Since the day Luo Chen had first embarked on the path of cultivation, he had relentlessly pursued every possible method to accelerate his progress. From internal breakthroughs to external aids, he had experimented with countless approaches, each with its own demands and intricacies.
After reaching Foundation Establishment, he discovered something striking. Cultivating in a spirit land yielded results that far surpassed those of consuming ordinary low-grade pills.
Mathematically, if a single low-grade Ascending Dragon pill provided one unit of spirit power, then a single day of cultivation in a second-tier top-grade cave residence could yield four or even five units. The difference was staggering.
This was why Luo Chen found it perfectly reasonable that the Falling Cloud Sect had dared to provoke the far stronger Jade Cauldron Sword Sect. In the entire Jade Cauldron Domain, there existed only one fourth-tier spirit land. If the elders of Falling Cloud Sect wished to advance further on the Great Dao, cultivating in mere third-tier spirit veins was far from sufficient.
Of course, that Luo Chen could achieve five units of spirit power a day did not mean that others could do the same. His foundational advantages were simply too immense.
First, he possessed the core technique of a Nascent Soul-level sect, a divine soul far surpassing his qi cultivation, and a physique that was both resilient and powerful. In addition, he had access to external aids such as Divine Fiery Incense, Divine Ice Jade, and the Ice Silkworm Meditation Mat.
His desire for top-grade pills was simply an attempt to hasten his progress by alternate means. Yet now, even on the most fundamental path, he had discovered another opportunity to advance.
At this moment, the top-grade Blood Fiend pill he had consumed unleashed a terrifying medicinal force within him. That force, containing both life and death and seemingly connected to primal creation itself. It rampaged through Luo Chen’s ninety-nine-percent-unlocked meridians; it was like a flood dragon striving to become a true dragon, crossing mountains and seas with unstoppable force.
Wherever it passed, it swept clean, like overflowing water! His already-wide meridians now grew even broader. It was only because Luo Chen had grown accustomed to this violent force for over a year, repeatedly repairing and strengthening his meridians, that he could endure it now. Otherwise, he would have been torn apart by this dragon-like torrent.
Luo Chen activated the Divine Breaker of Malevolence and guided the medicinal power with absolute precision, barreling through until it crashed into his final narrow meridian.
Boom!
A thunderous roar seemed to erupt from deep within him.
"Mmgh..." Luo Chen let out a muffled groan. A trace of blood seeped from the corner of his lips.
In the next instant, the blood-red light surrounding him abruptly retracted. His entire body surged with blood qi. The torrent drew strength from the lingering power of the Blood Fiend pill and poured into every meridian he had opened. Each channel, whether broad or narrow, firm or rugged, was swept clean and forced fully open. The scene resembled a massive water network flooded for the very first time.
Once the current had passed, the blood qi sank back into flesh and bone.
Luo Chen’s meridians glowed with a translucent crimson. Every drop of energy within ran smooth and unobstructed, like streams of flowing water. The Meridian Unblocking stage was complete. All one hundred meridians stood open.
Luo Chen’s eyes opened widely, and for a moment, he nearly howled to the heavens, but he forced down the impulse. He glanced at his system panel.
Blood River Realm (45/100)
As expected, once his meridians had been fully unblocked, Physique Refinement had advanced by a small stage. Yet this was not what caught his attention the most.
Pure wood-element spirit energy, guided by his Perfected Mastery Heal, spread throughout his body. The minor wounds caused during the breakthrough slowly vanished under its influence.
When his body finally returned to its normal state, Luo Chen closed his eyes again. He steadied his breathing, quieted his thoughts, and emptied his heart of distraction.
The Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra had changed. What had stood at Perfection level only moments ago now displayed "Grandmaster." With the completion of Meridian Unblocking, this Foundation Establishment core method from a Nascent Soul-level sect had advanced alongside him. It was two blessings at once!
Suppressing his excitement, Luo Chen calmly began cultivating.
Spirit energy drifted in from the surrounding air. It slid into his body like rain seeping into parched soil. His vast divine soul expanded outward, manifesting as invisible waves of spirit consciousness. These waves moved tirelessly, grasping at every loose strand of spirit energy and pulling it into him.
With both methods applied at once, the meridians that had once been unable to bear the strain now felt no burden at all. There was even a faint sense of hunger, as if a broad waterway were being filled by nothing more than a thin trickle of water.
Not enough. Still not enough. Nowhere near enough.
Luo Chen desperately drew in spirit energy from his surroundings.
Within his sea of qi, a spirit cloud began to condense.
Drip!
A single drop of supremely pure spirit liquid fell.
***
Two and a half hours slipped away in a flash. Luo Chen opened his eyes at last, unable to conceal the ecstasy blazing within them.
"It's double! It freaking doubled!"
He felt it clearly: His cultivation speed had doubled! Each cycle now channeled more than twice the spirit energy it had before! If he set aside the time required for refinement, the sudden acceleration felt like being shot out of a cannon. His sea of qi, once no more than a small pond, now swelled like a reservoir that had suddenly received the torrent of an ocean.
Luo Chen could no longer hold it in. He cast Perfected Mastery Sound Isolation Barrier.
"Aaaaahhhh!!!"
He let out a long, euphoric howl!
Ever since advancing to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, his progress had slowed to a painful crawl. That suffocating stagnation had finally ended. By his estimate, reaching the fifth stage would no longer demand four or five years. With the aid of a few second-tier low-grade pills, he could advance within two or three years.
The news filled him with unshakable joy. He could not help laughing.
When the excitement passed, Luo Chen carefully examined his condition. His lips curved into an irrepressible smile.
By his calculation, his current pace would carry him to Perfected Mastery of the Foundation Establishment Realm in only two or three hundred years. By comparison, the moment he became an Initiate, the path had stretched impossibly far. His best estimation had been somewhere around two thousand years. Now, it had shortened to a mere fraction of that.
The transformation was monumental, and it had been hard-won through relentless effort. No one but he could ever comprehend the countless days and nights he had poured into cultivation, nor the endless plans he had devised to push himself forward. At last, he could truly see hope of reaching the next level.
He chose not to continue cultivating. The sudden burst of power had been exhilarating, but it left his sea of qi and divine soul strained. Though his body had healed significantly after unblocking all meridians, there could still be hidden injuries.
He left the meditation chamber and prepared a healing solution blended from supreme-grade Golden Jade Liquid and essence-nurturing liquid. Then, he immersed himself in the bath.
He closed his eyes. His face was calm and composed, yet the faint upward curve of his lips revealed the elation that lingered within his heart.
***
By the next morning, Luo Chen awoke from the medicinal bath.
The once-milky liquid had become clear and crystalline as its medicinal power was fully absorbed into his body. Seemingly inexhaustible strength coursed through his limbs.
With a single thought, pure spirit power surged out of his sea of qi, roaring through his newly widened meridians.
"Indeed, Wang Yuan wasn’t lying! Once all the meridians are connected, it doesn’t just improve cultivation, it massively boosts combat output too."