“Brother Chen, you opened your first meridian?” Su Youwei noticed the commotion of Mu Chen’s breakthrough and asked with surprise and joy.
“Yes, it’s open.
I feel great.” Mu Chen nodded.
With a thought, his first meridian emitted a pure devouring force.
The Genesis Qi from the surrounding heaven and earth entered his body through his pores, causing his skin to emit a faint luster.
This was Qi drawing into the body.
Before opening his meridians, he needed a Qi Drawing Technique to do this.
Now, he could do it with just his first meridian.
“Congratulations.” Su Youwei smiled sweetly, happy for Mu Chen.
“It’s just the beginning.
What’s there to congratulate?
You opened your first meridian in less than ten days.
That’s much faster than me.” Mu Chen tapped Su Youwei’s nose and rolled his eyes.
Su Youwei’s talent was no joke.
He had the Devouring Ancestral Symbol as a cheat and still took half a month.
Yet Su Youwei, relying on just a Qi Drawing Technique, opened her first meridian in under ten days.
“Brother Chen, opening meridians slower doesn’t mean your strength will be weaker.” Su Youwei smiled sheepishly.
She didn’t know why she opened her meridians so fast either.
She just practiced, and it happened.
It was simpler than she had imagined.
“Alright.
Youwei, get familiar with this new power.
In a few days, we’ll enter the Great Zhou Academy.
That way, we can get cultivation resources and Yuan Techniques.” Mu Chen said.
He had forgotten to ask Zhou Qing for some suitable Yuan Techniques.
It seemed he would have to wait until they got to the academy.
Su Youwei nodded.
She was also curious about what the Great Zhou Academy looked like.
There were many stories about it among the common people.
Some talented commoners who joined had completely changed their fates.
“Little Marten, please guide me to the place for training the Divine Soul.” Mu Chen’s consciousness entered the Ancestral Stone space.
“Divine Soul, Mental Energy, they’re similar enough.
But are you sure?
The method for training the Divine Soul will cause intense pain to your soul.
If you can’t endure it, your mind will collapse.” The little marten said seriously.
Back when he still had a body, he had tried it.
The pain was unbearable.
After blowing up his body, he didn’t dare to try with just his spirit, afraid of accidentally being scattered to the winds.
That kind of training inflicted pain directly on the soul, which was even more terrifying than physical pain.
“Yes.
A stronger Divine Soul will make it much easier to gain the recognition of the Ancestral Symbols.” Mu Chen said.
The reason he hadn’t rushed to activate the Devouring Ancestral Symbol was that to control an Ancestral Symbol, he needed to pass its recognition test.
Even if he had some compatibility with it, it would only reduce the difficulty.
At the very least, he should wait until his formless Divine Soul reached the Illusory Stage.
“Then follow me.
Don’t get lost.” The little marten nodded, turned, and flew off.
Mu Chen followed behind.
The place was indeed quite complex.
He would explore it further when he had the chance.
The Ancestral Stone Spirit, Yan, was currently severely injured and in deep slumber.
No one knew when he would awaken.
The path in the darkness was twisted and winding.
Mu Chen followed the little marten and finally arrived in a field of white light.
Two giant crystal millstones slowly rotated there, emitting a peculiar fluctuation.
When Mu Chen saw these millstones, he thought of the Primal Chaos Divine Grindstone Visualization Technique.
That was also a grindstone, and both were effective for training the spirit or Divine Soul.
“Spirit Millstone.
Kid, do you have the courage to try?” The little marten stood far away, pointing his little paw at the crystal millstones.
He was afraid of accidentally being sucked in and having his spirit ground to pieces.
Mu Chen narrowed his eyes and looked at the junction of the millstones.
As they rotated, white light gathered there, and the space itself showed signs of distortion from the spinning.
“Training mental energy here, or what this world calls the Divine Soul, has remarkable effects.
But the premise is that you can endure it.
Otherwise, it will damage your Divine Soul’s foundation.
In severe cases, it can leave lasting side effects.” “Marten doesn’t know who came up with this insane method of training mental energy.
Having your spirit ground up is truly agonizing.
Anyway, I don’t want to use it.” The little marten said warily.
“It sounds interesting.
It’s a breaking and rebuilding method of training, isn’t it?” Mu Chen said.
This method of training the Divine Soul was even more shocking than he had imagined.
Even with just the tip of his toe, he could tell that training the Divine Soul this way would be extremely painful.
He would also have to endure the fear of having his soul crushed.
“You really want to do this?” Mu Chen nodded.
He had come this far.
There was no reason to back down now.
“Heh.
Marten underestimated you.” The little marten said in surprise.
This required immense courage.
“Let’s begin.” Mu Chen took a deep breath and walked toward the crystal millstones.
He came to the junction of the millstones, and an irresistible force appeared, enveloping his Divine Soul.
He could feel his Divine Soul slowly cracking apart.
The pain was indescribable.
Even being pierced by a blade wasn’t as painful as this.
The millstones rotated very slowly.
Mu Chen had never felt time pass so slowly before.
The intense pain contorted his face.
In an instant, cracks appeared all over his Divine Soul.
After experiencing it firsthand, Mu Chen understood why the little marten was so wary.
This pain made one want to die on the spot.
If he didn’t focus all his will on maintaining clarity, he would have already passed out from the pain.
Crack, crack, crack!
As the millstones rotated, more and more cracks appeared on Mu Chen’s body.
Finally, it shattered completely, scattering into countless specks of Divine Soul light.
The little marten watched calmly.
He had been through this before.
Just as the Divine Soul shattered, a mass of white light emerged from the spirit millstone, enveloping the scattered specks of light.
The other drifting specks gathered toward his consciousness and finally restored his original form.
Before Mu Chen could recover, the familiar agonizing pain came again.
The same as before.
Boom!
Not long after, the restored Divine Soul shattered once more.
The millstone emitted white light again, and the scattered specks gathered and restored once more.
Mu Chen repeated the process of being crushed and restored.
Though it was agonizing, he could feel his Divine Soul slowly becoming more solid and stronger.
He could only grit his teeth and endure.
“Tsk tsk tsk.
This Mu Chen kid looks normal, but he’s actually quite mad.” The little marten watched the spectacle.
Having experienced this pain himself, he was the most qualified to say that this wasn’t something normal people could handle.
Mu Chen’s perseverance earned the little marten’s admiration.
As long as he didn’t fall, he would surely achieve great things.
He was also curious how many times Mu Chen could endure.
He had only managed twenty-something times before reaching his limit.
…
“Ninety-nine times.
Illusory Stage achieved!” After an unknown amount of time, a weak but joyful voice rang out.
Mu Chen slowly walked out.
His formless Divine Soul had also, at this moment, taken on a transparent color.
This meant his Divine Soul had reached the early Illusory Stage, no longer in that formless state.
(End of Chapter)