Qin Chen gently opened the wooden box. Inside lay a ginseng root, crimson from top to bottom, as though cast from fresh blood. Fine golden markings even traced its surface, and it radiated astonishing fluctuations of spiritual energy.
"Three-hundred-year-old Scarlet Blood Ginseng," Qin Chen said calmly.
"What?!" Qin Yu cried out in shock, hurriedly waving his hands and backing away. "No! Brother, this is too precious! I know Father secretly sent someone to deliver this to you a few days ago. He said it was to help you reach Houtian Paragon, and even lay the foundation for your future breakthrough to Xiantian. I can't take it!"
Three-hundred-year-old Scarlet Blood Ginseng was a supreme natural treasure that money alone could not buy anywhere in the Chu Dynasty.
Even a single bite could prolong an ordinary person's life and keep a hundred ailments at bay; for a martial artist, consuming it could greatly strengthen their blood and vital energy and widen their meridians.
For a genius like Qin Chen, whose Internal Cultivation was at a critical juncture before a breakthrough, this ginseng's value was immeasurable.
"I know my own cultivation progress. Even without this ginseng, reaching Houtian Paragon would only take me a few months." Allowing no argument, Qin Chen stuffed the wooden box into Qin Yu's arms, his tone firm. "But you're different. You practice External Cultivation, tearing your muscles and reshaping your sinews and bones every day. Ordinary medicinal baths can barely keep up with what you expend anymore. Slice this Scarlet Blood Ginseng and hold the slices in your mouth. Combined with your Extreme Training, it'll be enough to bring about a qualitative leap in your physical strength in a short time."
"But, Brother..." Qin Yu still wanted to refuse, his eyes already brimming with tears.
"Take it! That's an order from your elder brother." Qin Chen put on a stern face. "If you truly want to help Father and become strong, accept it, then train your heart out! Don't make me look down on you."
Looking at Qin Chen's serious expression, Qin Yu hugged the wooden box tightly and nodded emphatically. At last, he could no longer hold back his tears. "Brother, don't worry. I won't let you down! I'll become strong!"
The instant Qin Yu fully accepted the Scarlet Blood Ginseng, the long-absent mechanical notification finally rang out crisply in Qin Chen's mind.
[Ding! Detected that the host has gifted a precious item to a bonded individual with extremely high intimacy (Qin Yu): three-hundred-year-old Scarlet Blood Ginseng.] [The gift meets system rules. The tenfold return mechanism has been triggered!] [Calculating return probabilities...] [Ding! Congratulations, host. Quality Tenfold Critical Return triggered!] [Return item obtained: three-thousand-year-old Dragon Blood Purple Gold Ginseng!] [The item has been automatically deposited in the system space. The host may withdraw it at any time.]
Hearing the notifications in his mind, Qin Chen's lips curved almost imperceptibly.
Three-thousand-year-old Dragon Blood Purple Gold Ginseng!
This was no longer a natural treasure of the mortal world. It was a spiritual medicine capable of making even cultivators green with envy! Three-hundred-year-old Scarlet Blood Ginseng could only strengthen blood and vital energy and reinforce one's foundations, but three-thousand-year-old Dragon Blood Purple Gold Ginseng was said to grow where a True Dragon had fallen, absorbing the essence of dragon blood. Not only did it contain a terrifyingly vast amount of spiritual power, it also possessed the heaven-defying ability to cleanse the marrow and transform the body from the inside out!
"Little Yu, go back and rest first. Follow the method I taught you: cut off a very thin slice of ginseng, hold it beneath your tongue, then soak in a medicinal bath to absorb it. Remember, don't get greedy and take too much, or your body won't be able to bear the nourishment," Qin Chen instructed as he rose.
"Got it, Brother." Qin Yu carefully cradled the wooden box as though holding the world's most precious treasure, then turned and ran toward his own courtyard, his steps filled with unprecedented drive.
Watching Qin Yu's retreating figure, Qin Chen turned. His figure flashed into a white afterimage as he swiftly swept back to his cultivation chamber.
Cloudmist Manor, Qin Chen's private underground chamber.
Its walls were all built from hard obsidian, blocking sound and spiritual energy. This was where Qin Chen usually cultivated in seclusion.
Qin Chen sat cross-legged on the cushion in the center of the chamber and willed it with a thought.
Whoosh!
A ginseng root, purple-gold from top to bottom and faintly emitting a dragon-shaped phantom, appeared out of thin air in his hand.
The moment the ginseng appeared, the concentration of spiritual energy in the chamber skyrocketed. Even the air grew viscous, and a faint dragon's roar echoed through the chamber. Merely inhaling a breath of its medicinal fragrance made Qin Chen feel the Houtian true qi that had stagnated within him for months begin to surge wildly, as though it would burst out of his body.
"What overwhelming medicinal potency! Just what I'd expect from three-thousand-year-old Dragon Blood Purple Gold Ginseng." A brilliant gleam flashed in Qin Chen's eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation, he opened his mouth, bit off a small piece of a rootlet, and swallowed it.
Boom!
The instant the rootlet entered his stomach, it was as though a miniature bomb had detonated in Qin Chen's dantian.
An immense surge of utterly violent purple-gold energy rushed like a flood through a breached dam into his limbs, bones, and extraordinary meridians.
Ancestral Dragon Art, circulate!
Qin Chen gave a low shout inwardly. Guided by the Ancestral Dragon Art, the violent purple-gold energy transformed into miniature purple-gold divine dragons that rampaged through his broad meridians, constantly widening and reinforcing them. His true qi, already at late Houtian, climbed wildly at a rate visible to the naked eye under the infusion of this immense energy.
The peak of late Houtian!
Houtian Paragon!
In less than the time it took an incense stick to burn, Qin Chen's cultivation broke through the limits of the Houtian Realm without obstruction, reaching Houtian Paragon. Yet not even a tenth of the medicinal potency had been consumed.
In that case, I'll ride this momentum and break through the Xiantian barrier!
Qin Chen closed his eyes tightly and formed a peculiar seal with both hands, guiding the immense remaining medicinal power within him to launch a fierce assault on the invisible barrier deep within his dantian like an army of thousands of soldiers and horses.
Crack-
It sounded as though something had shattered inside his body.
The next instant, the Houtian true qi within Qin Chen began a qualitative transformation. Compressed by the immense medicinal power, his originally gaseous true qi gradually liquefied, becoming crystal-clear droplets of Xiantian True Essence containing terrifying explosive power!
The Xiantian realm-achieved!
An eight-year-old Xiantian expert!
If this news spread, the entire Qianlong Continent, whether the Chu Dynasty's Xiang Family or even those reclusive Cultivation Sects, would be driven utterly mad.
But Qin Chen's breakthrough did not stop. The Dragon Blood Purple Gold Ginseng's medicinal power was not only raising his cultivation but also wildly remolding his body. His bones took on a faint purple-gold hue, his muscles grew firmer, and all his internal organs radiated vigorous vitality.
Early Xiantian!
Mid Xiantian!
Only upon reaching late Xiantian was the violent medicinal power within him finally fully refined and absorbed, settling down.
Hoo-
Qin Chen slowly opened his eyes. Two beams of purple-gold divine light, seemingly solid, shot from his eyes and left two deep holes in the hard obsidian wall.
He lightly clenched his fist, feeling the terrifying power within him, as though he could shatter a mountain with a single punch. A faint, satisfied smile appeared on his lips.
"Just what I'd expect from three-thousand-year-old Dragon Blood Purple Gold Ginseng. Truly heaven-defying. It actually let me cross the heavenly chasm between Houtian and Xiantian in one leap and reach late Xiantian."
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