Chapter 148: Going Through Fire and Water

Well, even if she had never eaten pork, hadn’t she seen a pig run? The Master of Tongtian had helped her refine spiritual energy before. Fortunately, she had an incredibly good memory; things that happened hundreds of years ago felt as fresh as if they had occurred just yesterday!

Carefully recalling the scene from back then, Feng Ke’er flicked her wrist toward Hu Li, and five-colored spiritual power surged from her palm. The spiritual power traced a rainbow through the air and slowly descended onto the cyan lotus mark on Hu Li’s brow.

In truth, the optimal point for injecting spiritual power was the crown acupoint. That way, the injected energy could travel directly through the meridians into the dantian to begin the refinement process. Unfortunately, with Feng Ke’er’s current cultivation level, she couldn't forcibly open the crown acupoint of a Sixth-Order Great Perfection beast without causing harm. Thus, she had to go through the trouble of injecting it via the contract mark.

Of course, Feng Ke’er didn’t know if the spiritual power could successfully pass through the mark into Hu Li’s body. After all, this was just a sudden whim—as a master, she could reach her consciousness into her natal guardian beast’s sea of consciousness through the contract mark. This technique was primarily for secrecy. After all, if one encountered a cultivator with a higher cultivation level, even communicating via consciousness offered no privacy. But when a master explored their natal beast’s sea of consciousness to communicate, no third party, regardless of how high their cultivation was, could eavesdrop on the conversation.

Feng Ke’er was quick to draw inferences: if consciousness could pass through, why not spiritual power?

As soon as the five-colored spiritual power touched the cyan lotus mark, Hu Li’s brow began to glow brilliantly. Immediately, the mark faded and finally vanished, replaced by a bright white vortex the width of a middle finger.

It worked! Feng Ke’er was overjoyed. She formed a protective seal with her left hand and continued to inject spiritual power into the bright white vortex with her right.

*Pop.* A faint sound of piercing echoed. The five-colored spiritual power dove in like a small beam of light!

The first step was a success!

Feng Ke’er took a deep breath, suppressing her excitement. A good start was half the battle, but the subsequent steps allowed for absolutely no mistakes.

"Fox, don't be afraid, I'm here to help you," her primordial spirit muttered. "Just relax and let your spiritual energy come to resist my power."

Spiritual energy was more exclusionary than human organs. Once external spiritual power was injected into the body, the master’s own energy would treat it as an invasion. All the energy would rush to resist the "foreign enemy." The first step of refinement was to get these wild, violent energies to unite and act as one.

Because Feng Ke’er’s cultivation was still too low, she could only achieve this first step; she could not perform the miraculous feats of the Master of Tongtian, who could directly protect the dantian and expand the meridians for Hu Li.

However, when it came to refining spiritual energy, Feng Ke’er was well-versed. She first broke the spiritual power down into countless threads thinner than a strand of hair, silently seeping them into the crown acupoint from all directions. This way, she wouldn't cause Hu Li any harm.

Then, she gathered the threads into a single stream within the crown acupoint and drove it straight down the Ren and Du meridians into the dantian.

Her speed was as fast as lightning!

By the time Hu Li’s internal energies realized there was an invasion, the five-colored spiritual power had already charged into the dantian!

The energies, previously locked in civil war, set aside their differences and swarmed, surrounding the five-colored power. However, Feng Ke’er’s power was far stronger than Hu Li’s. Even though the energy in his body had surged a hundredfold, it still couldn't contend with her.

Feng Ke’er wasn't worried in the least. She didn't withdraw her power, but calmly let the five-colored energy patrol the dantian as if it were her own. Consequently, Hu Li’s internal energies were forced to retreat and fight, much like an ox led by a nose ring.

The five-colored power circled the dantian twice, and the energy from Hu Li’s other meridians flowed over as well. The state of his meridians began to stabilize, but the fox’s dantian was on the verge of bursting!

Hu Li’s face swelled to a deep purple, and he trembled with pain. Afraid to distract his master, he bit his lower lip hard and didn't make a sound.

"Fox, use your consciousness to wrap as much energy as you can, gather all your internal power, and force the energy to repeat that path—don't stop!" Feng Ke’er commanded.

Thus, his consciousness wrapped around nearly two-thirds of the energy, and his spiritual power tremblingly took over.

"His power isn't enough!"

Seeing this, Feng Ke’er adjusted her plan. She split the five-colored power in two: one part continued to "lead" the energy in its patrol, while the other exited the dantian to fight through the various meridians—Hu Li’s meridians could still withstand the pressure of one-third of the energy.

Sure enough, the energy not held by Hu Li’s consciousness turned to bite at this "fleeing" power. Instantly, the crisis in the dantian was greatly relieved.

Her primordial spirit cheered from the side, "Good, Fox, that's it, hold on!" The spiritual power had to lead the energy in a continuous cycle between the dantian and the meridians so that they could be expanded.

The storms in the sea of consciousness had subsided. Although Hu Li’s face was still red enough to bleed, it no longer carried that terrifying purple hue. He opened his eyes and glanced quickly at Feng Ke’er.

Feng Ke’er glared at him fiercely. *Trying to die? You dare to get distracted at a time like this!*

Hu Li immediately closed his eyes again, holding his breath to refine the energy.

One cycle, two cycles... time passed like flowing water. Gradually, the energy in Hu Li’s body became more docile, and his own internal power grew stronger. Feng Ke’er began to slowly reduce the injection of her power. Finally, seeing that Hu Li had enough strength to handle everything himself, she stopped the injection and sat to the side to regulate her breath—if Hu Li couldn't "stand on his own" now, the whole thing would be in jeopardy.

Feng Ke’er hadn't expected this to be so exhausting.

Just as the refinement reached its most critical moment, her primordial spirit warned: "Spiritual energy depleted by half." This was the alarm threshold Feng Ke’er had set herself, because if her energy dropped below half, the recovery speed would slow down significantly.

She shook her head slightly, keeping her right hand in the injection position while her left hand released the spell, quietly pulling a handful of top-grade spirit stones from her storage bag and clutching them.

The spiritual energy within the ten stones rushed into her body. In a few breaths, they were drained, turning into a pile of ash.

*Grab more!*

...

In one go, she consumed nearly a thousand top-grade spirit stones to refill her energy. Her storage bag was empty. Fortunately, she had more stored in her space orb.

However, before long, her primordial spirit warned her again...

Just like that, unknowingly, one hundred thousand top-grade spirit stones turned to ash.

This was her entire fortune—after she had become wealthy, she’d grown arrogant, finding mid-grade and low-grade spirit stones too poor in quality and just a waste of space, so she only carried top-grade and supreme-grade stones.

Her own spiritual energy had long since broken through the fifty-percent warning line! Fortunately, the damn fox had finally gained full control over his internal energy! She secretly gasped, "That was close," and hurriedly began to regulate her breathing.

I don't know how much time passed before a loud *boom* shook the dantian violently.

The dantian was expanding!

*Rumble—* In Hu Li’s sea of consciousness, the clouds formed by his consciousness rose in a thousand waves, one crashing over the next!

"Steady!" This time, both her physical self and her primordial spirit warned him.

Once the dantian expanded, the sea of consciousness would follow suit—it was impossible to stay steady! Cold sweat began to pour down Hu Li’s forehead.

There was no choice; Feng Ke’er had to double the intensity of her spiritual power injection—she was truly impressed with herself. Thankfully, she had the presence of mind to use the Heart-Cleansing Mantra and the Eight Qigong Forms to restore herself to peak condition early on.

This time, her spiritual power wasn't just "leading" the fox's energy for a stroll; it charged directly into the sea of consciousness to keep the peace. However, this task wasn't easy and was extremely draining.

Feng Ke’er wove a net of fine threads with her spiritual power, firmly covering Hu Li’s sea of consciousness to suppress the surging awareness. At the same time, her primordial spirit put on a brave face from the side: "Fox, don't panic, I'm watching the sea of consciousness. Just keep circulating your energy."

Hu Li felt immense gratitude. He wasn't a rookie. In over thirty thousand years, he had advanced countless times; how could he not know this was the most difficult and critical moment? Whatever Goddess Nüwa's purpose was in urging him to become the master's guardian, she was right about one thing: being the master's natal guardian beast was his greatest fortune!

A thought crossed his mind, and a dazzling silver light burst from his dantian.

A gale erupted.

"Ah—" Hu Li suddenly leaped up, opened his arms, and roared at the sky.

*Rip—* His silver robes tore completely, turning into countless fragments that rained down on the floor. His silver hair flew wildly, dancing like silver chains, reaching toward the sky.

This posture... the advancement was a success!

"Barrier, withdraw!" Feng Ke’er quickly retracted the barrier.

Sure enough, Hu Li’s silver hair split into countless strands, flying up like arrows, pointing angrily at the sky. Even though she had expected it, Feng Ke’er couldn't help but gasp and jump back several steps—if her hands and feet had been a second slower, her protective shield would have been shredded into a fishing net! She would have suffered a severe backlash from her own spiritual power!

Only then did Feng Ke’er notice the fiery red auspicious clouds swirling above the Heart of the Obstruction Sea. Hu Li’s facial features were shifting, his handsome face twisting into a knot. Yet, he still roared hoarsely: "Master, the passage is opening!"

The implication was that the ascension was about to begin, and she must follow closely!

At this moment, he was in the middle of his advancement; his dantian, sea of consciousness, and meridians were all undergoing a frantic upgrade. He himself was barely staying afloat.

If Feng Ke’er said she wasn't moved, she would be lying. So, this girl blocked the howling gale with her sleeve and shouted, "Nonsense! I know what to do!"

In reality, she had never experienced an ascension before; she didn't know anything at all!

*Boom—rumble—rumble—* As if mocking her for lying with her eyes open, low thunder rolled deep within the auspicious clouds.