After a few more pleasantries and some final instructions for Ming Ze, Yuan finally left and returned to his cultivation cave.
There, he waited for the night to pass. Once morning arrived, he planned to head to the Merit Hall to spend his remaining merit points on useful pills, then inform the Information Hall of his upcoming secluded cultivation.
And so, he did just that.
As soon as the sun began to rise, Yuan left his cave and made his way to the Merit Hall. There, he purchased several Spiritual Gathering Pills and Blood Resistance Reduction Pills,spending every last one of his hard earned merit points.
Once poor again, he walked over to the Information Hall and formally notified them of his intent to enter seclusion for the next few years.
The officials there raised no objections and promptly granted him permission.
With that settled, Yuan returned to his cultivation cave.
He didn't inform Li Yun about his plans as there was no need to. Li Yun was fully focused on his own cultivation and wouldn't be emerging anytime soon, not until he attempted the trial to become a core disciple of the main sect, which was still several years away,four or five at the most if he doesnt remember wrongly.
With no more loose ends to worry about, Yuan sealed the cave entrance, walked over to his cultivation bed, and sat down in the lotus position.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled out one of the pills he had bought.
Then, without hesitation, he swallowed it.
One pill became two. Two became three. And soon, every type of pill Yuan had prepared was swallowed,each one fueling his cultivation progression.
Spiritual essence surged into his body, circulating through his blood flow, only to be expelled again,but not alone. Alongside it came waves of black impurities, which Yuan coughed and vomited out without hesitation.
Each day, his progress though gradual was steady. His body felt freer as time passed. The connection between him and his blood deepened, to the point where he could sense and control every individual cell.
But as that euphoric control increased, a subtle resistance began to surface. Weak at first, barely noticeable, but present nonetheless. It began to slightly slow his progress.
Still, his body grew lighter, denser, and stronger.
A true, tangible sense of power now coursed through him.
20%,that was the current level of his spiritual blood infusion. Months of uninterrupted, silent cultivation had raised it from 15% to 20%, each step forward earned through sheer effort and will.
Throughout this entire time, no one disturbed him. Perhaps they had even forgotten he existed.
The world outside did not wait for him. The sect grew more chaotic by the day. Internal strife among inner sect disciples had escalated. Tension spread like wildfire.
Ming Ze was probably already undergoing his inner sect mission, aiming to earn his promotion. But even as these thoughts briefly surfaced, Yuan emptied his mind once again.
He let go of the world outside. None of it mattered now.
Then, wordlessly, he reached for another pill and swallowed it.
Time passed once more.
Yuan's spiritual blood had already reached 30%. As he slowly opened his eyes, he tried to estimate just how long he had remained in seclusion.
After a moment of reflection, he guessed that it had been one to two years since he last stepped out of his cultivation cave.
Anything could have happened during that time. The sect could have gone to war. Ming Ze could be dead,killed during his sect mission.
Or perhaps he had failed, and all of Yuan's plans would have crumbled before they could even begin to unfold.
But now… all Yuan could do was place a little leap of faith in Ming Ze, and hope that his gamble had been the right one.
His supply of pills had dwindled, but not alarmingly so. He had planned well.
Even with his increased blood volume and higher spiritual refinement, he still had enough resources to cultivate all the way to the peak of the Blood Purification Stage. There was still a long road ahead,but he had time and strength left.
Taking a deep breath, Yuan allowed himself a moment to feel the power coursing through his body.
His spiritual blood had grown vast and dense. At this point, he was confident he could fight Wu Shen and escape without any issue. If he wanted to clash with her and hold out for a time, he would need to reach the middle layer of the stage. To fight her evenly and avoid being pushed back, he would need to reach the higher layer.
And to kill her he would need to reach the peak of the Blood Purification Stage.
And that only,if he used every trick and technique he possessed, all without using the Azure Basilisk Flame could he defeat her. He would still be grievously injured, perhaps even on the brink of death… but he would survive. And she would not.
Aside from that, he had expelled many lingering impurities from his organs,remnants of his old self,now dried and blackened, littering the cave floor.
The stench was foul, thick and clinging.
Yuan waved his hand lazily, and the Azure Snake uncoiled from his sleeve, flickering into existence with a faint glow.
With a silent command, it ignited the impurities in azure flame, burning away every trace of them.
The Azure Snake could burn anything,even spirits or souls,though Yuan lacked the power to command it at that level just yet.
Still, it was more than capable of burning the impurities, even those that normally couldn't be burned.
Although the Azure Snake had burned all the impurities into nothingness, the foul stench still lingered in the air. Yuan frowned slightly and decided to deal with it properly.
He drew a simple air cleaning meaning rune onto the ground, and within moments, the thick, polluted air was cleansed,replaced with fresh, clean air.
This kind of rune was considered ordinary in the higher plane, something used casually even in basic households. But here, in the lower plane, such a rune was likely only accessible to the most elite sects, clans, or noble families.
To Yuan, however, it was simply routine.
With the unpleasant smell finally gone, he pulled out another pill and swallowed it. He had not yet reached the first cap,he couldn't afford to slow down now.
Closing his eyes, he began circulating his spiritual blood again. He guided it to clash with his normal blood, infusing it with a trace of spiritual essence. He then absorbed more essence through his breath, allowing his body to refine it naturally.
Yuan controlled every step of the process with precision.
Yet, as he continued, he could feel the resistance growing stronger. There were no clear signs on the surface, but deep within, he could already sense what was coming.
At the first cap the 33% threshold,the real struggle would begin. That's where the spiritual essence and the normal blood would begin clashing like opposing armies.
More time passed as Yuan focused completely on his cultivation.
Eventually… he reached it.
The first cap. 33% spiritual blood. The peak of the early layer.
Just 1% more and he would step into the middle layer of the Blood Purification Stage.
But this time, it wasn't like before.
The moment he tried to push beyond the cap, he immediately felt the resistance. Unlike the smooth progress he'd had earlier, advancing now would require far more time and effort.
If he attempted to cultivate without using any pills, he estimated it would take him a year or perhaps even longer to breach this limit.
Fortunately, Yuan had prepared for this.
He reached into his bag of holding and retrieved one of the special pills he had taken from the alchemist's collection.
It was called the Breaking Blood Layer Pill,one of the most effective pills for breaking through within the Blood Purification Stage.
The pill worked in a strange and dangerous way.
It poisoned the normal blood,weakening it, slowing it down, almost as if the body had fallen ill. It made the blood cold and frail, similar to the condition of a sickly mortal.
The reason most cultivators don't use the Breaking Blood Layer Pill regularly is simple,while it can weaken the blood and make it easier to control, it also damages the newly formed spiritual blood in the process. If enough of this damaged spiritual blood accumulates, the cultivator will never be able to fully recover or progress further.
That's why, even though the pill is effective, most only use it once every few years.
Another major reason for its limited use is its cost.
Despite being a pill for the Blood Purification Stage, its price is comparable to that of a Meridian-grade pill. Because of this, most cultivators either can't afford it or simply don't want to invest so much in a single breakthrough.
Only the wealthy noble clans, elite sects, or influential families purchase it for their descendants. Sometimes, a sect might give it to a prodigy they wish to nurture, regardless of the cost.
As for Yuan, he didn't care about any of that.
He already possessed a few of these pills, taken from the alchemist's collection. Since he owned them, there was no reason to hesitate.
Without a second thought, he swallowed one of the pills and immediately sat down to cultivate. He gathered all the spiritual essence in his body, preparing to break through to the middle layer of the Blood Purification Stage.
Then, he waited for the pill to take effect.
After a few moments, the process began.
He launched his internal assault on the remaining normal blood,infusing it with spiritual essence. But what he expected to be a smoother path surprised him.
Even though the pill had weakened the blood, the resistance was far stronger than before.
Yuan frowned slightly, wondering if the pill had failed to take effect. But the sensation was real,his blood had become sluggish, like that of a sick mortal. Still, the resistance he faced wasn't easing.
For an entire week, he fought against it. Day after day, he made almost no visible progress.
But he didn't give up.
Again and again, he pushed forward. He poured everything into the breakthrough,his focus, his will, his determination.
He forgot the outside world, set aside all schemes, ambitions, and distractions. He even willingly injured his own body just to push the spiritual blood forward.
But none of it mattered.
Because Yuan did not care.
Pain, exhaustion, damage,it was all a part of cultivation.
He would overcome it all.
No matter what.
It could have already been a month since he began, but he was not even halfway through. This was terrible news for Yuan as he had thought it would take only a week at most. But now, a full month had been wasted, and the effects of the Breaking Blood Layer Pill were slowly weakening. Eventually, they became so faint that they no longer affected him at all.
His blood turned fiercer, pushing back against the spiritual blood, resisting every attempt at being transformed. It actively attacked the invading essence, making it nearly impossible to infect the normal blood efficiently.
If Yuan wasn't careful, he risked losing spiritual blood and regressing back dropping all the way back to 32%.
So, he began to act with precision and care. To an outsider, the scene would have looked utterly ridiculous,like a man waging war against his own blood.
It truly was a war.
He would launch sneak attacks with his spiritual blood, only for the normal blood to retaliate in fierce counterattacks.
A silent internal battle raged,like two armies locked in a strategic struggle, both unwilling to yield.
And so, a second month passed.
But slowly,very slowly Yuan began to gain the upper hand. His spiritual blood adapted, learning to strike harder, smarter. Yet even as he weakened the normal blood, it seemed to grow stronger, more refined, the more it resisted.
It was laughable in some ways,an inner war with his own body blood. But in the end, Yuan won.
Finally, he reached the last stage: infecting the final 1%.
This last push was surprisingly easy,like an enemy city that suddenly surrendered. Of course, Yuan knew better. That same enemy was already reinforcing the next stronghold behind it. But for now, he didn't care.
After two more days of focused effort, the last of his normal blood had been purified.
Yuan had finally broken through.
He was now finally a middle layer Blood Purification Stage cultivator.