Divine Energy Arts.

As Jin Tian was led into the headquarters of the Black Dragon Mercenaries, he noticed that even though this group was extremely powerful in this area, their base didn't reflect that all. It was just a series of smaller caves that led to different areas of one giant cave. Slaves and servants were plentiful as they all hustled around each part of the caves, tending to their duties. Whenever the group passed, servant and slave alike would stop whatever they were doing to bow to the leader of the Black Dragon Mercenaries, Ren Shi. He was the same seventh phase old man that fought Jin Tian earlier.

Now, since he had been turned into a vampire, if one looked closely, they could see him slowly turning younger. All he needed now was a large intake of blood to speed up the transformation. It was the same with the rest of the mercenaries. As for Jin Tian, he also had a predicament that needed to be taken care of using an ample amount of blood. It was the scar on his neck.

'I thought this place would've been more luxurious, but it's not bad. It has a certain charm that makes a former creature of the night like myself feel at home. For now, this will work. Well, I'll have them show me to my room so I can start practicing cultivation. I am much too far behind the people in this world.'

Jin Tian came to this conclusion and communicated his thoughts mentally to Ren Shi, who immediately turned down a hallway with much fewer, presumably higher-ranking servants cleaning it up. Like the rest of the base, numerous lanterns littered the walls, but darkness still lingered in a few places. It gave the area a solemn, melancholic feel. Ren Shi then stopped at a large metal door at the end of the hall and stepped aside, motioning for Jin Tian to step inside.

Not wasting any more time, he calmly walked inside to find a large room with few lanterns. The bed was almost half the room's size, and multiple naked women lay on it, eyeing the unfamiliar man curiously. Ren Shi was a famous cultivator in the Jianghu for his ruthless Ghost Saber arts, so people couldn't just enter his base, much less his chamber, without being noticed by him. The fact that Jin Tian was here could only mean two things; either Ren Shi permitted him to enter or...

"Is Master Shi dead?" A woman who looked like a kind of 'leader' to the rest of them leaned forward and asked that question. Jin Tian's eyes flashed with a sad expression for a second, but he composed himself and responded, "No, Ren Shi is alive and well. I am just the new master of this place. You may call me Master Tian."

Shock overtook each of the girls as they heard Jin Tian's words. Although they were all slaves captured to be used by Ren Shi, they had become accustomed to him over the years. Being told that they would be getting a new master was like a bolt out of the blue. Jin Tian saw their doubts and beckoned for Ren Shi to enter by tapping on the door. When the girls saw him enter with no qualms, it finally dawned upon them that this 'Master Tian' was indeed telling the truth. But unexpectedly, they also had no qualms about the matter. Just the amount of charm Jin Tian exuded made them want to have a taste of him.

"Ren Shi, take these women out of here for now; I need to focus on my cultivation. When you do, turn all the slaves in this base to servants. Let's just say that a certain 'thing' prohibits me from keeping slaves. When that is done, enter the forest and absorb the blood of as many demonlings as possible to complete your transformation. I need all of you to continue getting stronger."

Ren Shi was initially taken aback by his order as they couldn't support everyone if they were turned into servants, but it wasn't his place to argue with Jin Tian. Ren Shi had complete faith in his master's decisions. He motioned to the women, and they all left the room, finally leaving Jin Tian to his own devices.

He sighed as he sat down on the filthy bed, trying to process everything that happened since he arrived in this world.

'It's different...but not too different from earth. This is like a 'what-if' the earth's people only did what they wanted to and had no ethics and barely any rules. It's a cesspool for deviants and outlaws alike. A perfect place for a sinner like me...'

Sighing once again, Jin Tian decided to put these thoughts at the back of his mind and focus on the task at hand. He got up and left his room and headed to the top of a desolate mountain to bask in the full power of the sun as he guessed that it would be the best place for cultivating. He sat down cross-legged and started directly absorbing the sunlight while he built up energy. When he built up enough, he would automatically break into the first stage of the energy arts level, Energy Growth.

As he sat there, unbeknownst to him, a small sun had started to form behind his back. It looked like it was absorbing the spirit energy of heaven and earth to purify its heterogeneous nature so that only pure solar energy could enter his body. An hour later, the small sun had grown to about ten times its earlier size, and everything on the mountain started to become engulfed in flames from the oppressive heat of Jin Tian's energy art.

'Now!' The last part of Jin Tian's body was finally filled with solar energy as he broke through to the Energy Growth Level. But, he didn't stop there as he immediately tried to go for the second level, Energy Circulation. To achieve this level, one simply had to send all the energy they built up through their meridians. Jin Tian had already learned that cultivation in this world is astoundingly easy as long as someone had enough understanding or enlightenment. So for Jin Tian, who already knew the way, it couldn't be any easier.

About twenty minutes later, he was already halfway through sending the energy through his meridians when an idea suddenly hit him.

'I had absorbed an ample amount of energy that would fit into my meridians as Li Hu suggested, but since I'm a vampire, what if I add more meridians to my body? I have complete control over every aspect of my body, so multiplying and enlarging these meridians shouldn't be anything hard to pull off.'

Most humans in this world had eight extraordinary meridians and twelve regular meridians. Jin Tian was no exception, but he was planning to push past that into something more...divine. He pulled his energy back out of each of his meridians and focused on the first one.

'Replicate, Enhance, Repeat. Replicate, Enhance, Repeat. Replicate...'

This was the order in which Jin Tian decided to tackle his idea. He would form more meridians, enlarge and empower them, then repeat the process. He studied the first meridian, its place in his body, and everything pertaining to it. In no time, an exact copy of the first meridian was formed right next to it. A small smile appeared on his face as he started enacting the memorized process like a machine. Replicating it was much harder than making it stronger or enlarging it, so the last two parts of the process were even easier. Although it cost energy to make it stronger, he had the perfect energy source to work with, which was The Sun.

A few hours later, as evening came along, Jin Tian's body had eight hundred extraordinary meridians and twelve hundred regular ones. But even then, he had no plans to stop. In fact, he decided to try and apply this process across his entire body to see what the result would be. This time, he was trying to form a second, maybe even a third heart. As he tried to do so, a painful feeling of hunger crept up upon him, immediately breaking his concentration. But, strangely, the process of forming more meridians was still not stopping. There was only one conclusion he could reach.

'Although I have evolved into something greater, the most primal nature of a vampire hasn't changed. It seems like I need blood to alter specific organs. Tch! Well, that can wait. Now is the time to break into the second level and then straight into the third!'

Jin Tian was so focused on his cultivation that he hadn't noticed that he had turned the mountain into a pillar of flames. It was a sight so spectacular that a few dignified cultivators wearing expensive robes who were standing several kilometers away couldn't help but marvel at. It was so eye-catching that they decided to get a bit closer in hopes to see the cause of such a phenomenon...