Yang Kai walked straight into the vein of earth, and the moment he was enveloped by the rich ambient energy of heaven and earth, a wave of comfort washed through his entire body. Without even activating his cultivation technique, billions of pores across his body opened of their own accord. Every inch of flesh, every cell, seemed to rejoice.
The ambient energy was incredibly rich and pure—Yang Kai was overjoyed.
He sat cross-legged and activated his cultivation technique, devouring the energy from the earth vein like a whale sucking in water.
That legendary thief had managed to cultivate to a level that gave headaches to countless overseas sects over thirty years, partly thanks to the Warm Divine Lotus and partly because of this earth vein.
The former nourished the soul, and the latter nourished the body. Possessing both treasures, it would have been strange if his strength hadn't surged.
It was a shame that this was only a minor earth vein. The ambient energy it contained wasn't all that vast, and after being absorbed by that thief for thirty years, the energy remaining in the vein was nearly exhausted and on the verge of drying up.
But even so, for Yang Kai in his current state, it was still a tremendous tonic.
His body's unique constitution allowed him to absorb the ambient energy even faster than the thief had. The Proud Bone Golden Body was a bottomless pit—no matter how much energy flooded in, it could be swallowed without the slightest worry of overloading.
Moreover, the energy contained in the earth vein was so pure and dense that it hardly needed to be refined. After circulating through his meridians for a single cycle, it poured straight into the vast warehouse of his Proud Bone Golden Body, becoming Yang Kai's stored reserves and foundation.
Yang Kai devoured the earth vein's energy while the Earth Demon devoured the sea of consciousness left behind by the thief. Neither disturbed the other, and both were enjoying themselves immensely, having lost all track of time.
A full month and a half later, Yang Kai finally took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.
The minor earth vein beneath him had been completely drained by his unchecked consumption. The visible, swirling ambient energy of heaven and earth was gone.
He carefully assessed his current realm, and a pleased expression crossed his face.
Without realizing it, his strength had already risen to the ninth stage of the Qi Movement Realm—just one final step away from breaking through to the Separation-Union Realm.
Furthermore, Yang Kai could sense that the energy within his body, both in quality and volume, had already reached the level of the Separation-Union Realm. What he lacked was that final layer of martial dao comprehension.
Every major realm breakthrough required a degree of personal insight. It had been the same when he advanced to the Kaiyuan Realm, and the same when he reached the Qi Movement Realm. Now, breaking through to the Separation-Union Realm would demand the same.
The problem was that Yang Kai hadn't yet touched that barrier. That would depend on opportunity and luck—it wasn't something brute-force cultivation alone could grant.
He looked up. The Earth Demon had indeed finished absorbing all the sea of consciousness energy surrounding the Warm Divine Lotus and was now waiting idly for him to wake up.
Before him was the five-colored Warm Divine Lotus. Yang Kai slowly rose to his feet and approached this supreme treasure for nourishing the soul.
"Earth Demon, are there any special procedures for taking it?" Yang Kai asked.
"No special procedures. If the young master were a Shenyou Realm expert with a developed Divine Sense, he might need to struggle with it for a while. But since the young master hasn't yet cultivated Divine Sense, all he needs to do is take it."
Since there was nothing tricky about it, Yang Kai didn't hesitate. He reached out toward the five-colored Warm Divine Lotus, and the instant his fingertips touched the flower, it vanished without a trace.
At the same moment, Yang Kai felt a sudden surge of clarity. His mind became sharper than it had ever been, and even his perception had sharpened considerably.
Involuntarily, he drew a sharp breath, and a shiver of pure pleasure ran through his entire body.
He probed carefully but couldn't detect any trace of the Warm Divine Lotus. Yet Yang Kai knew it was now within his mind—he would only be able to see it once he had cultivated Divine Sense.
"Ah, the five-colored Warm Divine Lotus…" The Earth Demon's voice was thick with envy and jealousy.
"Haha." Yang Kai laughed heartily.
"Young master, in the future you'll need to find rare treasures that nourish the soul to feed the Warm Divine Lotus. The day it evolves into seven-colored form, its benefit to you will be even greater."
"It can grow?" Yang Kai was surprised.
"Of course. When the Warm Divine Lotus is first born, it has only a single color. It has its own grades—the more colors it has, the higher the grade. At its peak, it can reach seven colors. To put it simply: a one-colored Warm Divine Lotus would take a hundred years to double someone's sea of consciousness. A five-colored one only needs twenty years, and a seven-colored one just five!"
"Impressive!" Yang Kai silently clicked his tongue. Though he hadn't yet cultivated Divine Sense, he knew how grueling the process was. Just as the Earth Demon had said before, cultivating Divine Sense was over a hundred times harder than cultivating the body. But now, with the Warm Divine Lotus to help, his Divine Sense would grow stronger and more solid on its own without any effort on his part.
"So the five-colored Warm Divine Lotus is actually pretty decent then." Yang Kai wasn't dissatisfied at all. Getting his hands on this thing at all was already a stroke of outrageous fortune—he couldn't very well expect to obtain a seven-colored one right off the bat.
"Of course it's an excellent treasure. If it grows to seven colors in the future, it would be one of the world's supreme treasures! But it grows very slowly, and it only absorbs the energy of treasures that enhance Divine Sense. Turning this five-colored one into seven-colored one will take considerable effort from the young master."
"What will be, will be. I won't force it." Yang Kai had a fairly easygoing attitude about it. If it managed to evolve to seven colors during his lifetime, that would be his good fortune. If not, forcing the issue wouldn't help.