When Dante broke through to the Martial Blood realm, he felt a wave of perfection sweep over him. His blood energy had always been elusive and uncontrollable despite its plentifulness and potency, and he could not use it for combat.
This was the downside of blood Qi compared to life essence from knights. The moment one became an Official Knight, they could use their life essence to perform various magical skills and obtain combat effectiveness right away, whereas with the martial system, one could theoretically fight at the Body Tempering and Martial Warrior realm, but it was clumsy and not effective.
Only when blood energy was fully condensed into blood Qi at the peak of the Martial Warrior realm could one claim to have combat effectiveness. Because of this limitation, blood Qi was far more versatile and stronger per each stage compared to the same stage for a knight in terms of life essence.