Chapter 2: Rebirth

A sudden change occurred in the Blood Pool!

Shi Yan stood in the Blood Pool, with the water only reaching his waist. However, the blood in the pool seemed to suddenly come alive, condensing into vine-like tendrils, wrapping up his body. In just a few seconds, his entire body was covered by the blood, tightly wrapped like a cocoon.

The blood in the pool transformed into numerous scarlet blood serpents, continuing to coil around him, enclosing him in a massive blood chrysalis.

Excruciating pain spread throughout his body, and his mind felt like it was being mercilessly shredded by a grinding blade, causing unbearable agony.

It felt as though millions of tiny insects were burrowing into his body through every pore, wriggling through his limbs, bones, and internal organs, gnawing at his flesh and bringing torment as if his body were being torn apart by a thousand blades.

Shi Yan's vision was blurred, and though he tried to scream, no sound escaped. His body was frozen, unable to move.

Strange energy slowly flowed through his veins, like a tiny stream, and wherever it passed, the veins that had never encountered foreign forces seemed to be torn apart. The energy surged, splitting into countless streams, violently rushing into all 720 acupoints in his body.

Shi Yan felt his 720 acupoints suddenly expand a thousand-fold. At times, they were burning hot, at other times, freezing cold, creating an indescribable discomfort.

The pain in his mind grew sharper, and in his disoriented state, he seemed to see his acupoints undergoing strange changes under the influence of the mysterious energy. Each acupoint appeared to be turning into a small vortex, spinning wildly.

Crimson energy poured into these whirlpools, rapidly being absorbed, becoming part of the vortex. As the whirlpools grew, their speed of absorbing energy increased.

It was as if the pain had overwhelmed his capacity to endure. In his dazed state, Shi Yan felt his body transform into a massive container, the strange energy flooding through his pores, altering his body in ways he couldn't understand.

To be precise, it was changing the 720 acupoints in his body!

Once this thought crossed his mind, an unbearable sharp pain suddenly exploded in his head. Shi Yan's consciousness dissipated, and he fainted instantly.

After an unknown period of time, Shi Yan woke up slowly.

He immediately realized that the pain in his head and body had disappeared, and there was no longer any trace of the strange energy flowing through his body. Upon careful reflection, he found that while his acupoints still faintly ached, his body seemed to have returned to normal.

Suddenly, he felt a warm current, like a small snake, moving through his veins. After one full circulation, he felt a sense of comfort throughout his body, and his limbs seemed to have gained more strength.

Essence!

Shi Yan's heart skipped a beat as he immediately realized that the Blood Pool had indeed benefited him. The warmth in his veins was clearly the essence that only warriors could possess!

Through another set of memories that belonged to Shi Yan, he knew that essence was the source of a warrior's strength in this world and the foundation for releasing powerful martial arts techniques.

Based on the strength and realm of the essence in a warrior's body, warriors were strictly classified into ten realms: Acquired, Innate, Human, Hundred Tribulations, Earth, Nirvana, Heaven, Spirit Connection, True God, and God King. Each realm was further divided into three levels.

A warrior was the strongest being in this world. The key difference between a warrior and an ordinary person was the presence of essence in the body. As long as a person had even a small amount of essence, no matter how little, they could be called a warrior.

Many people went their entire lives without ever possessing essence. Once someone did possess essence, they could grow it by training hard. Thus, any warrior who possessed essence had a place in the world.

Feeling the weak essence slowly flowing in his body, Shi Yan suddenly felt more at ease. He knew that, even if he couldn't return, at least he wouldn't starve to death in this world.

With this reassurance, Shi Yan immediately noticed that the blood cocoon that covered his entire body was still there, tightly wrapping him up.

He struggled with all his might.

"Crack!"

The blood cocoon tore open, and Shi Yan jumped out, looking around. He found that he was still in the strange stone cave, surrounded by countless bones.

However, the blood in the pool had completely dried up, not a drop remained!

In the now-drained pool, only a few shattered white bones were left, and the dense, scarlet blood that had filled the pool was gone without a trace.

A massive blood cocoon stood tall in the center of the pool, as thin as a cicada's wing, with a faint glow. However, after a glance, the blood cocoon suddenly caught fire from the bottom, the flame starting small but growing larger, even setting the surrounding white bones ablaze. In just a short while, the blood cocoon and the bones in the pool were burned clean.

The dried-up pool glowed with red light, and a beautiful ancient ring, covered in intricate blood patterns, quietly lay at the bottom of the pool.

Shi Yan, staring at the strange ring, had a vague feeling that it was closely related to the Blood Pool. After a moment of hesitation, he approached and picked up the ring, sliding it onto his left hand's ring finger.

A warm sensation emanated from the ring. In that instant, Shi Yan felt a connection, as though the ring had become part of his body. The weak essence in his body suddenly surged uncontrollably toward the dark red ring, rushing toward his skin but being blocked by the flesh on his ring finger, unable to enter the ring.

Startled, Shi Yan immediately realized that the ring was strange. He hurriedly tried to remove it, but it was firmly stuck on his finger, as though it had rooted there. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remove the bizarre ring.

The essence, unable to break through the flesh's resistance, soon returned to normal, sinking back into his lower abdomen. The red light on the ring flickered for a while before dimming, and the warmth from the ring faded away.

After shaking his finger a few times and noticing there was no further anomaly, he stopped worrying about it. He began observing his surroundings thoughtfully.

Soon, Shi Yan came to an astonishing conclusion—the blood from the Blood Pool had completely flowed into his body!

The Blood Pool covered an area of about 10 square meters. Although it wasn't very large, the blood contained in it must have weighed several tons. Even an elephant couldn't drink that much blood all at once!

Shi Yan's face darkened. He instinctively looked around to check if there were any changes in his body and whether he had become bloated or deformed.

It was a shock to him when he looked!

Not only had he not become bloated, but in fact, he had grown even thinner, almost like a skeleton wrapped in human skin. His clothes, which had previously fit him decently, were now too large for him. His arms, legs, and entire body had little flesh left, resembling a mummy more than a person.

Rather than calling it thin, it was more like a withered mummy.

Shi Yan's expression grew even more somber. He hadn't expected the Blood Pool to not only fail to return him to his familiar world but to bring such a bizarre change to his body.

"Gurgle! Gurgle!"

A signal of hunger came from his stomach, and Shi Yan suddenly felt an immense appetite, as though he could eat an entire elephant.

There were corpses scattered everywhere in the stone cave, with nothing edible in sight. He glanced at the dried-up Blood Pool and suddenly realized that he might never be able to return.

Shi Yan wanted to find a weapon to leave the cave. He remembered the intense battles between the guards, the sound of clashing blades and swords. But after walking around the stone cave, he found that all the weapons had been corroded and were unusable.

With no other choice, Shi Yan could only leave the cave unarmed.

The air was damp, the heat unbearable, and the sound of flowing water echoed in the distance. Ancient trees rose from the ground, some over thirty meters tall, their thick foliage blocking most of the sunlight. Only a few rays of light managed to shine through, illuminating the wetland below.

This was the Gloomy Forest. As soon as Shi Yan emerged, he immediately understood his location from the memories of his original body.

The forest was vast, and because the trees were so dense, sunlight couldn't penetrate through, making it dark and humid even during the day, which is why it was called the Gloomy Forest.

The Gloomy Forest lay between the Merchant Alliance, the Blazing Fire Empire, and the Divine Protection Empire. The Merchant Alliance was to the north, the Divine Protection Empire to the south, and the Gloomy Forest directly separated the Merchant Alliance from the Divine Protection Empire. The Blazing Fire Empire lay to the west. Trade caravans from all three countries had to pass through the Gloomy Forest to trade with other nations.

The forest was home to many wild beasts, and sixth and seventh-level monsters were not uncommon. However, caravans, mercenaries, and warriors who frequently traveled through the forest knew that the dangerous monsters mostly stayed in specific areas, and only low-level beasts roamed freely.

Generally, as long as caravans followed specific routes through the forest and avoided areas where high-level monsters roamed, there were few problems. Only mercenaries and warriors seeking high-level beasts would run into danger.

With high risks came high rewards. If a mercenary managed to slay a sixth or seventh-level beast in the forest, they would receive a huge reward. The beasts at the sixth level had valuable demon crystals, which were useful to both warriors and alchemists. Other body parts, like fur, tusks, and venom, were also highly valuable. High-level beasts were truly treasures.

Because of this, many reckless mercenaries and warriors ventured into the Gloomy Forest, hoping to harvest the benefits of high-level monsters. However, only a few were successful, while many others underestimated the wisdom and strength of the beasts, only to become the monsters' prey.

After stepping out of the stone cave, Shi Yan observed his surroundings for a moment and heard chaotic sounds from the direction of the flowing water. The voices were mostly talking about women, occasionally mixed with lewd laughter.

As Shi Yan hesitated whether to investigate, he suddenly noticed a faint rustling sound coming from a nearby thicket. It sounded like someone was fiddling with the leaves.

He instinctively looked in that direction.