By the time lin qinq had finished the loquacious tale about the layout and history of baixun city for cao yaun, who had just separated from cao yaun, the sun had begun to set on the western horizon, preparing to say goodbye to the day. Stepping out of the food stall, they were sitting, and Cao Yaun decided to tour the market district of Baixun City.
He browsed from shop to shop, marveling at the variety of wares on display, from weapons to herbs, pills, cultivation manuals, and various other necessities. Wandering the busy streets, tasting the local delicacies, Yaun passed by a clothing shop, and decided to buy himself something new, since a month of wearing the same, tattered, bloodstained clothes had begun to get old.
A plain sleeveless shirt and baggy pants made of sturdier fabric caught his eye, and Yaun bought them immediately, changing into the new clothes in the dressing room at the back of the shop. Of course, the sleeveless design of the shirt failed to account for his toned torso, leaving his chest muscles exposed to the general public, Nevertheless, cao yaun liked the new change of clothes, and its comfortableness.
Wearing the new clothes, Cao Yaun continued his tour of the market district, the place bustling with both cultivators and ordinary buyers. Various smells wafted up from the grillers, where skewers of beast meat roasted over open flames, mixed with the scent of medicinal herbs and the acrid tang of freshly forged steel. Yaun breathed in the sights and sounds of the city, having missed the bustling noise of civilization after spending so long in the wilderness.
Wandering further, Yaun came across a butcher's shop, specializing in materials from beasts of burden. The smell of blood and raw meat pervaded the air as rows of beast carcasses and barrels of blood stood proudly displayed at the front of the shop. An idea came to Yaun, for he had remembered the effectiveness of the Shamanic Devouring ritual. Perhaps beast blood might be used in a similar fashion?
After some haggling with the butcher, Yaun bought a large wooden barrel of tier 2 beast blood. It was not long before he had rushed out of the commercial district, heading towards one of Baixun City's secluded cultivation abodes, which were built atop local springs for the best results. Booking a private room in the back of the establishment, Yaun settled comfortably in the modest but insulated room.
Taking out the large wooden barrel, Yaun set it in the center of the room and laid out a small formation on the floor with some of the blood. Yaun then traced the shamanic runes in the air before applying them to his skin, the two self-etched runes on his body glowing as he began to chant the incantation for the Shamanic Devouring ritual. The blood in the barrel pulsed with life, and tendrils of blood essence rose from the liquid, slithering up Yaun's body and into his bloodstream
Urgh!
Cao Yuan groaned as a wave of searing heat surged through his veins, the energy from the beast comparable to a hundred times more potent than what he had used before with the tier 1 beasts from the forest. The wild chaotic energy pounded at his very marrow, but Yaun's solid foundation held firm, forcing the energy deep into his bones.
Yuan furiously pushed the surging energy into his skeletal structure, hammering relentlessly at the bottleneck that had held him back for the past week, effectively smashing it to bits, releasing a wave of potent energy crashing into his bones and meridians, reinforcing it to an unbelievable degree.
Compared to using corpses, the process was much slower, but the pure essence of the blood was incredibly potent. Yuan focused all his energy on channeling this powerful wave of energy, ensuring that not a single drop of this potent energy was wasted, not a single shred of wasted potential.
Crack! Crack!
His joints dislocated painfully as his skeletal structure compacted, reinforced to an absurd degree, growing impossibly dense and heavy, unlike any martial artist that had ever walked the known world.
The wave of energy surged through Yuan's body, propelling him forward as his very cultivation skyrocketed, his silver bones growing denser and stronger with each passing moment until finally, Yuan reached the peak of the Silver Bone stage.
As the last of the crimson mist dissipated from his body, a wave of power surged from Yuan's body before he forcefully suppressed it. Yuan opened his eyes, a flash of silver briefly visible before vanishing into his irises. He exhaled, and took stock of his power.
His bones were now at absolute peak in terms of the Silver Bone stage, while his overall might had greatly increased. Standing up, Yuan flexed his arms and hands mightily before a look of satisfaction crossed his face. His power had increased immensely, although the blood was comparatively weaker than using whole beast corpses, it had still greatly aided him.
After cleaning the room, Yaun left the cultivation abode, the sun having set by then. Returning to the main hall of the establishment, Yuan freshened up before parting ways with the cultivation abode's owner.
Returning to the GENTLE AND PEACE LOVING INN, which was located near the city's exit, the establishment surprisingly remained full even as the night drew in. As soon as Cao Yaun stepped in, the previously noisy taverne fell deathly silent as if something frightening had just happened
"Wow… holy grandmother of cows!" said an middle-aged man as he looked at cao yaun nearly 4 meters high, bent over as he made his way to the nearby window to sit.
It wasn't that he was so exceptionally tall that he should be scrubbing the roofs of the inns he stayed in, but rather that no one seemed to know why the builders had seen fit to make the building 6 meters high, single storey building absurdly tall. Is it that people of the old nation had been as tall as Cao Yaun leading to the building, surprisingly, still being in use till modern times?
Finding a sturdy stone bench by the window, Cao Yaun ignored the strange stares piercing him from the crowd, something he had grown accustomed to throughout his travels.
Sitting on the bench, Cao Yaun made the order to the inn owner while listening to the small talks in the corner. Occasionally, some guests cast furtive glances in his general direction before returning to their meals, nodding politely whenever he looked in their direction.
Looking at the group of drinking and chatting people, Cao Yaun suddenly found it incredibly absurd as he felt that the farther he went away from home, the more he found that the civilizations had grown more and more civilized, from the blackscale village, to the brightmoon and now the baixun city. The cultural differences are just too great, it seems.
After wandering the crowd at the commercial district, he felt as if he was alienated by their strange atmosphere, cultural differences and manners. The more he looked at them, the more he felt like a cave man, their colorful clothes made of all sorts of exotic material different from the simple and crude clothes of the blackscale village, or even the slightly more sophisticated clothes of brightmoon city.
-How would the nothern continent look like- Cao yaun thought as he took sips from the tea jar on his table, looking distantly at the north, where his journey was heading. From the looks of it, the closer he gets to the nothern continent, the more civilized the life of the citizens seem to be.
Plus, the farther he gets away from the desolate continent, the more powerful the passersby seem to be, just like in the current city he is residing in. Here, tier 3 and 4 mortals are as numerous as blades of grass, while in the previous city and village he had visited, they are revered as masters of their craft.
Here in this city, Baixun, they are merely barely above the average lower class citizen without cultivation. Not that he had seen any peak tier mortal realm expert or even qi realm practioner yet, but from the gossip of the customers in the taverne, there are more than thirty qi realm cultivators of various stages staying in this very city. Most of them left for the next province, or even other continents, but there were still a handful of them residing here.
"i need to get stronger quickly," Cao Yaun thought as he felt pressure upon him as he contemplated his journey to the next continent, as the rate at which he encounters stronger people increases the closer he gets to the continent.
It is no surprise that the people living in the nothern continent, which is abundant with resources and energy, has a much higher level of cultivation than the people here, as well as even greater ones in the desolate continent.