Chapter 38 GO Chapter 38

Chapter 38: The Devouring Art

Chen Ning’s heart stirred violently at the Crimson Tyrant’s words.

He knew the old monster was sly—a shameless creature of the zombie world who had already tricked him once before. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t do it again.

Perhaps sensing Chen Ning’s hesitation, the Crimson Tyrant swore a vicious oath: if it lied to him again, may it die a miserable death.

Even with that oath, Chen Ning couldn’t fully trust the wretched creature. But the temptation of a faster cultivation method was irresistible.

In the end, he decided to at least hear it out first.

He softened his tone and asked, “Fine, tell me then—how can I modify my cultivation method to increase its efficiency?”

The Tyrant said: “It’s simple. You are a demigod, possessing the same mutation and evolution abilities as zombies. The essential condition for a zombie’s evolution is, naturally, fresh blood. Without me having to say it, you should already know the benefits fresh blood holds for you, right?”

Chen Ning admitted, “Yes, I’ve drunk animal blood twice. Once it was the blood of a starved dog, and another time it was the blood of a grizzly bear. Both greatly aided my body’s recovery, much like drinking the Angel’s Kiss used by the military.”

“Exactly,” said the Crimson Tyrant, its tone smug. “Since fresh blood is so beneficial to you, I suggest you use it for cultivation. If you mix half of the martial energy water in your spiritual lake with blood, your cultivation time will be cut in half. Moreover, with the effects of fresh blood, your chances of successfully igniting the nodes of your martial veins will be significantly greater.”

Chen Ning was deeply shaken. To ignite the nodes of his martial veins, he first had to fill his spiritual lake with martial energy water, then use the entire lake’s reserves to impact the nodes. Regardless of whether the attempt succeeded or failed, the lake would be completely depleted.

The most challenging part of this process was accumulating enough martial energy water to fill the spiritual lake.

Every drop had to be painstakingly cultivated through the Mighty Tigers Art, slowly gathering in the lake.

Now, according to the Bloody Tyrant, Chen Ning only needed to cultivate half a lake of martial energy water, then supplement the other half with fresh blood, to attempt igniting his martial vein nodes—with a higher chance of success.

This meant that if the method worked, Chen Ning’s future cultivation would achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Skeptically, Chen Ning asked, “Is this method truly effective? Can fresh blood really replace martial energy water?”

The Bloody Tyrant said impatiently, “Why are you so distrustful? For ordinary people, fresh blood certainly cannot replace martial energy water, and they have no way to channel blood into their spiritual lakes. But you, with your demigod constitution, benefit greatly from fresh blood. 

Moreover, with me here, I can help you transfer the blood into the lake. All these conditions must be met for blood to replace martial energy water—even one missing, and it wouldn’t work.”

Chen Ning asked, “Then how do I transfer the blood into the Spirit Lake?”

The Crimson Tyrant grinned. “Simple. I’ll teach you.”

_______________________________________________________

By then, it was already past four in the morning.

Not far away, Su Luo was standing watch behind a tree, about a few dozen meters from Chen Ning.

Chen Ning sat cross-legged on the ground. A thick venomous snake silently slithered toward him, tongue flicking, eyes locked onto its prey. The serpent lifted its head, ready to strike—

But just as it lunged, Chen Ning’s right hand shot out like lightning, gripping the snake’s head in midair.

The snake’s head was immobilized, though its body coiled furiously around his arm.

Chen Ning sneered, tightening his grip. The snake’s skull cracked, and dark blood oozed down his hand.

Then something astonishing happened—

Chen Ning’s hand was like a desert—as the snake’s blood flowed onto it, it actually vanished without a trace. In no time, the venomous snake had turned into a desiccated husk!

A voice called out from nearby—Su Luo’s voice, filled with relief:

“Bai Yuhao, you’re back!”

It turned out Bai Yuhao and the Luo brothers had returned.

Chen Ning stood up and calmly tossed the snake into the grass beside him. Quickly focused on his mind, in the spiritual lake of his mental world, a pool of fresh blood had already fallen. As the blood merged into the lake, it bloomed like a vivid red rose in the water!

It worked.

Chen Ning discovered that by following the Devouring Art taught by the wretched old man, he could indeed devour physical blood into his body, causing it to appear in his spiritual lake. There, it could be used alongside martial energy water to ignite the nodes of his martial veins.

The Crimson Tyrant’s voice echoed in his mind:

“This is important so take note, the amount of fresh blood must not exceed half the lake. The relationship between fresh blood and martial energy water is like that between desire and reason. Too much desire, and you will lose yourself. But a person without any desire is not ideal either. So, one must have desires and ambitions, yet also control them—never let them overpower you, never let desire take the reins.”

Chen Ning chuckled. “You wretched old man, out of all the things you’ve said to me, only this one sounds somewhat sincere.”

“Hmph,” the Crimson Tyrant snorted. “One more thing—when impacting low-tier martial nodes, the blood of ordinary animals is effective. 

But when impacting high-tier martial nodes, the blood of ordinary animals becomes useless—human blood is best. 

By the time you reach top-tier martial nodes, even ordinary human blood won’t be very effective. You’ll need the blood of the strong, whether it’s from powerful humans or other extraordinary beings!”

“Other extraordinary beings, such as…?” Chen Ning asked curiously.

“For example, werewolves and vampires!”

“Understood!”

_______________________________________________________

Their mental exchange ended just as Bai Yuhao and the others approached.

Bai Yuhao immediately sensed something was off. He frowned.

“Chen Ning, you and Su Luo look tense. Did something happen?”

Chen Ning forced a bitter smile. “Su Luo, you tell them.”

So Su Luo recounted everything—the ambush by Xiao Zihao and his men, the outbreak of the zombie virus in Da Yan and Er Niu, and how they’d turned and killed Xiao Zihao.

By the time she finished, everyone was stunned. Xiao Zihao was dead.

Bai Yuhao lowered his voice and said, “The Liu family still suspects that Liu Xi’s death is connected to Chen Ning. That instructor Shi Yu came here specifically to investigate the cause of Liu Xi’s death. The Liu family has already marked Chen Ning as the murderer of Liu Xi, so his situation is far from optimistic. 

Now that Xiao Zihao is also dead, we can’t let anyone know that his death is related to Chen Ning. None of us can reveal what we know about tonight. We’ll just say we never encountered Xiao Zihao tonight.”

Su Luo protested, clenching her fists. “Xiao Zihao attacked us first—he brought this on himself. Why should we have to cover it up? It makes it seem like we’re in the wrong! Do we not even have the right to defend ourselves against a lethal threat?”

Chen Ning said calmly, “We did nothing wrong—but weakness itself is a sin. The Xiao family has influence in the Imperial Army. If they knew Xiao Zihao died because of us, they wouldn’t even bother reasoning with us— they’ll surely resort to underhanded and despicable means for revenge. The only way to argue reason is with strength—and until our fists are strong enough, we stay quiet.”

Bai Yuhao nodded. “Although Chen Ning’s words might sound a bit extreme, he’s essentially right. For the sake of self-preservation, no one is to speak of what happened tonight ever again.”

After agreeing, they set off together, heading back to Stone Town.

By the time they arrived, dawn had begun to break.

Some of the town’s hundred residents were already up, preparing breakfast for the soldiers. Those who had stood night watch were changing shifts, laughing and chatting as they headed to the temporary canteen before turning in for sleep.

Several elite squad members who’d gone out zombie-hunting for bounties were also returning one after another.

All who returned had to report to Instructor Jian Qing—first, to turn in the zombie brain cores for record-keeping; second, to confirm that every soldier who went out had come back safely.

Chen Ning and the others went to her temporary office and handed over their collected brain cores.

While Jian Qing was sitting at her desk recording the combat achievements of the team, Chen Ning found himself gazing at her slender figure and elegant profile. 

Unconsciously, his mind drifted back to the scene in the forest where the Crimson Tyrant had taken on Jian Qing’s form to seduce him.

He couldn’t help but imagine— if Instructor Jian Qing were to actually seduce him, he probably wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation.

Chen Ning’s mind wandered wildly as he imagined Jian Qing truly tempting him.

Just as his gaze turned somewhat ambiguous, Jian Qing, who had been writing with her head down, suddenly looked up and met Chen Ning’s eyes, which were filled with that suggestive gleam!

Chen Ning’s face changed dramatically, and he hurriedly lowered his head in fright.

Jian Qing’s delicate eyebrows arched slightly. She had keenly noticed the somewhat disrespectful look in his eyes and thought with a mix of embarrassment and annoyance.

 “Has this guy’s courage grown? Is he itching for a lesson?”