After scooping a decent quantity of the blood, Liang Rou Yan created a seal on the vial. She brought the container to her lips and whispered, "And with this, your powers are bound to be mine, and no one will know any better, once again."
She gulped the blood down greedily with a satisfied expression plastered on her face, practically moaning as she lapped on the sweet-tasting liquid.
Almost immediately, she could feel the changes in her body. She felt stronger, faster, better…
Abruptly, the blackness that once enveloped her world was replaced with hazy images in the night. The blurry contour of Li Meirong's corpse gradually emerged in her field of vision.
Her sight was coming back!
Liang Rou Yan realized with a sense of relish that Li Meirong's furnace powers were even more potent than that of the previous wretched furnace, Liu Wei!
Her dantian had nearly gotten filled to the brim with spiritual essence from just one vial of the furnace's blood. She shuddered at the notion of what would happen if she drank some more.
She didn't wait to find out. Liang Rou Yan made quick work of absorbing Li Meirong's energy. She fumbled around the chest wound area, scooping more of the blood and slurping it down.
Seeing that the wound was drying out, she slashed the corpse's wrists, drawing a larger amount of the precious liquid.
Greedily, she wanted to swallow all of the furnace's essence down to the last drop.
When her vision was completely restored, and her dantian stuffed with energy, she stopped for a moment and loomed over Li Meirong's corpse, leaning down to assess the girl's ghostly countenance.
The corners of her lips faintly curved up at the sight. Bloody, torn, bruised. Dead at her feet.
Concurrently, an incredible warmth enveloped her whole body. Akin to soaking in a hot spring, it felt both nourishing and soothing. After countless years of trying, she knew that she was finally able to make a breakthrough and ascend to the next stage of her cultivation!
She was stuck at the peak of Qi Condensation stage for so long, and now, she finally built her foundation! She freed herself of the mental restraints that had hindered her from reaching a whole new level of strength. In addition to absorbing Liu Wei's lightning vein attribute, as well as Li Meirong's spirit powers which provided such a high boost, she felt incredible! Invincible!
A shiver of delight ran through Liang Rou Yan as she passed to the next stage, gleefully welcoming the foundation realm.
At this point, there was probably not much spiritual essence left, so she needed to ensure that every last drop would be efficiently extracted. Waste not, want not.
Fearing she'd run out of the remaining essence, she hastily leaned down and grabbed one of the bleeding wrists, raising them to the vial and letting the blood flow freely.
She ardently persisted with the task, swallowing another vial of the unique, sweet blood.
Liang Rou Yan kept undergoing physical changes as a result of the corpse's essence. Lips that were chapped and peeling from dryness were now plump and luscious. Hair that was dry and brittle turned long and silken. And best of all, her skin that was filled with scars became flawlessly smooth, just like before.
Her eyes widened in shock as she discovered that the spiritual essence was just as potent as the first time she had drunk!
"This is incomprehensible…" Liang Rou Yan mumbled, trying to make sense of the odd situation.
How was it possible? Once a furnace gave their power away, they lost it for good. How can Li Meirong keep bestowing powers endlessly so? What kind of person, much less a dead one, was capable of such a deed? None!
Just to be on the safe side, she placed her red-coated fingers on Li Meirong's pulse area, scared of the possibility that she might have been tricked instead.
"Pfft, impossible!" Liang Rou Yan let out a burst of nervous laughter.
However, before she had any time to thoroughly examine the pulse, she ended up reeling backwards in fright.
From the tip of her fingers and all the way up to her arms, brownish dots grew out from every inch of her glowing skin, becoming larger with every passing moment!
She anxiously lifted the hem of her robe and noticed the same rust-coloured dots sprouting all over her long legs!
With one nervous wave of the hand, she swiped the brown patches from one arm, gripping one of the darkening patches for a closer inspection.
The brown stuff was soft, flat and looked to be like a pale, red-varnished, kidney-shaped cap, growing darker still. It seemed to be maturing at a rapid rate.
"Are these… mushrooms?" Liang Rou Yan questioned in disbelief.