Duosheng Danyuan

"Hmm? Hmm... Sigh... Alright, since you've said so." After a moment of contemplation, Elder Huaizhen gave Su Wanqing a meaningful look, then sighed, bent down, and began to examine Zeng Yixi, who was lying on the ground.

"The spleen elixir failed to form, and the acquired spiritual energy was blocked in the dantian, unable to be released. So it gushed out from the heart and lungs, where the qi and blood were weakest..."

Elder Huaizhen spoke softly, but his words were still heard very clearly by each of us.

Was the blood on the ground from Zeng Yixi's heart and lungs? I'm not a medical student and know very little about the human body, but in my basic understanding, the human heart and lungs should be the most vulnerable parts, right? Once they are injured or broken, there's no point in talking about recuperation.

However, now that we are Foundation Establishment cultivators, the situation should be different.

Just as I was thinking this, Elder Huaizhen made his next move.

He closed his eyes and silently chanted some incantation we couldn't understand. Soon, his entire right palm was enveloped in a pale green color. Then, Elder Huaizhen used his left hand to slightly lift Zeng Yixi's shoulder, exposing his bleeding chest. He then plunged his right hand directly into Zeng Yixi's chest.

"Hmm!"

This scene made Xie Qinghan want to scream involuntarily. Of course, the others weren't much better off. Tang Anran buried her face in Zhang Muyun's arms and didn't dare to look at Elder Huaizhen and Zeng Yixi in front of the stage.

However, I still watched intently, observing Elder Huaizhen's every move.

After Elder Huaizhen inserted his hand into Zeng Yixi's chest, about three minutes passed, and neither of them reacted further. From my perspective, I could only infer from the amplitude of Elder Huaizhen's right hand swaying that he was probably using his right hand to grope something inside Zeng Yixi's body.

Regardless of what Elder Huaizhen was trying to figure out, the fact that he directly stuffed his entire palm into Zeng Yixi's chest was still too contrary to the understanding of us, who were just ordinary people two days ago. As a result, everyone's breathing became rapid and loud enough to be heard by the other party in the classroom.

"Here, here... hiss—"

About two minutes later, Elder Huaizhen began to mutter to himself, but his complexion did not look too good.

"Never mind, let's wake her up first." With a pursed lip, Elder Huaizhen withdrew his bloodied right hand and began to silently chant another incantation. In an instant, a drop of crystal-clear liquid, as turbid as white soup yet as pure as unpolished jade, slowly appeared at the tip of his left finger.

Then, Elder Huaizhen gently pushed the liquid from his fingertip and sent it into Zeng Yixi's mouth through her slightly parted lips.

"Cough! Cough cough cough..." The moment the white liquid was put into Zeng Yixi's mouth, Zeng Yixi, who had been unconscious for a long time, immediately coughed up a pool of blood, followed by frequent and rapid coughing.

"woke up?"

"Elder Huai... Elder Huaizhen?" As if from another world, Zeng Yixi's voice trembled as she looked at Elder Huaizhen, whose eyes were now gray, and she stammered, "Is...is it over?"

"No, not at all." Elder Huaizhen casually lifted Zeng Yixi's limp face with his left hand and said calmly, "Because of Su Wanqing, I'm making a house call for you free of charge. But diagnosis is one thing, surgery is another."

"Something else?"

"Not bad," Elder Huaizhen nodded, lowered his hand that had been supporting Zeng Yixi's face, sat back down in his seat at the front of the podium, crossed his legs, and said with a rather serious expression, "Surgery. Your current physical condition urgently requires surgical treatment. Sigh, to respect human rights, let me briefly explain your current situation to you. Actually, the problem is quite simple. Someone else destroyed your spleen, and then I used the unique secret method of the Shengdan Academy to stimulate your acquired spiritual power, transforming the remaining spiritual power in your body due to the destruction of your spleen into a solid acquired foundation—this is also what I did for Chen Yu yesterday."

"And then what?"

"And then? Then you didn't do what you were supposed to do," Elder Huaizhen said nonchalantly, spreading his hands as he closed his eyes. "Why did Chen Yu cough up blood yesterday? Because he successfully transformed the residual spiritual energy in his lungs into his own acquired physical body. The coughing up blood was just a rejection reaction that occurred during the transition between his old and new lungs, nothing more. You are different. When you were using the secret technique, you neither gave up on transforming the residual spiritual energy into an acquired physical body, nor did you successfully transform it into a physical body sufficient to replace your spleen. The spiritual energy was blocked in your spleen and couldn't escape, eventually gushing out from the weakest part of the body—the heart, lungs, and chest cavity—causing the injuries you have now."

"..." After listening to Elder Huaizhen's words, Zeng Yixi responded with a horrified expression and silence.

Not only her, but the rest of us, including Chen Yu, only understood at this moment what had happened to Chen Yu yesterday and Zeng Yixi today.

"Alright, you're a potential Foundation Establishment cultivator after all. You should understand what I'm saying now, right? Now, let me tell you the solution. Originally, out of respect for Su Wanqing, I wouldn't ask you for anything in return, and that's still the case now. However, I've discovered that even if I don't ask for anything in return, you will still have to pay the price for your own mistakes. So, to avoid any misunderstandings or misinterpretations from you or Su Wanqing about my actions today, I'll tell you about the two solutions in advance. Of course, whichever you choose, I won't ask for anything in return."

"...What plan?"

"It's very simple," Elder Huaizhen said, holding up two fingers. "The first option is for me to directly absorb the unfinished acquired spiritual energy in your spleen. If we do this, apart from the failure of the elixir-forming process, you won't have to pay any other price."

"...Elder Huaizhen, according to you, my spleen is currently forcibly replaced by acquired spiritual power, right? If it's absorbed, won't my body have problems? Without a spleen... will I... will I die?"

"No, don't worry." Elder Huaizhen shook his head and said bluntly, "Didn't you notice that you lost your spleen after you broke the rules last night? Since then, your body has stopped relying on your spleen to function."

"What?"

"That's normal," Elder Huaizhen said matter-of-factly. "We are cultivators, not mortals. Mortals have essential needs for their physical bodies and internal organs, but that doesn't mean we cultivators do. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, even if your heart and lungs are completely empty, it won't affect your survival. After Foundation Establishment, a cultivator's physical body is vastly different from that of a mortal."

"...So if I choose this option, I just have to accept the fact that the elixir-making process failed?"

"That's right."

"Isn't this incident itself the price to pay?"

"Yes," Elder Huaizhen nodded again, making no attempt to conceal anything, "The path of rebirth is like being born as a human being; there is no turning back. The five internal organs and six bowels contain eleven Earth Pills, while the three souls, seven spirits, and ten Heaven Pills, totaling twenty-one Pills, converge in the human body to form twenty-one Pill Constellations. Failure to rebirth means there is no second chance. When you try to rebirth later, you will not be able to regenerate the Earth Pill in your spleen. In short, from now on, your maximum number of Pill Constellations will not be twenty-one, but twenty."

"...I..."

"Stop," Elder Huaizhen raised his hand, signaling Zeng Yixi to stop talking. "I'm not here to answer your questions, but to solve them. In other words, I have no obligation to answer all your questions. Now, I've finished explaining Solution One. Immediately, I'll explain Solution Two. Understand?"

"...Understood."

"Alright, now let's talk about the second option." Nodding, Elder Huaizhen continued, "The second option is much more complicated. I can let you keep the spleen's elixir in your body. You don't need to know the specific method, because it's completely beyond your comprehension. I can only tell you that with the second option, you can at least retain the upper limit of twenty-one elixir stars, and your future path will be much wider."

"There's a price to pay, isn't there?" Zeng Yixi said with a wry smile.

"Of course there's a price to pay," Elder Huaizhen chuckled. "Every choice has a price, and this plan is no exception. The price is simple: you'll have to pay with your life essence, a considerable amount, around ten drops? I haven't calculated it precisely."

"Life essence?" Zeng Yixi began to ponder upon hearing this completely new term.

When I, and perhaps Lin Xu, heard this term for the second time, we all wore complex expressions.

"Don't ask me what your life essence is. That's not something you need to know. I can only tell you that it has some relation to your lifespan. Ten drops of life essence would require about ten years of your lifespan to condense. Don't worry, it doesn't mean you'll lose ten years of your lifespan, but rather that it will consume ten years of your energy. That's about it."

"Okay." Zeng Yixi nodded, pursing her lips.

"Well, you have about three minutes to think it over. The restraints I've placed on your chest injury will last for about ninety-three minutes."

"Um......"

The school fell silent once again.

About two minutes later, Elder Huaizhen impatiently urged, "Have you thought it through? In about a minute, your chest will start bleeding again. At that point, it won't be as simple as just feeling pain."

"Elder Huaizhen, you just said that I failed to produce the elixir?" Zeng Yixi suddenly asked.

"Hmm... sort of."

"Consider it? What do you mean by 'consider it'?" Zeng Yixi's gaze was piercing as she stared directly at Elder Huaizhen. "You've never explained things to us in such a vague tone. 'Consider it' means vague, and vague means that I haven't completely failed yet?"

"..." Elder Huaizhen remained silent, but his eyes gradually darkened.