No one knows how long it had been before Charles Carter woke up again. He touched his neck and was surprised to find that the wound had mysteriously healed. Only then did he remember that he had just used the acupoint sealing technique from the Hao Shi Jue; otherwise, he would have bled to death.

Moreover, Charles Carter was delighted to discover that two bright spots had appeared in the Niwan Palace in his mind. This indicated that his strange cultivation had reached the second level of Qi Refining.

This was a huge improvement, because at the second level of Qi Refining, one already possessed a certain degree of offensive capability and could create low-level talismans, thanks to having spiritual power.

His offensive power was now comparable to a fourth-rank martial artist, and Charles Carter also found that the Tang family’s “Great Demon-Subduing Cloud Heaven Technique” he practiced had also broken through to the fourth rank.

Looking down, he saw that Andrew Green had shrunk to the size of an infant. Meanwhile, Olivia Green’s hands were still tightly gripping him, her fingers having sunk deep into his flesh.

Before dying, Olivia Green had cried out—Please take care of my younger brother Daniel Green.

“Don’t worry, from now on, your brother Daniel Green is my brother too.” Steven White even bowed slightly to Olivia Green’s corpse to express his gratitude. If it hadn’t been for Olivia Green’s final struggle, he would definitely have ended up a dried corpse as well.

At that moment, Charles Carter noticed that the strange serrated ring lying in the pool of blood on the ground had been soaked until it was entirely crimson, almost as if it were transparent.

Charles Carter struck it with a stone and found that the ring didn’t react. Only then did he cautiously pick it up.

He was instantly stunned, because the ring now clearly displayed many tiny characters, as small as flies and mosquitoes.

Tai Shi Ring—Great Prajna Blood Transformation Technique.

This was a technique for rapidly increasing one’s power. In other words, if you were a third-rank martial artist and managed to kill a fifth-rank martial artist,

then by devouring their blood and transforming all your own blood into that of the stronger person, your power could rise to about the fourth rank in a short time.

Of course, you couldn’t devour the blood of someone too powerful. For example, if you were at the third rank and devoured the blood of a seventh-rank expert, the energy would be too much for you and could burst you apart.

So, at most, you could only devour the blood of someone up to three ranks above you. As for your power, it could only increase by up to two ranks at a time, and usually just one.

Also, you couldn’t use this technique to increase your power continuously. Otherwise, if you found a few experts to drain, you’d become a master in just a few days. That was impossible; you had to wait a certain period before performing the blood transformation again.

Still, compared to ordinary cultivation, this was several times faster. And this ring was the “Tai Shi Ring” that would help you succeed. Moreover, it was a high-quality weapon, able to shrink and be stored within oneself.

However, Charles Carter had no interest in sucking people’s blood. He had only done so just now because the situation was desperate and he had to survive; next time, you couldn’t force Charles Carter to do it even if you beat him to death. Just thinking about it now made him feel sick.

Still, Charles Carter couldn’t help but admire the person who created this technique, to have come up with such a sneaky method for rapid power gain.

Suddenly, Charles Carter was struck by a thought. If he couldn’t devour blood, he could just absorb the essence within it, which would be almost the same as devouring blood.

For example, using the absorption technique from the Jiutian Hao Shi Jue, he could successfully absorb the essence from an expert’s blood to help himself break through.

Charles Carter searched for a while and found a bronze-colored spear by the cave wall. Looking at the spear, Charles Carter felt a bit puzzled.

Because this spear resembled the magical tools used by cultivators as described in the Jiutian Hao Shi Jue. Compared to the weapons used by martial artists, magical tools were of course of a much higher grade.

The sharpness of even a low-grade magical tool could rival that of a high-grade martial artist’s weapon. Of course, Charles Carter couldn’t be sure this was actually a subpar magical tool.

If it really was a magical tool, wouldn’t that mean there were cultivators in the Great Yu Dynasty? But he’d never heard of anyone who could fly on a sword.

Of course, it was said that if a martial artist reached the level of great supernatural powers, they could also control a sword to fly. But up to now, the highest level anyone had reached in the vast lands of the Great Yu Dynasty was the Qi Connection Realm, and the dream of flying was still out of reach.

After burying Olivia Green, Charles Carter quietly slipped back to the military camp. Now that he possessed fourth-rank skills, Charles Carter felt much more confident.

Chapter 0011: Large Scale

His next plan was to try making talisman paper and similar items. Making talisman paper required special cowhide paper, and a specially made wolf-hair brush.

The high-level talisman masters all used paper and brushes crafted by artifact refiners. For now, Charles Carter couldn’t get his hands on such high-end goods.

So he wandered up the mountain, where the dense forest was home to tigers and wolves. Finding a wild wolf was easy enough. Jack Foster thought he just liked eating game and didn’t pay it any mind. But what Charles Carter wanted was that tuft of hair from the wild wolf’s tail.

As for cowhide paper, Charles Carter bought some at a shop. The quality was a bit poor, but it might do in a pinch. He also needed some special pigments for drawing talismans, which Charles Carter made himself.

After two days and many failures, Charles Carter finally managed to produce a few inferior Fire Spirit Talismans, Water Spirit Talismans, and Armor Talismans. Of course, “Armor Talisman” was a modern name Charles Carter gave it, meaning it had about the same effect as a protective talisman.