Mira opened her eyes when she heard Maria's scream and looked around but-
"Huh?"
-everything was blurry!
"Mother! What's happening, Mother?! Why are you bleeding?!" Dominique freaked out and ran over to Mira but didn't know what to do.
She could feel something leaking out of her body and became confused. She wiped her face to clear her eyes, and what she saw made her expression change.
"Blood? Is this the next Hell? But how am I supposed to pass it?"
Mira ignored Maria and Dominique's panic as she recalled the Guardian's words.
'Let's see. He said that if I started this Hell a year ago, it'd be much harder than it is now. What did I do or get over the last year that could help me in this situation?' Mira's mind spun, and she quickly reached a conclusion.
She's done a lot over the last year, but only one thing she plundered could be helpful in this situation.
'The chimera's altar!'
She remembered the Guardian saying it'd help her when she started her Inner Body Cultivation.
Mira brought out the altar and the blood sphere that came along with it but needed clarification about what she should do next.
'Do I need to drink it or something?'
"Yes! You need to consume blood during this hell." The Guardian answered her question.
'Hmm? But why? What're the conditions to pass this Hell?'
"The 2nd Hell is called the Hell of Blood, during which you will constantly lose blood until you either pass or die. However, to replenish it, you need to drink blood; the higher the quality, the better."
'Okay? But you haven't answered my question.'
"Ah, yes. The conditions aren't too dissimilar from the last Hell, but there are a few more. First, you need to be able to control your blood flow."
'Hmm… After the Hell of Pain, that should be easy,' Mira nodded.
The Guardian continued, "Second, you must consume blood from a beast or person with a higher cultivation than you. The higher the quality, the better the effects you'll gain from this hell."
Mira stared at the altar and the blood sphere. The quality of the blood essence she stole from the chimera should have nearly enough to push a Rank 8 beast to Rank 9. Thus, it was like consuming a Mortal Shedding Realm expert's blood.
"Third, you have to learn how to replenish your Blood Essence. You don't need to know how to replenish all of it at once; just knowing how to replenish a tiny speck is enough."
Now, Mira was shocked, as the difficulty of this requirement was a little high. One's Blood Essence is essential to cultivators and beasts alike, even those without a bloodline.
Simply put, it's the source of one's blood and part of the reason cultivators can live so long. It's also the blood that one's children will inherit, depending on who the other parent is, of course.
This is also where any bloodlines someone might possess would reside. In fact, when one's cultivation reaches a high enough level, if they don't have a bloodline already, their Blood Essence will evolve into something akin to a bloodline unique only to them.
One's Blood Essence contains tons of untapped power, but using it is the same as using one's lifespan.
While using it doesn't affect one's cultivation foundation, it's certainly better not to use it. Mira might not know it yet, but once she reaches the Mortal Shedding Realm and above, it'll become more important.
There are many mysteries and benefits that Blood Essence can bring to a cultivator.
However, the reason Mira was so shocked, yet excited, was because when she used her black tail, she consumed part of her Blood Essence as fuel.
Having the [Sub-Zero 9-Tailed Fox Progenitor] Bloodline makes her Blood Essence especially powerful. Thus, every bit is precious.
Knowing how to replenish that would not only let her regain what she lost, but it'd give her more fuel in case she ever needed to use her black tail again.
"The last condition is to be able to use the nutrients within your blood to isolate and heal injuries on your body."
Mira snapped out of her reverie and nodded at the Guardian's last condition.
'That's easy. I've known how to do that for a while,' Mira thought.
"See? I told you! With that altar, blood sphere, and all the corpses you have in Storage Space, there's no need for you to move! The only challenging aspect about this Hell for you is restoring your Blood Essence, but it shouldn't be that difficult. After all, you have the ability to devour others and turn them into your own power."
'The black runes! Ugh! Why did I never think of that?!'
Mira felt like slapping herself now that she thought about it! Although her black runes didn't devour bloodlines and turn them into her own, part of what makes them so powerful is that they can restore her power, whether it be healing her injuries or refilling her Qi.
It only makes sense that she'd be able to replenish her Blood Essence as well!
The Guardian shrugged and said, "At least you know now."
The two stopped talking as Mira felt the Hell of Blood draining her. She grabbed the blood sphere and was about to consume it, but Maria walked in front of her and shook her shoulders before she got the chance.
"WAKE UP, MIRA!!"
Mira calmly tilted her head and stared at Maria.
"What is it?"
Maria's eyebrows twitched, and she felt like smacking Mira over the head. However, with all the blood leaking out of her body, she didn't dare to.
"Why are you bleeding all over the place?! Dominique and I were worried that something might've happened to you!" Maria pointed to the pool of blood below Mira and Dominique, who looked at her with fear and concern.
Mira sighed and felt a little bad that she had caused them to worry, but she wasn't sorry at all.
"It's a cultivation technique."
Maria's lips twitched as she looked at the serene expression on Mira's face as she sat there, bleeding out.
Now, she felt stupid for even asking.
However, she couldn't hold back her curiosity, as she's never heard of such a masochistic cultivation technique that not only causes unimaginable pain but blood loss as well.
"What kind of cultivation technique are you using? I thought you were going to stick with Hell Scythe Cultivation Technique."
Mira answered without thinking too much, "It's part of my Inner Body Cultivation."
Maria was stunned by this answer.
"Inner Body Cultivation? Really? I didn't think it would be so deadly!"
Mira shook her head. "Mine is unique. I doubt when you go through it, yours will try and kill you."
Maria opened her mouth to say something, but Mira waved her hand dismissively.
"That's enough questions. I need to get back to focusing on resolving this issue, or I might really die of blood loss," Then she turned to Dominique and said, "I'm alright, kid. There's no need to worry. It looks much worse than it is. Just wait for me. I'll come out of this stronger than before."
"Really? Losing blood will make you stronger? Let me try!" Dominique took out a dagger and was about to slit one of her wrists, but Mira quickly wrapped Qi around the girl to stop her.
"No! Losing blood won't make you stronger… Haa… I'll teach you more about what I'm doing after I'm done here." Afterward, she glanced at Maria, who understood what she was trying to say, and walked over to Dominique to stop her from doing anything stupid again.
Since she handled all her affairs, Mira turned to the blood sphere, stuck part of it in her mouth, and swallowed it.
*Woosh!*
Instantly, she could feel it replenishing her lost blood, which felt quite weird. It felt like she just added air to a popped tire.
She consumed more of the blood sphere and focused her consciousness on what was happening inside her body.
She could see the new blood come in, stimulate her bone marrow and heart to turn it into her own and pump it throughout her body.
Mira then concentrated on her blood flow, and since she now had complete authority over her mind and body, all it took was a thought for her to control it. The blood flowing through her veins slowed down to a stop.
However, as she did so, she felt the threat of death creeping up on her, so she stopped controlling her blood.
Unfortunately, this meant that her body was still leaking blood out of every orifice.
To counteract this, she just slowed it down instead of stopping her blood flow altogether.
Afterward, she tossed all the corpses she had in her Storage Space into the altar, including a few pieces of a Mortal Shedding Realm expert, to improve the quality of the blood sphere.
Then, to complete the condition of replenishing her Blood Essence, Mira wrapped her Qi around the blood sphere but focused on controlling her black runes.
Due to practicing her [Ruler of Death] technique, her control over them has improved.
With a thought, the runes glowed and began absorbing the blood sphere. Mira checked inside her body and saw that what they consumed had just replenished her lost blood.
This wasn't what Mira wanted, but she had an idea of how she could change that.
While controlling the blood absorbed by her black runes, she sent it straight into where her Blood Essence resided. She then surrounded her Blood Essence with her black runes as well and absorbed the foreign blood into it.
'Kugh!'
Mira grunted in pain as the two didn't mix, but she didn't give up! She bombarded the foreign blood with her black runes as if to reduce it to its most basic state and forcefully tried to merge it with her Blood Essence.
She felt like she was on the right track and kept at it until the foreign blood was reduced and torn apart so much that it could be absorbed.
After an unknown amount of time, Mira was panting like crazy as all that was left of the foreign blood from the blood sphere was a small, bright red ball of pure, neutral Blood Essence.
She let out a sigh of relief, and with a thought, the small ball seamlessly merged with her own Blood Essence, increasing its quantity by a minuscule amount.
'I did it!'
Then, something amazing happened!
The Gates of Purgatory shined, and black energy flooded her body!
