The shimmering words in his sea of consciousness threw Lam Minh into a state of utter confusion.
In his two lifetimes, he had never heard of the three words "Compress Blood Essence." It could be that his knowledge was too limited, or it could be that the concept of compressing blood essence simply didn't exist in the cultivation world.
It took Lam Minh a while to calm down from the turmoil in his heart.
"So, what humanity has researched about cultivation until now is probably still not thorough," Lam Minh thought to himself.
If he chose the path of compressing blood essence, would he deviate from the path everyone else had taken?
Lam Minh was in a state of extreme bewilderment; never before had he doubted his life so much.
After a while, he decided to ask his master, Mr. Quoc.
Lam Minh stepped out of the combat simulation machine. The light from outside streamed in, making his eyes narrow slightly.
In front of him were his nine senior brothers and sisters, all looking at him with eyes full of disbelief.
"35 consecutive wins! Junior brother, were you hacking?" Quynh Nhu quickly approached to question him as soon as she saw him step out of the machine.
"Just lucky," Lam Minh replied with a resigned expression.
He hadn't thought that farming points with the simulation machine would attract so much attention.
"Lucky? You should know that the current world record is 8 consecutive wins. This machine doesn't just help you train; it simulates and gets stronger, mastering all your skills after each match," Eldest Senior Brother Tran Long spoke up.
Only then did Lam Minh realize he had been duped. It was clear that Master Quoc had lied to him about the record.
Just as Lam Minh was at a loss for how to answer, a voice rang out, capturing the attention of the Bach Hoang Dojo members.
"As a member of Bach Hoang, no one will care what secrets you have, because the secrets of any disciple should be respected." Mr. Quoc's voice echoed.
When the senior brothers and sisters saw Mr. Quoc arrive, they proactively moved aside to make way for him.
"Everyone, dismiss and go cultivate. Lam Minh, follow me," Mr. Quoc gestured and then turned to leave.
"Yes, Master," Lam Minh replied.
He left under the curious gazes of his senior brothers and sisters.
Ultimately, no one had any ill intentions towards Lam Minh. It was just that with the combat simulation machine, the more you won, the greater your future potential was represented to be.
This caused whispers to spread through the Bach Hoang Dojo about how terrifying Lam Minh's aptitude was.
Lam Minh followed Mr. Quoc into the meeting room.
Everything in the room was the same. Minh Thu was still sitting in front of the massive computer setup.
"I am very surprised by your aptitude. I don't know if your winning streak comes from your combat instincts or something else, but it represents that your future potential for development is extremely great. I see you seem to have a question in your heart?" Mr. Quoc sat down in the chairman's seat at the conference table, gesturing for Lam Minh to sit as he spoke.
"Yes, Master. This disciple has a question. I have reached 1000 blood essence points, but have you ever heard of the concept of compressing blood essence?" Lam Minh asked Mr. Quoc with an expectant look.
After hearing Lam Minh's question, Mr. Quoc did not answer immediately.
His fingers tapped on the tabletop, making a rhythmic tap, tap sound.
It matched the rhythm of Lam Minh's nervously beating heart.
"I do not know, and I have never heard of the issue of compressing blood essence. From the books of the Cultivation World that I have read, the maximum blood essence for a human is 1000, and there have been no cases of blood essence mutation," Mr. Quoc replied to Lam Minh after a moment of tapping the table.
This time, there was no suspicion or further questioning.
Just as Mr. Quoc had said, as a member of the Bach Hoang Dojo, he would always trust and respect the secrets of his disciples.
If he didn't trust him, he would have been eliminated during the screening test.
"Yes, Master," Lam Minh replied.
"Do you have any other questions? And when will you break through to the Body Tempering realm?" Mr. Quoc continued to ask.
"Not at the moment, Master. As for the breakthrough, this disciple will consider it further," Lam Minh replied after a moment of thought.
"Alright, if there are no more questions, then go and train. Don't waste my time here," Mr. Quoc ordered Lam Minh to leave.
After Lam Minh left the meeting room, only Mr. Quoc and Minh Thu remained.
He turned to look at her, his eyes showing a pensive look, and then muttered to himself:
"This kid is really strange. Minh Thu, search all the documents in the national cultivation document repository to see if there are any keywords that match 'compress blood essence.' If there are, report to me immediately." Mr. Quoc gave the order to Minh Thu, and then his figure vanished from the meeting room.
If Lam Minh had seen this scene, he would have been in awe of the magical abilities of a Nascent Soul powerhouse.
Back in the training hall.
Despite the scrutinizing gazes from his senior brothers and sisters, Lam Minh was sitting on a meditation cushion, regulating his breathing after the battle.
His sea of consciousness was displaying the system panel.
From the moment he stepped out of the meeting room, he had made his choice.
Cultivation was about defying the heavens and changing one's fate. Why should he walk the path that everyone else had already walked?
If he saw another path full of potential, he had to charge in and try it. He had to forge ahead, even if it meant his body would perish and his dao would disappear, he would have no regrets.
With this thought, Lam Minh used his consciousness to lightly tap the "+" sign at "Compress Blood Essence."
[Host has chosen to compress blood essence. The compression process is beginning!]
In his previous life, Lam Minh had once stepped into the Body Tempering realm.
The feeling was that 1000 blood essence points began to disperse and travel throughout his body, tempering his limbs and bones.
But this compression process was different. The 1000 blood essence points began to gather.
They started to pair up and merge.
From 1000 down to 500.
500 down to 250.
250 down to 125.
Finally, they all gathered to form a single drop of blood essence.
Notably, it was golden in color, different from the ordinary blood essence that cultivators refined.
It wasn't over. The drop of blood essence began to travel throughout Lam Minh's limbs and bones.
Everywhere it passed, every cell, muscle, bone, and meridian was tempered.
At this moment, Lam Minh's senior brothers and sisters were all drawn to his aura.
A very indescribable feeling emanated from Lam Minh.
The feeling that Lam Minh had become stronger, but how much stronger was impossible to say.
"What is this? I feel like junior brother has gotten stronger, but it's completely different from breaking through to the Body Tempering realm," Second Senior Brother voiced his confusion, which the others nodded in agreement with.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for refining Golden Dragon Blood Essence. Wishing the host an early breakthrough to the Body Tempering realm.]
[Name]: Lam Minh
[Age]: 16
[Cultivation]: Mortal (1/100 Golden Dragon Blood Essence)
[Spirit]: Mortal (400/1000 Spirit Points)
[Spiritual Root]: Hoang-Grade Spiritual Root (10/100,000 Spiritual Root Points)
[Martial Arts]: Crippling Wind Fist (Initiate) 20/1000 points, Wind Walking (Initiate) 153/900 points
[Accumulated Attribute Points]: 0
[Lucky Spin]: (Break through to the 9th layer of Body Tempering to spin again)
Lam Minh was frozen as if by a binding spell when he saw the system panel.
First was the fact that his blood essence had transformed from ordinary to Golden Dragon Blood Essence.
This made Lam Minh feel very good, but the number 1/100 was the real issue.
This meant that others only needed to reach 1000 blood essence to step into the Body Tempering realm.
As for him, if calculated correctly, the number would be up to 100,000 blood essence points (100 Golden Dragon Blood Essence x 1000 attribute points).
One hundred times that of an ordinary person.
This was fate-changing.
The truth was that the Spiritual Root determined the speed of refining blood essence and spiritual energy.
Reaching 100,000 blood essence points was truly a colossal number.
At this moment, Lam Minh felt secretly lucky, lucky that he had a system.
Without a system, how long would it take to gather enough blood essence?
And second was "Accumulated Attribute Points." A new line of text, but it represented a new path of development for Lam Minh.
Based on Lam Minh's thinking from reading hundreds of novels, these points could be used to add to any attribute slot.
Like techniques, cultivation, spiritual root. All could be added to.
This meant that Lam Minh would no longer need to distinguish between different types of attribute bubbles.
To confirm his speculation, Lam Minh slowly opened his eyes.
He looked at the senior brothers and sisters cultivating in the dojo.
Bubbles were dropping from them.
No longer red or white.
But yellow.
They were all a single, unique yellow color.
Lam Minh slowly stood up and moved towards the bubbles.
His throat was dry, his breathing heavier than ever.
His legs trembled, not from fatigue, but from joy and anticipation.
[Ding! The host has picked up 35 accumulated attribute points.]
Lam Minh completely "exploded." All his speculations were correct.
This represented that his future development path would be even more rapid.
It took a while for Lam Minh to calm down again.
"The low-key way is the kingly way. I'll accumulate slowly, and when I become a powerhouse, I'll scare you all to death," Lam Minh thought to himself.
He looked at Quynh Nhu.
"Senior Sister Nhu, which way is the dojo's library?" Lam Minh asked.
"On the residential side, on the second floor," Quynh Nhu replied.
Lam Minh immediately ran off as soon as he got the answer from her, which made her laugh.
The reason Lam Minh asked about the library was that he had a question.
If all the bubbles turned yellow.
Then how would he pick up techniques?
You gain some, you lose some. This made Lam Minh a little annoyed.
Stepping into the library, in front of Lam Minh were giant bookshelves.
On them were all kinds of books, from techniques and martial arts to knowledge books, all in great numbers.
Lam Minh walked along the martial arts aisle.
His eyes scanned past various books.
From Lam Minh's experience, books were mortal items. True ultimate martial arts techniques were inherited in a different, more advanced way.
Based on that thinking, Lam Minh rummaged through every bookshelf.
After a while, Lam Minh sat down, panting from exhaustion.
The result was that after thirty minutes of rummaging through everything, he didn't find a single jade slip.
Lam Minh gave a self-deprecating smile and randomly picked up a martial arts book called "Star Manifestation Sword Art."
"Well, I'll just practice this one. Searching for more won't make a difference," Lam Minh thought to himself and opened the book to look.
The moves flashed through Lam Minh's mind.
Two hours later.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for learning "Star Manifestation Sword Art" (Not yet initiated).]
Once again, Lam Minh was filled with joy.
The heavens were looking after him.
A martial arts book he read for two hours was entered into the system.
This meant that Lam Minh could use accumulated attribute points to upgrade his martial arts.
Lam Minh once again told himself to calm down.
If just this much made him lose his composure, he would truly lose the demeanor of a powerhouse.
The top priority for him now was to collect as many attribute points as possible.
With that, Lam Minh returned to the training hall.
30 minutes later.
[Name]: Lam Minh
[Age]: 16
[Cultivation]: Mortal (1/100 Golden Dragon Blood Essence) [+1000 points = +1 Golden Dragon Blood Essence]
[Spirit]: Mortal (400/1000 Spirit Points) [+1 point = +1 Spirit Point]
[Spiritual Root]: Hoang-Grade Spiritual Root (10/100,000 Spiritual Root Points) [+1 point = +1 Spiritual Root Point]
[Martial Arts]:
Crippling Wind Fist (Initiate) 20/1000
Wind Walking (Initiate) 153/900
Star Manifestation Sword Art (Not yet initiated) 0/100 [+1 point = +1 Proficiency Point]
[Accumulated Attribute Points]: 973
[Lucky Spin]: (Break through to the 9th layer of Body Tempering to spin again)
Lam Minh smiled after looking at the system panel.
[Ding! +100 accumulated attribute points into Star Manifestation Sword Art. Successfully broke through to the Initiate level!]
A stream of knowledge and sensation flooded Lam Minh's body.
A feeling as if he had practiced this sword art many times.
If he had a sword in his hand right now, Lam Minh could definitely slash.