nChapter 72: A Reason to Move Forward

nA strong scent of concentrated alcohol emanated out from the open wounds on Qin Lie’s body and filled the entire secluded alley, leaving behind an intoxicating fragrance which completely astounded Qin Lie.

nSome kind of tingling feeling pervaded the fine wounds on his arms, chest, abdomen, and back.

nWhen he gathered his mind to carefully examine himself, he discovered to his great surprise that his wounds, which had previously been bleeding, had not only stopped, but seemed to be clotting into scabs as well…

nThe several relatively lighter wounds, after clotting, had actually quickly healed!

n“This…”

nWithin the alley, Qin Lie looked at his wounds in bewilderment, his face filled with disbelief.

n“Uncle Li’s… Uncle Li’s strong wine actually has this kind of strange effect?!”

nAfter quite a while, his body trembled somewhat as he suddenly looked in the direction of Li’s Shop. His eyes lit up.

nAs he wasn’t in a hurry to return to Nebula Pavilion and was instead looking for a secluded place nearby, he simply sat down and waited awhile in silence.

nBefore the skies began to darken, all of the wounds on his body had stopped bleeding. The tingling feeling which had pervaded his entire body, along with the smell of alcohol, had gradually disappeared as each wound scabbed.

nAfter getting rid of the traces of blood on his body, he returned to Nebula Pavilion under the moonlight.

nThat night, he quietly gathered spirit energy within his small house and healed his wounds. He discovered that all wounds that had been inflicted by Feng Kai healed very quickly and weren’t able to leave him injured for several days.

n“Uncle Li, you are indeed an odd person.”

nThe next morning, he continued going to Yao Tai’s Artifact Forging Hall, learning about the unique characteristics of the various spirit materials beside Yao Tai. He also tried to figure out the steps for smelting spirit artifacts as he assisted Yao Tai in making them.

nWith the news spreading throughout Nebula Pavilion, he knew that after being stricken by the lightning bolt, Feng Kai and Yan Qingsong had seemingly been severely injured. As of today, they were both stuck in the Shattered Ice Manor’s only Recuperating Manor to accompany Yan Dewu.

n“The lightning bolt actually didn’t kill the two of you; your two lives can be considered tenacious.”

nQin Lie knew that there definitely wouldn’t be any reconciliation between him, Feng Kai, and Yan Qingsong. Once those two recovered, they would definitely continue looking for opportunities for revenge. “Next time, you two might not be so fortunate!”

n……

nTime flew by, and half a year passed.

nDuring this half a year period, Qin Lie had spent his days learning about artifact forging with Yao Tai and the nights bitterly cultivating by either using the whirlpool in his dantian’s spirit sea to temper spirit energy or by practicing inscribing spirit diagrams on spirit tablets.

nBy shadowing Yao Tai, he gradually became accustomed to the steps for refining a spirit artifact. He also memorized all of the unique characteristics of various spirit materials by heart. Other than having tried to refine a spirit artifact, he had completed all of the other steps.

nWith every circulation, the whirlpool within his dantian’s spirit sea would purify spirit energy, refining the spirit energy within his spirit sea as he prepared to break into the Natal Opening Realm.

nOf the four spirit diagram types, Amplification, Spirit Gathering, Spirit Storage, and Strengthening, he had mastered yet another one —— Spirit Storage.

nThe Spirit Storage diagrams which he inscribed were able to create a something similar to the small world in his dantian’s spirit sea within the center of the spirit tablet and could also absorb the spirit energy of the world, storing them for later use.

nHe had once tried to infuse all of his spirit energy into the Spirit Storage diagram and discovered that it was actually able to absorb it all!

nThis discovery caused him to become greatly excited!

nIf, if a portion of spirit energy was stored within a Spirit Storage Board, could they replenish themselves using the Spirit Storage Board and instantly recover their ability to fight when they ran out of spirit energy midfight?

nOnce this question arose within his mind, he was in high spirits and prepared to try it out.

nHe refined three Spirit Storage Boards in which he respectively stored a portion of his spirit energy. Afterwards, he tested them one by one and found that the spirit energy stored within the Spirit Storage Board could indeed be retrieved!

nThis meant that his idea was feasible!

n“If I refined dozens of these Spirit Storage Boards and stored spirit energy into them, then when I fight with someone, wouldn’t I have a never ending source of spirit energy to replenish myself with? This would be much more powerful than using some Spirit Recovering Pill!”

nHowever, three days later, Qin Lie discovered that he had overlooked one big problem —— The spirit energy within the Spirit Storage Board constantly decreased.

nIt was impossible for the spirit energy to be stored forever.

nIn order to fill the three Spirit Storage Boards with spirit energy, he had paused his cultivation and spent nine days infusing spirit energy.

nHowever, after another three days, more than half of the spirit energy within the Spirit Storage Boards had already dissipated.

nSpirit Storage Boards could store spirit energy, but they couldn’t keep it tightly sealed. The stored spirit energy would slowly dissipate over time until all of it disappeared.

nIf he spent a lot of time and energy on storing spirit energy in those Spirit Storage Boards, his cultivating speed would be greatly affected. Furthermore, the spirit energy that he bitterly stored would slowly dissipate…

n—It was obviously not worthwhile.

n“That wooden sculpture that Grandpa refined also had a Spirit Storage diagram, and it contained a ball of pure spirit energy. I wonder… if its energy also dissipated in a similar manner?”

nWith this thought, he took out the wooden sculpture that Qin Shan had left behind and used a strand of mind consciousness to sense it. He felt the scorching white ball of spirit energy within the complex spirit diagram and carefully tried to understand it slowly.

nAn extremely small amount of spirit energy fluctuation was emitted from that scorching white ball of light and floated out of the wooden sculpture, turning into a part of the spirit energy of the world…

n“So the Spirit Storage diagram within the wooden sculpture is the same. It too cannot prevent the leakage and will also slowly lose spirit energy over time,” suddenly said Qin Lie. “It seems this is also the first principle of nature, a rule which cannot be changed. As for why the scorching white ball of spirit energy within the wooden sculpture has yet to completely dissipate, there can only be one reason — that ball of spirit energy is too pure and dense. Although it has constantly diminished since it was created, it still hasn’t completely faded away.”

nHe rubbed his chin, carefully thinking for a while before coming up with another thought, “But it’s not like it doesn’t have uses. If one knows that they are about to fight and knows when there will be danger, they can store spirit energy in advance to create a few Spirit Boards and use them before the spirit energy dissipates; it can still achieve a surprising effect.”

n……

n“Uncle Han, is there any news from the Ling Family?” habitually asked Qin Lie, who had once again gone over to visit Han Qingrui today.

nAs half a year had passed, he had already turned seventeen.

nBased on his grandfather’s letter, he would return to Ling Town before Qin Lie’s seventeenth birthday to find him. Since the Ling Family members knew he was at Nebula Pavilion, as long as there was news of his grandfather’s return, they would definitely notify him through a letter.

nHan Qingrui was the person in charge of collecting and organizing all the letters. If the Ling Family sent any, it would definitely be sent to him.

n“Still none,” said Han Qingrui, shaking his head. “Qin Lie, just this last month, you have come five times. Honestly, you don’t need to come over at all. If they send any news about your grandfather, I will naturally go over and notify you. You don’t have to constantly worry over this matter and repeatedly run here.”

n“There’s still no news…”

nHe didn’t even listen to the rest of Han Qingrui’s words as his mood suddenly sunk and his head dropped. He silently thought, “I’m already seventeen, but Grandpa still hasn’t returned. Seeing these circumstances, it seems something really did happen. Grandpa did say that if he hadn’t returned before my seventeenth birthday that I shouldn’t worry about him and don’t need to bother finding him. He wanted me to cultivate instead, wait until I reached a certain level and break through the seal on the Soul Suppressing Orb. Once I regain my memories, I would also be able to understand what had happened.”

n“Qin Lie! Qin Lie!” gently said Han Qingrui.

n“What?” asked Qin Lie with a depressed expression, his eyes soulless as he raised his head. “Uncle Han, what is it?”

n“Although there is no news concerning your grandfather, there is a letter for you from Dark Asura Hall. Take a look.” Han Qingrui handed him a light yellow envelope, his eyes expressing shock as he said, “I never thought that you would even have people that you know within Dark Asura Hall, eh?”

n“I don’t.” Qin Lie also had a puzzled expression. After opening the letter, he read it with furrowed brows for quite a while before he finally came to a realization.

nThe letter had come from Ling Yushi, who had requested a friend in Dark Asura Hall to send it. Seven Fiends Valley had a great relationship with Dark Asura Hall.Thus, those within their younger generation would frequently work together and become acquainted with each other.

nAs Nebula Pavilion was a vassal force of Dark Asura Hall, it was very convenient for people to pass information to Nebula Pavilion through Dark Asura Hall.

nLing Yushi’s letter was very long and touched on many things, such as her cultivation progress within Seven Fiends Valley and the amount of attention the two sisters received from Granny Jiu. Not only could they condition their body with precious spirit pills, they were also able to temper their bodies by soaking in the liquid of rare crushed herbs. Thus, their cultivation had risen quickly.

nCurrently, she had already broken through to the Natal Opening Realm while her sister Ling Xuanxuan was at the ninth level of the Refinement Realm, seemingly about to break through.

nLing Yushi indirectly touched on the things she longed for, saying that after a period of time, she would try to politely ask Granny Jiu if she would let her return to Ling Town.

nShe also spoke about how she was secretly in possession of a few pills which she had found within some of the body refinement rooms and how she would give them to him when she returned.

n“It’s not from Dark Asura Hall, it’s from Seven Fiends Valley…” said Qin Lie, putting away the letter, his heart warm.

nThe gentle words within Ling Yushi’s letter had softened his pain from waiting for his grandfather’s return.

nThis kind of feeling where he was constantly being missed by someone, where someone was constantly thinking about him, caused him to feel a little joy and made him feel better.

n“Haha, it seems like it must have been that young miss from the Ling Family.” Han Qingrui laughed as he patted Qin Lie’s shoulder, gently saying, “Seven Fiends Valley is the same rank as Dark Asura Hall and is a bit stronger than Nebula Pavilion. However, it’s not like you have no chance of entering. You are still young, and that youth is your potential. Uncle Han believes you will be able to see the young miss of the Ling Family again.”

n“Mn, thanks Uncle Han.” Qin Lie nodded. “If you receive news of my grandpa, you must remember to notify me.” He turned around and left.

nThe missing Qin Shan and Ling Yushi’s longing for him had become the driving force of his efforts.

nDuring the next period of time, he put his entire heart into it, whether it was practicing spirit diagrams, refining his martial art, or even analyzing fighting skills.

nHe could frequently be found in the Scripture Tower, the practice grounds of the Cultivation Grounds, the Mediation Room, and the Combat Room.

nNebula Pavilion’s contribution points that he had accumulated rapidly declined as his knowledge on the various aspects of the martial way became increasingly profound. His combat experience had also rapidly increased.

n