Myriad Paths of the Dragon Emperor

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Chapter 33: Unbelievable Blood Meridian Ability

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Blood meridians were categorized into nine Levels, and each Level had its own number of meridian focal points.

A First Level blood meridian would have a single meridian focal points while a Second Level blood meridian would have two. The amount would increase based on the Level.

However, there was not even a single meridian focal point on Lu Ming’s blood meridian.

Could it be a Zero Level blood meridian? Nobody had ever heard of such a thing before.

Furthermore, Lu Ming had tested it before. His blood meridian’s absorption rate of the Spirit Energy around him was comparable to that of a Fourth Level blood meridian.

‘I also shaved off half of the Sword Qi when my blood meridian erupted. Could my blood meridian have a special skill?’ Lu Ming pondered as his eyes flashed with excitement.

This skill was truly terrifying if it could really block half of someone’s attack. Lu Ming could not wait to test it out.

At that moment, he exited the Supreme Shrine and entered the woods in search of demonic beasts.

It was not long before he found one.

The Flame Wolf was a demonic beast on Seventh Grade First Level. With the ability to spit fireballs, it boasted great strength.

Roar!

The Flame Wolf opened its gaping mouth and roared when it noticed Lu Ming. A fireball gathered and flew towards Lu Ming.

“It’s time to test the power of my blood meridian when it erupts!”

At the thought of that, a fountain of power surged from Lu Ming’s spine into his body. His body started to shine a brilliant dark hue that emanated a devouring aura.

Lu Ming did not dodge but allowed the fireball to land on him instead.

In that instant, he could clearly feel the power of the fireball being continuously consumed by the dark shine of his body until only half of its power remained.

He took a step back and avoided the remaining half of the fireball.

‘So, apparently, the attack wasn’t blocked, but rather, it was devoured. Half of its power was devoured!’ Shock flashed across Lu Ming’s eyes.

At that instant, the power from the blood meridian within Lu Ming’s body disappeared without a trace.

‘For real? It’s only been a single breath. It deactivated too quickly!’ He was speechless.

It was then that the Flame Wolf shot another ball of flame out.

However, Lu Ming was unable to make his blood meridian erupt another time despite trying to do so. He understood that it was because the strength of his blood meridian was depleted and needed time to slowly recover.

However, wasn’t the duration too short?

He was aware that the average Warrior Realm martial artist could hold an erupted blood meridian for approximately one minute.

The strength of the blood meridian would be depleted after approximately a minute and required time to recover.

The power of the blood meridian would increase in Master Realm, allowing it to erupt for approximately two minutes. The duration would increase with the growth of cultivation from thereon.

However, Lu Ming could only erupt his blood meridian for the span of a single breath!

An average breath would only take two seconds. That was a whopping thirtyfold difference compared to others!

It seemed that although the ability to block half of an attack’s power was seemingly overpowered, it could only be used at a crucial moment.

Also, how strong of an attack would it be able to withstand? Everything had its limits, and Lu Ming did not believe that his blood meridian would be able to withstand an attack from someone several leagues above him.

He needed to find out about all this.

No matter what the outcome was, Lu Ming was still satisfied. This skill would be able to turn the tables in a crucial moment, so it could definitely be used as a trump card.

Bam!

He took a step with the Dragon Serpent Steps and evaded the Flame Wolf’s attack before retaliating with one attack himself.

Poof!

A blade pierced the Flame Wolf’s heart, and it thrashed around as it took its last breath.

‘I wonder how long it’ll take before my blood meridian fully recovers.’

His black worm-shaped blood meridian manifested as he thought about it, but Lu Ming wanted to observe a little while longer.

It was at that moment that something peculiar happened.

The black worm-shaped blood meridian suddenly widened its mouth towards the Flame Wolf’s corpse and created a strong suction.

Nine droplets of blood essence darted out from the Flame Wolf’s wound and were swallowed by the worm-shaped blood meridian in one go.

At the very next moment, an immense power surged from Lu Ming’s spine. The power melded together with Lu Ming’s Essential Qi, causing his cultivation to spike erratically. He instantly ascended from beginner of Sixth Grade Warrior Realm to peak beginner of Sixth Grade Warrior Realm.

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Buzz!

A pale-red meridian focal point then appeared on the black-worm-shaped blood meridian. It shone ever so brilliantly in Lu Ming’s eyes.

Lu Ming was stunned, he took a moment before he reacted.

“My... my blood meridian can devour the blood essence of demonic beasts and convert it into Essential Qi? And on top of that, my blood meridian can increase in Levels?”

Lu Ming was murmuring to himself as his eyes shone brilliantly. His heart was wild with joy.

It was already unbelievable that blood essence could be devoured and converted into Essential Qi.

However, level advancement was unheard of.

Everyone knew that a blood meridian’s Level was fixed. Bar the exceptions of peculiar cases, a blood meridian was normally unable to advance Levels.

However, his blood meridian had broken all the rules by being able to advance Levels.

Lu Ming could distinctly sense that the blood essence he consumed from the Flame Wolf just now was divided into two.

One half was converted into Essential Qi, while the other half was absorbed by his blood meridian.

It was because of that that caused an improvement in both Essential Qi and blood meridian.

If he continued on with devouring blood essence from demonic beasts, would the Level of his blood meridian continuously advance?

Advancement to the Fifth Level, the Sixth Level... The Eight Level and Ninth Level, or even surpassing that. It was not impossible.

Lu Yao’s Fifth Level blood meridian was nothing!

Hahaha!

Lu Ming broke into a loud guffaw.

“Time to hunt some demonic beasts!”

Lu Ming could not wait to hunt for some demonic beasts and begin testing.

It was not long before Lu Ming found another demonic beast in the Eighth Grade First Level. Furthermore, there was a metal tablet worth two points on the demonic beast.

Lu Ming defeated the beast and kept the metal tablet. He circulated his blood meridian and once again extracted nine droplets of blood essence from the demonic beast.

Blood essence was the soul’s cumulation of a living being and contained a massive amount of energy.

Legends told that no matter human or beast, there were only nine drops of blood essence in a single body.

The blood essence was once again divided into two after it being consumed by the dark worm-shaped blood meridian. One half was converted to Lu Ming’s Essential Qi. In that instant, Lu Ming made a breakthrough in his cultivation and reached mid Sixth Grade Warrior Realm.

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As for the blood-red meridian focal points on the blood meridian, although it did not level up, its color was a shade deeper.

Surely enough, the blood essence of a demonic beast on the Eighth Grade First Level had a stronger effect than that of a demonic beast on the Seventh Grade.

“Let’s call you the Spirit-Devouring Worm. I’m coming after you, Duanmu Family! Time to continue!”

Lu Ming dubbed the dark worm-shaped blood meridian the Spirit-Devouring Worm. Then, he proceeded to hunt down demonic beasts within the Midnight Hills in a frenzy and absorb their blood essence.

His cultivation increased at an insane pace. In just over one day, his cultivation ascended to the Seventh Grade Warrior Realm, successfully breaking through to the peak top of Eighth Grade Warrior Realm after three days.

Surely enough, the Level of his blood meridian had increased during that moment. Another meridian focal point appeared as it turned into a Second Level blood meridian.

After relentlessly hunting demonic beasts for three days, Lu Ming finally figured out a part of the countless mysteries his blood meridians held.

The first thing was that there was a cap for the blood meridian’s skill to absorb half the power of an attack. He discovered that it only worked against demonic beasts that were five Grades above him, at most. It was ineffective against anything more than five Grades.

For example, if Lu Ming was in First Grade Warrior Realm, it would only work against someone below the Sixth Grade Warrior Realm. It would be rendered completely useless if he met someone on the Seventh Grade Warrior Realm or above.

The eruption of the blood meridian initially only lasted for the span of a single breath. It would take three hours after erupting before it could be used again.

However, there was a change after the blood meridian advanced by a Level. For every Level that the blood meridian advanced, the duration of its eruption would increase by another breath span.

The duration of Lu Ming’s blood meridian eruption had increased to three breath spans when his blood meridian advanced to the Second Level.

Similarly, the time that was required for the strength of his blood meridian to recover was reduced slightly.

All this motivated Lu Ming even more.