From the Heavens Descended an Immortal Sister

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: The Gray True Qi (Second Update)_1

As the red energy from the tree branches continued to flow into Fang Ren's body, Fang Ren found that the flow of True Qi within his meridians had now surpassed the width of most cultivators.

This caught him by surprise. An overall increase in flow meant a stronger flow of True Qi, and cultivators could unleash more energy in actual combat.

Of course, there was also a downside—True Qi would be consumed quickly. If he encountered a tough opponent without knowing how to control his use of True Qi, that could spell disaster.

But at the lower stages of cultivation, hardly anyone fought protracted battles. With limited True Qi, no one could afford a drawn-out fight, and they usually determined the victor within a few dozen exchanges, or sometimes in a single move.

Regardless, having faster True Qi bursts than others in the early stages was definitely a good thing.

After a while, the large tree withdrew its branches, and its enormous body began to spin on the spot, its branches and leaves dancing as if it was delighted by accomplishing something significant.

"Hey, hey, hey, big bro, don't jump around!"

Fang Ren immediately grabbed one of its branches and shouted, worried about the commotion such a large tree might cause spinning and bouncing around his yard, and how he would explain if it were seen by others.

Luckily, Mu Huanqing upstairs liked to watch soap operas with headphones on, so she probably wouldn't notice any changes in the yard. Besides, the windows of his room didn't face the yard, so she couldn't see what was happening there.

After spinning for quite some time, the tree finally came to a stop. One of its branches pointed at Fang Ren's mouth, shaking its body, then pointed at itself, nodding back and forth.

It seemed to be saying, "Yours, don't eat, mine, give me."

"Alright, alright, everything else goes to you first," Fang Ren said, looking at the tree, which was two or three times his size, with a helpless expression on his face.

"Right, you're so sentient; I should give you a name," Fang Ren patted a branch as he spoke.

Sideways—

The large tree swayed its enormous body up and down twice, as if nodding in agreement.

"Seeing you're all gray, I'll call you Gray Bark," Fang Ren said off the cuff.

Upon hearing his words, the giant tree immediately twisted vigorously, its branches and leaves tossing about.

"Hey, hey! Don't shake them off! If you're not happy, we can pick another name," Fang Ren said as he watched the huge tree sway, truly worried its branches might snap off.

"You're so big, and there's colorful light all over you... let's call you Big Color," Fang Ren clicked his tongue and suggested.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the entire tree began to twist even more violently, its branches and leaves shaking even more wildly, like a child throwing a tantrum.

Such a huge body... was really not cute at all.

"Calm down! How about 'Little Color'?"

Twist—

"Little Gray?"

"Big Plate?"

"Universal Supreme Unrivaled Silent Plate Tree Warrior?"

...

"Fine, let's pick something more artistic, how about 'Qianye'?"

The giant tree paused for a moment, then slightly nodded.

"Seems like you're not very satisfied either," Fang Ren frowned, "You don't really want me to call you 'Big Bro,' do you?"

The tree nodded vigorously.

"No way! Wouldn't that be embarrassing for me?"

The thick body twisted again like a child being playful.

"No, this is not negotiable! Your name is Qianye!"

After some struggle, the tree reluctantly accepted the name, though it still had a fondness for the term "Big Bro" which couldn't be changed for the moment.

Having packed away his furnace, Fang Ren recorded the effects of the Red Grass in his notebook and wrote down a few hypotheses he had in mind. Eventually, the tree also re-entered his body, transforming into a Spiritual Root.

Fang Ren then began to probe his body with his consciousness. He was pondering how he could possess True Qi; despite already being a cultivator, he still didn't have any True Qi to date, which was quite funny.

"Qianye, are you really a Spiritual Root?" Fang Ren spoke to it with a worried look in his consciousness.

Whoosh—

A branch immediately extended from his abdomen and decisively nodded.

"Then why don't I have any True Qi?" Fang Ren frowned and asked, "Did you eat all my True Qi?"

The branch paused for a moment and slowly traced a path on the ground, as if pacing back and forth in thought.

Suddenly, as if it had an epiphany, it pointed at Fang Ren's forehead and then at its own roots, before swiftly retreating back into Fang Ren's body.

"Is this... telling me to think about my own issues?" Fang Ren watched its movements and couldn't help guessing.

But there seemed to be nothing wrong with me... My meridians are present, the Spiritual Root is there, and normally, the Spiritual Root is supposed to nourish and produce True Qi. What can I do if it won't give me True Qi?

"Or is it that... I need to establish a conscious connection with it?"

Fang Ren felt this guess was more likely, so he sat down on the ground, closed his eyes, and entered his consciousness, attempting to make contact with it.

When Wang Shuai tried to kill him yesterday, he had already tried this method, but at that time, he simply couldn't control it, not even able to touch it.

Regulating his breathing and stabilizing his mind and body, Fang Ren gradually concentrated his consciousness to its peak state.

Unexpectedly, he found that the moment his consciousness touched the Spiritual Root, it directly entered its interior.

Complicated patterns ran every which way, a gray world that radiated a riot of colors. It was then he understood that his failure yesterday must have been due to his too frantic state of mind, hence he hadn't established a connection with the Spiritual Root.

"True Qi... how do I handle True Qi?"

Fang Ren himself had never heard of his situation before; usually, Cultivators are born able to control their True Qi and Spiritual Roots, but his postnatal Spiritual Root was unheard of.

"Should I just directly connect the Spiritual Root with the meridians?"

Hum—

The moment his meridians touched the Spiritual Root, his whole body stiffened, his eyes snapped open wide, and the meridians in his body began to grow wildly anew! They crisscrossed in complexity, the inner body a chaotic mess like tangled weeds!

Creak, creak, creak—

The bones in various parts of his body began to make all manner of noises, and his skin started to crack with tiny marks as dark blood flowed from within him.

"Ah..."

About seven or eight minutes passed before he let out a long breath; the process was truly painful, like a knife moving back and forth over his bones, carving something deep.

"Is this marrow cleansing?"

Looking at his body, covered in black blood, Fang Ren furrowed his brows tightly, an unpleasant odor emanating from him.

Whish—

Just as he was starting to relax his nerves, a powerful surge of True Qi began flowing from the gray Spiritual Root into his body's meridians.

Fang Ren felt a wave of relief wash over him, the pain from before vanishing completely.

His meridians were overly complex and numerous, so the infusion of True Qi took some time, lasting about ten minutes. Only then did he feel the flow of True Qi inside him stop, his body filled with strength.

"I finally count as a qualified Cultivator now."

Looking at his hands, Fang Ren, eager with excitement, immediately began to instruct his body to release the True Qi within. He exerted force and pushed out a palm.

Pff—

A clump... of palm-sized gray energy from his palm... slowly floated out.

Yes, slowly, as slowly as an elderly person taking a walk.

"..."

Fang Ren was stunned. What was this thing?

A Tortoise Palm? The kind that's even slower than an actual tortoise?

Watching the gray True Qi that still floated leisurely in the air, a few seconds passed before Fang Ren sighed.

"Never mind, I've just begun Cultivation; haste won't speed up heating tofu. There's much I need to learn slowly."

With that, he prepared to turn and head inside to bathe.

Squeak—

Before he could turn, the gray True Qi came into contact with a poplar tree in the courtyard. Instantly, the gray True Qi entered the poplar, and the air around the tree began to violently stir. Two meters away from it, Fang Ren's clothes were whipped up by the force.

A crash, and in an instant, the entire poplar tree turned into particles of gray light, scattering into the air with extreme speed and vanishing from sight within the blink of an eye.

The wind stopped, the tree was gone, his clothes quit flapping, and Fang Ren was dumbstruck.

His eyes dryly stared at the roots on the ground, blinking the only response he could muster, utterly unable to grasp what had just happened.

"If it hadn't done that, I wouldn't have known how powerful I am..."

After a shower in the restroom, Fang Ren's face was adorned with an unstoppable grin.

He finally had True Qi, and now, whenever Qing'er went shopping with him, no matter who tried to take advantage of her, he'd have the power to protect her. Even the hope for future revenge seemed attainable.

With the birth of True Qi, he must now take one of the "Qi Concealing Pills" he had made himself. This pill's effect could hide the True Qi within his body, making it undetectable to other Cultivators.

You see, on Earth, every Cultivator's Qi can be sensed by other Cultivators, and this perceptual power depends on the innate intensity of the Cultivator's spiritual strength and, of course, their Cultivation Realm.

The reason he wasn't suspected yesterday was simply because there was no True Qi in his body. If he had been in his current state, chattering away with a teacher from the Cultivation System, he would have been thrown into prison long ago.

Originally, he created this pill purely out of a sense of exploration, never imagining he would one day need it himself.

Certainly, he had never posted the method to make this pill on the Alchemists' forum. Such a pill was of little use for warriors who defend their country, but for the wrongdoer, its uses were many.