CHAPTER 74: SPIRIT QI GRAVITY CULTIVATION CHAMBER

However, when cultivating in a spirit qi gravity cultivation chamber, one would essentially have spirit qi constantly force-fed into their bodies, and even the spirit qi that seeped out would be forced back in.

Throughout the process, one's spirit sense, meridians, tendons, internal organs... Every single inch of one's body would be placed under immense pressure and strain.

It would be like having food forced down your gullet on a full stomach, and the chambers had no regard for whether you could handle it or not.

There had even been cases of students imploding from having too much spirit qi forced into their meridians, so it was an understatement to say that this was a high-risk high-reward endeavor.

All academy students who had experienced the rigors of these chambers shuddered at the mere thought, and generally speaking, no one would choose to cultivate in one unless they were about to go on an extremely dangerous mission or had a battle of life and death coming up.

Cultivating outside the chambers was certainly going to equate to slower progress, but for the vast majority of people, the torment and the risk incurred simply weren't worth it.

***

Fang Che had already heard much about these infamous spirit qi gravity cultivation chambers, and he was mentally prepared for the experience, but he was still caught off guard as soon as he entered the chamber.

The gravity was instantly turned up to tenfold, and the spirit qi in the air was so viscous that he was struck by a sense of asphyxiation.

All of his muscles, internal organs, and spirit sense were being put to a stern test, and he almost passed out on the spot.

He swayed unsteadily on his feet as his eyes turned bloodshot in an instant, and it felt as if his blood pressure had doubled in an instant.

He gritted his teeth against the discomfort as he steadied himself and stood in the chamber in a completely still manner.

Prior to coming here, Li Changkong had repeatedly warned them not to immediately draw upon their cultivation base to withstand the pressure in the chamber.

Instead, they had to acclimate their physical bodies first, and only then could they begin cultivating.

Fang Che felt as if his head and his internal organs were about to explode, and his face had turned bright red, but he remained as still and expressionless as a stone statue.

His clothes were instantly completely soaked in sweat, which had even flowed down onto the ground in several small streams.

Several minutes later, the sense of asphyxiation began to abate, and even though the pressure still remained, Fang Che could sense that his body had already become acclimated to the conditions of the cultivation chamber.

In other words, his blood pressure had spiked from 120 to 240, but had since slowly dropped back down to 180.

It was still very uncomfortable, but it was much more tolerable.

He slowly made his way onto the spirit jade platform at the center of the chamber, where he sat down with his legs crossed and began to cultivate.

After channeling his Boundless Sutra for one cycle, the immense spirit qi in the chamber surged into his body in a frenzy, making him feel as if his muscles and meridians had been pulverized.

His expression remained unchanged despite the intense agony.

In this instant, he finally understood why no students were willing to enter these chambers in spite of the cultivation benefits that they presented.

He didn't look down on them for that. This was truly a type of torture that very few people could bear, and it was only thanks to everything that he had been through in his past life that he was able to maintain this level of composure.

This is just cultivation. It hurts, but it's much less painful than being tortured by enemies!

Fang Che closed his eyes to focus wholeheartedly on cultivation, and he could feel the amount of spirit qi in his body rapidly increasing at an incredible rate.

***

In the other cultivation chamber, Mo Ganyun's entire body was drenched in blood.

His eyes were wide open, and he was gritting his teeth with all his might.

As long as Fang Che hasn't come out, I won't come out, either, even if I explode in here!

This was the only thought that was allowing him to persevere through the agony.

"I'm not a sniveling coward!" he roared as a cloud of spirit qi that was tinged crimson with blood erupted out of his mouth.

***

Bing Shangxue stood outside in silence, waiting patiently.

Even her spirit sense was unable to infiltrate the spirit qi gravity cultivation chambers, so all she could do was wait.

These were to the top two prodigies of her class, so she had to keep a close eye on them.

An hour later, a door slowly opened, and a weary figure trudged out from within.

Bing Shangxue heaved a slightly disappointed sigh, but she then consoled herself with the thought that an hour was already quite an impressive duration for one's first time.

However, she then turned to discover that the figure who had emerged wasn't Mo Ganyun or Fang Che.

Instead, it was another prodigy among the new student cohort, namely Ding Jieran!

His lips were tightly pursed, and he was looking more lonesome than ever as he trudged out of the cultivation chamber in a pale-faced manner.

Upon reaching the front desk, he declared in a hoarse voice, "I'm here to return the key."

After submitting the key, Ding Jieran promptly departed, extending a silent salute toward Bing Shangxue as he passed her by.

Bing Shangxue took a moment to examine his aura, and she discovered, to her astonishment, that Ding Jieran was already a second-rank Lesser Grandmaster.

"That kid has a little bit of an extreme personality," the instructor responsible for overseeing the cultivation chambers remarked.

"When did he start coming?" Bing Shangxue asked.

"He began coming right after he reached the Lesser Grandmaster tier, so this is already his fourth day here. He's been coming for two hours each day, and he only just reached the second rank today," the instructor replied.

Bing Shangxue was stunned to hear this.

"There are a few others who've already left. The likes of Qiu Yunshang, Xie Gongping, Jing Shuanggao... They've also been coming every day."

Bing Shangxue nodded in response.

It seemed that there was no lack of new students willing to put themselves through the wringer this year.

"These kids all possess immense willpower, and they're being rewarded with rapid progress," the instructor remarked.

"So the two from our class are already late, is that right?" Bing Shangxue asked.

"Only by three days, and it seems like they're eager to make up for it! I can't recall the last time someone booked a cultivation chamber for four hours for their first time! You and I both know what it's like in there. Two hours in there is already several times more grueling than one hour, and four hours is about twenty times as torturous as two. The agony compounds exponentially!"

Bing Shangxue was naturally aware of this.

"I hope those two from your class can make it through. Everyone else starts off with one hour, yet these two have jumped to the maximum time limit right away!"

Four hours was the maximum amount of time one was permitted to use a cultivation chamber in one sitting.

Time had to be given to things like eating and recovery, and the ideal training regimen wasn't just to constantly cultivate.

"I'm sure they'll make it through," Bing Shangxue declared in a confident manner.

Fang Che had immediately applied to enter the spirit qi gravity cultivation chamber on the day that he reached the Lesser Grandmaster tier, but his application was initially rejected as he was still considered highly suspect in the wake of the Green Wave City incidents.

Li Changkong and his three colleagues had to go to the higher-ups of the academy to get the decision overturned.

Meng Chizheng's stance on the matter was very clear.

“Let him go! If he really is a church member, then give him a ray of hope. Instill within him a sense of gratitude and plant a seed of change in his heart. If he isn't, then denying him would be delaying the development of a generational talent! It would be far too narrow-minded of us to obstruct a student's development over some unsubstantiated suspicions!"

Huang Yifan was in full agreement.

"He's earned enough merit points to spend, so what reason do we have to deny him?"

Only this morning was the decision finally overturned, but there were still many who objected to this reversal.

"Every single year, there are seeded prodigies from the demonic churches graduating from all of the major academies, but we can't just suspect our entire student body just over a few outlier cases! If they do become our enemies in the future, then we will kill them without mercy, but for now, he is a student, and our job is to nurture him!"

Fang Che was unaware of just how much effort it had taken from the four instructors to get this decision overturned, and the four instructors were never going to tell him.

On the stroke of noon, the doors of both cultivation chambers sprang open in unison, and the increased gravity and spirit qi in the chambers simultaneously faded away.

A blood-drenched Mo Ganyun crawled out of his chamber at a snail-like pace with an agonized groan, and as soon as he had poked his head out of the chamber, he immediately asked, "Fang Che must've already left long ago, right?"

As soon as his voice trailed off, Fang Che emerged from the other chamber, leaving a puddle of perspiration on the ground with each step that he took.

"Why are you crawling, Old Man Mo? Get up and walk!"

"Go away! I don't wanna see you right now!" Mo Ganyun sighed as he turned away in disgust.

"You want to surpass me, right? You've certainly surpassed me in the surface area that you're taking up on the ground!" Fang Che jibed as he erupted into laughter.

Mo Ganyun pressed his hands over his ears so he wouldn't have to hear Fang Che's mockery.

His entire body was completely devoid of strength, and he was physically unable to stand.

"Can you walk on your own?" Bing Shangxue asked.

"Yes," Fang Che replied with a nod.

"Good. How much progress did you make in there?"

"I'm at the third rank now! Cultivating in there is a real blast!" Fang Che replied in a pleased voice.

Bing Shangxue gave a pleased nod, then tossed a lasso out of her sleeve.

The lasso wound itself around Mo Ganyun's ankle with unerring accuracy, and she dragged him behind her as she walked alongside Fang Che.