Tianlei glanced over at Muyan by his side. His state was sorrowful even for him. No matter how much he hated him, after all, he was still human.
Bai Chen simply smiled reassuringly.
"I will stay here, but he has to leave and be attended to."
The voice laughed.
"Alright, but you will still have to be punished. You will stay here for three days without food or anything. Let's see where your mercy takes you."
Whoever this person was, there was no sign of humanity in him.
"If that is what it takes, then so be it."
A light shot down from the ceiling, enveloping Muyan and Bai Chen. Then they disappeared, leaving him alone in the hall.
He looked up as the light vanished. He knew he might regret this decision but it was better than future regrets.
"Provisional Executor Feng Tianlei, you are bold and foolish."
"I am indeed foolish," Tianlei muttered under his breath.
The hall was empty. Even the cores had disappeared. He exhaled and sat down cross-legged, looking up as if the stars might materialize on the stony ceiling so he could gaze at them.
Now that he was alone, he finally realized how cold the hall was—too cold. It was as if someone had intentionally reduced the temperature.
Three days? In this freezing hall, that would be like a death sentence.
"Why is it so cold, hmm… Better make use of this time to refine the Bodhi blood essence."
He touched his forehead, and a bubbling milky liquid emerged. He let it levitate in front of him, its surface shifting endlessly.
Lines of gold began to appear as it danced before him. The purity of the Bodhi blood was far more terrifying than he had expected. If someone powerful enough got their hands on this, their cultivation would skyrocket. No wonder the Mad Bull King of the Hell Minotaur wanted it.
He lifted his finger and touched the surface. Traces of golden liquid pierced his finger.
Tianlei flinched, surprised by the sharp tear through his flesh. The liquid entered his bloodstream and began meandering through his blood vessels.
His spirit core started pulsing, reacting to the golden liquid. After all, the Bodhi blood essence came from a spirit plant containing massive spiritual energy.
After the golden lines disappeared from the levitating Bodhi blood essence, it shot upward and began spinning, absorbing something resembling mist.
Tianlei looked up.
"It's absorbing the cold air."
The Bodhi blood essence continued absorbing the white mist, growing larger in size.
Suddenly, Tianlei's storage ring ignited with a silver glow, and a crystalline orb emerged.
" The Bodhisattva reacted "
It flew toward the Bodhi blood essence and began spinning around it. Lines of golden liquid emerged from the bodhisattva and were devoured by the Bodhi blood essence. It was like a black hole consuming a star.
After a while, the bodhisattva returned to Tianlei's side.
The Bodhi blood essence, now resembling a huge crystalline egg, pulsed, sending a chilling wave throughout the hall.
Then it began to crack and burst into shards of ice, revealing a human-shaped figure.
Tianlei instinctively stood as shards struck his face. From within emerged a man of medium height. His body did not fully resemble a human, yet it possessed all human properties.
The figure looked down at Tianlei, grey eyes narrowing slightly.
"Kid, don't you remember me?"
The face and body were unfamiliar, but the voice—
Tianlei stumbled forward, eyes locked on the levitating figure.
"Mr. Bodhi?"
The figure laughed. "I think I'll need a new name."
"But how—"
The figure scoffed.
"Hmph. I am a five-hundred-year-old Emperor Bodhi Vein Grass. I am far too complex for human brains to understand."
He lowered himself to Tianlei's height.
Now Tianlei could clearly see the form Bodhi had taken. His skin was translucent, and cold mist escaped from his body. He looked more like a ghost than a man.
"I thought you died."
"I only lost my body. My spirit form still existed. I simply needed the right properties to form an actual spirit body and this cold air was perfect, for now."
"So you were always alive."
The figure tilted his head. "You don't seem happy to see me."
Tianlei shook his head. "No, no, no. It's just… too confusing right now."
"Aye. What's confusing? Me taking form, or the fact that you think it's impossible? You're undermining my strength after I saved you and that greedy girlfriend of yours."
By girlfriend he meant the feather lady ,but still calling her that made Tianlei's body stiffen .
"Mr. Bodhi, that isn't—"
He cut him off. "Stop calling me that. I need a proper name."
"Hm… What about Master Zhang Wei?" he muttered. "No, no—too common. Call me old ghost Shi Guyin."
"Old ghost shi suits you."
"Yeah, but being in this prison cell doesn't suit you. How do you always end up in the worst places?" Old ghost Shi asked, his eyes scanning the cold, empty hall. There wasn't even a sign of a door or window.
"Long story."
Shi Guyin turned back to Tianlei, squinting at his body.
"You absorbed the essence of the Bodhi blood."
"The essence of the Bodhi blood—that is…?"
"Aye. I can't believe I have to explain everything to you."
He stretched out his hand, and one of the countless shards of the Bodhi blood essence levitated toward him.
"This shard contains Bodhi blood, but no Bodhi blood essence. There's a difference. Those golden trails you absorbed were the essence. Bodhi blood itself is like human blood . it simply contains special traits, like healing."
"You absorbed the essence, but you haven't refined it."
"I—"
Shi Guyin exhaled, rubbing his face.
"Please don't tell me you don't know how."
"I'm not exactly a genius in spirit cultivation, but I know refining requires spiritual energy or a spirit flame."
"The Bodhi blood essence requires neither. Unlike other spirit plants, we rely on extremely cold temperatures to evolve. Because most of the Great Di Forest lacks that, we wait for winter to increase our strength."
"Use this cold air to refine the Bodhi essence."
Tianlei sat down cross-legged and focused on the freezing surroundings.
"Mr. Bod— I mean, Old ghost Shi . Won't they notice you?"
Shi Guyin laughed.
"Unless you have Bodhi blood essence in your blood, I'm nothing but floating mist to their eyes."
He drifted behind Tianlei and sat in the same posture, pressing two fingers against Tianlei's spine.
"Let me help you."
Shi Guyin's absorption rate was astonishing. Tianlei's body became ice-cold instantly, but thanks to the spirit core formed from demon Qi, his blood remained stable, keeping his heart beating.
In a vast room filled with countless screens, a man in a military uniform with grey hair sat staring at one particular display.
Despite his hair, he appeared middle-aged.
On the screen was Tianlei, absorbing cold air. Behind him lingered nothing but mist slowly seeping into his body.
The man lifted a cup of tea from the table beside him and took a sip.
"This kid is absorbing the cold air… Hmm. I thought I'd torture him for disobeying my orders, but he's far more complex than expected."
He placed the cup down.
"Feng Tianlei, you intrigue this old man."
"Computer, increase the temperature by sixty-nine percent."
"Sir, are you certain? At that level, everything will become ice-cold. No life can survive."
"That's exactly what I want to see," the man replied. "Doctor Zhao said he was a monster. I want to see if he was right."
The man stood, buttoned his uniform, and walked toward the door.
"Extract all other cadets," he ordered as he exited.
"As you command."
"Why has the temperature suddenly spiked?" Shi Guyin opened his eyes, looking up at the stony ceiling as ice particles began clinging to it.
He smiled.
"That would be perfect."