Li Bufan's consciousness seemed to have drifted through a thick darkness for an eternity. There was no light, no sound, no touch—not even any sense of time passing.
After an unknown length of time, he slowly opened his eyes.
Pitch-black darkness greeted him, an impenetrable inkiness that shrouded everything.
He lay on cold, hard ground. The sensation against his back suggested some kind of stone floor.
He struggled to sit up, the weakness coursing through his body making his brow tighten.
Almost none of the power in his three great dantians remained.
His true essence seemed to have been drained dry, leaving only a few thin wisps slowly circulating through his meridians. Even practicing his cultivation technique had become difficult. His divine sense was as feeble as a candle guttering in the wind, and the slightest use of it sent a stab of pain through him.
He raised a hand to his chest. Though his heartbeat was fairly steady, every beat felt weak and insubstantial, as though something had been drawn out of his body.
Examining himself internally, he discovered that more than half his origin essence power had been depleted.
With difficulty, he took a bottle of essence fluid from his Storage Ring and drank it.
The essence fluid flowed down his throat and transformed into gentle, nourishing energy that surged through his limbs and bones, replenishing his dried-out meridians and dantians.
Wherever that warmth passed, his depleted blood and vital energy recovered a little, and his true essence began slowly gathering again.
Only after drinking three bottles of essence fluid in succession did Li Bufan's condition barely stabilize, and a trace of color finally returned to his pale face.
Yet the damage to his origin essence remained.
Essence fluid could replenish true essence and nourish the body, but