Chapter 30 – The Crimson Mark

The mist was different now.

It didn't recede as before—it parted for him.

As Li Yuan Tian stepped beyond the broken gate once more, Zhao Qilin looked up in stunned silence. The fire had long since burned low. Scrolls were scattered around him, long abandoned. His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the crimson lotus faintly glowing beneath Yuan Tian's skin.

"You came back."

"I said I would."

Zhao stared a moment longer before exhaling. "You're not the same."

Li Yuan Tian rolled his shoulders. Every joint in his body cracked like thunder. The pain was gone. Not because he had healed, but because the agony had become something else—familiar. Something his body had begun to crave.

"I saw something inside," he said after a moment. "A trial of sorts. It wasn't made for me. But I passed it anyway."

Zhao raised a brow. "What do you mean, 'wasn't made for you'?"

"It was meant for those at Pseudo Core. Their will. Their Qi. Their intent. I wasn't supposed to survive it."

"But you did."

Li Yuan Tian didn't respond. Instead, he held up his hand—and Zhao flinched.

The faintest ripple of energy pulsed across Yuan Tian's fingers. Not Qi, not exactly. It was... denser. Rawer. Closer to blood than air. A proto-Qi, if such a thing existed. Still within the limits of body tempering, and yet—

"It's begun fusing with my marrow," Yuan Tian whispered. "The lotus mark is changing my blood."

The Path Not Given

That night, Zhao couldn't sleep.

He sat near the fire, scribbling glyphs that refused to make sense, while Li Yuan Tian meditated with unnerving calm.

When dawn broke, Zhao finally asked, "What will you do now?"

Li Yuan Tian opened his eyes. The mark on his chest had faded, now only visible when his blood stirred.

"This valley has more," he said. "I'm going to take it."

Zhao blinked. "You can't possibly think—"

"I don't need the full inheritance yet. What I need is time. And opponents."

"Opponents?"

"There are more beasts. Guardians, I think. The temple woke up when I passed the trial. It's not done testing me."

Zhao hesitated. "You're still only at Peak Body Tempering."

Li Yuan Tian stood. "Then it's time to stop being only."

The Bloodstone Beasts

What followed were days of relentless combat.

Li Yuan Tian delved deeper into the ruins. The temple had revealed more chambers—each one filled with bloodstone beasts, constructs formed of living stone and remnants of ancient wills.

He fought them one by one.

No sword.

No spear.

Just fists, bone, and fury.

Each battle pushed his body past its limits. His skin tore, muscles bled, bones cracked. And still, he stood.

The crimson flame mark on his chest flared with every strike, absorbing pain, refining essence. His marrow grew darker, denser. His bones began to ring with each step, like tempered iron.

Zhao watched from afar, astonished. "You're using pain to refine yourself."

"No," Li Yuan Tian replied. "I'm using pain to become myself."

Breaking the Limits

On the tenth day, he collapsed.

His body was broken—ribs cracked, a dislocated shoulder, gashes from fanged constructs. The beasts had not let up, and for a moment, Zhao feared it was over.

But then—

The mist boiled.

The lotus mark surged.

And in the broken marrow of his limbs, something opened.

It wasn't Qi.

Not fully.

But it was close.

Like a door cracking at the edges, letting through a trickle of light.

His blood surged unnaturally.

His bones, now black-veined with crimson light, began to knit themselves together. Not healing—adapting. Becoming something beyond Peak Body Tempering.

Not yet blood opening .

But no longer mortal.

The Step Between

Zhao Qilin knelt beside him later that night, checking his pulse. "Your body... your pulse is too strong for your stage."

Li Yuan Tian looked up slowly. His eyes no longer looked purely human. There was something rooted in them now. Deep. Crimson.

"I think," he said softly, "this valley is teaching me to forge a path between stages."

Zhao frowned. "You mean like… a sub-realm?"

Li Yuan Tian nodded. "A bridge. Between the body and blood. I'm not refining blood yet. But my blood carries power. My bones carry memory. My marrow... carries intent."

Zhao stared at him. "You're building something that isn't in the manuals; maybe like the half step but a bit different from it"

"sort of i don't know for sure as this is a first for me too,this realm is different than half step blood opening but also similar " Li Yuan Tian replied.

And the fire flared, as if in agreement.