In the Cultivation World, Cultivation Techniques are divided into four Ranks: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow.
Each Rank is further divided into three grades: Advanced, Mid, and Low Grade.
The Quenching Blood Skill was merely a Yellow Rank Low Grade Body Refining Cultivation Technique.
However, it was already the most Advanced Cultivation Technique that Gu Changqing, a Utility Disciple, could access.
He spent three Low-Grade Spirit Stones, accumulated over many years, to finally acquire it.
Although Body Refining Cultivation Techniques were not mainstream in the Cultivation World,
and were regarded by many Cultivators as unorthodox, with few willing to waste precious Cultivation time on Body Refining,
as a School with a Legacy of nearly a thousand years, the Songyun Sect's Scripture Pavilion contained many Body Refining Cultivation Techniques.
There was an important reason why Gu Changqing chose the Quenching Blood Skill out of many Cultivation Techniques.
It was because this Cultivation Technique's Cultivation method primarily focused on quenching spiritual blood.
Even when Cultivated to an extremely profound level, the muscles and bones would not undergo noticeable external changes.
Therefore, it possessed extreme concealment.
Unless his Cultivation erupted, causing the Qi and blood in his body to boil, outsiders would find it difficult to see through!
Besides this, there was another important reason: the Cultivation Technique clearly stated that
if one found a Spirit Medicine capable of stimulating Qi and blood, consuming and refining it to aid Cultivation could significantly increase Cultivation speed!
Last night, after Gu Changqing bought those books introducing Spirit Medicine knowledge,
he stayed up all night, comparing them to identify the hundreds of Spirit Medicine varieties growing in the spiritual plant field, and had successfully identified several.
Among them was a Spirit Medicine specifically for increasing a Cultivator's Qi and blood.
It was a crimson, blood-red Ganoderma.
Its cap was as large as an adult's palm, with circles of golden patterns growing on it.
According to the book, this Spirit Medicine was called Silver-Patterned Blood Ganoderma, a rare and invaluable first-grade Spirit Medicine.
Every hundred years, a circle of silver patterns would appear on its cap.
If it grew for over a thousand years, the silver patterns would turn golden, becoming the even rarer Golden-Patterned Blood Ganoderma.
Its medicinal power would also greatly increase, reaching the level of a second-grade Spirit Medicine.
This Blood Ganoderma's cap had a total of twelve golden patterns, indicating it possessed one thousand two hundred years of pure medicinal power!
Just by getting close and smelling its rich medicinal fragrance,
Gu Changqing clearly felt a heat throughout his body, his blood flow accelerating, surging as if to boil, showing the potency of its medicinal properties.
Gu Changqing did not directly pick the entire Golden-Patterned Blood Ganoderma.
Instead, following the method described in the book, he used a small wooden knife to cut off a thumb-sized piece of Ganoderma flesh from its cap.
Then, his consciousness returned to his main body, and he brought this small piece of Ganoderma flesh and the “Quenching Blood Skill” Cultivation Technique to the outside world.
He opened the Quenching Blood Skill Cultivation Technique and carefully reread it several times.
After confirming he had memorized the Cultivation Technique's incantations and circulation routes, he picked up the small piece of Ganoderma flesh.
He was about to put it in his mouth but suddenly stopped.
He stared at the Ganoderma flesh for a while, still thinking the piece was too large.
So he used the wooden knife again, cutting off a piece the size of a soybean, put it in his mouth, and swallowed it.
A few seconds later, Gu Changqing's body trembled.
He clearly felt a scorching, surging energy rise from his lower abdomen, instantly spreading through his limbs and bones.
It made Gu Changqing's entire body's blood boil, rushing through his meridians, his heart pounding like a drum.
His entire skin instantly turned red, like a perfectly cooked shrimp, as if about to drip blood.
Gu Changqing was immediately startled; he had never expected the medicinal properties of this thousand-year Golden-Patterned Blood Ganoderma to be so terrifying.
He had only eaten such a small piece, yet it felt as if he was about to explode.
He quickly gathered all his attention, entered a state of meditation, and began to operate the Quenching Blood Skill's Cultivation Technique.
He guided the surging, boiling Qi and blood in his body to circulate along the specified route.
As the Cultivation Technique began to operate, the intense, tearing pain in Gu Changqing's meridians, which felt as if they were about to burst, greatly alleviated.
He could clearly feel his entire body's blood being quenched.
Traces of extremely pure blood Qi energy were slowly integrating into his blood as the Cultivation Technique circulated.
This caused his originally unremarkable red blood to gradually develop faint, shimmering glints, emitting waves of extraordinary fluctuations.
Thus, an unknown amount of time passed.
Gu Changqing finally completely refined the Qi and blood contained within that small piece of Blood Ganoderma.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already dark outside.
Gu Changqing took a deep breath and got out of bed.
He slowly clenched his right fist, clearly feeling his strength was much greater than before.
He silently operated the Cultivation Technique, and immediately, a faint, indistinct bloody pattern slowly emerged on his right arm.
This was proof of his Cultivation progress.
Each time the Quenching Blood Skill Cultivation Advanced a layer, a blood pattern would condense on the skin's surface when the Cultivation Technique was operated.
Currently, this blood pattern was only hazy and vaguely visible.
Once it fully formed, it would mean Gu Changqing's Cultivation had Breakthrough, officially reaching Body Refining First Layer!
Feeling the significant increase in his strength, a hint of joy appeared in Gu Changqing's eyes, and he secretly pondered in his heart:
"Uncle Sun's Cultivation is Qi Condensation Seventh Layer."
"If I'm given half a year, with the aid of Spirit Medicine, raising my Cultivation to Body Refining Seventh Layer shouldn't be a big problem."
"By then, I won't need to fear him anymore!"
In the following days, Gu Changqing settled down alone on this Qingyun Slope.
Although Qingyun Slope had three spiritual plant fields, taking care of them was not troublesome.
He only needed to go to a spiritual spring about ten miles away every day, fetch water, and irrigate them once.
However, the soil in the spiritual plant fields was fertile and rich in Spiritual Qi, which was not only suitable for Spirit Medicine growth but also caused weeds to grow extremely fast.
Therefore, the weeds needed to be cleared every three days.
Although troublesome, it was much easier than the chores Gu Changqing had to perform in Wang Xing's Immortal Cave.
After finishing his work each day, he still had a lot of time left.
Gu Changqing divided this time into two parts.
One part was used to Cultivate the Quenching Blood Skill, to increase his strength at the fastest possible speed.
The other part was spent reading the books he bought from the Scripture Pavilion, learning various knowledge about Spirit Medicine and spiritual plants.
After all, the mysterious spiritual plant field that allowed Spirit Medicine to grow a hundred times faster was his greatest reliance now.
Only by extensively learning this knowledge and understanding various Spirit Medicine could he maximize the utilization of that spiritual plant field.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed.
With Gu Changqing's unremitting efforts every day, he successfully Cultivated the Quenching Blood Skill to Body Refining Second Layer.
He also gained a relatively basic initial understanding of various spiritual plant knowledge.
He had successfully identified one-third of the hundreds of Spirit Medicine growing in the spiritual plant field.
On this day, Gu Changqing was bending down weeding in the spiritual plant field when he suddenly heard someone calling his name.
He looked up, following the sound, and immediately showed a surprised expression.