Chapter 78: Chapter 78
Alicia’s expression became focused as she explained, her voice crisp and clear under the moonlight.
[The Energy of Heaven and Earth is a strange power born from the fabric of the world. It encompasses three distinct types:
The first and most precious is the Energy of Heavenly Veins, drawn from the highest laws of heaven—mysterious, powerful, and exceedingly rare.
The second is the Energy of Earth Veins, flowing in the hidden meridians deep underground—long and persistent, equally precious and rare.
The third is the Energy of Mortal Veins, the breath of all living things—ubiquitous but most diluted and mottled.]
[For cultivators, the Energy of Heaven and Earth is crucial. Tribulation Transcendence cultivators rely on it to survive their Mahayana catastrophe and for breakthroughs. For body cultivators, it is the cornerstone for condensing blood pills and resisting their own Nirvana catastrophe.
Blood pills synthesized with the energy of heavenly veins are mighty and inscrutable; those with earth veins are long-lasting and enduring; blood pills condensed with mortal veins are common and less refined.]
Ethan nodded slowly, the system’s crystalline explanations making things utterly clear.
The last puzzle pieces, what once seemed mysterious and distant, now defined the very key to breakthrough on his cultivation path.
But still, a shadow of doubt remained.
"Why can’t I sense the energy of heaven and earth?" he asked.
[Empty your mind and focus your mental power. Seek with all your being, and you will sense its traces.]
He obeyed, drawing all his mental strength inward, letting his thoughts become as empty as a clear pond beneath a spring wind.
Mental power fluttered outward, searching, straining. Time stretched—then, softly, he opened his eyes.
Before him shimmered an elusive wisp, yellow and thin as spider silk—a mist of earthly breath.
"So, that’s it... I really can sense it. This is the energy of heaven and earth?"
[Yes. What you’ve found is the energy of mortal veins.]
Only the most basic form.
"Why only mortal vein energy?"
Alicia’s answer was solemn.
[Because the energy of heaven and earth here are restricted. When energies are born, a hidden force blocks their flow, trapping them in the stars or the earth’s depths.
Only the mortal vein’s most faint tendrils bleed through.
To truly sense and absorb the highest energies, even with great mental power, requires external aid.]
"Blocked by some power?" Ethan’s brow tensed. The world’s mysteries seemed deeper and older than he’d ever guessed.
"What kind of force? Where did it come from?"
[Undetectable.]
"Even the system can’t probe it? Maybe your version isn’t advanced enough..." Ethan mused, half seriously, half as a joke.
Still, there was comfort in knowing he didn’t have to struggle for energy—he had the The Creation pill of Heaven and Earth, a legendary treasure perfectly tailored to break these bindings.
With a thought, Ethan summoned a brocade box into his palm. The box radiated fragrance that seemed to clear the mind and sharpen the senses with every whiff.
Lifting the lid, Ethan beheld the pill at its heart—half black, half white, a perfect harmony of heaven and earth, light and shadow. The scent alone invigorated his spirit.
"This is the true pinnacle of elixirs," he thought, "Heavenly and earthly energies at my fingertips."
He whispered a silent wish—may the pill let him forge a blood pill infused with the very highest heavenly vein energy!—and swallowed it whole.
The medicine dissolved, molten heat spreading through him, flooding every limb, every cell.
His eyes and back burned, and then—his Heaven-piercing Mind Eyes opened on their own. His vision changed utterly: above, the night sky was no longer just darkness, but a river of milky mist, radiant and heavy with power.
He could sense its grandeur, the rhythm and force of world-shaping laws within it. Heaven’s energy revealed at last.
"Yes!" Excitement nearly made him shake.
Hearts beating in tandem, his body responded eagerly, wild for this feast of power.
He reached into his storage ring, summoning every rare treasure he possessed—Seawood Heart, Ten Thousand Years Blood Sunflower, Thousand Years Ice Jade, and dozens more. Exquisite flowers, stones, and herbs, glowing with latent power, floated in the air.
They crumbled, transforming into torrents of energy that poured into his dantian, swirling and weaving.
A thumb-sized blood elixir began to coalesce, vibrant and vital, but still incomplete—just a trembling, misty core.
He knew: the key was now to fuse the energy of those heavenly veins into its heart.
Ethan looked to the sky.
From the vast river above, torrents of pure power spilled downward. Milky waterfalls of heavenly qi drenched him, feeding the blood pill’s core.
But just as triumph swelled—
The flow faltered.
From every horizon, iron chains materialized, snapping through the void.
They wove together in dazzling speed, forming an impenetrable mesh over the starry heavens. The celestial river dwindled, thinning from waterfall to threadbare mist.
"So this... this is what blocks the energy of heaven and earth!" Ethan’s eyes widened in both awe and anger.
Resolve surged.
"Break!" Ethan’s roar echoed through Echo Lake.
He thrust forth a palm filled with his essence and blood, essence swirling like a raging sea. Yet, as his attack struck the chains, crimson runes erupted.
They didn’t even tremble. The barrier did not budge.
"These chains... are beyond me. What kind of sealing is this?"
Fury burning, Ethan summoned his trump card: the Moonflood Scythe—a weapon forged from legends themselves. Azure light flickered along its blade, arcs of lightning snapping in its wake. Gripping the shaft, Ethan channeled every drop of his essence and will.
He raised the scythe high, the intent within him boiling to a peak—sharp, wild, and unstoppable.
The sheer violence of his will resonated with the blade, sending a shockwave into the heavens.
"Go!"
He swung with all his might.
Scythe intent surged forward, rendered visible—a colossal crescent of force sliced the air. Wind shrieked, the very space trembled before the scythe’s fury. It hurtled upward, a roaring turquoise tidal wave crashing at the iron net above.
Bang—!
The impact resonated like thunder between mountain peaks.
A/N:
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