With a smile, she placed her hand on the Blood Essence Stone, and instantly the stone's light seemed to transform into several tangible threads, penetrating Li Ying's black robe, connecting into her body.

Thud!

Li Ying seemed to hear the pulse of the Blood Essence Stone, and with each beat, she felt something streaming into her body and rapidly flowing throughout her entire being.

She felt her body rejoicing, her spirit dancing, her eyes cleansed, her ears hollowed, and even her bones felt lighter.

"All done."

The red glow dispersed as Smile let go of her hand, "How does it feel?"

Li Ying stared blankly at her own hand, then gently swiped at the ceiling.

The ceiling was scarred with three marks as if a monster had clawed it, and scattered debris dropped all over the place.

No explosion of light, no warning, no contact.

An explosion of light can be countered with another explosion of light; fists, blades, and swords can be resisted with fists; but how does one defend against this almost intangible attack? How can one evade it?

Even Le Yu, who harbored doubts, had to admit at this moment: in this world setting of Radiance, such invisible strikes indeed qualify as an Immortal Technique.

Smile said: "If possible, please refrain from making such large moves during experiments, or else we will have to change places again."

"Yes." Li Ying licked the back of her hand and nodded.

Smile glanced at her, and for some reason, remained silent for a long moment before waving her hand and said: "Then begin offering up Primordial Spirit. You, enchantress, start first. Put forth some effort and strive to advance to a third-tier deacon."

Li Ying asked: "So what does it take to advance to a third-tier deacon?"

"A third-tier deacon requires you to exchange two drops of Immortal Blood, which is six hundred units of Primordial Spirit. Introducing ten newcomers allows you to advance to a fourth-tier disciple as a newbie benefit, but it ends there, so you must sincerely gather a full six hundred units of Primordial Spirit, though you can continue introducing newcomers as well."

Smile languidly said: "Each time you offer tribute, you can gain three units of Primordial Spirit. Each newcomer you bring will provide you with two units, and half a unit from each person belongs collectively to all fourth-tier disciples… Thus, although six hundred seems like a large number, within ten gatherings, you should be able to gather them all."

Ming Shuangli asked: "Then how many units of Primordial Spirit are needed for a third-tier deacon to be promoted to a second-tier Protector, and for a second-tier Protector to ascend to the rank of a first-tier True Human?"

Smile: "A deacon rising to a Protector requires four drops of Immortal Blood, a total of twelve hundred units; for a Protector to advance to True Human requires eight drops of Immortal Blood, a total of twenty-four hundred units. With each step towards complete transcendence, the consumption of Immortal Blood increases."

Li Ying asked: "Then for the fifth time taking Immortal Blood, should it be sixteen drops, meaning four thousand eight hundred units in total?"

"In theory, yes." Smile said honestly: "But the amount needed for the final step far exceeds the first four steps. I've already taken more than sixteen drops of Immortal Blood, yet I remain at this stage, unable to completely transcend the flesh."

Cha Huan: "What do you mean by transcend the flesh?"

"When you take Immortal Blood, you sense your spirit gradually strengthening; at the Deacon stage, you can generally feel that your 'body' is a bit small. By the time you reach the Protector and True Human stage, you'll feel your body is just a garment, one that you progressively do not need."

"Hence, based on my deduction, by breaking through the True Human rank through the consumption of Immortal Blood, one can transcend the mundane and become divine."

Smile calmly said: "That is, shed the mortal husk and transform into an immortal. At that moment, even if the body perishes, the spirit extinguishes, one can rely on the spirit to persist in the world, escape the cycle of birth, old age, sickness, and death, bypass the karma cycle, no longer a human, but become a higher spiritual being—an 'immortal'."

"The world is a sea of suffering, the body is our boat to cross it, and the spirit is the traveler on the boat. If the traveler masters swimming, the absence of the boat will not fear the sea's wind and waves."

"Nine thousand units," Le Yu said: "In other words, if luck is on their side, a fourth-tier disciple only needs to accumulate nine thousand units of Primordial Spirit to transcend to True Human, becoming an immortal who lives forever? If a fourth-tier disciple can gain thirty units of Primordial Spirit each gathering, hosting one gathering every three days, that means the goal can be achieved within nine hundred days, under three years."

"Wrong." Smile said lightly: "Once you've risen to Deacon, Protector, and True Human, the amount gained per gathering will increase, far beyond thirty units. It would take about two years."

Yan Yi couldn't help but say: "Just two years to transcend the mundane and become an immortal. This deal is way too good, isn't it?"

"Therefore, the foundation for everyone to become immortal is realistic." Smile calmly said: "Just like the First Charter awakened Spiritual Power in all Radiance people, the goal of the Immortal Palace plan is for everyone to achieve immortality."

Ming Shuangli asked: "What about my previous suggestion, has Smile True Human considered it? A wise bird selects a tree to nest, a loyal minister selects a master to serve, and Shuangli Palace is your unparalleled choice—"

"I will consider it carefully when I return." Smile said: "For now, everyone, please offer up your Primordial Spirit one by one. The Spirit Condensing Pill has been distributed, take it if you feel weak.

As the offering stage began, Le Yu watched the person ahead of him seemingly drained by the Blood Essence Stone, turned into a limp crab, relying on popping pills just to catch their breath. When it was Le Yu's turn, he couldn't wait to stretch his hand toward the Blood Essence Stone, allowing it to connect into his body while inwardly crying out:

"Change, change for me!"

He sensed the Saint's Relic on his left wrist starting to react, and felt himself rapidly weakening. Even the 'Ice Blood Physique' couldn't stop this feeling of being drained, and after the offering was complete, Le Yu could only barely walk back, but he didn't take the Spirit Condensing Pill—'Ice Blood Physique' directly renders it ineffective.

Sitting down to rest for a while, Le Yu looked down at the iron bracelet on his wrist. At this moment, the bracelet revealed blood-red textures, but since Le Yu only touched the shadow of the Blood Essence Stone, the Saint's Relic transformed very slowly; this felt like Le Yu, due to his 800° myopia, could only see blurry images, so the Saint's Relic had to use an AI algorithm to enhance the details of these blurry images.

Yan Yi and Ning Xinyuan returned after offering, almost collapsing, barely leaning against Le Yu to sit. They also didn't take the Spirit Condensing Pill, hoping to rely on their own willpower to withstand, needing to find a backing for cover.

"It's my turn."

Cha Huan stood up, his steps steady, everyone perked up when they saw it.

It wasn't that they didn't trust Cha Huan, but Cha Huan had too many instances of causing trouble; they strongly suspected Cha Huan would seize the opportunity to make a move against Smile and the Blood Essence Stone.

Smile seemed unaware of the atmosphere change, calmly greeting Cha Huan's arrival.

At this moment, Le Yu felt a heat on his left hand, looked down to see the iron bracelet had turned into a ruby bracelet, emitting a pulse like a heartbeat.

"Defective Blood Essence Stone (Fake)"

"Source of Blood Pool: Each point of energy provides a small amount of physical restoration, spirit restoration, and body recovery speed. Energy conversion depends on inputting Primordial Spirit. Choosing to consume energy can instantly restore physical strength, spirit, and heal the body."

"Blood Contract: All who input Primordial Spirit into the Blood Essence Stone leave a soul imprint, which does not dissipate within three days. You can track the target's location through the soul imprint."

Blood Contract... Soul Imprint...

National Relief Association... Book of the Dead... Soul Manipulation...

In a flash, Le Yu realized everything!

The Immortal Blood may not be false, and the Immortal Palace plan might be real!

But the offering of Primordial Spirit is the true pitfall!

Ironically, they intended to covet those few drops of Immortal Blood from the National Relief Association, whereas what the National Relief Association sought was their lives!

Wait, this is bad!

Le Yu looked up, seeing Cha Huan already drained by the Blood Essence Stone!

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