Chapter 54 – Nuanced Technique!
Very difficult!
Going forward was easy, but going backwards was much harder! For blood veins, as the blood qi circulated, they would appear one by one, in an instant all of them would have appeared, this was a very easy process.
But to allow them to fade away one by one, one would have to be able to grasp the precise speed of the circulation of blood qi, that degree of accuracy was a nuanced realm of its own.
For a blood condensation Mán-Practitioner, to be able to do this was very rare, this was after all not something that a blood condensation level person should be able to do, it was something that an awakened cultivator needs to be able to understand and perform.
All these, Su Ming did not know, what he did know was what Grandpa had taught him, as if he was solving a riddle to try and find his own answer. Feeling what he had to do through careful consideration.
Without any strengthening nor any weakening, everything working so naturally, allowing Su Ming to realise what must be done.
If not, it would have been a complete waste of so much time figuring out his own answer.
Time slowly passed, yet in a blink of an eye two hours had passed, in these two hours Su Ming did not move, the blood qi in his body constantly under his control, resulting in the number of blood veins on his body starting to change, sometimes the number of blood veins would drop by dozens, sometimes soaring back up to forty-nine, through this cycle of change, he slowly approached stability.
All this had to do greatly with the equilibrium of pressure at this step. So to say, it is only because of the presence of this external force, that a blood condensation Mán-Practitioner would be able to achieve the level of control of an awakened cultivator.
As time passed like this, evening had quickly arrived, making the mist from the mountain become thicker, completely silent. While the atmosphere at the plaza was completely different and extremely lively, the sounds of people’s discussions could constantly be heard, there were even many people who took out their coins and started gambling.
“The first place is indeed still Ye Wang, you see he has already reached the five hundred and sixteenth step! The second placed Chen Chong had only reached the three hundred and twenty-eighth step!”
“That’s nothing, who I am paying attention to is the third placed Bi Su, this is his first time in this test, everyone must also be surprised right, we have never heard of him yet he had already reached the three hundred and twenty-seventh step! Only one step away from the second place, this afternoon, the two of them have been trading positions back and forth.”
“I wonder what happened to that Wu Sen, he actually ended up at the twelfth spot already……”
In the plaza, Grandpa Mo Sang and Feng Zhen’s Jing Nan, sat there cross-legged with no one daring to approach them, surrounding them was also an invisible membrane isolating them from the outside world.
“Mo Sang, this whole afternoon, Su Ming had been staying at the thirty-second step without moving, I think he should be at his limit, and will probably be the last place.” Jing Nan’s brows furrowed feeling that something was not quite right.
Mo Sang did not speak, rather he stared at the rankings on the statue, his expression as usual, yet inside he was secretly very happy, he knew that Su Ming understood.
To him, for Su Ming to be able to figure it out was even more important than getting a drop of Mán-blood.
As evening passed, the moon started to appear in the skies, Su Ming’s still ranking attracted very little attention, in everyone’s eyes he was just the last place.
Su Ming was currently still sitting on the thirty second step, seeming the same as before. But if you look closely, you can see the forty-nine blood veins on his body were constantly changing, sometimes reaching forty-six, sometimes forty-seven, sometimes forty-eight, because of how fast it is changing, unless you were paying attention to it, it would be very difficult to notice.
When evening ended and the Sun was completely obscured while the moon became increasingly bright, the blood veins on Su Ming’s body once more changed, of the ten times they changed only once did it reach exactly forty-eight blood veins, slowly it became twice, thrice…… until eight times then nine times!
At this point, Su Ming opened his eyes, a sense of excitement flashed in his eyes, he had achieved it, although it was still not perfect, but he was definitely now able to do it!
In nine out of ten tries, he was able to make a single blood vein fade away!
Don’t look down on this as just making this single blood vein disappear, this had signified that Su Ming had already achieved the initial steps of controlling his circulation of blood qi, he was no longer like a wild horse which could only rush, he now had a rein!
Slowly, he sat there, the number of blood veins on his body becoming forty-seven, forty-six, forty-five…… until it reached thirty-eight, where he finally lost control and messed it up.
Su Ming understood that this equilibrium at the thirty second step is no longer enough to help assist him, if he wanted to progress further he would have to reach the next step, which was the seventy-ninth step.
Su Ming’s eyes flashed, without hesitation he rushed forwards, after stepping onto the thirty third step he did not delay anymore, step by step he withstood the growing pressure, the forty-nine blood veins surfacing. The nuanced control he had achieved this afternoon and the mastery of his blood veins resulted in a muffled roar bursting forth from his body as he released his blood veins.
But along with the muffled roar, on his body there was actually fifty blood veins appearing instead.
After the fiftieth blood vein appeared, the fifty-first too started to appear, with no sign of stopping, as Su Ming advanced…… the thirty-seventh step, the forty-second step, the forty-ninth step, the fifty-eighth step……
After he had quickly reached the sixtieth step, on Su Ming’s body the fifty-second blood vein had appeared!!
With the appearance of one more blood vein, he would have reached the fifth level of blood condensation!
The current him was already capable of cultivating the Mán-Technique Wu Blood Dust!!
The muffled sound coming from his body, although had not traveled too far, the person on the path nearest to him, the Hei Shan Tribe’s Bi Su who was at the three hundred plus step, actually stopped in his path, as he focused his hearing and looked back.
“This is the sound of breaking through the blood vein count…… to actually increase their blood vein count at this place, just who could it be……” After sighing slightly, he did not think too much more of it as he continued advancing. Although this was his first time here, he had already prepared prior to coming.
Bi Su knew that for this first test, the pressure at night is many times stronger than the pressure in the day, almost everyone would climb in the day and pause their advance at night, after all advancing at night would be much harder than in the day and not worth the excess effort.
As such most will rather rest for the night and continue the next day to maintain their peak condition. Similarly he wanted to advance a little further before resting for the night.
Su Ming’s blood vein count had reached fifty two, as he continued to advance step by step towards the peak.
The current him did not know that because of his speed of advance at this time resulted in a huge uproar in the plaza outside.
The hundreds of people in the plaza outside were mostly paying attention to the top fifty spots, but they would also frequently glance at the bottom of the list at the person called Mo Su with some ridicule, this person had completely stopped at the thirty second step fro the whole afternoon, as if he was no longer able to advance the slightest bit more,
But currently, these hundreds of people who were watching the top fifty spots, one old man noticed at the edge of his vision the last line was changing shocking his as his eyes widened. He could clearly see the number beside the last placed name Mo Su suddenly jump up.
Thirty-three, Thirty-seven, forty-five, forty-eight…… until sixty-one, sixty-three…… and still rising!
Seeing this name, from the last place consecutively jump ten over ranks and still continue to rise!
Very quickly not only one person saw this chance, many people noticed it with shocked expressions, as this one person’s name caught the attention of more people.
“This Mo Su person finally started to climb! Haha don’t tell me he slept the whole afternoon before finally waking up!”
“He had a;ready rushed into the hundredth and thirty seventh position, from the last place, rising ten over ranks, this fellow is a real latecomer eh, let’s see if he can reach one hundred and twenty.”
“He’s in!! Ranked one hundred and nineteen at the seventy-ninth step!”
“Eh…… Why did it stop again?”
“He actually stopped again!!” the people watching the hundred and nineteenth ranked Mo Su stared at the number seventy-nine beside his name for a long time, realising it stopped changing, they could not help but feel disappointed.
“To think I thought we would be able to see another exception, it’s a pity he ran out of steam. This seventy-ninth step should be his limit of all his accumulated strength for the whole afternoon.”
Gradually, people in the plaza stopped paying attention to that normal name, and paid their attention back to the top fifty names again, as night has arrived, according to the norm, these rankings would remain the same for today.
In the plaza, Grandpa Mo Sang stared at the name which those many ranks, seeing Su Ming stop at the seventy-ninth step, his lips revealed a smile.
While the Feng Zhen Tribe’s Mán-Elder Jing Nan sitting beside him started to furrow his brows, the hundred plus names on the statue seemingly having all disappeared except for one.
Ranked one hundred and nineteenth, Mo Su, Seventy-ninth step.
As Su Ming’s ranking climbed, on a small path on the mountain, Wu La’s expression was one of panic, looking at the tablet gripped tightly in her hands, she could see the rankings as well.
Ranked one hundred and eighteenth, Wu La, Eighty-second step.
After a moment, only after Wu La realised that that Mo Su person finally stopped at the seventy-ninth step, did she manage to let out a breath of relief, gritting her teeth, she continued to try and advance onwards.