Chapter 70 - 68: Second Bloodline Enhancement
"The subject’s qi and blood are circulating abnormally due to external force. Continued circulation will cause harm to its body."
"The subject’s qi and blood are circulating abnormally due to external force. Continued circulation will cause severe damage to its body."
"The subject’s qi and blood are circulating abnormally due to external force, but it seems to be producing an unexpected strengthening effect."
...
The effect of his Level 4 Pet Beast Diagnosis skill was much more powerful than Jiang Zuo had imagined. He barely needed any feedback from Great Black; with the diagnosis skill alone, Jiang Zuo could tell if the path he was guiding the energy along was correct.
It only took a day for Jiang Zuo to find a viable Cultivation Technique circulation path for Great Black.
However, Jiang Zuo wasn’t satisfied. He continued experimenting for the next three days and eventually found a nearly perfect path.
Then, Jiang Zuo began to truly guide Great Black’s Cultivation.
Memorizing a Cultivation Technique is no simple matter, even for a human.
Thankfully, Great Black had the LV3 Learning talent. Otherwise, even with a Cultivation Technique, he would have never been able to learn it.
But even with the LV3 Learning talent, it wasn’t easy for Great Black to master it.
Great Black had no precise concept of Cultivation or the circulation of a technique, and Cultivation allowed for no mistakes. Jiang Zuo could only guide him again and again until he memorized it.
This guided Cultivation also consumed Great Black’s qi and blood. Over the course of a day, he could only manage to cultivate once in the morning and once at night.
After a full month, Great Black could finally cultivate on his own.
’Great Black’s attributes are too low. His Cultivation speed is just the normal rate for the Blood God Skill, and he can generally only cultivate twice a day.’
’It will take far too long for his Cultivation to show any significant results.’
’Just strengthening his Physique Attribute once won’t have much of an effect. I might as well have him undergo a second bloodline enhancement first. After he undergoes a Mutation, his attributes will increase dramatically, and his Cultivation speed will be much faster.’
Jiang Zuo mused as he watched Great Black’s Cultivation speed.
"Xiaoqing, I need to take some of your blood for Great Black. Is that okay?"
Jiang Zuo summoned Xiaoqing and conveyed his intention to use its blood to strengthen Great Black.
Xiaoqing and Great Black were very close. Understanding that its blood would benefit Great Black, Xiaoqing tilted its head and nodded.
"Good. Don’t resist."
Jiang Zuo told Xiaoqing not to use its defensive power to resist. Using the dagger he had obtained from Fangxiang Mountain, he put in a tremendous amount of effort just to cut the skin on Xiaoqing’s hind leg and draw a few drops of blood.
Xiaoqing wasn’t very large, so it didn’t have much blood in its body.
Jiang Zuo didn’t dare to take too much blood at once. He collected a few drops in a vial and placed it in his storage pouch.
The storage pouch could almost completely block the Spiritual Power drain from the Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array.
Without the storage pouch, Jiang Zuo would have had to make Great Black use the blood immediately, or the Spiritual Power within it would quickly dissipate.
Afterward, Jiang Zuo collected a few more drops of blood from Xiaoqing every week.
At the same time, Jiang Zuo resumed work on the gecko corpse’s last wish, which he had put on hold because of the Blood God Skill Cultivation.
Ever since Great Black had started cultivating the Blood God Skill, Xiaoqing often watched nearby, looking very eager to try it for itself.
However, Jiang Zuo didn’t try to modify the Blood God Skill for Xiaoqing.
Xiaoqing was a Spirit Beast. It wasn’t that this kind of Cultivation would be completely useless for it, but the effects would certainly be lackluster.
But the most crucial point was that Jiang Zuo’s Pet Beast Diagnosis skill had almost no effect on Xiaoqing.
Without the aid of Pet Beast Diagnosis, trying to deduce and modify a Cultivation Technique would not only be a waste of time and effort, but the resulting technique might not even work.
「Six months later.」
Jiang Zuo had collected enough blood from Xiaoqing.
In fact, thinking of Great Black’s well-being, Jiang Zuo had deliberately collected quite a bit extra.
That day at noon, the sun was scorching hot.
Jiang Zuo made all the necessary preparations, even setting out a large amount of meat for Great Black.
"Great Black, get ready,"
Jiang Zuo said, opening the attribute panel.
Thanks to Jiang Zuo’s earlier explanation, Great Black already understood what was about to happen.
Confirm enhancement!
On the second bloodline enhancement interface, Jiang Zuo chose to perform the enhancement on Great Black.
The prepared Beast Blood from Xiaoqing in Jiang Zuo’s hand vanished in an instant.
The next moment, Great Black’s body jolted, and an intense, searing heat rose from deep within him.
He had a similar feeling once when he was very young.
But this time, it was more than a hundred times stronger than that childhood experience.
"Circulate the technique and cultivate!"
Jiang Zuo suddenly shouted.
From Great Black’s memories, Jiang Zuo determined that during his first bloodline enhancement, he had produced a massive amount of qi and blood that needed to be consumed through activity.
The second bloodline enhancement required Spirit Beast Blood, and moreover, it was Xiaoqing’s.
Jiang Zuo predicted that during the second bloodline enhancement’s Mutation, a dense surge of qi and blood would once again be generated inside Great Black’s body.
After confirming this with his Pet Beast Diagnosis skill, Jiang Zuo decisively gave Great Black the command.
Great Black immediately endured the strange sensation in his body and began circulating the Blood God Skill.
Normally, he would feel exhausted after circulating the Blood God Skill just once and be unable to continue.
But this time, he circulated the Blood God Skill again and again, his body showing no sign of fatigue.
Jiang Zuo had originally thought the second bloodline enhancement would be over quickly, just like the first.
He had Great Black take the opportunity to cultivate simply because he didn’t want this qi and blood to go to waste.
Furthermore, this overflowing qi and blood very likely contained some of Xiaoqing’s own.
Using it for Cultivation should be highly beneficial for Great Black.
But he didn’t know if it was because he used Xiaoqing’s blood, or if the second bloodline enhancement itself simply required a significant amount of time.
Great Black remained in this state for a full two hours.
Great Black gradually calmed down, then ran to the large basin of meat Jiang Zuo had prepared and began to eat ravenously.
Compared to two hours ago, Great Black’s body was a good two or three times larger.
Before, he had just looked like a slightly larger-than-average dog.
Now, his physique was approaching that of a large tiger.
Not only was his body comparable to a large tiger’s, but he also possessed some of the imposing presence of a black panther.
Jiang Zuo looked at Great Black’s attribute description.
--Great Black (Mutation): A large, black-furred canine that has undergone Mutation after a second bloodline enhancement.
Lifespan: 320 years. Extremely keen sense of smell, exceptionally powerful physical constitution. Possesses four Talent Slots, with the "Learning," "Combat," and "Mutation" talents equipped.
Has mastered the "Roar" skill through advanced enhancement training. Currently cultivating a qi-and-blood method, with initial success.
A trace of extremely rare Spirit Beast Blood has merged into its body, which will greatly promote its growth.
...
Great Black’s description had changed dramatically.
’A 320-year lifespan?’
Jiang Zuo had expected a major change in the description, knowing that Great Black would most likely mutate.
But seeing Great Black’s lifespan, Jiang Zuo couldn’t remain calm.
A simple Mutation could never result in such a long life.
Let alone a mutated Mortal Beast, even a regular first-tier Spirit Beast probably wouldn’t have such a long lifespan, Jiang Zuo believed.
There was only one reason for such a massive increase in Great Black’s lifespan: Xiaoqing’s blood.
Turtles already had long lives, and who knew what kind of rare bloodline of the Turtle Race Xiaoqing was a descendant of.
Great Black had completely reaped the benefits of Xiaoqing’s connection, his lifespan soaring as a result.
As for Xiaoqing itself, its potential lifespan was simply unimaginable.
Jiang Zuo was extremely curious about this, but Xiaoqing was still in its juvenile state, so data like its lifespan was not visible in the system.
But the benefits Great Black gained from this bloodline enhancement went far beyond that.
In just two short hours, Great Black had already reached the Great Success stage of Skin Refining.
In those two hours, Great Black had circulated the Cultivation Technique a hundred-odd times at most.
But the effect had already far surpassed what Jiang Zuo had achieved after a thousand circulations.
The reason, without a doubt, was Xiaoqing.
More critically, a trace of Xiaoqing’s blood had actually merged into Great Black’s body.
This would likely bring unimaginable benefits for Great Black in the future.
One had to understand, that was extremely rare Spirit Beast Blood.
Jiang Zuo waited for Great Black to eat and drink his fill, allowing his mutated and evolved body to replenish its energy.
Then, Jiang Zuo conducted a series of tests on him.
’His attributes have improved across the board, but the biggest increase is in his Physique Attribute!’
’Even a human Blood Exchange Martial Artist’s Physique can’t compare to Great Black’s!’
Great Black’s physical attributes had improved tremendously, and because of Xiaoqing’s influence, the boost to his Physique Attribute was especially terrifying.
Feeling the power coursing through his body, Great Black joyfully sprinted and leaped all over the place.
After Jiang Zuo sent him the message to thank Xiaoqing, Great Black immediately put Xiaoqing on his back and continued to run around happily.
In the days that followed, Great Black’s attributes continued to increase slowly.
And the explosive growth of his Physique Attribute gave Great Black a Cultivation speed close to what Jiang Zuo had when he first started the Blood God Skill.
However, it was impossible for him to be as fast as Jiang Zuo.
For one, Jiang Zuo would have Great Black cultivate each stage to a perfect state as much as possible.
And for another, his subsequent Cultivation Techniques would still need to be figured out and modified by Jiang Zuo before he could use them.