The purple moon hung in the sky, sprinkling down strands of purple moonlight, but it was blocked by the dense leaves of the forest in the early spring.
The forest was pitch-black. Occasionally, strange noises could be heard. Those nocturnal animals were playing and hunting for food.
* Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! *
Eight figures shuttled through the pitch-black forest with only sporadic moonlight spots. The darkness in the forest did not seem to affect them at all. They were like ghosts in the night.
The moonlight that shone through the leaves would occasionally fall on their bodies. On their clothes, there were more or less signs of damage. At the same time, there were also traces of dried blood.
They were the assassins of the Shadow Serpent who had escaped. At this moment, they were taking advantage of the darkness and the cover of the dense forest to evacuate from Marquis Sidney.
There were more than fifty members of the Shadow Serpent who had infiltrated Marquis Sidney, but now there were only eight of them. The others were either captured alive or killed.
"Damn the Oliver Family!"
One of the three captains, a woman with an eyepatch on her left eye, gritted her teeth.
The members of the Shadow Serpent had always been careful and cautious. It was unlikely that they would leak the news. The news must have been leaked by the Oliver Family.
"They're already dead!"
The other captain-level figure, a man with short brown hair, shrugged.
In order to avoid being tracked by the Sidney family, they did not dare to enter the town to gather information, so they did not know the situation outside. But he could imagine.
Since the Shadow Serpent had been besieged, the relationship between the Oliver Family and the Shadow Serpent must have been exposed. In such a situation, the Oliver Family's fate could be imagined.
"This is not normal."
The other captain-level figure with purple hair frowned.
"It's related to their own interests. The Oliver Family should be extremely careful. They shouldn't have leaked the news."
"It's indeed not normal."
The man with short brown hair nodded.
"After evacuating from Marquis Sidney, we need to investigate how the news was leaked. We need to find out which family informed the Sidney family!"
"Hmph, they better not let us find out!"
The woman with the eyepatch snorted, her eyes filled with bone-chilling killing intent.
… …
Half a year later, in the training field in the south of Fergus Castle.
Gray maintained the fourth cultivation posture of the blood technique "Wolf of Wind" and cultivated with his face facing the sky.
Beads of sweat dripped from his temples and slid down from the tip of his nose. They dripped onto the stone floor and quickly spread, forming an exaggeratedly large wet mark.
This was already the fifth time he had practiced the blood technique. His entire body was trembling slightly, and he was almost unable to maintain his posture of "facing the sky".
Patter!
Finally, he couldn't hold on any longer. He staggered backward and sat down, breaking away from the "facing the sky" cultivation posture.
He turned his head to look at the hourglass beside him and saw that there was still about 1/10 of the sand left in the hourglass.
"Hu, hu!"
After taking a few deep breaths, Gray stood up from the ground and patted the dust off his butt.
"I've reached a bottleneck!"
Today, there was only 1/10 of the sand left, but he could no longer persist. It had been two consecutive days. Obviously, he had reached a bottleneck.
With just one more step, his body would undergo a huge transformation, and he would advance from an upper-level Blood Warrior to a Ferocious Blood Warrior. He was currently stuck at this critical point.
"From the looks of it, I'll need half a month to break through the bottleneck."
Because he was already an upper-level Blood Warrior, Viscount Fergus had explained a lot about the bottleneck from an upper-level Blood Warrior to a Ferocious Blood Warrior.
Under normal circumstances, the bottleneck from an upper-level Blood Warrior to a Ferocious Blood Warrior was extremely firm.
Those with better aptitudes would be stuck for several months, while those with worse aptitudes could be stuck for several years.
However, his situation was special. His body was in the "second transformation" after consuming the blood of the blood fiends. The speed of his improvement was more than ten times faster than the average person.
Therefore, he guessed that he would need around half a month to break through the bottleneck. This speed of breaking through the bottleneck was unimaginable to others.
"But this is only under normal circumstances. If I have the help of external objects, the situation will be different."
He couldn't help but think of that bottle of concentrated medicine. Now was the best time to use it.
The bottle of concentrated medicine that Viscount Fergus had rewarded him was originally meant for him to use when he reached the bottleneck from a middle-level Blood Warrior to an upper-level Blood Warrior. However, he didn't use it at that time because he felt that it was too wasteful. Now, however, he could use it.
"Young Master, I've already asked someone to prepare hot water for the bathroom."
Maid Barbara, who had followed behind Gray as they left the empty space in the south of the castle, said this.
"Mm."
Gray nodded, thought for a while, and said, "Go and tell the servant to take care of the bathroom.
"Go and inform the servant in charge of the bathroom to maintain the temperature of the water. Before going to the bathroom, I need to go back to the bedroom!"
"Yes, Young Master!"
The maid, Barbara, respectfully acknowledged and left.
After returning to the bedroom, he took out the small bronze bottle containing the concentrated medicine from the compartment under the coffee table.
Gray's hand reached for the bottle stopper, but he withdrew it. He put the small bronze bottle into his pocket, opened the door, and left the bedroom.
He was going to take it in the bathroom and soak in the bathtub. This way, even if he sweated a lot, he wouldn't feel uncomfortable all over.
When he reached the bathroom, he waved the servant away and closed the door. Gray walked into the bathtub.
The Fergus family's bathtub was made of a very delicate stone material with the luster of white jade. It was one meter wide and two meters long.
Splash!
Taking off his clothes, Gray walked into the bathtub with the small bronze bottle in his hand and sat down on one side.
Then, he unscrewed the stopper of the small bronze bottle and poured it into his mouth in one gulp. A slightly bitter taste filled his mouth.
After that, a scalding heat appeared in his stomach and quickly spread throughout his body.
Because he was lying in the bathtub, he could clearly see that his skin had turned crimson all over, as if he had put on a woman's face powder.
Then, a strong feeling of numbness suddenly appeared, spreading throughout every inch of his skin and every muscle …
He was like a piece of steel being baked and hammered over a fire, removing impurities and purifying the essence.
The strength of his body was rapidly increasing, and from the pores all over his body, black stains gradually seeped out. The originally clear water in the bathtub was slowly tinged with a black color.
These black stains were the tissues in his body. They were the impurities that were produced during the process of his body becoming stronger.
They were like the impurities that were expelled from a piece of steel that was repeatedly hammered and hammered.
This phenomenon lasted for half an hour. Finally, at a certain point in time, the scalding heat and numbness in his body disappeared, and his body no longer expelled the black impurities.
"Ferocious Blood Warrior!"
Kacha!
Lightly clenching his fist, his knuckles cracked. A feeling of being filled with power spontaneously arose in his heart.