As Feng Zikang stepped onto the ancient battlefield, he was immediately struck by an almost tangible wave of killing intent so fierce it stung his face. He inwardly marveled, yet strode forward resolutely. Ye Tiansheng had instructed him that although the battlefield was vast, the killing aura was strongest at the very center, which was the most suitable place to cultivate the Military Qi Refining Art.
The two outer disciples initially followed him, but having paid a considerable sum for their cultivation time, they could not bear to waste it watching him press onward. Midway through, they settled cross-legged, beginning to guide their own practices.
The Songling Ancient Battlefield was rumored to be the site of the life-or-death struggle between the states of Wu and Yue a thousand years prior. In that battle, the Yue army invaded Wu with its entire force; Wu resisted fiercely, and the final, decisive clash occurred right here beneath Dragon-Tiger Mountain. A million soldiers were entangled in mortal combat for half a month, resulting in over four hundred thousand casualties. The two ends of the battlefield were long, narrow valley mouths, while the interior opened into a broad plain, the center of which lay precisely in the middle of that plain.
“What potent Blighted Killing Aura!”
At the heart of the battlefield floated a tattered military banner. Beneath it lay a broken bronze halberd, half of its shaft already buried by sand, exposing only its still-sharp hook.
This was the nexus of the battle formation. A millennium ago, armies clashed here; within this very circle, countless brave men shed their blood, and countless heads were severed.
Even now, a thousand years later, the murderous energy still soared toward the heavens!
Feng Zikang found his position, sat down cross-legged, and quietly recited the Military Qi Invocation incantation. He immediately felt the surrounding air seize up.
In an instant, the surrounding killing aura seemed to explode with tenfold ferocity, rushing toward every pore and acupoint throughout Feng Zikang’s limbs and bones as if driven mad!
“Hmph!”
In less than a breath, Feng Zikang’s body inflated like a giant leather ball. His face turned beet-red, and blood began to seep from his ears and nostrils!
What was happening?
Feng Zikang felt as if he had become an infinite vortex, drawing in all the surrounding killing aura. Regardless of his body nearing its breaking point, the energy aggressively forced its way into his meridians.
Cold sweat drenched his brow. Ye Tiansheng had never mentioned this anomaly!
What should he do?
If this absorption continued, in the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, he would burst like a popped balloon, shattering into pieces with no remains left!
“How is this possible? How?”
How could a body that had never cultivated before emit such immense suction power? Feng Zikang’s mind raced, desperately seeking the cause of this bizarre situation.
Feng Zikang’s body reached its absolute limit; his skin began to crack, blossoming into crimson specks. He could even hear the agonizing groans of his own bones.
“That’s it! That’s the reason!”
The killing aura continued to flood his meridians fiercely, stretching the Twelve Primary Channels to their extreme, and was now beginning to impact the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. At this precise moment, Feng Zikang found the cause.
The reason was his previous brief possession by the Military Giant, General Lu. Though momentary, General Lu’s experience and techniques in military qi refinement had largely been imprinted upon his Celestial Demon Divine Consciousness. When Feng Zikang reactivated the Military Qi Invocation method, his body naturally employed General Lu’s expertise.
How formidable was the absorption capacity of a Military expert at the Tribulation Stage? Though he couldn't fully utilize it, it generated an astonishing effect here in the cultivation grounds for initial disciples. In mere moments, Feng Zikang had nearly vacuumed the killing aura from the center of the battlefield dry!
“Damn it!”
At any other time, discovering these benefits from possessing General Lu would have been entirely advantageous for Feng Zikang. At the very least, when cultivating Military Dao arts, he could naturally infer and extrapolate, progressing ten times faster than others was no exaggeration.
But now, this ravenous absorption capacity paired with his undeveloped, fragile body amounted to suicide!
“Crack, crack!”
The killing aura, forcibly surging into the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, brutally scoured Feng Zikang’s body, causing him unbearable pain.
Gritting his teeth, he reached into his robes, pulled out a Genesis Pill, painfully dispensed one, and placed it in his mouth. He had to stop the physical dissolution first, no matter what.
“At this point, there is only one way!”
His fragile flesh certainly could not absorb such a massive quantity of killing aura, nor did he possess any treasure capable of neutralizing its savage nature. The cultivation technique operated automatically, and he could not halt the ceaseless influx of the killing energy. However, deep within him existed something capable of infinitely absorbing any type of spiritual energy.
The Demon Seed.
He had no idea what complications might arise from allowing it to devour energy before the Seeding process was complete, but given the circumstances, this was the sole solution.
All of Feng Zikang’s meridians had been violently torn open; the next things to shred would be his flesh and blood!
He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and strained to guide the rampant killing aura toward the Demon Seed, currently residing an inch above his brow!
The howling killing aura raged within him, but upon entering the Demon Seed, it immediately vanished without a sound, as if completely annihilated. The Demon Seed remained the same dull, grayish color, showing no change whatsoever.
“It worked!”
Feng Zikang’s heart settled. The endlessly growing Demon Seed, capable of infinite consumption, cared nothing for this mere killing aura. If so, he would simply channel all this wild killing energy that he was too fortunate to absorb into the Demon Seed!
Centered on Feng Zikang, the killing aura formed a colossal vortex, continuously pouring into the body of this novice practitioner just beginning to enter the Qi Induction stage. Meanwhile, Feng Zikang’s expression gradually calmed, and his previously distended body slowly returned to normal. The internal damage to his meridians began to mend under the effect of the Genesis Pill.
Under his conscious guidance, a massive amount of killing aura surged into the Demon Seed, and its color gradually deepened, transitioning from gray to an immaculate black.
The Demon Seed’s position also slowly descended, enveloped by the killing aura: from the glabella, down to the philtrum, then the throat, and finally the Qi Sea.
It gradually stabilized within the lower abdomen, the Dantian.
As Qi Induction into the body succeeded, the first stage of Demon Seeding in the Dantian was simultaneously completed!
Feng Zikang suddenly snapped his eyes open. His jet-black pupils glittered with a strange, demonic light, identical in hue to the profound Demon Seed!
“Senior Brother Zou, do you feel... that the killing aura today seems... a bit low?”
The outer disciples, having paid two spirit stones for a night’s cultivation opportunity on the ancient battlefield, sat absorbing the energy for half the day only to wonder why their results were so poor.
“It was fine when we first came in, but why did it suddenly...”
Senior Brother Zou sighed mournfully. If the killing aura stayed at this level, the two spirit stones gifted to Huo Zhongguang would feel like a waste.
“Damn this bad luck!”
They could never have imagined that the killing aura of an entire ancient battlefield had just been mostly absorbed by a youth barely beginning the Qi Induction stage.