Chapter 474: Huang Aotian Activates the Second Acupoint
Finally, the spiritual energy had crossed into the Nourishing Phase!
But, oh boy, the emotions swirling in Yun Zhonghe’s heart were a whole buffet of flavors.
Sure, stepping into the Nourishing Phase is exciting, but why in the world did the number of spiritual pearls double?!
Looking at the one hundred and eighty spiritual pearls packed in his Sea of Consciousness, Yun Zhonghe was about to burst into tears.
Ninety pearls had already made it a Herculean task to leap into the Nourishing Phase from the peak of Initial Understanding, and now facing one hundred eighty? The thought of reaching the Concentration Phase felt like an impossible mountain to climb!
That’s like trying to climb a mountain with a hundred and eighteen times the difficulty.
And let’s not even talk about the chance of those spiritual pearls multiplying again!
Yun Zhonghe was thinking, “%&#@%#!”
He really wanted to curse.
But at this point, what could he do?
“One hundred eighty it is! Since the Four Beasts Secret Realm is brimming with spirit energy, I might as well make the most of it while I can.”
He focused on his cultivation, temporarily shelving those pesky thoughts.
The spiritual pearls formed a circuit, a tidal wave of divine spirit energy surged into his Sea of Consciousness, and he could clearly feel each pearl swelling in capacity.
Not only that, the spiritual pearls were growing stronger!
The divine energy was refining!
This was a transformation process.
From Initial Understanding to Nourishing Phase—it was the moment a spiritual cultivator truly developed combat prowess.
Spellcasters could unleash more powerful mid-level spells; spirit pet masters could wield fourth-tier summoning talismans; and Confucian and talisman practitioners could nurture runes to the fourth tier…
Basically, in terms of main output capability, they could rival a normal Yuan Ying!
Of course, for Yun Zhonghe, the standard swordsman, the most exciting part was that after reaching the Nourishing Phase, it was said he could master Sword Momentum.
That was the next level of swordsmanship, and once he mastered it, he’d officially become a Sword Immortal!
Yun Zhonghe couldn’t wait.
But first, he needed to quickly boost his spiritual energy.
Once in the Nourishing Phase, the training was basically pouring water into a well-crafted bucket from the Initial Understanding stage.
Gathering and stabilizing spiritual energy into a liquid, then pouring it in. When the bucket was full, he’d finish the Nourishing Phase and transition to the next stage: Concentration.
Seems simple, right?
But the simpler it sounds, the harder it gets.
Many people might struggle for ages just trying to gather and stabilize their spiritual energy into a liquid.
Luckily, Yun Zhonghe had gained a deep understanding of the Nourishing Phase after studying the Observation Heart Technique for a long time, and after only three failures, he successfully condensed a drop of liquid spiritual energy, which plopped into a spiritual pearl.
But…
In an instant, that drop of liquid spiritual energy split into one hundred eighty parts, each drop landing in each pearl.
Current progress in Nourishing Phase: 0.00001%
Yun Zhonghe: “…”
Yun Zhonghe’s inner thoughts: “%&#@%#!”
What could he say? All he could do was helplessly keep refining.
After exhausting some spiritual energy insights, Yun Zhonghe pulled out a new one, and with the second layer of the Observation Heart Technique activated, he began condensing spiritual energy at a faster pace.
“Wow, this is quick!”
Yun Zhonghe was stunned; in just a short while, he had condensed three or four drops of liquid spiritual energy.
Even though he was new to the Nourishing Phase, he had previously chatted with cultivators like Mu Jixue and Qin Hongye who were already in the Nourishing Phase. They had confirmed that condensing one drop of liquid was no walk in the park—there was no way Yun Zhonghe was this easy.
Not to mention the sheer amount of spiritual energy needed to condense these drops.
With just the bit of spiritual energy in his Sea of Consciousness, he could barely squeeze out a single drop before he was completely spent and had to wait to recover.
This Four Beasts Secret Realm is fantastic!
At this moment, Yun Zhonghe suddenly felt that cultivating one hundred eighty spiritual pearls may not be so arduous after all.
“Onward!”
Yun Zhonghe didn’t dare to waste time; even a moment of delay could mean missing out on condensing a drop of liquid spiritual energy.
Another ten minutes passed, and he managed to condense five more drops.
Yun Zhonghe was flabbergasted!
Was it really this fast?
That’s the equivalent of five days of grueling training for others.
This… this couldn’t solely be attributed to the endless divine spiritual energy. This secret realm must have other benefits, like enhancing cultivation efficiency, there’s no doubt about it!
“The Heavenly Origin Ancestor Talisman is truly mysterious!”
After that thought, Yun Zhonghe dove headfirst into the condensation of spiritual energy.
…
On the other hand, while Yun Zhonghe was sailing through his training, Mu Jixue was feeling the brunt of her struggles.
She had to constantly drain the massive amounts of divine spiritual energy rushing into her body, or face the risk of energy exploding her body.
She could feel that after stepping into the third layer of Golden Core, the speed at which her spiritual root absorbed energy had begun to slow down.
“I need to use double the Cold Moon Yin Water; I can’t slow down!”
Cold sweat trickled down Mu Jixue’s cheek.
Without wasting time, she quickly pulled out a porcelain bottle with a tiny ice flower stamped on it, pouring out two drops of Cold Moon Yin Water to start devouring.
The Ice Heart Technique broke through its limits again, and her potency surged!
Chugging down the backlogged divine spiritual energy, Mu Jixue’s complexion improved significantly.
But… it still felt underwhelming; the speed was lackluster.
“Should I activate my acupoint and give it a go?”
The Extreme Cold acupoint was opened by Yun Zhonghe, and she had fully mastered the development herself.
But Mu Jixue felt she had more potential to unlock.
During this time spent training with Master Youyue, she had gradually figured out that she could activate a second acupoint.
There was powerful energy waiting within that one too.
Since Master Qin mentioned that all types of cultivation could be done in the Four Beasts Secret Realm, surely acupoint activation could work as well.
She wanted to see if diverting a portion of the divine spiritual energy would ease her burden.
“Hmm…”
However, as soon as she tried to channel the energy to stimulate the second acupoint, Mu Jixue was abruptly hit with a chill that swept from her backside all the way to the top of her head.
The first acupoint was located at the Xiao acupoint, while the second one was at the Di Ting acupoint.
The sensation of self-development… was something quite indescribable.
But that indescribable feeling was far better than blowing up from excess energy.
With the energy diverted, Mu Jixue felt considerably more at ease.
After holding on for a moment…
Boom!
Her cultivation smoothly broke through the third layer of Golden Core to the fourth layer!
An hour passed, and the barrier to the fifth layer shattered with a resounding crash.
“Wow, that was fast…”
Mu Jixue reveled in this exhilarating rush of rampant leveling up. Even though the divine spiritual energy swirling inside still felt a bit uncomfortable, the rising cultivation level brought her immense joy.
Only with solid strength could she protect everyone and no longer rely on Yun Zhonghe.
…
Several hours later, Mu Jixue had gulped down plenty of Cold Moon Yin Water.
She had once again soared to the sixth layer of Golden Core!
However, there were still no signs of her second acupoint opening.
At this moment, nearly half a day had passed since the four of them entered the Four Beasts Secret Realm!
