Chapter 101: Misunderstanding (5th Update)

At this moment, Xu Chen's Divine Sense had already entered the Blue Light Treasure Bottle.

Ever since he had been trapped for nearly a month within the red light underground, and later engaged in a terrifying battle with that mallet-shaped giant beast, the Blue Light Treasure Bottle had suddenly gifted him the Demon Refining Art. After using it several times, he quickly understood the unparalleled benefits of the treasure bottle when combined with this cultivation technique.

Although this benefit was extremely terrifying, its effects were truly unprecedented; as long as one was not afraid of pain and repeatedly endured the agonizing torture brought about by this purgatory-like destruction and regrowth, one's cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds. In particular, the changes to the Soul and body could be called a miracle, more powerful than any immortal pill or Spirit Medicine he knew of.

As the Demon Refining Art circulated, specks of blue light began to appear around Xu Chen's body, slowly gathering into something illusory and beautiful, like clouds and mist.

Xiao Huli burrowed into the collar of Xu Chen's chest, poking its little head out to watch this strange scene. It was both nervous and excited, its pair of little eyes, like rubies, spinning around wildly.

Meanwhile, inside the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, the rolling blue clouds and mist suddenly began to flash with multicolored lightning, which fell upon the churning Black Mist and the Black Water Demon Lotus within the Black Water.

"Roar—roar—"

The Black Water Demon Lotus struggled and roared amidst the lightning, waving its roots and shaking its leaves to resist the lightning, but it was to no avail. Every time a bolt of lightning fell, a streak of white light would inevitably flash, then quickly rush into the blue clouds and mist and disappear.

In Xu Chen's Sea of Consciousness, he only saw white mist steaming from the mouth of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, which soon permeated the entire Sea of Consciousness. Xu Chen guided most of the white mist into his own body, while simultaneously reminding Zhao Xuan in a deep voice: "Senior Sister, I am about to begin. It will be a bit painful; you must endure it."

"O-okay!" Zhao Xuan's heart, which had been about to calm down, suddenly began to race again. Her nervous body was trembling; she was terrified that Xu Chen would suddenly reach out to take off her clothes. Should she refuse or not refuse in that case?

Outside the door, it was already dusk.

The evening wind whistled, cold and clear.

An Escape Light whistled over and landed in the open space in front of the small hut in the blink of an eye.

Seventh Senior Sister Qu Mei jumped down from her Flying Sword. She was about to call out a greeting when her expression suddenly shifted and she hurriedly covered her mouth. She then put away her Flying Sword and tiptoed to the door of the hut, pressing her ear against it to listen. She happened to hear the two of them talking, and her face instantly turned bright red.

The room was filled with blush-inducing, suggestive sounds. Zhao Xuan's strange, pained cries made Qu Mei's heart race suddenly. She couldn't help but blush, curse under her breath, and press her ear even tighter against the door.

She desperately wanted to use her Divine Sense to peek inside and see what was happening, but in the end, she forcibly restrained herself.

Besides, the doors and windows were all closed, and she could see nothing.

Inside the room, Zhao Xuan only felt a Divine Sense carrying a stream of white energy surge into her Sea of Consciousness. Suddenly, she felt her Sea of Consciousness become completely stuffed, her soul feeling as if it were swelling up, and she couldn't help but cry out in pain.

"Senior Sister, hurry and circulate your energy to cooperate, otherwise it will hurt even more!" Xu Chen reminded her hurriedly.

"Mm—"

Zhao Xuan had no time or energy to speak now; she could only hurry to circulate her cultivation technique with all her might, cooperating with Xu Chen's Divine Sense to guide this stream of white energy as it rolled toward her internal organs. This white energy seemed to have a life of its own; it required no refining at all, instantly permeating her internal organs, tendons, bones, flesh, and Meridians and dantian.

Her entire body's flesh and blood were growing crazily, and her Meridians and dantian began to expand continuously.

This terrifying change was completely uncontrollable; it felt as if her whole person were like a porcelain doll rapidly expanding and shattering, yet healing just as quickly.

Zhao Xuan knew Xu Chen would not harm her, so she did not overthink it at all.

Moreover, the moment the white energy surged into her body, she felt her damaged Meridians actually begin to grow and repair themselves. Those shattered Meridians within her body began to re-condense and appear, then slowly reconnect.

"Senior Sister, if the pain becomes unbearable, just say so, and I will stop."

"I, I can still endure it!"

The sound stopped for more than ten breaths; only Zhao Xuan's faint, pained groans could be heard in the room.

Qu Mei felt her entire world had been turned upside down.

The Junior Brother and Junior Sister were actually doing this kind of thing in secret.

Just a moment ago, a group of senior brothers and sisters were still discussing how the relationship between the two would likely end in nothing, and in the blink of an eye, the situation had become indescribable.

What to do?

Qu Mei was so flustered by what she heard that she bit her lip tightly and endured listening for another ten breaths. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She raised her hand to cast her Flying Sword and stepped onto it. Because she got the direction wrong, she almost slammed headfirst into the cliff on the side, but she quickly adjusted her direction and whistled away like a dog being chased, disappearing into the dark night in the blink of an eye.

The commotion outside the door completely startled the two people inside the room.

Xu Chen suddenly stopped his cultivation and released his Divine Sense, seeing the figure of Seventh Senior Sister Qu Mei fleeing in a panic, and his face couldn't help but darken.

However, he had no time to chase after her to explain right now.

Because his own Soul was swollen, and his dantian, Meridians, tendons, bones, and flesh had all been riddled with holes by the impact of the white energy. At this moment, apart from his skin which was still relatively intact, the entire interior of his body was shattered and broken. Even the breath he exhaled was a bloody mist; he had to wait for his body to heal and could not move.

Zhao Xuan's situation was even worse than his. Blood poured from her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, and even her pores were oozing blood. Her Soul was swollen as if it were about to explode, and her Meridians, dantian, internal organs, tendons, bones, and flesh were even more severely damaged, almost all shattered and currently in the process of rapid growth and repair.

In fact, this was still with Xu Chen controlling the amount and speed of the white energy entering Zhao Xuan's body.

Back in the underground cave, he and Lan You had each borne nearly half of it.

But Zhao Xuan's cultivation was too poor, and this was not a life-or-death moment, so Xu Chen had only infused about one-tenth into her body; Xu Chen himself had borne the majority.

But the violent speed at which the Demon Refining Art refined the Black Mist was far beyond what a piece-of-trash cultivator like him at the Qi Refining stage could withstand.

Therefore, while Xu Chen had previously been able to hold on for half a cup of tea's time, this time he couldn't even hold on for thirty breaths before he was completely unable to bear it.

And Zhao Xuan, under the impact of this one-tenth of white energy, had also almost turned into a bloody person, lying slumped on the couch covered in blood.

Although the pain was excruciating, her consciousness remained exceptionally clear from beginning to end. Feeling the massive changes in her body, she was both pleasantly surprised and deeply ashamed.

Because she could also sense the exclamation and commotion outside the door.

But she was unable to move at this moment; she felt she couldn't even move a finger and could only silently wait for her body to heal.

A full cup of tea's time passed. Xu Chen felt the tidal wave of pain and torment finally come to an end, and he hurriedly helped Zhao Xuan up and asked: "How does Senior Sister feel?"

Zhao Xuan had also recovered for the most part by now. She lay limply in Xu Chen's arms, her face covered in blood, though she looked exceptionally ferocious and terrifying, her face was flushed red and burning. She nodded with difficulty and hummed softly: "I, I feel much better. Was that Seventh Senior Sister here just now?"

Xu Chen's face twitched a few times, and he smiled bitterly: "It was indeed Seventh Senior Sister."

Zhao Xuan buried her head in Xu Chen's arms, squeezing Xiao Huli until it started to yelp.

Xu Chen could only laugh dryly and pat Zhao Xuan's back, saying: "Don't worry, Seventh Senior Sister didn't use her Divine Sense; she didn't see anything."

Zhao Xuan hummed, both shy and angry: "It's precisely because she didn't see that it's impossible to explain."

Xu Chen's face twitched a few more times, and he comforted her: "What's there to worry about? We didn't do anything shameful. It's mainly because you were crying out a bit too loudly, which scared Seventh Senior Sister!"

"It's all your fault..." Zhao Xuan struggled to climb up and lightly punched him a few times.

"Alright, let's go to the waterfall to wash up and change into clean clothes first. You've almost turned into a blood gourd. After you rest for a few days, I will check and treat you again, and your damaged Meridians should be able to fully recover!"

Xu Chen jumped off the bed in a hurry to find clothes in the wardrobe, then carried Zhao Xuan out of the small hut and flew on his sword toward the Medicine Garden waterfall.

After waiting for half an hour, the two of them returned after washing up and changing clothes. Zhao Xuan didn't stay long before leaving on her sword, turning into a green light and heading toward Zhaoyang Peak.

"Sigh, Seventh Senior Sister actually has the bad habit of eavesdropping at doors. I'm afraid this won't be easy to explain!"

Watching the Escape Light disappear at the peak of Zhaoyang Peak, Xu Chen sighed with a bitter smile, then entered the room, closed the door, lay down, and fell asleep.

……

For a period of time after this, Xu Chen's life returned to his usual leisurely and carefree life of immortal cultivation.

Every day after being woken up by the chirping birds at dawn, he would wash his face, eat, drink water, and then take a stroll around the Medicine Garden; the remaining time was spent constantly meditating, practicing, and taking Spirit Pills to improve his cultivation.

After experiencing the massive amount of white Qi brought by the Grand Void Demon Refining Art to cleanse and strengthen his Soul and body, he felt that his Soul, dantian, Meridians, and body had all reached their limits.

The scale of his dantian was about ten times that of the middle stage of the Kaiyuan Realm, and his Divine Sense radius had already reached about five miles, capable of covering a range of nearly a hundred miles, allowing him to see almost the entire Taiyuan Sect.

This was already the range of Divine Sense for True Essence Late Stage cultivators like Xuanhe Zhenren and the Third Elder.

The powerful Divine Sense naturally brought more acute exploration of the environment; within a radius of ten miles, almost any movement could not escape his perception.

Furthermore, the strengthening of his Soul also made his Dao heart more steady, while at the same time making the changes in his body and the details of his cultivation clearer, making his cultivation more handy; those previously vague movements of primordial energy and the tiny Meridians and Apertures could now be felt clearly, and the flow of every wisp of primordial energy was as clear as the palm of his hand.

However, the transformation by the white Qi had reached a bottleneck state, meaning that he could no longer obtain many benefits by continuing to use the Grand Void Demon Refining Art, so he also began to focus his main energy on polishing his cultivation, striving to fill his dantian sea of Qi as soon as possible so he could prepare for Foundation Establishment.

But the expansion of his dantian made this process incomparably slow.

After all, a dantian scale ten times that of an ordinary cultivator is not an easy thing to fill completely; even with a large supply of Spirit Pills, it still requires slow refining and accumulation, and this process cannot be rushed, unless one has a large amount of Spirit Liquid to drink like water every day.

But this was impossible; even the wealthy and imposing Yuqing Hall could not afford to support that.

(End of this chapter)