Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Which Bastard?!

Angry voices erupted: “Just who is the bastard who did this? They must have used some Spirit Gathering Formation. No martial ethics at all!”

Others guessed aloud: “Could it be a Golden Core disciple is about to break through, so their absorption speed is this terrifying?”

Someone cut in brusquely: “Quit shouting and draw what you can. Every bit counts!”

No matter how much they complained, everyone could only keep scrambling for the Spirit Rain, taking whatever they could.

Even that small share contained more spiritual energy than they would normally be able to absorb.

But when they thought about picking over the leftovers of someone else’s meal, these proud sect disciples could not feel happy.

Worse, they did not know who had absorbed the lion’s share. If it really was a Golden Core cultivator…

Damn it.

Most of them could only swallow their grievance in silence.

Meanwhile, Rong Shu, the so?called culprit behind it all, remained completely unaware.

She had noticed that she was drawing in more qi than usual, but she simply assumed it was the Spirit Gathering Pills at work.

One hour later, Rong Shu came out of meditation. She rubbed her now?painless dantian and mused in delight: “The effect of the Spirit Gathering Pills was amazing this time. I pulled in so much qi in one go.”

She added with surprise: “Also, the stabbing in my dantian seems to have shortened a lot.”

Then she froze: “Wait… how am I at the eighth layer of Qi Refining?”

When Rong Shu probed and discovered that her wind?element cultivation had advanced from the seventh to the eighth layer of Qi Refining, her expression went blank for a heartbeat.

“It feels like… I did not really do anything.”

Earlier the pain in her dantian had been so intense that she focused all her attention on absorbing spiritual energy.

She only remembered drawing and drawing without pause. Her cultivation surged and dipped repeatedly, even reaching the tenth layer of Qi Refining several times.

Rong Shu took a Vitality Restoration Pill and adjusted her breathing.

When leaving Scarlet Sun City, Lin Dao had told her to purchase ingredients for five additional pills: Soft Bone Pill, Body Tempering Pill, Soul Settling Pill, Vitality Restoration Pill, and Blood Stanching Pill.

The first three are taken in daily training alongside the Tendon and Bone Pill, while the Vitality Restoration Pill and Blood Stanching Pill treat internal and external injuries respectively, the one restoring vital energy and the other stanching blood and reducing inflammation.

Later, when she went to Wu’an City, Rong Shu replenished her dwindling supplies of Soft Bone Pill, Body Tempering Pill, and Soul Settling Pill.

As for the Vitality Restoration Pill and Blood Stanching Pill, she hardly used them before, but inside the secret realm these two are more valuable than the first three.

Once her breathing settled, Rong Shu probed again. Her wind?element cultivation was indeed stable at the eighth layer of Qi Refining, with no sign of sliding back.

Her body showed no abnormalities, and the spiritual energy in her dantian felt more solid, which let her relax for the moment.

“This trip to the secret realm was worth it. In less than a month I have broken through again.” Rong Shu stood, unable to hide her excitement.

Breaking through to the eighth layer of Qi Refining had come earlier than she expected. She thought it would only be possible after the training ended.

When she walked out of the cave, the rain had already stopped and the sky was clear and cloudless.

Fresh from a bout of Spirit Rain, the secret realm’s ambient qi was denser than before, and Rong Shu noticed at once: “Why does the nearby spiritual energy feel thicker?”

She wandered for most of a circuit and occasionally ran into other disciples.

After carefully confirming they were not “familiar faces” she had already harvested, she strode toward them openly.

A man and a woman were chatting as they moved, and she heard them say: “I wonder which Senior Brother at the Golden Core Stage absorbed so much of the Spirit Rain. He must have reaped a great harvest.”

A sigh followed: “No use being envious…”

Then an excited cry broke in: “There seems to be a spirit herb over there!”

Rong Shu paused, slightly stunned.

[Spirit Rain?]

Were they saying the rain just now had been Spirit Rain?

After the man and woman plucked the herb, they noticed Rong Shu standing not far away staring at them. They grew instantly wary.

They shared a glance and turned to run at once.

Rong Shu did not give chase. With so many disciples in the secret realm, finding another target would be simple.

To get to the bottom of it, she deliberately sought out a male disciple for a “spar.”

After taking her spoils, she did not rush to release him but asked about the Spirit Rain.

She posed a direct question: “What was that rain earlier?”

The trembling male disciple blinked and blurted: “You do not know? That was a rare Spirit Rain, full of pure, dense spiritual energy.”

He added with a miserable twist of his mouth: “It is just a pity that most of it was somehow sucked away by someone. The amount of Spirit Rain we could absorb was barely a scrap.”

Having gotten the answer she wanted, Rong Shu let him go.

When he had left, Rong Shu stood in thought.

So that was why the qi in the secret realm felt thicker now.

Wait a moment.

Could it be that when her dantian was spasming, most of the spiritual energy she absorbed had actually come from the Spirit Rain?

In an instant she found the reason she had advanced so quickly to the eighth layer of Qi Refining.

Her face changed and she burst out: “Damn it!”

“Which bastard absorbed most of the Spirit Rain’s qi!”

If that person had not taken so much, maybe she could have pushed straight on to the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

(All Heaven’s Evolution Sect disciples: … yeah right.)