After dealing with the Red Blood Ginseng, Chen Changsheng carefully inspected the other seeds he had secretly planted.
One Celestial Cyan Grass had sprouted a tender shoot, and one Blood Coagulation Flower had broken through the soil.
A fifty percent survival rate!
Chen Changsheng quickly tossed a grain of Spiritual Fertilizer onto the Celestial Cyan Grass. Instantly, a three-foot-long blade of grass took shape, radiating a hazy green fluorescence.
He tossed another grain of Spiritual Fertilizer onto the tender shoot of the Blood Coagulation Flower. A blood-red flower bloomed, yet the fluorescence it emitted was green.
With two swift strikes of his hoe, he harvested both the Celestial Cyan Grass and the Blood Coagulation Flower. Chen Changsheng sped to deliver them back to his house before returning to sit atop the watchtower of the herb garden, silently waiting for the shift change.
The sky gradually brightened. At exactly 5:00 AM, Chen Shuisheng arrived on time.
Once the guard duties were handed over, Chen Changsheng could no longer hold back. He darted toward home, leaving Chen Shuisheng’s mocking voice trailing behind him.
"Heh, he’s still the same old Changsheng. He wants the good stuff but has zero patience. It’s only been a few days, and he’s already sick of guard duty!"
Chen Changsheng was in no mood to bicker with Chen Shuisheng. He sped back to his courtyard and patted the door of the west wing. Inside, Yuyao’s groggy voice soon responded.
"Who is it?"
"Yuyao, Dad is going into secluded cultivation. Before I come out, don’t go to the School Hall. Stay and guard the house.
"If anyone comes, tell them I’m breaking through. Don’t let anyone into my room!"
As soon as Chen Changsheng finished his rapid-fire instructions, Chen Yuyao seemed to wake up completely. She quickly replied, "Oh, okay, Dad!"
Chen Changsheng slipped into the master bedroom and slid the bolt shut.
He picked up the herbs from the floor, took them into the en-suite washroom, and scrubbed them clean.
A moment later, he reined in his racing mind, holding his breath and focusing his attention until his thoughts were completely calm.
He activated the Eight-Nine Profound Skill, picked up the century-old Red Blood Ginseng from the tea table in front of him, and took a bite.
"Hiss, it’s a bit bitter."
Before he could even finish complaining, a warm current rose from his stomach.
Chen Changsheng hastily devoured the rest of the Red Blood Ginseng in a few messy bites, tossed aside the leaves and stem, and put all his effort into circulating his cultivation technique for refining.
BOOM!
A violent airflow surged wildly within his body. Guided by his consciousness, it rapidly flowed through his limbs and bones, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and his three hundred and sixty acupoints, before finally settling into his Dantian.
The hazy white light inside his Dantian expanded drastically, gradually filling the entire space.
An intangible, formless barrier faintly appeared. Yet, no matter how hard Chen Changsheng refined the medicinal power of the Red Blood Ginseng, the invisible barrier remained completely unyielding.
With a thought, drops of Blood Essence flew out from the cauldron and rolled into his stomach.
An even more violent airflow erupted. Chen Changsheng had absolutely no time to refine it. The airflow grew increasingly scorching, and his body soon found it unbearable.
Beads of sweat the size of peas dripped from his forehead, and he was quickly drenched from head to toe.
Immediately after, drops of blood fell from the tip of his nose.
Chen Changsheng ignored it all and continued to draw upon the Blood Essence.
Ten drops, twenty drops...
One hundred drops, two hundred drops...
Five hundred drops, one thousand drops.
PFFT!
All over his body, blood began to shoot out from the roots of his hair.
Intense pain struck him, but Chen Changsheng remained wholly immersed in refining the Blood Essence and the Red Blood Ginseng.
Time flew by. Inexplicably, Chen Changsheng seemed to sense that the barrier was beginning to crack.
He gathered all of his focus and mobilized all of his True Qi, driving it forcefully toward the upper left section of his Dantian.
BOOM! RUMBLE!
Inside Chen Changsheng’s room, all the light and soft objects moved without any wind, flying up into the air one after another.
The violent True Qi burst through his three hundred and sixty-five acupoints and broke open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, swiftly circulating throughout his entire body. A much stronger True Qi slowly poured into his Dantian.
His Dantian expanded, and the hazy color gradually faded.
Inside his Dantian, a crystal-clear, white cluster of light quickly formed.
The Postnatal Realm!
He had succeeded!
Blood stopped spraying, and the intense pain slowly subsided.
Chen Changsheng stood up slowly and threw a booming right punch.
BANG!
Ten thousand pounds of immense force!
The air exploded!
He stood silently in place, his mind quietly experiencing the brand-new world brought about by his heightened five senses.
"Changsheng... did you have a fortuitous encounter, or do you have a master? Or is there something else going on?
"However, as long as you can heal my injuries and harbor no ill will toward Chen Family Village, I won’t pry any further."
Judging by the voice, it was the Clan Leader murmuring to himself six hundred meters away.
Chen Changsheng chuckled inwardly and stopped paying attention to the Clan Leader’s side.
From the herb garden, Chen Fusheng’s cheeky laughter drifted over.
"Changsheng has broken through again! Haha, if I stick with him from now on, I’ll definitely strike it rich." This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
In the courtyard, Chen Yuyao paced back and forth, occasionally clenching her small fists while muttering, "Dad, you have to succeed!"
In the east wing, Chen Tongwu kicked his blanket, rolled over, and snored soundly.
Bringing his consciousness back to himself, he entered his mind and swept his senses over the cauldron. There were four hundred and twenty-nine drops of Blood Essence left.
At the bottom of the cauldron, ten grains of Spiritual Fertilizer lay quietly.
Chen Changsheng pondered silently. His most urgent task was to accumulate two thousand drops of Blood Essence to sacrifice to the Celestial Essence Cauldron. Only then could the cauldron recover a portion of its consciousness, allowing him to obtain the Second Segment of the first stage of the Eight-Nine Profound Skill.
He took a step forward, and it felt as though a gentle breeze was supporting him in the air. His body slowly descended into the washroom as he called out.
"Yuyao, your dad is hungry. Get me something to eat!"
After washing up and changing into clean clothes, Chen Changsheng strolled leisurely into the main hall.
Inside the main hall, Clan Leader Chen Xuan, Chen Fusheng, Chen Changqing, Chen Chusheng, and Chen Shuisheng were all engaged in a heated discussion.
Chen Changsheng sat himself down at the Eight Immortals table without a word, picked up a bowl of noodles, and started slurping.
Clan Leader Chen Xuan was the first to ask, "Changsheng, have you broken through to the Postnatal Realm?"
"Yes, Clan Leader. The night I was on guard duty, the expert I mentioned came by.
"He traded two sixty-year-old Red Blood Ginsengs for a promise from me, along with three five-year-old Red Blood Ginsengs and forty five-year-old Blood Coagulation Flowers two years from now.
"I consumed one of the Red Blood Ginsengs and broke through directly!
"By the way, what day of the month is it today?"
The first part was his reply to the Clan Leader, while the last question was directed at Chen Yuyao.
"What day of the month? It’s already the twelfth of May!"
Chen Chusheng interjected with an exaggerated expression. He pointed outside and raised his eyebrows, signaling him to take a look.
Only then did Chen Changsheng realize that an oil lamp was lit in the main hall, and outside was a pitch-black night, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
Taking a sip of noodle soup, Chen Changsheng went back to his bedroom, brought out the sixty-year-old Red Blood Ginseng, and handed it to the Clan Leader. He smiled and said:
"Clan Leader! For the next month, focus entirely on healing your injuries! The rest of us will rearrange the guard schedule!"
At this, the few people in the room all became thrilled.
For the past twenty years, Chen Family Village had been protected by only one Martial Artist: the Clan Leader. No matter how many flaws the Clan Leader had, no one could forget this debt of gratitude.
Now that Clan Leader Chen Xuan finally had a Holy Medicine to heal his injuries, everyone felt genuinely happy from the bottom of their hearts.
Clan Leader Chen Xuan was equally overwhelmed with excitement. He examined the Red Blood Ginseng, feeling the surging vitality within it.
At this moment, he completely believed in the expert Chen Changsheng had spoken of.
He had been born during the prime of Chen Family Village. Back then, this small mountain clan had boasted nearly ten Martial Artists.
The strongest among them possessed a Late-Stage Postnatal Realm Cultivation and was known as the number one expert in Great Fog County.
Although everyone knew that the southern part of Great Fog County was actually teeming with hidden experts, so this "number one" title couldn’t be taken at face value.
Even so, the Chen family had indeed enjoyed an illustrious reputation in Great Fog County at the time.