Boom!
A strange, bloody fragrance burst from the cauldron along with a surge of heat. As Li Ye's hand seals changed, ten blood-red pills glowing with spiritual light shot out of the furnace.
They clattered into a jade tray. One pill had three pill markings, another had two, one had a single marking, five were of average quality, and two were slightly dull in color.
Not a single pill was wasted!
"With my Tier-1 High alchemy skills, and by completely forgoing the use of beast meat or blood focusing solely on 100 units of Blood Grain Rice Essence the result is extraordinary."
Li Ye gazed at the pills in the tray, deeply moved.
Blood Qi Pills were a flexible class of medicine; their tier varied depending on the ingredients used. The formula itself was adaptable, and the final quality largely depended on the materials.
The ones he had refined just now were suited for the mid-stage Qi Refining realm.
"The medicinal power is fierce and pure… that three-marked pill is probably too potent for me to handle right now. This one with a single mark should be just right for breaking through…"
Having just spent time upgrading via his panel and refining pills afterward, he would still need time to adapt to the medicine post-consumption.
But with the sect's final deadline fast approaching, there was no time left to waste!
After a brief meditation to recover his peak state, Li Ye swallowed the Blood Qi Pill.
With a surge of spiritual power, he began refining the pill. The intense and pure medicinal force spread out from his abdomen, stimulating his nearly-maxed blood energy to surge like a torrent.
"Huff… huff…"
Li Ye stood up, his face flushed red, veins bulging all over his body. Wisps of steam rose from his skin.
His skin began to take on a bluish-gray tint, exuding a sense of solid resilience!
Focusing his mind, he recalled the essential points recorded in Elder Ji's cultivation notes. Following the breakthrough technique for the Elephant Armor Force Technique, he repeatedly practiced his punches, circulated his blood energy, and tempered his body.
Time passed.
As his internal blood and energy condensed and deepened, a qualitative change began.
The dull gray of his skin started to fade going from dark to light, from gray to white. The tough resilience of his flesh gradually took on a hardened quality.
Finally, his entire outer skin transformed completely, turning into an ivory-white hue, radiating a balance of toughness and flexibility.
Second Stage of the Elephant Armor Force Technique - the White Armor Layer!
Woooooo!
Upon completing his breakthrough, Li Ye punched forward. The air trembled from the force. His breath burst out like an elephant's trumpet, echoing through the skies.
As he retracted his stance, the dense steam surrounding him dissipated instantly.
Panting lightly, Li Ye's body now seemed taller and visibly more robust. His ivory-white skin looked like a fitted layer of armor.
When exerting power, his skin would automatically harden in key areas, transforming into tough plates as strong as ivory.
It could harden limbs to enhance offensive strikes or reinforce vital spots for added defense.
Truly a perfect blend of offense and defense!
He then tested it by slashing at himself with his repaired Blackwood Sword, channeling spiritual power into the blade. Though it managed to cut through the outer layer, it was tightly wedged in by the resilient flesh and couldn't go deeper.
"Hardening the skin to ivory toughness… so this is the White Armor Stage…"
Excitement flickered in Li Ye's eyes. With a slap of his storage pouch, a crimson half-armor appeared in his hand.
"High-grade artifact Redscale Armor... Elder Ji is incredibly generous. Knowing I'm heading to war, he gifted me something he used himself!"
"Though it doesn't cover my whole body, combining this with the defense of the Elephant Armor Force Technique should drastically boost my survivability… I might even be able to move freely and fight confidently against other cultivators at the same stage!"
With his most crucial weakness defense now addressed, even with the battlefield looming ahead, Li Ye finally felt a measure of security in his heart.
......
"That damn Qi Clan, and the Wengs and Zhangs too… bunch of bastard dogs!"
"If it weren't for them, would we have ended up in such a damned situation?!"
Standing on the deck of a massive flying ship, Li Ye listened to the bitter curses of a short, skinny cultivator beside him, and he couldn't help but agree.
At this moment, he had already bid farewell to his friends and set off toward the front lines.
"That's Zimo Forest we're heading to one of the closest areas to the front! With the enemy advancing step by step, we're basically about to go head-to-head with the Feather Sect Coalition!"
As he spoke, the man's voice started to tremble.
He turned to Li Ye as if he wanted to grab onto his robe for comfort.
But just as he reached out, Li Ye shifted slightly, easily dodging the gesture.
The man didn't seem embarrassed at all, his eyes brimming with tears as he said:
"Junior Brother Li! Since joining the sect, I've mostly been working the fields rarely involved in any spell duels… I know you've had your fair share of combat experience. If things get dangerous, please look out for this Old Fei!"
"If you save my life, I'll owe you big time!"
"We're both disciples from the Spirit Farming Hall. We should be helping each other out. Who knows maybe I'll end up helping you someday too, Senior Brother Fei."
Li Ye signaled for him to relax and stop rambling.
This guy looked like a total coward, but the spiritual power radiating from him marked him as a Qi Refining Stage Five not exactly weak.
As for Li Ye, thanks to his refined control over blood energy from body cultivation and the concealment traits of his wood-element techniques, his spiritual aura also appeared to be around the fifth layer at least when he wasn't actively fighting.
On the surface, their cultivation levels were nearly identical, yet this guy could say things like that with a straight face. Li Ye honestly couldn't tell if he was genuinely timid… or just playing dumb.
That said, Senior Brother Fei wasn't wrong.
The sect had assigned them to Zimo Forest, and it was a dangerous place.
A section of second-tier spiritual veins ran through it, rich with earthy and wood-elemental energy. It had once been a prime area under Purple Profound Sect's control full of valuable spiritual herbs and timber, and even housed a marketplace protected by formation arrays.
In short, a highly profitable territory.
But now that the Feather Sect had invaded, such resource-rich zones had become their prime targets.
Now, with just a dozen people aboard this ship being sent there, the odds of them having a peaceful time were next to none.
Fortunately, they weren't the only ones being thrown into the fire disciples from other clans weren't getting any better treatment.
From what Li Ye had gathered, nearly all assigned areas were zones of high conflict along the front.
There was even an intentional strategy in how disciples were deployed they were never sent to zones under their own families' influence, but rather crisscrossed randomly.
A clear move to cut off all chances of private connections or favoritism.
Just look at the Li Clan they reached out to me, yet wouldn't spare a single benefit, and still had the nerve to ask me to help rescue Li Zongyin?
And now, in a situation like this?
Not a damn word from them!
Whatever. I never expected anything from them in the first place…
Li Ye cursed inwardly, but his expression suddenly changed.
One of the scouting gu insects he had released had encountered something.
Whether it was a beast or a cultivator, the number and strength of the targets it detected didn't seem right.
And given that his spiritual sense was only slightly stronger than the average cultivator at his level, he couldn't send his gu insects too far.
At this range, if enemies were approaching… then an ambush was likely moments away!
Li Ye glanced around. Most of the other disciples were awake and alert, and the senior-most among them a late-stage Qi Refining disciple was also maintaining vigilance.
Li Ye quickly calmed himself. One hand pressed on his storage pouch, while the other subtly gripped a Sunfire Fireball Talisman hidden in his sleeve.
Swoosh
Boom!
A sharp, howling wind suddenly tore through the air.
In an instant, it was as if countless blades had been launched upward from below, slashing fiercely at the flying ship!
Li Ye stomped his foot and leaped just as the deck beneath him began to shatter barely escaping into mid-air.
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