Chapter 93: Crisis

The roast meat hadn’t gone bad—it wasn’t food poisoning! Moreover, the first layer of the Purifying Heart Mantra already had detoxifying properties; how could she possibly be poisoned? Feng Ke’er braced herself against the searing pain, sat cross-legged with the five points of her heart aligned upward, and focused inward on her dantian.

The chaotic spiritual energy collided with her six dantian, large and small, like little boats bobbing on a river’s surface, swaying gently. The five-colored spiritual energy bands, previously liquefied and spinning rapidly around them, were now shrouded in a layer of blue mist, showing signs of vaporization. That blue mist was, in fact, the fully purified water spiritual energy.

Feng Ke’er quickly understood: after refining the last piece of Dragon’s Eye Fossil, the water spiritual energy within her body surged, far surpassing the other four elements, teetering on the edge of imbalance among the five elemental energies. This was a dangerous state. If it were any other cultivator at her level, even a slight circulation of energy could lead to a deviation in the flow, triggering a cultivation fire, or worse, destroying the dantian and losing their life. However, since she practiced the Purifying Heart Mantra, her spiritual sense was hundreds of times stronger than her peers, and her control over spiritual energy was masterful. Thus, she didn’t feel anything amiss—until the faint water spiritual energy from the roasted Golden Coin Carp she just ate became the proverbial last straw, shattering that critical balance and causing a direct elemental imbalance within her.

If she didn’t act quickly... the consequences would be dire!

Feng Ke’er hurriedly began practicing the first layer of the Purifying Heart Mantra. She recalled that the first layer strengthened spiritual sense and suppressed spiritual energy, while the second layer’s purpose was to refine spiritual energy and convert it into the energy needed to sustain bodily functions. With the current imbalance, her first instinct was to stabilize her mind and suppress the spiritual energy.

Little did she know, trying to control the energy only made the water spiritual energy more violent. It expanded rapidly, like an old steamed bun swelling in a steamer, growing visibly larger. Initially, it was only half the size of the other energy bands combined, but in the blink of an eye, it increased by another third. The blue mist enveloping the other four colored halos grew thicker.

This is bad. Feng Ke’er gasped, hastily stopping her efforts. At this moment, the water spiritual energy inside her was like a raging flood, while the first layer of the Purifying Heart Mantra merely strengthened her spiritual sense, building high dams within her to block the energy. If her spiritual sense were twice as strong, perhaps she could contain it. But no matter how powerful the Mantra was, it couldn’t double her spiritual sense in mere moments while her energy was out of control!

All this trouble was caused by the surplus water spiritual energy. The only solution was to immediately, urgently, and quickly refine away the excess! Without hesitation, Feng Ke’er activated the second layer of the Purifying Heart Mantra.

Fighting through the agony, she forcibly circulated the water spiritual energy through her body for one complete cycle, nearly biting through her silver teeth.

“Puh!” It felt as if someone had punched her hard in the chest. Feng Ke’er’s eyes widened as she spat out a mouthful of black blood.

“Clack!” The blood was so dense it smashed a shallow pit into the hard stone floor!

Damn it, the speed at which she refined the water spiritual energy couldn’t keep up with its production!

It was as if she’d been cursed. Other people’s dantian required vast amounts of spiritual energy to nourish them, but hers could seemingly expel spiritual energy. Whenever she ran the second layer of the Mantra, her six dantian, large and small, became like oil wells operating at full capacity, competing to gush out pure water spiritual energy.

Her dantian, suffering severe loss of spiritual energy, began to crack at the surface. The five-colored energy bands circling them rapidly drilled into the dantian. The dantian, like six drought-stricken rice fields, greedily absorbed the five types of energy, only to immediately expel even more water spiritual energy.

Yes, she wasn’t seeing things. The five types of energy entered the dantian and, in an instant, were all converted into pure water spiritual energy and expelled!

Thus, the more she refined the water spiritual energy, the more it increased inside her!

Was this a case of breaking down before building anew? As the saying goes, before God destroys someone, he drives them mad. Converting spiritual energy into bodily energy was a lavish endeavor, consuming vast amounts of energy and spiritual power. Ignoring the river of sweat pouring down her cheeks, Feng Ke’er summoned her strength and completed two more major cycles.

As she wished, the water spiritual energy rapidly contracted, the blue mist on the five-colored halos vanished. It seemed as if the five elemental energies inside her were quickly returning to balance.

The pain disappeared!

Before Feng Ke’er could rejoice, she noticed something strangely out of the ordinary: after contracting into water spiritual liquid, the energy didn’t quietly dissolve into her organs as usual, transforming into energy. Instead, it continued to spin rapidly and shrink.

Gradually, above her largest dantian, a white vortex the size of a fist appeared, surrounded by a mysterious pale purple glow.

“Crack...” She could even hear the terrifying sound of compression from within the spiritual liquid.

What was happening? Feng Ke’er was terrified. Instinct told her this was not a good sign.

Stop! Stop! She decisively halted her energy circulation.

But the water spiritual energy inside her was completely out of control, surging forward to pour into that damned vortex. The vortex grew smaller and smaller, the compression sounds within growing more frenzied.

Feng Ke’er sadly realized she couldn’t move! It was as if she’d been immobilized—she couldn’t even twitch her brows or move a finger.

She could only watch in terror.

After more than a quarter of an hour, the unruly water spiritual energy between her dantian had all poured into the vortex, which had shrunk to the size of an infant’s fist.

It seemed the danger had passed.

All this trouble was caused by eating recklessly. Feng Ke’er tried to comfort herself: “At least it doesn’t hurt...”

Just as the thought surfaced, there was a sudden “crack” from her second-largest blue dantian! Instantly, excruciating pain tore through every nerve ending.

Feng Ke’er didn’t even have time to cry out before she was drowned in endless agony.

The worst part was, as waves of pain swept her, she didn’t pass out—instead, her mind grew ever clearer, though she still couldn’t move.

The blue dantian split into two, one large and one small. Dense water spiritual energy surged out, forming a torrent that rushed into the white vortex.

The white vortex stopped shrinking, puffed up in an instant, and the water spiritual liquid within spun even faster, dazzlingly so.

Perhaps the pain made her numb, or perhaps the white vortex not only absorbed water spiritual energy but also drew away the pain. Either way, as the water spiritual energy in the blue dantian diminished, the agony gradually faded.

Without the support of water spiritual energy, the two fragments of the blue dantian deflated like leaky balls, eventually becoming two shriveled, empty sacks.

With no water spiritual energy feeding in, the swollen white vortex quickly slimmed down. The water spiritual liquid thickened to a paste, its rotation slowing.

At the center of the white vortex, the spiritual liquid became a viscous mass, turning the slowest.

Just as Feng Ke’er thought the disaster was ending, the white vortex suddenly trembled without warning.

A suffocating compression followed!

Her organs felt as if they were being crushed into a ball. Stars danced before her eyes, and she nearly fainted.

When she came to, she felt a chill in her lower abdomen. Looking closely, the white vortex had vanished, replaced by a pale purple crystal nucleus, barely the size of a grain of rice, sitting proudly atop her largest white dantian! It was bitterly cold, reigning above her like a king, and everywhere its faint purple light touched, the temperature plummeted!

“Heavens, so cold!” Feng Ke’er shivered violently, instinctively curling up.

Her immobilized state was inexplicably lifted!

But Feng Ke’er felt no joy, for the disaster seemed only to be beginning! Countless streams of cold air shot out from her innumerable pores, racing to escape. Soon, her hair, eyebrows, and even eyelashes were coated in frost.

The chill spread rapidly. Before long, the Illusory Mirror became an Ice Mirror. The ground froze over; icicles a foot long hung from the ceiling... Her cave dwelling was like a thousand-year-old ice cavern!

Poor Feng Ke’er. Before she could figure out what was happening, a thick layer of ice sealed itself around her like a cocoon, wrapping her tight!

“Help me! Master, save me!”

Her mind blank, she shrieked desperately!

But the familiar voice didn’t echo in her ears.

“Master, save me!” Feng Ke’er thought the Heavenly Master was reluctant to expend spiritual sense, so she cried out again. “I’m going to die...”

Really, either frozen or suffocated—she was truly terrified!

Still no response from the Heavenly Master.

No way, at the brink of life and death, you vanish? So much for relying on others—when the mountain is your support, it collapses; when the river is your support, it dries. The old man’s promises were just empty words! Feng Ke’er was utterly lost.

Yet, she refused to give up! She still hadn’t discovered her origins—who she was, where she came from, why she was subjected to such bizarre events... So many questions remained unanswered; how could she die in confusion?

This stubborn unwillingness, perhaps a subconscious resolve, saved her. Under the influence of the ice, she quickly regained her composure.

She could save herself—she knew fire techniques!

Feng Ke’er immediately summoned her inner fire spiritual energy: “Great Fireball Technique!” She would create a massive fireball.

“Boom!” At her command, the red dantian, slightly smaller than the blue one, ruptured, splitting in two. The fire spiritual energy within burst forth like a flood, surging toward the crystal nucleus.

The entire dantian region glowed red like a furnace.

The crystal nucleus, wrapped in blazing fire spiritual energy, reacted as if stimulated, its purple light flaring, boldly meeting the onslaught!

The fiery spiritual energy and the icy purple light, equally matched, waged a mortal battle within her, neither willing to yield. When the fire suppressed the purple light, Feng Ke’er felt as if she had fallen into a steel furnace; when the purple light dominated, she was plunged back into the thousand-year ice cave... Again and again, alternating between freezing and scorching. Compared to such torment, the pain from the rupture of the red dantian was insignificant.

“Do or die!” With no other options, Feng Ke’er steeled herself and activated the third layer of the Purifying Heart Mantra! Rather than be tortured to death, she would rather reverse her spiritual energy, risk a cultivation fire, and die with her meridians shattered!

Within the Phoenix Jade Pendant, the Heavenly Master finally breathed a sigh of relief, a faint smile of pride on his lips. The path of cultivation was fraught with peril, and Feng Ke’er’s reliance on him had only deepened, leaving her without the resolve to face crises head-on. Yet, true crisis was a thread of hope amidst danger. Cultivators seek the Way through these slivers of hope. Passing through with someone else’s help could never reveal the true mysteries. Thus, this time, he reminded himself to let go.

Feng Ke’er’s actions were enough to make him proud. (To be continued)

Heavenly Canon, Chapter 93: Crisis—update complete!