Ze Tian Ji

The method was not mentioned in the three thousand scriptures of the Dao. There was no record of it in the medical arts. No one had ever used this method before. Upon hearing it, it seemed crazy, completely bereft of logic. But the more he thought about it, the more ardently he believed this method to be of some use. If his guess was correct, it was just as Xu Yourong had said... as long as he did not want anyone to die, it would be very difficult for them to do so.

However, it was not a given that it would work, and his senior would definitely be against it were he present.

He did not spend much time thinking it through before explaining to her in a grave tone of voice, "In a little while, I will be using a certain method. I’m telling you in advance so that, hopefully, when the time comes, you won’t be too shocked."

Seeing his clear and bright eyes, Xu Yourong also grew more serious and asked, "What method?"

She was not afraid of death, which was why she could express such indifference. In spite of this, when seeing a glimmer of hope in the depths of despair, anyone would feel antsy. It could no longer be treated as a trifling matter, but she remained cautious.

"Do you know how to cure a dead horse?" Chen Changsheng smiled at her and said.

This was a famous proverb. She thought that he was using it here as a joke, so she helplessly looked back at him and thought to herself, I already told you so many times. You’re not good at making jokes. Why bother embarrassing yourself like this?

"You cure a dead horse by treating it as you would a living horse. You have no blood, so I just have to give you my blood."

(TN: 死马当活马, "treat a dead horse as a live horse", is a Chinese proverb that means "to do everything that is possible".)

Chen Changsheng began to roll up his sleeve. Rolling it up halfway, he realized that the rolled-up cuffs were a hindrance, so he decided it would be better to just take his shirt off.

Many days ago, because he was afraid that Xu Yourong would get cold, his outer garment had been draped over her body this entire time. He was only wearing a tight-fitting shirt, which was very easy to take off. He immediately took it off and proceeded to grip his dagger, preparing to cut at his wrist.

A hand grabbed onto his left wrist, blocking the dagger edge from proceeding.

"You... want to give me your blood?"

She stared into his eyes and sternly said, "Although I’ve never told you that my blood is different from a normal person’s, you also know that the blood of those monsters we caught on the way were of no use, so what need is there to keep trying?"

Chen Changsheng looked back at her. "It’s exactly because I got too caught up in this line of thinking that I forgot about something."

"Forgot what?" she asked.

Chen Changsheng replied, "I’m not a monster, and my blood is not of monsters."

The edges of Xu Yourong’s lips perked up in a mocking smile—she was not making fun of Chen Changsheng’s wishful thinking, but she was mocking herself. The true blood of the Heavenly Phoenix that flowed within her veins was the source of all her power and glory, yet now that she had lost almost all of it, she realized that it had transformed from her pride into the reason for her imminent death!

Chen Changsheng’s blood was naturally not the same as a monster’s, but how could the blood of a normal human being be a substitute for the true blood of the Heavenly Phoenix?

A cry of surprise rang out through the mausoleum.

Chen Changsheng cared not for her desires. He threw her hand aside and slit his wrist with the dagger.

In the cold world within the well by the New North Bridge, he had bathed in dragon blood, a bath more flawless than even the most flawless purification. From this, he obtained unimaginable strength and speed and an even more unimaginably powerful body. It was only by relying on these properties that he was able to defeat so many young geniuses in the continuous duels of the Grand Examination and finally obtain the first rank of the first banner.

If it was a normal weapon, or even some of the divine weapons on the Tier of Legendary Weapons, even if in his hands, they would find it very difficult to break through his skin. In the ambush by the lakeshore, the two powerful demon beauties had at the final moment almost shattered his internal organs, but they had still been unable to leave a single wound on his body. This was all because of his powerful body.

However, the dagger in his hands could.

The dagger was gifted to him by Senior Yu Ren when he was leaving Xining Village’s old temple. It seemed exceptionally ordinary and unremarkable. It was not famous in the world, much less on the Tier of Legendary Weapons, but Chen Changsheng had never seen a sharper blade. Whether it was Tang Thirty-Six’s Wenshui Sword or the Mount Li Relic Sword on Qi Jian’s waist, none of them were as sharp as this dagger.

With a soft swish, a straight red line appeared on his wrist, and then that line began to split apart before his eyes. Blood rushed out of the wound and seemed almost about to spill onto the floor.

He had already placed the sheath below it.

Without a sound, his blood slowly flowed into the sheath.

"Just what are you planning to do?" Xu Yourong was very angry because he was not listening to her. Because he was so stubborn.

Then, she smelled a very faint scent.

It was a very strange scent, lighter than the lightest fragrance of a flower and denser than the strongest perfume.

After the initial whiff of that scent, it went through countless changes. Dense, then light. Clear, then rich.

Sometimes, it was the fragrance of a flower, and then sometimes it was like honey. Sometimes it was like unripe fruit freshly picked from the garden already possessing its own odor.

Just what was that smell?

She looked at Chen Changsheng’s wrist and confirmed that the smell was coming from his blood.

The more Chen Changsheng bled, the stronger that scent grew.

As time passed, she could feel it all the more.

It was the most sinister allure, and also the purest sweetness.

The most ancient and the most new.

Wondrous beyond compare.

It was the extremely complex and vivid odor of life.

It was an unimaginably powerful vitality.

Xu Yourong stared at Chen Changsheng, so shocked that she could not get the words out of her mouth. Not even Zhou Dufu’s mausoleum could give her such a massive shock... Just what is this blood? Just what sort of person are you? Are you... human?

As she was thinking about these things, she fell unconscious.

It was not that this scene before her and the smell of the blood was too much to cope with, but that Chen Changsheng had quietly thrust a needle into her Hegu point prior to this.

(TN: The Hegu point is an acupuncture point located on the hand.)

When he explained the method he was going to use to save her, it was just to tell her. It did not mean that he wanted her to see him do it. In order to let her maintain a calm state of mind, making her fall unconscious was the best choice. In the same vein, this also ensured that she would not disturb the proceedings. It must be known that every drop of his blood was extremely precious.

Most importantly, he did not know how she would react once she smelled his blood.

Time slowly passed and the blood flowing from his wrist gradually stagnated, and the wound slowly closed up. He had never done this sort of thing before, nor did he know if the blood in the sheath was enough. In order to ensure that he would have enough for this purpose, he resolutely took up his dagger and opened up the wound once more, even going a bit deeper... it hurt a little, but it was not so much that he could not bear it.

He repeated this scene four times.

Blood unendingly flowed from his wrist into the sheath.

After a very long time, he thought to himself, this should be enough right?

Suddenly, the scene before his eyes blurred.

Could it be that he was sickened by the sight of blood? This had never happened before. After a while, his mind cleared somewhat, and he understood that this was not getting sick from the sight of blood, nor was it anxiety brought about by hunger. The reason for this situation was because he had lost too much blood.

The next task was to infuse this blood into her body.

He tied a piece of cloth tightly over the wound on his wrist to ensure that it would not get in the way, and also to prevent any more blood from trickling out. Then he walked over to Xu Yourong’s side, untied the front lapel of her clothes, and exposed her pure white neck and smooth shoulder. The fingers of his left hand lightly stroked her skin while the dagger in his right hand slowly followed.

An abnormally feeble vibration that could not be described as clear, much less robust, was transmitted from her skin to his fingers.

This was the place.

He lowered his dagger over that spot and, with a tiny amount of strength, thrust it inwards.