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Over the past three years, Lin Xuan has suffered a lot of pain as a result of the damage to his meridians.
As his Spiritual Qi circulated, the damage also took a very long time to heal. Thankfully, none of it was permanent. But because he didn’t have a Spiritual Root like everyone else, he has to diligently cultivate, all the while trying not to damage his meridians.
Which raised the difficulty and the time required to another level.
Lin Xuan carefully controlled the rate of flow of his Spiritual Qi, and thanks to his continuous attempts, he has developed a clear understanding of the endurance of his meridians and knew how far he can push himself.
Hours later, after he finished a perfect cycle, the Spiritual Qi flowed through the meridians and returned to his Dantian.
Lin Xuan’s eyes flashed with a hazy light and checked his body. He was already trying so hard, yet his cultivation didn’t change at all. Technically, after a complete cycle, Spiritual Qi should at least increase by a little bit.
Lin Xuan gritted his teeth. It seemed that he had to cultivate in the inner area.
The inner area of Whirlwind Cloud Valley was a cave that the founder stumbled upon three thousand years ago while searching for treasures, which the elders have long since kept protected.
It was a very strange cave. When entering inside, one would be wrapped in illusions, and after a moment, it felt as though one were falling into hell. Although it was no more than an illusion that wouldn’t truly harm you, it would make people feel miserable. However, the advantages of cultivating there were also obvious.
Lin Xuan’s Spiritual Qi was horrible, but because of his strong will, cultivating there will have a multiplying effect.
Since all of the outer disciples were trying to achieve the Foundation Establishment stage, the Spirit Condensation stage disciples of the lower levels would not risk the mental damage caused by the attacks from the illusions as they would not be able to repair the damage.
Lin Xuan however was left with limited options: either stay stuck at the bottleneck for the first level or seek an alternative by creating a breakthrough through cultivating in the inner area. He chose to create a breakthrough.
Opening the heavy school doors, Lin Xuan came out of the side room. The sky was already dark and the stars shined weakly, but he did not intend to rest like the other disciples.
At the Whirlwind Valley mountain, Lin Xuan stood at the edge of a cliff that slanted down into a bottomless pit. This was the inner area. Lin Xuan took a deep breath and walked inside.
The first 100 meters did have any illusions and the Spiritual Qi concentrations are the same as the outside world, but Lin Xuan did not dare to be negligent. Although this was his first time here, he has heard many stories of how terrible this place was.
After walking a few steps, the environment suddenly changed and the concentration of Spiritual Qi became thicker, making it a very suitable place for cultivation.
Lin Xuan’s face became excited, and after carefully looking around, he discreetly sat down cross-legged to begin cultivating.
Boom!
The Surface area 10 feet around Xuan Lin suddenly erupted in flame, and the temperature suddenly increased….
As this terrifying scene appeared all around him, Lin Xuan just raised an eyebrow. He didn’t panic and turned a blind eye to his surroundings. He concentrating on absorbing the Spiritual Qi around him as he reminded himself that it was all just an illusion, it didn’t matter.
However, even though he knew that this was just an illusion, it still felt real. After a short time, the flames all around him rose to an unbearable temperature, and large drops of sweat started to drip from Lin Xuan’s face.
Sure enough, hearing others describe it and actually experiencing it were completely different feelings. Just listening to the experts senior to Lin Xuan, who achieved Foundation Establishment talk about cultivating in the inner area, he did not expect it to be worse than the legends.
Soon, the flames began to burn his body, and with the regenerative powers of his first layer of Spirit Condensation Stage, it was not enough to heal the surface, so he can only bite down and endure.
Suppressing the pain he was feeling from the flames and concentrating on gathering Spiritual Qi was unimaginably difficult. But Lin Xuan’s extraordinary willpower forced him to stay down.
While the flames licked his skin, Lin Xuan’s teeth clenched tighter and tighter. The pain was so severe that it even felt numb already. But here, the Spiritual Qi concentration was indeed amazing. It was sufficient enough to allow cultivation to be several times faster than the outside.
Although it was an illusion, to Lin Xuan, it truly felt like he was in hell, allowing him to hone his willpower.
Absorbing the Spiritual QI into his body, however, was only the first step. He then had to let them flow through his meridians as he was taught, cultivating them one by one, during which a lot of the power will be lost, usually a finger thick strand of spirit power would ultimately become as thin as a hair after cultivation.
Then that remaining strand of Spiritual Qi after passing through the meridians would finally gather in his Dantian.
Even if the cultivator had strong willpower, to complete the whole process inside that fire was simply impossible. Lin Xuan, after enduring for five minutes, reached his limit. He quickly stood up and ran out of the range of the illusion with his fastest speed.
“Sure enough, it’s exactly like the legends,” Lin Xuan looked over his body and found himself without the slightest injury, but he still remembered the pain of the burning fire.
Although it was uncomfortable, it was worth it because the Spiritual Qi there was highly concentrated and very pure. So that when he practiced there, the effects on his body would be multiplied and he would have a higher chance of breaking through the bottleneck.
After resting for a while, Lin Xuan once again re-entered the cave, and the flames erupted all around him again. Enduring the pain of being burned, he continued to absorb Spiritual Qi.
When he reached the limit of his endurance again, he ran outside to rest for a while, and after his physical strength recovered, he entered the fire cave once more.
In this way, Lin Xuan went through his willpower again and again went into the inner area to cultivate.
……..
A few days later, he finally had some growth in his spiritual power, although compared to what he had to suffer, the results were still very small, it was already much faster than cultivating outside.
If he continued at his current rate, he should be able to soon enter the second layer of Spirit Condensation.
After silently calculating his practice schedule, Lin Xuan stood up. He had spent four days cultivating in the inner area, and after cultivating in the fire, his body was at its limit. In the coming two days, it would be time to receive instruction from his seniors.
According to the rules of Whirlwind Cloud Valley, every four days, it will be time for the Spirit Condensation disciples to receive advice from Foundation Establishment seniors, the advice usually would help them cultivate faster, and maybe give them a few detours in cultivation. Lin Xuan naturally will not miss this opportunity.
Following the road, Lin Xuan came out, and by not paying attention, bumped into a Foundation Establishment senior.
“Senior!”
“You…” The man glanced at Lin Xuan with a surprised face, “You were cultivating in the inner area?”
“Yes, Senior.”
After they went their separate ways, the Foundation Establishment senior was in somewhat of a daze. Although the illusion would not cause any true damage, the pain one would feel there was the same as the real thing. If Spirit Condensation disciple could unexpectedly endure that level of pain, then his willpower must truly be astonishing.
Cultivation, in addition to spiritual roots, also required one to have very strong willpower. This disciple, Lin Xuan, was indeed special!
Translated by: James1kd2
Edited by: UnderTheMoon