Chapter 392: Forcefully Opening the Meridian
Xiao Chen tossed aside the Snow Ginseng skin in his hand and took out another five-hundred-year-old Spirit Herb. He muttered, “This is the Hundred Spirit Fruit. Its effects are weaker than the Snow Ginseng. It can only raise five years worth of cultivation. However, that is still pretty valuable.”
After Xiao Chen consumed the Snow Ginseng, his Qi whirlpool had enlarged significantly. The amount of Essence that it could contain had increased by half.
Furthermore, with the experience from the previous attempt, the digestion of his Hundred Spirit Fruit was not as dangerous as the earlier attempt. Two days later, Xiao Chen completely absorbed the medicinal energy.
Throughout the following month, Xiao Chen continued consuming natural treasures that increased his cultivation. The quantity of Essence in his body had increased to a horrifying level.
Xiao Chen’s current quantity of Essence was comparable to that of a Medial Grade Martial King. If he completely consumed all of the Spirit Herbs, his quantity of Essence would surpass that of a Medial Grade Martial King, comparable to a Superior Grade Martial King.
After a month had passed, Xiao Chen held the final five-hundred-year-old Spirit Herb in his hand. He frowned slightly, speaking softly to himself, “Toward the end, the effects of these Spirit Fruits have weakened. A Spirit Herb that could originally advance my cultivation by ten years cannot achieve five now.”
This was the problem of building a resistance to Spirit Herbs. Xiao Chen had experienced this before in the underground world. Because he had consumed too many Spirit Herbs, he gained a significant resistance to them.
Unless Xiao Chen found Spirit Herbs older than a thousand years, it would be difficult to use this method for raising his cultivation sharply. Spirit Herbs under a thousand years in age were no longer very useful to him.
Xiao Chen collected his thoughts and smiled faintly, “I should be satisfied with this already. As of now, my quantity of Essence can compare to that of a Superior Grade Martial King. Once I become a Martial King, the quality of my Essence will increase again. At that time, those experienced Martial Kings will not have much of an advantage over me.”
Xiao Chen only used half a day to digest the final Spirit Herb.
After another week, with the support of his vast Essence, Xiao Chen advanced to peak Superior Grade Martial Saint without any obstructions.
After Xiao Chen’s cultivation rose, the amount of open minor meridians in his body increased. He only needed to open two more minor meridians to cultivate the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation’s sixth layer.
It was time for Xiao Chen to open those two meridians. He needed to cultivate the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation’s sixth layer, advancing both his cultivation realm and Cultivation Technique.
When cultivators attempted to overcome a major hurdle, they would normally spend a long time doing so.
Not only did they need sufficient Essence, but they also required some opportune moments.
Without these opportune moments, it would be impossible to advance to Martial King. Liu Ruyue had once told Xiao Chen about her experiences when advancing to Martial King.
Thus, the importance of the opportune moment was deeply ingrained into Xiao Chen. Fortunately, he had the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation. Advancing to the sixth layer could count as an opportune moment.
Two days after advancing to peak Martial King, Xiao Chen was ready to try forcefully opening the two minor meridians.
The pure and vast lightning-attributed energy circulated in Xiao Chen’s nine major meridians for a small cycle. Then, it slowly flowed through the numerous minor meridians for a great cycle.
After that, Xiao Chen was not in a rush to send this Essence back to the dantian. He stopped the Essence in the middle of one of the major meridians. Many minor meridians surrounded this major meridian like the branches on a tree trunk.
Xiao Chen looked for the closed minor meridian that he needed. Then, he sharpened his Essence until it was like a nail and pierced the minor meridian slowly.
“Si!”
The minor meridian only opened slightly, and Xiao Chen immediately felt a heart-wrenching pain. He sharply inhaled a mouthful of cold air.
However, Xiao Chen did not stop his actions. Pain was to be expected when forcefully opening the minor meridians. Xiao Chen had prepared for this long ago.
The minor meridian opened little by little. The intense pain caused veins to bulge on his forehead as sweat rolled down relentlessly.
After working hard for a night, this minor meridian finally opened by a tenth. After resting awhile, he resumed opening the minor meridian.
Xiao Chen did not have too much time. Compared to the other genius cultivators, he had started much later. Those people had already left Xiao Chen in their dust.
Compared to others, Xiao Chen needed time the most. The harvest from this fortuitous encounter managed to close the gap slightly.
After all, those genius cultivators mostly had great sects backing them. They did not lack pills, herbs, or treasures.
No matter how painful, how difficult, or how dangerous it was, Xiao Chen had to persevere; he could not afford to be lazy.
After half a month, after plenty of hard work, Xiao Chen finally opened these two minor meridians completely.
The new minor meridians were too fragile; Essence could not flow through them. So, he could not use them to cultivate. However, Xiao Chen had prepared long ago. He picked many quality Spirit Herbs for nourishing the meridians.
After another seven days, with the nourishment of the Spirit Herbs, Xiao Chen’s newly opened minor meridians were as stable as his other meridians. He could use them for cultivation now.
—
A large, round moon hung high in the sky, sending down a gentle light.
Xiao Chen slowly got up from the rock. He gazed the bright moon above before taking out a golden Spirit Core from the Universe Ring.
This golden Spirit Core was about the size of a basketball. This was the Spirit Core of the Golden Lion King that Xiao Chen once hunted in the Savage Forest.
Xiao Chen felt that he lacked something to advance to Martial King until he remembered the Spirit Core of the Golden Lion King.
Xiao Chen now realized he still lacked a strong external force. When he advanced his Purple Thunder Divine Incantation to the sixth layer, he would use the external force in tandem with his Essence to break through to Martial King in one breath.
Xiao Chen held the golden Spirit Core that had rested in his Universe Ring for over a year. It was finally time to use it.
Advancing from Superior Grade Martial Saint to Martial King within three months was as difficult as ascending to the heavens. This was something no one dared to think about.
However, Xiao Chen wished to gamble on it. He felt the pure energy of the golden Spirit Core and said, “After preparing for two months, I consumed Spirit Herbs that have increased my cultivation with great risk, spent a lot of effort, and suffered to open the minor meridians, all for this day.”
Xiao Chen could only succeed; he could not afford to fail. Compared to those with the backing of a sect, those peak geniuses, he did not have the resources to waste on failure. The moment he failed, he would lose the opportunity to catch up.
The full moon was perfectly round; the night was dark and silent.
Xiao Chen searched for a place where the Spiritual Energy was relatively dense. Then, he sat down cross-legged on a rock.
Xiao Chen crisscrossed his fingers with his palm facing up. The basketball-sized golden core floated quietly above his palm. The Spiritual Energy of the Spirit Core drifted out but did not scatter. Xiao Chen directed it with his Spiritual Sense.
Xiao Chen took a deep breath before exhaling a white gas. Even after a long time, this gas did not scatter.
Success or failure would depend on his move. Once everything was ready, Xiao Chen closed his eyes.
The immense Qi whirlpool in Xiao Chen’s dantian spun rapidly. Then, he quietly used the circulation method for the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation’s sixth layer.
The surrounding lightning-attributed Spiritual Energy rushed into Xiao Chen’s body, forming a whirlpool outside the body as it did so. It went through the pores of his skin and flowed into his meridian, eventually reaching the dantian.
“Ti da! Ti da!”
Lightning-attributed Essence liquid quickly formed, dripping from the purple Qi whirlpool. Soon, lightning-attributed energy filled the purple Qi whirlpool.
This was the first step of cultivating the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation. Xiao Chen had to absorb the surrounding lightning-attributed Spiritual Energy and deposit it all in this dantian.
However, it did not stop there. Xiao Chen had to refine it continuously, turning the Spiritual Energy into the purer Essence.
The purple liquid in the Qi whirlpool also spun madly with the Qi whirlpool. Now, Xiao Chen used the method from the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation’s sixth layer to refine the Spiritual Energy. Hence, it was much faster than before.
“Chi! Chi!”
As the Qi whirlpool spun, the countless arcs of electricity appeared in the surrounding air, crackling restlessly.
In the dark night, it looked like tiny lightning bolts streaking across, illuminating Xiao Chen’s face with a purple light.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, both the whirlpool, inside and outside the body, stopped spinning. The purple liquid in the inner whirlpool exploded, and its color grew deeper.
However, its volume decreased significantly. Originally, that Essence could fill the entire Qi whirlpool, but now, it only filled it slightly.
The time necessary to refine Spiritual Energy into Essence decreased by half.
The Purple Thunder Divine Incantation’s sixth layer is indeed strong, Xiao Chen thought joyfully. This means I can double my future cultivation speed.
However, Xiao Chen had only succeeded in one segment. Following this, he still had to circulate his Essence by a small cycle successfully, then a great cycle, before his Purple Thunder Divine Incantation could advance to the sixth layer.
Xiao Chen took a deep breath and continued to circulate the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation. The dense purple liquid surged and flowed into the nine major meridians.
“Hu! Hu!”
The pure and dense Essence flowed quickly within the nine major meridians. It was like a wild, galloping horse. Xiao Chen’s consciousness could almost not control it.
What impressive speed! Xiao Chen was astonished. When the speed increased, it meant that the efficiency of his cultivation would have improved. Anticipation of the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation’s sixth layer filled Xiao Chen.
However, at this moment, Xiao Chen had to be very careful as well. If he lost control of the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation, he would fail in his first attempt to break through.
Regardless of the situation, Xiao Chen had to complete the small cycle smoothly. The speed increased during the great cycle. If he could not even deal with the small cycle, how could he manage the great cycle?
Xiao Chen sank his consciousness down. His will acted like a rope, controlling this wild horse, not letting it get out of control.
Finally, Xiao Chen arduously completed a small cycle.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
When the Essence returned to the Qi whirlpool, both the inner and outer whirlpool started spinning again. A huge electric whirlpool also appeared in the sky.
The electric whirlpool did not spin at all; it merely appeared in the night sky. Thunder roared around it and lightning danced across the sky, illuminating the entire Qianren Island.
—
Xiao Bai chatted with Yue Chenxi. When they discovered the changes in the sky, their expressions also shifted. Yue Chenxi muttered, “This is a mysterious phenomenon. Only a Heaven Ranked Cultivation Technique will result in a mysterious phenomenon when it advances. Could Xiao Chen be cultivating a Heaven Ranked Cultivation Technique?”
