Chapter Ten: Tempering the Body with Crimson Blood Vine

Under Mo Ling’s astonished gaze, Ye Mo spent nearly half an hour using the “Wave-Cleaving Slash” to fell seven or eight of the island’s tough spiritwoods.

“Will this be enough?” Ye Mo asked.

“Yes, yes! For just the two of us, building a small camp in the cave entrance with a spiritwood palisade will be plenty,” Mo Ling replied, coming to her senses and nodding hastily.

“Alright.” Ye Mo then lopped off all the branches from the felled spiritwoods, leaving only the hardest trunks.

By torchlight, the two of them carried these spiritwoods, each more than thirty feet long, back to the cave entrance. Even with both of them working together as mid-tier martial artists, they could barely manage the heavy load.

After finishing, Mo Ling was so exhausted that she collapsed to the ground.

Ye Mo chopped the long spiritwoods to size and split them into stakes as thick as an arm. He drove each deeply into the earth, erecting a solid palisade wall outside the cave entrance and leaving a small gate.

With this, the simplest spiritwood defensive barrier was completed. The fence was as hard as iron; ordinary wild beasts or sea monsters wouldn’t be able to break through it and charge inside.

Ye Mo was confident that even if a juvenile demon crab showed up here, it would hardly be able to smash through the spiritwood barricade.

“That’s enough for today. Tomorrow, we’ll reinforce the palisade,” Ye Mo said, feeling the fatigue settle into his muscles.

He leaned against the cave wall to rest and suddenly remembered he still had seven inches of Redblood Vine left unused.

According to the “Martial Kingdom Herbal Compendium,” Redblood Vine of the seventh grade was a superb body-tempering herb for high-tier martial artists, and its effects on mid-tier martial artists were also remarkable.

Ye Mo pulled out a three-inch section of the Redblood Vine, sliced off about an inch with his Azure Edge Sword, and washed it clean in the cave’s fresh water.

He then sat cross-legged and placed the inch-long segment in his mouth, slowly chewing.

“Raw?!” Mo Ling’s eyes widened in surprise.

She knew Redblood Vine was infamous for its intense bitterness. Normally, it was ground to powder and boiled in water to reduce the harsh taste. While this didn’t affect the efficacy much, the bitterness would be greatly subdued by fire.

Yet even so, Redblood Vine was still considered one of the most bitter tempering herbs for martial artists.

This vine was at least a hundred years old and nine inches long—didn’t he find it unbearably bitter? Mo Ling wondered, breaking off a tiny piece the size of a fingernail and placing it in her mouth. She immediately spat it out, unable to tolerate the pungent bitterness.

She found herself more and more unable to see through this commoner martial artist named Ye Mo.

As soon as Ye Mo placed the vine in his mouth, the overwhelming bitterness hit before he even chewed. Gritting his teeth against the intense heat and bitterness, he chewed carefully and swallowed every drop of the red juice.

Redblood Vine was so highly regarded for body tempering because it could greatly enhance a martial artist’s physique and vitality, and also heal the internal and bruised injuries accumulated from intense training.

Its medicinal properties were fiercely yang in nature.

After swallowing it slowly, Ye Mo soon felt a fiery current rise in his abdomen, spreading through his meridians to every bone in his body.

Moments later, his entire skeleton felt feverish, as if thousands of ants were biting him, and new energy seemed to be generated in his marrow.

The tempering effect is indeed remarkable, worthy of being a seventh-grade herb! With this seven inches of Redblood Vine, I might break through to the seventh level of the Body Refinement stage soon, Ye Mo thought with delight.

There was also the matter of the cold and sinister energy remaining in his body from the last encounter with the juvenile demon crab’s water arrow—about the size of half a thumb remained, dormant after the last surge of true energy.

Ye Mo knew this chill was far from gone; once he was injured or weakened again, it would flare up and become fatal.

So today, at all costs, he had to purge it completely.

Guiding the blazing current within, Ye Mo directed it towards the area tainted by the cold energy. In the span of a few breaths, the fire overwhelmed and devoured the remnant chill, erasing it entirely.

Ye Mo had high hopes for the Redblood Vine, but hadn’t expected it to banish the sinister energy so quickly. He drew in a sharp breath—this fiery current was many times stronger than his own true energy.

As the medicinal effects slowly unfolded, Ye Mo felt as though his entire being was wrapped in warmth. Every blood vessel, all the minor bruises left by long periods of intense martial training, were gently soothed and healed by the vine’s power—a comfort beyond words.

After half an hour, Ye Mo sensed he had absorbed all the medicinal strength of that inch-long piece.

With just a few more doses, I should be able to break through to the seventh level of Body Refinement! His blood and vitality surged, strength abundant and his constitution at its peak.

But he dared not take more at once—after just an inch, his body was already uncomfortably hot.

Mo Ling noticed Ye Mo’s ruddy complexion, as if he’d been reborn. She was astonished. Though Redblood Vine was indeed more effective for male martial artists, it shouldn’t have caused such a dramatic change. Was his constitution truly so different?

This wasn’t so strange. Ye Mo, born to a humble family, had rarely used expensive tempering herbs before, so his body hadn’t developed much resistance—known as “herb resistance.”

With little prior use of such herbs, the effects of a seventh-grade Redblood Vine were especially pronounced.

Mo Ling, on the other hand, was a noble from the Eastern Lai royal household. She hadn’t trained diligently, relying instead on a steady diet of tempering herbs from an early age, including many high-grade ones. Over time, this built up significant resistance, making subsequent doses less effective.

Ye Mo, having accumulated many hidden bruises in his veins and bones from intense training in the “Wave-Cleaving Technique,” was now largely healed by the Redblood Vine. No wonder he appeared so spirited.

...

Deep into the night, strange cries echoed across the island. In the distance, faint campfires could be seen scattered about—survivors from the sunken sea vessel, many of whom had made their way to the island. No one dared wander after dark.

By the moonlight, Ye Mo could just make out the area beyond their spiritwood palisade. He and Mo Ling leaned against the cave wall, taking turns keeping watch, but neither truly slept. With sea monsters liable to appear at any moment, they had no peace of mind.

Ye Mo dared not fall into a deep sleep, his right hand gripping his Azure Edge Sword, watching the cave entrance in a half-doze.

A faint crack sounded outside.

A squat, large crab emerged beyond the spiritwood barricade, its eyes swiveling as it raised its pincers, apparently puzzled by the barrier.

“A juvenile demon crab!”

Ye Mo jolted awake, springing to his feet. “So soon—it's found us already?!”