A Thought Through Eternity

Chapter 7 - The Turtleshell Recognises Its Master

In the following days, whenever Zhang Fatso One and the other fatties saw Bai Xiaochun’s straw hut, all of them became cautious. Ever since Bai Xiaochun had suddenly broken through the second level of Qi-Condensation and conducted his monologue, his cultivation inside the room had once again started.

In the room, Bai Xiaochun wiped the sweat on his forehead. He was naked from head to toe. He was tolerating the intense pain, and gritting his teeth as he worked hard to imitate the posture portrayed in the third picture.

The Qi channel within his body was no longer the size of a stream. It had quickly grown into a small river that coursed through his body. Each time his Qi completed one circulation around the channel, a Ka ka sound could be heard coming from his body. His initially round figure had already slimmed down to the extent that he was even skinnier than he had been when he had first entered the Burning Stove Kitchen.

Bursts of energy were stored in his body. As he continued to persist in his cultivation, all the skin and flesh on his stick-thin figure seemed to be jumping lightly. If you listened carefully, you could even hear the faint beating of his heart reverberating around the room.

More and more spiritual pressure was continuously being condensed within his inner body. The feeling of becoming more powerful with every second, with every day, gave Bai Xiaochun even more motivation. This lasted until numerous days later, when a sharp pain suddenly pierced Bai Xiaochun’s body. This kind of excruciating agony was more intense than the pain he had suffered previously and he had no choice but to give up.

Panting heavily, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes were bloodshot. He had a strong feeling that his body could not support this kind of training for much longer. Although his body would automatically absorb natural energy from his surroundings during his cultivation, it clearly could not keep up with the amount of energy he was consuming. Moreover, the Burning Stove Kitchen’s added suppers only happened by luck; they were certainly not an everyday occurrence.

After all, when other people trained in the Purple Qi Cauldron Manipulation Technique, it was only once in several days. Even the most diligent ones only trained for a maximum of once a day. Here, he had cultivated endlessly every day, every night, every hour, every second. No need to mention Zhang Fatso One and the other fatties, even if the Main Sect disciples were made aware of this feat, they would be flabbergasted.

But, even after cultivating to this level, Bai Xiaochun still did not feel safe. His personality was such that he yearned hotly for security, so he retrieved the Spirit rice that he had refined and hid previously. After he had inspected the grain that was laid in his hand, he used a normal pot to cook the rice. As the spiritual energy wafted out from the pot, he did not hesitate to immediately devour the rice.

The Spirit rice melted immediately after entering his month, becoming a rich source of spiritual energy. This energy was multiple times more than that of ordinary Spirit rice; in fact, the strength of the energy was entirely on two different levels. With a loud rumble, the energy in his body began to surge like a galloping horse. Bai Xiaochun hurriedly began to cultivate, positioning his body as shown in the third picture while he adjusted his breathing.

Just like that, deep in the night, half a month later, Bai Xiaochun’s body shuddered violently. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find that his cultivation had already unknowingly broken through the second level of Qi condensation and entered the third level of Qi condensation.

This kind of change instantly caused Bai Xiaochun plenty of wild glee. His eyes exposed his enthusiasm as he laughed loudly. He inspected his body and noticed that the Qi channel within his body had completely changed from a mere stream into a small river.

This small river of Qi flowed rapidly within him, its speed much, much faster than before. In fact, with just a thought, the spiritual energy in his body would instantly swim to the place in his body he envisioned.

“The third level of Qi-condensation! This Spirit rice that has been refined once is really extraordinary!” Bai Xiaochun stood up and licked his lips. He was determined to refine a few more grains of spirit rice but he could feel that his Qi channel was still rather swollen. He recalled the introduction he had read in the bamboo scroll and realised that he needed to allow his body some time to adjust, so for the time being, he could not continue his cultivation.

Quelling his initial desire, he paced around inside his room, appearing rather smug. But very quickly, his footsteps paused as his gaze landed on the outside world through the panes of his window. Even though it was midnight, by borrowing the light of the moon, he could see the large tree by the side-path outside the Burning Stoves Kitchen.

“This still won’t do. Xu Baocai’s wooden sword seems to have something unusual about it. Even if I’ve reached the third level of Qi condensation, I still can’t guarantee my safety!” Bai Xiaochun furrowed his brows. After contemplating for a second, he glanced at the colourful wooden sword that lay beside him and then at that pot in his room.

“If I can refine this sword twice, then perhaps I can be more secure.” He immediately came to a decision as he walked out of his room and retrieved some spirit wood.

After he finished his preparations, on that particular night, Bai Xiaochun stood beside that mysterious pot and lit the timber. When he saw the pattern light up, he threw the wooden sword into the pot.

But this time, he waited for a very long time without any noticeable reaction. Bai Xiaochun frowned as he inspected the pattern on the pot before discovering that the wood beneath the pot had already burnt to ashes. He hummed softly, once again stepping outside to retrieve more spirit wood. But even after a few times of doing this, no matter how brilliantly the fire burned, there was still nothing happening to the wooden sword.

“These are all blocks of wood that produce One Colour Flame. Perhaps the temperature is not high enough. If I require more heat…Two Colour Flame?” As he pondered this, Bai Xiaochun walked out of his door and once again returned with a block of purple coloured wood in his hands. There weren’t many blocks of wood of this type left in the Burning Stoves Kitchen anymore, so Bai Xiaochun only managed to find one piece.

When he lit the wood under the pot, flames instantly appeared. These flames were made of two different colours. This was the much higher levelled Two Colour Flame!

The moment the Two Colour Flame appeared, the second line on turtleshell pot instantly flashed. But then the Two Colour Flame rapidly dimmed, as though all its fiery energy had been sucked away. Not long after, by the time the Two Colour Flame had completely burnt into nothing but ashes, the second line of the turtle-shell pot had already lit up.

“Success!” Bai Xiaochun’s eyes shone brightly as he quickly placed the wooden sword into the pot. Immediately, the silver light began to shine dazzlingly bright. The time it took was many more breaths longer than when he had refined it the first time.

He watched as the light was about to dim but abruptly, the silver rays burst outwards violently, straight towards Bai Xiaochun. This change was too sudden and Bai Xiaochun did not have time to react. His vision turned white. Rapidly, an indescribable icy cold sensation, like an iceberg, melted into Bai Xiaochun’s body. To his dismay, he found that he was unable to obstruct this feeling at all. He could only watch blankly as the stream of icy coldness forced its way through his inner body.

His entire face instantly turned deathly pale. As his vision blurred, he felt as though something had been sucked out from within him and assimilated with the interior of the turtle-shell pot.

Only then did the silver light dissipate. The wooden sword that appeared at the bottom of the pot had become even sharper than before, as though looking at it was enough for your eyes to be pierced.

Although the sword’s appearance remained ragged and splotched with various colours, the patterns that had appeared on the wood had already changed. If the colourful substances were wiped away, the dazzling starlight that the pattern glowed with, could clearly be seen. This sword had already been fundamentally changed.

At around the same time the wooden sword appeared, in the skies above the Southern bank of the Spirit River Sect, rumbles of rolling thunder began to echo, as though the heavens itself was roaring with fury. It shocked multiple cultivators of the Spirit River Sect. Fortunately, the thunder disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

When the sound of thunder had echoed, a second silver line appeared on the body of the wooden sword, flashing multiple times before darkening and disappearing beneath the coloured substances.

Bai Xiaochun refused to look at the wooden sword. His expression was uncertain as he retreated a few steps. His body felt weak. After some time, he finally recovered his senses but just thinking about the sensation he had experienced just now was enough to send chills of lingering fear into his heart.

“What exactly was sucked out from inside me…” His perturbed gaze fell on the bronze mirror hanging by the door. After deliberately scanning his image up and down, he rubbed his eyes. He inspected his reflection once more as he stood there, flabbergasted as a wooden chicken.

On the forehead of his reflection inside the mirror, there was an extra strand of white hair. And although his appearance hadn’t changed, he somehow felt that he had become one year older.

“My lifespan!!” Bai Xiaochun whispered to himself in a daze.

“What had been extracted from me just now, was my lifespan. My…my…” He felt like crying but no tears fell from his eyes. His objective when he had come to cultivate had been to live forever but till today, he had not only failed to accomplish that, he even had his lifespan shortened by a year. To him, this was truly an enormous blow.

“I’ve made a loss…To think that I, Bai Xiaochun, who have lived in safety for a small half of my life, would also have times when I make missteps…” He stood there blankly, a bitter smile on his face. After he had calmed down, he lifted his head to stare at the turtle-shell pot. But as an odd expression slowly appeared on his face, he could faintly sense that after his lifespan had been sucked away, there was now a connection between him and the turtle-shell pot. It was as though he could now control the pot.

An idea came to his mind as he lifted his right hand and pointed at the pot.

Instantly, the turtle-shell pot flashed with black light as it instantly shrunk in size. It shot towards Bai Xiaochun. In the blink of an eye, it had disappeared into his fingertip. Bai Xiaochun was astonished as he stood up abruptly and took a few steps back. He looked down at his finger then back at the empty stove.

“This…This…” He pointed his right hand at the floor again. With a burst of black light and a loud Peng! sound, the pot appeared again.

Bai Xiaochun tried a few more times consecutively. From his expression, it was unclear if he was happy or sad, as there were both traces of joy and melancholy. Finally, he even let out a sigh.

“Although I can now store the pot in my inner body, the price I paid was a year of my life. No matter how I think about it, it’s still a loss for me.”

In the afternoon of the second day, Bai Xiaochun was contemplating how he could make up for the year of life that had been sucked from him. Suddenly, he abruptly raised his head as he sensed that outside the Burning Stoves Kitchen, there were seven to eight figures galloping towards him.

The Bai Xiaochun with level one Qi-condensation would not have been able to sense them. But right now, with his level three Qi-condensation, he instantly felt that there were seven to eight figures, and the one who was leading them was Xu Baocai.

At the same time, Xu Baocai’s voice, full of hatred, abruptly carried over.

“Bai Xiaochun, you might have Brothers willing to protect you but so do I, Xu Baocai! Today, the vendetta between you and I, it’s time to conclude it!

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