Few Imitators

The analyses and conclusions of the experts and scholars had clearly made the public hesitate, leaving them afraid to imitate Yi Chen's actions.

Only a handful of bold people studied the video of Yi Chen creating the Chaos Art, trying to sense the existence of the Qi Sea and Spiritual Energy.

Some gave up after spending one or two hours without being able to sense the Qi Sea or Spiritual Energy.

Others only sensed the Qi Sea and Spiritual Energy after more than ten hours, yet they too chose to give up.

Because this proved that the experts' analyses and conclusions were difficult to learn!

And after overcoming that difficulty, there was still no future in it—and danger besides.

Naturally, smart people chose to give up.

Only among those who sensed the Qi Sea and Spiritual Energy within two hours did some choose to quit while others continued studying the Chaos Art.

Jiang He was one of those who chose to continue.

It had taken him only one hour and ten minutes to successfully sense the existence of the Qi Sea.

That was merely ten minutes longer than Yi Chen had taken.

This meant that his talent was not much inferior to Yi Chen's, the art's creator.

He had also considered the lack of prospects and the dangers analyzed by the experts and scholars.

No matter how bleak its prospects were, Yi Chen's twenty percent improvement in physical fitness over a month was still a tangible benefit.

Even if Jiang He's physical fitness was twice as good as Yi Chen's and could not improve by twenty percent, it could still improve by ten percent.

As for the danger, he could not afford to worry about that much.

He was a basketball player—one who could not even secure a spot on the bench of a weak team in the C League.

Sports competitions were now divided into genetic and non-genetic categories.

In other words, athletes who had taken Genetic Serum and those who had not were separated into two different types.

The former were more popular; whatever the sporting event, the action was explosive.

The latter belonged to traditional events and still had quite a sizable audience.

Jiang He was a basketball player who had not taken Genetic Serum. His contract expired this year, and the team had already made it clear that they would not renew it during the offseason.

This also meant that if he still failed to make an impact this season, he would face the predicament of having no ball to play.

If his physical fitness could improve by ten percent, it would be of enormous help to him.

Becoming a basketball star was his dream, and he was willing to bear the unforeseeable dangers predicted by the experts and scholars.

Yi Chen possessed the Human Race's strongest cultivation talent, and Jiang He had taken only a dozen or so minutes longer than him.

Without a doubt, Jiang He's talent for cultivation also stood at the very peak of the Human Race's pyramid.

The Chaos Art's cultivation chant was profound and difficult to understand, but as he gradually explored it, his powerful talent allowed him to quickly begin grasping and comprehending it.

In less than half a day, Jiang He was able to control that wisp of Spiritual Power within his Qi Sea and cultivate according to the Chaos Art's method.

In the blink of an eye, four or five days passed.

Although there were not many imitators, the number of viewers in No. 10 Live Stream Room still surged to an average of twenty to thirty million.

And that was only because Yi Chen had been cultivating for long periods without ever leaving the Mountain Cave.

Everyone wanted to know when the limit predicted by the experts—where physical fitness could no longer improve—would arrive, and when the risks would appear.

Inside the Mountain Cave, Yi Chen's body trembled slightly.

Qi Condensation Realm Fifth Stage!

In roughly half a month, he had successfully risen four minor stages in succession and broken through to the Qi Condensation Realm Fifth Stage.

The Spiritual Power in his Qi Sea had grown at least several hundredfold compared to when he was at the Qi Condensation Realm First Stage.

Nourished by the dissipating Spiritual Energy, his physical fitness had improved by another ten percent or so compared to when he was at the Qi Condensation Realm Third Stage.

All told, over half a month, not only had his physical fitness not declined, it had instead increased by thirty percent.

In the viewers' eyes, this was already an utterly inconceivable matter.

He had remained hungry for a long time, exercised not at all, and used no instruments or equipment whatsoever.

To improve physical fitness by thirty percent in half a month—even if he had already reached his limit, even if aftereffects were about to emerge—was nothing short of miraculous.

But no one knew that Yi Chen had never cared about the increase in physical fitness at all.

His true gain over these past half a month lay in breaking through from the Qi Condensation Realm First Stage to the Qi Condensation Realm Fifth Stage.

Both the purity and abundance of his Spiritual Power had undergone tremendous improvement.

The improvement in physical fitness was merely an incidental benefit of cultivation.

Compared to the true benefits, that incidental benefit was but a drop in the ocean.

If Yi Chen truly wanted to improve his physical fitness, he would not even need to research and create a body-strengthening cultivation art.

By merely giving up on raising his realm and focusing entirely on guiding the external Spiritual Energy to nourish his body, with his current frail physique, doubling it every two or three days in the early stages would not be difficult at all.

The reason he had not done so was naturally because raising his realm brought greater benefits.

He stood up and stretched his limbs.

Yi Chen turned to glance at the wild fruits placed in the corner.

Seven remained.

He picked one up and swallowed it in two bites.

He left the remaining six untouched.

Although he planned to go outside, it was not to gather edible wild fruits.

It was to collect a fruit known as Thorn Fruit.

According to the memories of the body's previous owner, Thorn Fruit was over ten centimeters long, flat and slender, with one end exceedingly sharp. Though less than half a centimeter thick, it was as hard as steel.

It could be used completely as a dart.

At the Qi Condensation Realm Fifth Stage, Yi Chen believed that as long as his luck was not too terrible and he did not encounter those powerful Ferocious Beasts, he would more or less have some ability to protect himself.

But that was on the premise that he possessed an attack-type cultivation art.

Although infusing Spiritual Power into his arms could also greatly increase his strength—

using Spiritual Power that way was undoubtedly a monstrous waste of heavenly gifts.

Having only a realm but no attack-type cultivation art was like having only mountains of bullets and shells but no guns or cannons. One could only throw bullets and shells at people.

It could not bring out their proper effect at all.

With no weapons available, he planned to collect a batch of Thorn Fruits and then create a hidden-weapon-type cultivation art.

Moreover, at his current realm, attacking from afar was safer than fighting at close range.

If something unexpected happened, he could slip away in advance.

After a month and a half, Yi Chen finally stepped out of the damp, gloomy Mountain Cave.

"He's out. He finally came out."

"He really never plays by the rules. Before, he scrimped and saved, refusing to leave the Mountain Cave even if it killed him. Now he still has six wild fruits left, enough to last him more than half a month at his previous rate of consumption, yet he suddenly went out."

"Could he have already reached the limit of physical improvement, and further cultivation would just be a waste of time, so he went out?"

"Very likely!"

"If that's really the case, then it's fortunate that I believed the experts and scholars' conclusions and didn't imitate his cultivation method. Otherwise, although a thirty percent increase in physical fitness is pretty good, the risks are enormous. When you do the math, it isn't worth it."

"I hope he won't encounter any danger outside. After all, whether there are aftereffects has yet to be verified."

"Even if he has already reached his limit and can no longer improve his physical fitness, if there are no aftereffects, the results are still quite good."

Seeing Yi Chen suddenly preparing to leave the Mountain Cave after a month and a half, the viewers in the Live Stream Room instead became anxious.

One after another, they opened the map and checked the distribution of Ferocious Beasts nearby.

The results reassured them greatly.

There were no traces of Ferocious Beasts along the route where he gathered wild fruits.