Shattering the Dantian

The young boy was not yet skilled in the matters of the world, so he could not hide the expressions that crossed his very animated face.

You. Repay your senior brother? There is a higher chance of me ascending to become Buddha than that happening. Besides, who are you that the senior brother asked me to send this box to?

The young boy's deer-like eyes were filled with suspicion and distrust.

"Are you close to your senior brother?"

He looked even more aghast that Gu Yuze could ask him such a question. Puffing out his chest and patting it, he boasted, "In this sect, aside from Senior Brother, I am the closest to him."

So that means that even people close to Su Hai know nothing about their relationship. Were they friends? What were they?

"Okay. Bye." He shooed the little boy away and opened the box with a little excitement.

Three bottles of water, six fasting pills. They were larger and glowed even brighter than the ones he had gotten from Yi Hai.

There was a note this time: "Meditate first so your mind and heart can be calm. Be steady. Don't rush. When you succeed, you can have this as a reward."

It was a packet of milk candy. Did he think he was a child? Who gives someone milk candy as a reward for dispersing his cultivation?

Su Hai had said when, not if.

Gu Yuze's heart felt like it had been soaked in water. He couldn't truly comprehend this indiscernible emotion, so he just held the box tighter.

He was always picking at everything with suspicion and suddenly did not want to poke at this relationship.

He didn't mind anything going wrong in there; after all, if he dies, he dies.

"I think I would be more careful." He whispered, he needed to taste this milk candy after all.

With that, Gu Yuze entered the room.

The cultivation room was small, barely fifteen paces wide. Its walls were carved from high-quality cinnabar, a material used both for talismans and arrays because of its ability to amplify energy retention.

The floor was inlaid with a simple energy-gathering array, and at the center of the room sat a Frost Jade Platform. It might be very simple, but Gu Yuze could tell that the spiritual energy in this room was twice as dense as the spiritual energy outside.

He closed the door behind him. He kept the box next to him on the platform, taking out one Fasting Pill and gulping it down. Gu Yuze's eyes widened.

It was... sweet.

Since when were fasting pills sweet? He could not quite pinpoint this flavor. Gu Yuze smiled as he looked at the box.

Next, he sat down cross-legged, adopting the Five Hearts Facing the Heavens posture.

The spiritual energy flowed slowly around him, swirling like a gentle breeze and brushing against his body. He closed his eyes, adjusting his breath until he synchronized with the pure energy, allowing himself to merge with it.

In and Out. In and Out. Spiritual energy flowed into his meridians, gathering at his dantian. Gu Yuze cultivated for over five hours he felt like he had gathered enough energy for the ritual.

He took out a sharp knife from his robes and a blue porcelain bowl. Looking apathetically at his wrist, he slid the silver knife through, watching as the red blood dripped into the bowl.

When he had gotten enough, he tore his robes, using the inner lining to tie his wrist.

He hummed slightly and then began to chant.

"Heaven is clear. Earth is tranquil.

Ten thousand spirits to aid this rite."

His finger trembled slightly as he dipped it into the bowl. This ritual had two paths: to gather and to disperse. When he was younger, his father and the elders had performed the Tian of the ritual, occasionally dispersing the immense spiritual energy gathered in his young body. When he had grown up, Gu Yuze had dispersed the excess energy by hunting and exorcising.

He had never done this ritual this way before. Using his body as a living talisman.

He was being reckless, he knew. After all, this was not his body.

On his forehead, he used the blood to draw the Heavenly Gate Sigil; over his heart, he drew the Debtors Sigil; and on his right palm, Jie Ling Yin.

"By blood as the guide, by heart as the pledge.

The Big Dipper lends its power, nine cycles gathered as one."

Gu Yuze gasped as the spiritual energy flooded his body. It rushed through his meridians, powerful, pure, and chaotic.

It was almost instantaneous, the amount of spiritual energy that filled his body.

A tipsy feeling slowly appeared inside Gu Yuze's body along with the spiritual energy.

A hot surge appeared inside his dantian and shot up through his body. The energy was so much that he was about to advance to the next stage. At the same time, the tipsy feeling became even stronger. Gu Yuze's eyes were no longer clear and became muddy.

His body slowly leaned to the side, and his head dropped. Why was he feeling so sleepy? It was almost as if...

Gu Yuze pressed his injured wrist. The sharp, agonizing pain forced him awake.

A spiritual attack. This damned seal.

Gu Yuze easily took control of the energy in his dantian as he chanted. Since he could not erase this seal for now, then he would seal it.

The spiritual energy continued to flood his body. The tipsy feeling disappeared, and Gu Yuze could clearly feel the condition his body was in.

All the channels in his meridians were being forcibly expanded by a robust surge of spiritual energy flowing through them, stretching them to the extent they felt like they were almost going to explode. The agonizing pain caused Gu Yuze's entire body to be bathed in cold sweat, more intolerable than having someone cutting your bone with a knife.

But he continued chanting, his hands clenched tightly into fists, blood dripping out from wounds on his palms where his nails had dug deep into.

As he continued to recite the calming mantra, he unclenched his palm, his mind finding stability and control in the pain.

Soon, he found he could feel his meridains trembling, like a child who has eaten too much that they could barely breathe or walk.

With one sharp breath, he focused it all inward.

Snap. The sound of something shattered echoed in his soul.