Golden blood wasn’t actually boiling, but when Ray entered it, he suffered searing pain. The blood prickled at his skin. It was like he was bound tightly by spicy thorns.

He wondered if he was going to become parched meat in this bloody pool.

Ray recalled a body quenching technique from the memories of the red-robed youngster — Geisha. It was a technique that used the blood essence to quench the mortal body. It included tempering skin, injecting the blood through pores, tempering muscles and bones.

Steps, procedures, and caveats were explained quite detailedly.

Ray began quenching his body. Golden blood swirled around him, entering his body through skin pores. It cleansed and remolded his body like he was a piece of metal that was to be forged in a furnace.

The process was excruciatingly painful. Ray gritted and wheezed through it.

Luckily, though the golden blood was of extremely high grade, it was not highly concentrated. It was prepared just right for an upstart cultivator. It seemed the old ghost had prepared this to improve the constitution of the possessed body.

It ended up helping him instead.

Soon, he started to feel the changes in his body. In his bones, flesh, tendons… a strength — the strength he couldn’t find in his body for the past four years — started to course through his body.

Strangely though, there was no pain. Instead, a wave of relief and bliss washed over him. Every part of his body quivered in joy.

Ray wished he could be in that state forever. But nothing lasts forever. The bubbling of the blood dwindled. Swirling stopped. The hot blood was now cold.

Ray opened his eyes to see the golden blood was no more to be seen; it was yellowish water around him.

Sighing, Ray emerged out of the pool and took a good look at his body. He seemed to have gotten fairer. And his body… all his flesh bound tightly to his bones and skin to the flesh. There were vague outlines of muscles. While it was still not meaty and muscular, it was not scrawny anymore. It exuded a unique charm.

He clenched his fists and felt the power it packed. Finally some strength in my bony body.

How many attempts had he done to feel it? Lifting stones, running around the forest, practicing martial moments… all for what? Everything to feel this strength.

Now, here it was. And Ray swore to turn this tiny wisp of this strength into an endless raging storm.

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He picked up the robe and pulled himself into it. He shuffled to the altar and picked up the treasures. And finally, he stopped before Geisha’s corpse. Through Geisha’s memories, he knew what had happened.

Geisha was an assassin apprentice at Blood Gate which ruled the area around. He had come here to watch over Eiran by the orders of Blood Gate. He was to put Eiran in his leashes, but being the corrupt one, Geisha agreed to look the other way at the cost of a few spirit grains.

But in the midway, knowing that Eiran is here on a treasure hunt, his greed kicked in. While maintaining an aloof front, he did his work in the dark and managed to find a rat. Through it, he found Ray was close to Dada. Since then, Geisha kept his tabs on him.

Ray had to acknowledge that Geisha was smart. Smarter than Eiran. But it only pushed him to death.

Had Ray known things have gone the way they had, he would’ve lured Eiran here. What a pity!

Ray took the mask and touched Geisha’s corpse with it. As expected, the colors on the visard began to swirl. And Geisha’s face emerged!

Ray’s eyes glinted with excitement. With this face, he could avenge Dada.

Without delay, he put on the mask and began to move to the pool with the torch in his hand. But—

When he put on the mask, black and white lights exploded from the mask and shrouded his body. They began to swirl around him. And when they receded, Ray felt he grew a head taller and gained three stones of weight at least.

His eyes widened in shock. What’s this all about?

He swung his hands around to feel the strength of the muscular body. But… he didn’t feel any more strength than he already had.

Ray got confused. But when he saw his reflection in the yellowish water pool under the torchlight, he froze.

He looked… exactly like Geisha!

Not just face. Height, weight, complexion and even the temperament are the same!

When he had come to his senses from the shock, he couldn’t help but marvel at the visard. Treasure! A priceless treasure!

He had been considering stuffing his robes and adding some thickness to his moccasins to look like Geisha, but now he didn’t have to.

He was Geisha now. Ray was sure even Geisha’s mother couldn’t differentiate.

Brimming with confidence, Ray collected a ring from Geisha’s corpse. From Geisha’s memory, he knew it was a space ring where all his treasures had been stored.

Too bad he needed spiritual energy — chi — to activate it. Though he had quenched and remolded his body, he still couldn’t awaken his spirit. The blood that used to quench the body and the blood he needed to awaken his spirit were essentially different.

To awaken his spirit, he needed blood essence that suited his spirit: the blood of beasts from draconic pedigree and basaltic turtle pedigree.

When he gets his hands on them, he could cultivate.

After wearing the ring, he started to disrobe the Geisha’s corpse. If he wanted to assume Geisha’s appearance, he had to look like Geisha in every sense, including clothes.

Geisha’s body was cold as ice. Ray felt repulsive as he removed his robes. Bile rose to his throat. But nonetheless, he persisted.

By the time he walked out of the cave, he was Geisha. There was no shade of Ray on him.

On his way back, Ray felt a welter of emotions. The journey… it had been quite an adventure. So many variables had been at play. The old ghost and Geisha… no matter which one he was up against, he would’ve died. And yet, by the end of the day, they had died and he lived.

He still didn’t know how did the old ghost die. He couldn’t fathom what had occurred when he was unconscious.

‘An unbelievably stupendous stroke of luck,’ he called it.

He expected it would be either hell or high water. But he experienced both. He trod from hell to high water.

He ran back on foot. After going through the body quenching, he was far stronger than any animal without cultivation. Also, he wanted to run and experience strength.

Throughout the journey, he carefully recalled Geisha’s habits, bearing and all; and he began to practice to make them his own.

Also, he hatched several plans to send Eiran to his maker. He considered all the possibilities and performed simulations in his mind.

He was forging a knife and Eiran wouldn’t see it until it was nailed into his throat.