Blood Lotus Divine Body

From the peak of green, jubilant mounds Woodbane eyed the village in front of him. Ever since he was freed from the abyss below that wretched cave, he had been wracking his brain on how to become more powerful as quickly as possible. To reclaim what was once his, his past glory.

From what Woodbane could tell the spiritual vein that he had stolen from that child wasn't worth any real attention, probably of the Low Mortal Realm Quality. Its attribute didn't seem that unique either.

This left him in a tricky situation as it would be impossible for him to truly cultivate Qi without a good quality spiritual vein, at least without any immortal resources. As a stranger on this planet, a nobody, it would be impossible for him to get any of the said resources.

All of this lead Woodbane to coming to the decision that he needed to form a Divine Body. Divine bodies were another, more rare, method of cultivating Qis. From Woodbane's understanding of them, it would be more likely that there wasn't a single Divine Body on this planet.

Divine Bodies were the favored sons and daughters of the heavens, destined to shake the world. Unfortunately for most, they couldn't be stolen like spiritual veins and were each unique.

Not all Divine Bodies ensured great physical prowess, but they each accompanied with them great abilities. Take for example the Nine Cauldrons Immortal, another follower of Woodbane's former master, who's possessed the Divine Cauldron Body.

His unique body allowed for him to refine spiritual medicines of the highest quality from birth within his body, without the need of any sort of Immortal cauldron or furnace. This ability made him a legendary entity, capable of breaking his mortal shackles after only a few thousand years.

Luckily for Woodbane however, his master had gifted him with methods for forming unique Divine Bodies from ancient times. The only issue with these techniques was that only one person could use them in their existence, and after their use, they would be impossible to recreate ever again.

Although Woodbane had refused to use these Divine Bodies as they were created by Immortals of the Devil Path, going against his sense of justice and immortal path, also known as Dao.

This sense of justice no longer existed within Woodbane, which is why this is the perfect opportunity for him to use one of these Divine Body Techniques.

Unfortunately, to Woodbane's knowledge, there were only nine techniques of such kind that hadn't been used by his past allies. Furthermore, of these nine Woodbane could probably find ways to form three of them in his current circumstances. No matter, they were each unbelievably powerful.

First of all, there was the Star Devouring Devil Dragon Divine Body, which allows its possessor to turn into the beast that its namesake. A heavenly species of dragons from ancient times that are now extinct. Even without cultivating Woodbane would have a lifespan of hundreds of years and as long as he started devouring different enemies he would be destined to become a Heavenly God. The equivalents to Immortals for different species of beasts.

Woodbane, however, decided against this Divine Body as it would destine him a life full of running and hiding since the bloodline of this beast is something many powerful entities in Thunder Yang Realm craved.

Another divine body would be the Night Enslaving Divine Body, which is the Divine Body naturally attuned to enslaving other beings. In the Devil Path of cultivation there exists a pathway focused on enslavement like Devil Racing and Bug Controlling. This body makes it so that its possessor is able to learn and master the enslavement skills of any path with ease, with a slew of divine abilities to add.

The main issue with this divine body is its focus on overpowering souls of other creatures, increasing the amount of time it toke to cultivate to higher realms by many folds. Woodbane couldn't afford to take his time slowly cultivating if he wanted to return to his former position and obtain the truth. The kind of truth he dared linger too long on.

This left Woodbane's only choice to be the Blood Lotus Divine Body. This divine body gained its strength by absorbing blood Qi of others, increasing one's own potential in the process. Through its many advantages, it allowed its possessor to suck the life and cultivation from his enemies. This allowed for incredibly quick cultivation with the only drawback being one's own morals.

This Divine Body was especially legendary due to the fact that it created a perfect foundation. When most geniuses cultivated they would fear that increasing their cultivation too quickly, creating a shaking foundation. This is detrimental due to the fact that when they meditated to cycle Qi or underwent tribulations they could suddenly die out of nowhere, their cultivation turning to ash because of a lack of preparation.

The requirements for forming this divine body were also very vague, but definitely achievable. It involved the slaughter of family. Living beings held many values in life, whether it was familial ties or holistic beliefs.

The Blood Lotus Divine Body's goal wasn't inherently cruel like the other ancient divine bodies Woodbane had access too, but rather to make its possessor understand the many truths in the world. To do this, the body promised great power to its possessor in hopes of swaying him or her towards cutting his ties toward the mortal values, to become distant from the world.

This was the reason Woodbane stared ahead to the village, in hopes of finding a family to sacrifice for his fate.

…

That night, an old beggar told his village that he saw a rugged figure enter the hut of the Zhang Family.

That night, screams spread like wildfire as overwhelming anguish scarred the village.

That night, Woodbane lost a part of himself.