The days passed in the blink of an eye. Following practically the same routine since he fell into the Blood Lake Pit, anyone would feel bored or go mad, however, with the presence of the mysterious System, along with the addictive sensation of getting stronger every day, such things did not occur.

The putrid smell present in the Blood Lake and the sight of the bodies decomposing more and more as time passed became routine, and thus no longer disturbed Long Shen's mind, who now felt as comfortable in this environment as in his own home.

Above all this, however, the biggest change in relation to something present there was with that violent and dark energy, which filled the entire pit without leaving space for any significant amount of other energy to enter, preventing him from cultivating spiritual energy.

Shortly after successfully assimilating the System, an idea quickly crossed his mind as he wondered how he could get stronger there; after all, there wasn't even a living being besides him to fully utilize the System, and unfortunately, the longer it had been since a body died, the less chance he had of absorbing something from them.

The answer that emerged in his mind was obvious but risky: cultivate that violent energy, relying on the System's help to prevent an energy deviation due to the contact between his spiritual energy and that dark energy.

His theory was simple: if the System could absorb all the energy from those he killed, then most likely, with its help, he could cultivate any type of energy. Thus, determined to test his theory, he returned to the pit and, sitting in a lotus position, began his cultivation.

As expected, his first attempts were a total failure; the energy was not gentle and calm like the current of a serene river, as was the case with spiritual energy, no! It was like a lightning bolt, powerful and fierce, a force of nature difficult to control, to the point that he would vomit blood whenever he failed and would faint shortly after, narrowly escaping death or severely damaging his cultivation.

After several attempts and a few days, his body gradually adapted to that violent energy, not only absorbing it but also moving it to his spiritual core and circulating it through his spiritual veins.

Boom!!

An explosion of energy occurred around him, wild and fierce, as both of his energies revealed themselves, splitting his body in half. On his left, a reddish energy attempted to dominate his entire body, on his right, a bluish energy tried to defend his side at all costs.

Sigh...

With a sigh of relief after several minutes trying to control them and make them circulate independently throughout his body, Long Shen finally succeeded, both energies retracting into his body, discovering then, in that moment, what that energy truly was.

A reddish energy, which even the smallest mistake could provoke a clash against his spiritual energy, and that, despite its lesser quantity, had considerable natural power, possessing almost half the strength of his other energy that he had been cultivating for months, with a nature so violent and dark.

Feeling that energy coursing through his body for the first time, the first and only thing Long Shen thought, based on his vague memories of the different types of existing energies, was...

"Is this... Demonic energy!?"

The energy formed by methods said to be demonic by many, through deaths, rituals, countless negative feelings, and other methods, with its practitioners being hated and pursued by practically the entire continent.

His first reaction was one of fear, thinking about what could have happened to his body if it hadn't been for the System helping him. However, since that was a success, why should he be afraid of possessing that energy? Of course, if people found out, he could certainly pay a high price for it, but since he no longer planned to follow an orthodox path, it mattered little to him to simply eliminate those people if, in the end, he could gain more power from it.

A subtle smile appeared on his face as he clenched his fist tightly upon feeling that energy in his spiritual veins.

Yeah... This is just the first step to my strengthening.

Thus, the days continued. After waking up, Long Shen explored the various dozens of rooms in the labyrinthine corridors in search of finding something useful or discovering something, and for the rest of the day, he cultivated his internal energy. Until, on his tenth day, something interesting was found...

Burned or destroyed books, cracked and looted chests, artifacts broken into small pieces, paintings and statues violated; not a single useful thing seemed to be intact in that place, unable to discover anything, and whenever he asked the System for help, the answer was obvious:

Ding!

[Sorry, User! System level is lower than the requested information.]

Everything changed when, visiting yet another of the many small libraries he had found, a peculiar book still intact was discovered.

In the midst of that small library with only five large shelves, with cobwebs and dust everywhere and destroyed books piled on top of each other and scattered around, just as Long Shen was about to leave, moldy in the corner of a shelf, buried beneath destroyed books, that book was found.

Curious and excited, he took it and wiped off all the dust covering its cover. "Fingers of Purple Spectral Blade? What kind of book is this?"

As the only book he had found since arriving at that place, Long Shen wasted no time and quickly began to read it over the next few hours.

At first, he only planned to read the beginning and continue later, but he found himself so focused that he even forgot to return to the pit to start cultivating, only breaking his trance after many hours had passed and finally finishing the book.

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Wow... What the hell kind of martial art is this!?

Although it obviously did not compare to the true treasure that place hid, the Death Herald System, that martial art was incredible in itself, within the entire Yushu Kingdom, or perhaps even throughout the Black Star Continent, it would be considered a grand treasure and symbol for most of the existing sects.

Taking the book with him to the pit, where the place was more open, Long Shen spent the next few days without visiting those corridors, only focused on two things: training and cultivating.

The martial arts in the Black Star Continent were divided into six grades: Mortal, Bestial, Golden, Earthly, Legendary, and Transcendent; each of which was further divided into three different levels: Inferior, Intermediate, and Superior.

The martial art that Long Shen spent days diligently studying and training just to understand the basics was extremely special, having few equals according to his knowledge throughout the continent, one capable of evolving, starting at the Golden Inferior grade and evolving up to the Legendary Superior.

Even if it did not evolve and remained stagnant at its grade until the end, it would still be considered one of the best martial arts in the entire Yushu Kingdom.

Thus, absorbing and refining both energies that were within the pit, mostly demonic energy and a lesser amount of spiritual energy, keeping them separate and taking the utmost care, and then spending the rest of the day training the Fingers of Purple Spectral Blade, in a snap of the fingers, 25 days had passed since his fall into the pit, with him only knowing this because of the little ray of light that entered through the hole at the top.

In less than a month, Long Shen had already progressed from the fourth layer to the sixth layer of the Purified Physical Realm, feeling stronger than ever, able to easily smash a large rock into pieces with just a punch, without expending much of his internal energy.

In reality, his physical strength was not only due to his advancement in cultivation but also because of his martial arts training and, above all, the demonic energy, an energy several levels above spiritual energy when it came to sheer power.

Moreover, after countless failed attempts and training, both physical and mental, spending hours and hours of his day reflecting on the teachings from the book and his execution failures, Long Shen finally reached the first stage of the Fingers of Purple Spectral Blade.

From the tip of his right index finger, a purple blade made of energy extended about ten centimeters, allowing the young man to easily pierce and cut through the hard stones of the pit.

Initially, he could only maintain it for a few minutes since it consumed a lot of his internal energy, but even so, it would certainly be useful in many situations.

Despite being pleased with his progress, seeing the rocks sliced in half before him with his attack, Long Shen was far from satisfied. It’s still not enough... Wang Ming must have crossed the barrier into the tenth layer of the Purified Physical Realm and entered the Spiritual Awakening Realm... I still have a long way to go before I can consider myself minimally strong.

The difference between the two realms was as vast as the sky and the earth, primarily because the first realm focused on enhancing the physical attributes of the cultivator, enabling them to withstand the burden of having all their spiritual vessels completely open. The second realm, however, began to open them, giving the cultivator a tremendous boost to their internal energy and overall power at each layer.

...

Hours turned into days, days into weeks, the passage of time felt as rapid and intense as a mighty waterfall.

Filled with a determination he had never known before in his life, yet with a mind as calm as that of a blacksmith crafting his greatest masterpiece, Long Shen cautiously continued his usual routine.

Since he fell into the pit, whether by his own volition or due to everything he had acquired in that time, the young man had undergone a tremendous transformation, slowly transitioning from water to wine, not just in physical and spiritual strength, but, more importantly, in his mind and inner self.

The young man who was once consumed by a thirst for vengeance a month and a half ago was gradually fading away, replaced by someone determined to achieve his revenge while looking beyond it, now possessing logic and reason rather than fervent emotions.

Of course, remnants of his former self still lingered abundantly in his heart, however, through countless reflections in that dark and abandoned pit, having done things to survive that he felt no pride in recalling or even thinking about, Long Shen was becoming someone completely transformed.

Sigh... Finally, I’m halfway to reaching the eighth layer.

With a sigh of relief after finishing his cultivation, he stood up and did some light stretches, shedding all his clothes before diving into the blood lake, a common practice he undertook to gauge how dense the demonic energy remained at the bottom of the pit.

While his mind underwent a lengthy evolution, his physique had already reached full development. Whereas his former weak and nearly emaciated self resembled a dry branch of a tree, his current self stood as an unyielding tree still in constant growth.

Along with his physique, his white hair, which had previously been long, now almost passed their backs even when tied in a ponytail and trimmed weekly to prevent it from becoming a burden.

Splash!!

As he plunged into the lake, a pressure and pang emerged within him, but it was nothing compared to how it felt when he first entered.

Thanks to his internal energy, which he used to envelop his entire body, the blood did not cling much to his skin or hair, to the point that the latter remained almost entirely white despite the crimson surroundings.

Hm... Now that I'm more accustomed to the demonic energy, it seems that it wasn’t as abundant as I previously thought... Perhaps within less than a year, all of it will have been absorbed by me or lost over time.

Just as he was about to open his eyes again and return to the surface, he suddenly sensed something strange. An extremely dense concentration of spiritual energy gathered in a single spot, and even stranger, in the same location, an even denser amount of demonic energy was also concentrated.

Curiosity piqued, Long Shen swam toward where the energy was felt, coming across a skeleton at the bottom of the lake, dressed in a luxurious golden robe, which concealed a small sphere containing all those energies within it.

Huh? Is that a pill? But what kind of pill is capable of containing two opposing energies within it, and in such a state of union that even I have not achieved with the System?

With the pill in hand, the young man exited the blood lake, and after a few minutes had passed, he put on his simple, worn clothes again and resumed a lotus position, observing the pill in his hand.

A completely new energy emanated from the pill—calm yet violent, pure yet tainted—as if the perfect balance had been achieved within that pill, many levels above the equilibrium he had reached within himself.

Without wasting time, Long Shen asked the System if it knew anything about it, receiving a response shortly before he intended to use it.

Ding!

[Originally, this was supposed to be a pill containing a dense amount of spiritual energy, however, after so much time in the blood lake, it was likely contaminated and absorbed the demonic energy within it, reaching such an interesting state of union. What an incredible discovery, User! If you absorb it successfully, you could achieve a similar state within yourself, but exercise great caution, for even the smallest mistake could allow the inner demons to take control!]

An incredible yet dangerous discovery, once again, he would have to take a risk in pursuit of more power, however, he had full confidence in his ability to do so. Thus, without further ado, taking advantage of the fact that he had just cultivated and was at peace in his mind, with the pill in his hands, he swallowed it, closing his eyes and initiating the absorption.

Gulp...