Chapter 342: Chapter 340: Forging [Blood Feeding Spirit Transformation Technique]: Refining blood spirits with one’s own essence blood can turn enemies into blood and absorb their essence blood to continuously grow stronger. However, the stronger the blood spirit, the greater the risk of backlash. Use with caution. This magic practiced by evil cultivators seems tailor-made for Lou Yi. Lou Yi had just mastered the Blood Binding Technique, a magic that can ’suck blood,’ enabling him to easily absorb the essence blood of his enemies. He also possessed the martial advancement skill Soul Devouring, which can boost his combat power by burning stored Blood Qi. But the body is like a container, and the Blood Qi is mixed and limited in quantity. However, if this Blood Feeding Spirit Transformation Technique is used in conjunction... Evil cultivators treasure blood spirits and continually enhance their attacking power. Lou Yi, however, wants to use it as fuel. Blood spirits are formed from essence blood. Once they reach a certain level, the total amount of contained Blood Qi far exceeds the scattered Blood Qi he stores and can continuously accumulate. When combined with Soul Devouring, the burst of power will be earth-shattering. Like the Heaven-Slaying Sword Drawing Technique he read in novels from his past life, the longer the preparation time, the stronger the power. Lou Yi looked at the Heart Method Mantra of the Blood Feeding Spirit Transformation Technique: The heart’s blood three inches inwards as a guide, dripped into seven parts of Yellow Springs soil, a spark of spiritual light transforms into a cause of calamity... The essence blood required for this magic is the heart’s blood, the most precious human blood. But that’s not all; you also need to collect enough corpse evil, fuse it with the essence blood, and nurture it in the body. With the hope that one day, it will birth a vague consciousness; this is the origin of the blood spirit. After the birth of the blood spirit, continuous slaughter is needed for nurturing; otherwise, it will consume the host’s essence blood, posing extreme danger. This cultivation technique is particularly sinister and malevolent. Both in the initial formation of blood spirit and the later nurturing phase, it consumes a significant amount of the host’s heart blood and energy, with high risks of backlash. However, for Lou Yi, these are not problematic. He just needs to comprehend this magic a bit, let it appear with a ’+’ sign on the Attribute Panel, and then directly upgrade it. Unfortunately, this magic is too difficult; in the past two days of studying, there has been little progress. But Lou Yi believes it’s only a matter of time. During the interval of comprehending magic, Lou Yi borrowed a Spirit Testing Mirror, commonly used to measure Spirit Roots, from Bi Yaoyao. The Spirit Testing Mirror looks much like a regular copper mirror, with rust on the surface. When Lou Yi held it up to his face, an irregular stone composed of many hexagonal honeycomb-like particles appeared on the mirror surface. Most of them were dim grey, with a faint blue tint on the right protrusion, occupying less than 1%. The left protrusion showed a faint dark hue, barely over ten percent in area. ’A Mid-grade Spirit Root.’ Lou Yi thought, as expected. In the past few days, his speed in practicing the Profound Yin Technique had improved from two points every three days to three points every two days, more than doubling! Even compared to other disciples with Mid-grade Spirit Roots, he has an advantage, thanks to the Innate Spirit Corpse. At this rate, in just three hundred days, he could advance to Qi Cultivation Third Level, roughly by the end of this year. This speed ranks among the top in this batch of disciples, at least in the top ten. However, Lou Yi, accustomed to rapid progress in martial arts, found the slow progress in the Immortal Dao unsatisfactory. Cultivation is too slow, so accumulating strength must still focus on martial arts. After this task, fighting against the evil cultivator protectors and even half-step Demon Generals, Lou Yi has a better assessment of his current strength. In close combat, he can contend with most late-stage Qi Refining and even peak-level cultivators. If his opponent gains distance, he is still quite confident of escaping safely. However, this does not apply if his opponent is prepared in advance. If the enemy sets up an array after days of preparation, rushing in could result in a high chance of death. The cultivator’s methods are too many and complex, and Lou Yi’s current experiences are still insufficient. ... After testing his Spirit Root, Lou Yi began to consider the matter of weapons. In the recent task, his Outer Space Meteorite Iron Axe was completely destroyed, necessitating the replacement with a harder and more handy weapon. He handed over four Evil Cultivation Magical Artifacts to the sect, earning five hundred contribution points. Adding the points he already had, he now had a total of over seven hundred points. Heading to the Talisman Cauldron Hall on Treasure Storage Peak to see if there were any suitable weapons. The Corpse-Driving Sect is the largest immortal sect in the Zhao Kingdom, and the magical artifacts available for exchange by the Qi Cultivation disciples include flying swords, horsetail whisks, magic fans, and the like, which require spiritual power for usage. Purely physical weapons are available but limited to swords and sabers, which do not suit Lou Yi’s preferences. Moreover, the materials used are not significantly better than the Outer Space Meteorite Iron. Thus, he must pursue a custom option. Customization involves buying a hard material and hiring professional Artifact Refiners to craft it. Choosing the right material became a headache for Lou Yi. "What materials are hard and suitable for weapon crafting?" Lou Yi asked his knowledgeable and experienced friend, Rong Xuejian. Rong Xuejian thought for a moment before stating, "The hardest materials I know are Phoenix Blood Red Gold and Chaos Essence Gold. Phoenix Blood Red Gold was said to have been obtained by our sect’s founder and is stored on Sect Leader Peak, accessible only to the Sect Leader. As for Chaos Essence Gold, it’s even rarer and is typically held by top major sects in the Central Continent..." Lou Yi: ... "Why not just have me ask an Immortal?" Lou Yi said speechlessly, "What hard materials can I currently access or possibly exchange for? It must be able to withstand magical artifacts without breaking." Rong Xuejian replied, "You might consider Golden Iron, or Mystic Iron Essence. Otherwise, you’ll have to check out the Cultivation Hall for further reference." "Alright." Lou Yi went to the Cultivation Hall, spent two points contributing, and borrowed a copy of ’Overview of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the Cultivation Realm.’ He found four materials worth considering at present. First is Mystic Iron Essence, as the name suggests, it’s the essence extracted from Profound Iron. The hardness far exceeds regular Profound Iron, and a Qi Cultivation disciple is almost incapable of damaging it. Second is Golden Iron, a primary material for crafting flying swords with a hardness on par with Mystic Iron Essence. When infused with spiritual power, it can emit Golden Iron Qi, enhancing its sharpness further. However, if mishandled, it can easily harm oneself. Third is Kunwu Stone, which is even harder and more resistant to magic. However, it’s a primary material for crafting spiritual artifacts, thus quite expensive. Fourth is Iron-backed Green Wolf Bone, a magical artifact crafted from the spine of the Iron-backed Green Wolf Demon, needing at least a Peak of Little Demon’s bone, although a Demon General’s bone is better. Not only are its material properties hard, but it may also have additional effects like acceleration, making it popular within the sect. After considering a while, Lou Yi decided on Mystic Iron Essence for its affordability. Plus, Lou Yi needed more quantity to make an axe compared to a flying sword... Mystic Iron Essence costs twenty contribution points per jin. Lou Yi bought thirty jin, spending six hundred points. Having chosen the material, the next step of crafting would also require points. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚 According to Bi Yaoyao, there’s an elder on Ten Thousand Dao Peak skilled in Artifact Refining. This elder has three Inner Disciples, with many sect members seeking their crafting services, making the demand high and supply short, and it’s said the orders backlog is a decade long. "No worries, I can help you jump the queue," Bi Yaoyao promised, patting her full chest to assure Lou Yi. "How do I transfer the contribution to him?" Lou Yi asked curiously. "You’ll need to register a private task at the Task Hall, but the sect charges a twenty percent brokerage fee," Bi Yaoyao said with a cheeky smile. Twenty percent? Lou Yi took a deep breath in shock. That’s outrageous, truly outrageous. ...