Chapter 31: True Strength in Battle
Ding dong!
“Congratulations, Host. No prize this time!”
Ding dong!
“Congratulations, Host. You have drawn a Grand Body-Tempering Fruit!”
Ding dong!
“Congratulations, Host. No pri...”
Listening to the system notifications announcing his lack of winnings, Lin Fan remained unfazed. After dozens of draws, he finally obtained another Grand Body-Tempering Fruit. The chimes continued.
Ding dong!
“Congratulations, Host. No prize!”
Ding dong!
“Congratulations, Hos...”
After more than twenty additional attempts, Lin Fan again found himself in a losing streak. By now, he had drawn around seventy times. This time, he showed no trace of frustration nor impatience, calmly continuing with the lottery.
Ding dong!
“Congratulations, Host. You have drawn a Vitality Fruit!”
Ding dong!
“Congratulations, Host. You have drawn a Grade-One Stinky Tofu, with a complimentary piece of fermented bean curd!”
Ding dong!
“Congratulations, Host. You have drawn a Healing Pill!”
Ding dong!
“Congratulations, Host. You have drawn a Vitality Fruit!”
The system’s sudden burst of notifications nearly made Lin Fan’s smile split his face.
He had just drawn seven Vitality Fruits in a row, one Life Origin Pill, three Grand Body-Tempering Fruits, a Spirit Gathering Talisman, and a variety of foods—stinky tofu, spicy hotpot, and the like, complete with sides of fermented bean curd and sesame oil.
The system seemed to have entered a high-yield phase, raining down treasures one after another!
But soon after, the streak ended with another series of losses. Undeterred, Lin Fan expended an additional one hundred thousand negative emotion points for fifty more draws.
This time, he only won two more Vitality Fruits. Realizing his luck had run its course, he wisely stopped.
Ding dong!
“Congratulations, Host. You have consecutively drawn ten Vitality Fruits. Vitality Fruits are now available for purchase in the shop, redeemable with negative emotion points!”
Just as he halted, the system chimed in once more.
Although Lin Fan’s expression remained calm, the notification sounded like heavenly music to his ears.
He quickly opened the shop interface and, beneath the Body-Tempering Fruit, found the new option for purchasing Vitality Fruits.
“Body-Tempering Fruit: 1000 points!”
“Vitality Fruit: 50,000 points!”
The price for Body-Tempering Fruit remained unchanged, but a Vitality Fruit could now be bought for just fifty thousand negative emotion points—a far better deal.
After all, it took ten Body-Tempering Fruits—ten thousand points—to enhance a single strand of vitality energy.
To enhance ten strands would cost a hundred thousand points!
But with the Vitality Fruit, one could elevate ten strands at once for only fifty thousand points.
“It seems that if I draw the same item ten times in a row, it becomes available for purchase in the shop. If I were to draw the Divine Breaking Crossbow ten times, I could arm the entire Lin family to the teeth!” Lin Fan thought excitedly, but quickly shook his head to dismiss the idea.
Although the Vitality Fruit was a bargain at fifty thousand points, it was still a resource for the Qi Induction Realm. The Divine Breaking Crossbow, capable of rivaling the blows of Pulse Opening Realm experts, would cost far more—likely two or three hundred thousand per crossbow.
To arm the Lin family with them would be an unimaginable expense in negative emotion points.
Even if he could afford it, he’d first need to draw ten of them. Who could say how many points that would require?
Besides, there was no guarantee he could even draw ten.
The system lottery was unpredictable—sometimes, spending ten thousand points would yield divine gear; other times, a million points would only net a bowl of spicy hotpot without even the chili oil.
Delicious, perhaps, but of little practical use.
That was the system’s pitfall.
“Never mind, I’ll think about that later. For now, I need to break through to the next realm.”
Shaking his head, Lin Fan put aside such thoughts. He took out nine Vitality Fruits and swallowed them one after another. Instantly, torrents of vital energy surged into his dantian, swiftly condensing into silky threads.
Ten threads!
Twenty threads!
Thirty threads!
The threads of vital energy within Lin Fan increased rapidly, soon reaching a hundred.
With a boom, his aura exploded, and he stepped into the mid-stage of the Qi Induction Realm, now possessing one hundred and three strands of vital energy.
Elated, Lin Fan pondered his next move.
He spent his remaining two hundred thousand negative emotion points to purchase three Vitality Fruits, and fifty thousand points for fifty Body-Tempering Fruits.
Together with those he had obtained through the lottery, these would all go to his family.
Initially, he had estimated that the six hundred thousand points would not be enough for a breakthrough, merely enough to add sixty energy threads. That was why he considered purchasing a bloodline, then drawing the lottery, and finally keeping thirty thousand points to buy Body-Tempering Fruits, which would increase his energy threads by thirty.
But, thanks to his lottery luck, he obtained Vitality Fruits and broke through in one fell swoop.
Therefore, many of his plans had to be brought forward.
He decided to set off for the Celestial Tome Academy ahead of schedule. The academy’s admissions would not begin for another two months, and the minimum requirement was the Qi Induction Realm. Not only had he reached it, he had already broken through to the mid-stage.
There was now no doubt he would be admitted.
His other pressing matter was to awaken the spirit of Thousandfold Snow. He possessed a secret method: using his soul power to inscribe a Spirit Gathering Array onto the blade.
Thus, as Thousandfold Snow bathed in bloodshed, the souls of its slain would be absorbed by the blade’s nascent spirit, swiftly nurturing intelligence.
Though Lin Fan had regained memories of his past life, he no longer possessed his former cultivation. His soul power, diminished by rebirth, was but a fraction of its former strength, yet still far surpassed that of Pulse Opening experts. Were it not for his frail body, incapable of manifesting mental attacks, he could likely obliterate even peak Pulse Opening experts with a mere thought.
Now, having engraved the Spirit Gathering Array onto Thousandfold Snow, all that remained was to let the blade drink deeply of battle and souls, awakening its spirit.
He was no bloodthirsty fiend; he would not slay the innocent. Instead, he planned to traverse the Icy Forest, hunting fierce beasts to help Thousandfold Snow evolve.
This would not only empower the blade with soul energy, but also temper himself amidst constant danger, forcing rapid growth.
In other words, he would use peril as a forge, transforming pressure into strength.
Before departing, he needed to ensure his family’s foundation was secure. The Life Origin Pill, naturally, was reserved for his father, who still bore unhealed injuries—a fact Lin Fan had learned from his grandfather. The pill was perfectly suited to his father’s needs.
The three Vitality Fruits, though only increasing his own energy by thirty strands, could potentially forge three Pulse Opening experts if bestowed upon his clan.
When he first broke through to the Qi Induction Realm, he had researched that, typically, the energy threads were as fine as hair, about a foot long. His, by contrast, were as thick as chopsticks, two feet long, and incredibly dense.
A single one of his energy threads was thicker and more robust than a hundred of another’s combined.
In essence, his current one hundred and three energy threads, compared to others, amounted to over ten thousand.
In terms of sheer energy, he surpassed even peak Qi Induction experts.
In quality, he was far beyond them.
If he were to battle a peer, not even counting his mastery of intent, his past life’s combat experience, or his myriad techniques, the raw vigor of his energy alone could utterly overwhelm a peak Qi Induction expert.
At peak, a Qi Induction cultivator possessed ten thousand threads; Lin Fan now had ten thousand three hundred. If he unleashed the Wind and Thunder Force, his strength would soar fivefold.
That meant over fifty-one thousand energy threads—utterly astonishing!
With such reserves, he could easily overpower a newly advanced Pulse Opening cultivator.
It is well known that condensing a hundred threads marks the early Qi Induction stage; surpassing a hundred, up to a thousand, is the mid-stage; passing a thousand, up to ten thousand, is the late stage.
To reach the Pulse Opening Realm, one must twist these ten thousand threads into a single, solidified current known as true essence, then begin opening the body's channels. Once all channels are open, one steps into the Pulse Opening Realm.
In other words, a newly advanced Pulse Opening expert is simply one who has consolidated ten thousand energy threads into true essence, which, while of higher quality and greater martial power, does not dramatically increase raw strength—at most, doubling that of a peak Qi Induction practitioner.
But this doubling comes from the superior quality of true essence; measured in energy threads, it is merely twenty thousand.
However, as each channel is opened, strength multiplies accordingly. With all one hundred eight channels open, one’s power is multiplied a hundredfold—far beyond any Qi Induction cultivator’s reach.
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