Chapter 536 - 339: Beast Power_2
Lan Feng, who typically hated being assigned tasks, did not complain at all. His eyes were sharp and alert, constantly scanning the surroundings using martial power to detect any hidden beasts. Although Yan Xiaobao opposed using Wu Wei unless absolutely necessary, he understood that at this moment, he couldn’t afford any interruptions. He furrowed his brows and took a deep breath.
Yan Xiaobao inhaled deeply, fully immersing himself in the essence of the heavens and earth. Slowly, he released the blue cloud, letting it envelop him. At the same time, he utilized the stone he had purchased from the Azure Dragon’s tunnel.
These two tools amplified the amount of energy his body could absorb. As he drew in so much energy, Yan Xiaobao had to constantly rotate it within his body. He needed to continue refining it without letting the Qi and Qi vortex merge, until it became a pure, lustrous pearl-white. Managing this much energy and ensuring only fully refined energy was brought into the Qi vortex demanded immense focus and control.
Pushing his cultivation techniques to their limits, Yan Xiaobao concentrated as much as he could. He soon managed to improve the threads after the Qi lines. Once the Qi vortex was filled and could no longer take in more Qi threads, Yan Xiaobao withdrew the blue cloud and placed the stone on the ground. The residual unrefined Qi stayed within his meridians. He then entered a deep, trance-like state again and refined the Qi further; they were distilled into silver droplets of spiritual energy.
One by one, the droplets entered the spiritual energy sea. However, Yan Xiaobao sensed something was amiss. Things weren’t progressing as he had anticipated.
Grinding his teeth, the young man refused to believe he couldn’t break through to the Duke Level. Stubbornly, he continued refining Qi thread after Qi thread. After some time, when nothing changed, and he had perfected every strand of Qi, he enveloped himself in the blue cloud once again, holding the stone in his hand. Though he had yet to break through, he resolved to do so before continuing his journey. His determination, evident in his eyes, burned bright as he slipped into another trance.
The entire day was consumed by alternating between absorbing the essence of the heavens and earth to refine Qi and then converting it further into spiritual energy. Throughout this grueling process, Lan Feng ensured no disturbances arose. His entire body was taut with vigilance, every muscle poised, his martial power rippling through their shared environment, ready to be unleashed at the slightest sign of trouble.
While Lan Feng was entirely focused on the external world, Yan Xiaobao’s attention was wholly devoted to his inner world. As he felt the essence of the heavens flowing through his veins and meridians, his eyes remained tightly shut. He sensed the essence cycling continuously within the meridians until it was fully refined, eventually blending into the Qi swirl. From there, it was drawn into the central dantian, where Qi threads were refined one by one into tiny droplets of silver spiritual energy.
Typically, the spiritual energy sea would begin to rise along its shoreline and, at some point, become so full that it overflowed the sea’s borders. The chaotic overflow would, in turn, carve out a larger spiritual energy sea in the central dantian, increasing its depth and breadth.
This was the usual progression for a breakthrough. However, no matter how much Yan Xiaobao refined, the sea showed no signs of rising as it had in the past. It did not breach its shoreline in an attempt to advance to the next level. The only visible change was faint ripples on the surface, created by every silver droplet as it descended into the spiritual energy sea below.
Xu Yue, exasperated, ceased refining more energy as he understood that the current situation couldn’t be resolved by forcefully producing greater amounts of spiritual energy. He had hit a bottleneck, one that required more than just raw energy to surpass. It was clear Yan Xiaobao was nearing the upper half of the mountain on his path. Reaching the Duke Level seemed to necessitate a certain level of insight or enlightenment, something Yan Xiaobao had yet to encounter.
"Hey, Lan Feng, what do you think it is? What is it that I’m supposed to understand?" Yan Xiaobao asked bitterly, his frustration evident. He had enough energy to break through, yet lacked the necessary insight.
"I can’t tell you," Lan Feng replied earnestly. "If I tell you, you might achieve enlightenment—but it wouldn’t be yours. It would be mine. Your path of cultivation isn’t meant to unfold that way."