It took Wang Han over an hour to calm himself down, convincing himself he'd think of a solution later; he couldn't change anything with his current strength.
But this only made him more determined than ever to pursue one idea that kept popping into his head.
'I must become stronger! If I want to survive, I must become stronger, much stronger.'
After composing himself, Wang Han spent several hours digging up essential information in various fields and identifying the best skills to practice before returning from his mental space.
As soon as he opened his eyes, Wang Han headed straight for the spatial gateway and entered it with renewed determination in his eyes and without the slightest hesitation.
In an instant, Wang Han was transported. As soon as he opened his eyes again, he found himself surrounded by trees and grass on all sides; he was still in the same forest.
'It seems the emperor wasn't lying to me. Well, he has nothing to gain from it after all.'
Then Wang Han began heading straight back to his clan. The journey from where he'd been transported to Snake City took only about an hour and a half, fortunately, as he hadn't been transported too far from the cliff he'd fallen into.
Upon entering the high stone-walled city gates without paying a single penny, Wang Han headed straight for his clan's headquarters, the second largest in the city after the Lu clan.
He entered the clan leader's office, where he found his father working on some files until the father looked up at his entrance.
"How are you, Dad? Have you gotten used to it after a month of dealing with these troublesome files?" Wang Han sat back in the chair opposite his father, relaxed, and asked with an almost sarcastic smile.
"huphh, this is really annoying, and honestly, it's impossible to get used to. I'm starting to regret becoming clan leader." Wang Shu sighed dejectedly, his face showing his suffering, before his expression turned serious as he asked,
"Alright, enough joking around. Have you dealt with Wang Kai?"
Wang Han maintained his relaxed posture as he replied to his father nonchalantly,
"Everything went perfectly. Don't worry, I got rid of that trash and threw it into the ravine."
Then he stood up from his seat and turned toward the exit, bidding his father farewell. "I'm going to train for a bit. Goodbye."
"Go. I expect good results from you in the clan competition. Don't let me down, my son."
"Okay, okay, don't worry," Wang Han replied, opening the door and stepping out. His careless expression immediately turned serious as he thought,
'Good, I played it well. Now's not the time to tell Dad what I've got. I'll test it out first, then I'll see what to show and what to hide.'
...
Inside the office, Wang Shu clasped his hands together with a slight smile, lost in thought as his son just left his office.
'This boy is hiding something. He's been more relaxed and careless in his answers than usual, as if he's trying to conceal something. Haha, you're still too young to play games with me, my boy.'
'But it's alright, let him do what he wants. He's not a child anymore. When he feels the need to tell me, he'll tell me himself what he's hiding.'
...
Inside a large house, Wang Han sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes closed, lost in thought:
'Let's experience the effects of this sacred technique. I'm so excited. The Sacred Beast Absorption Technique is the most suitable for me among the three Sacred Level Refinement Techniques in this library because its creator is the Beast Emperor himself, and therefore I have a complete set of accompanying and complementary techniques. I hope it won't disappoint me.'
Then, Wang Han began absorbing Qi and circulating it through the energy pathways until it was purified of impurities before being introduced into his dantian, the usual cultivation method, but with unprecedented speed and efficiency.
The day passed in this manner with continuous training until the next day, well into the afternoon—more than twenty hours had passed. Then, the Qi erupted from within Wang Han's Dantian with even greater force, and a much larger aura surrounded him as he rose from his bed, clenching his fists with a broad smile that could not express the extent of his happiness.
"Success! I've advanced to the Seven-Star Trainee level in just one day! Hahaha, this is astonishing! This is a terrifying rate of progress, unheard of and unparalleled."
'It's only been two months since I broke through to the sixth star, and I expected it to take another month, but it was compressed into just one day. My qi is also much purer; all the impurities have been removed. I'm truly speechless with amazement at this technique.'
Wang Han thought this as he sat back down on his bed, ready to continue cultivating.
But then cracks began to appear in his flesh and bones as Wang Han started to feel intense pain all over his body.
He began to think, groaning loudly in pain, 'Damn it! I completely forgot the part that says using this sacred technique requires a strong body.'
At that moment, his attendant, who had been standing guard by the door upon hearing his groan, rushed in.
"Are you alright, young master? Did you suffer a Qi aberration? Should I call the doctor?" The attendant approached Wang Han, his face filled with concern, bombarding him with questions at once.
"Don't call anyone, and don't tell anyone... Ah... Go right now and buy ten liters of blood from any second-rate beast, whatever its kind, and bring it to me... Ugh... And don't you dare tell anyone, or I'll slaughter you myself, understood?!" Wang Han ordered his subordinate through gritted teeth, trying to stifle his moans as best he could.
"Y... Yes, sir." The subordinate responded fearfully, instantly running to fetch the beast's blood for his master, thinking in terror:
'Nothing must happen to the young master. If anything happens to him while I'm his guard, I'll surely be executed.'
About half an hour later, Wang Han's attendant finally returned with the required amount of blood.
"Master... *sniff sniff*... I've brought you the blood... *sniff sniff*... It's... *sniff*... Three-tailed cat blood." The attendant panted uncontrollably as he removed the blood container from his vacuum ring.
"Good... Put... all the blood... in the tub." Wang Han spoke with difficulty, his condition appearing much worse.
"Yes, sir." The attendant transferred all the blood into the bathtub as ordered, then looked at his young master, still nervous, awaiting further instructions.
"Take off my clothes... and put me in..." Wang Han lost consciousness, speaking in an almost whispered voice as he pointed to the bathtub.
"Master, Master!!" The servant began shouting for a moment upon seeing Wang Han lose consciousness before covering his mouth with his hand, remembering his master's death threat.
'Damn it, what am I going to do now, what am I going to do?! I didn't even hear what he said before he lost consciousness.'
The servant clutched his head, squeezing it for a few seconds, trying to understand what Wang Han had meant.
'That's right! He's pointing to the bathtub and asking me to give him a blood transfusion. I must give it to him soon. How stupid of me! Quickly!'
The attendant rushed forward and grabbed Wang Han to lift him, but then hesitated for a second before whispering, 'Sorry, young master, but it's necessary.'
Then he removed his clothes, lifted him naked, and placed him in the blood-filled bathtub, watching expectantly.
A second passed... a minute... nothing happened.
'Damn it, why hasn't anything happened?! I don't want to die yet.' The servant tore at his hair, feeling that his fate was sealed.
'At least if the young master is saved, there's a chance I'll survive. I must inform the clan leader.' Having made this decision, the servant turned and started running to tell Wang Han's father.
But just as he was approaching the door, he heard a groan coming from the direction Wang Han was standing. He slowly turned his head, a wide smile of relief spreading across his lips.
'The young master is still alive, thank goodness.'
Meanwhile, Wang Han regained consciousness hazyly after a minute of unconsciousness caused by the excruciating pain that had been tearing through the layers of his mind for half an hour and still was.
But he barely managed to clear his mind after sensing his presence in the blood-filled pool, mentally recalling the steps of the Body Refinement Technique as he began absorbing the blood into his body at a terrifying speed.
Then, an hour after using the Body Refinement Technique, all the blood in the bathtub had dried, having been completely absorbed into Wang Han's body. He stood up, clenching and unclenching his fists repeatedly, a wide, manic smile spreading across his lips. He could feel his physical strength had increased exponentially, becoming comparable to that of a second-rate beast in the blink of an eye.
'I almost died because of my carelessness. I shouldn't have underestimated a technique of such a sacred level. But the benefits are truly immense!'
At that moment, Wang Han glanced at the subordinate who stood watching him with an expression that could be described as both shocked and delighted, though he couldn't understand why the subordinate was so happy about his recovery.
Wang Han stepped out of the bathtub at that moment and began walking toward the subordinate with a small smile on his lips.
"Congratulations on your recovery, young master. I didn't tell anyone what happened, as you instructed." The subordinate stammered, tossing his lifeline to the approaching Wang Han.
"Good for not telling anyone. No one should know I've acquired such techniques." Wang Han patted his subordinate's shoulder with a kind smile, praising him.
Then, he transformed his hand on the shoulder into a fist and smashed the subordinate's head open with a single blow, as if it were a watermelon.
"Even you." Wang Han's smile turned into an ominous one before he bent down towards the fallen corpse of the subordinate and wiped the blood off his hand using his clothes.
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