Chapter Ninety-Five: Breaking Through to the Seventh Rank

I know you are only sealed here. You can hear what I say, and you can feel everything that happens here as well.

After helping the tusked pig to its feet, Wang Luo walked to the side of the deep blue serpent and stood in thought for a moment before speaking.

The strange change that had taken place in the Buddha of the Fallen City had long stirred intense discussion, and Wang Luo was naturally aware of it. From the accounts of others, he could easily infer that it had been caused by refining the blood of the deep blue serpent.

The books kept inside the spatial ring recorded many hidden secrets. Although the introduction to the Fallen City was sparse, it still contained a few details, including everything related to the Buddha of the Fallen City.

What the book said was vague. It only mentioned that the Buddha was of great importance, and that the sixteen prayer beads on him corresponded to sixteen demonic beasts: four saint-rank beasts and twelve peak ninth-rank beasts. These beasts had been sealed here, seemingly to provide power at all times, sealing some passage or another.

I do not know why you were sealed here, or what purpose you serve. My present strength is also insufficient to save you. But I will continue to grow stronger, and one day I will be powerful enough to break the seal here.

You and the tusked pig share a deep bond, but it is very dangerous for it to remain in the Forest of Trials. I do not know when it might be hunted down. Come with me into the inner academy; it will have no need to fear for its life, and it can visit you at any time.

But all this must rest on my own growing strength. Right now, I need your essence blood to break through to the seventh rank.

Having said this, Wang Luo stood there, quietly looking at the deep blue serpent. Last time, although he had refined and absorbed much of its blood and finally broken through the lightning barrier laid down by Thunder Strike, he had not managed to absorb even a trace of its essence blood.

The peak ninth-rank deep blue serpent was simply too powerful; it was not something Wang Luo, with his current sixth-rank strength, could shake. If the place where he had drawn its blood had not been so viciously chosen, he probably would not have been able to refine much of the serpent's blood at all.

The tusked pig, its gaze shifting between Wang Luo and the deep blue serpent, could not fully understand Wang Luo's words, but it grasped the general meaning.

Hrrrnnk...

After waiting a long time and seeing that the deep blue serpent still gave no response, the tusked pig grew anxious and let out a series of urgent grunts, as if trying to persuade it. Clearly it was helping Wang Luo, after all—some essence blood was nothing much to a deep blue serpent with such formidable vitality.

Have you made up your mind?

Seeing that the tusked pig's persuasion was useless, Wang Luo's brow furrowed slightly, and he asked with some impatience. Right now he only wanted to increase his strength as quickly as possible, rescue Little White and the others as soon as possible, leave this place that left him with such tangled feelings, and go find the lion who was his father and mother.

Rushing, rushing...

A sound like flowing water suddenly rang out. Wang Luo's gaze sharpened and he looked toward the serpent's head, where the stream-like sound was gathering.

Under the watch of Wang Luo and the tusked pig, a crystal-clear droplet of blue-red liquid slowly appeared, floating in midair, and an immense surge of power, vast as the sea, spread outward with it.

I said I would do it, and I will.

Catching the blue-red droplet as it flew over, Wang Luo spoke to the deep blue serpent. Then he sat cross-legged on the ground, tossed the serpent's essence blood into his mouth, and began to absorb and refine it.

Boom...

It was as though an atomic bomb had exploded inside his body. Wang Luo instantly began bleeding from all seven apertures and let out a pained groan. A strange blood-colored radiance burst from his body, and his clothes dissolved without a sound.

Refine it for me!

A low roar rang out in Wang Luo's heart, and his body-refining art activated at once. Threads of deep blue-tinged blood were rapidly refined and absorbed, turning into blood power that coursed through his veins in torrential waves.

Rushing, rushing...

The sound of blood flowing echoed through the silent cave. There sat a naked figure, cross-legged on the ground, veins bulging all over his body as he emitted a faint crimson glow.

The tusked pig had been startled by Wang Luo's miserable state, but seeing that he now seemed to be all right, it relaxed. Examining him more closely, it quickly noticed something very strange.

Wang Luo's blood was surging through his entire body at a furious pace, filling every part of him without exception. Even in the lower part of his body, there was no exception; it too was overflowing with blood. The originally soft little thing instantly turned into a ferocious little snake, lifting its head proudly and looking very imposing.

For some reason, the tusked pig's gaze moved away from Wang Luo and toward a certain part of the deep blue serpent's body. Its breathing unconsciously quickened by a couple of degrees, and faint grunts slipped from its nose and mouth, highly enticing to the serpent.

As though sensing the tusked pig's unusual state, a crack appeared once more. A soft, long appendage slowly rose, becoming hard and red-hot, while the mushroom-like tip that the tusked pig had bitten who knew how many times shone with an especially vivid redness.

Hrrrnnk...

Along with an excited cry, the tusked pig lunged swiftly at that hardened mushroom and began gnawing on it with practiced ease, as though savoring a flavor unique in all the world...

Wang Luo, fully devoted to refining the deep blue serpent's essence blood, naturally knew nothing of what was happening outside. But even if he had known, he would have had no time to care. Right now, he had only one thought: break through to the seventh rank!

Strands of blue-tinged blood were quickly refined into wisps of blood power that gathered in his heart, condensing into a thick, luminous mass of blood.

Yet no matter how Wang Luo pressed it, no matter how much pure blood power he poured into it, the blood mass only grew denser and denser, showing not the slightest sign of solidifying into a blood pill. And the mark of a breakthrough in his body-refining art to the golden core stage was the condensation of a blood pill.

Originally, Wang Luo had thought that without the suppression of that nameless art, he would be able to absorb and refine the deep blue serpent's essence blood and break through to the seventh rank in short order. He had not expected that there would be no sign of a breakthrough at all. His temper already had been irritable, and now he could not help but feel a little anxious.

The body-refining art sped up once more, and all the blood power throughout his body surged toward the blood mass in his heart. His spiritual force concentrated on compressing it. This time, Wang Luo was throwing everything he had into it. He refused to believe he could not form a blood pill, refused to believe he could not break through to such a mere seventh rank.

Rushing, rushing...

Under the suppression of his spiritual force, the bright and dense blood mass rolled endlessly, its blood power repelling itself. No matter how fiercely the spiritual force compressed it, there was still no sign of forming a pill.

Condense for me!

Overwhelmed by irritation, Wang Luo suddenly let out a low cry in his heart. His spiritual force surged out in full, wrapping the once-rampaging blood mass completely and forcing it down.

Boom—

The suppressed blood mass suddenly exploded. The violent blood power became a torrent out of control, bursting wildly in all directions and ravaging Wang Luo's body.

Pfft...

Seated on the ground, Wang Luo suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. He opened his dim eyes, his expression utterly desolate.

Did I fail?

With a pained murmur, a bitter smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. His vacant gaze fell on the tusked pig as it excitedly licked the mushroom, and scene after scene flashed rapidly through his heart...