Chapter 37: Drawing Qi into the Body

Bai He’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He rubbed them vigorously, unable to believe what he was witnessing.

A Spirit Master with only one spirit ring was capable of performing a feat akin to teleportation? This completely shattered his understanding of the world of Spirit Masters!

What he did not realize was that this was not a spatial ability, but rather the result of Bai Chenxiang pushing her wind and lightning powers to their absolute limit to achieve a desperate, extreme burst of speed. By utilizing the propulsion of the wind and the explosive force of the lightning, she had reached a critical threshold in an instant, creating a visual effect that mimicked teleportation. Even so, it was still utterly shocking.

After a few flashes, Bai Chenxiang finally reached the indentation in the cliffside. As she had sensed, this was a relatively safe "eye of the storm." Here, the violent wind and lightning energies were significantly more docile. Without a moment’s hesitation, she sat cross-legged, her hands resting on her knees, palms facing upward.

She was about to attempt something a hundred times more insane and dangerous than simply traversing the purgatory of wind and lightning. She was going to draw that energy into her body! She would actively channel the violent external forces into her own meridians, using her body as a furnace to refine and fuse them.

This was a reckless gamble. If she won, she would completely adapt to this environment, and her strength would skyrocket. If she lost, the consequences would be the total destruction of her meridians and death by explosion!

The moment the first strand of energy—a cocktail of wind blades and electric serpents—was guided into her body, Bai Chenxiang’s face turned deathly pale, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Agony was the only sensation. It felt as if every cell in her body were being repeatedly pierced by countless tiny steel needles and then scorched into charcoal by violent currents. Her body shook incessantly. Sweat had long since soaked through her clothes, dripping down her pale face. She bit her lips until they bled, yet she kept them tightly shut, refusing to let out a single groan of pain.

Inside her, a brutal war was unfolding. The wind and lightning energy she had drawn in was like a well-equipped, fearless barbarian army, rampaging and clashing wildly within the territory of her meridians. They were violent, chaotic, and filled with a desire for destruction.

In contrast, Bai Chenxiang’s own spirit power was like a well-trained but outnumbered regular army. Under the command of her will—the supreme commander—it resisted at every step, constantly attempting to divide, surround, and assimilate the "invaders."

The key to this war was not who was stronger, but who could hold out longer. Bai Chenxiang’s advantage lay in her absolute control over her own power and the resilience and recovery capabilities of her meridians, which had been greatly enhanced by the consumption of the Lightning Saliva Grass.

However, her disadvantage was the overwhelming disparity in power. The external wind and lightning energy was constant, endless, and inexhaustible.

Time ticked away, second by second. Under the relentless assault of the pain, Bai Chenxiang’s consciousness began to blur. Several times, she felt she could no longer hold on and wanted to simply give up, allowing the violent energy to tear her apart and grant her release.

But every time this thought arose, the image of her grandfather’s aged face, filled with worry and anticipation, would surface in her mind. She would see the numb, vacant eyes of her clansmen in the Swift Clan.

No! I cannot lose! If I lose, what will happen to Grandfather? What will happen to the Swift Clan? I did not come into this world to live a mediocre life and die in silence! I want to stand at the peak of this world and behold the scenery from the highest point! I will make the name "Swift" echo across the entire continent once more! I will show everyone that extreme speed can also reach divinity!

Her intense obsession transformed into unparalleled mental strength, forcibly pulling her crumbling consciousness back together.

"Boom!"

As if sensing her unyielding will, the wind and lightning energy within her suddenly shuddered. The wind and lightning, which had been fighting and clashing, showed faint signs of merging. The cyan wind intertwined with the purple lightning, forming a more stable and powerful cyan-purple energy flow.

To her surprise, this new energy flow became significantly less repulsive to her body. Wherever it passed, her torn meridians were repaired at a visible rate, widened, and made even tougher and more resilient than before!

Destruction leading to rebirth! A flash of enlightenment crossed Bai Chenxiang’s mind. She had finally found the correct path! It was not about suppression or resistance, but guidance and fusion! She would let the external wind and lightning become one with her own.

She began to carefully increase her absorption of the external energy. A wisp, two wisps... a thread, two threads... Gradually, a small vortex of cyan-purple energy formed around her body. In the valley, the violent wind and lightning seemed to have found an outlet, rushing madly toward this tiny vortex!

Outside the valley, Bai He was pacing back and forth, as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. For half a day, he had not sensed a single movement from his granddaughter. That area had become a black hole for his senses; every time his mental power touched it, it was shredded by an invisible force. He knew nothing of her condition—whether she lived or died, whether it was good or bad. This unknown waiting was more agonizing than watching her fall into danger with his own eyes.

"Heaven protect her, ancestors protect her, Xiangxiang must not be harmed," he muttered, hands pressed together in prayer toward the valley. There was no trace of the dignity of a Spirit Douluo left in him; he looked exactly like an empty-nested old man worried about a granddaughter who had returned home late.

Just then, he jerked his head up, two terrifying beams of light shooting from his cloudy eyes! He felt it! Deep in the valley, that once violent and chaotic energy was gathering toward a single point at an astonishing speed! The entire energy field of the Wind and Lightning Valley was fluctuating violently because of it!

"What is happening?" Bai He was horrified. "Could that girl have triggered some restriction and caused an energy riot?"

Once this thought took hold, he could no longer sit still. His eight spirit rings ignited behind him, a terrifying aura erupting into the sky as he prepared to charge in regardless of the consequences!

But just as he was about to move, he stopped dead in his tracks.

No. This accumulation of energy, while massive, was not chaotic. Instead, it carried a strange, tamed rhythm. It was like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, like ten thousand galloping horses—targeted, orderly, and disciplined.

He recalled the determined look in his granddaughter’s eyes before she entered. He remembered what she had told him: "Grandfather, believe in me."

Bai He’s fists clenched, cracking audibly, the muscles in his face twitching from the intense internal struggle. To enter, or not to enter? That was the question.

In the end, he chose to believe. He slowly retracted his spirit rings and sat back down, though his eyes remained fixed on the depths of the valley, his mental focus at its peak, ready to handle any sudden emergency.

He was gambling! Gambling on the future of his Swift Clan!