Chương 145: Potential Rising

Ch145 Potential Rising Lan Xin leaves in an extremely good mood, excited to have been given such a valuable resource without even asking for it, and to be trusted with managing others on my behalf. I begin supplementing heavenly grade healing elixirs again when she leaves. It takes me all the way until the next morning before I feel back to a natural, less sore state. Using this honey opens up my meridians wider than they ever have been before.

It stimulates and matures my other four spirit roots significantly faster than the manual repetitive trials I had to practice for weeks with my fire root before. At the peak of the honey's use, these five roots swelled up, and deep cracks in my bottlenecks were clear. Even now, I can still sense the bottleneck in my dantian that's holding me back from reaching the late stage of level 5.

It's hard to tell if this is still just the upper limits of the 9th grade roots being revealed to me, or if using these element control techniques to mature my spirit roots can actually raise my innate potential. Either way, I have a clear path forward. I pull out my vial of honey and prepare to taste another drop. – For six days straight, I practice. Three more drops of rock bee honey are consumed by me alone, one every other day. I use half of my upgrade cards on healing elixirs to aid the process.

The same bright flash of white light fills my meridians, and the massive amount of qi flowing through me that is trapped in this honey allows me to practice my elemental control freely without running out of natural qi for a few cycles. Meimei stays near me every time, mending the overstrained portions of my souls so I can focus. She has naturally cultivated up to the perfected stage of level 4. Once I break into the late stage of level 5, I only have 3 more drops of honey left.

I decide to split them up evenly again for a final push, giving one to the toad and fox that have been cultivating beside me all week. Little Red has been diligently pulling in larger and larger portions of natural flames from the 5 element cultivation array. He may only be at the 1st level of qi refinement, but the weight of his physique is giving him more and more presence in this hidden realm. A thin dark red veil of fire surrounds him at all times, attracting and absorbing any raw fire element that touches it.

When he absorbs another drop of rock bee honey, it only pushes him further. In this last session, three simultaneous breakthroughs take place. Little Red pulls in enough flames to shift his natural flame physique to the perfected stage of the mortal grade, equaling the strength of the fire coming out of the floor. Meimei seamlessly pops through to the initial stage of level 5. My spiritual senses increase even further, spanning almost 65 meters.

This pushes my minor bottleneck to crack open too, bringing me to the perfected stage of level 5. All of my spirit roots pulse and throb as they've been overworked again. Each root has now caught up and begun to surpass the weeks of training I went through when I initially practiced element control on my fire root alone. Pushing myself this hard with enchanted honey without eating handfuls of heavenly healing elixirs would have been impossible. It is not the act of eating the honey itself that is dangerous.

It's the forceful use of this element control technique that is the major stress factor. Normally, spirit roots are gently stimulated every time the necessary movements for a spell are cast. A spell will result in the caster's dantian being completely exhausted, and the cultivator must take days, weeks, or even longer for more difficult spells to recover afterward. Over the course of decades, casting these spells may mature a single spirit root as a slight side effect.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. What I'm doing is expediting this process, not casting any spells, and only focusing on the stimulation of the root itself. The enchanted rock bee honey is beyond perfect grade, nothing like it can be found in the outer sect. To counteract its dangers, I'm swallowing priceless healing elixirs by the handful.

I'm quite confident that no qi refiners in this entire hidden mist county are rich enough, knowledgeable enough, or motivated enough to attempt what I'm doing now. It is a unique cultivation method. One that is creating years worth of natural spirit root maturity in mere days. I slip out of my hidden realm after a few hours of cultivation recovery, and soak in the lake again to let my muscles and mind heal after such a grueling week of training.

– By the end of the day, Lan Xin returns on a flying vessel with a confident smile on her face. She tosses me the large containment case, full to its limit. There are 500 thousand spirit stones inside, along with a large jade glass of what looks like diluted rock bee honey. It has the same initial stage enchantment, but the base grade hardly reaches mid-grade qi quality.

A smile grows on my face as I sift further, finding a small pile of soul metal shards, each smaller than a fingernail, but each with at least inferior grade tier 2 qi density. These rest beside a low grade storage ring that still has Meng Ruo's locked qi imprint sealing it. When I crack it open, 49 low grade talismans with initial stage harmony enchantments are revealed inside. Finally, in the deepest portion of this storage, there is a small red fruit.

It looks like a miniature persimmon, with visible glossy crimson skin, but a dense white qi glow pushing through from its center.

"There. All of your spirit stones as requested. I went back to Kang Yejing's peak, the brother of the vice peak master, to purchase more honey first like you asked, but he was out of the perfect grade stock I purchased before… He only had this, but oddly, he wouldn't let me pay for it. He even asked me if it was for you. I denied it at first, but he wouldn't believe me. How would that old man know such a thing?"

I squint my eyes and think about the personal conversation I had with the vice peak master last week, and wonder too how they've connected the dots. Even his brother is trying to curry favor. It seems they don't see me as an immediate threat, and wish to form a deeper connection as an ally. However, this is still a form of testing my limits. I can't be too easy to please, or put myself into a debt that cannot be paid back.

I nod with a slight sigh of relief, "Next time you return to the sect, tell him I'm thankful for the honey, but make him accept a late payment. Whatever the market price is, take it out of next week's budget. I don't like things that are free…" The small red and white fruit is what I focus on next.

"Now what is this?" Subtle mortal grade vibrations come off of it, and the qi density is on par with normal high-grade tier 1 fruits.

"It is called a red milk fruit. A high-grade spirit fruit, with a Mid-Stage Body Reinforcement enchantment. It is often used during breakthroughs from the 9th to 10th level of qi refinement in richer clans, for those that don't have strong enough physiques and rely solely on their physical strength to withstand the change in qi pressure. I paid over 45, 000 spirit stones for it at a private spirit herb peak auction… I left the safety of our nearby four peaks to get you that fruit.

Most of the supply was bought by elders of the Outer Sect and visitors from the Inner Sect with foundational crystals. I didn't have the means to buy any more of them. You were right though, the attention from Lingshi City did help my influence. I've tried to get into that auction plenty of times before, they never let me in." She crosses her arms and shows a proud smile.

"The soul metal fragments weren't difficult at all either, most minor foundational families and late stage qi refining clans wanted to hear the details of the wedding conflict directly from me, as the sect kept things pretty quiet. They sold me all these shards that are too small to be used in crafts. They are a few thousand spirit stones each, and I can get way more of them if I search further into the county next week." I nod, slip away into my hidden realm, and return with two heavenly grade fire stones.

"Very good. One for fulfilling your collection duties, and another for managing to find me something this unique. This is exactly what I'm looking for… If there is another one of those auctions in the future, let me know, I'll provide foundational crystals. Also, with this coming week's budget, buy some more harvesting array flags from the Lin Clan, I'll slowly begin rejuvenating more of the new veins on this plot soon." Lan Xin happily accepts the two stones.

"Understood, I will get it done. But- There are just a few other things I think I should report. The first is that your shop is fully renovated. Wang Ruze started selling your wine, but there have been multiple qi refining patriarchs of the mid and late stage showing up to try and buy out the whole stock for their clans. They were all turned away, as the strict rule is that only one bottle a day can be sold to each clan. It doesn't seem to be much, but usually you're trying to avoid attention…"

A look of minor confusion crosses her face, but I inwardly smile.

"Don't worry. You're beginning to spread your connections into the foundational clans, allow me to gain the trust of the qi refiners. Sure, I like to be underestimated, but at a certain point it becomes even more suspicious if every rumor spread describes me as nothing but a waste. This is a strategy to slowly build a reputation, and… well, my other reasons do not matter right now."

Lan Xin pauses for a moment, but moves on, not questioning it any further, "Wang Ming and Mu Shulan haven't left the Wang Family Estate since the wedding night, so Wang Ruze said you could use their Tier 2 vein freely if you wished." I raise an eyebrow and send out a quick spiritual sense scan. Her serpent is sleeping deep down in her soul, hard for me to fully see at this range, but one thing is clear, Lan Xin's damaged innate physique looks to be in much better shape.

There are still thin hairline cracks in some places, but it's far more stable than the horrible fractured state it was before.

"I'm content out here for now… but you should take advantage of that vein. It will probably aid you more than me." She nods.

"I will then."

"Oh, and the last thing, it's about Meng Ruo… After I picked up the package you wanted and gave her that ring, she hasn't shown her face in the city all week. Her personal perfect grade vein in the city has been closed off, like she's in secluded cultivation."