into Inches.
Her figure instantly appeared outside the main blood pool doors, and soon she arrived at her villa.
Li Yunxian’s hand paused as she opened her villa’s door.
She saw the pile of gifts at her doorstep, and the letters attached to them.
A smile rose in Li Yunxian’s eyes.
She liked this world.
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