Chapter 203.1 (1/2)
Chapter 203.1
</interaction><small></small>When Li Yundong opened his eyes again, the smooth, fair skin of Zi Yuan's cheeks was the first thing he saw . Her eyes were closed, and she had a serene expression on her face . And judging from her posture and the way she was sitting, she was meditating .
He raised his hands above his head and stretched . Zi Yuan's blinked open as soon as he moved .
”Oh . You're up . ”
Li Yundong released a long sigh . ”What time is it?”
”It's been nearly three hours since you began your first Qi Trans.m.u.tation cycle . ”
Three hours? Time sure flies .
”How do you feel?”
Li Yundong chuckled and lowered his arms back down . ”Not too bad I suppose . But . . . I don't feel extra powerful or anything . Um . . . Actually, I feel just the same . No difference . ”
The whole thing honestly felt like a long nap .
Zi Yuan was looking past his shoulders . He turned his head and saw the Fan of the Seven Treasures that he'd leaned against the side of the couch when he walked in earlier .
”Why don't you try channeling your Zhenqi into the Fan of Seven Treasures and see what happens?”
Li Yundong swiveled his head around and found Zi Yuan smirking at him .
Indeed, the significance of what Zi Yuan was asking him to do wasn't lost on him at all . All this while, his usage of the Fan of Seven Treasures didn't involve any magic or spiritual energy . Even then, the Fan had proven itself to be capable of terrifying feats of power .
What would happen if he juiced it up with magic?
Li Yundong reached behind him and pulled the Fan of Seven Treasure from the couch towards him . He lay the bulky object down on the floor in front of him, then stared at it warily .
So help him G.o.d if he ended up destroying the whole apartment after this training session . . .
”Go on . ” Zi Yuan's voice jolted him out of his musings . ”What are you waiting for?”
Li Yundong stole a fearful glance at Zi Yuan . Suddenly, this whole thing felt like a terrible idea . Shouldn't they take this somewhere outside the apartment?
”O- Okay . ” He cleared his throat and sat up straighter . Then, he took a deep breath and ran his fingers along the fan's metallic surface .
He should probably start with just a little bit of Zhenqi .
Baby steps, right?
<small></small>”Just use the same Qi control techniques, right?” he asked tentatively . ”Like the ones I practiced during the Lianqi phase?”
”Mm-hmm . ”
Alright then . . . He focused his mind on the Zhenqi circling around the surface layer of his Vital Orb .
Here we go…
He mobilized a small portion of Zhenqi and guided it along the Hand's Major Yin Lung Meridian . A moment later, he felt his Zhenqi leave the surface of his palm .
s.h.i.+t . . . What's with this weird—
His Zhenqi was met with a resistance the moment it entered the fan, almost as though the fan had some kind of inner defense mechanism . The resistance grew stronger as it tried to push his Zhenqi back into his body . He kept pus.h.i.+ng back against the resistance and, with some effort, managed to keep his Zhenqi inside the fan . Seconds later, he felt something else: his Zhenqi had lost some of its vitality; like the fan had extracted something from his Zhenqi .
He slowly guided his Zhenqi back into his body . When he felt the last of his Zhenqi entering his meridian, he cracked open an eye to take a peek at the fan .
Nothing . Absolutely nothing .
The fan lay as still as a dead fish .
He opened both eyes and looked towards Zi Yuan . ”Um . . . ”
Amus.e.m.e.nt shone through Zi Yuan's eyes as she studied him . Somehow, she managed to make him feel about as helpless as a three-year-old kid trying to drive a truck .
”Well? What did I do wrong?”
Zi Yuan smiled . ”Technically, you didn't do anything wrong . ”
”But . . . ” Li Yundong's eyes went to the fan again . ”It didn't even react . It's like nothing happened . ”
”Nothing? Are you sure about that?”
Li Yundong's gaze went from the fan to Zi Yuan's face . One of her brows was arched .
Then, he spent a while recalling every sensation he'd felt during the process .
”My Zhenqi was met with some kind of resistance,” he said .
”Uh-huh… What else?”
”After that it was like . . . like something was drawn out of my Zhenqi?” Li Yundong paused to take a look at Zi Yuan . Something clicked inside his mind . ”It was my spiritual energy, wasn't it? The fan consumed my spiritual energy . ”
”Precisely . ”
<small></small>”Okay . . . ” Li Yundong frowned . ”So did it even work?” He gestured at the fan . ”It didn't react at all . ”
He didn't expect the fan to suddenly explode or anything, but he figured it would at least glow .
Zi Yuan shook her head like she would at a child who'd just told her something utterly nonsensical .
”What?” he asked .
”Suppose that an item costs a million yuan,” she said with a quirk of a brow . ”Do you expect to buy it for ten yuan?”
Oh . So he had to channel more spiritual energy into the fan was what she was saying .
Right . Stupid . He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling as though his cheeks were on fire .
”More spiritual energy . Got it . ”
”If this were a thousand years ago, the fan wouldn't respond to you even if you spend the next two years channeling your Zhenqi into it . ”
Li Yundong stared at Zi Yuan for a moment, unable to believe what he'd just heard . ”T-Two years?”
”At your current level, yes . ” Zi Yuan's eyes darted to his face . ”Not even a single budge after two years . ”
Two frigging years . You've gotta be s.h.i.+tting me .