Chapter 58: Annoyance From the Dantian
Jian Chen let out a long breath to still his emotions, as he glanced at the monster core in his hand. Although he hadn’t been absorbing the energy from within the monster core for very long, he could clearly tell that the energy within the Class 1 Monster Core was substantially less than before; the monster core had even shrunk in size.
Jian Chen inhaled sharply in astonishment at this new change. Although a Class 1 Monster Core did not have a large amount of energy, before he had became a Saint, completely absorbing all of the energy within a Class 1 Monster Core would require him at least 3 nights. In the short amount of time that he had spent absorbing the energy from the Class 1 Monster Core, the amount of energy inside had already decreased significantly Jian Chen couldn’t possibly dare to imagine just how much energy he had absorbed into his body in that short amount of time.
Afterwards, Jian Chen immediately inspected his inner body once more. However, to his surprise, he couldn’t detect any of the energy he had just absorbed at all. His dantian didn’t show any change, and the energy inside had no indication of growth either; it was almost as if the entire show just now was merely an illusion that hadn’t occurred at all.
If it weren’t for the fact that Jian Chen could clearly feel that the energy in the monster core was now less than before, then Jian Chen would have thought this situation had all been in his head; this situation was far too weird to understand.
His eyes creased together in deep thought, but no matter how much he thought about it, Jian Chen was completely confused. In the end, Jian Chen could only put aside the problem and begin to cultivate the absorbed energy. However, after experiencing that rapid rate of absorption, Jian Chen was very careful now and paid attention to his entire body in order to avoid the same situation as last time.
But then who would had thought the moment he started to cultivate, the same event as last time would happen once more. The monster core in his hand emitted a faint glow as the energy inside coursed out of it at an inconceivable speed, before dissipating inside the meridians in his arms.
Jian Chen went as rigid as a stone statue on his bed, without the smallest of movements taking place. Right now, he had finally confirmed that this was happening for real, and it was not just some sort of illusion. Just as Jian Chen was going to stop absorbing the monster core’s energy, he immediately changed his mind. His entire mind was elevated to the highest level of concentration he could muster as he tried to familiarize himself with this situation. He wanted to clearly understand what was happening within his body, and what the reason was for the sudden terrifying increase in absorption. Moreover, Jian Chen wanted to know why the energy had simply disappeared into his dantian like a stone in the ocean, leaving behind no traces.
The monster core within Jian Chen’s hands had noticeably shrunken, and the energy inside had been steadily flowing into the meridians of his arms via his pores. With such a great flow of energy rushing into his arm, Jian Chen’s skin was starting to feel a little sore from the barrage.
When he was absorbing the World Essence two days ago, its state had been much gentler, so the fast rate of absorption hadn’t bothered him too much. But the monster core was different; the monster core had the energy of a magical beast condensed within it. No matter how strong the energy or how pure the soul was, it was far superior to the abilities of the World Essence. The monster core also contained a berserk element inside, so when Jian Chen was absorbing the energy from within, he had felt a backlash.
Jian Chen paid no attention to the pain at all, and instead completely focused his attention on the situation happening inside himself. The majority of the energy from within the monster core headed towards his dantian and trickled away; only a small portion of it was assimilated into his body.
However when Jian Chen discovered where the energy was going, his face grew bright, as the energy was flowing towards the azure and violet glows within his dantian. The energy had unexpectedly been completely absorbed by the two glowing balls.
Jian Chen slowly opened his eyes as he stared heavily at the monster core in his hands. Throwing it away, he shut his eyes closed once more, and began to cultivate the World Essence as he usually did.
The World Essence began to flow towards him in a steady stream, faster and faster. Although the speed was at least a dozen times faster than his regular speed, about 99% of the World Essence was being absorbed by the two glows of light within his dantian, while he was only absorbing 1% of the remaining amount into his body.
After realizing this, Jian Chen decided to rely on cultivating using the World Essence. However, the speed at which he was cultivating and refining the World Essence was ten times slower than his normal speed.
With this conclusion, Jian Chen’s expression grew ugly. His own personal cultivation rate was cut down to a tenth of his original rate, something he did not want at all. He hadn’t imagined that the two glows in his dantian would be such an annoyance.
Afterwards, Jian Chen tried to absorb the monster core’s energy once more. His solemn face gradually loosened up as he began to think. If he were to cultivate using the energy from the monster core, then his cultivation rate wouldn’t be as slow as before he became a Saint; instead, it would be three times as fast. The most major flaw was that the amount it took to absorb the energy in this way required a lot of effort; Jian Chen had even started to sweat from the exertion.
Stopping his cultivation after a while, he looked outside the window to see the pitch dark skies and helplessly sighed. If the glows in his dantian were to forcibly take his energy each and every time he cultivated, then the variables in his future would only get more difficult. After all, just relying on absorbing the World Essence gave him a tenth of his cultivation speed. Absorbing the energy from the monster core tripled his speed, while also consuming more of his personal energy and focus, something Jian Chen couldn’t endure.
A single Class 1 Monster Core originally took Jian Chen 3 nights to absorb. Right now, absorbing that same Class 1 Monster Core required the same amount of time it took to make and drink a cup of tea. This meant that in a single night, Jian Chen could absorb 50 Class 1 Monster Cores. Even if Jian Chen was made of money, it would be difficult to say if Jian Chen could keep up with this new rate of consumption and absorption.
TL Note: 10 minutes per Class 1 Monster Core
Jian Chen immediately composed himself. According to his knowledge, he knew that this little bump on the road wasn’t too hard to overcome. “Ai, a step is a step. If I don’t have anymore monster cores, then I’ll go out and hunt for more. It’s not like the energy will always be taken away from me like this in the future.” With this thought in mind, Jian Chen took out a batch of monster cores from within his space belt, and continued to cultivate once more.
The night passed quickly. The second morning arrived, concluding Jian Chen’s daily cultivation period. Taking inventory of the amount of monster cores he used, he sucked in a sharp breath in shock. In the span of a single night, he had unexpectedly consumed the energy from 56 Class 1 Monster Cores.
Jian Chen smiled bitterly. Even though his Space Belt contained a wealthy amount of monster cores, with this rate of consumption, the monster cores wouldn’t last for more than a few days. When there were no more to absorb, Jian Chen would then be forced to rely on the World Essence. Right now, Jian Chen could only hope that his dantian and the two glows of light inside would become saturated with energy, and stop taking it from him when he cultivated.
“It looks like I’ll have to make a trip to the magical beast forest for some monster cores later.” Jian Chen muttered under his breath.
With a pacified heart, Jian Chen departed from his room and walked towards the grove outside of the academy to help teach his older brother with some techniques regarding fighting, as well as helping him gain some battle experience. As the sun rose, Jian Chen worked hard to teach Changyang Hu. Eventually, as the sun was at its highest point, Jian Chen concluded his explanations.
“Big brother, we’ll stop here for now. As far as using and transforming your energy, you’ll have to spend some time on getting it down. But when it comes to battle experience, you’ll just have to fight with others to slowly improve, so there’s no point in practicing by yourself so meticulously.” Jian Chen said to his older brother. For the past few days, Jian Chen had spent his mornings teaching Changyang Hu various aspects of techniques and fighting.
Changyang Hu nodded his head, “I understand, fourth brother.” Right now, Changyang Hu did not think that learning from his fourth brother was an odd occurrence. He didn’t know what Jian Chen’s lifestyle was like back at the Changyang Mansion, but he could tell that his own brother was a talented genius. Receiving some special attention would have been normal, so it wasn’t that far fetched to think that Jian Chen had learned these things from the clan elders. In addition, Changyang Hu knew that Jian Chen loved to read books, frequently spending entire days inside the academy’s library.. So it was possible that some of the things he knew came from the library as well.
“Big brother, you should slowly practice by yourself. I’ll be leaving first.” With that, Jian Chen exited the grove, leaving his brother to continue training by himself.
……
In the middle of one of the academy training grounds, two youths wearing the same academy uniform were fiercely fighting against each other. One of them held a giant blade burning a fiery red as it emitted a sizzling Qi. The owner of such a strong weapon was the gifted cultivation genius of Kargath Academy–Cheng Mingxiang.
Cheng Mingxiang’s opponent was holding a giant sword that was blue in color. He looked to be older than Cheng Mingxiang. However, his face was dripping with sweat as he concentrated on the fight.
They fought ferociously, but a perceptive person would have been able to tell that the blue sword wielder was being forced to blindly defend against the red sword wielder.
“My lord, I concede. I cannot defend myself any longer.” The blue sword holder cried out.
Hearing him, Cheng Mingxiang immediately paused and let the sword in his hand disappear. “Sha La, it seems like the duration that you can defend yourself for is getting shorter and shorter. Looks like you have to work harder in the future; the current you is weaker than in the past.”
The youth gave a bitter smile as he laughed, “My lord, it is not that my strength is getting worse, but that your strength is growing faster than mine. I am no longer a suitable opponent for you.”
Cheng Mingxiang looked proud at himself when he heard these words.
At that moment, another student wearing the academy uniform came running over towards Cheng Mingxiang with an envelope in his hand. “Lord Cheng, a letter from the clan elders have come!”
