After fully recovering his chakra reserves, Jiang Hai's eyes lit up. He pointed his index finger at Yuudai's corpse as threads of chakra entered the body. The lifeless form suddenly shook, and soon all the chakra threads had infiltrated Yuudai's remains.
Jiang Hai took a deep breath, his expression becoming solemn. He bit the tip of his tongue and drew a strange blood symbol with his hand. With a wave of his right hand, the symbol landed on Yuudai's chest.
The corpse quivered violently. Its arms and legs convulsed, and blood flowed from its orifices. However, the blood did not drip down; instead, it converged. Soon after, a crisp snapping sound echoed from the body. Yuudai's face turned red, and a strange shade appeared across his skin as drops of crimson blood seeped out.
Jiang Hai's expression became even more serious. Without blinking, he drew another blood symbol that landed on Yuudai's chest. Yuudai's mouth unexpectedly opened as the blood vessels in his body ruptured. Blood flowed from his mouth and gathered in the air. In the blink of an eye, a giant ball of blood hovered above Yuudai, while his red body quickly turned pale.
Jiang Hai's forehead was covered in sweat. He watched the ball of blood as he quickly formed seals and directed the otherworldly techniques of the Chakra Refining skill toward it. The ball slowly shrunk until it was the size of a fist, emitting a blood-red light.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Hai found his entire body soaked in sweat. Without stopping, he spat out more chakra and motioned with his hand. The chakra ball drove back into Yuudai's body.
Yuudai's body started to twitch violently. Something began moving under his skin, making its way toward his heart. Not long after, his body visibly shrunk as the muscles and veins converged to form a large orb on his chest.
Jiang Hai's eyes shone. His right hand waved, sending out another technique. With a bang, the orb of meat detached from Yuudai's body. The remains were now little more than a bag of bones. Jiang Hai inhaled and spat out a mouthful of chakra. The chakra entered the meat orb, which eventually shrunk to the exact size of the ball of blood.
Looking exhausted, Jiang Hai took a brief nap to recover. When he opened his eyes, his chakra reserves were filled to the brim. He pointed at Yuudai's body once more. Loud cracking sounds filled the air as all the bones in the corpse crumbled into powder, forming a ball of bone dust.
The blood, meat, and bone balls lined up, releasing a sinister aura. Jiang Hai sighed and muttered to himself, "In order to steal one's chakra, you need their blood, meat, bones, and soul. This technique is a bit cruel, but the results are all that matter."
Jiang Hai regained his focus and pointed his hand at the floating balls, beginning a chant. As he chanted faster and faster, a white gas emerged from the remains and gathered in the air. Eventually, the gas condensed into a human shape. If one looked closely, the figure looked exactly like Yuudai.
The small figure's eyes revealed a confused look. Slowly, the bafflement disappeared, replaced by a malicious glare directed at Jiang Hai. The spirit let out silent screams. Jiang Hai did not bat an eye. He made a slight cut on his palm and waved his hand, causing a blood chain to emerge. The spirit tried to escape, but its struggles were futile. Seeing no way out, it lunged at the blood chain with a hateful expression.
Jiang Hai indifferently waved his hand. The blood chain coiled around the figure and pulled it toward him. He knew the soul extraction step was vital. He had to safely extract the soul past a three-meter range without breaking it. A broken soul would heavily hinder the theft of chakra. Normally, if everything went accordingly, Jiang Hai could use 40% of Yuudai's chakra to improve his own physical and spiritual energies, permanently increasing his reserves. If the soul broke, the gain would be halved or lost entirely.
The spirit's face contorted in pain as the blood chain slowly dragged it away. In an instant, half of its body passed the three-meter mark. Watching Yuudai resist, a cold light flashed in Jiang Hai's eyes. He poured a large amount of chakra into the chain, which thickened to the size of a thumb. No matter how the spirit struggled, it could no longer resist. It was easily pulled beyond the three-meter range with a frenzied look.
Without a word, Jiang Hai pointed at the spirit. It immediately stopped struggling and shrunk into a ball of purple light. At that instant, the soul was completely refined.
Jiang Hai pointed at the spirit, and it began to swell and stir. The blood ball shot up and liquefied into the spirit. Gradually, the ball of meat and bone also melted into it. The spirit changed greatly; it was now a speck of orange light floating in the air, emitting a gentle glow.
Jiang Hai knew he was at the final step. He injected a lump of his own chakra into the speck of light. After a long time, the speck emitted a bright flash. Jiang Hai bit the tip of his tongue and spat out blood. The moment the blood touched the light, there was a sizzling sound, and the blood disappeared.
The light speck merged with the blood and began to tremble, momentarily emitting a mighty pressure. "Huff... finally done," Jiang Hai said in a tired voice, though his gaze remained lively as he scanned the glowing speck.
'Sweet, it is in the refined state. In this state, I have full control over this lump of chakra. I can choose to absorb or discard it, but it is such a pity I can only absorb 40% of it. If I could learn medical ninjutsu, I might be able to increase that amount. But that is only speculation.'
'Increasing my reserves is the primary benefit, but there is a secondary one: these chakra specks can be used as explosives. With a mental command, I can make this speck of top-tier civilian chakra go boom!' An odd smile formed on his face, but he quickly returned to an expressionless mask.
'My priority is increasing my reserves. I will refine the other corpses now and absorb them before killing that fruit seller. After absorbing his chakra, my reserves should reach low-tier Genin. I do not have to worry about food or money for now since I have acquired a huge stock from this kill. I will focus on my reserves, learning water walking, and collecting a few extra chakra specks for safety.'
Jiang Hai settled in and began to recover his chakra once more.