Chapter 160: Chapter 158: Immense Benefits

Lotus leaves covered the entire stone trough, which spanned over ten meters. Every single leaf was like green Jade! A lustrous sheen flowed across them, their veins and patterns clearly visible. It was a magnificent sight!

Not even the most brilliant master artisan in the world could carve such a treasure!

In the center was a lotus so pure it made one’s very soul tremble. Each petal resembled white jade, emanating a powerful Spiritual Power that saturated the entire cave!

There was no mist of condensed Spiritual Qi here, yet Qin Li could tell with a single glance that the water filling the stone trough was nothing less than liquified Spiritual Qi!

If the nameless Spirit Grass Qin Li had just obtained was supreme-grade, then this lotus was Divine Grade!

’Nature’s Creation births divine wonders. What kind of miraculous Creation could have possibly produced such a Spiritual Object?’

Qin Li marveled inwardly but found no trace of any Spirit Beasts. ’It’s actually ownerless!’ he thought.

The surging Spiritual Power from the lotus left Qin Li at a loss. He had no idea how to handle this ultimate treasure, a Spiritual Object born from the very essence of Creation.

He cast aside his hesitation and leaped down. The air inside the cave was temperate, giving him an extremely comfortable feeling. ’This lotus really is Divine Grade!’ Qin Li thought. ’Normally, plants with immense Spiritual Power radiate their Spiritual Qi outward, following the Celestial Dao to nourish the heavens and the earth.’

This lotus, however, kept its Spiritual Qi almost completely internalized. If he hadn’t come to this exact spot, he would never have imagined such a miraculous item could exist here!

’Otherwise, how could it have remained undiscovered by any Spirit Beast for so many years?’

First, Qin Li took the red fruit from his ring. This time, without any hesitation, he popped it into his mouth. With a gentle bite, a divine nectar was squeezed from the fruit, instantly filling his mouth with a fragrant sweetness!

Qin Li swore that this was countless times more delicious than any delicacy he had ever eaten. ’No wonder the legends say that gods and immortals only eat Immortal Fruits,’ he thought. ’If you could eat this every day, who would ever miss the flavors of the mortal world?’

At the same time, a vast wave of energy from the red Vermilion Fruit surged into Qin Li’s body. In his Dantian, the purple vortex of qi began to absorb it frantically.

An explosive sensation burst forth from the purple vortex in his Dantian, flooding into Qin Li’s Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

The next moment, an immense wave of pain crashed over him!

The pain arrived silently, yet it was so sharp and vicious that Qin Li had to suppress the urge to scream in agony. It felt as if every single one of his meridians was on fire!

This body of his had an excellent foundation, established since childhood. Even so, the pain was becoming unbearable.

Qin Li’s face was twisted in a savage grimace, and his clothes were instantly soaked with sweat. As the Vermilion Fruit’s power fully activated, the pain inside him showed no signs of lessening. On the contrary, it grew even more ferocious!

His entire body felt as if it had been ignited from within!

"Water... I need water!" Qin Li’s agonized voice was forced from between his clenched teeth. His consciousness was starting to blur, while the purple vortex in his Dantian began to spin frantically.

Staggering, Qin Li rushed toward the stone trough, scooped up a handful of the water condensed from Spiritual Qi, and splashed it onto his face.

WHOOSH!

A bone-chilling cold washed over him, and the unbearable pain seemed to recede slightly. As his mind cleared a little, he hurriedly circulated his Innate Purple Qi Technique, trying to guide the immeasurably vast Primordial Power rampaging inside him and bring it under control.

That was the worst thing he could have done. The moment the Innate Purple Qi Technique began to circulate, the immense pain struck again, now with ten times the force!

Passing out was a luxury he couldn’t afford. His mind was excruciatingly clear, and as the frantic energy rampaged through his body, he could even intermittently sense the scene outside the cave!

In a daze, he even saw a small, completely crimson bird land on a branch extending over the river beside the great waterfall!

Right now, Qin Li felt like a small boat tossed about by massive waves in a stormy sea, in danger of capsizing at any moment. In his desperation, his hand couldn’t stop itself from reaching for the lotus that resembled white jade.

SNAP!

With a heartbreaking sound, the lotus that had grown for untold years was crudely ripped from its stem. Without even registering how heavy it was, Qin Li shoved it to his mouth.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH... He started to chew!

He began stuffing it down his throat in huge bites!

This was the very definition of an ox devouring a peony.

Strangely, as Qin Li devoured the lotus bite by bite, the burning sensation in his meridians began to gradually subside!

By the time he had eaten the entire lotus, the immense pain had vanished completely!

With his mind completely clear again, Qin Li collapsed onto the ground, feeling utterly drained. ’Thank goodness,’ he thought, ’I’m just too damn lucky. Otherwise, I would have definitely died here today.’

’I thought I’d stumbled upon a peerless opportunity, but I never imagined it would nearly cost me my life!’

"Just as I thought. You can’t have too much luck all at once, or else you’re bound to face the consequences..." Qin Li sighed and muttered to himself.

Just then, he tried circulating the Innate Purple Qi Technique again. The torrent of energy in his body seemed to have completely disappeared. But then, to his shock, Qin Li discovered that his meridians had, without him noticing, widened by two to three times!

This discovery left Qin Li incredibly excited. If his meridians were originally as thick as an embroidery needle, they were now as thick as a matchstick!

What did this mean?

It meant that under the same conditions, Qin Li could absorb two to three times more Spiritual Qi than others!

In other words, in one year of cultivation, where others would gain one year of Power, Qin Li... could gain two to three years of Power!

And in ten years? Twenty? Thirty?

Thirty years of cultivation for Qin Li would be equivalent to ninety years for other Martial Artists!

This... was the disparity!

An excited light flashed in Qin Li’s eyes. ’All that pain wasn’t for nothing!’ he thought.

What he didn’t know was that he wouldn’t have died, even without the lotus. It was just that the giant golden tiger had suffered far, far more than he had. Moreover, the giant golden tiger originally had no wings, its body wasn’t nearly as massive, and even its fur was an ordinary yellow.

That was because the beast had been even more reckless than Qin Li, devouring eight Vermilion Fruits in one go. The pain had been so great that its very soul had nearly dissipated, leaving it unconscious in its cave for a full month!

When it awoke, it had transformed into the creature it was today!

As for Qin Li, eating the white lotus was not without its own benefits. When he looked inside his Dantian, he was once again left speechless.

Previously, in his Dantian, there had been a fist-sized purple vortex of qi, as beautiful and mesmerizing as a brilliant galaxy.

But now... now it had become a fist-sized... vortex of Chaotic Qi, with purple swirling in white, and white in purple!

The brilliant, starry-river effect was completely gone. However, the surging, heart-pounding aura it now emanated let Qin Li know that his strength had not weakened in the slightest. On the contrary, it seemed he had gained something new from this change.

Qin Li recalled how, at the peak of his agony, his Divine Sense had seemed to extend beyond the cave, clearly "seeing" a small red bird. A possibility suddenly dawned on him. Today’s incredible encounter hadn’t allowed him to break through to the Celestial Shattering Realm, but it had granted him a massive breakthrough in another area—his Divine Sense, for example!

No sooner thought than done. Qin Li released his Divine Sense. He hadn’t known what to expect, but the moment he did, he was staggered.

As Qin Li released his Divine Sense, the entire world instantly came alive! His Divine Sense passed through the layers of rock, "seeing" earthworms wriggling through the soil, various insects in the dirt, and even a large rat dozing in its burrow. Qin Li could perceive everything with absolute clarity, right down to the rat’s whiskers! The image was projected directly into his mind. He closed his eyes. The sensation was simply wonderful! 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Qin Li couldn’t say whether a Supreme Powerhouse in the Venerable Realm possessed this kind of ability, as he had never met one. However, he was certain that no Martial Artist in the Celestial Integration Realm or the Celestial Embracing Realm could possibly achieve this!

He himself was on the verge of breaking through to the Celestial Shattering Realm, so it was a level well within his understanding. Furthermore, he had even witnessed a Martial Artist at the peak of the Celestial Shattering Realm before.

Take the Elder from the Paradise Celestial Palace he had killed, for instance. If that Elder had possessed this kind of ability, then no matter how Qin Li tried to hide, he would have never escaped his notice!

Furthermore, Qin Li’s Divine Sense continued to extend outward: one thousand meters, two thousand meters... all the way to five thousand meters!

Within a radius of five kilometers, wherever Qin Li’s thoughts went, the scene would instantly appear before him, as if he were seeing it with his own eyes!

Qin Li was confident that no Martial Artist below the Venerable Realm could possibly possess this level of ability!

Within the range of his Divine Sense, he saw the little red bird again. It was currently perched on a large tree, chirping away. His Divine Sense had no effect on the sensitive little creature.

A mischievous thought suddenly occurred to Qin Li. He infused a trace of Spiritual Power into his Divine Sense and sent a friendly message to the bird.

He didn’t expect the bird to spread its wings, flutter away in a panic, and let out a series of terrified chirps.

Qin Li grinned, chuckling silently to himself. Suddenly, however, he felt a constricting emptiness in his mind, as if his entire brain had gone blank.

Startled, he hurriedly withdrew his Divine Sense. He sat cross-legged for more than four hours before he began to feel a little better, though he still felt mentally exhausted.

A wry smile touched the corners of Qin Li’s lips. ’It seems there’s a price to pay for showing off.’