"What should we do next? You told us you have a map and that we didn't need to buy one."
Tiara asked Ken as the trio sat in a cave. When they asked the voice to open the portal and take them outside, it offered them to choose between 256 different spots, confirming Ken's speculations about the way the labyrinth was built.
"The names of the other places seem to have meanings behind them. Other than the Labyrinth of Blood, which is the only attraction meant for the fourth-stage audience, there are 7 more places."
Ken explained while his companions listened.
"Of course, there are also hidden spots with prizes like our cave, but the density of treasures in them is much lower compared to those 8 places. The eight locations marked on the map should be troves of treasures. Besides, we merely got a fifth-rank scroll here, and I believe there are much better prizes over there."
"I assume you asked the voice to drop us here because it's the closest portal to a certain place you want to explore, didn't you?"
"I did, but mainly for you. This place is called Mystic Chasms, and the map says it's good for improving elemental types of Qi, like your Lightning Qi and Ice Qi."
Ken believed that the Bloodthirst Sect would also add there the Bloodlust Qi since they had a manual for it.
"Tiara, you never answered me back then when I asked. How close are you to finishing developing your Nascent Soul?"
"I would need a few months. Around half a year."
"I see. If you guys want, I can help you improve your manuals for you, I have a knack for that."
Ken offered them help because he planned on having them by his side in the long run. He'd do the same for the blind monk he recruited a couple of months ago if he knew more about his cultivation, but he didn't know much about Buddhistic Qi and Demonic Qi.
"I will pass," Tiara said with clear doubt in her tone. She didn't trust Ken to develop a manual for a stage he didn't reach, especially not when it was for Qi he didn't master.
"Team Leader, I'm willing to let you try if you think you can do it!"
Alaric, on the other hand, was as supportive as always.
"I can, just give me your current manuals. Let's camp here for a few days while I sit on it. I also need to read all the manuals I purchased from the labyrinth's last room."
Before they left, Ken decided to purchase a few more manuals. More precisely, he purchased the manuals for Sound Qi, Lightning Qi, Spear Qi, Saber Qi, Ice Qi, Earth Qi, Buddhistic Qi, and Demonic Qi.
Those were the types of Qi cultivated by his envisioned group, thus he wanted to collect information on those Qi types and provide them with improved manuals so they can achieve the best results in their next stages.
"Sure, I will go and write down my manual."
Normally, cultivators didn't carry their manuals with them. They'd sit down and memorize it, return the books to the sect's library, and only then start cultivating the manual.
During the next few days, Ken was busy with research. While Alaric was writing carefully and slowly the manual he followed, Ken learned the Heaven-grade technique 'Qi Devour', which cost him 80,000 BP in the labyrinth.
'Hmm, it's not worse than my Blood Transfusion technique. I should find a way to combine them.'
Cultivators always enhance their bodies with Qi, and it becomes an automatic mechanism like breathing. Thus, just like there's always oxygen throughout one's body, there's always Qi in one's blood.
Once someone uses their body's Qi, the dantian or core simply releases additional Qi to compensate for the Qi loss. That was exactly what Ken's technique aimed for; it'd suck the Qi out of the person's blood, and the target's body would keep replenishing the Qi there so Ken can keep going.
On the other hand, 'Qi Devour' aimed at sucking the energy straight from the target's meridians. It allowed better absorption speed as the meridians were replenished with Qi faster than one's bloodstream, but it didn't work on animals that didn't have meridians and it didn't directly weaken the body of the target, allowing them to resist more.
For now, Ken didn't have an idea how to incorporate it into his own technique, but he noticed that its efficiency was rather low as a non-specific Qi technique. He had a few ideas on how to add Darkness Qi into it and improve it, but nobody he cared about used Darkness Qi.
He moved to research the Core Purification Pills. He took one of them and decomposed it in his cauldron, seeing what it was made of. He lacked theoretical knowledge about sixth-grade ingredients, but he could still tell apart the ingredients, even if he didn't recognize them.
Through repeated trials, he gained a deep understanding of the pill's structure and concocting process, and he was confident that he would be able to recreate the pill from memory once he became a sixth-rank alchemist.
'Handling sixth-grade ingredients sucks my Qi dry. I spent more Qi on decomposing 3 pills than I did in any of my fights in the labyrinth.'
Ken thought to himself as he rested. During his experiments, when he sent his Qi to probe the pill, he noticed that his specialized Qi was neutralized and turned into normal Qi.
Now that he understood the mechanics of the pill, he swallowed one and immediately felt the surging medicinal energy in his body. He channeled it in precision as he pinpointed the impurities in his core.
He channeled the medicinal energy into his meridians, not letting it out of his control. If he let it touch his core indiscriminately, his affinities with the four types of Qi would weaken, and he wanted to remove only the colorful stains.
He worked slowly and systematically, letting a drop of energy out of the meridians into his core, straight to the attributes he gained during his wild usage of Blood Transfusion. 10 hours later, his core was sparkly clean, and he expelled the remaining energy from the pill from his body.
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