CHAPTER 6: HEAVENLY POOL ANOMALY

Lu Chen had decided to leave and seek opportunities to get stronger, but when he reached the village entrance, he realized he had no idea which direction to take.

He asked, "Grandpa Feng, where should we go?"

Feng Tiancheng flew out from the Twin-Fish Medallion and looked ahead. After thinking for a moment, he answered, "Let's go east. I left behind a secret realm for cultivation over there a long time ago. You don't have any cultivation resources right now, so we can check it out. On the way there, I'll give you a few martial arts and spell manuals along the way. Only through improving your cultivation will you have any chance of saving your grandfather."

With that, the two of them set off on their journey.

Lu Chen spent a month traveling east, unsure how far he had gone before finally reaching the secret realm Feng Tiancheng had mentioned.

He used the identity token Blindman Lu had left behind to activate a portal leading inside. But the moment he stepped through, he froze. This so-called secret realm was nothing more than a barren, rocky mountain. He almost cursed out loud.

Feng Tiancheng floated out from the Twin-Fish Medallion and said, "The Green Emperor once cultivated in this place. There are some spirit plants here. It's not much, but enough for your current needs."

Lu Chen rolled his eyes, convinced Feng Tiancheng was just messing with him. However, upon reaching the mountaintop, he realized Feng Tiancheng hadn't lied. The entire summit was blanketed in spirit plants.

Lu Chen looked around in awe, like someone who had never seen the wider world. It was then that he truly understood just how small Dongshan City really was. The further he traveled, the broader his worldview became. Back in Dongshan City and Dongshan Town, he might have gone an entire year seeing no more than one or two cultivators. Yet, since leaving the village, Lu Chen had crossed paths with countless cultivators and heard all kinds of strange tales, deepening his understanding of the world.

For the next few months, Lu Chen remained in the secret realm to focus on his cultivation. The painful memory of being unable to cultivate in the past pushed him to train even harder. With the aid of the Twin-Fish Medallion and guidance from Feng Tiancheng, his martial techniques and spells steadily improved.

During this time, Lu Chen also began to mature. Thanks to Feng Tiancheng's advice, his understanding of the path of cultivation slowly grew. Upon attaining the second level of the Grand Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Mantra, he established a conduit between his body and the spirit qi of the heavens and the earth, greatly enhancing his absorption speed.

When he was not cultivating, Lu Chen was learning a movement art called the Golden Snake Nine Variations. Once he mastered it, he could produce nine phantom clones to help him dodge or attack. Feng Tiancheng told him that the Green Emperor had used this movement art as a starting point to comprehend the Nine-Dragon Cloning Art and successfully create nine avatars.

Three more months passed in a flash. Lu Chen had developed his own unique perspective on cultivation and was no longer as clueless as before. Additionally, his previously edgy demeanour had softened.

One month earlier, Lu Chen had reached the second level of the Qi Absorption Realm. His punches now carried a force of two thousand jin. However, his cultivation had stopped advancing since then. He could feel spirit qi circulate through his body during his daily cultivation, but instead of settling within him, it flowed straight into the Twin-Fish Medallion.

Despite that, he remained in high spirits and persisted with his training. He continued to grow stronger; all aspects of his physique were steadily improving. However, his cultivation showed no signs of advancing further.

Feng Tiancheng examined Lu Chen's body every day. In the past month alone, he had done so dozens of times. Given the similarity in their bloodline talents, Feng Tiancheng believed Lu Chen's breakthrough into the Qi Absorption Realm should have gone smoothly. Yet, his cultivation remained inexplicably stagnant, leaving him puzzled.

Just then, Lu Chen turned around, and Feng Tiancheng's right hand accidentally brushed against the Twin-Fish Medallion. In that instant, Lu Chen felt a faint rise in his cultivation and quickly reported it to Feng Tiancheng.

"Grandpa Feng, try holding the Twin-Fish Medallion and examine me again. I think it has to do with the medallion."

Lu Chen's words made Feng Tiancheng grow even more suspicious. First, the Yuanyang Twin-Fish Disk had shattered; now, the Twin-Fish Medallion appeared to be suppressing Lu Chen's cultivation. Taken together, these signs struck him as anything but ordinary.

He took the Twin-Fish Medallion and formed a hand seal, attempting to store it within his body like before. He succeeded, but he felt a strong resistance during the process, likely because he was only an avatar and not the original emperor.

After taking it out again, he had Lu Chen try. As soon as Lu Chen made his move, the Twin-Fish Medallion eagerly entered his body and traveled through his meridians. After doing a full circulation route, it settled in his Heavenly Pool. There, it transformed into two small fish, one black and one white. The fish leaped about within his sea of qi, bonding intimately with Lu Chen.

The two little fish started spitting out spirit qi, each strand more refined than what Lu Chen could draw in through cultivation. After releasing their qi, they dove into his sea of qi to absorb more qi and then resurfaced to expel it again. They repeated this cycle over and over, and with each round, they grew a little larger.

The sea of qi within the Heavenly Pool gradually shrank, but the spirit qi within grew several times purer. It even showed signs of liquefying, something that typically only happened once a cultivator reached the Qi Regulation Realm.

During this process, Lu Chen's cultivation advanced once again, breaking through to the third level of the Qi Absorption Realm.

Lu Chen opened his eyes and told Feng Tiancheng everything. As far as Feng Tiancheng could remember, it wasn't unheard of for spirit weapons to develop sentience or be stored in a cultivator's Heavenly Pool, but this was the first time he had heard of one taking the form of a living creature.

Nevertheless, the path of cultivation was full of mysteries. He could only assume that over the past twenty thousand years, the Twin-Fish Medallion had undergone some kind of mutation due to the changes in the world. And judging by how Lu Chen's cultivation had just risen by a whole level, this mutation seemed to be a beneficial one.

Feng Tiancheng shared his thoughts with Lu Chen and added, "Right now, it's likely that the Twin-Fish Medallion has already mutated and merged with your body. From now on, your cultivation will only progress when the medallion is in your Heavenly Pool. At the same time, the medallion itself will continue to grow stronger."

Feng Tiancheng also speculated that if they could find more pieces of the Yuanyang Twin-Fish Disk, the medallion might undergo further changes. As he spoke, he handed Lu Chen the Yang Ocean Pearl, which they had not managed to fit into the medallion, and asked him to try absorbing it into his body.

The moment the pearl entered Lu Chen's body, the black fish reacted instantly and swallowed it whole. The black fish began circulating on its own from the Huiyin Point, tracing a path through Lu Chen's meridians. Its once-hollow eyes lit up with a fiery red glow. As it moved within Lu Chen's body, it started leaving traces of red spirit qi along the meridians.[1]

The black fish quickly completed a full cycle and returned to the sea of qi in the Heavenly Pool. It then spat out the fiery red spirit qi, which quickly spread through the once-clear sea of qi, dyeing it a deep crimson. After that, the black fish resumed swimming through Lu Chen's meridians.

Just then, Lu Chen suddenly collapsed to the ground, crying out in pain. He shouted at Feng Tiancheng that the fiery red spirit qi was scorching his Heavenly Pool, sea of qi, and meridians. The pain quickly grew worse, and he howled uncontrollably.

Feng Tiancheng immediately pressed his right hand against Lu Chen's lower abdomen and released a strand of divine sense to inspect Lu Chen's Heavenly Pool. He quickly discovered that the pool was now glowing with a fiery red light, and the sea of qi was steadily being contaminated. Then he turned his attention to the white fish, which was still in the sea of qi. He noticed it had grown sluggish and appeared completely drained.

Feng Tiancheng understood immediately that this was the result of the Yin Fish, the black fish, absorbing the Yang Ocean Pearl while the Yang Fish, the white fish, still lacked its counterpart, the Yin Ocean Pearl. The imbalance between yin and yang was what caused Lu Chen's current condition. The Twin-Fish Medallion had already merged with him, so if this critical situation continued, Lu Chen's Heavenly Pool and meridians could become completely scorched, leaving him crippled.

Feng Tiancheng wasted no time in coming up with a plan to temporarily restore the balance of yin and yang in Lu Chen's body. He would use his spirit qi to simulate a Yin Ocean Pearl.

With that in mind, he released waves of cold air from his left hand and pressed it against the Baihui acupoint at the top of Lu Chen's head. Then, he channeled all the spirit qi he had accumulated into Lu Chen's meridians, guiding it through a full reverse circulation. Eventually, it entered the Yang Fish, serving as a stand-in for the missing Yin Ocean Pearl.[2]

Once the simulated Yin Ocean Pearl took shape, the Yang Fish's eyes glowed with an icy blue light. It started swimming through the meridians in reverse, leaving trails of icy blue spirit qi along the way. After completing a full circulation route, it returned to the Heavenly Pool and released the icy blue spirit qi into it, clashing with the fiery red spirit qi already inside. The Yin and Yang Fish collided, invading the other's territory within the sea of qi.

Lu Chen alternated between breaking out in sweat and shivering from the cold. One moment he was crying out, "I'm burning to death!" and the next, "I'm freezing to death!" He convulsed nonstop.

Gradually, the shifts between scorching heat and bone-chilling cold grew faster and more intense. Lu Chen was reaching his limit.

At that moment, Feng Tiancheng withdrew his hands and shouted, "This is your trial! Think of your grandfather, the villagers, and your dream of cultivating immortality! Are you really going to let them down? Take control of the twin fish yourself!"

The words struck Lu Chen like a thunderclap, jolting him awake. Trembling, he forced himself into a seated meditation posture. He then tried once, twice, and a third time to guide the movement of the two fish.

After dozens and then hundreds of attempts, the Yin and Yang Fish finally calmed down, and their awareness returned. They followed Lu Chen's guidance and swam through his meridians.

The two fish flowed in opposite directions. The Yin Fish started from the Huiyin Point, while the Yang Fish started from the Baihui Point. After completing a full circulation route, they returned to the sea of qi and released their respective spirit qi.

The sea of qi within the Heavenly Pool gradually stabilized, with the icy blue and fiery red each occupying half. Every time the Yin and Yang Fish met, they would nuzzle each other affectionately before continuing to swim through their circulation routes in harmony.

Seeing this, Lu Chen gradually stopped guiding the fish and opened his eyes.

Just then, crackling sounds echoed from within his body, and his cultivation level surged upward. His scorched and frozen skin began to peel off, and black impurities oozed from his pores.

This was the second time Lu Chen's body had been tempered. This time, even the impurities buried deep within were being purged. His body became purer, his skin tougher, and his strength more formidable. Ordinary mortal weapons could no longer break through his defenses.

Upon checking his cultivation, he discovered he had advanced by two levels, reaching the fifth level of the Qi Absorption Realm. With that, he was one step closer to the tenth level and to achieving perfect mastery over his cultivation realm.

1. Huiyin(会阴) is an important acupuncture and cultivation point located between the genitals and the anus. In cultivation, it is often considered the starting point of the body's energy pathways, playing a key role in connecting the Ren and Du meridians and forming a circulation loop. ☜

2. Baihui (百会) is located at the crown of the head, it's where all Yang meridians converge. It's often used to channel energy into or out of the body, especially for spiritual awakening or regulating qi flow. ☜