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As the valves along the pipes by the pool were opened one after another,
a blood-red liquid poured into the dried-up basin, thick and sweet-slling, with a faintly heavy aroma.
Breathed in through the nose,
all the trainees imdiately felt their blood and Qi surging.
Everyone activated their internal techniques at once, their bodies glowing with various supernatural signs.
Lu Ding ford a hand seal, stacking lotus-patterned mudras.
Sharp cracking sounds echoed from within him as all his apertures burst open.
A strange suction force surged across his bare upper body,
his finely sculpted muscles trembling slightly.
As waves of blood crashed into Lu Ding, the suction force drew them in.
The pool water, a mixture of Taishui blood and various rare spiritual treasures, began flooding wildly into his body.
At first, with the water level still low, the change wasn’t obvious. But soon—
when it reached his waist—
a whirlpool began spinning around Lu Ding as the center.
Inside his Linghai,
dark clouds gathered in the sky above, a clear sign of an impending storm.
The clouds grew denser and denser.
Lu Ding’s voice bood like a divine command, echoing through the heavens:
“Let it rain!”
His words reverberated across the sky.
Torrential rain fell in sync with his call. Raindrops splashed onto the Linghai’s surface, blooming into ‘blood flowers’ that dyed the sea of Qi.
Back in the real world—
around each of the top talents, whirlpools of various sizes had ford.
But none could compare to Lu Ding’s.
At first, the whirlpool around Lu Ding was just about a ter wide—sa as the others starting out.
But as ti passed,
his whirlpool expanded rapidly, pulling the pool water toward him in a roaring current.
At the beginning, the other nearby trainees still had a bit of pride.
They thought, “Even if I’m not as strong as you, I can at least compete with you when it cos to absorbing pool water.”
It’s human nature to compare oneself to the other exceptional people nearby.
These top-tier trainees were no different.
But soon, they realized:
Run!!!
Run, now!!!!
They couldn’t absorb anything standing next to him—literally nothing! There was no way to outcompete Lu Ding!
Everyone was using their body’s apertures as intake valves, and the Linghai as the storage chamber.
The body only absorbed a small portion.
But!!!
If our apertures are like water pipes, then Lu Ding’s are f***ing industrial-grade water pumps!!
WHR-R-R-RRRR!!!
Just a mont ago, soone nearby thought they heard soone start up a diesel engine.
Turned around—
turns out it was Lu Ding’s apertures sucking up pool water that made that sound.
Trying to absorb water next to him was okay at first, but then—
even the water that made it to your own aperture was suddenly yanked away toward Lu Ding.
How the h*ll are you supposed to compete with that?!
No choice.
The geniuses around Lu Ding had to wave their arms and swim to other spots.
It affected their efficiency a little, sure—but that’s better than absorbing nothing at all.
Soon, within a 20-ter radius around him, there wasn’t a single other person—only Lu Ding.
And still, the pool water kept rushing into his body, fighting to get in.
Far off, Huangpu Lingyun, who had intentionally stayed away, was now fully alert.
At this mont,
Lu Ding once again put on a spectacular display in front of everyone.
That fire inside Huangpu Lingyun flared up again.
To put it bluntly, he was in that state of being: half-convinced.
His heart was tiny—like a sesa seed. Aside from himself, he couldn’t tolerate anyone else being better.
Let alone Lu Ding had even beaten him up once.
“I couldn’t beat you in a fight. What, now I can’t even out-absorb you?!”
Huangpu Lingyun clenched his teeth.
Originally, he’d planned to go slow. The dicinal potency in this pool was intense—
absorbing too much too fast could damage the ridians.
Just like an IV drip: go too fast, and you overload the heart and lungs.
But Lu Ding?
He was going full throttle like he was ready to die for it.
Huangpu Lingyun made up his mind.
“F*** it, if you’re not scared, neither am I!”
What he didn’t know was—Lu Ding had done this multiple tis already.
His ridians were way more resilient than anyone else’s here.
He thought taking in Taishui Honey drop by drop was too slow—he downed whole bottles,
mixed it with other spiritual treasures, and literally bathed in it until it foad.
He was the kind of lunatic who’d boil himself in a steel pot.
You wanna compete with him??
Huangpu Lingyun powered up his technique, increasing suction force.
An anomaly manifested behind him—
a golden throne room, a coiled dragon seat, a python morphing into a flood dragon, clutching a jade seal in its mouth.
The instructors by the pool glanced over.
Suddenly, a bird’s cry rang out.
From the pool, behind Nuomin, clouds rose into the air.
Under the blue sky and white clouds, a vast grassland unfolded. A gyrfalcon soared in with wings outstretched—majestic and graceful.
The instructors began to comnt.
“Lu Ding has great talent, but in this kind of stuff, he still can’t match Huangpu Lingyun and Nuomin.”
“True. Nuomin is favored by the Heavens of Eternal Life, always accompanied by the spirit of the gyrfalcon. Huangpu Lingyun has the coiled dragon throne and the on of swallowing the heavens—both are heaven’s favorites.”
“There’s no such thing as soone who’s perfect in every way.”
“Shut the h*ll up.”
“Song Chunfeng, stop with your backhanded complints. Anomalies? So what if they’ve got them? So what if they don’t?”
“It’s like we’re all students here, and instead of comparing grades, you’re comparing how much soone eats. You serious right now?”
Lu Ting chid in from the side, speaking up for what’s right.
Lu Ding was his personal recruit—he had to defend him.
Back when Lu Ding beat up Huangpu Lingyun, this guy Song Chunfeng was clearly taking sides.
Lu Ting had already been pretty p*ssed back then. He was just about to speak up,
but Lu Ding changed faces too fast—he didn’t even get the chance to react, let alone jump in.
All he could do was hold it in.
Now, finally, he had the perfect excuse to fire back at Song Chunfeng.
“We’re all Cultivators of Qi here. What we’re comparing is talent and skill. And you're talking about 'heaven’s favorite'?
If that really ant anything, then how co your precious recruit Huangpu Lingyun, after cultivating longer than Lu Ding,
still couldn’t last more than a few rounds against him?”
You wanna throw shade in a roundabout way?
Don’t bla for going straight at it.
Just as he finished speaking—
in the pool, Bai Hen, who’d been quiet this whole ti, suddenly exploded with power.
Behind him, the phantom of a mountain of corpses appeared—thousands of holes, a flood of corpses surging forward.
A massive whirlpool ford.
One stood at the very front—Lu Ding.
The other at the very end—Bai Hen.
Both burst out at the sa ti, like two vicious wolves tearing into the fat prize that was this blood pool.
Sure, there were areas where he couldn’t match Lu Ding.
But blood from a Taishui was still blood. And while Bai Hen looked human, half of him was a living corpse.
For a living corpse, things like blood, flesh, and spiritual ingredients weren’t just resources—they were food.
Real-deal, proper, top-grade cuisine.
Bloodline dominance—he had a natural edge.
Song Chunfeng gave a smug little “See?” face and added,
“Even Bai Hen has a manifestation.”
Lu Ting was instantly choked speechless.
Sure, he could punch harder than Song Chunfeng,
but when it ca to quick thinking, he was a step slower.
Song Chunfeng had used retreat as a form of advance—he subtly praised Bai Hen while slapping Lu Ding.
Now Lu Ting didn’t even know how to respond.
It was like soone insulting you for being short,
and when you cursed them out, they go, “Yeah, you’re short, but hey, at least you’re good-looking.”
It’s both a complint and a diss.
And if your brain isn’t fast enough—you really don’t know what to say.
But that awkwardness didn’t last long.
Suddenly—BOOM!
Inside the cave, mist gathered from nowhere.
Moisture condensed, storm clouds ford,
and thunder cracked through the air.
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