Chapter 197 - Cultivating at the Bottom of the Lake

Splash.

Icy-cold lake water flowed past Mu Chen’s body. At the same time, his body descended quickly down to the bottom of the lake. However, as he continued to descend, Mu Chen noticed a powerful pressure surging towards him from all directions.

Currently, Mu Chen did not utilize any Spiritual Energy to protect the surface of his body. Instead, he relied solely on his flesh and body to endure the water pressure as he dove down.

Mu Chen’s black eyes were firmly fixed at the bottom of the lake. His body was able to sense that it was withstanding a water pressure that was constantly increasing. In a few minutes, he finally stopped descending. This was because he could feel that the water pressure had caused slight pain to his body.

Then, Mu Chen lifted his head up towards the surface of the lake. At that location, there was a bright clump of light. Right now, he was probably a few hundred meters underneath the lake.

Here, the lake’s water was quite unusual. Since the lake’s water was mixed with dense Spiritual Energy, it had caused the water pressure to become particularly powerful. Even with Mu Chen’s current strength, he felt a slight pressure from it.

Cultivating in this location should be just about right.

Once this thought appeared in Mu Chen’s mind, he nodded his head. Then, he sat down cross-legged within the lake. His expression also began to turn serious.

Mu Chen let out a mouthful of air as he closed his eyes. His consciousness began to sink down into his aura sea.

“Can we begin?” Mu Chen stared at the Nine Netherbird lying down on the mandala flower and inquired.

The Nine Netherbird nodded its head and flapped its wings. A rich black flame surged out. Then, it looked towards Mu Chen and said faintly: “If you’re fully prepared, then let’s begin. Remember, if you feel that you can’t endure it, you should give up on it temporarily. Do not take any risks.”

Mu Chen’s expression turned solemn and he nodded heavily.

“Then let’s begin.”

The Nine Netherbird stopped speaking and flapped its wings. Immediately afterwards, the rich black flame surged out and had surged into the Spiritual Energy light wheel and Mu Chen’s Spirit within his aura sea.

At this moment, even the tiny Spirit within Mu Chen’s aura sea had revealed a dignified expression. It formed seals with its hand and dense black Spiritual Energy erupted out from the Spiritual Energy light wheel as it protected it from the black flame.

Chi Chi!

The black flame quickly surged and instantly enveloped both the Spirit and the Spiritual Energy light wheel. A burst of sound resounded out as the black flame collided with the dark-black Spiritual Energy. At this moment, Mu Chen could feel that his Spiritual Energy melted quickly when it made contact with the black flame.

In the past, Mu Chen was able to control a tiny bit of the Nine Netherflame when he relied on the Nine Netherbird’s power. He managed to manipulate it so that it would not harm him. However, under this circumstance, it was evident that he had lost control of the Nine Netherflame. The Nine Netherflame that was once a razor-sharp weapon for him had now revealed its extraordinariness towards him.

Since his Spiritual Energy was melted by the black flames, Mu Chen let out a cry and a brilliant light erupted out from his Spiritual Energy light wheel. Dense Spiritual Energy shot out and bypassed the raging black flames. This light exited his aura sea and quickly circulated through his meridians.

Within the Spiritual Energy that had exited his aura sea, every single part of it was tinted with black flames. Moreover, it caused the black flames to appear within Mu Chen’s meridians. With just the temperature of the black flames, it made Mu Chen’s meridians convulse.

A stinging pain expanded out, causing Mu Chen’s body to tremble.

Mu Chen grinded his teeth and endured the immense pain. He continued to utilize and circulate his Spiritual Energy. However, as he circulated his Spiritual Energy, the Spiritual Energy also began to weaken. This was because the black flame had continued to burn through the Spiritual Energy.

Chi! Chi!

In this instant, Mu Chen’s body had turned exceptionally hot. Spiritual Energy continued to circulate through his body, yet at the very beginning, the Spiritual Energy was completely burned by the Nine Netherflame as it circulated half-way through his meridians.

It was an intense consumption. As he circulated his Spiritual Energy, he relied on the external pressure to fuse his Spiritual Energy with the Nine Netherflame. However, once the Spiritual Energy was completely burned, the fusion of Spiritual Energy and the Nine Netherflame had ended in failure.

Currently, it was as if Mu Chen was basically swapping his blood for a completely new one. However, it was not blood that he was swapping; it was Spiritual Energy...He required all of the Spiritual Energy within his body to be completely fused with a pure Spiritual Energy like the Nine Netherflame.

Therefore, if the Spiritual Energy that he had drawn out was completely burned and failed to make it back to the Spiritual Energy light wheel, it would mean that it had ended up in failure. Moreover, he would have wasted the Spiritual Energy.

Fortunately, Mu Chen remained fairly calm while facing this situation. He knew that it wasn’t easy to perform the Spiritual Energy Fusion. It would definitely take a relatively long period of time for him to adapt to it. Only then, his Spiritual Energy would be able to gradually endure the blazing Nine Netherflame and successfully fuse with it.

As Mu Chen held this thought in his mind, the Spiritual Energy within his body had been thoroughly exhausted in just an hour. The Spiritual Energy light wheel had also turned quite dim.

Therefore, Mu Chen endured the stinging pain within his body and temporarily stopped the Spiritual Energy Fusion. Instead, he circulated the Great Pagoda Art and quickly absorbed the Spiritual Energy within the lake’s water in order to replenish the Spiritual Energy within his body.

When the Spiritual Energy within his body was quite abundant again, he did not plan on resting and started to perform the Spiritual Energy Fusion once again...

This was a considerably tiring and painful cultivation.

After the first day of cultivation was complete, Mu Chen was finally able to make the Spiritual Energy within his body gradually endure the Nine Netherflame. However, he was still unable to successfully make a surge of Spiritual Energy return to his Spiritual Energy light wheel.

But Mu Chen wasn’t depressed at all. At the very least, there was a tiny bit of progress made.

Next up, for the remaining cultivation period, Mu Chen had repeated the same actions over and over again. He would only rest briefly every day and would spend most of his time on the Spiritual Energy Fusion. Fortunately, the heavens wouldn’t disappoint a hard working individual and on the fourth day, a single surge of Spiritual Energy had endured the Nine Netherflame and the immense water pressure. It completed the circulation and returned within his aura sea.

The Spiritual Energy was several times weaker than when it had departed from his aura sea. Moreover, it was just a shred of Spiritual Energy. However, this made Mu Chen quite excited. After all, this shred of Spiritual Energy had completed the Spiritual Energy Fusion and was strengthened.

Mu Chen’s consciousness stared at the brand new Spiritual Energy with excitement. The newborn Spiritual Energy had turned even darker and was the same color as the night sky. Within this shred of Spiritual Energy, Mu Chen noticed a trace of black flames flickering.

It was the Nine Netherflame.

Delight filled Mu Chen’s heart. He focused for a moment and the black flame within the shred of Spiritual Energy rose up. But right now, Mu Chen did not feel the slightest trace of danger emitting from it.

This was because this Nine Netherflame truly belonged to him. Even the Nine Netherbird wasn’t able to control it!

Although the shred of Spiritual Energy was quite tiny in size, Mu Chen could feel that this Spiritual Energy with black flame was much higher in quality compared to his previous Spiritual Energy!

The destructive power and lethalness had increased several folds.

“You’ve only fused a tiny part of your Spiritual Energy...It is far from being complete.” The Nine Netherbird reminded Mu Chen.

Mu Chen smiled and quickly suppressed the emotions he felt. He focused once again and the strengthened Spiritual Energy went inside the tiny Spirit’s body on top of the Spiritual Energy light wheel. At this moment, the eyes of Mu Chen’s Spirit had darkened slightly.

With the success of the shred of Spiritual Energy, the remaining cultivation was performed easily. However, the pain that he suffered did not decrease at all. Waves of pain would stimulate Mu Chen’s nerves and caused his body to tremble violently.

In just two short days, the Spiritual Energy fused with the Nine Netherflame had gradually increased in quantity within Mu Chen’s body. However, the process was still far from being complete.

Since the Spiritual Energy within Mu Chen’s body was completely emptied, he closed his eyes once again and began to form seals without any hesitation. He activated the Great Pagoda Art and a hint of black flame surged out from his body. Once his absorption of Spiritual Aura had begun, the nearby lake water had instantly evaporated and formed an empty area.

Splash.

At this moment, the lake water was gathering quickly towards where Mu Chen was located. A massive vortex was formed. Mu Chen was sitting at the eye of the vortex as he drew out the Spiritual Aura from the lake’s water into his body.

The commotion caused by Mu Chen was extraordinary. The entire lake trembled from his power. This commotion of his had also agitated a few figures, who were also cultivating within the lake. It was clear that they were also using the water pressure to cultivate.

When they detected the commotion within the lake, they opened their eyes in surprise. Then, they rushed through the lake and headed towards the source of the commotion. Soon, they noticed Mu Chen sitting cross-legged within the vortex.

“Who is this guy? He actually caused such a large commotion!”

“He seems to be at the Spirit Stage Late Phase. How is it possible that he possess the ability to cause such a ruckus?”

“This guy...isn’t simple.”

Their eyes were filled with surprise as they whispered with each other. However, they did not disturb Mu Chen’s cultivation. Each one of them were able to sense how powerful Mu Chen was. Although the latter only seemed to be at the Spirit Stage Late Phase, the fluctuations emitted out from the latter’s body made them feel a hint of danger.

They looked at this scene for a moment and noticed that Mu Chen was planning to ignore them. Therefore, they could only disperse and head back to their original locations.

On the other hand, Mu Chen had also detected the figures approaching. But upon seeing that they did not reveal any hostility, he relaxed himself and began to concentrate in order to replenish the Spiritual Energy within his body.

Once the Spiritual Energy within his body was filled, Mu Chen let out a deep sigh and his eyes glowed. He had a feeling that he would be able to complete the Spiritual Energy Fusion this time!

“Let’s begin!”

Mu Chen endured the excitement within his heart and focused. Rumbling Spiritual Energy exited his Spiritual Energy light wheel once again.