Monarch of Evernight - Volume 5 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 9: Aggregation

There was already a strand of dawn on the horizon by the time Qianye walked out of the room . He swept over the small courtyard with his True Sight, and as expected, he could clearly see wisps of white mist flowing out from the man-made decorations at the four corners . Moreover, they were somewhat denser than the naturally occurring daybreak origin power .

Afterwards, Qianye began his busy day .

First, he went to the depository . The section open to the guest warriors was related to basic theories and low-grade cultivation arts, so there weren’t too many people here . Normally, most warriors who had reached rank-nine, even those of humble origins, already had certain opportunities to learn special cultivation arts . As such, they had little interest in those basic items .

But as it happened, Qianye was lacking in basic theory . He was currently cultivating both daybreak and darkness origin powers—the opposing attributes were existing together under the effects of the Song Clan Ancient Scroll and didn’t obstruct his progress . But compared to the secret techniques held by those aristocratic descendants, his technique in origin power utilization was a blank slate, just like a toddler learning to talk .

Taking the Combatant Formula as an example, he could steadily push past 45 tides during cultivation, but in battle, he could only fire off 35 in an instant . Meanwhile, his resonance with the origin power in the environment was completely dependent on instincts . Unlike Zhao Jundu and Song Zining, he couldn’t draw upon natural origin power to form a fixed domain .

Qianye stayed at the depository for an entire morning, browsing through various types of basic origin power theories . These were things the Song clan descendants had to learn at a young age before formally practicing secret arts and combat techniques . As such, almost no one came to the corresponding bookshelves, but Qianye benefited greatly—many topics became clear to him at once .

The entire process was fairly smooth and the steward of the depository even made two copies for him . They didn’t need Song Zining for such a privilege as the personal guard in charge of guiding Qianye could settle it on his own . Additionally, Qianye also found a book on two-handed sword basic techniques . It could be said that his rewards were quite bountiful .

Planning to use all of the remaining time on cultivation, Qianye headed to the Song clan’s cultivation grounds with the personal guard . Although he was already mentally-prepared, he couldn’t help but become momentarily astonished at the sight .

The largest centralized cultivation grounds Qianye had seen was at the Yellow Springs Training Camp which could accommodate hundreds of cultivators . However, the cultivation chambers there were no more than rows of metallic longhouses resembling a barracks .

But the grounds before them occupied half a hillside and an entire valley floor, an even wider area than Yellow Springs . Every chamber occupied a wide area and was built upon an incomparably enormous origin array . There were two kinetic towers, dozens of meters in height, supplying the energy required for its operation .

A faint blue glow emerged in Qianye’s eyes as he glanced over with the Eye of Truth . He found that the basic structure of each origin array was quite similar outside and only their sizes were different .

He saw that the core of the array was located in a windowless stone room at the corner—a number of disciples hauled an entire crate of black crystals into it and soon brought out a crate full of depleted stones . Dense origin power flowed out from the stone room and transitioned, layer by layer, through the origin arrays . They were purified and transformed until finally entering the cultivation chamber as daybreak origin power for the cultivator to absorb .

When the personal guard brought Qianye to register, the young lady in charge of handling the procedure gazed intently at Qianye and seemed unable to ignore him at all .

Qianye was startled, but before he could ask, the young lady chuckled and said, “It’s nothing! I was just curious and I wanted to see what kind of person can actually make the seventh young master bring out an entire year’s quota . ”

“The whole year?” Qianye glanced at the register and found that he was listed for three days .

The young lady raised her chin and said, “The Song clan’s cultivation ground isn’t of a low quality like the dojos outside . There are only seven sky-grade cultivation chambers, sometimes used by the elders . Seventh Young Master has three days to his name and this is far beyond any other person . The other young masters and mistresses get only one day per year . Some don’t even get any at all!”

While saying this, the young lady and the personal guard nearby both revealed envious expressions . They two of them were both surnamed Song, but their bloodlines were relatively thin . Not to mention a sky-grade cultivation chamber, they didn’t even have the right to use the earth-grade and man-grade ones which were slightly lower in rank .

The young lady brought Qianye to the sky-grade cultivation chamber . Along the way, he observed the facility with his Eye of Truth and found that, in terms of origin power density, earth-grade cultivation chambers were ten times that of man-grade, while sky-grade was dozens of times more . Converted into black crystals, the volume of consumption was huge!

Qianye finally understood why there were only seven such cultivation chambers even with the Song clan’s wealth .

The young lady pushed open the doors to a small walled courtyard and pointed to the cultivation chamber at its center . “We’re here,” she paused for a moment, but couldn’t help but add, “it’s unfortunate that you’re not yet at rank nine . Otherwise, the sky-grade cultivation chamber is most helpful for breaking through to the champion rank . According to the elders, the chances would be increased by as much as ten percent!”

“Ten percent!” Qianye was astonished .

One had to know that there were hundreds of millions of fighters, but to most of them, rank-nine was the peak of their lives . Less than one out of ten thousand would be able to successfully condense their energy into a vortex and truly step onto the path of a champion .

Less than ten percent of clan disciples were able to break through to the champion rank despite their exceptional bloodlines, proper nurturing, and solid financial support . This meant that this sky-grade cultivation chamber was actually able to raise their chances of a breakthrough by more than twofold . Unfortunately, the Song clan’s younger generation descendants were declining in talent even though they possessed such resources .

The young lady explained all the facilities to Qianye one by one and then tapped lightly on the purple bell outside of the courtyard—the clock had started ticking .

After the young lady left the compound, Qianye removed his armor, entered the limestone cultivation chamber, and sat down cross-legged .

The mist inside was so dense that one could hardly see his own fingers . There were neither windows nor vents here—it turned out that the vapors were gushing out directly from the limestone on the walls and floor .

At this moment, Qianye didn’t even need to activate his Eye of Truth to know that this wasn’t vapor, but instead extremely dense daybreak origin power . The energy aggregation array in the Deep Cloud Hall paled in comparison .

Qianye reached out to touch the floor and found that, although the limestone appeared coarse, it actually possessed a soft, warm, and gentle texture .

This wasn’t stone at all! It was the legendary Green Sun Warm Jade . Most aristocratic clans would use them to make cushions for cultivation and meditation . A palm-sized piece was already priceless, but the Song Clan had covered an entire cultivation chamber with it .

Qianye wouldn’t have imagined the Song clan would actually have such a foundation if he hadn’t seen it for himself . Similarly, although the other three great clans weren’t known for their wealth, it could be presumed their accumulations over hundreds of years wouldn’t be too different .

Qianye suddenly thought of Evernight Continent where a silver coin was a colossal amount a scavenger had likely never seen in his life, and a dozen-odd gold coins would be enough to make hunters and mercenaries risk life and limb . Those who would be counted as geniuses of the landowning class like Gu Liyu and Ye Mulan would stop at nothing to form a marriage relationship with the great clans .

There was no fairness to speak of in this world, even in nature . Exuberant darkness origin power filled one's lungs at all times while daybreak life forms had to struggle to survive in between the gaps .

Qianye collected his thoughts and began to cultivate . The core of his current cultivation were the Glory and Mystery Chapters of the Song Clan Ancient Scroll in which he had achieved an initial balance . Darkness origin power was derived from blood energy which could be continuously replenished as long as he kept killing . This was an accelerated path—he didn’t have to worry about the progress . On the contrary, he had to control his essence blood absorption to avoid taking in an excessive amount of blood energy and breaking the fragile balance .

Comparatively, he had no other shortcuts for daybreak origin power and could only rely on cultivation . This had actually become the weak link . Even though Qianye’s combatant formula had reached an astonishing 45 cycles, it still couldn’t compare to the convenience of killing and absorbing essence blood .

This was perhaps a reflection of the difference in cultivation as a whole between humans and the dark races .

Taking a deep breath, Qianye’s heart became as concentrated as still water . At this moment, the daybreak origin power density here had reached a point where it was visible to the naked eye . His breath drew in everything like a whale devouring the ocean waters—the vapors not only flowed in from his mouth and nose but also seeped into his body through his skin .

Within the blink of an eye, the daybreak origin power within the chamber was completely exhausted—he had actually absorbed all of it .

It turned out that the sky-grade cultivation had such a benefit!

Dense clouds of daybreak origin power filled Qianye’s body to the brim . Even his muscles felt some pain after his bones and limbs were flooded with intense origin power pressure . It was fortunate that Qianye had to go through unimaginable barriers when he first cultivated the Combatant Formula and this kind of pressure was nothing to him .

The Glory Chapter of the Song Clan Ancient Scroll kicked into action, gradually circulating the daybreak origin power within Qianye’s body and forming it into a vortex . A drop of milky white daybreak origin power was formed at its center . The drop eventually grew bigger and finally took form as all the daybreak origin power in his body was used up . It dripped down from the center of the vortex and fell into his sea of energy .

At that split second, it seemed as though the entire world was filled with the sound of a drop of water falling into the sea .

Qianye couldn’t help but tremble all over as he instinctively spat out a beam of milky-white qi . It took the shape of an arrow, flew directly at the opposite wall, and actually bore a small finger-sized hole through it!

Exhalation like an arrow—this was precisely a sign of attaining a higher level as described by the Glory Chapter . Reaching this step meant that his origin power had reached a certain level of density . Aggregating energy into a vortex to break through to the champion level was now only a matter of time . His success would naturally follow when the conditions were right .

Qianye slowly opened his eyes . The room was, once again, filled with vapor . Strands of daybreak origin power continuously seeped through the four walls, and before long, it became tangibly dense .

Qianye shot a glance at the clock and found that it hadn’t even been one hour yet .

He got up, moved his muscles around, and also practiced one round of the military use combat arts . Seeing that the daybreak origin power was once again as heavy as rain, he got seated once again and swept all the daybreak origin power clean with a whale-like breath . He then closed his eyes and concentrated on purifying it .

An hour later, Qianye spat out an arrow once again . All of the daybreak origin power had been condensed into a drop of milky fluid and collected into his sea of qi .

Cultivating for one hour here was equal to the greater half of the month outside . And this was compared to Qianye’s 45 tides in the Combatant Formula . At this point, Qianye was completely assured . He would definitely rely on daybreak origin power to achieve victory in the arena under the gazes of all the spectators . It was best he refrained from using blood energy if he could help it . Otherwise, there were many experts among the spectators, especially Duchess An, and there was no guarantee he wouldn’t slip-up under their discerning eyes .

Now, the effects of the sky-grade cultivation chamber were so good that he even had the leisure to thoroughly comprehend the basic theories he had learned this morning and also practice some two-handed sword techniques in passing .

Just like that, a drop of milky fluid would fall into the nodes of his sea of qi every hour . Qianye no longer paid any attention to time and was completely immersed into the world of cultivation .

However, the world outside the cultivation chamber was in chaos .

Six out of the seven sets of sky-grade kinetic equipment were operating normally, but one of the kinetic towers was rumbling like thunder and spewing out large masses of white gas . Its operation speed had exceeded the critical point and was already bordering on danger .