Chapter 44: The Miraculous Essence Locking Technique
The choice was not easy to make though. One path led to increased combat strength and the other led to increased survivability against a specific type of enemy that was prevalent in this zone. In the end, Li Ling decided to go on a small-scale slaughter when he encountered a nearby cultivation society to replenish his Slaughter Points.
As such, he made the rather questionable decision to invest in the Essence Locking Technique right now. The reasoning was mostly that there was not as much of an overall objective gain by going from Mortal Flesh level 8 to level 9 and Falling Boulder Art from Mastery to Perfection compared to locking in his yang.
As such, he spent a cumulative total of 45 Slaughter Points to bring it to Perfection. Immediately, Li Ling felt the insights wash over him and, like with most techniques he perfected, it was not just insights but actual physical changes to his body to make him transform from someone who had never practiced it to someone who perfected it.
For one, Li Ling discovered that the perfected version of this technique came with a lot of benefits. Firstly, he could completely control his erection, so there would be no surprise boners, even if he was under the effect of aphrodisiac. Only if the female used a daoist art that was really powerful in terms of seduction would it have a chance to bypass this technique.
Secondly, he could control his genetic discharge. Li Ling could now choose the major genetic traits he could imbue into his semen and even program the child to some extent. If he was stronger than the female he was having intercourse with, he could even guarantee or force pregnancy if he wanted to.
Thirdly, he could control the amount of essence he let out. This was the namesake of the technique, but it had been taken to crazy levels. Rather than just trying to desperately lock it in, he was now able to decide how much energy he would bestow upon release. This was important because it put him firmly in the driver’s seat against those yang-plundering demonesses.
Fourthly, he could control his yang presence. Most yin-heavy creatures or demonic technique practioners could, as part of their practice or due to their nature, sense the intensity and quality of yang essence in a male, leading them to mark him as a target and decide whether to plunder or avoid. Now, Li Ling could hide his exact yang strength and present himself as someone with weak yang, or even no yang, perfect for disguise or trickery.
There were also some other miscellaneous gains, but they paled in comparison to this. For a mere 45 Slaughter Points, this technique gave Li Ling a real surprise and was something that scaled with his base power, meaning he would not have to replace it at higher levels due to obsoleteness.
With his remaining 67 Slaughter Points, he still invested in the Falling Boulder Art, using 40 points to bring it to Perfection.
Li Ling sensed the changes and was pleasantly surprised again. Now, the Perfection-level Falling Boulder Art gained the ability to shift in size, going from the size of a pebble to the maximum size of a small village. No matter the size he chose, the power, speed and special effects would not diminish, just be compressed.
How insidious...
Li Ling invested 20 points into the Earth Escape technique, bringing it to the Expert level. Now, his movement speed while underground had increased to 25 meters per second, which was about 90 kilometers per hour. He could even accelerate further, but his qi signature would be harder to hide and it would drain more spirit qi.
With only 7 Slaughter Points remaining, Li Ling surprisingly decided to invest them into the Hidden Sleeve Art, a sleight-of-hand-based technique for knife throwing and assassinations. He was able to take it to the Mastery level before having to stop due to a lack of available Slaughter Points.
The Mastery-level Hidden Sleeve Art granted him immense dexterity in more than just assassinations. Now, whether pickpocketing, planting evidence, swapping goods, gambling or even using his fingers to pleasure a woman, Li Ling was extremely powerful, more than superhuman in this field alone.
｢Infinite Slaughter System
Owner: Li Ling
Status: Healthy.
Slaughter Points: 1
Qi Cultivation Base: Qi Refinement Perfection (Unable To Breakthrough)
Qi Cultivation Technique: Qi Circulation Mantra (Technique Reached Limit)
Body Refinement Level: Mortal Flesh level 8 (0/80)
Body Refinement Technique: Blood Asura Descent
Mind Power Realm: Uninitiated (0/2)
Mind Power Technique: Expanding Mind Sequence
Daoist Arts:
1. Fireball Technique – Advanced (0/2)
2. Qi Restraining Control – Perfection
3. Qi Seeking Technique – Perfection
4. Voice Transmission – Entry (0/1)
5. Object Control – Perfection
6. Earth Escape – Expert (0/30)
7. Golden Bell Shield – Expert (0/9)
8. Cleansing Spell – Entry (0/1)
9. Qi Sealing Technique – Expert (0/15)
10. Essence Locking Technique – Perfection
11. Falling Boulder Art – Perfection
Non-Daoist Techniques:
1. Li Family Spear Technique – Advanced (0/3)
2. Disguise Art – Perfection
3. Swift Swallow Step – Entry (0/1)
4. Sky Rending Palm – Entry (0/1)
5. Hidden Sleeve Art – Mastery (0/4)｣
Looking at his panel, Li Ling casually eyed the Mind Power Realm and shook his head. From the beginning, collecting a Sage Race method was a side quest, not a pressing issue. He knew the kind of benefits it brought, and they were not great enough to invest in right away while he was still in danger.
However, when he was pushing for Foundation Establishment and in a stable environment like the Six Paths Demon Sect, it would begin to shine.
Li Ling got up from his resting point and continued his journey, rushing on foot at full speed, making use of his body refinement rather than Qi cultivation. He had to save his refined spirit qi for the Earth Escape, so he would rather use his Blood Qi from the Blood Asura Descent to achieve this goal.
Now, as a tangential point, it must be said that the Blood Qi from the Blood Asura Descent and the Blood Qi possessed by typical martial artists below the Houtian realm were not the same, not even close. The Blood Qi of martial artists was enhanced energy drawn from their enriched blood that had been trained and infused with their life essence from daily nutrition, forming a low-class energy that could only perform basic body enhancement.
The Blood Qi granted to body refiners who practiced the Blood Asura Descent was a high-class demonic energy formed from infusing the cultivated blood of resentment from slain foes into one’s form, granting exponential strength and power all around.
If anything, Li Ling would describe the Blood Asura Descent’s Blood Qi as akin to the famous Realm King Fist, a modifier-type skill that directly multiplied your base power by a set amount, at the cost of burning physical energy and stamina faster.
Each level of Mortal Flesh increased the multiplier by the same number. So level one granted the entry level of the technique, level two then generated a x2 modifier on your overall physical prowess, level three was x3, and so on.
At level eight, Li Ling enjoyed an x8 modifier.
Using the earlier example, if a base human mortal was worth 1 point of physical power, then Qi Refinement Perfection alone passively increased this to 10 points. When you actively imbued your Spirit Qi into your body, that number shot up to 100 points, which was why even Grandmaster martial artists paled in comparison to mere Qi Refinement fellows.
But Body Refinement took that to the next level. Without the addition of Qi cultivation, Body Refinement at Mortal Flesh Perfection should grant 100 points passively, already on par with the full strength of a Qi cultivator imbuing their body.
Then activating the empowered state of one’s Body Refinement method would push this by varying amounts. Techniques on par with the Blood Asura Descent would also have a multiplier, so at the perfection of Mortal Flesh, one could have up to 1000 points of power or more using the above system.
But techniques varied in terms of quality, so this was not concrete. Not to mention, even at the same exact quality, the nature of techniques and the effects gained were different.
For one, the Blood Asura Descent was an offensive-based method, so those 1000 points Li Ling would gain were mostly filtered into killing power. For others, the body refinement technique they used might put more of those 1000 points into fortitude if it was a defensive technique, speed if it was an agility-focused technique, lifespan if it was a longevity-type technique, or regeneration if it was a vitality-enhancing technique.
Apart from that, body refinement—and even qi cultivation—techniques varied in terms of their special effects. For the Blood Asura Descent, it was the blood aura that surrounded Li Ling, which had the effect of deterrence, life steal, curbing enemy healing after a hit, increased penetrative ability against any form of barrier or defense, and strong corrosive power against flesh, metals and even energy.
That was one of the reasons why it was so strong, like most typical demonic methods. However, its downsides were too high, so if one could not muster the will to resist the negativity, they would be drowned and consumed by the technique itself.
Li Ling did not have this problem conveniently thanks to the Infinite Slaughter System’s way of handling level-ups. Back then, it could even forcibly postpone his Qi Deviation, so what was a mere negative resentment aura from the demonic technique?
So right now, with the blood aura active, Li Ling’s movement speed was about as fast as a bullet fired from a handgun, reaching 300 meters per second, just under 1100 kilometers per hour. His speed was truly shocking for a mortal, but for Foundation Establishment and above cultivators, it was merely entry level.
With their spirit sense, they could continually control their flying swords to soar through the skies, allowing them to reach speeds faster than what Li Ling was achieving right now. Otherwise, how would cultivators be able to travel across this expansive continent where even a small village was about the size of a large city on Earth?
But for Li Ling, this was fine. In just over a day, he was able to come across multiple mortal villages, but he did not bother with them because in demonic sect territories, mortals were even more important than in righteous sect territories.
Righteous sects only casually protected mortals, but demonic sects treated them like currency. Many demonic techniques needed blood, flesh or souls to cultivate, and who better to harvest from than mortals? While demon beasts and other creatures could be used, demonic techniques performed at their best when one utilized their own kind as nourishment.
So every mortal village, town, city or kingdom belonged to someone, and was their farm. The mortals in these territories lived far better than those in righteous sect lands as they were fed well, had easy jobs and were encouraged to procreate more, with wealth flowing through their hands easily from above.
It was just like how a farmer would feed his cows with the best grass, give them continuous injections and medicines to prevent diseases, and employ various methods to guard them from natural predators, all to make sure they were fat for slaughter.
So Li Ling did not dare target any mortal territories he came across, making a beeline for a nearby outer market of the Boundless Joy Sect, the Joyous Number 5 Market.
It was there he would get what he wanted because while mortals were protected heavily in the demonic sect regions, cultivators were down to every man for himself. This was the opposite from righteous sect regions, where mortals were given casual, almost reluctant protection while cultivators were coddled and protected by various rights and laws.