Chapter 502 224: Hourglass
Qin Fang couldn't believe it!
He quickly asked, "Fatty, what month is it?"
Qian Ruhai froze for a moment, then asked in confusion, "It's December... Senior Brother, you..."
'December?'
But Qin Fang remembered it clearly. He had found the Ancient Well in early November, right after the first snow!
He had begun his Contemplation the very day he found the Ancient Well.
And now...
'It's December?'
He sucked in a sharp breath.
...It wasn't the first time he had experienced a time skip.
For instance, there was the time he had absorbed a breath of Ultimate Yin Primordial Power at the seventy-meter mark.
That had resulted in him being frozen solid for at least half a year.
...But that was a special case, so it was understandable.
But this time... he had only entered a state of Meditation to contemplate the Spiritual Sense Leaf Skill one time!
'And just like that... a month passed?'
His eyes widened.
A thought struck him, and he quickly sent his Divine Sense into his Token.
A glance revealed... an additional 110,000 contribution points.
He froze...
'One hundred thousand was the reward from the sect. His Master had told him about it.'
'Then the extra ten thousand... was undoubtedly this month's stipend...'
Qin Fang drew a sharp breath...
...He was finally beginning to understand just how dangerous the Spiritual Sense Leaf Skill truly was!
He had been so careful. During his Contemplation, he had paid constant attention. The moment he felt the slightest discomfort, he would immediately stop, determined not to get overly absorbed!
'And yet... just one session, and a whole month passed?'
He didn't even feel the passage of time!
...This was, without a doubt, incredibly startling...
And incredibly dangerous!
'So this is the Spiritual Sense Leaf Skill?'
'The crucial part is... the Secret Manual never mentioned this...'
"Senior Brother... Senior Brother?"
Qian Ruhai looked at Qin Fang, his face full of confusion.
The call brought Qin Fang back to his senses. He let out a long breath...
"I'm fine, just thinking about something... All right, you can go back to your duties."
Qin Fang stood up, rubbing his aching brow.
'This won't do. I need to sleep and properly recover my Spirit.'
...His Spirit could only be recovered through sleep.
When meditating, the Spirit is also in an active state.
"I'm going to get some sleep. Don't disturb me."
He said to Qian Ruhai.
Though Qian Ruhai found it strange, he still complied. "Yes."
...This Chief Steward was very responsible.
Qin Fang's head was hurting now, and he couldn't be bothered with much else. After nodding to Qian Ruhai, he went to the master bedroom.
He didn't even bother to take off his clothes. Lying on the bed, he fell into a deep sleep within moments.
When he woke up again, the sky outside was still bright.
Qin Fang could feel that his Spirit was still somewhat depleted.
The realization alarmed him.
He knew he couldn't have slept for only a few hours... It was probably already the next day.
Sure enough, he didn't see Qian Ruhai inside the hall.
But some of the dust in the hall had been cleaned up.
Qin Fang was truly beginning to grasp the dangers of the Spiritual Sense Leaf Skill...
'...Even if you don't get overly absorbed during cultivation, the extraordinary passage of time alone... is probably more than some people can bear.'
'Add to that becoming overly absorbed in the Spiritual World and the changing speed of time... It'd be a wonder if you didn't go mad.'
Qin Fang shook his head.
'A sense of the passage of time is crucial!'
...Could you imagine waking up one day to find that a month or two had passed? To suddenly find strangers around you, while familiar faces have disappeared?
'A living being's Perception of time... is actually a representation of 'order'!'
'Just as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west each day, representing a kind of 'stability.''
'But practicing the Spiritual Sense Leaf Skill muddles the 'concept of time,' throwing one from a state of 'order' into one of 'disorder'!'
You might wake up at any time.
Day or night. Perhaps only a day has passed, or perhaps several months... or even a year!
And yet, to his own Perception, it felt like only a moment had passed.
This chronological dissonance would be enough to throw anyone's mind into chaos.
Add to that the drain on one's Spiritual Power from the Contemplation Method, which makes your head throb and ache...
On top of that, you have to contemplate a method that's maddening in its own right...
If you were perpetually stuck in such a state...
...how could your Spirit possibly remain unharmed?
Qin Fang's expression grew grim.
'No wonder a single session of Meditation increased my proficiency by over five hundred points!'
'So that's why...'
'A whole month just went by?'
'And nobody warned me about this!'
Qin Fang was a bit speechless.
But after thinking it over, he suspected his Master had done it on purpose.
After all, as the saying goes, experience is the best teacher.
By letting him experience it firsthand, he would come to realize the gravity of the situation on his own.
'Besides, it's unlikely any real problems would arise from the first practice session... After all, without any prior buildup, it would probably just give me a good scare... rather than causing any actual problems with my Spirit.'
'Serious consequences would only arise if this happened again and again, while my Spirit was in a continuously weakening state.'
'Looks like I'll need to figure out some kind of timer for practicing this Leaf Skill in the future... It has to remind me when time is up... I'd rather interrupt my cultivation than let my sense of time fall into chaos. Otherwise... it really would drive me mad.'
Qin Fang considered the problem seriously.
Sensing his current condition, he estimated it would take a few more good nights of sleep for his Spiritual Power to fully recover.
In this state, he didn't dare to practice the Spiritual Sense Leaf Skill again.
...He was keenly aware that the Spiritual Sense Leaf Skill was merely a supplementary tool for him.
Still, he had to test the results.
'I practiced for a whole month... I wonder if my Divine Sense improved at all...'
With that thought, he extended his Divine Sense outward.
One hundred meters, one hundred and ten meters, one hundred and twenty meters, one hundred and thirty meters, one hundred and forty meters...