[Cultivation realm: Qi Refining, first stage, spiritual energy 63/1000]
After a night of cultivation, Ye Fei's stored spiritual energy had reached 63. He felt that after cultivating again that night, he could attempt to break through to the next stage.
However, after spending the day on his usual chores, continuing to clear away the debris left by the blizzard and completing a Random Quest through his pets' hunting...
He cultivated for another night, opened his spiritual energy information, and stared in disbelief.
[Qi Refining, first stage, spiritual energy body tempering sessions 0/12] [Spiritual energy body tempering: consume 100 spiritual energy to temper the body; note: the tempering process will cause various negative conditions. Please remain conscious throughout. Losing consciousness midway will result in failure.]
Ye Fei had thought cultivation simply meant advancing from the first stage to the second, improving step by step.
He had never expected twelve hurdles to stand between each stage.
If it specifically warned that losing consciousness meant failure, there was probably a good chance he would find it unbearable.
But sooner or later, he would have to go through with it.
After another night of cultivation, Ye Fei now had 117 spiritual energy. He would have to try tempering once to find out what these so-called negative conditions were like.
[100 spiritual energy consumed. Body tempering commencing.]
After choosing to begin body tempering, Ye Fei sat cross-legged and waited calmly.
At first, spiritual energy circulated through his meridians, no different from his previous breakthrough.
But only the first few minutes were easy.
While he was still immersed in the comfortable sensation of spiritual energy flowing through his meridians, pain suddenly struck. All the spiritual energy gathered in one spot, bringing an agony that felt as though his meridians were about to burst.
"Hiss..."
The sudden pain made Ye Fei's eyes fly wide open, and a cry escaped him.
Still, it did not matter how he reacted to the pain now. He just had to endure it without losing consciousness.
"Aow!"
Qingxue the Little Fox ran out of the house and darted in front of Ye Fei. Seeing the sweat pouring off him and his slightly contorted expression, her eyes immediately filled with tears.
She remembered that even when that big fox had injured him so badly last time, her idiot human had not suffered like this.
"Aow, aow, aow!"
The little fox desperately wanted to ask what she could do, but they could not communicate. Right now, Ye Fei could not even pay attention to her expressions or movements.
"Awoo!"
Startled by the little fox's cries, Little White Tiger ran out and saw Ye Fei's condition. After circling him twice, she caught the little fox's fur in her mouth and dragged her aside.
Although she was a cub too, she could still find something resembling this condition in her inherited memories.
He seemed to be undergoing a tribulation. She did not yet understand what that meant, but her inherited memories told her that he must not be touched carelessly at a time like this.
"Aow, aow!"
After being dragged some distance away, the little fox turned to stare at Little White Tiger and smacked her on the head with a paw.
She knew she could not touch him, but surely she could not just watch her human suffer?
Since you know what's happening, think of something!
"Aow... woo..."
Little White Tiger felt wronged. What could she do? That little scrap of information was all she knew.
The two little white fluffballs started arguing off to the side, but Ye Fei could not hear any of it now. He merely repeated silently to himself...
Stay conscious, stay conscious. 100 spiritual energy, 100 spiritual energy. I can't waste it. I absolutely can't waste it...
His "poverty" when it came to spiritual energy ultimately helped Ye Fei endure the pain.
When warmth finally spread from that spot, he could guess that he had succeeded.
[Body tempering successful. Spirit +1, strength +1]
The body tempering had succeeded, adding one point each to his spirit and strength. Ye Fei opened his eyes and looked up at the sky. Having to endure this kind of torment to gain any benefits really made him want to curse!
Still, success was all that mattered.
Ye Fei got up from the ground, raised his hand, and threw a punch.
He tested his coordination, and only after confirming that nothing was wrong did he turn around, walk over to the two little fluffballs, and crouch before them.
"Did I scare you?"
He held out both hands and scooped up the two stunned little fluffballs, one in each palm.
They had cried.
The little fox had cried, and so had Little White Tiger. He just did not know whether Little White Tiger had cried out of concern for him or because the little fox had hit her...
Either way, having them around and feeling cared for was truly wonderful.
"Ying, ying, ying~"
Qingxue the Little Fox stared blankly at Ye Fei for a moment, then jumped straight onto his shoulder. She pressed her little paws against his face and nuzzled him over and over.
Thankfully, her human had made it through that whatever-it-was tribulation.
"Awooo..."
Little White Tiger, Feng Bai, lay in Ye Fei's palm and gazed at him pitifully, feeling wronged.
She had said it was a tribulation, and that he would be fine once he got through it.
But tribulations were far too dangerous. Their human had nearly been lost.
"It's all right now. There, there..."
After letting the little fox nuzzle him for a while, Ye Fei took her down and held her against his chest, then carried both of them back into the house.
Reassurance did not really help, but he still had to soothe them. Hopefully, they would grow used to it eventually.
More importantly, he hoped he would get used to it himself.
Body tempering really was agonizing, but the feeling after succeeding was also incredibly comfortable.
What mattered even more, though, was the increase in his attributes.
He believed that the more times he tempered his body, the stronger he would become.
"Be good. We still have snow to clear. We're having rabbit meat this morning."
Ye Fei put the two little ones down and set a pot of rabbit meat to stew. Then he returned, tucked them into a pocket each, and went out to clear the snow in the yard.
The yard was much warmer than before, so the vegetables were all growing a little faster.
The tomatoes had now begun putting out shoots, looking as though they intended to climb along something.
These tomatoes actually climbed trellises like cucumbers. He remembered the tomatoes his family had grown when he was little only reaching about a meter tall, with thick, sturdy stems...
Perhaps they were a different species. This was a different world, after all.
Ye Fei began considering whether he should get some branches or bamboo poles and stick them into the soil for the plants to climb...
After all, the cucumbers needed them too, and later there would be grapes...
Grapes seemed to need a grape arbor, didn't they?
He really did have plenty to keep him busy.
[Today's Random Quest: find plant seedlings ×2. Quest progress: 0/2. Quest completion rewards: 20 Survival Points, one level-one planting gift pack.]
Today's Random Quest was a new type he had never seen before.
Finding plants probably meant going out into the snow to locate and dig up those Dying Seedlings.
The Survival Points reward was quite generous. Two plants earned twenty points, much more valuable than hunting.
But finding green plants on Snow Mountain, buried beneath all those layers of ice and snow...
That was also far harder than hunting.
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