Chapter 4 The Blood Lake

"PUMP! PUMP! PUMP!"

All Yang Yichen could hear from within the Blood Lake was an endless beat, as if the Blood Lake itself was a heart pumping blood somewhere or other. While he thought about this for some time, he soon stopped dwelling upon it he had bigger fish to fry.

'First I should circulate the Blood Churning Sutra. After the blessing I received I feel as though I can expand my Qi reserves so it'd be best to do so before breaking through to the Foundation Realm.' Yang Yichen mused before circulating the Blood Churning Sutra.

As he floated within the Blood Lake, his blood rocked vigorously before transforming into Qi which made its way to his dantian. He then inhaled the bloody liquid which immediately transformed into the blood coloured Qi which was the basis for the Blood Churning Sutra.

Yang Yichen was amazed, and only then did he truly understand the wonders of the Blood Lake. Normally with the Blood Churning Sutra one would have to absorb great amounts of vitality which would then enhance their blood. From there they'd convert their blood into Qi, specifically Blood Qi. But the Blood Lake allowed him to completely skip this process, meaning his cultivation speed skyrocketed.

Seemingly endless amounts of Blood Qi formed within his dantian, but Yang Yichen made sure to purify the Blood Qi through the specific method described in the Blood Churning Sutra. Normally this would slow him down but fortunately cultivation had become easier for him after attaining enlightenment.

'At this rate it may only take me a month to breakthrough to the Foundation Realm.' Yang Yichen thought joyfully as he absorbed more and more Blood Qi. Once he reached this Realm he could truly be considered an expert within the Blood Rain Region.

In the entirety of the Blood Rain Region the number of Foundation Realm experts numbered less than 100, while those above the Realm numbered only 4 being the Sect Masters of each of the Great Sects.

'Body Tempering, Qi Gathering, and now I'll enter Foundation.....' With that thought in mind the young man continuously circulated his Blood Qi ensuring that each and every strand that entered his dantian was up to par.

As he continued cultivating the process became almost automatic. His dantian and meridians continually filling with Blood Qi while he floated within the lake. This process continued for about a week but something was gnawing at him.

'Why do I feel like the Blood Churning Sutra isn't perfect....' The golden line between his brows glowed as he stopped circulating the Blood Churning Sutra. 'There's something missing, or possibly there's an extra step that's causing everything to slow down significantly?'

Thus Yang Yichen's cultivation came to a halt as his mind raced looking for an answer. He'd always been a genius, but this was the first time he ever felt as though there was a flaw in a technique and not only that but a flaw that he could somehow fix.

Naturally the process wasn't easy, after all the Blood Churning Sutra had been passed down for 100s of years and any obvious flaws were rectified after years of refinement. But this also meant that it wasn't impossible for there to be flaws with the technique, or places where it could be improved.

'Logically it makes no sense for the Blood Qi to pass through here during refinement, it'd be much more efficient to use this meridian instead.....here it doesn't need to pass through at all that should save about a tenth of a second during circulation.......not to mention when converting the blood into Blood Qi couldn't one simultaneously convert the entirety of the blood instead of doing so at one point only...flaw flaw flaw, why did I never see these issues before.'

Floating about within the Blood Lake, Yang Yichen's pondered seemingly endlessly, the golden line between his brows shining brighter and brighter. Little did he know that he pondered about the Blood Churning Sutra for well over 3 weeks.

As the golden line dimmed, Yang Yichen concluded his pondering. 'Finally I should've fixed all the errors with the technique, now lets try it out.' Immediately he began circulating the Blood Churning Sutra once again, but this time the intake of Blood Qi was significantly faster.

Above the Blood Lake the Sect Master sensed the disturbance. "I thought he died but it seems he was breaking through! After all the amount of Blood Qi is absorbing is much greater than before." He muttered to himself in awe. Whenever the Sect Master thought he'd seen it all Yang Yichen always had a way of surprising him.

'I'll give him another month, after which we'll have to make our way to the Great Sect Battle.' With that the old man continued meditating atop the bloody lotus and time continued to tick by second by second.

And within the blink of an eye yet another month passed by. 'This is absurd I don't think I've even hit the limit of the Qi Gathering Realm yet.' Yang Yichen thought as he flooded his meridians with Blood Qi, but even after an entire month with his enhanced Blood Churning Sutra he still felt as though he could absorb more.

Unfortunately he felt a disturbance within the Blood Lake causing him to stop cultivating, and then a palm grasped him out of the lake. As the light of the sun hit his face, it took some time for his eyes to adjust.

"How are you feeling?" The Sect Master asked, to which Yang Yichen tried his best to look at the Sect Master.

"All right, its just that I could've used a bit more time. Also I didn't manage to break through into the Foundation Realm." Yang Yichen replied, to which the Sect Master took a double take before inspecting him carefully.

'Fuck! He's still in the Qi Gathering Realm' The Sect Master thought is horror. It was already time for the Grand Sect Battle to begin, and if Yang Yichen wasn't in the Foundation Realm he had no hope for winning.

"Anyway, despite that my Qi reserves are at least double if not triple what they were, also I've made some improvements to the Blood Churning Sutra which I'd like to discuss with you." Yang Yichen continued which caused the old man to take a triple take.

Upon looking at him once again he sensed the horrific fluctuation Yang Yichen gave off. Despite him only being in the Qi Gathering Realm it was comparable to Foundation Realm experts. This was simply unheard of.

"....You're too much of an oddity...what else did you say? Improvements to the Blood Churning Sutra?"

"Yes I think I've made it at least 50% more efficient."

"W-What!? Forget it we'll discuss all this after the Grand Sect Battle, we leave tomorrow morning. If I talk to you anymore I think I'll faint from shock." The Sect Master replied before swiftly disappearing. This Yang Yichen was too much of a weirdo.