After swallowing the Human-Origin Pill, Li Xuan soon experienced a warm sensation in his abdomen. A surge of scorching heat simmered in his Dantian.
This pill was evidently of excellent quality, capable of directly elevating a person's Zhenyuan upon ingestion.
However, for Li Xuan's cultivation system, this additional Zhenyuan was a form of impurity, something that would need to be refined and purified.
Li Xuan did not continue his folly this time, hesitating to approach the critical temperature of -226 degrees Celsius of Liquid Hydrogen and -267.8℃ of liquid helium, both nearing absolute zero.
He knew his limits when he contemplated Liquid Nitrogen earlier. If he pushed further, he might not cultivate any Zhenyuan, instead, he might end up freezing himself to death.
He needed to advance in his training step by step. Li Xuan decided to first solidify his foundation.
However, the circulating liquid cold power within his body could be slightly expanded. Previously, it was the size of a walnut, but now walnuts come in different sizes too – much like the Lion Head Walnut and Chicken Heart Walnut, of different sizes.
This time, the meditation session took Li Xuan a significant amount of time – it took him fifty-three cycles to fully extract the Human-Origin Pill's effectiveness.
The final result was gratifying. He had utilized at least 60% of the Human-Origin Pill's potential, gaining 42 times the amount of Zhenyuan as that of four nights ago. In other words, he had achieved the equivalent of 42 days of cultivation in just one night.
Though he didn't make the breakthrough to the Third Layer Realm directly, it was a close miss. He had already had one foot in the door. From the perspective of Zhenyuan volume alone, he was close to the peak of the second house level, and remarkably high quality at that.
However, there was a price to pay. He was shivering, his lower abdomen feeling as cold as a block of ice.
Fortunately, Li Chengji had already provided him with a full bottle of Shaoyang Elixir. He swallowed nine pills in succession, which alleviated the cold power accumulated throughout his body. The side effect was a significant arousal down there.
Because besides dispelling the cold power, this elixir had an aphrodisiacal effect. Li Xuan remembered that Peng Fulai and Zhang Yue often asked him for this Spirit Pill in his past life.
Earl Chengyi, Li Chengji, gave him the Shaoyang Elixir to help him restore his health.
Li Xuan hesitated when he looked down at his arousal, he wanted to use his hard-practiced Qilinbi technique, but was conscious of the blood-eyed girl standing beside him.
In the end, he decided to bear with it, covering himself with the quilt, and quickly fell into deep slumber.
Li Xuan had trouble sleeping that night, perhaps because he had slept a lot previously. He only managed to fall asleep near dawn, but was woken up before sunlight by his servant, Li Dalu.
Upon awakening, Li Xuan frowned slightly. He felt a chilling numbness from his heart.
When he opened his shirt, he found a nail-sized, eerie green patch on his chest.
After a brief contemplation, Li Xuan asked his personal attendant, "Li Dalu, can you see a patch here?"
The other party looked at Li Xuan's chest for a moment, then shook his head in confusion, "No, I don't see anything. Sir, are you trying to find an excuse to slack off? My advice would be to think thrice. When Xiaowei Jiang sent you home the other day, he, in front of both the lord and the lady, crushed the floor made from Vajra Bars. The lord also said that if you continue to slack off, he will leave your punishment up to Major Xiaowei."
Li Xuan turned his gaze towards the female ghost still lingering in front of his bed, with a solemn expression.
He knew this green patch must have something to do with this female ghost. The only question was – could his father, Li Chengji, see this green patch?
That day, Li Xuan went to the backyard training ground bare-chested. He thought, there was no need for him to ask. If Li Chengji could see the patch, with his keen eyes, he would definitely notice it. And if Li Chengji couldn't see it, asking would only provoke misunderstandings.
To his disappointment, Li Chengji, indeed, was oblivious to the patch on his chest.
Feeling helpless, Li Xuan decided to suppress his doubts and concern and started practicing the 'Cold Breath Fierce Palm' technique. His concentration was quite commendable; soon, he had filtered out all distractions and fully immersed himself in martial arts cultivation.
Worth mentioning, Li Chengji had indeed replaced all the targets and dummies in the training ground. All items were of excellent quality, not only was the material top-notch, they were also engraved with talisman arrays. A single swing from Li Xuan could only leave a shallow trace on them.
Li Chengji was extremely satisfied with the cold power exhibited by Li Xuan. His progress in Ice Style vitality was visible. Not only had the volume of his Zhenyuan increased significantly, but the intensity of his cold power had also nearly doubled since four days ago. Every punch Li Xuan threw froze the dummies from inside out.
At the same time, Li Chengji looked puzzled. He had previously taught Li Xuan martial arts personally, but his son's talent didn't seem to be this profound in his recollection.
However, the thought lasted only for a moment, and Li Chengji decided not to dwell on it anymore.
After all, it wasn't uncommon for talent to surge after maturity, Li Xuan's situation was not a rare phenomenon.
Nevertheless, Li Xuan's forehead was creased. While practicing, he found his cold power was stronger than he had estimated yesterday. But at the same time, the numbness and cold sensation in his chest was intensifying.
Also, whether it was an illusion or not, Li Xuan vaguely felt a surge of cold power, similar to his own Zhenyuan, continuously invading his body from the back, mingling with his Zhenyuan flowing through his meridians, considerably enhancing his palm strength.
Unfortunately, Li Xuan's sensing ability could not reach the Inward View stage, preventing him from confirming this.
His concern deepened. That day, when he left the Earl's mansion, his eyebrows were tightly knitted, almost creating a knot. It was not until he had ridden halfway down the street that he noticed his elder brother, Li Yan, standing at the street corner, waiting for him.
Upon seeing him, Li Yan tossed over a black pendant, "Keep this. If you dare to lose or damage it, you'll have to answer to me!"
Li Xuan glanced at the thing in his hand and realized it was a Thunder Meteorite Necklace. He was slightly astounded, "As far as I recall, isn't this the token of love between you and sister-in-law?"
As per his memory, the functionality of this item was singular – warding off evil spirits. It was, however, a relatively rare treasure. Because of its singular functionality, it was also highly potent.
As a matter of fact, the moment Li Xuan came in contact with it, he felt the numbness and cold sensation in his chest receding.
"I'm lending it to you temporarily!" Li Yan curled his lip scornfully, "The old man believes your nonsense, so he plans to cut out several tens of thousands of patterned silver from the account, and search for treasures to suppress the evil spirit for you. Before that, I will lend this to you for the time being. But you'd better remember, don't let me catch you lying."
Li Xuan was momentarily stunned, then he laughed. He felt the coldness in his heart lessen.