Chapter 149: Blood and Qi

“Even so, having such a start from the very beginning is not bad.”

Aditis accepted the hide, this thought passing through his mind.

When he had divided his soul and descended into this world, he had brought nothing with him except his memories. Moreover, he had only just awakened after fifteen years of slumber. At present, he possessed practically nothing and was merely somewhat stronger than an ordinary person.

Thus, inheriting a tribe and using its strength to protect himself was an excellent arrangement.

Across from him, the old man looked at Aditis, his eyes faintly clouded by the weight of years, as though he had recalled something from the past. He let out a soft sigh, then silently walked away.

After the old man had left, Aditis looked at the hide in his hands. Its material appeared extraordinary, and he immediately unfolded it.

Once the broad, heavy hide had been spread open, there proved to be very little written upon it—only a few strange characters, brief and incomplete.

They were the written language of this world. According to Aditis’s memories, within this tribe, it seemed that only the elder and he, the future chieftain, were qualified to study it.

However, the contents of the hide surprised him.

“It appears to be a method for cultivating the body, and only the most basic portion at that. Is this the system used by this world?”

“And there is also this sense of familiarity.”

Aditis studied the hide in surprise.

With his knowledge and level of insight, he could naturally tell that this was merely a crude cultivation system. Furthermore, because he had once suppressed that Demon God, he had absorbed some of its fragmented memories as well. Among them were naturally records concerning this world and its cultivation system.

Indeed, in order to fully reconstruct this system, Aditis had once sent people to capture demonkin and gather the cultivation methods used by their tribes, then integrated and deduced them himself.

However, because the demonkin had been directly transformed through the Demon God’s aura, their innate conditions were exceptionally strong. They naturally reached the level of a knight upon adulthood, and thus their foundations were inevitably incomplete in certain respects.

“Fortunately, this body has never been cultivated before. I can use it to test this world’s system.”

With that thought in mind, Aditis walked outside and headed toward a certain place.

Avoiding the crowds along the way, he arrived at a region bordering the desert. Only then did he stop and begin to act.

He raised his hand. In his mind, the characters he had just read echoed once more, and then an indescribable sensation swept into his body.

Aditis felt the elemental forces within the world being drawn toward him by his body, gathering little by little. Within him, under the washing of that external power, a faint red force began to take shape. It seemed to resist the foreign energy, growing stronger as it did so.

“This sensation… It uses the body itself to draw in external power, stimulating the bloodline within so that it may resist that power and grow stronger in the process…”

After only a brief moment, Aditis murmured to himself, gaining a profound understanding of the system.

In the next instant, faint traces of red began to appear across his body. A powerful force of blood and vitality surged through him, growing steadily as it continued to contend with the power of the outside world.

His bloodline was awakening.

With a thunderous sound, Aditis began to move.

He shifted lightly, sweeping one arm forward. A powerful burst of wind from his punch rushed ahead, leaving a fist-shaped impression in a withered tree.

A force distinct from battle aura began to rise from Aditis, clear and unmistakable.

If the old man had witnessed this level of power, he would certainly have been astonished, regarding Aditis as a prodigy from the heavens.

Aditis, however, merely frowned.

“My physical strength has increased considerably, but the energy consumed within my body has also grown tremendously. It seems that cultivating in this manner requires many times more expenditure than practicing battle aura.”

“If food supplies are insufficient, forcing oneself to cultivate may not only produce no results but could even lead to death from exhaustion.”

Sensing the consumption within his body, he reached this conclusion.

“With such a level of expenditure, it is no wonder cultivation must wait until adulthood. Aside from those extraordinary races born with powerful bloodlines, no one else could endure it.”

“Moreover, during the cultivation process, there is a faint sense of awkwardness, as though this body is somehow incompatible with it.”

Aditis gazed across the wilderness and recalled some of the information he possessed about this world.

Humans were not the only intelligent race in this world. Above humanity stood a race of demihumans with four arms. In some respects, these demihumans were the true protagonists of this world.

This was only natural. Within the multiverse, the laws governing each world differed, and the races living within them were not necessarily the same. Even among humanity, countless branches existed. Some were weaker than ordinary humans, while others could move mountains and overturn seas, making them true extraordinary races.

The Four-Armed People were one such extraordinary race.

In this world, the Four-Armed People were supreme. Their bodies were naturally powerful, far surpassing those of ordinary humans. Within the imperial family of the Four-Armed People, six-armed individuals were occasionally born. They were the true favored children of heaven in this world.

This cultivation system appeared to have been passed down from among the Four-Armed People. It was therefore fundamentally incompatible with ordinary humans and difficult for them to practice.

For Aditis, however, this posed little difficulty.

After all, his true body had already reached the sixth level, and he had personally suppressed the Demon God born from this world. Naturally, he could alter those aspects that were incompatible with his body.

Aditis’s thoughts shifted. The sensations from his earlier cultivation slowly replayed themselves in his mind, and he gradually modified the portions that did not fit.

Once the modifications were complete, he moved again. His formidable soul drew the elemental forces from the surrounding area, guiding them through his body and using them to awaken the primitive power of his bloodline.

This time, the effect far surpassed the previous attempt.

Faint traces of blood-red once again emerged across his body, swiftly turning him entirely crimson. Within him, subtle changes began to take place simultaneously.

Under the stimulation of that powerful vital force, the bones and flesh within his body began to transform, slowly becoming stronger.

As the external elemental power continuously poured into his body, the vital force that had gathered within him gradually condensed. In the end, it became a single drop of blood glowing with a crimson light before slowly flowing into his heart.

“It seems I have reached my limit.”

Sensing the strain on his body, Aditis slowly stopped.

He frowned. “The vital force has been almost completely consumed, and there is also this intense hunger.”

“It seems that if I wish to continue cultivating, I must have sufficient food to replenish myself.”

At this thought, he shook his head.

Because the origin of this Demon God’s world had been completely plundered, desertification had become extraordinarily severe. Moreover, vast numbers of magical beasts had multiplied throughout the land, making the situation even worse than in the previous world.

Although some living creatures had fortunately survived, the desertification of such enormous regions had left food extremely scarce. The remaining inhabitants could survive only by relying on the few oases that remained.

Thus, for the survivors of this world, an ample supply of food was a luxury.