13 First Awakening

Tianlong had an indescribable feeling in his heart when he heard that this cultivation art was from his father's clan.

He knew that his father had a huge background but for whatever reasons, his relationship with his clan was complicated.

"Demonic Roc transmogrification art" Opening the manual he flipped through its pages. He was instantly drawn to the technique and immersed himself in the methods of cultivating it. A sharp glint could be seen across his draconic eyes.

The cultivation technique itself was divided into three strata. One needed to absorb demonic qi and refine the blood, bone, and muscles with natural treasures. It dealt with the first three stages of body refinement: Blood surging, Diamond carapace, and Bone Sigil. Once completed, they would be able to transform into a great roc.

After memorizing the circulation technique, he closed his eyes to digest the information.

"This is one of the core art of Yun clan that can allow anyone to train their physique into that of a demonic roc. It starts with the refinement of blood where you'll need to absorb the demonic spiritual energy of heaven and earth and condense it on your bloodstream and bone marrows."

"The first part: Blood refinement requires you to change your blood into an ocean of Qi. The blood will change its nature thrice upon which you'll finish Blood Surging realm."

"The roc is a bird of prey. As such, you'll need to hunt other demonic beasts and use their flesh and blood for refinement. Come, sit down, I'll initiate your first change!"

Tianlong sat in the lotus position and took a deep breath. As he concentrated on sensing the energy around him, he felt as if there were millions of blades trying to slice his body apart. He was about to call out to his father, but to his surprise, he was no longer there. What replaced him was a huge divine bird.

The source of the sharp wind was that very same creature. However, he wasn't releasing that wind intentionally. It was just a natural phenomenon occurring due to his majestic presence. Streaks of silver lightning danced on his body which shone with a grey lustre. His wings had bright silver feathers which became black at the edges. Razor-sharp talons extended from his golden legs, looking like some kind of divine treasure. It was Yun Dingxing who had reverted to his avian form.

"The demonic energy here is too thin. As such, I'll provide you with the necessary qi for the first change."

The demonic spiritual energy was more turbulent than the one used by humans. If humans cultivated in places with a high concentration of it, they might mutate and manifest the feral nature of beasts. It was only natural that the Long Clan's settlement barely had any trace of it.

Maybe it was due to the very nature of this qi, that demons had chaotic and eccentric personalities.

"The aura of a mature demon is extremely beneficial for younglings, the stronger the pressure you can handle, the better will be your first awakening." His father's voice directly resounded in his mind.

"You call this pressure? I can barely feel anything!"

"Well said!" With a burst of laughter, he increased the aura coming out of his body twofold.

Specks of golden light mixed with the lacerating wind blades. They sliced his robe and scraped his skin. What was most unbearable was the fact that he felt as if his entire body was being crumpled like a piece of paper under suffocating pressure.

Tianlong gritted his teeth and started to hungrily absorb the demonic aura. He channelled the absorbed energy to his blood according to the circulation manual.

Slowly, all the pores in his skin started to leak out blood. However, the dormant demonic blood in his body started to revolve like crazy and motes of light started to condense on them.

"Spirit Blood from Silver Winged Rocs with 90 per cent purity and 3 drops of Sacred blood from the Immemorial storm dragons." Yun Dingxing muttered as he gauged the bloodline of his son.

The bloodline among demons was divided into six groups: common blood, spirit blood, innate blood, royal blood, sacred blood, and ancestral blood. These were not related to the cultivation base in any way and just represented the purity of the bloodline. Those with superior blood would have more talent and potential for cultivation. As such, it was much harder to improve in bloodline than cultivation base.

Time passed by. Soon, his blood got saturated with a silver glow making him resemble a sacred divinity. He understood that this was his limit and he needed a stronger aura to condense his demonic blood.

"Increase it!"

"Again!"

…

Long Qianmei watched this all with a calm expression. As if she wouldn't care even if he died in the process. However, her tightly clenched fists betrayed her facial expression. As a mother, how could she not worry about her son?

Seeing the body of her son which was completely drenched in blood, her heart ached. She was keeping a close eye on his life force and if she found anything wrong, she would immediately intervene.

Hours passed by as Tianlong persevered under the pressure of Dingxing. The more he condensed his blood, the harder it got to advance. He would occasionally call out to his father to increase the aura. Once he could barely withstand it, he would again ask him to increase it.

As his sense towards his bloodline got stronger and stronger, he discovered that his blood had two distinct natures. Most of it gained a silver lustre as he converged more and more demonic qi. However, there was another faint trace of blood that shone with an azure glow. Although not as abundant as the other, it felt more divine.

Clearly, the two represented his silver-winged roc and Ancient storm dragon bloodline. Being of a higher nature than that of the roc, it would've absorbed all the energy for itself had it not been for the fact that the art was tailored for the rocs.

Amidst the pain, his consciousness slowly merged into the surroundings. He felt as if his entire body was breathing and he could feel the wind dancing around him. Similarly, tiny sparks of electricity jumped across his body giving him a numb feeling.

With a fading consciousness, he concentrated his mind on the wind flow and savoured the numbing sensation running throughout his body. It lessened the pain. Bathed in his own blood, he calmly circulated the demonic aura into his bloodstream.

As minutes passed by, he could no longer keep his consciousness active and fell unconscious.

"Tian'er!!!" His mother cried out loud as she saw that scene.

Just as she was about to catch him, Yun Dingxing stopped her.

"Look!"

A huge qi image manifestation of a sleeping silver-winged roc shrouded Tianlong's figure. It was a sight that made her eyes widen in shock.

"Spirit manifestation! Isn't that only possible at the Bone Sigil stage? Unless…"

"Over 80 per cent of his blood has turned into Innate blood, a lot higher than I expected. It is both a blessing and a nuisance for him. While his potential could be considered absolute best and he has a high chance of condensing sacred blood at the blood surging realm itself, it'll be very difficult to pull off due to the number of resources required. If only this was the nine heavens immortal world…. Sigh…"

Once the manifestation faded, she gently took his head in her lap. She could feel that there was a thin layer of wind dancing around his body.

Tianlong's entire body was battered and bloody, there were deep flesh wounds everywhere caused by the wind blades. Naturally, all of his clothes were also shredded. Anyone looking at him would believe he was a mangled corpse at first glance.

"Fortunately, he has us." She lovingly caressed her son's face. To her, he was the most perfect existence in this world. In her heart, he would always remain the little troublemaker who used to run around everywhere and cry whenever he got hungry.

Just as she was about to feed him a healing pill, Yun Dingxing stopped her.

"What now? Can't you see he's lost so much blood!" She was clearly agitated.

"You maintain a cold façade outside but actually you lose control of your emotions whenever something happens to me or him." He sighed.

She lowered her head in embarrassment.

"The common blood from his body has been completely expelled. What's remaining inside is purely innate blood. Ordinary first and second revolution pills can't regenerate innate blood and third-circle pills are way too powerful for him to handle. Apply some healing ointment and let him heal normally. Also, you seem to have forgotten about that lotus. Even if we forcefully sealed it, its undead nature will make sure that not a single scratch remains on his body."

…

"Ugh!"

Tianlong felt weakness all over his body. As he woke up, he saw that his head was on the lap of Qingxue, who was sleeping with her back against the wall. He didn't wake the lady up but appreciated the gesture.

Looking out of the window, he saw that the moon was already up in the sky.

"Looks like I missed five meals and today's classes. That is… if I only slept for one day." He rubbed his stomach which was empty since last night, a feeling he didn't like. He was a huge glutton and was proud of the fact that he could eat anything he liked without worrying about getting fat. But then again, this would've been a huge problem if he was born in a less well-to-do family.

Remembering the reason why he was injured in the first place, he concentrated on his body, and to his surprise, he was now able to "see" inside of his body.

"Spirit sense!" He exclaimed in happiness.

It was the ability to sense the world around oneself and was a common trait among all sorts of cultivators. It could be considered their sixth sense, as it could be used to see, listen and affect the surroundings like a telekinetic force.

Currently, his spiritual sense had just awakened. After all, he was just at the initial stage of Blood gushing realm. So, his spiritual sense could only scan his internal body. As he exercised it more and more, it would grow stronger.

He exercised his spiritual sense and could feel the change in his blood. All of his blood had a faint silver radiance and 3 drops of blood shone with an azure light.

He could feel that his body was absorbing spiritual energy naturally and all of it was being stored inside his blood.

His attention then shifted to the black vine that was wrapped around his heart. It had sharp thorns and its ends were merged with the heart near the atrium. It had a small seven-petaled flower that resembled a budding lotus.

"So, this is the culprit behind mom's illness eh?"