"Chu Feng, you've always been the one helping me. If not for you… I never could have come here, met these seniors who treat me like family, and found a sense of belonging again."
"Chu Feng, let me help you for once. Like you always say — if we're friends, there's no need to stand on ceremony." Tantai Xue gazed at Chu Feng with a warm smile.
Tantai Xue rarely smiled, but today she had smiled many times. Perhaps this was the most Chu Feng had ever seen her smile since he'd first known her.
Hearing Tantai Xue say this, Chu Feng smiled as well. He was not one to fuss over such things, so he simply returned the smile without even a word of thanks.
After sharing that moment, Chu Feng suddenly opened his mouth wide and swallowed the bead whole.
"Young friend Chu Feng, what are you doing? Spit it out!" the Ice Snow Clan Chief exclaimed in alarm.
"Even if the heaven and earth energy inside that bead is incredibly pure, you can't just do something like this!"
"No matter how pure the energy, consuming that much at once will produce side effects!"
"You should spit it out and refine it bit by bit." The Ice Snow Clan Chief was thoroughly shaken by what he was witnessing.
However, Chu Feng merely offered a faint smile before settling into a cross-legged position. He pressed his palms together and closed his eyes.
He had ignored the Ice Snow Clan Chief's warnings entirely and begun formally refining the bead on the spot.
"Senior, let him be. Chu Feng is different from us — he has his own methods of cultivation," Tantai Xue said.
"But even so, is this way of cultivation really safe? It's far too risky." After Tantai Xue spoke, the Ice Snow Clan Chief no longer attempted to stop him, though he still watched Chu Feng with a skeptical gaze. He simply could not believe that Chu Feng was capable of refining all of that incredibly pure heaven and earth energy in a single go.
However, Chu Feng's body possessed a special barrier, so once the bead entered his system, even the Ice Snow Clan Chief — an Eighth Rank Martial Emperor — was unable to see through to what was happening inside him.
Time flew, and Chu Feng remained seated for a full half hour. After that half hour had passed, even Tantai Xue began to feel a trace of unease.
For at that moment, Chu Feng's brows were furrowed tightly, growing deeper by the minute — and this state persisted for yet another half hour.
Fortunately, after that second half hour, Chu Feng's deeply knitted brows suddenly relaxed. A look of relief spread across his face, and he promptly opened his eyes.
"Tantai Xue, you've truly done me an enormous favor." As soon as his eyes opened, Chu Feng rose to his feet. He first expressed his gratitude to Tantai Xue, then clasped his fists and bowed respectfully toward the Ice Snow Clan Chief. "Thank you, Senior, for bestowing such a grand gift upon me. This junior will surely repay your kindness in the future."
"Young friend Chu Feng — could it be that you've succeeded? You've refined all the heaven and earth energy within that bead?" The Ice Snow Clan Chief stared at Chu Feng in astonishment.
Though he could not perceive Chu Feng's cultivation level, Chu Feng's complexion was visibly ruddier than before. All of these signs pointed to something highly unusual — at the very least, it meant Chu Feng had not suffered any backlash from the bead.
And yet this left him utterly shocked. Even if Chu Feng was capable of refining the bead, it should not have happened this quickly.
"Senior, please observe — this is the power the bead has granted me."
As he spoke, Chu Feng's robes billowed outward, and a vast, overwhelming aura erupted from his body.
Upon sensing this aura, not only the Ice Snow Clan Chief but even Tantai Xue was caught completely off guard.
Chu Feng's aura was no longer that of a Second Rank Martial Emperor.
It was that of a Fourth Rank Martial Emperor.