Blood Essence Illusions

After carefully considering his options, Yaan settled his attention on another series of pills. These pills were kept in a large green case which contained five shelves of varying sizes.

One by one, Yaan puled out the shelves, read the labels beside each pill, and consulted the sheet of parchment which described each pill and its use. The more he read, the more desire Yaan felt towards these medicines.

They were all Blood Essence Pills. Each pill was labelled with a rank between 1 and 3, and a grade between Top and Peak.

Blood essence was the source of vitality for the physical bodies of all living beings that possessed blood. Most cultivators didn't even possess a single drop, this was especially true for Qi refiners. Higher ranking body temperers would possess their own blood essence, as would spirit and demonic beasts, and even certain plants and flowers.

Not wanting to waste the more valuable pills, Yaan decided to start with the least valuable first, so that he could build up experience with these medicines.

The first pill was called the Rank 3 Blood Ape Essence Pill. It was common for Blood Essence Pills to be named after the creature whose blood was used to refine the pill.

As soon as the pill dissolved in his stomach, Yaan was able to feel the nature of the blood ape exploding out through his blood.

For a moment, Yaan was thrust into an illusion. He felt as if, in that brief moment, he was the blood ape, roaring out loud, growling at the heavens and at its assailants with a ruthless and unyielding tone.

In the next moment, Yaan blinked, returning to reality. Even though he had completely neglected to control and monitor the refinement of the blood essence contained within the medicine, he had discovered something much more important.

To truly understand a particular blood essence, it was necessary to see through the life and nature of the being that it originated from!

Yaan sat there silently, thinking back on the illusion that he experienced just now. He knew that his reaction to this medicine was not ordinary; if a Rank 3 medicine could indue this sort of all-encompassing illusion in those who consumed it, it would be the most legendary Rank 3 pill to ever be conceived.

The fact that he had witnessed an illusion of the blood ape's final moments was not due to the medicine, but because of himself,

"Illusions…Ghu Jishi once mentioned that I am subconsciously implementing the dao of illusions into my sword arts, manifesting the image of the art in my mind and turning it into reality. But this is slightly different. I am perceiving the lingering will of the blood ape, its nature which resides within the blood essence, and a fragment of its most intense memory. I am able to see this illusion thanks to my dao of illusions comprehension…"

Yaan showed a determined expression and immediately swallowed the next pill. Every pill along this bottom plate was labelled as a 'Rank 3 Top Grade Pill', but Yaan didn't understand this grading system well. All he knew was that 'Peak Grade' medicines were superior to 'Top Grade' medicines.

Once again, he found himself immersed in an illusion after consuming the second pill, but this illusion was even more brief than the first.

He pondered over why this might be after quickly returning to his senses. In the end, he thought that it was probably because the blood essence was from a serpent and was therefore less compatible with his own humanoid form.

He also realised that after consuming the pills, he immediately came to know the number of blood essence drops within each medicine. In the fire ape's, there were three drops. The serpent's pill possessed two.

Yaan consumed one medicine after another, each bringing about their own illusions.

A female boar was rushing through the woods with her young, fleeing frantically as they were chased by the unrelenting hunters. She cried out in misery when her offspring unknowingly fell behind and were caught. The young boars were slaughtered right before her very eyes as the hunters cheered. The mother boar went crazy, entering a blood frenzy and losing her sound mind. She managed to kill three men before being cut down by the hunters.

An eagle soared through the sky. Up above the forest, the eagle was free to do as it pleased. It was not the strongest creature in these lands, but there was nothing that could catch it this high up. Yaan experienced this flight for such a long time, that it felt like it would never end. The peace and serenity of the world from up above was like nothing he had ever felt before. And then, everything went black. Neither Yaan nor the eagle knew how it had died, it was too sudden, too abrupt.

A baby chick. Unlike the eagle, a baby bird could not fly, it was so helpless that it needed to rely on its mother to feed it each day. One day, the chick's mother never returned. After starving for two days, the chick was found by poachers, who discovered that it was actually a young demonic beast. Since demonic beasts were too difficult to tame, they killed the chick and extracted the valuable components.

An earthworm slithered through damp soil, beneath the surface of the ground, away from prying eyes. The worm had no clear intent nor ambition, other than to survive. Its life ended when a mortal unknowingly stepped on top of it whilst walking.

On and on, Yaan experienced the final moments of these animals and beasts. Each memory was different from the last, with some being long and drawn out, others short and intense.

So far, he had only touched the Rank 3 Blood Essence Pills.

As he went through more and more of these illusions, Yaan could feel that he was beginning to touch upon something.

His original intention was to use these Blood Essence Pills to form more of his own blood essence, which would allow his body's recovery rate to develop further. Unlike unrefined blood essence, these pills were not very harsh on the body, so he was easily able to suppress the lingering power of the astral spirits whilst absorbing the blood essence.

Even though he continued to properly absorb the blood essence, he had been drawn into a trance as he experienced illusion after illusion, causing him to forget his initial intention as he found himself fixated on experiencing more of these alternative lives.

After seeing through the lives of 50 creatures and exhausting the supply of pills in the bottom draw, his only choice was to move up to the next compartment of pills. In the second of the five draws, there were 12 pills. Six of the pills were labelled 'Rank 4 Top Grade', whilst the other six were labelled 'Rank 3 Peak Grade'.

"This…" As he swallowed the first of the pills, which was still a Rank 3 pill like those he had taken previously, Yaan's pupils instantly dilated, covering his entire iris.

He was a human…a man, and a mortal. The man was once a farmer, but his village became increasingly dangerous as the number of demonic beasts started to increase in number, forcing him to flee through the dangerous wilderness in search of a more habitable place. Before Yaan could truly understand this man, or this place, the man was attacked by a jaguar. The jaguar sunk its teeth into his head and crushed his skull, killing him instantly.

Without hesitating, Yaan moved on to the next pill. This time though, he opted for the 'Rank 4 Top Grade' pill, curious as to the difference between them.

As he expected, he entered another human's illusion.

This time, it was a female cultivator. She flew through the skies elegantly on a sword, draped in white robes which covered her body and a mask which hid her face. She was anxious, rushing West across a vast distance in order to reach her loved ones, who were all in imminent danger. When she thought of her elders losing their lives, she bit her lip and shed a single tear. As she imagined her fellow disciples being torn apart and killed viciously, she couldn't bear to continue thinking along these lines. As she closed her eyes and grit her teeth, she continued rushing forwards, despite knowing that she was far, far away. It would take her at least 15 years to return home.

Unlike the others, the girl did not die. Shockingly though, her emotions for her loved ones were so deep that when she cried, blood seeped from her eyes. She didn't care and continued to fly, letting out all of the sadness in her heart. As she shut her eyes one last time, a single drop of blood essence fell from the corner of each eye.

Yaan opened his eyes, gasping for breath and drenched in cold sweat. Blood was leaking out from his nose, eyes and ears. He coughed repeatedly, choking up some thick black sludge.

It was only after a few minutes that he managed to calm down his mind and body. After allowing himself to recover whilst he read through some more of the old seer's notes, he came to understand a few things.

A pill was a refined conglomeration of the world's essence. A healing pill to one man, was a poison to another. A medicine could not be truly defined by a singular effect, because in many instances, particularly with unique pills, the effects were unpredictable and varied from person to person, depending on their circumstances.

When Yaan glanced at the time, he felt dazed. Unknowingly, he had been using these Blood Essence Pills for multiple hours, and now, his time was almost up.

When he remembered that woman and her tears, he understood that he had been trapped within that illusion for much longer than the others.

A powerful emotion filled his heart, an emotion that he didn't quite understand. His mood became quite strange, and whilst he understood that this was caused by the illusions he had experienced, he didn't care, nor did he try to suppress this feeling.

A sense of sorrow and loneliness fused with Yaan's aura and spread out from his body. After seeing the pitiful deaths and plights of so many creatures, he couldn't help but think back on his own life…

With a sigh, Yaan stood up and stretched, showing no anxiety towards the coming death-match.

Yaan calmly knocked on the formation three times, as the attendant had instructed him to do if he wanted to get her attention. A few seconds passed by, before the door opened and Yaan was once again met with the spirit of the 4th pagoda.

The playful spirit had been thinking of teasing him a bit about his rushed training, but she couldn't find the words when she opened the door and found herself lost in his deep, melancholic eyes.

For a moment, the spirit attendant blinked in shock and had to rub her eyes. She stared at Yaan, but she could no longer see what she thought she had seen.

'I thought I saw a strange golden vortex in his eyes…I must have imagined it…'

Before entering this place, Yaan was feeling rushed as he desperately sought out the temporal acceleration chamber to allow him to prepare for his match. But now…worrying about life and death felt so…pointless.

All life ended eventually, and sometimes death came so abruptly that you wouldn't even know how you died. To worry about death…was simply a waste of life.

"I'd like to buy more time."

"Y-yes, of course sir! Just so you know, rooms cannot be booked in advance, you can only pay for extra time right now. Also, you may only use the 4th pagoda for ten days each month, in terms of outside time."

"I see…then I'd like 3 days."

"Three days? Sure, then I'll-"

"I'm out of time…" Yaan laughed wryly as, for the first time, he vaguely felt the power of the 4th Trial Realm descending upon him to take him away to the battle arena. "Here's the payment. And lock the door, I have valuables in there."

Right as he was forcibly transported away, he threw forwards three days of payment for the chamber, securing this place for himself as soon as he was done with his match.