socalfunplaces Chapter 235 Fourth-Order Thunder Brew, Thunder Crystal Marrow Formed, Devouring Sensation
Chapter 235 Fourth-Order Thunder Brew, Thunder Crystal Marrow Formed, Devouring Sensation
Chapter 235 Fourth-Order Thunder Brew, Thunder Crystal Marrow Formed, Devouring Sensation
Inside the cave, Chen Yi opened the two jade bottles left by Yue Qingqiu one by one.
Looking at the two portions of fourth-tier thunder beast essence blood lying quietly in the jade bottle, the essence blood was a deep purple color, with fine arcs of lightning emanating from it, and a faint rumbling sound could be heard.
In addition, there are also third-tier spirit wood needed to refine puppets, black iron for inscribing runes, demon beast inner cores and spirit herbs for making beast pills, and auxiliary materials for brewing thunder brew in the storage bag. Each item is full of spiritual energy and of superior quality.
A hint of barely concealed excitement flashed across Chen Yi's eyes.
He knew very well that if he didn't rely on the Star Moon Sect's power, it would be ten times more difficult for him to obtain these things on his own.
It's important to understand that at the top-tier third and fourth tiers, resources are already firmly controlled by the major sects and families.
Ordinary cultivators would have no chance of obtaining what they need from these forces without rare resources of equal value in exchange.
If Chen Yi continues to cultivate as a rogue cultivator, even with a high level of cultivation, he will only have two paths to obtain these fourth-tier materials:
You can either venture deep into extremely dangerous high-level secret realms to adventure, facing powerful monsters and the covetousness of other cultivators within;
You either have to attend a high-level cultivator's trade fair, compete with powerful figures from all sides, spend all your resources to bid, and face being secretly targeted and assassinated after the bidding war.
Whichever path you choose, it comes with great risks; a slight misstep could lead to your death.
Now that he has the Star Moon Sect as his backer, he can not only obtain high-level materials safely, but also avoid taking any additional risks. This advantage makes Chen Yi secretly feel fortunate.
He meticulously inventoried and categorized the materials in the storage bag, and made a rough estimate:
These materials are enough to refine three mid-grade, third-tier puppets and ten bottles of high-grade, third-tier beast pills.
And most importantly, two portions of [Thunder Brew Spirit Essence] for those newly entering the fourth tier.
This Thunder-Brewed Spirit Essence is the key to his breakthrough in Thunder Crystal Marrow cultivation.
Chen Yi did not rush to start refining. Instead, he carefully put away the materials and then took out a yellowed jade slip from his personal storage bag. This was the manual that Ji Wuchen had given him before, which contained the recipe for high-level Thunder Brewing Essence.
He gathered a wisp of spiritual energy at his fingertips and probed into the jade slip, carefully studying its contents.
This fourth-tier Thunder Brew Essence is derived from the top-tier third-tier Thunder Brew Essence. The difficulty of refining it increases exponentially. According to conventional requirements, one needs to possess fourth-tier divine sense, matching magical power cultivation, and superb spiritual cooking skills to barely attempt it, and the success rate is extremely low.
But Chen Yi has his own advantages.
His divine sense had long since achieved the unity of the five elements, and with the blessing of his insightful spiritual eye, his perception of the characteristics of spiritual materials and the flow of spiritual power far surpassed that of other cultivators of the same level. This made his success rate in refining Thunder Brewed Spirit Essence much higher than that of ordinary cultivators.
Even so, he dared not let his guard down and instead became even more cautious.
For the next six months, Chen Yi devoted almost all his energy to refining the process of making Thunder Spirit.
He sits cross-legged every day, with samples of the materials needed to refine Thunder Brew Essence placed in front of him.
While using the ability to "perceive the world," he also activated his insightful spiritual eye to meticulously analyze each step of the refining process.
"Perceiving Heaven and Earth" can clearly inform him of the probability of success after each step of the operation, as well as the possible risks.
The ability to perceive spiritual energy allows him to detect the most subtle fluctuations in spiritual energy within the materials, enabling him to make precise adjustments to the heat and the amount of spiritual energy injected.
Before each step, he would repeatedly use both abilities to scrutinize the process, constantly eliminating incorrect paths, and gradually figuring out the only production process that could guarantee 100% success.
The entire deliberation process was extremely tedious; just determining the fusion ratio of the Thunder Beast's essence blood with other spiritual materials required dozens of calculations.
The goal is to ensure that the power of the thunder spirit does not dissipate while also perfectly integrating the spiritual energy of the auxiliary materials; every detail must be flawless.
Even with Chen Yi's current spiritual strength far exceeding that of his peers and his abundant energy reserves, it still took him a full six months to thoroughly analyze the entire refining process.
It should be noted that, in terms of the consumption of divine sense alone, such a high-intensity calculation is almost equivalent to the amount of divine sense that a Nascent Soul cultivator would consume continuously for half a year!
Fortunately, Chen Yi did not waste any time during these six months.
He runs the system every day, absorbing the Xuan Tian Qi and the spirituality of the Dong Xu Eye, making his ability to "perceive the world" more and more acute and his perception of the spiritual power between heaven and earth more accurate.
The Insightful Eye continues to improve with ongoing use, capturing increasingly finer details.
It can be said that while studying the refining process of Thunder Spirit, Chen Yi's two core abilities were also improving simultaneously.
After six months of meticulous work, Chen Yi slowly opened his eyes, a flash of lightning disappearing in them. Looking at the materials before him, he felt absolutely certain:
Next, it was time to formally refine the fourth-tier Thunder Brew Spirit Essence.
After six months of deliberation, Chen Yi activated the cave's array to isolate the inside from the outside, took out a third-grade high-quality rune bronze furnace, and officially began refining it.
He used his fingertips to activate the Taiyi Spirit Fire, and the bright white flames wrapped around the furnace body, instantly activating and reinforcing the runes, making full preparations for the subsequent fusion of violent lightning power.
Then, Chen Yi took out a fourth-tier Thunder Beast Essence Blood Jade Bottle, enveloped the bottle with his Five Elements Divine Sense, and used his Insightful Spiritual Eye to remove a few fine impurities from the essence blood.
This step took nearly an hour, during which he remained focused and attentive, avoiding disturbing the active thunder spirit power within his essence and blood.
After removing the impurities, he precisely controlled the timing, putting the essence blood and auxiliary materials such as the Soft Water Ganoderma, Spirit Condensing Sand, and Purple Pattern Grass into the furnace one by one, just at the point when the Taiyi Spirit Fire reached the optimal temperature.
The power of thunder spirit inside the furnace collided with the spiritual energy of the materials, and soon a booming sound was heard.
Chen Yi formed hand seals, using threads of his divine sense to control the heat and guide the flow of spiritual energy, while simultaneously using his Insightful Eye to correct any errors in real time.
During this period, there were two dangerous situations where the lightning power went out of control and the lightning struck the furnace. He forcibly suppressed them with his divine sense and reorganized the spiritual fire to stabilize the refining rhythm.
This focused control continued for three days and three nights until the morning of the fourth day, when pale purple mist drifted from the furnace opening. The aura of the thunder spirit was pure yet gentle, and the refining process was finally nearing its end.
Chen Yi extinguished the spiritual fire and waited for the furnace temperature to drop slightly before opening the lid. He saw a semi-transparent pale purple liquid lying at the bottom of the furnace, with arcs of lightning slowly flowing inside and fourth-order spiritual pressure faintly visible. It was the Thunder-Brewed Spirit Essence.
He took out the spirit-gathering porcelain bottle given to him by Yue Qingqiu, and used his divine sense to guide the spiritual essence into the bottle. The runes on the bottle lit up, instantly locking in the spiritual energy.
A system notification immediately sounded in my mind:
[Tier 4 Thunder Brew Spirit Essence detected. Absorb?]
"It's done!"
Chen Yi couldn't hide his joy, and his tense body finally relaxed.
After six months of deliberation and three days of refining, his efforts finally paid off. He not only succeeded in refining the Thunder Brew Spirit Essence, but his spiritual chef cultivation also officially broke through to the fourth level!
That year he turned one hundred years old, while his peers were still struggling to achieve the Golden Core stage.
After his divine sense broke through to the fourth level, his culinary skills also broke through to the fourth level!
Carefully putting the porcelain bottle away, Chen Yi ran his fingertips along its surface, sighing inwardly:
With this fourth-tier Thunder Essence, he not only gained a powerful fourth-tier life-saving artifact, but also gained the ability to use fourth-tier Thunder Escape Techniques after consuming it, giving him a trump card to escape from early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.
You could even try to devour it and use it to break through the Hundred Threads of Thunder Crystal Marrow.
According to the Immortal Martial Arts Cultivation Notes, Thunder Crystal Marrow is a crucial foundation for breaking through to the fourth level of Body Refinement!
He acted on his thoughts immediately. In his cultivation, Chen Yi was not procrastinating. The sooner he mastered such a powerful trump card as the Thunder Crystal Marrow, the better.
Holding a fourth-tier Thunder Brew Spirit Essence porcelain bottle, Chen Yi wrapped the bottle mouth with his Five Elements Divine Sense, then guided a wisp of magic power inside, carefully taking out a trace of pale purple spirit essence.
The moment the spirit left the bottle, it burst forth with blinding lightning, and a violent aura of lightning spirit instantly filled the air.
He held the spirit aloft, observed it intently for a moment, and then slowly put it into his mouth.
The moment the spiritual essence entered his body, the power of the fourth-order lightning spirit, far exceeding expectations, exploded outwards. Countless fine lightning bolts surged through his meridians, and Chen Yi even showed signs of his flesh and blood being transformed into lightning spirit.
He clearly sensed that the purity of this lightning spirit power was worlds apart from the purity of the ninety-nine strands of lightning crystal cores within his body.
"As expected, there is a world of difference between a fourth-tier lightning spirit and a third-tier one."
Chen Yi sighed inwardly and immediately activated the system, silently chanting "Devour".
An invisible force instantly enveloped the violent lightning power, slowly breaking it down and digesting it. The restless energy gradually calmed down and stopped impacting the meridians.
He didn't dare to swallow the entire bottle of spirit essence directly.
With his current level of body cultivation, consuming it all at once would inevitably result in him being enveloped by the lightning force, causing his entire body to become spiritualized.
At that time, one will be forced to use lightning escape techniques beyond the initial fourth level, and will also have to constantly release lightning spirit attacks to consume energy, making it impossible to cultivate.
Therefore, Chen Yi used the power of the system to take a wisp of spiritual essence each time, and after the system digested and transformed it into controllable energy, he continued to accumulate power in a steady stream, laying the foundation for breaking through the Hundred Threads Thunder Crystal Marrow.
The refining process is slow, and each strand of spiritual essence takes time to decompose. One must also pay attention to the balance of lightning power at all times to prevent it from accumulating.
It took Chen Yi two whole months to devour half a bottle of spiritual essence, like an ant carrying food.
At this moment, the essence of thunder spirit in his body was extremely abundant, far exceeding the sum of more than ten or ninety-nine strands of thunder crystal cores in the past by dozens of times. A faint purple halo flowed in his meridians, and his body was surrounded by a faint thunder spirit aura.
"That's about enough; any more and we might not be able to handle it."
Chen Yi sensed that his body was full of energy, so he decisively stopped refining and sealed the remaining half bottle of Thunder Brew Essence into his personal storage bag.
He then sat cross-legged on a black jade futon and meditated for three days.
During this period, he only circulated his cultivation technique to regulate his spiritual energy, avoiding any mentally taxing activities, until his physical body, soul, and magical power all reached their peak and were free of hidden dangers. Only then did he open his eyes, revealing a resolute expression:
"The time has come to break through to the Thunder Crystal Marrow."
Chen Yi focused his mind on his body, activating the innate thunder talisman in his dantian. The talisman instantly emitted a dazzling purple light, guiding all the thunder spirit power within his body like a lighthouse.
In an instant,
His flesh, bones, internal organs, and acupoints all released lightning spirit energy, which, combined with the lightning spirit essence he had absorbed over the past two months, formed a complex internal lightning spirit array with countless purple threads.
This formation can both control the changes of the lightning spirit and gather and disperse forces into a combined force.
With a thought, Chen Yi activated the great formation. He mobilized all the essence of the lightning spirit and, with unwavering willpower, shattered it into countless strands.
Fine strands of lightning essence filled the meridians, carrying a sharp lightning aura as they sliced through the flesh, like countless lightning threads cutting through it, causing waves of stinging pain.
Even though Chen Yi's body refinement had reached the third level of internal organ refinement, making his internal organs stronger than others of the same level, he still could not withstand such a violent impact, and fine lines appeared on his internal organs.
Fortunately, he protected his vital points with his natal thunder talisman in time and was not injured. He remained calm and focused, controlling the thunder essence and steadily promoting the condensation of thunder crystal marrow.
When Chen Yi's internal organs were on the verge of collapse, the jade bones he had cultivated in his early years suddenly emitted a pale white halo from the base of his bones.
The light was soft yet extremely penetrating, spreading along the bones like a fine net of light, instantly enveloping the myriad lightning essences raging within the body.
Guided by the white light, the originally chaotic and clashing essence of thunder gradually calmed down and flowed slowly along the bone meridians.
The warm energy of the jade bone creates a stable space for integration, the pressure on the meridians is greatly reduced, and the fine lines of the internal organs are slowly healed under the nourishment of the light.
Chen Yi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, beads of sweat sliding down his forehead, feeling fortunate:
Fortunately, he broke through to the Jade Bone Realm early on, otherwise he might have been injured due to energy out of control. I didn't expect the power of this fourth-order Thunder Brewed Spirit Essence to be so strong.
The next moment, Chen Yi's divine sense stirred, and the natal thunder talisman in his middle dantian erupted with an even more dazzling purple light.
Under the influence of the Thunder Talisman, the essence of thunder spirits within the Jade Bone Space converged along a specific trajectory, intertwining and merging with each other. They crackled softly as they collided, and amidst the flickering pale purple halo, they gradually condensed into strands of near-fourth-order thunder threads.
After nearly an hour of fusion, more than a hundred strands of pure purple lightning floated within the jade bone space.
Chen Yi separated over a hundred strands, keeping only the core. The remaining lightning threads were transformed into pure lightning spirit essence by the system's power and then absorbed to enhance his comprehension of condensing lightning threads, thus helping him succeed on his first attempt.
As soon as the essence of lightning merged into his body, Chen Yi's right arm was enveloped in blinding purple lightning, which visibly spread to half of his body.
In an instant, half of his body transformed into a lightning spirit body, his skin wrapped in fine arcs of lightning, the air around him distorted by the power of lightning, and even his breath carried the aura of a lightning spirit.
After becoming a lightning body, Chen Yi's control over lightning power greatly increased, and insights into lightning-attribute spells surged forth.
Taking advantage of this moment, his fourth-order gray divine sense descended like dark clouds, precisely enveloping the hundred strands of lightning in the jade bone space. Each strand of divine sense was connected to the lightning strands like a fine thread, allowing him to control subtle changes in real time.
Driven by the natal thunder talisman and controlled by divine sense, hundreds of strands of thunder spun wildly within the thunder spirit's half-body, forming a precise vortex with their ends connected. As the rotation speed increased and the distance decreased, it condensed into a purple energy ball.
The energy spheres were densely packed with lightning arcs, and powerful fluctuations emanated from Chen Yi's body. Even with his best efforts to conceal them, he could not completely suppress them, and the crystals in his cave were shaken slightly.
But at the crucial moment of breakthrough, Chen Yi did not care about disturbing the outside world and focused his mind on concentrating.
Just as his divine sense was about to fade, a crisp "crack" sound rang out from the core of the jade bone space.
A crystal-clear, glass-like thunder crystal marrow quietly took shape, emitting a faint purple light. Thunder power circulated within it, radiating a heart-palpitating fourth-order spiritual pressure.
As soon as the Thunder Crystal Marrow took shape, a unique Thunder Crystal signal was suddenly released from Chen Yi's body into an unknown layer of space in the void.
This signal, like an invisible ripple, penetrated the barriers of the real world and went straight into a spatial layer that ordinary people could not perceive.
In that instant, Chen Yi's consciousness seemed to be pulled into some kind of special inheritance state, just like when he came into contact with the Thunder Soul Sect's final inheritance Thunder Talisman in the Lake and Sea Secret Realm.
He clearly sensed that a hidden space layer that did not originally exist in the real world had been quietly opened, and the signal released by the Thunder Crystal Marrow in his body spread through this space layer like a lighthouse.
What surprised him even more was that, from two different directions at the far end of this spatial layer, energy fluctuations of the same origin as his own Thunder Crystal Marrow were simultaneously transmitted.
However, the intensity of those two fluctuations was many, many times stronger than the Thunder Crystal Marrow he had just condensed, exuding an awe-inspiring aura like a giant beast from the deep sea.
At the same time, Chen Yi felt a desire to devour the shared Thunder Crystal Marrow aura from those two places in order to strengthen himself.
"This Thunder Crystal Marrow also has this hidden danger of homologous perception and devouring?!"
Back in the real world, Chen Yi slowly opened his eyes, a hint of shock flashing in them.
He concentrated all his spiritual sense, trying to capture the details of the two signals, but found that he could only roughly perceive the location of one of them.
That was the far north, so far away that with his current divine sense range, he couldn't estimate the exact distance at all; he could only vaguely sense the signal coming from an infinitely distant direction.
The other signal was even more bizarre; he couldn't even pinpoint its approximate location, only able to vaguely guess its position from the spatial fluctuations it transmitted.
The owner of this Thunder Crystal Marrow may no longer be within the Great Green Cultivation World, but rather reside in a more distant and secluded cultivation realm.
This sudden discovery stirred up waves of emotion within Chen Yi.
He never expected that, besides himself, there were other cultivators who possessed the same source of lightning crystal marrow, and whose strength far surpassed his own.
Looking at the newly formed Thunder Crystal Marrow within his body, Chen Yi showed no sign of the smile that came with a breakthrough; instead, his brows furrowed slightly.
He knew very well that the moment he sensed those two signals from the same source, the other party must have also noticed his presence. This two-way sensing was like an invisible thread, briefly connecting their positions.
"well--"
A long sigh escaped Chen Yi's lips, tinged with a mixture of helplessness and understanding.
"It turns out that not only can the Golden Crystal Marrow sense each other, but it can also grow stronger by devouring each other."
Unexpectedly, even the Thunder Crystal Marrow is like this.
He tapped his knee lightly with his fingertips, his mind racing: most body cultivators who follow the path of crystal marrow fusion will probably face this outcome once they reach the stage of crystal marrow condensation.
Back then, the young monk only said that Golden Crystal Marrow had this characteristic, not that other crystal marrows were exceptions. Rather, it was because the mainstream body-refining technique in the Great Green cultivation world was the Vajra Technique, and there were quite a few cultivators who cultivated this technique to condense Golden Crystal Marrow.
And those who cultivate the Thunder Crystal Body Refinement Method like him and break through to the Thunder Crystal Marrow Condensation Realm are extremely rare.
Now, based on his perception of the Thunder Crystal Marrow, Chen Yi can confirm:
In the Great Green Cultivation World, besides himself, there are at least one or two other cultivators who have also embarked on the path of Crystal Marrow Body Refinement, and their strength far surpasses his.
"Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back. Things have come to this point, and there's no room for retreat."
Chen Yi sighed inwardly, but his gaze gradually hardened.
Fortunately, once the Thunder Crystal Marrow had completely stabilized and taken shape, he proactively severed the connection between his body and the unknown void layer.
The two faint connections were completely severed, and he could no longer sense the other's presence, which made him breathe a slight sigh of relief.
Chen Yi recalled the characteristics of the Golden Crystal Marrow that the little monk had mentioned:
When a cultivator first condenses golden crystal marrow, they will have a brief connection with other cultivators of the same origin, but this connection usually only lasts for a moment and then disappears on its own.
Unless someone goes to great lengths and uses special secret methods to open a passage from that unknown realm, it is impossible to mark and locate others.
When a cultivator uses Golden Crystal Marrow as their foundation and breaks through to become a fourth-tier body cultivator...
Golden Crystal Marrow has often advanced to the next stage, at which point one's aura will be more easily perceived by those of the same origin.
That was when the battles between cultivators of the same crystal marrow began, and it was also a "feast" where the stronger devoured the weak and plundered crystal marrow to strengthen themselves.
"Since things have come to this, we have no choice but to accept the situation."
The good news is that there seem to be only one or two other practitioners of the Thunder Crystal Technique in Daqing.
Chen Yi felt somewhat relieved; at least in the short term, he was safe.
The other party is unlikely to come looking for you easily, since the initial sensing only lasts for a moment and it is difficult to pinpoint the exact location.
He even harbored a sliver of hope: if the other party was of a gentle nature, even if they knew of his existence, they might not have the desire to devour him.
But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Chen Yi shook his head and smiled bitterly:
In the perilous world of cultivation, testing someone else's character with one's own fate is undoubtedly the most foolish thing to do.
Ultimately, everything depends on one's own strength. Only by being strong enough can one survive in the future battles and even gain the upper hand.
"It seems the scenery at the top of the cultivation world isn't so peaceful after all."
Chen Yi sighed softly. The sensations brought about by the Thunder Crystal Marrow made him realize once again that even the upper echelons of the cultivation world were in danger.
If you are not careful, you may become a "stepping stone" for others to advance.
At the same time, Chen Yi's thoughts also fell on that mysterious void layer—this was the second time he had approached and opened this layer:
The first time was when I obtained the Thunder Soul Sect's inheritance in the Lake and Sea Secret Realm, and the second time was the moment I condensed the Thunder Crystal Marrow.
He vaguely remembered that when he last sensed the Thunder Soul Sect's inheritance, he had also detected other energy fluctuations within that realm, even faintly carrying a trace of life. This made him even more curious.
What exactly is this realm?
Is it the legendary virtual world that exists alongside the real world?
Or is it a spirit world containing powerful creatures?
Or is it some kind of independent spatial boundary?
Chen Yi pondered repeatedly, but still couldn't find the answer.
Records about other dimensions are already scarce in the cultivation world, and the realm he came into contact with was not even mentioned in the sect's records. He could only suppress this doubt in his heart for the time being, and explore its mysteries when his cultivation level was higher and his knowledge was broader.
Right now, the most urgent task is to consolidate the newly achieved Thunder Crystal Marrow realm and improve one's own strength.
Only with sufficient strength can one stand firm amidst the unknown risks of the future. Whether dealing with the threat of cultivators of the same origin crystal marrow or exploring the mysterious void realm, strong strength is required as support.
Chen Yi pulled his thoughts back to the real world.
Concentrate your mind and look inward, carefully observing the newly formed Thunder Crystal Marrow within your body.
This crystal marrow has a regular rhomboid shape and is not large, about one-tenth the size of a fingernail.
Its entire body radiated a pure, pale purple aura, containing terrifying energy approaching the fourth rank within. Strands of lightning spirit power flowed slowly within its marrow, emanating a chilling pressure.
This is the Hundred-Thread Thunder Crystal Marrow, formed by condensing hundreds of strands of lightning.
With a thought, Chen Yi manipulated the Thunder Crystal Marrow to move it out of his body, while simultaneously taking out a ninety-nine strands of Thunder Crystal Core.
With a gentle stroke, the Thunder Crystal Marrow sliced across the surface of the Thunder Crystal Core, as easily as a sharp blade cutting through tofu, instantly creating a tiny gash in the core.
However, the Thunder Crystal Marrow itself remained completely intact, without even a scratch.
"It has at least the hardness of a high-grade magic weapon, or even close to that of a top-grade magic weapon."
Chen Yi was secretly amazed; its physical strength had already reached the fourth level, not to mention the terrifying energy contained within.
This item has now become another major trump card for him.
The wonders of Thunder Crystal Marrow in body refinement are endless.
After the Thunder Crystal Marrow stabilized within Chen Yi's body, it spontaneously roamed through his meridians, bones, and internal organs, releasing tiny crystal marrow electric wires wherever it went.
Although the electric wire was thin, it contained pure lightning power, methodically refining the physical body, completely enveloping the skin, bones, and internal organs in the three layers of refinement, leaving no part untouched.
During the refining process, Chen Yi clearly realized that his previous body refining was too crude and failed to unleash his potential;
The Leijing Marrow Electric Wire, like a precision craftsman, removes impurities from the body and reshapes its structure, making the skin and flesh tougher, the bones denser, and the internal organs stronger, thus solidly improving the body's strength and laying a solid foundation.
"With it, the foundation of body cultivation can make significant progress in a short period of time."
Chen Yi understood this clearly. After honing his physical foundation, he pushed his body refinement to its peak, which was when he began to refine his marrow and attempt to break through to the fourth level of body refinement!
(End of this chapter)