Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Looking around, all he could see was a tide of red!

The two of them were now in the middle of a Blood Sea.

An Zhisu also steadied her mind, looked around, and said with a frown,

“This place is the ‘Blood Pool’.”

“Senior Sister An, are you saying we were teleported to the twenty-eighth level by the Talisman Scripts?” Ling Yunpo asked in astonishment.

“Yes, if there isn’t a second Blood Sea inside the tower,” An Zhisu summoned Sword Light, circled high in the sky, “Something’s not right.”

“What’s not right?”

“The space of the Blood Sea should be open-air, and the surroundings boundless,” An Zhisu said gravely, “Apprentice brother, look…”

Ling Yunpo looked around and saw that above their heads was not the sky, but ochre-red sandstone, approximately ten zhang high, extending outwards and slowly descending until it met the farthest edge of the water, creating a suffocatingly narrow feeling.

In other words, this place was less of a “sea pool” and more of an enclosed underground lake with a considerable size.

For ordinary people, the danger of an enclosed underground lake lies in the fact that the air above the water is sealed, and the oxygen would quickly be depleted.

But for a cultivator, this is not a problem.

Accompanied by An Zhisu, Ling Yunpo circled around the space above the Blood Sea several times before confirming that there were no openings in the rock walls.

Afterward, the two of them dived into the Blood Sea and circled several times, only to find that there were no living creatures in the sea—it was empty and completely enclosed by sandstone.

There were only about seven Blood Corals, their roots plunging deep into the seabed, their porous tops constantly bubbling as they exhaled bubbles.

Ling Yunpo, looking at those Blood Corals, suddenly said,

“Senior Sister An, do you feel a bit hot?”

“Hot?” An Zhisu was slightly taken aback, then quickly realized something and joyfully said, “That’s great! It’s the purifying force of the Blood Sea trying to enter your body to help with your Marrow Cleansing!”

“Find a place to sit cross-legged, hold your breath, focus your mind, and breathe to refine your Qi, try to guide the Blood Sea Qi around you into your body!”

Hearing this, Ling Yunpo suddenly understood, found a large boulder on the seabed nearby to sit on, crossed his legs, and operated the Supreme Primordial Secret Record Mental Art of Shushan.

Soon, a scorching hot force of extreme yang began to seep into his body from the pores all over his body.

For others, it might only feel warm and comfortable, but Ling Yunpo had eaten four Jade Pond Golden Lotus Seeds after all, and his acupoints were half more open than ordinary people’s, feeling that hot force surge into his meridians aggressively, as if they were trying to ignite every cell in his body.

He felt terribly uncomfortable on his end, feeling sweat pouring down all over his body, which soon mixed with the surrounding blood water, indistinguishable from each other.

To An Zhisu, who was guarding nearby, she only saw dirty turbid water flowing around Apprentice Brother Ling, like black smoke drifting and spreading out.

She knew that it was the turbid Qi residing in the meridians and marrow cavity of her apprentice brother’s body, now being forcibly expelled by the Blood Sea Qi that was being inhaled into the body, so she secretly felt relieved.

After a little more than a moment, she saw that the flow of dirty water had not yet ceased, still slowly seeping from the pores of Apprentice Brother Ling, which made An Zhisu start to feel anxious again.

Ordinary cultivators at the Marrow Cleansing Rank who absorb Blood Sea Qi for Marrow Cleansing would stop after at most a quarter of an hour, which could shorten the overall duration of the Marrow Cleansing phase to about forty percent of its original length.

As for the remaining turbid Qi, it mostly remains in narrow and hidden areas such as the end of the spinal cord and the back of the skull, where Blood Sea Qi is difficult to reach, and they have to be slowly grinded away using their True Qi.

But Ling Yunpo had already exceeded a quarter of an hour, and the process of Marrow Cleansing and expelling turbidity had not yet stopped. It was either because he naturally had more open acupoints and stronger meridians, allowing him to absorb more Blood Sea Qi, or because there was too much turbid Qi inside his body, making it difficult to expel completely, therefore slowing down the process…

An Zhisu was truly anxious, not knowing what to do, so she could only walk around the meditating Ling Yunpo back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth again.

Almost half an hour had passed, and the Blood Sea Qi within Ling Yunpo’s body finally reached saturation.

To be precise, due to his “Innate Sword Bone” talent, his meridians were unobstructed, and impure qi could hardly linger.

In several marrow cavities where ordinary people’s True Qi could not enter, he forcefully infused them with Blood Sea Qi, purging all impurities and turbid qi.

At last, Ling Yunpo opened his eyes, his pupils bright and clear, his skin translucent.

He had successfully broken through to the Marrow Cleansing Rank and entered the Refining Mansion Rank!

“Senior Sister, I’ve had a breakthrough,” Ling Yunpo said as he opened his eyes, and just as he spoke, he saw Senior Sister An pouncing toward him and tightly embracing her junior brother.

“That’s great, I’m so glad you’re okay…” She hugged her junior brother as if a great burden had been lifted, unwilling to let go, and murmured.

Meanwhile, she reached to wipe tears from the corner of her eyes, forgetting that she was in the midst of the Blood Sea, where her tears dispersed as soon as they fell.

Ling Yunpo was both amused and helpless, only able to carefully extend his hand and gently pat her back a few times, offering comfort.

Senior Sister An had many virtues, she was strong, considerate, and protective, but she was also overly sensitive.

Any slight mishap with him would make her anxious and overreact;

And once she was sure everything was fine, she couldn’t help but shed tears, crying from joy… it was indeed an excess of genuine emotion.

Speaking of “genuine emotion,” Ling Yunpo recalled that Senior Sister An had once said that she also cultivated the Sentiment Inquiry Path.

Thinking of this, his heart softened, and he reciprocated by hugging Senior Sister An in return.

The two of them nestled against each other tenderly for a moment, until An Zhisu finally let him go, choking up as she said,

“I thought you… Nevermind, it’s good that you’re fine.”

“Why do you underestimate me so much, Senior Sister?” Ling Yunpo said teasingly, “How could anything go wrong with this mere Blood Sea?”

“Let’s not talk about that now,” An Zhisu said with a smile, “There is no exit in this eerie Blood Sea, we might need to pick a direction and dig a tunnel through the sandstone.”

“No need to dig any tunnels.” Ling Yunpo took out the Godspeed Talisman, and said earnestly, “It was this talisman script that suddenly activated and teleported us here.”

“That means we just need to activate it again to teleport us to the next location—though where exactly that might be is unknown.”

After pondering for a moment, An Zhisu said,

“In that case, let’s use the talisman.”

“Inside the Demon Locking Tower, many spaces are not physically interconnected. Simply moving in one direction may not break through the spatial barriers, so it’s better to rely on this talisman for teleportation.”

“Mm.” Ling Yunpo nodded, and said, “Hold on to me tightly, Senior Sister, I’m going to activate the talisman script.”

“Alright.” An Zhisu blushed slightly, but still moved closer, gently taking her junior brother’s hand.

They had already embraced, so holding hands was not a difficulty.

Ling Yunpo activated the Godspeed Talisman once more, and the two of them felt the world spin before their vision gradually stabilized.

This place was shrouded in dense fog, with the fog sprawling everywhere, so thick that they could scarcely see their own fingers in front of them, and the clear water underfoot reached up to their knees.

“This place…” An Zhisu said uncertainly, “seems to be the ‘Cloud Sea Realm’?”