Dark Blood Path

Back in the underground cave, no significant changes were detected. However, everyone inside was busy; some were making tools, and others were repairing weapons, cleaning, and processing supplies. The division of work was very thorough and orderly. Du Tao was undoubtedly a rare talent when it came to administration. In the days following their departure, he not only prevented others from panicking but also rallied and organized the people, from hunting and gathering to fair distribution of food to creating makeshift tools and weapons… he organized everything and left no logistical task unintended.

Even if Xiao Yu returned a week later, not much would have changed as long as no unforeseen event befell the group or the cave. The situation could improve steadily rather than deteriorate.

Du Tao found that the number of people that returned was less than a dozen, and it was evident that the others would never return. He felt a little sad, but what was encouraging was that each one of these individuals who returned had undergone earth-shattering transformations. The strength of the weakest among them was not much different from Jiang Xiaowen’s when she first left with others. While Han Kexin and the others three, being the strongest bunch of the group, all advanced to the elementary level. The team became much more solid with this lineup.

Du Tao double-checked Huang Jianmin’s new group’s information. To his amazement, this collection of individuals included police officers, nurses, doctors, laborers, and chefs, just enough to fill the team’s vacancies.

In order to celebrate the return of everyone and welcome all new members that joined them, Du Tao decided to take out the stored meat and fresh wild vegetables. With the iron and clay pots they found in the goblin village, they could finally get rid of the burden of eating roasted meat every day. After all, it was mostly undercooked, stale, charred, and black, and it caused many to lose their appetites at first sight. This night, though, was different, as people gathered around the bonfire and enjoyed a tasty, fragrant stew. Huang Jianmin and the others were still a bit apprehensive at first, for fear that they had escaped the wolf’s den just to enter the tiger’s mouth, but after the night had passed, their dangling hearts felt at ease, and they fell in love with this place, willing to stay in the team permanently.

After everyone had settled down, they spent the next two days recuperating and regaining their energy, resting in the underground cave all day long except when they had to go out hunting and gathering wild food. Xiao Yu’s injuries were entirely healed thanks to Han Kexin’s help, and his body had adjusted to its best condition after a full day of rest. He now felt that it was the best moment to fuse with that crystal of inheritance.

Xiao Yu changed into light, clean clothing, went to a somewhat secluded cavern and asked Jiang Xiaowen to guard the cave’s entrance.

Jiang Xiaowen was happy to help and asked, “How long will it take you to gain the skill?”

“It takes a few hours to fuse, and I may go into a deep slumber to do so. I really don’t know for sure, but since this is not a high-level inheritance, it won’t take long.” Xiao Yu paused and reminded: “Remember that interrupting someone during that process is completely forbidden; if disturbed, there will be serious consequences ranging from wasting all prior efforts to seriously hurting or even crippling the individual.”

Jiang Xiaowen’s face turned pale, “it’s that serious?”

Xiao Yu nodded and said: “Well, now my well-being is completely in your hands.”

Jiang Xiaowen felt like a big responsibility was dropped on her shoulders, but at the same time, she also felt appreciated, “Thank you for trusting me, don’t worry and just leave it to me. I will never let anyone disturb you!”

Xiao Yu smiled slightly, turned around, and walked in; then he sat cross-legged in the center of the cave, holding the prism-shaped inheritance crystal in the palm of his hand, slowly closed his eyes, and concentrated his spirit bit by bit. Then, as if it had come to life, the sparkling crystal that he was holding in the palm of his hand started to emanate light and heat while slowly increasing in temperature.

Almost at the same time, Xiao Yu felt as if a steel needle was piercing into his brain, and the intense tingling pain made him dizzy, and he almost lost consciousness. This was the spiritual power left by the flame goblin. This power would repel people’s spiritual power and cause great pain in their souls. This was the pain that must be endured in the process of absorbing any crystal of inheritance, and sometimes it can even be dangerous and cause severe mental trauma.

Fortunately, the power contained in the inheritance crystal was not very strong, while Xiao Yu’s spirit was far more tenacious than most people, so once the momentary dizziness passed, he instantly returned to normal. Still, that spiritual force was like a sharp needle embedded in his mind, and Xiao Yu braved the anguish and continued to sink his consciousness into the radiant crystal in his palm.

The inheritance crystal was melting into the palm of his hand, and at the same time, the light in it became brighter. Xiao Yu was not in a rush and took it in slowly. Despite this, a violent force, as well as a vast quantity of knowledge and information, were constantly integrating into his body system, though a large portion of that dissipated before it could be absorbed in time.

When Xiao Yu’s spirit was immersed in the inheritance crystal, a burning red flame emerged in his consciousness, and the flame gradually diminished during the fusing process, leaving behind a light translucent red glow in his core.

The flame was the fire origins’ power of the flame goblin. After absorbing it, it instantly increased his fire elemental power. While the red glow left behind in his body was the “inheritance seed”, which contained all the information about the “flame missile” ability, and was the key to mastering this skill thoroughly.

People who come into touch with inheritance crystals for the first time sometimes overlook the significance of inheritance seeds and instead absorb only the origins’ power, which can have immediate benefits. But this is a very unwise choice. Although the origins power of the crystal may immediately get you the skill without much difficulty, the skill itself will then lack the ability to continue to develop and increase in strength without the seed’s help.

Following Xiao Yu’s method, the power acquired in the end will be reduced, but in the long run, inheritance seeds will generate more origins power and can even continue to grow the skill towards its limit. As such, the benefits obtained will be far greater than that of the former method.

Ignoring the dissipating energy of the fire element, Xiao Yu did not hesitate to infiltrate his spiritual power into the emitted light red spots, pulling them out bit by bit and melting them into his spiritual consciousness. He just felt an incomparably pure power seeping in from his palm and eventually lingering in the black sea of his consciousness, transforming into a speck of bright light, then floating there like a star in the night sky.

At this time, one-third of the energy of fire had dissipated. Xiao Yu seized the opportunity to absorb the remaining little bit into his seed, then the warm power again flowed into his body along the palm of his hand, finally enveloping the inheritance seed in his core before transforming into a dancing flame once more.

Time passed, and the inheritance seed had been completely assimilated in his body, while only about one-third of the origins flame power had been absorbed. His overall fusion rate was about 58%. It would be considered extremely effective if the fusion rate exceeds the 50% mark. Most people couldn’t achieve that, while very few people have heard of anyone who could reach an 80% absorption rate. It was an unrealistic number that only a handful of people could possibly achieve.

The crystal in Xiao Yu’s hand became dim and gradually fractured all over before it shattered with a clear sound. After the process was finished, He felt stuffed in his own body, and there was a strong warm current flowing from within him like he was a balloon that was pumped with gas.

He immediately realized the problem; his body had not fully absorbed all the energy.

Xiao Yu controlled his body to digest the new energy little by little, which required both patience and conviction. It took around two hours of time for the warm current to gradually subside and be totally absorbed into his system. However, just as the last trace of power was being digested and his body was about to calm down, something unexpected happened.

Another shocking power erupted in an instant, exploding like a volcano!

Xiao Yu was shocked since this sensation was quite familiar to him, and the phenomenon that occurred later confirmed his conjecture even more…. Streaks of golden threads stretched out from his body organs, intertwined and wrapped around him, finally forming a big golden cocoon.

Jiang Xiaowen was standing outside with her fine-looking green spear in her hand, her expression remained serious, but as a powerful golden light flashed from the cavern, she grew startled. Then, worrying that Xiao Yu might be in danger, she hurriedly walked inside to have a look.

A look of ecstasy instantly appeared on her face, and she immediately covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming: “Great, Xiao Yu is finally evolving into the first order!”

She stood there watching him when a break emerged in the golden cocoon about five minutes later, and a tongue of fire blasted out of it. Fortunately, Jiang Xiaowen reacted quickly and dodged to the side; otherwise, the flames would have scorched her black.

The golden cocoon entirely broke open as Xiao Yu’s figure emerged. The clothing on his body were burnt to ashes underneath the scorching flame energy, revealing him to be… totally naked! Xiao Yu changed significantly after advancing into the first order. He grew taller and stronger than ever before. He didn’t have nearly as many muscles as Jinshi, but they were well-proportioned and dense, just like a leopard. You could tell his body was full of explosive power.

Fortunately for Jiang Xiaowen, who saw everything, Xiao Yu still had his eyes closed while his whole body was glowing reddish; he had already fallen into a deep slumber at this moment. She breathed a sigh of relief while her heart was still agitated, then she ran out of the cavern blushing.

Not long after, Han Kexin and Jinshi both came back from hunting.

The former immediately went to find Jiang Xiaowen; then she approached the cavern with a smile on her face: “Today’s harvest is excellent. Aside from a pile of wild fruits, we also killed a deer and a couple of sizable hares. Those rabbits are enormous. Each one actually weighs around fifteen to sixteen pounds.”

“Hush!” Jiang Xiaowen hurriedly made a silence gesture with her fingers, pointed inside the small cavern, and whispered: “Xiao Yu is still absorbing the inheritance crystal; he now requires quiet. Let’s not disturb him.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is.” Han Kexin brought over dozens of meat skewers as well as a charred roasted rabbit leg that was wrapped in a large green leaf, then talked in a quieter voice, “I roasted this with my own hands. I just added salt, then Du Tao found a type of wild pepper in the forest, collected it, and dried it to make wild pepper powder, which we added to the meat. In addition, it was smeared with animal oil for roasting, and the flavor is much more aromatic.” she said all of that, then handed her a bottle of juice and continued: “There isn’t much left of the beverages we brought back. I saved a bottle just for you. Here, it’s your favorite orange juice.”

“Thank you.” Jiang Xiaowen scooped up the roasted rabbit legs. They were all dripping with hot oil and steaming, then she plucked a small piece of rabbit meat, chewed a few bites gently, and murmured, “Teacher Han’s cooking is tasty and smells amazing.”

“Of course, I put a lot of effort into roasting this.” Han Kexin took out a meat skewer and then sat down next to Jiang Xiaowen, “We rarely have this much free time. Should we chat?”

“Okay!” Jiang Xiaowen was happy as she ate: “What matter does teacher Han want to talk about?”

“Xiao Yu.” Han Kexin softly pushed back a few strands of her smooth whitish-pink long hair. This unintentional act of hers was full of infinite temptation and appeal, leaving even the innocent Jiang Xiaowen dumbfounded, “He used to be unremarkable in class, so I always wonder what kind of man he used to be. I heard that he pursued you for a long time. Is this actually true? Can you tell me about it?”