Chapter 200: The Rise and Fall of One
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Chen Fei approached the jade bed, crossed his legs, and a wave of coldness emanated from the jade bed, causing Chen Fei’s mind to momentarily quiet down.
This jade bed was indeed an extraordinary treasure. With its assistance, cultivators could absorb the surrounding energy more quickly and effectively during their practice here, enhancing their cultivation.
Instead of immediately releasing and refining the vital energy here, Chen Fei used his inner energy to sense his surroundings, confirming that there was no sense of prying, before taking out the Receival Bead from his pocket.
“Hum!”
The spiritual tool activation technique was set in motion, and the Receival Bead trembled slightly. Chen Fei’s perspective had now shifted into the Receival Bead. A halo surrounded him, and the surroundings were filled with mist—this was the usual absorbed vital energy.
However, unlike before, amidst the mist, Chen Fei also saw numerous droplet-like liquid forms, intermingling with the mist.
“These droplets should be the vital energy within the Wu family’s Elemental Spirit Pool.”
Chen Fei thought to himself, attempting to manipulate them with his spiritual power. He found that these droplet-like elemental energies were very easily absorbed and moved, drawn effortlessly into his body.
Compared to regular vital energy, the Receival Bead had a clear advantage in moving these ones. It also consumed considerably less of Chen Fei’s mental power.
However, after absorbing these vital energies, Chen Fei could still distinctly differentiate between vital energy and the Wu family’s elemental vital energy.
Apart from the effects, Wu family’s elemental vital energy was far inferior to vital energy. Moreover, during the process of refining it through cultivation techniques, the difficulty of refining vital energy was significantly higher. Chen Fei could also subtly sense that there seemed to be a kind of resistance within the vital energy.
To put it bluntly, it was very similar to the kind of resistance that developed after taking too many medicinal pills, a form of resistance.
“That’s why one can only enter the Wu family’s Elemental Spirit Pool once a year.”
Returning from the perspective of the Receival Bead, Chen Fei realized that the Wu family wasn’t concerned about someone absorbing too much vital energy. Due to this resistance, if one absorbed too much, the body would naturally be unable to handle the burden, leading to a halt in absorption.
This was why when Chen Fei had asked Wu Hongming the question upon entering the room, Wu Hongming was so indifferent. He hadn’t considered the possibility that someone could absorb too much.
“In the Wu family’s elemental vital energy, other things seem to be blended in. It’s easier to absorb than vital energy but harder to refine, and it’s burdensome. Therefore, by removing this aspect, 1 can refine the elemental energy just like 1 do with vital energy.”
Chen Fei had thought about this question before coming here, so this wasn’t unexpected. His perspective within the Receival Bead had just confirmed his speculation.
The Thousand Origin Technique circulated in Chen Fei’s sea of consciousness, stirring the internal energy within his body. It then extended beyond his body, forming small internal energy spheres.
These spheres were filled with Chen Fei’s silk-like mental power. In total, Chen Fei condensed nine internal energy spheres outside his body, with each sphere connected end to end.
The two Receival Beads in Chen Fei’s embrace jumped out, connecting to the internal energy spheres, forming a simple vital energy filter that Chen Fei had devised.
Ordinary vital energy was difficult to manipulate. Even though Chen Fei’s mental power far surpassed the Visceral Tempering realm, he still couldn’t move even a bit of vital energy.
On the other hand, the Wu family’s elemental vital energy was incredibly easy to manipulate. However, there were parts of it that Chen Fei didn’t want. This created a conflict.
Chen Fei had been contemplating how to reconcile these two situations all along. He had finally come up with a solution.
Using his mental power to guide the Wu family’s elemental vital energy, he then introduced it into the Receival Bead. The first Receival Bead served as the filtering entrance, screening the Wu family’s elemental vital energy first.
Because the Receival Bead’s main function is to help cultivators absorb the vital energy of heaven and earth, it can partially intercept the non-vital energy part within the Wu family’s elemental vital energy.
Then, Chen Fei’s nine internal energy spheres served more as a syphoning inertia, allowing more vital energy to enter from the first Receival Bead.
The end Receival Bead was the final step of filtration, further sieving out the non-vitai energy part within the Wu family’s elemental vital energy before finally entering Chen Fei’s body.
The two Receival Beads were crucial, acting as sieves. Of course, Chen Fei’s mental power was also essential. Without the Thousand Origin Technique and a rich mental power, achieving such a precise operation at the Visceral Tempering realm was impossible.
Advanced practitioners of the Aperture Tempering realm could accomplish these tasks, but why would they bother absorbing the Wu family’s elemental vital energy when there was so much vital energy in the world? Vital energy was their target.
With everything ready, Chen Fei activated the two Receival Beads while the nine internal energy spheres spun rapidly, generating a suction force. The Wu family’s elemental vital energy was drawn into the first Receival Bead.
The vital energy flowed unobstructed through the Receival Bead and internal energy spheres. Finally, it reached the last Receival Bead, where an energy incredibly similar to vital energy was guided into Chen Fei’s body and absorbed through the Zhongyuan Sword.
“It works!”
Feeling the constantly purified vital energy emerging within his body, Chen Fei’s physical sensations told him that the post-absorption resistance had indeed significantly decreased.
A faint smile appeared on Chen Fei’s face. The rotation of the internal energy spheres wasn’t much of a burden for him. The Receival Beads primarily acted as filters, not requiring much of Chen Fei’s mental power.
A simple yet highly practical filter had actually been successfully devised by Chen Fei and proven to be extremely effective.
Chen Fei pushed aside all other thoughts and focused entirely on refining the continuous influx of vital energy. Gradually, the internal energy within his body began to rise.
Two hours passed, and Chen Fei’s progress in the Visceral Tempering realm had increased by ten percent. Previously, despite practicing diligently for over a month and continuously consuming Clear Frost Pills, Chen Fei’s progress had only increased by a mere ten percent.
However, here and now, in just two hours, he had achieved what he would have in a month of previous practice—a truly astonishing feat.
But the process wasn’t over yet. Chen Fei still felt quite at ease physically, indicating that the absorption of the past two hours hadn’t burdened him significantly.
Four hours in, Chen Fei’s progress in the Visceral Tempering realm increased another ten percent, and the color of the Receival Beads paled slightly. Although they were just acting as barriers and weren’t being used at full capacity, there was still some wear on the Receival Beads. However, it was within Chen Fei’s acceptable range.
Single-mindediy, Chen Fei continued to cultivate, though a slight discomfort began to manifest within his body. Clearly, even though this simple filter was effective, it couldn’t completely eliminate impurities from the vital energy.
Based on Chen Fei’s estimate, it might take four or even five Receival Beads to thoroughly eliminate the impurities within the vital energy.
Naturally, Chen Fei didn’t have that many Receival Beads. Furthermore, he probably wouldn’t have another chance to enter the Wu family’s Elemental Spirit Pool, so this rudimentary filter would likely only appear this one time and not again in the future.
Six hours later, Chen Fei’s overall progress in the Visceral Tempering realm reached the mid-stage. In just over a month since breaking through to the Visceral Tempering realm, he had achieved what would take many people years of arduous effort. Even with the assistance of an Elemental Spirit Pool, the average person wouldn’t be able to achieve what Chen Fei had accomplished.
However, at this point in time, Chen Fei’s discomfort intensified significantly. He felt a sensation akin to having consumed too many pills, resulting in body swelling.
Nevertheless, Chen Fei managed to persevere. He used the control of the Suppressing Dragon Elephant to suppress the discomfort, even helping himself adapt to it.
The opportunity was rare, and unless he reached a point where he truly couldn’t continue, Chen Fei wouldn’t give up this chance.
However, Chen Fei sensed that the concentration of vital energy within the room seemed to have decreased considerably. He wondered whether the Wu family would replenish it once they discovered this situation.
Within the Wu family’s main courtyard, a Wu family disciple hurriedly found Wu Hongming and reported the situation they had discovered within the Elemental Spirit Pool.
“The concentration of vital energy within the Elemental Spirit Pool has noticeably decreased?”
Wu Hongming was momentarily taken aback upon hearing the report. Today, Chen Fei was the only person cultivating in the Elemental Spirit Pool, and only six hours had passed. According to reason, this situation should not have occurred.
“Let’s go!”
Wu Hongming’s figure flashed, and after a moment, he arrived at the Elemental Spirit Pool hall. Passing through various restrictions, he arrived in front of the actual Elemental Spirit Pool.
Wu Hongming sensed the surrounding vital energy and furrowed his brows. The concentration of vital energy had indeed significantly decreased, as though many people were simultaneously absorbing the energy here.
Wu Hongming’s expression turned serious. His first instinctive reaction was whether there was a problem with the Elemental Spirit Pool, whether there had been a leak somewhere.
Without further delay, Wu Hongming began a meticulous inspection of the restrictions around the Elemental Spirit Pool. Half an hour later, he stopped. All the restrictions were intact, with no leaks or damage; it was purely a case of excessive vital energy consumption.
“Could it really be caused by Chen Fei’s absorption?”
Wu Hongming found it somewhat unbelievable. This level of consumption would likely require four or five people simultaneously absorbing energy. Initially, due to this, Wu Hongming hadn’t suspected Chen Fei.
But now, after eliminating all other possibilities, the most unlikely and, therefore, the only answer remained.
Wu Hongming inexplicably recalled the question Chen Fei had asked him before entering the room. At the time, Wu Hongming hadn’t paid much attention since, after so many years, he had a clear understanding of how much vital energy a Visceral Tempering realm cultivator could absorb.
Even a peak Visceral Tempering realm cultivator, when absorbing energy from the Elemental Spirit Pool, couldn’t absorb much vital energy, let alone Chen Fei who had only recently broken through to the Visceral Tempering realm.
“Add more spiritual materials to accelerate the recovery of vital energy!”
After pondering for a moment, Wu Hongming instructed the Wu family disciple.
Chen Fei’s absorption method was reasonable and justified. Wu Hongming had no reason to stop it; doing so would go against the family’s principles. Moreover, Chen Fei was alone, and the more vital energy he absorbed, the heavier the burden on his body. Wu Hongming believed Chen Fei should be reaching his limit.
Inside the room, Chen Fei’s complexion turned slightly red. He had indeed reached a bottleneck in his absorption of vital energy.
By the eighth hour, Chen Fei’s progress in the Visceral Tempering realm had increased another ten percent. However, at this point, the burden on his body had become extremely heavy. Both his meridians and other parts of his body were beginning to feel swollen and strained.
“Hum!”
As if sensing something unusual in Chen Fei’s body, the previously calm Suppessing Dragon Elephant suddenly activated rapidly, slightly alleviating the discomfort.
Between the ongoing discomfort caused by the continuous absorption of vital energy and this counteraction, a faint balance was formed..