The Ancestral Library of the Ye Clan was a place of silence and wisdom, but tonight, it smelled of iron and ozone. Ye Lin, the fallen genius, watched with trembling eyes as the servant she once barely noticed moved with the grace of an ancient monarch.
"Han... that ice... it was a Grade 3 Poison," she whispered, clutching her arm which was now free of frost but still pale. "How did you...?"
"Questions are for the living, and you are only halfway there," Shen Yuan cut her off. He didn't look at her. His eyes were scanning the herb cabinets, his mind discarding ninety percent of the contents as 'useless weeds'.
He grabbed a handful of Ghost-Face Grass and some Bone-Chilling Cold Jade. Then, he turned to the corpse of the azure-armored cultivator he had just slain.
"Young Master," Shen Yuan called out without turning. "If you want to be useful, bring me the heart of that man. And don't spill too much of his blood. It's the most valuable thing in this room."
Ye Fan turned pale, his stomach churning. "You... you want me to do what? That's demonic! That's—"
"That's your survival," Shen Yuan's voice was a low growl that vibrated in the air. "Every second you waste, the next wave of killers gets closer. Do it. Now."
With shaking hands and a sob of terror, Ye Fan obeyed.
Shen Yuan didn't use a cauldron. He didn't have the luxury. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the floor, placing the herbs and the heart in a circle around him. He bit his own finger, drawing a drop of his dark, tainted blood and flicking it into the center.
"[Forbidden Art: Heart-Vessel Alchemy]"
A dark purple flame ignited in mid-air. It didn't give off heat; instead, it seemed to suck the warmth out of the room. The blood of the fallen soldier began to flow toward the flame, defying gravity, weaving into a sphere of liquid ruby.
Ye Lin watched in horror and fascination. "You are using a human catalyst... This is the art of the heretics from the Southern Wastelands!"
"The heretics were fools," Shen Yuan sneered, his forehead beaded with sweat as he forced his weak soul to stabilize the flame. "They used blood for sacrifice. I use it for its essence. Life is just energy, and I am merely reclaiming what the heavens wasted on this trash."
The herbs dissolved into the blood sphere. The library groaned as the spiritual energy in the air was forcibly dragged into the center of the flame. The 'Blood-Ruby' began to shrink, compressing until it was the size of a marble, glowing with a sinister, pulsing light.
Crack.
The floor beneath Shen Yuan cracked from the sheer pressure.
"Done," Shen Yuan exhaled, the purple flames vanishing. In his palm lay a pill that looked like a beating heart, small and terrifyingly potent. [The Blood-Spirit Restoration Pill].
He swallowed it without hesitation.
Immediately, his face turned a violent shade of red. His veins bulged like snakes under his skin. A muffled explosion echoed from within his chest—the sound of his clogged meridians being forcefully blown open by the raw, violent energy of the pill.
"Arrgh!" Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, his eyes turning entirely black.
The impurities in his body were expelled through his pores in a mist of black, foul-smelling vapor. His weak, servant's frame began to tighten, his muscles becoming lean and coiled like a predator's.
A shockwave of Qi erupted from him, blowing back the scattered scrolls and making Ye Lin shield her eyes.
"1st Layer of Qi Condensation..." Ye Lin murmured, sensing his aura. "No... the quality of his Qi... it feels like the 5th Layer! How can a servant's body withstand such a violent breakthrough?"
Shen Yuan stood up, his movements fluid and silent. He felt the familiar hum of power—tiny, compared to his past life, but enough. His skin was now fair, his eyes sharper, and the aura of 'death' around him had intensified.
"The 1st Layer," Shen Yuan muttered, dissatisfied. "Pathetic. But it will suffice to slaughter the rest of the rats in this manor."
He turned to Ye Lin and Ye Fan.
"The main gate is blocked by the Lin family's elders. We aren't going that way."
"Then where?" Ye Fan asked, looking at the servant who now felt like an emperor.
Shen Yuan looked toward the shadow-drenched mountains behind the estate.
"We are going to the Black Spirit Forest. They think they are hunting us. They don't realize I'm just leading them to their graveyard."