In the realm of immortal cultivation, if Foundation Establishment meant laying the bedrock for the Immortal Dao, then Qi Refining was the foundation of that bedrock.
Under ordinary circumstances, even if a conventional cultivator reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, their physical body might not match the strength and perfection Mark currently possessed.
The key to Mark’s physical transformation lay in the Dao Seed birthed when the Thirty-Six Grade Precious Lotus Grand Array merged with the Primordial True Unity Qi.
When Mark fused with the Dao Seed, a thread of its purest foundation pulled him into a Dao state akin to the embryonic chaos of the early universe—a state where chaos resembled a hen’s egg, and the precious lotus harbored Pangu himself.
It did not matter that this Dao state was merely an echo.
Catching even the faintest divine intent of Pangu being nurtured within chaos was an earth-shattering fortune.
After checking his system log, Mark quickly understood the origin of this miraculous opportunity.
Yet Mark also knew such a lucky break was unlikely to happen again.
Even if time were reset and he tried a second time, he might not succeed.
But regardless, the result was glorious.
Having taken his first step on the path of cultivation, Mark could clearly sense the first thread of illusory True Qi birthed within his body.
To be precise, it was True Qi endowed with a hint of magical essence.
To refine this True Qi into true spiritual force, one had to continually expand their essence, qi, and spirit.
By ascending through the Nine Layers of Qi Refining, turning the illusory into reality, and forming a Dao Foundation inside the body, one could finally channel true spiritual force.
This was the first realm of immortal cultivation: the Qi Refining Realm.
At this stage, the vast majority of cultivators had to select a technique tailored to the attribute of their True Qi.
A great technique was like a top-tier hypercar engine.
A poor technique was like a pair of worn-out foot pedals.
In the Yanfu World, a top-tier cultivation technique was enough to spark bloodbaths and heap mountain-high piles of corpses.
Fortunately, Mark sat atop the entire cultivation library of the Blood Fiend Demon Sect, gifted to him by nature.
He had no need to fight to the death for a technique.
In fact, he suffered from a mild case of choice paralysis due to the sheer abundance of options.
After browsing happily through the system for half a day, Mark ultimately selected the foundational Qi Refining art of the Blood God Path: the *Blood-Refining, Essence-Augmenting, Qi-Nourishing Method*.
This art targeted the absolute core of dual body and spirit cultivation.
It was not complex—in fact, it sounded almost rudimentary.
Mark chose it specifically to maximize his greatest advantage at this stage.
His greatest advantage, naturally, was his identity as an heir to Umbrella Corporation.
He had already struck a secret pact with Selene, intending to quietly seize control of Blue Umbrella and overthrow Marcus’s faction of vampires.
Cloning technology, nutrient fluid culture, artificial blood synthesis, bio-engineering modifications…
With slight adjustments, Blue Umbrella’s technology could easily build a fully functional vampire farming facility.
These rich, blood-aligned resources could easily sustain Mark’s cultivation in the Blood God Path.
First, he would use the Blood God Path to build his strength and rally forces.
Once he reached Foundation Establishment, he could shift his path according to the situation.
After all, the realms before immortality—Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Yuan Shen, Void Return—would ultimately serve as nourishment, merging into the Dao Seed to nurture the Precious Lotus World.
Choosing the *Blood-Refining, Essence-Augmenting, Qi-Nourishing Method* offered another benefit: even if the vampire farming plan failed, blood produced via artificial synthesis alone would suffice for his cultivation.
It would simply take a bit more effort, consume more resources, and require more time.
Given that he was still half a “prisoner” at the moment, he couldn’t afford to be too picky.
With his decision made, Mark wasted no time.
He grabbed a quick bite of prepared food from the apartment fridge, opened the line connected to the blood bank, and began a new round of cultivation.
This time, however, he could not act as recklessly as he had when condensing the Dao Seed.
Back then, the Precious Lotus Grand Array relied on Mark exhausting nearly all his essence, spirit, and qi to carve thirty-six thousand rune formations.
It had swallowed blood like a whale, devouring everything in sight.
Now, Mark was merely a cultivator who had just entered the First Layer of Qi Refining.
Even though his body had undergone a total rebirth, his foundation, mind, dantian, meridians, and flesh could not refine massive quantities of blood all at once.
This was another reason he wanted to set up a vampire farm: when refining the same volume of blood, the difference between ordinary human blood and a vampire’s heart-blood was night and day.
Vampires lived on blood and cultivated supernatural power.
In Mark’s eyes, they were living blood-refining pumps.
Leaving them unexploited would be a tragic waste.
Of course, farming vampires required sufficient strength and authority.
Both strength and authority rested on personal power.
Become stronger!
Mark quickly suppressed the stray thoughts in his mind and channeled his internal Dao Seed, manifesting a fist-sized illusory lotus in midair.
Blood from the supply pipe trickled into the lotus drop by drop.
Instantly, a bright flame flared up.
As the delicate lotus revolved, Mark threw his full concentration into refining the blood.
Drop by drop, the blood evaporated within the flame.
With every drop that vanished, specks of Primordial True Unity Qi were absorbed into Mark’s body.
…
While Mark was refining blood and building his power, on the 32nd floor of Blue Umbrella, in the Blood Bank Data Management Center…
A dozen employees in crisp business attire watched the sharply declining line on their screens finally begin to level off.
Everyone breathed a massive sigh of relief.
The balding supervisor leading the team popped a quick-acting heart pill, slumping into his chair like a gasping fish out of water.
“It stopped!
It finally stopped!”
“Thank God!”
The supervisor took a long time to compose himself, wiping away streams of cold sweat before ceasing his prayers.
Seeing the supervisor calm down, an employee tentatively asked, “Supervisor, the data shows the blood reserves are still dropping at a micro-rate.
Should we report this to the Executive Office?”
“Also, Blood Bank No.
1 is practically empty.
Company policy mandates keeping reserves above one-third capacity.”
“If the Manufacturing Division asks, what should we tell them?”
“The blood reserves consumed over the past three days alone are worth over ninety million US dollars…”