Bian sat in a lotus position, his legs and arms crossed over one another, the nine-life cat pendant on his open palm.
With the aid of the blood legion artifact, he began integrating the blood-refine sutra into his arsenal.
His heart, which had been strengthened greatly by the heresy mantra, began to furiously pump blood through his system.
His marrows went into overdrive and produced more red blood cells by the second.
On the outside, Bian's white skin took on a light hue of pink. Slowly, the pink color began to darken.
From a pale pink to lightly crimson to dark velvet and eventually, a blood-red Bian sat in the shelter. Han Yan observed this process with keen interest.
After his body was saturated with blood, his heartbeat changed once more. His liver and spleen were greatly enhanced by the excess blood and energy in his system, their functions were immediately elevated and altered, to be more proficient, to be more efficient, to be more effective.
Bian was already immune to poison, thanks to jade skin. The blood-refine sutra endowed him with not only immunity to all forms of poison, toxin and venom but also the ability to retain some of its properties in his blood without it harming him.
His heart, began to compress blood, a small frown appeared on his face. The pace was to sudden and too violent. 'Is this because of the heresy mantra.'
At extreme speed his blood was compressed by the heart, its beating akin to loud drums and thunder, reverberating through the shelter like countless marching giants.
The ears on the silver fox twitched towards his direction, it stood up staring at Bian whose heart was literally banging in his chest.
Rapidly his skin changed from red to pink and finally to a pale white, he stopped the blood-refine sutra when he began to feel light-headed. Opening his eye, he saw blurry figures for a moment before he came back to his sense.
'I didn't expect the process of refining blood to be so violent' Bian shook his head to rid himself of the dizziness.
He could feel compressed and purified blood greatly strengthened his five viscera and six bowels. Every organ that depended on blood was enhanced by the new rich blood flowing through his veins.
"That was abrupt" Han Yan said observing his pale complexion, she figured something must have gone wrong with his practice.
Bian placed his arm on his chest, he could feel the slurping of blood, and the strengthening of his already strong heart.
A palpitation was discernable in his chest, he felt like he was about to have a breakthrough.
"Are you alright" Han Yan wasn't willing to make physical contact with him yet, unsure of what a shake could do to his system.
"Yes I am fine, I think I'm about to breakthrough but I'm missing something" Bian still had his hand on his chest, the palpitations were still there making him excited but he didn't know why nothing else happened.
The only thing he could think of was that he needed more blood, right now he looked a little bit pale and felt weak because he had quickly stopped the blood-refine sutra but it seemed he needed more blood.
Looking at Han Yan, she seemed to know what he needed also when looking at his pale skin.
Without a word, she unsummoned her armor and rolled up her sleeve. Bian gave her an appreciate nod and simulated the energy flow of the thorned menace.
The hair in his body stood on edge and became thicker, pricking her uncovered arm with his hairy one he felt a little bit of resistance.
An individual hair strand was very pointed but multiple increased their surface area which decreased their penetrative power.
With a bit of effort, several hair strands began turned blood red as they sucked the blood out of her system.
Bian took about 20% in quantity of his total blood count. Feeling that would be enough, he stepped back and ran the blood-refine sutra.
The blood which was slowly moving from the red hairs on his arm to his body, rapidly sped up, were sucked into his skin and were soon refined by his body.
'There it is!' Bian felt his heart undergo a profound change, somewhat similar to when he broke through the second phase of heresy mantra.
Now the third phase of longevity was achieved, his heart became the strongest muscle in his body capable of resisting metals and the natural elements. With the evolution of his heart, his body followed suit making him one of the strongest beings in the second sanctuary.
"Whoa!" Bian gasped in shock as he opened and clenched his fist feeling new found power coursing within his veins. He felt the need to relax a little bit to allow his body condition to settle.
"I have to consolidate my prowess, and you don't look so good" Bian said to Han Yan, she was as white as a ghost making Bian realize that he might have taken more blood than he realized.
"I'm just fine" Han Yan held his hand, feeling their warmth brought a smile to his face and made him feel less guilty.
"You look so comfortable holding the hands of a killer" Han Yan mentioned with some humor in her voice.
"Aren't we both killers"
"I am more of a killer than you. I once killed a guy who stole my prey and called it his." She said with a self depreciating smile.
"That's nothing really, he deserved it for his actions. I once killed a guy out of pettiness just because he was getting on my nerves." Bian said triumphantly, seemingly oblivious to Han Yan's sadness
'Well the manticore killed him, but I told it to do so.' Bian thought cold smile.
He brought Han Yan's face up, looking her in the eye, "These aren't the eyes of a killer, they are my everything."
"So if you were to choose between me and the world, who would you pick?" Han Yan asked, this was the first time Bian had heard her voice so shaky.
"I would let the world burn!"
Call it teenage love or whatever you want, Bian has always been ecstatic to have Han Yan by his side. His fondness for her had gone way beyond her fine looks a long time ago.
It was the way she walked, the way she spoke, her nice scent, her perfect smile. He didn't care about the time or place, just having her by his side made him very happy.
'Did she make up her mind about something?' Bian noticed as her eyes became sharper, a decision was surely made but he didn't know what. He just hoped it wasn't a bad one.
"So you would really set the world on fire"
"I wouldn't if I could help it. I don't want to set the world on fire, I just want to light a fire in your heart"
Han Yan rolled her eyes at his antics, they stood up and made their way back to the alliance, each with their own business to settle.
"See you soon" She waved and ran off.
Bian waved back, he waited for her to leave before he brought out his commlink and made an appointment with the Qi family. With his status as a researcher in the saints hall and his trillions, he wasn't of low status anymore. Even large corporations have to show him face!
After booking the appointment, he saw a variety of missed calls and a particular reoccurring number.