Chapter 67: The Fifth Ten-Thousand-Foot Vein Chakra

Although Chu Tianchen greatly disliked Qiao Wanling’s condescending attitude, now that she had bowed her head to him, he decided to let the matter rest.

As for whether Qiao Wanling had regained her youth through a secret technique or through possession, only she knew the truth.

However, the primary reason Chu Tianchen had helped her was because she knew his grandfather.

Ever since he walked out of Zhentian City and arrived at the present Cloud Sea Academy, Chu Tianchen felt more and more that his family background was anything but simple.

What exactly was the artifact his grandfather had left behind, as mentioned by Qiao Wanling?

And what kind of connection existed between his grandfather and Qiao Wanling? Perhaps the truth would only come to light once he found his grandfather in the future.

Or perhaps, Qiao Wanling herself might casually mention it one day.

After making all the necessary preparations, he left the area to continue hunting fierce beasts and undergoing practical training.

Yet, as he looked at the set of the "Sevenfold Tidal Palms" gifted by Qiao Wanling, he felt thoroughly satisfied in his heart.

Such a technique was naturally impossible for ordinary Meridian-Opening Realm cultivators to practice, but having undergone rebirth four times consecutively and being cleansed by the regenerative power of the purple-golden silken threads, the toughness of his physical body now surpassed even that of ordinary Soul-Entering Realm cultivators.

Although this Earth-grade superior palm technique was domineering, it suited his cultivation style exceptionally well.

More importantly, this was a copied manual; given his current soul power and strength, he was not yet capable of duplicating Earth-grade divine abilities.

An Earth-grade palm technique divine ability, especially one suitable for martial artists of all attributes, was all the more precious.

Once he completely mastered the Sevenfold Tidal Palms, selling it afterward would indeed fetch a handsome sum of primordial stones.

This was why he had hesitated not at all in giving Qiao Wanling three thousand superior primordial stones, because the value of the Sevenfold Tidal Palms far exceeded that amount.

Otherwise, finding himself urgently in need of resources, how could he have readily handed over three thousand superior primordial stones to a stranger he had just met?

After leaving the area, Chu Tianchen continued to search for the presence of fierce beasts. In the Cloud Sea Academy's freshman trial, the person who hunted the most fierce beasts would be rewarded with ten thousand inferior primordial stones.

Ten thousand inferior primordial stones might not sound like much, but in reality, it was a substantial sum.

It was just that Chu Tianchen, being an alchemist, found it relatively easy to earn primordial stones; for other outer court disciples, earning ten thousand inferior primordial stones would require four or five months of effort.

Moreover, that assumed saving every single piece over four or five months without spending a single one.

Of course, to Chu Tianchen, even a thousand stones were resources. His life motto at present was not to let slip even the tiniest bit of cultivation resource.

Besides, hunting fierce beasts was also a form of self-improvement.

Since he could get rewarded as well, why not do it?

Chu Tianchen began shuttling back and forth among various mountain ranges, killing any first-rank fierce beast he laid eyes on and selectively hunting second-rank ones.

In just a mere week, he felt that his aura had grown vastly denser than before.

This was the marvelous effect brought about by continuous combat.

Meanwhile, the primordial qi within his fourth meridian wheel was gradually filling up, nearing its peak state.

Once it reached the peak state, he could enter seclusion to assault the fifth meridian wheel.

At this rate, opening the fifth meridian wheel would come even faster than he had anticipated.

During this week, Chu Tianchen had also hunted nine fierce beasts and acquired four beast cores.

Along the way, he had encountered other outer court disciples, but none of them traveled alone as he did.

As a practitioner at the fourth level of the Meridian-Opening Realm, no one bothered to invite him to join their group.

Of course, even if they had invited him, Chu Tianchen would not have joined.

Furthermore, he had not paid the ten thousand inferior primordial stones, meaning he lacked protection. Who would want to invite trouble by pulling him into a team?

However, what he did not know was that before even entering the Demonic Beast Mountain Range, he had already been placed on the senior students' blacklist.

Members of the other nine factions were basically scouring the area for people like them.

Specifically, this batch of people who had not paid the ten thousand inferior primordial stones as a protection fee.

As long as they were found by the senior students of the nine factions, they either had to hand over ten thousand inferior primordial stones or have their resources plundered. Should anyone dare to resist, it could even cost them their lives.

Yet Chu Tianchen's luck was fairly decent. Having wandered through several mountain ranges, he had not run into anyone from the nine factions.

Naturally, even if he did encounter them, Chu Tianchen was not the least bit worried.

His current stance was simple: if others didn't offend him, he wouldn't offend them; if anyone dared to offend him, he would root them out completely.

So what if they were senior students? So what if they belonged to the nine factions?

As long as they dared to make a move, he would simply treat them as delivery boys sending him resources.

The senior students of those nine factions surely possessed quite a few primordial stones in their possession.

Over the next few days, Chu Tianchen continued to cultivate while searching for fierce beasts.

After about four or five days, the primordial qi within his fourth meridian wheel finally reached its peak state.

Without any hesitation, Chu Tianchen found a secluded cave dwelling, set up simple defensive measures around it, and entered seclusion mode.

He took out all the primordial stones he had on him in one go.

He possessed a little over twenty thousand superior primordial stones and several hundred thousand inferior primordial stones.

Circulating the Nine Dragons Devouring Heaven Art, he began cultivating frantically, launching an assault on the fifth meridian wheel.

As night fell, purple-golden silken threads once again began to sprout around his body. This regenerative power enveloped him anew, and within a few short hours, his entire body was tightly wrapped like a silkworm cocoon.

Meanwhile, the primordial qi surrounding him diminished at a frenzied pace.

Through the entire night, well into the small hours of the morning, the silken threads gradually transformed into wisps of pure energy that seeped into his fifth meridian wheel.

Ten zhang, one hundred zhang, one thousand zhang, ten thousand zhang!

Another ten-thousand-zhang meridian wheel burst into existence.

All five meridian wheels were ten-thousand-zhang meridian wheels.

Slowly opening his eyes, Chu Tianchen felt his five robust meridian wheels and could not help the curve of a smile rising to the corners of his mouth.

However, when he looked at the primordial stones before him, his expression turned gloomy.

All those primordial stones combined were equivalent to well over two million inferior primordial stones, yet they had been nearly exhausted once again.

And this was merely for opening the fifth meridian wheel! If he were to open the sixth, wouldn't it require at least three million inferior primordial stones?

In this desolate wilderness, where was he supposed to find three million inferior primordial stones?

He currently had seven first-rank beast cores and one second-rank beast core on hand, but his cultivation technique possessed the ice attribute, leaving only the four ice-attribute beast cores usable.

Yet the primordial qi contained within these four beast cores—aside from the second-rank one, which might be worth around twenty thousand inferior primordial stones—were mere first-rank beast cores worth only one or two thousand inferior primordial stones each.

To an ordinary Meridian-Opening Realm martial artist, this could be considered a decent resource, but to Chu Tianchen, this was mere mosquito meat.

With no other options left, he could only exit the training ground of the Demonic Beast Mountain Range early. In any case, he already possessed first-rank beast cores, so his trial requirements had been met.

With that thought, he put away the tiny fraction of remaining primordial stones and prepared to stand up and stretch his muscles.

Suddenly, from outside the cave dwelling came a wave of frantic sounds of battle and the roaring of a fierce beast.

Chu Tianchen hurried out of the cave to find three people being relentlessly pursued by a late-stage second-rank Flame-Red Tiger.

When Chu Tianchen saw the identities of the three being chased, he immediately dashed forward.

Because those three were none other than Wang Teng, Zhao Tengfei, and Mo Xiaolang.