Born in Blood



Liam nodded in satisfaction.

The Gushing Rivers Sect was even bigger than the Snow Moon Sect, and even the latter resembled a mid-sized noble family in terms of strength.

His organization had been doing better than he thought.

With one third of them working in Sects, Liam could ask for relationships between the Clans, their martial arts and secrets.

Though that depended largely on whether or not the Blood Troupe could successfully become high ranking disciples.

"At the same time, there's been a strange disappearance of a few Piercing Sword Sect disciples."

Liam gave a noncommittal hum in response.

Jargon spent the next few minutes explaining every bit of information he received from the other Troupe members.

Not everything was useful, but it helped expand Liam's knowledge of the territories.

"That is all, my liege."

Silence.

"Good work," Liam complimented, before cutting the connection short after a terse farewell.

Liam completed his cultivation and mental sphere expansion for the day, before taking out another rogue martial artist's corpse and wolfing it down in his semi-transformed state.

He was carefully alert the entire time. Drifting away into his bestial instincts was a slippery slope, and one that he could easily slip on.

He devoured the corpse in an hour, then instantly transformed back.

Then, he took out the corrupted magical beast parts and daggers he made from them, spending another two hours studying its composition, its form and every intricate detail with his King's Eye.

In an instant, Liam cursed himself for not understanding something sooner… but then again, he wasn't a Rank 2 Magus back then.

The properties of blood and bone were merged together.

It was also why his Blood Weaving worked well with it.

The properties of blood synchronized with one another despite them being from different species.

That exact difference was also the reason the daggers shattered on impact.

All of that led to a simple conclusion.

Liam would have to combine his blood with the magical beast parts.

He began with a straightforward method.

Taking out his Rank 2 middle-tier katana, Liam willed out the crimson from his pores and coated it around his blade.

On its own, his ichor purity was roughly at the Rank 1 upper-tier level. It went up a level after he became an Ashura, and his manipulation was stronger than ever.

The thin coating of blood crystalized and sharpened.

Liam formed a cut on his bicep.

It didn't work.

Instead of the coating and the blade cutting him at once, there was a shallow cut from the coagulation of blood, followed by a deeper cut from the blade beneath.

It was like padding sharp steel with blunt iron. 

Instead of the two merging together and increasing its overall sharpness, that was what it was like.

Liam tried a few more methods of forcefully merging his blood with the magical beast parts. 

None produced satisfactory results.

'This is an issue about time,' Liam thought. 'Rank 3 magical beasts have rigid and sturdy structures. There really isn't a quick solution to this problem, since the blood needs to slowly absorb the blood on its own.'

Liam took out a preservation container from his ring and placed it in the middle of the room. It was rectangular with several lines of inscriptions running across its glassy surface. 

Running the sharp sword across his arm, Liam allowed gobs of his blood to pour into the container, enough to submerge two blades side by side. 

With that, Liam put the container with his blades in them back into his ring, then simply waited until he saw changes. 

'The inscriptions on its surface would probably fade away… but that's fine. I've gotten good enough with sharpness enhancements that I could recreate it after a few tries.'

Until then, Liam moved to the Piercing Sword Sect's martial arts.

Martial arts in Ilali were inscribed differently. Even the spells were. They were made through a special calligraphy, which made Liam realize why exactly they were so venerated.

They were basically inscription masters!

The techniques themselves served the same purpose like normal, but the martial arts themselves were way more detailed and precise.

Through that, Liam began practicing a few moves he was confident enough to execute.

He held out a disciple's inscribed blade horizontally, applied 'Ora' to it, then lunged forward with a quick thrust.

WHOOSH!

The tip of the glowing blade shot a lance of air at the room's wall, piercing a pinpoint hole straight through the brick wall. 

Liam was a bit taken aback. Half of that attack was possible due to his movements, and the rest, to the Spirit Beast-made sword in his hand.

It was masterfully made, with a metal sheen despite being made from bones. It was an inscribed Rank 2 upper-tier item, and were layers stronger than Liam's blades.

Storing them, Liam spent the remaining night attempting to inscribe a simple spell for his darkness, studying the various Ranking spells in his possession.

Alternating between studying Blood Arts and Spirit Beasts.

///

Three months passed.

Liam steadily raised his strength and knowledge as he traveled. 

The amount of sects and prefectures he had gone through were nauseating. 

Despite all that, his searches for the Temple of Shadow came up short.

The north didn't yield much except for frigid temperatures and rogue martial artists Liam killed and devoured. 

He wasn't there for long.

After the second month, Liam headed towards the western side.

At the same time, the monthly reports from the Blood Troupe gave him faint directions on where to go. 

Jargon and the members were steadily growing stronger, receiving better positions within their Sects.

Still, nothing came up. 

Finally, on the third month, Liam moved towards the eastern side last. 

When asking around (interrogating more like), Liam heard rumors of random attacks happening throughout an offshore island, ruled by the Ravenous Leash Sect. 

The Sector themselves were specialized in controlling Spirit Beasts. With his next goal in mind, Liam began running as fast as he could towards the island's location.