The flicker of a candle cast long shadows across Liu Yue's quiet chamber. The air felt heavy—tainted not with fear, but with something ancient and unspoken. Lin Xuan sat silently beside her, fingers gently resting on a scroll, his eyes distant as if remembering something from long ago.
Liu Yue looked at him. "This scroll… it feels… different."
Lin Xuan's lips curled into the faintest smile. "It should. It was once… used by the Emp—" He paused abruptly. His gaze shifted, then softened. "It was used by your father."
He didn't flinch as he changed his words. But Liu Yue noticed. Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she said nothing.
Lin Xuan continued, his tone neutral but oddly weighted. "This technique will not cultivate your meridians… It will rewrite your blood."
Her breath hitched.
"Crimson Blood Crystallization Art," he said slowly. "A forbidden art, not because it is evil… but because it defies what cultivators believe the body can endure."
He unfurled the scroll. Blood-red runes shimmered against the old paper, alive, almost pulsing. The room dropped in temperature. Even the candle trembled.
Liu Yue instinctively pulled back, but Lin Xuan calmly explained:
> "This technique will turn your blood from liquid to crystal. Your veins will become conduits of power—shatterproof, hardened. But the cost…"
He stared directly at her.
> "Is pain. Constant. Brutal. Endurance is the gatekeeper of this art. Those who falter die before the first vein hardens."
He began to explain the three Phases—from Qi Saturation, to Compression, to the final, irreversible Crystal Blooming. As he spoke, Liu Yue's pale face remained still, but her knuckles tightened on her robe.
Then came the Stages of Mastery:
> "The Scarlet Flow Phase will slow your blood, dense and rich like molten ore. Strength and regeneration will rise… but so will fatigue."
> "The Crimson Vein Phase... your veins will crystallize. You will feel every heartbeat like thunder cracking through stone. But once this passes, even the most fatal wounds will struggle to kill you."
> "And the final stage… the Blood Crystal Core." Lin Xuan's voice lowered. "Your heart will become a crystal. Alive, humming with force. You will become… something more than human."
Liu Yue's eyes widened slightly. "And what happens if it breaks?"
His silence was all the answer she needed.
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