MARTIAL ADVERSITY, VOLUME 7 - Season 8 Episode 58

Time flew by and several days passed. During this time, Yang Kai had constantly been in retreat in his cultivation room, spying on the mysteries of the Pill Cloud Saint Pill, reaping some small gains.

Yang Kai had also been monitoring An Ling’er these days and so far, everything seemed to be proceeding uneventfully. Apparently she had not taken the risk to sell him out. However, for reasons Yang Kai couldn’t understand, the delegation from Nine Heavens Holy Land had not yet departed.

Perhaps they were concerned after the disappearance of their Saintess that they didn’t have enough security and were waiting for reinforcements.

Shaking his head, Yang Kai no longer paid much attention to An Ling’er’s situation and fully concentrated on studying this ancient Saint Pill.

A few more days passed but Yang Kai still couldn’t glean much information regarding the Pill Cloud pill, so he was now left with only one option. This method had a number of risks associated with it, on top of which there was a chance he wouldn’t be able to learn anything from it, so it was a gamble.

He simply had to swallow it!

By feeling the effects of the pill with his body, he could possibly learn some of the secrets of the Pill Cloud while uncover the process by which this Saint Pill was refined!

Yang Kai hesitated for a long time, deciding whether he should take this rather extreme step.

A pill with a Pill Cloud was simply too rare; what’s more, this was a Saint Grade Mid-Rank pill, a valuable treasure all on its own. Once he swallowed it, it would be gone.

On top of all that, because of the Pill Cloud that surrounded the Saint Pill, Yang Kai couldn’t tell what this pill’s purpose was. Whether it was a healing pill, a supplementary cultivation pill, an enhancement pill, or a detoxification pill, Yang Kai had no clue.

Everything was a mystery, the only thing he was certain of was that it wasn’t a poison pill.

The other big risk was that after such a long period of time, the energy accumulated in this pill by its Pill Cloud was too large, causing Yang Kai to worry if he could even withstand taking it.

Although he had his Unyielding Golden Skeleton which could accept an unimaginably huge amount of energy, the capacity of his meridians and physique was still limited. If the massive amount of energy contained in this pill were to fill his meridians faster than his Unyielding Golden Skeleton could absorb it, his body may be damaged or even directly explode!

After weighing his options for a long time though, Yang Kai gradually firmed his resolve.

[I will risk it!]

With such a great opportunity in front of him, he had to at least try. Instead of pondering and hesitating over it forever, he might as well take action and deal with the consequences whatever they may be. Once he absorbed the medicinal efficacies, everything would become clear.

After making up his mind, Yang Kai left his cultivation room once to pay for an extension of ten days and told the Seven Family Alliance guards on duty that without his permission, no one was to disturb him. After accepting several Crystal Stones, the person in charge of the cultivation room happily agreed.

Returning to the cultivation room again, Yang Kai activated all the isolation barriers at their maximum setting before sitting down cross-legged, taking a deep breath, and preparing himself.

After achieving his peak condition, Yang Kai tossed the ancient Saint Pill into his mouth and swallowed it down.

Not daring to show the slightest bit of carelessness, Yang Kai immediately began circulating his True Yang Secret Art while waiting for the pill’s effects to appear.

Three breaths later, Yang Kai felt heat well up in his lower abdomen and began to rapidly spread outwards. This heat was like bubbling magma, burning Yang Kai’s five viscera, six organs.

When this heat first appeared, it was like a small stream and not too strong, but in the blink of an eye it transformed into a flowing creek, then a raging river, and finally a vast ocean.

Yang Kai could even hear the movement of this massive amount of energy from his chest, it was like a violent storm that whipped and howled as it sent out one violent torrent after another.

Yang Kai’s face went white, then red, as if it was on fire, his True Qi surging up and down as every pore on his skin involuntarily opened and countless streams of energy began leaking out, evaporating into the air.

Even circulating his True Yang Secret Art as fast as possible, Yang Kai felt his meridians close to bursting as the energy contained within the pill continued to flow out.

The effects of this pill rapidly flowed along Yang Kai’s meridians and penetrated every in of his physique.

At this moment, it was as if Yang Kai had opened a mysterious space filled with explosive energy and while receiving this energy’s violent baptism, he also had to focus his attention in order to explore the secrets hidden within.

With one mind, trying to do two nearly opposite tasks was no simple matter.

Soon though, Yang Kai noticed something was wrong, while the medicinal efficacies of the pill were indeed flowing through his meridians and physique, even though he was rapidly circulating his True Yang Secret Art, none of this energy was being absorbed into his Unyielding Golden Skeleton. Instead, it was all gathering towards his forehead.

As soon these streams of energy reached his forehead though, they would disappear like they had been swallowed by an invisible vortex.

Yang Kai was shocked and quickly reacted by immersing his consciousness into his Knowledge Sea.

The moment his Soul Avatar opened its eyes, Yang Kai saw a torrent of energy pouring into his golden red Knowledge Sea, like great waterfalls being burned and assimilated by the sea of flames below.

(Silavin: Not sure when it became golden. Could be a mistake on the author’s part)

Yang Kai stared blankly for a moment before suddenly understanding.

It turned out that Saint Pill was not a healing pill, nor a pill for cultivating, but one meant to nourish one’s Soul!

In the instant it took Yang Kai to comprehend this, a nearly overwhelming amount of energy flooded in, causing his entire Knowledge Sea to toss violently, the Soul Battle Hall and Demon Eye of Annihilation floating in the sky seemingly becoming somewhat unstable.

The small Heaven Grade Top-Rank Soul sword had been swept away in this raging storm and disappeared altogether.

Realizing he was in grave danger, Yang Kai couldn’t help cursing vehemently. Originally, he had thought that no matter how much energy this Saint Pill contained, his unique Unyielding Golden Skeleton would be able to safely absorb it, greatly reducing the risk of taking this Pill Cloud pill.

However, he hadn’t anticipated that this ancient Saint Pill was meant to cultivate one’s Spiritual Energy, rendering his Unyielding Golden Skeleton useless.

Although Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea was much vaster than an ordinary First Order Transcendent’s, there were still limits to it. With this massive amount of energy continuing to pour in, his Knowledge Sea would exploded sooner or later.

Yang Kai’s expression was incredibly ugly, and the only thing he could do now was try to stabilize his turbulent Knowledge Sea while desperately trying to think of a way to resolve the crisis before him.

Unable to think of any way out of this predicament, Yang Kai was just about to start panicking when suddenly, his entire Knowledge Sea was flooded with a brilliant five coloured radiance. When this aurora appeared, the massive amount of energy that was still pouring into his Knowledge Sea began to rapidly flow towards something and disappear.

Yang Kai glanced over in the direction of the flow and quickly discovered the source of this phenomenon, grinning dumbly a moment later.

What was helping him swallow this massive amount of energy, thus saving his life, was actually the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus.

When he had first obtained his incredible Soul nourishing treasure, Old Demon had told him that the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus could grow and if given enough time would evolve to have six colours and eventually seven colours!

This process of evolution was very long, possibly thousands of years to tens of thousands of years.

Once it reached the Seven Coloured state though, the assistance the Soul Warming Lotus would bring to its possessor was simply immeasurable.

Yang Kai had already gained unimaginable benefits from the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, his Spiritual Energy and Soul being significantly stronger than his body’s True Qi cultivation was mainly due to it.

So Yang Kai could imagine how miraculous the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus would be.

Old Demon had also said that although the Soul Warming Lotus’s growth was slow, it could be artificially accelerated by allowing it to absorb pills and Precious Treasures that nourished one’s Soul.

In a way, doing this was an investment. After a cultivator took these elixirs, pills, or treasures, they would need to share some of their efficacies with the Soul Warming Lotus, which would reduce the immediate benefits they would obtain but once the Soul Warming Lotus evolved, it would pay back that investment many times over.

In the past, Yang Kai had intentionally diverted a great deal of Spiritual Energy to the Soul Warming Lotus every time he took Soul nourishing medicines, but so far he had seen no noticeable response from it, so Yang Kai hadn’t paid it much mind.

But now, with this unimaginable amount of energy flooding into his Knowledge Sea, the Soul Warming Lotus had instinctively reacted and begun absorbing it.

As the Soul Warming Lotus madly swallowed this energy, the pressure Yang Kai felt reduced dramatically.

At the very least, his Knowledge Sea had become somewhat stable.

Immediately coming to his senses, Yang Kai consciously directed the energy pouring into his Knowledge Sea towards the Soul Warming Lotus while allowing his Knowledge Sea to absorb whatever excess remained.

But even so, the amount of energy he needed to absorb personally was still nearly overwhelming, frightening Yang Kai.

Without any hesitation, Yang Kai began using Spiritual Energy to spy on the mysteries of the True Alchemic Way.

This was the most intensive way Yang Kai knew to consume Spiritual Energy and was his only recourse to handle this emergency situation.

The energy flowing in was thus divided into two major streams, one of which was absorbed by the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus while the other was assimilated by Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, supplementing his constant consumption.

The Soul Devouring Insects, which had taken up residence on the five coloured island in Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, also played a role in consuming this endless torrent of energy, all of them seemingly celebrating this unexpected feast.

After employing every means at his disposal, Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea finally calmed down, the inflow and consumption reaching a fragile balance.

Yang Kai couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief. This time, not understanding the nature and role of this Saint Pill yet still taking it had nearly resulted in him killing himself.

Without having to focus all of his attention on his Knowledge Sea’s situation now, Yang Kai began exploring the mysteries of the Saint Pill itself.

Right now, Yang Kai’s lower abdomen felt like it was home to a small sun which was constantly throwing out massive amounts of heat and energy.

After a quick investigation, Yang Kai was flabbergasted. He discovered that the total efficacy of the Saint Pill had barely been consumed, less than one percent of it having been absorbed by him at this point.

However, while the Pill Cloud was dissipating and the medicinal efficacies were being absorbed into his meridians, Yang Kai could indeed comprehend some things about its nature he had formerly been unable to.

The pill’s ingredients, how the flames were controlled to refine it, what kind of Spirit Arrays were used during the Alchemy process, the Alchemy Grandmaster’s various supplementary techniques, all kinds of information was slowly being revealed to Yang Kai.

Vaguely, Yang Kai’s thoughts began tracing the mysteries of this pill which was refined so many millennia ago and a brand new world of Alchemy began to appear in front of him.

Within this new world, all kinds of Alchemy insights were shown to him.

Entering a state of enlightenment, Yang Kai became intoxicated in this world as bits and pieces of information were absorbed into his consciousness and his comprehension of Alchemy slowly began improving.

Compiling all these various insights together, Yang Kai gradually began to unravel their mysteries, as if the original scene of this Saint Pill being refined and its Pill Cloud forming were re-appearing before his eyes, a magical experience.