Chapter 200: Chapter 195: Energy-Draining Palm

Mu Chen’s mood was one of utter delight. Looking at the Gathering Essence Pill in his hand, he smiled. ’Looks like my guess was right. The White Dragon Cauldron really can refine pills on its own.’

With the White Dragon Cauldron’s heaven-defying ability, the next step was much simpler for Mu Chen. After releasing all six thousand portions of Medicinal Herbs for the Gathering Essence Pills from his Storage Ring, nine white dragons flew out from the cauldron’s body once more. They formed a hurricane, instantly sweeping up all six thousand portions of herbs. Strangely, as the nine white dragons swirled around them, the Vermilion Grass, Star Blue Flowers, and Wuling Roots rapidly fused, turning into wisps of multicolored mist. This mist, guided by the dragons, was quickly drawn into the White Dragon Cauldron.

The cauldron’s body flared with brilliant white light, trembling like a child who had found a new toy after ten million years without one. Through his consciousness, Mu Chen could feel the White Dragon Cauldron’s eagerness, its excitement, and its joy.

’This cauldron is actually sentient?’

This was the first time the White Dragon Cauldron had communicated its consciousness to Mu Chen. It was a feeling of profound gratitude. Gratitude that Mu Chen had allowed it to use its abilities again after being sealed for ten thousand years! Gratitude that Mu Chen had let it taste the flavor of Medicinal Herbs once more! Therefore, it would display its full power for its master, to let him know that it was the Venerable of all cauldrons!

Having already experienced the Nine Dragons Containing Pill phenomenon once, Mu Chen immediately prepared one hundred Purple Crystal Bottles he had collected long ago. If he didn’t, he was afraid the nine white dragons would simply place all six thousand Gathering Essence Pills directly into his hands.

But it turned out his worries were for naught. The White Dragon Cauldron seemed to know what was on his mind. Every time it finished Refining sixty pills, it had the nine white dragons deliver them into a Purple Crystal Bottle. The process required no effort from Mu Chen whatsoever. He felt a bit vexed by this. ’Has all my research into the Golden Dragon Scripture become useless?’

Of course, the answer was no. Researching Pill Formulas and gaining a comprehensive understanding of every Medicinal Herb would undoubtedly prove useful. He had a feeling that the White Dragon Cauldron’s automatic Refining had its limits. When the Grade of the pills reached a certain level, its autonomous function would surely fail. When that time came, he would only be able to rely on himself.

Time passed, minute by minute. Even with the White Dragon Cauldron Refining automatically, six thousand pills was no small number. Two hours later, half of the Purple Crystal Bottles before Mu Chen were full. The Gathering Essence Pills weren’t as large as he’d imagined. In fact, they were only about the size of half a pinky nail and were a purplish-red color.

’I might as well test its effects.’

Feeling bored, Mu Chen casually took a Gathering Essence Pill from one of the Purple Crystal Bottles. Lying on his side, he swallowed it. The small, purplish-red pill melted the moment it entered his mouth, transforming into a warm stream of energy that slid down his throat and into his body. As his Extreme Spirit Chaos Technique circulated, this warm energy swiftly converged toward his Dantian along his meridians. As it traveled, the energy left a small vortex behind every time it passed an acupoint.

Mu Chen observed this phenomenon with exceptional clarity. As he continuously circulated his Extreme Spirit Chaos Technique, the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi in the room began to rapidly converge on him. But this time was different. Previously, the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi he absorbed would only enter his body through a few key acupoints. Now, it was flowing in through every acupoint on his entire body.

Every acupoint connected to one or more meridians, each with a very limited capacity. Martial Artists could typically only use a few of these acupoints to absorb Primordial Qi, which placed a bottleneck on their cultivation speed. This was why a Martial Artist’s Cultivation Talent was often judged by the width of their meridians—wider meridians meant faster cultivation, while narrower meridians meant slower cultivation.

But after taking the Gathering Essence Pill, Mu Chen was astonished to find that the Primordial Qi was now flowing in through every single one of his acupoints, not just a select few. It was as if he suddenly had countless new channels for absorbing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. At this rate, his cultivation speed would increase by leaps and bounds.

’This is the effect of a Gathering Essence Pill?!’

Mu Chen finally understood why the pill’s medicinal effects left a vortex at every acupoint. Those vortexes were the keys that unlocked them! His cultivation speed was now more than ten times faster than normal. Even with his Nine Attributes Dantian, he could faintly feel his Primordial Power growing. ’What if this was used on ordinary martial artists or attribute martial artists? Wouldn’t their progress be meteoric?’

’It seems I underestimated the power of the Gathering Essence Pill... or is it because these pills were refined by the White Dragon Cauldron?’

The more Mu Chen thought about it, the more thrilled he became. At this rate, they wouldn’t need two years. Just one year! In just one year, the Demon Castle could completely surpass the Holy Hall!

Not wanting to waste the pill’s effects, Mu Chen simply immersed himself in Cultivation. The White Dragon Cauldron, meanwhile, continued its tireless work. This went on until late afternoon, around the time the students’ classes were ending.

When the last sixty Gathering Essence Pills were loaded into a Purple Crystal Bottle, Mu Chen awoke from his Cultivation. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and the Primordial Power rippling from his body felt turbulent. Clenching his fists, Mu Chen smiled. ’What potent medicinal effects. I feel like I accomplished more this afternoon than I usually do in half a month.’

The White Dragon Cauldron had already returned to Mu Chen’s chest after Refining the last of the pills. With a wave of his arm, Mu Chen swept all one hundred Purple Crystal Bottles into his Storage Ring and quickly left the training room. He had promised Little Tiger and the others that he would get their food for them.

Dinnertime arrived quickly. Even though they knew Mu Chen would be getting their meals, Little Tiger and the others didn’t arrive late. They showed up just as Mu Chen had finished collecting the last portion of food.

Seeing them all drenched in sweat, Mu Chen asked, puzzled, "Why are you all sweating so much? What did you train this afternoon?"

Little Tiger was too busy stuffing his face to even speak. The others were also gasping for breath, completely unable to answer Mu Chen’s question.

Seeing this, Mu Chen put down his chopsticks and placed a hand on Little Tiger’s shoulder. The White Dragon Cauldron began to circulate rapidly, and a wisp of white mist seeped from Mu Chen’s wrist into Little Tiger’s body.

Little Tiger felt a cool, soothing energy enter him. Upon encountering the white mist, his exhausted body absorbed it greedily, like a starving beast. In just a moment, Little Tiger was shocked to find his fatigue had completely disappeared.

Mu Chen motioned for Little Tiger to stay quiet as he stood up. Starting with Qing Lei, he sent a stream of the white energy into each of them. This was the medicinal essence produced from refining Healing Herbs. After being treated by Mu Chen, the group finally recovered.

Mu Chen said, "To be exhausted to this extent... it seems the training at the Demon Castle is incredibly tough."

Ye Shuangshuang took a deep breath and rubbed her sore shoulders. "Tough is an understatement; it’s practically hellish. The sun was blazing this afternoon, yet she had us ’delicate ladies’ doing continuous weight training. On top of that, we had to practice an extremely strenuous Palm Technique. I have no idea where Instructor Ling Yun found it. That Palm Technique is such a drain on Primordial Power, it’s practically useless. I practiced for just half an hour, and my Primordial Power was completely gone."

Qing Lei nodded in agreement. "It is bizarre. I’ve never seen a Body Technique that consumes so much Primordial Power."

Only Mo Qing shook her head. "I get the feeling there’s another purpose to the Palm Technique Instructor Ling Yun is teaching us. Every time we feel our Primordial Power is about to be depleted, she has us immediately enter Meditation to absorb Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. The feeling of being completely drained of Primordial Power is awful, but when I start cultivating to absorb the Qi, I can clearly feel my absorption speed has increased significantly. And..." Mo Qing paused. "And, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but that speed seems to increase the more familiar we get with the Palm Technique."

Little Tiger swallowed a mouthful of food and chimed in, "Sister Mo Qing is right! I felt it too. Every time my Primordial Power runs out, my recovery time gets shorter. The first time, it took me a full hour of Cultivation to recover, but the second time, it was less than an hour. It takes less and less time... But, but it also seems like the faster my Primordial Power recovers, the faster the Palm Technique consumes it."

Mu Chen frowned. ’Such a bizarre Palm Technique exists? Looks like I’ve missed something important.’ "Alright, I’ll go to class with you all tomorrow."

"Really?" Little Tiger suddenly shot to his feet. "Brother Mu Chen, are you done with your business?"

Mu Chen smiled. "Yes, it finished unexpectedly quickly. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be attending class as well. As the Demon Castle’s class monitor, I can’t just skip every day, can I?"

"Whoa, that’s awesome!" Little Tiger was the happiest of all to have Mu Chen back. In his heart, he already considered Mu Chen family.

The other three were also visibly overjoyed. Only with Mu Chen around did they have a tangible goal to pursue with all their might.

"Oh, right." Mu Chen seemed to recall something. "Doesn’t this bizarre Palm Technique have a name?"

Mo Qing replied, "It does. I heard Instructor Ling Yun say it’s a Palm Technique created by Dean Shen Jianxin himself. It’s called the Energy-Draining Palm."

Ye Shuangshuang scoffed. "’Energy-Draining Palm’... I bet he just called it that because ’The Incredibly Great Dean Shen’s Palm Technique’ was too long."

With that, Ye Shuangshuang went back to her meal, leaving Mo Qing and Qing Lei staring at her, utterly speechless. The corner of Mu Chen’s mouth twitched. He suddenly had the feeling that he had more than just one or two oddballs on his team...