Chapter 526: Chapter 526

The Manual was placed right next to the Slaughtering Moon Blood Baptism Art, as though they were meant to be studied together. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel⚑fire.net

The manual was titled The Moon Slaughter Arts.

The binding was darker than the rest, made of thick, treated hide with blood-colored stitches running along the spine. Its edges seemed faintly warm to the touch, as though it still retained traces of energy from the one who last used it.

Han Yu could feel something emanating from the text even before he began reading... a faint hum of killing intent, subtle but unmistakable.

When he opened it, several names immediately caught his eye.

There were five techniques recorded within: Darklight Burst, Slaughter Mince Spiral, Slaughtering Blood Bolts, Blood Wave Crash, and Flesh Devouring Blood Sea.

Han Yu's brow furrowed as he read the first two names again. He recognized them.

"Darklight Burst… and Slaughter Mince Spiral…" he murmured quietly, his fingers brushing over the inked symbols.

He had seen Ju Fan use these very techniques during their battle.

The Darklight Burst had been the one that nearly blinded him and thrown him away. It was a sphere of black and red light that exploded with deadly force, carrying a fragment of spiritual destruction within it.

The Slaughter Mince Spiral, on the other hand, was the vicious spinning attack Ju Fan had used toward the end of the fight, compressing his Qi into a spiral that tore through the air like a living blade.

Seeing their names written here only confirmed what he had suspected earlier: this was indeed Ju Fan's personal skill set, and perhaps the standard set of techniques used by the outer disciples of the Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect.

Han Yu continued reading carefully.

The text described each technique in vivid detail, listing the required amount of Qi, the movements needed, and the internal circulation pattern that enabled each skill to manifest.

The last three, the Slaughtering Blood Bolts, Blood Wave Crash, and Flesh Devouring Blood Sea, were clearly more advanced. Their diagrams were far more complex, with annotations written in tight, slanted script that Han Yu could barely decipher.

From what he could gather, the Slaughtering Blood Bolts allowed the cultivator to fire condensed projectiles of Blood Qi capable of piercing spiritual defenses.

The Blood Wave Crash was a powerful area attack that consumed one's vitality and Blood Moon Qi to unleash a massive surge of blood energy in every direction, drowning the battlefield in destructive power.

And the final technique, Flesh Devouring Blood Sea, was terrifying even to read. It was a forbidden skill that transformed the user's blood qi into a corrosive tide capable of devouring life force itself.

"So strong..." Han Yu set the scroll down for a moment, frowning.

The very existence of such a skill spoke volumes about the sect that had created it.

The Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect clearly followed a philosophy rooted in brutality and sacrifice. To them, blood was not just a source of life... it was a weapon, a medium of control, and a means of worship.

Still, if he was to pass as one of them, he would have to understand and possibly even use these same techniques. He could not afford to appear ignorant of the sect's foundation arts, especially if he ended up meeting another member.

He sighed quietly, glancing up toward the canopy where faint beams of pale light filtered through the mist. The air was cool against his skin, and he could feel the faint pulse of Blood Qi still flowing within him from his earlier cultivation.

It was clear that the Moon Slaughter Arts required mastery of the Slaughtering Moon Blood Baptism Art as a prerequisite.

Without the proper Qi, none of the skills would function correctly. That meant he had to focus on perfecting the first manual before moving on.

He could only sigh again, slightly exasperated but also determined.

"I suppose that was expected."

At least, he thought, he had time. Whoever Ju Fan had been reporting to would likely take some time to reach out, and until then, Han Yu could prepare. He would learn their ways, their energy patterns, and perhaps even how they communicated.

He sat cross-legged once again and began rereading the Slaughtering Moon Blood Baptism Art, carefully memorizing each mnemonic phrase.

The script was complex, with intricate diagrams that mapped out the body's internal meridian flow, but Han Yu had a good memory and quickly committed the first few sequences to heart.

He closed his eyes, adjusted his breathing, and began circulating his Qi as the manual instructed.

The energy moved in unfamiliar paths, forming loops and spirals that overlapped through his dantian and spread to his limbs. It felt strange at first, like forcing water through a narrow pipe, but with time, the flow began to stabilize.

As the cycles continued, Han Yu could feel a transformation taking place within him.

The once clear and attribute-less Qi that flowed through his meridians began to darken. It turned faintly red, taking on a liquid-like texture that seemed heavier and denser than before. The sensation was both alien and fascinating.

Hours passed quietly.

By the time Han Yu opened his eyes again, the faint glow of the forest had dimmed further, replaced by a deeper, reddish hue that seemed to echo his own transformation. His veins pulsed faintly beneath his skin, and when he looked at his hands, he could see a subtle red aura emanating from his fingertips.

He could feel it... his Qi had changed.

It was no longer the same neutral energy he had once cultivated. It was thicker, darker, infused with something primal.

He checked his dantian carefully. His spiritual core remained the same translucent white that most cultivators possessed, but the Qi that circulated around it was now a swirling crimson.

The manual had said that this was only the first stage, the formation of the Basic Blood Qi.

The true practitioners of the art would eventually refine this into Blood Moon Qi, a far more potent and stable form that required both Slaughtered Moon Qi and Moon Blood Crystals.