Chapter 23: Idle Cultivation?

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Idle Cultivation?

He mobilized a large amount of Qi Blood Power within his body, sending it surging first toward the strange energy wrapping around his heart!

But the moment the Qi Blood Power touched that bizarre energy, an even more horrifying scene unfolded before him. Upon contact, the strange casing around his heart reacted like a shark smelling blood. It instantly swarmed forward, completely devouring the mobilized Qi Blood Power in the blink of an eye!

Not only that, but after consuming the Qi Blood Power, the strange energy had grown significantly larger. This phenomenon terrified Fang Xu so much that he didn’t dare make any reckless moves. His consciousness fixated on the energy enveloping his five viscera and six bowels, his mind sinking into deep doubt.

He wondered, "Who exactly is Lu Zhiyuan? What was that elixir he gave me? Why would he want to harm me? Now that this strange energy has completely enveloped my internal organs, what should I do next?"

This string of questions left Fang Xu deeply frustrated. If his Qi Blood Power couldn’t reach his organs, he had no way to continue Refining Viscera. And without Refining Viscera, he could forget about ever stepping into the Martial Disciple realm in this lifetime. Furthermore, what this strange energy would ultimately do to him remained a glaring issue.

After observing for a while longer, he noticed the strange energy was simply resting quietly around his organs, showing no signs of further activity. Fang Xu exited the Realm of Inner Observation and grabbed a Qi Blood Pill from beside him, rolling it between his fingers.

Staring at the Qi Blood Pill, he felt it wasn’t enough. He picked up two more, gritted his teeth, and tossed all three pills into his mouth!

"Since you like to eat so much," he thought fiercely, "I’ll let you gorge yourself!"

Relying on the *Divination God Treasure* to enter the Realm of Inner Observation once again, Fang Xu watched as the massive energy from the three Qi Blood Pills surged into his limbs and bones. Enduring the waves of swelling pain, he did his utmost to mobilize all that Qi Blood Power and send it charging toward his heart!

The massive amount of Qi Blood Power struck like a terrifying flood. Seemingly sensing the impending crisis, the strange energy wrapped around his heart began to agitate erratically! As the flood approached, the energy rapidly expanded, forming a large net woven with fine, dense holes that swept directly toward the torrent!

Seeing this, a surge of madness rose in Fang Xu’s heart.

"Break through!" his consciousness roared. He gathered the massive Qi Blood Power and smashed it straight into the energy net!

BOOM!

The two forces collided in the blink of an eye! Under the impact of the immense Qi Blood Power, threads of the energy net snapped one by one. Yet, it remained incredibly resilient, managing to block the fierce onslaught while absorbing the Qi Blood Power at a terrifying speed to replenish itself!

At the same time, Fang Xu surprisingly sensed a trace of urgency and desperation emanating from the strange energy. It seemed... this strange energy was trying to protect his heart?

As this thought arose in his mind, his consciousness—which was controlling the Qi Blood Power—momentarily paused. This gave the strange energy a chance to catch its breath. The terrifying flood of Qi Blood Power instantly shrank by a third before being completely devoured in the blink of an eye.

After swallowing the Qi Blood Power, the cluster of strange energy nearly doubled in size again, and its mental fluctuations became much more distinct. This time, Fang Xu felt a sense of jubilation from it, like the joy of surviving a disaster. Once it finished absorbing the energy, it rapidly wrapped around his heart once more.

Just as Fang Xu was on the verge of shedding tears of frustration, he suddenly felt a strange sensation coming from his heart. Under the envelopment of the energy cluster, his heart had entered a bizarre state. It felt as if the strange energy was using the Qi Blood Power it had just absorbed to temper and refine his heart!

Fang Xu was astounded. His consciousness locked onto his heart, focusing all his perception squarely on it. It was true! The strange energy was genuinely refining his heart! And the level of refinement was even more meticulous than what he could achieve through his own cultivation within the Realm of Inner Observation!

Dumbfounded, Fang Xu simply watched in silence as the energy cluster faintly squirmed, slowly and carefully refining his heart.

After a long while, Fang Xu exited the Realm of Inner Observation once more and fell into deep thought.

Judging by the current situation, it was highly probable that the elixir was entirely beneficial and harmless. An elixir capable of automatically absorbing Blood Qi Power and constantly helping him refine his internal organs was absolutely extraordinary. For Lu Zhiyuan to give him such an elixir, there had to be an unimaginably powerful faction backing the man!

"What is he after?" This was the only question left in Fang Xu’s mind.

As it stood, his most valuable possessions were the mysterious Beast Hide and the *Divination God Treasure* cultivation technique recorded on it. There was no way Lu Zhiyuan could know he possessed the *Divination God Treasure*. But other than that, what else did he have that could possibly catch the man’s eye? After pondering it carefully for a long time, Fang Xu still couldn’t figure it out.

By now, the sensation of his heart being refined had gradually weakened. Fang Xu had a faint feeling that the strange energy wrapping around his organs was like some unknown larval lifeform. They needed to absorb Qi Blood Power to grow, and only when they had a sufficient supply would they help him refine his internal organs. The relationship between him and these bizarre larval lifeforms was like that of an employer and his employees—they did the work as long as they got paid.

To verify his hypothesis, Fang Xu took out three more Qi Blood Pills and swallowed them. He split the resulting Qi Blood Power into two streams, directing one to his heart and guiding the other to his liver.

Just as before, the energy cluster around his liver transformed into a large net, completely enveloping the surging Qi Blood Power and rapidly absorbing it. Once the absorption was complete, the energy cluster wrapped around his liver once again and began refining it. The energy cluster around his heart did the exact same simultaneously.

Feeling both his heart and liver being refined at the same time, Fang Xu couldn’t help but be overjoyed!

"This... this is practically defying the heavens!" he marveled.

Before this, whenever he practiced Refining Viscera, he could only focus on a single organ at a time. It was strictly impossible for him to split his attention between two locations! But now, it seemed that as long as there was an ample supply of Qi Blood Power, these adorable little things could refine all five of his viscera simultaneously. Moreover, this refinement could take place anytime and anywhere.

"A cheat!" he thought. "This is absolutely like having a cheat code! This elixir is simply too heaven-defying!"

Suppressing his inner excitement, Fang Xu glanced at the forty-something remaining Qi Blood Pills beside him. A ruthless gleam flashed in his eyes as he directly grabbed a handful and shoved them into his mouth.

The Qi Blood Pills melted upon entering his mouth, and a massive amount of Qi Blood Power instantly exploded within his body!

This time, the energy clusters wrapping around his five viscera and six bowels instantly panicked. The clusters squirmed frantically, appearing exceptionally agitated. The two clusters currently refining his liver and heart abandoned their tasks, breaking away from the organs to merge with the others. Together, they transformed into an even larger energy net to tightly envelop the flooding Qi Blood Power.

The terrifying Qi Blood Power thrashed around inside Fang Xu’s body, wildly crashing left and right like a fierce beast unwilling to be bound! Meanwhile, the energy net kept it firmly trapped while absorbing it like crazy!

In a constant ebb and flow, the energy net grew stronger while the Qi Blood Power grew weaker. In just a few moments, the energy from the massive handful of Qi Blood Pills Fang Xu had swallowed was completely absorbed.

The massive energy net instantly split back into eleven portions, drifting leisurely back toward the organs they had originally enveloped. At the same time, Fang Xu seemed to sense a faintly reproachful mental fluctuation emanating from them.

Once each energy cluster returned to its respective organ, they began to refine them all at once. Even the six bowels, which Fang Xu had previously considered fully refined, were slowly improving under the much more meticulous tempering of the energy clusters.