Inside the room, Yang Kai sat cross-legged upon the Yang Crystal Jade Bed, the True Yang Technique spinning at a frenzied pace.
Unlike Lü Si, who had merely drawn out a trickle of gentle Yang Qi to tend to his meridians, Yang Kai was now devouring the energy stored within the jade bed with reckless abandon.
His entire body seemed to have become a bottomless pit. Every acupoint along his frame exuded an incomparable, vast suction, and strands of golden energy—visible to the naked eye—were being drawn from the jade bed, threading into Yang Kai's acupoints like fine silk before winding through his meridians and pooling in his dantian.
An unprecedented sense of comfort welled up within him.
It truly deserved to be a mid-tier mysterious-grade jade. Yang Kai could clearly feel just how pure and how vast the Yang Qi flooding into his body was.
As if stimulated by that influx, his own meridians pulsed ceaselessly, refining the subtle impurities within so the incoming Yang Qi could become ever purer, ever more untainted.
His meridians swelled to saturation in short order, and with a soft, dripping sound, a fresh drop of Yang Liquid took shape and sank into his dantian.
The bloated meridians instantly turned hollow and empty, and the rate of absorption accelerated once more.
Bit by bit, yet swiftly, the energy within the jade bed became Yang Kai's to command. Drop after drop of Yang Liquid formed in his dantian, while the entire Yang Crystal Jade Bed shrank at a subtle but unmistakable pace.
Throughout the process, Yang Kai's flesh, blood, and internal organs seemed to undergo an indescribable baptism.
Two days later, Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes, their brilliance gleaming bright.
His dantian now held no fewer than two hundred drops of Yang Liquid. When he had emerged from the Malevolent Spirit Cavern, only a meager twenty-odd drops had remained. Now that number had exploded tenfold.
That spoke volumes about just how terrifying the energy contained within this massive Yang Crystal Jade Bed truly was.
The Yang Liquid of today was vastly different from before. Yang Kai's Zhenyuan had grown far purer, and with it, the energy held within a single drop of Yang Liquid was many times greater than it had once been. So even two hundred drops represented an absolutely formidable reserve.
More than enough to sustain a long stretch of lavish expenditure.
The Yang Crystal Jade Bed had all but vanished. Lü Si could never have imagined that the very jade bed he had relied upon for healing—the one the Lü family had poured enormous wealth and manpower to procure—would, in less than two days after being handed over, have nearly ceased to exist.
Only a palm-sized fragment remained.
Yang Kai held the small piece of Yang Crystal Jade in his hand, his gaze flickering with puzzlement.
He had discovered that even with the True Yang Technique running at full capacity, he was unable to absorb the energy from this particular fragment. Something within it seemed to possess a strange force that resisted the suction emanating from his body.
If he truly committed himself to it, Yang Kai was confident he could drain it eventually. But having stumbled upon this peculiar phenomenon, he wanted to understand it first.
The palm-sized piece of jade was still entirely golden in hue, its color deeper and more substantial than the surrounding Yang Crystal Jade. A subtle, restrained luster circulated within it.
He studied it curiously for a while but couldn't discern anything of note.
After a moment's pause, Yang Kai released his Divine Sense to probe the jade. Yet when his sense sank into it, it was like plunging into darkness—nothing came back. He could detect no abnormality within the stone at all.
Both Zhenyuan and Divine Sense proved useless. The jade appeared to be nothing more than ordinary Yang Crystal Jade, but Yang Kai couldn't shake the feeling that something about it was off. Left with no other option, he called out toward the door: "Tu Feng! Tang Yuxian!"
The door opened and Tu Feng and Tang Yuxian entered together.
"Young Master, what are your orders?" Tu Feng asked in a low voice. Tang Yuxian, however, stared at Yang Kai without blinking. She noticed that after only two days apart, this young master seemed to have grown stronger once more—his Zhenyuan Realm seventh-layer cultivation, which he had only recently advanced to, had surged forward by a significant margin. His entire bearing carried the air of a man riding high on the wind.
Strange! Tang Yuxian shook her head inwardly. How could a mere two days of secluded cultivation produce such a dramatic increase in strength?
And what had happened to the Yang Crystal Jade Bed? She couldn't find any trace of it in the room.
Yang Kai casually tossed the jade fragment to Tu Feng. "Take a look—do you think there's something hidden inside it?"
Tu Feng caught it without thinking. A flash of surprise crossed his eyes, quickly suppressed, and he furrowed his brow. Gripping the jade, he released his power and sensed it for a while before shaking his head. "My attainment in Divine Sense isn't as refined as Yuxian's. I can't see anything special. Let her have a look."
Yang Kai glanced at Tang Yuxian with mild surprise. He hadn't expected her to surpass Tu Feng in soul-related arts.
At the Shenyou Realm, one had to cultivate not only the physical body but also the power of the soul. Some individuals possessed a unique understanding of Divine Sense and soul techniques, giving them an edge over other Shenyou Realm cultivators in that particular domain.
Tang Yuxian was undoubtedly one of those people.
Yang Kai nodded, and Tu Feng handed the jade over to Tang Yuxian.
She offered a gentle smile, accepted the fragment, closed her lovely eyes, and channeled her Divine Sense into it.
Gradually, a solemn expression settled over Tang Yuxian's delicate features, as if she had truly found something different. The stream of Divine Sense pouring into the jade grew noticeably stronger.
Yang Kai's eyes lit up, his anticipation building.
After quite some time, Tang Yuxian finally withdrew her Divine Sense, let out a soft breath, and opened her eyes. A glimmer of excitement danced within her beautiful gaze. "Young Master—this is a jade that has nurtured a True Spirit within!"