Splitting the Heave

Liu Qinglan felt that Shang Xia’s cultivation method could allow him to increase the speed at which he absorbed the heaven and earth qi around him. 

Regardless, there was a limit to how much inner qi one could contain in their body. It had to be something the cultivator could control too. Otherwise, they might experience cultivation deviation and die!

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Close to two hours passed, and the surface of the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool was the same as before. There was a massive vortex leading to the bottom.

From the looks of it, Shang Xia’s refining speed had reached a stable state.

“This is weird… He’s absorbing it so quickly! Can he actually transform it into his inner qi so quickly? Isn’t he afraid that he would absorb too much?” Sun Haiwei frowned.

Liu Qinglan had an unnatural expression on her face as she muttered, “Did I make a mistake in my estimations previously?” 

It didn’t take long for the third layer of essence qi stones to be revealed. 

The essence qi stones in the first layer completely crumbled and turned into dust.

There were 64 essence qi stones in the second layer, and they dimmed tremendously.

“Has he… Has he refined 30 percent of the energy already?!” Sun Haiwei cried.

When she entered the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool, it took her six hours to refine 30 percent of the energy contained within.

Even though the essence qi stones at the top were of the lowest grade, there were lots of them! There were 81 in the first layer and 64 in the second. Now that the essence qi stones in the first layer had turned to dust, it signified that Shang Xia had refined close to 30 percent of the energy.

“Teacher, do we operate the formation as usual?” Sun Haiwei muttered softly.

A trace of hesitation flashed through Liu Qinglan’s eyes. “We should be able to… It’s not likely for him to absorb more than 40 percent of the energy in the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool himself!” 

The corners of Sun Haiwei’s lips twitched, but she remained silent.

According to the usual operation, they would reverse the flow of the energy after Shang Xia completed his absorption. The energy released by the essence qi stones would return to where they came from, and that would prevent excessive leakage of heaven and earth qi.

Of course, they would still experience some wastage. 

In order to reverse the flow of the heaven and earth qi, the fire and ice qi would have to be completely absorbed or removed from the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool. Otherwise, more energy would dissipate.

That was the rule set by the institution. Every time the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool was opened, there would be an enforcer to reverse the flow of the energy before they could all go to waste. After all, the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool was an extremely precious resource. 

Even Sun Haiwei, an expert who was heavily nurtured by the institution, wasn’t able to enter the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool whenever she pleased! There was no way the institution would allow the energy contained in the pool to be wasted!

Liu Qinglan did her a great favor by bringing her down to the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool. She could utilize the dissipating energy after Shang Xia was done to cultivate, and that could be considered a reward for her great service to the institution.

When they looked at the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool, a seed of doubt formed in their minds. After he was done, there might not be much energy left!

One had to know that reversing the flow of the heaven and earth qi would waste some of the energy contained within. The lesser the energy left after Shang Xia’s cultivation, the less they would waste. Whatever… Letting him absorb more might not be a bad thing either

As another hour passed, Liu Qinglan heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that the vortex wasn’t as strong as before. “It’s finally slowing down!” 

It was true that Shang Xia slowed down slightly, but from what Sun Haiwei knew, the deeper they were in the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool, the denser the energy contained. Shang Xia might have slowed down in his absorption, but the quality of the fire and ice qi he absorbed was still of extremely high purity!

Sun Haiwei felt a sense of defeat coursing through her. Shang Xia had absorbed more than 30 percent of the energy contained within!

He would be able to surpass 40 percent soon!

All of a sudden, Liu Qinglan’s voice rang in her mind. “How strong were you when you entered?” 

“I was at the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm!” Sun Haiwei felt the corners of her lips twitching.

“Shang Xia should probably still be at the small completion stage, right?” Liu Qinglan frowned.

How long had it been since he entered the Martial Extremity Realm?!

Even if he directly absorbed energy from the essence qi stones, his cultivation couldn’t have reached the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm, right?!

Instructor Liu, can’t you think about my feelings before asking that question?! I was still his teacher a month ago! 

Sun Haiwei felt her confidence crumbling. What do you mean still at the small completion stage? I’ve been at the Martial Extremity Realm for so long now!

She couldn’t find it in herself to answer the question.

…

The cultivation method Shang Xia used was completely different from the rest of the cultivators!

Not only could he increase his mastery over both types of opposing qi, but he could also transform them into any type he liked!

It was true that cultivators who practiced the Triple Mystery Polarity Art would be able to absorb energy much faster than everyone else, but Liu Qinglan didn’t know that Shang Xia had already fused the cultivation method into his own!

As the fire and ice qi poured into his body, they were instantly refined by the Yin Yang Diagram.

“When cultivators at the Martial Extremity Realm cultivate, they are unable to maintain a perfect balance between the two opposing types of qi… In order to increase their cultivation level, they would choose to only train in one. When they reached the large completion stage in one type, they would seal away the qi in their body and try to increase their mastery of the other one, finally reaching an equilibrium…”

“Cultivators who had reached the large completion stage in one type of qi would be considered small completion stage cultivators at the Martial Extremity Realm. Those who reached the large completion stage in both types of qi would be considered to have reached the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm!”

“Now, neither type of qi in my dantian has yet to reach the large completion stage. With the sudden influx of so much energy, controlling my inner qi is getting a little difficult! I should be reaching my limit soon!”

“Well… Haste makes waste. It’s true that I can increase my cultivation by a lot through the Polarity Essence Gathering Pool, but I should consolidate my foundations. If I absorb too much and lose control of my inner qi, the risk of experiencing cultivation deviation would increase by several times!”

Shang Xia thought to himself before slowing down considerably.

All of a sudden, an idea crossed his mind. His Yin Yang Essence Qi started to transform to that of the yang attribute as the Yin Yang Diagram in his dantian sped up.

In that instant, the amount of yang attributed qi in his body reached an incredible level! He discovered that his mastery over the yang attributed qi in his body reached the large completion stage, and according to the definition of cultivators in the Azure Origin World, he reached the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm!