Chapter 47: Growth in Strength

In the attempt just now, Chen Chong clearly sensed that after eating the Spiritual Fruit, the operation of the Ultimate Infinite Qigong was like an engine with added fuel, and both the efficiency of True Qi operation and its degree of growth had improved quite a bit.

These Spiritual Fruits grew in a unique way, similar to Senzu Beans, as they all contained a kind of Life Essence Qi that could be absorbed by the human body, but the Life Essence Qi content in a single fruit was of course far less than that of a Senzu Bean.

This was different from the Awakeners of this world who digested Spirit Energy fruits passively. Chen Chong possessed a cultivation method rated A-class by the Main God, so his processing of Spiritual Fruits was equivalent to complete refinement. The Life Essence Qi could be said to have no waste at all, and the conversion efficiency was extremely high. In just a short dozen or so minutes, a whole Spiritual Fruit was completely digested by Chen Chong, and its effects showed immediately.

“Refining Essence into Qi, Refining Essence into Qi…”

Compared to yesterday, the wisp of True Qi inside his body had nearly doubled in strength. Chen Chong had an epiphany in his heart:

“Essence is a person’s vital energy and blood, the omnipresent life force within the human body. Refining Essence into Qi means gathering and condensing the intangible life force, transforming it into the form of ‘Qi,’ and then using it to nourish the body in return, strengthening oneself in a more active and efficient way, in an endless cycle of vitality!”

It was as if before completing Refining Essence into Qi, the human body’s operation and the work of muscles and bones were at the efficiency of a rickshaw puller; but after completing Refining Essence into Qi, the human body seemed to have directly evolved from manpower to the level of steam-powered machinery in essence, a difference as vast as heaven and earth.

“These Spiritual Fruits are of considerable use to my cultivation. If I refine all of them, it would be equivalent to at least ten days of my arduous training. According to the classification here, Spiritual Fruits also have high and low grades. If the quality is better and contains more Life Essence, the help to my Qigong training should be even greater!”

Chen Chong looked eagerly at the only fourteen Spiritual Fruits left in the package before him, thinking with nothing but regret in his heart:

“It’s a pity I can’t leave the Territory for now, and have no way to obtain Spiritual Fruits in large quantities. And the number of these Spiritual Fruits is really too small. If I had a large number of Spiritual Fruits to refine continuously every day, it wouldn’t take long to completely finish the step of Refining Essence into Qi.”

The Spiritual Fruits allocated by the Blood General didn’t contain much Life Essence Qi, and the quantity was too small. Although Chen Chong realized that consuming Spiritual Fruits in large amounts was another way to rapidly accelerate his cultivation progress, he was now practically under house arrest in the Crimson Territory, and apart from the bi-monthly supply quota, he had no other channel to obtain Spiritual Fruits.

After thinking it over, Chen Chong had no intention of saving the remaining Spiritual Fruits for later. He swallowed the dozen or so fruits one after another, then quickly entered a meditative state. While his True Qi circulated along a unique path, it rapidly refined the Spiritual Fruits he had swallowed into his stomach.

If any other Awakener saw Chen Chong’s actions, they would surely be dumbfounded. This was because the nourishment and digestion of Spiritual Fruits by the body was gradual and subtle. For them, taking one or two at a fixed time every day was the best way for the Spiritual Fruits to nourish the body and strengthen the Life Field.

But swallowing a dozen Spiritual Fruits all at once like this, the body could not fully absorb the Life Essence Qi inside, causing considerable waste. It was like Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit, a prodigal waste of heavenly treasure!

However, with a supremely superior cultivation method like the Ultimate Infinite Qigong, for the current Chen Chong, the most important thing was to rapidly transform everything usable into his own strength.

As his True Qi circulated, the Dantian area in Chen Chong’s lower abdomen seemed to turn into a small furnace, with mist rising and steam swirling. His internal energy activated fully, and waves of warmth traveled through his limbs and bones, spreading throughout his entire body, and then all absorbed by the circulating Ultimate True Qi, causing it to visibly grow stronger.

Over three hours later.

When he felt the small furnace in his abdomen finally stop emitting Life Essence Qi, Chen Chong opened his eyes, a glint of sharp light flashing within them.

After refining all fifteen Spiritual Fruits at once, his current True Qi had grown several times stronger than before. If the earlier True Qi was like a faint thread, then the current Ultimate True Qi was approaching the flow of a trickling stream!

Crack! With the crisp sound of joints popping, Chen Chong jumped down from the bed.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

In the room, Chen Chong’s fists and feet struck out rapidly and continuously through the air, bringing dull whooshing sounds that stirred the air in the room, making one have no doubt about the astonishing power contained within.

“My strength…”

Silently feeling the air resistance as he swung his fists and feet, Chen Chong’s eyes lit up.

Yesterday, when True Qi first emerged in his body, his strength had already shown a noticeable change. Today, after his True Qi had grown to the level of a trickling stream, he immediately felt that his strength had seen a massive increase compared to yesterday!

If the feeling yesterday that he could kill a cow with one punch was an illusion, then now he truly felt that his strength had indeed reached that level!

“Does my current strength weigh 1000 jin?”

In his past life, the Guinness record for boxing power held by Mike Tyson was 520 pounds, equivalent to about 500 jin, which was already considered the limit of ordinary human physical ability. After the Ultra Divine Water unlocked the potential of Chen Chong’s ordinary body, he estimated that his physical strength barely approached this level. However, in just the short two days since Ultimate True Qi was born and grew inside him, Chen Chong felt his strength improving by leaps and bounds, as if a fierce beast lay dormant within his body, ready to erupt with astonishing power at any moment.

Putting everything else aside, judging solely from the dull wind sounds of his current punches and kicks, his regular strength already easily crushed the so-called boxing kings of his past life, something an ordinary person definitely could not withstand.

And this was just his simple test, not his extreme limit of strength.

Although Chen Chong was now eager to test his extreme strength, he forcibly suppressed the urge given the current environment.

Estimating that the time was about right, he put away his package and walked out of the dormitory building, heading toward the place Yin Hu had mentioned where meals were distributed.

“…Hurry up, hurry up, don’t dawdle!”

“I’m starving. After we finish delivering to the trash, let’s go eat quickly!”

On the way, Chen Chong saw several teams of Territory guards shouting and yelling, each pushing a cart loaded with several wooden barrels, heading toward each factory area. As Chen Chong passed by and glanced, he saw the barrels contained a foul-smelling soup, floating with a disgusting green scum, along with a large pile of hard, dark pancake-like objects. He had no idea what any of these were made from.