Chapter 1622 — Failure After Failure
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"That's right!" Wei Zhao's eyes flew open. He could compress true qi! He could compress the qi outside his body first, and once he had squeezed enough together, absorb it all in at once. Wouldn't that let him break through in one move?
At the thought, Wei Zhao nearly sprinted over to give the old man a kiss. He stopped himself, though -- he did not fancy having Jiao Lao mistake him for some bosom companion. Better to put that energy to use and start experimenting right now.
Wei Zhao estimated the amount of energy required to surge from the peak of the late Huang tier all the way to the peak of the late Xuan tier, then set about compressing energy beside his body. He had no idea whether this method would work, but he had no other option. He could only treat a dead horse as though it were still alive.
Compressing energy demanded both time and control. At first, it came to Wei Zhao with relative ease. The further he went, however, the harder it became to manage. He discovered that the ceiling on how much energy he could compress at one time was simply the total of all the energy inside him -- which meant the most he could compress right now equaled the total energy of a cultivator at the peak of the late Huang tier.
Once he exceeded that total, compression grew far more treacherous. Not only did his speed drop off a cliff, but the mass of energy hovering outside his body became wildly unstable, as though the slightest careless move would set off an explosion.
Wei Zhao had no choice but to proceed at a slow, even pace, treading on thin ice with every breath. It was like stacking building blocks -- the taller the stack, the more precarious it, and one slip could bring the whole thing tumbling down. At last, feeling he could no longer maintain control, Wei Zhao hastily drew the ball of compressed true qi into his body.
Fearing the compressed energy would detonate instantly inside him, Wei Zhao released it slowly instead, letting it seep out bit by bit. Though he called it slow, it was in truth only marginally slower than a normal rate of release.
Even that slight reduction in speed was enough to prevent an explosion. It was like a balloon pricked with a needle -- it might burst at once, but loosen the valve instead, and though the air still escapes fast, the balloon will not blow.
The reason Wei Zhao did not slow down too much was the fear that the Five-Step Power-Dissolving Poison would flare up the instant he broke into the Xuan tier.
The late Xuan tier! The compressed energy Wei Zhao had drawn inside this time restored him only to the late Xuan tier, and immediately afterward the Five-Step Power-Dissolving Poison struck again. The energy inside his body gushed away in a torrent, and Wei Zhao was once more reduced to an ordinary man.
Still, Wei Zhao did not despair. The results proved that his method was workable. So rather than grow disheartened, he rested for a while, raised his strength back to the peak of the late Huang tier, and resumed his game of compressing true qi.
In all honesty, it was very much like playing a game. He held the sphere of compressed energy in his palms, handling it with the utmost care, terrified that one careless move might blow it sky-high.
True to form, Wei Zhao soon fumbled and burst the sphere before long. But he did not lose heart, for this sphere had clearly been a shade larger than his first, holding more energy within.
The margin was slight, yet it signaled a first taste of success. Wei Zhao believed that with perseverance and hard effort, victory could not be far off...
This was skilled work. With painstaking care, Wei Zhao set about compressing a third sphere...
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The Hidden Tang family. After Tang Lao arranged the household affairs, he set off for the Ice and Snow Spirit Mountain with Tang Yuyu and Xiao Ming in tow.