Chapter 396: Reshaping the Meridians

"You’re too kind, Junior Brother. There’s nothing special about the Meridian Opening Pill. You just need to refine it using the Hundred Bone Profundity Technique."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yunfan took several dark red Blood Crystals from his Sumeru Bag and gently placed them on the counter.

The surface of the Blood Crystals shimmered with a strange, scarlet light, and a dense aura of vitality and Blood Qi lingered around them.

The Steward Disciple’s expression suddenly froze. He reached out, picked up a Blood Crystal, and brought it close to his eyes to examine it carefully.

After a moment, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, and he clicked his tongue in wonder. "Such dense Blood Qi. I’m afraid this was refined from at least a hundred able-bodied men... Good stuff!"

He looked up at Xu Yunfan, his tone now carrying a hint of inquiry. "Junior Brother, you’re more capable than you let on. These Blood Crystals are of superior quality. One is worth five contribution points."

Xu Yunfan nodded slightly, but inwardly, he felt a chill.

Although he had long known the origin of the Blood Crystals was sinister, he had never expected them to be refined from the Essence Blood of living people. ’These Demon Sect disciples are truly inhuman!’

He had a full two hundred Blood Crystals just like these in his Sumeru Bag.

Seeing his silence, the Steward Disciple thought he was unhappy with the price and added, "Ordinary Blood Crystals are worth three points at most. But these of yours... tsk tsk, I bet they were refined from men with pure Blood Qi and untouched Primordial Yang, weren’t they?"

Xu Yunfan remained noncommittal, simply saying coolly, "If that’s not enough, I have other things."

The Steward Disciple’s interest was piqued, and he leaned forward slightly. "Oh? Why don’t you take them all out for a look, Junior Brother?"

Xu Yunfan didn’t waste words. With a wave of his hand, a jet-black Flying Sword flew out of his Sumeru Bag. Wisps of Yin Evil Qi coiled around its body.

The Steward Disciple’s eyes lit up. He reached out to take it, and with a light flick of his fingertip against the blade, a wail like a crying ghost rang out.

"A Profound Yin Sword Embryo, forty-two points!"

He quoted the price without hesitation, then looked back at Xu Yunfan. "Anything else?"

A slight smile touched Xu Yunfan’s lips as he took out three bottles of Jade Marrow Heart Nourishing Pills from his robes. The bottles were crystal clear, and one could faintly see the Pills inside circulating with a soft Spiritual Light.

The Steward Disciple opened a stopper and sniffed lightly, his face immediately breaking into a wide grin. "Top-Grade Elixir Pills! Twenty points a bottle, so sixty points for all three!"

Xu Yunfan thought for a moment and decided to cover the remaining cost with the Blood Crystals. The items were useless to him, and besides, he found the idea of using them physically repulsive.

As he walked out of the Joyful Courtyard, the setting sun was the color of blood, stretching the shadows of the corridor pillars long.

The Meridian Opening Pill in Xu Yunfan’s hand radiated a bone-chilling cold into his palm. The purple-black patterns on the Pill’s surface writhed like living things, emitting waves of a cold, sinister aura.

His fingertips trembled slightly. In a daze, he thought he could hear a faint hiss from within the Pill, as if it were alive.

Back in his simple, tile-roofed house, the dull THUD of the wooden door latch sliding shut was exceptionally clear in the silence.

Xu Yunfan ripped open his collar, stripped off the Dragon Scale Armor, and tossed aside the Extreme Dao Relic Shell, revealing abdominal muscles as solid as cast iron.

Just as he placed the Elixir three inches below his navel, his skin suddenly moved on its own. A web of bluish-black patterns spread across it, and it seemed as if thousands of tiny snakes were slithering madly beneath, pushing the skin up in strange bulges.

This Pill was causing his very flesh and blood to fall into chaos.

’As expected... this is twisted.’

His expression remained unchanged as he formed a sword finger with his right hand. His Ten Extremes True Qi condensed at his fingertips into a golden gleam about an inch long.

"Have you thought this through?"

The Extreme Dao Relic Shell, which had been soft and limp, suddenly moved on its own, slowly unfurling in the rich Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

The surface of the human skin rippled like water. Every crease and fold adjusted itself, as if an invisible hand were carefully ironing it smooth.

Xu Yunfan’s pupils shrank. Yuu Congling’s face, which should have been lifeless, now showed a vivid expression as it was suffused with Spiritual Qi.

The slight downward curve of her lips, the faint crease of her furrowed brow, even the flutter of her eyelashes as her eyelids opened and closed—every detail was exquisitely clear. Even more bizarrely, the fatal sword wound on the skin’s neck was writhing and closing, with hair-thin tendrils of flesh growing from the edges of the gash and intertwining.

"This Meridian Opening Pill..."

As the Relic Shell’s lips parted and closed, her throat bobbed and settled, and a cold, clear female voice, like the clashing of metal and stone, emerged. "If you use it, you will be carving the brand of the Primordial Demon Sect into your very marrow. Every inch of your new meridians will be entwined with Demon Patterns, and the Hundred Bone Profundity Technique, unique to the Demon Dao, will seep into your bones."

Hearing this, Xu Yunfan couldn’t help but chuckle. "Yuu Xianzi, you must be joking. Right now, this is the only path I have."

Yuu Congling said, "You could go to the Wansheng Sword Sect. With my endorsement, the Wansheng Sword Sect will surely accept you as a disciple. Then you can cultivate my Wansheng Sword Bone and reshape your meridians as well."

Xu Yunfan didn’t even raise his eyes. "Thank you for the kind offer, but I have already become a disciple of the Primordial Sect. If I leave now, which of the Righteous Sects would ever trust a disciple of the Demon Dao?"

Before Yuu Congling could speak, Xu Yunfan spread his five fingers. The dark golden True Qi in his palm wrapped around Yuu Congling’s Relic Shell like chains and pulled it toward him in an instant.

The human skin trembled violently, and the sword wound on its neck suddenly burst with a blinding green light, as if trying to break free.

"Why the rush, Yuu Xianzi?"

Xu Yunfan’s fingertip brushed across the Tiansheng Acupoint on the skin. His Ten Extremes True Qi condensed over the acupoint, forming a Nine Palace Seal. "The day I reach Foundation Establishment, I will personally send you to find the Wansheng Sword Sect."

The Relic Shell’s struggles abruptly ceased. Yuu Congling’s voice held a trace of derision. "I’ve been by your side this whole time. Do you really think I’d believe a word you say?"

Xu Yunfan chuckled but didn’t reply. He simply folded the sealed Relic Shell into the shape of a lozenge and tucked it into a layer of his close-fitting Dragon Scale Armor.

This Extreme Dao Relic Shell was of great use. If he could obtain some kind of puppet technique in the future and refine and fill the shell, then with Yuu Congling’s power, it would definitely be a huge asset.

With a soft TSS, the razor-sharp Qi Force, condensed to its absolute limit at Xu Yunfan’s fingertip, sliced open his skin. Before any blood could even seep out, the Meridian Opening Pill, like a leech that had scented blood, burrowed into the wound on its own.

Then, an extremely bizarre scene unfolded.

The flesh at the wound suddenly rolled back and writhed, healing completely in the blink of an eye.

The next moment, Xu Yunfan’s entire body convulsed, and a muffled rumbling, like tree roots breaking through soil, came from his abdomen.

Using his Martial Arts Celestial Eye for Introspection, he could see the Pill explode into thousands of purple threads at the junction of flesh and blood in his Dantian. Like living things, they plunged into his internal organs.

The most terrifying part was his spine. The purple threads were climbing up his spinal column through the marrow cavity, each inch of progress bringing a pain like his bones were being scraped and his marrow ground away.

"HISSS..."

Xu Yunfan sucked in a cold breath. He had fully prepared himself, but bloody foam still frothed from his clenched jaw, splattering onto the meditation cushion.

Through the Introspection of his Martial Arts Celestial Eye, he could see the medicinal power forming a vortex in his Qi Sea, with countless tendril-like objects piercing into the nearby organs.

The worst pain was in his spine. It was as if tens of millions of red-hot steel needles were crawling up his marrow, brutally chiseling open passages in his originally blocked meridians.

Xu Yunfan didn’t dare to be negligent. He hurriedly activated the Hundred Bone Profundity Technique to guide the medicinal power and begin reshaping the meridians in his body.

As the Hundred Bone Profundity Technique circulated, a tooth-numbing KAKA sound came from deep within his spine, as if countless tiny icicles were growing inside his marrow cavity.

Veins bulged on Xu Yunfan’s forehead. His ten fingers dug deep into the meditation cushion, his knuckles turning white from the excessive force.

(Came back late today, so just two Chapters for now. I’ll work hard again tomorrow. Thanks, everyone!)