"Luan, was that tremor caused by you?" Catharina asked.

"Yes," Luan replied indifferently.

​​

"What happened?" Maira massaged her shoulders.

"The Nymphs exchanged what we agreed to trade with the government. They are a bunch of fools; do they think the government will be good for them? After they run out of gun ammunition, who will they have to turn to? At least I would have offered them pills that increased their strength permanently, not an unreliable tool," Luan scoffed.

"But initially weren't you offering just a few pills that improved cultivation speed for a few hours?" Maira asked.

"But who said they were bad? Mom, increasing their cultivation means increasing their power permanently. In fact, the pills I offered were even better than the real value of the fruits, I just offered them because it's something rare these days, but that doesn't mean they would benefit just from that, because when I made pills out of fruit, I intended to trade with them. After all, the pills I was offering were to cleanse meridian veins, one of the rarest pills of the Third Order," Luan said indifferently.

He continued, "Yes, the pills I was offering to them at first would have been weaker than what could have been made with the fruit, but even so, using those pills, they would have trained and strengthened themselves, and that would have been a permanent part of their power. But since they decided to act on their own, they better not think about asking me for help if they need it. I will never, never forgive anyone who stabs me in the back like they did."

Maira and the rest were surprised by the way Luan spoke; many of them had never seen him so angry.

"At least the giants are more sensible. They didn't fall for the government's lip service. The government is very good at promising several things and not delivering any. Those nymphs will be made puppets by them and then discarded, mark my words," Catharina said.

"Yes, I misjudged the nymphs. I thought they were smarter, but apparently I was wrong," Luan said coldly.

"But Luan, didn't they do it because they wanted to study our weapons and reproduce them for themselves?" Cristina asked.

"That's impossible. They have at most a thousand nymphs. They would not have the manpower to do that. In fact, the nymphs are bad with machines; it would be astounding if they could use the already made weapons, let alone replicate them," Luan said indifferently.

"If so, they are really dumb." Ingrid shook her head in disappointment.

"There are still other races that might have something useful to trade. Why don't you go talk to them?" Maira asked.

"No, right now I don't have the patience for that. I'm going to get the remaining Monster Cores and increase my strength. If I'm lucky, I'll make it to the Third Order," Luan said.

"For that, it would be nice if I could get your help, Ingrid," Luan told her.

"Oh, how can I help?" Ingrid asked, puzzled.

"My next stage is Blood Refining. If you coordinate with me, it will be easier for me to complete this trial, since you are more sensitive to blood," Luan explained.

To start with, Luan drew a star, together with some ancient words, and on the five points he placed 1 Monster Core of the Third Order.

Sitting in the middle, he said, "Ingrid, put your hand on my back and when you notice something wrong with my blood, use your ability to help me."

"Am I ready for this?" Ingrid was afraid of doing something wrong.

"I believe in you," Luan said sincerely.

Having Luan's confidence, Ingrid felt incredibly assured. She placed both hands on his back and channeled her Qi. When Luan began to meditate with his technique, the star pentagram lit up and the Qi was directed towards Luan. All of the Monster Cores around the pentagram were Third Order Monster Cores. The Qi invading Luan's body was powerful. If he was a little weaker, he would have been destroyed. But in Luan's hands, this Qi had become gentler than a cat.

The Qi danced in Luan's body, but instead of merging with the body, it began to merge with the blood, refining the blood and making the blood become brighter and more powerful. This went on for over 1 hour. Ingrid already had sweat dripping from her forehead, she often had to help Luan control the blood that got out of control. It was a difficult task, but also a revealing one, as she now knew about the Blood Refining process.

In fact, letting someone else help with this was a very intimate thing, as it could uncover more secrets of your partner's body. This proved the degree of confidence and trust Luan had in Ingrid.

Even though she was a layman in the subject of refining, Ingrid was no stranger to understanding blood, so she could manipulate it better. Because the man she loved trusted her so much, it made her excited and eager to help him.

"Stand away!" Luan said hoarsely, and a loud gong sound echoed from Luan's body.

A pillar of White Light headed towards him from miles away, and he successfully entered the stage: Bone Refining, which runs from 1-9.

His blood was brilliant and much more powerful than humans normally had. He was supposed to be at most 80 times stronger by going through this stage, but when he tested his Qi, to his surprise he found it was sometimes stronger.

'So that's the technique: Negative White Dragon Transformation.' Luan was full of complex emotions.NTo be this strong, almost with the strength of the Third Order of Qi, without even being in the Mid-Vince Cleansing Stage, was inconceivable.

'I surpassed my previous self...' If you were to talk about talent, the current one was far superior to his past life. And he didn't even have to sacrifice his Yang to get such power.

"Ingrid, don't waste time. There's still energy in these Monster Cores. Enjoy and sit back and get stronger," Luan said hastily.

"Okay." Ingrid nodded and sat down where Luan had been before.

Ingrid was also in the Qi refining stage, but unlike Luan, hers was more "normal". Hers went up to strength on average 80 times stronger, which was very high. Of course, she was a carrier of the Sea Of Blood; it was no wonder she had such powerful blood.

The absorption of Monster Core Qi in the pentagram was neither fast nor slow. Little by little her strength was increasing bit by bit until the Monster Cores started to show signs of cracking. However, Luan was quick to exchange the cracked ones for 5 Second Order Monster Cores, which would be enough for Ingrid to get past this stage and enter the bone refining stage.

'Her Qi strength is already between 75 and 78 times stronger...' Luan took a deep breath. He also went to her when he saw her trembling. She must have encountered some problem.

In fact, something was trying to keep her from moving forward, but would it succeed? Luan used the Negative Qi, passing through Ingrid's body and erasing that evil Qi that tried to limit Ingrid's cultivation.

Seeing that there was no more trouble, he walked away and waited. 30 minutes later, Ingrid opened her eyes and a sea of ​​blood created a pillar of blood. Her hair advanced and turned red, her lips also turned red from the blood.

Second after second, the blood pillar continued to pile up for a full minute. Then it returned to Ingrid's body, becoming part of her power. She opened her eyes and blinked with joy when she saw Luan. She felt empowered. The strength in her body was overflowing. She felt she could fight a Third Order monster and win.

"Congratulations on your advancement." Luan smiled at her.

"It was all thanks to you. Thank you, Darling." She hugged him.

"Calling me Darling. Is this you trying to seduce me? If so, you have succeeded," Luan said with a mischievous smile.

*

Please read the author's notes down here! s2 ↓↓↓

I started a new novel, and I already have chapters of it stocked, I will post 1 chapter daily: Amon, The Legendary Overlord