A ruthless bandit from the celestial realm, he began his cultivation journey after kidnapping the Em

Ye Chen slept until noon before waking up from his sleep...

As soon as he stood up, he felt a sharp pain in his lower back and couldn't help but gasp...

"What's going on..."

"I used to be in good health..."

"Could it be that that witch did something?"

Ye Chen frowned slightly and muttered to himself.

Recalling what Liu Ruyan had said about cultivation last night, he became even more certain that the other party had drained his vital essence...

Otherwise, how could the body suddenly become so weak?

He's still not recovered even after a nap, which speaks volumes...

"It seems the more beautiful a woman is, the more dangerous she is..."

Although he had a lot of fun last night, he paid a heavy price...

Ye Chen hurriedly took out several bottles of pills from the storage bag in his arms, including Spirit Gathering Pills, Body Strengthening Pills, Qi Nourishing Pills, and so on, all of which were extremely beneficial to the body.

He uncorked the bottle, poured the entire bottle of pills into his mouth, chewed them haphazardly, and then swallowed them...

Then came the second bottle, the third bottle...

After consuming five bottles of pills, Ye Chen couldn't help but let out a satisfied burp. His weakened body had recovered considerably; at least the lingering pain was gone...

"call..."

He exhaled a breath of stale air, his pale face regaining some color, and reached out to rub his kidneys, which were now feeling better...

"Next time that woman comes, we can't let her get away with it so easily..."

"What if I break it?"

"Boys need to protect themselves when they're out..."

Ye Chen muttered a few words under his breath, then got up and stretched his limbs.

With a flick of his wrist, he retrieved the purple-gold gourd, which remained remarkably light in his hand...

"Has it not been refined yet?"

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Last night, he used the Purple Gold Gourd to devour a Foundation Establishment stage disciple, along with a small mountain of spirit stones and magical treasures...

Uncork the bottle, and a wisp of thought probes inside...

A pool of murky spiritual liquid came into view, but not a single person could be seen in it. Ji Bochang had clearly been completely refined by the Purple-Gold Gourd, leaving not even a trace...

Including those spirit stones and magic treasures, they were all refined into spirit liquid.

When Ye Chen saw the amount of the turbid spiritual liquid, he was overjoyed...

"We've struck it rich this time!"

"As expected, the higher the disciple's cultivation level, the more spiritual liquid they can refine..."

At this moment, the spiritual liquid inside the gourd had reached an unprecedented level, exceeding the quantity of any previous refining attempt...

Even after deducting the portion converted from spirit stones and magic treasures, the remaining amount of spirit liquid is still significantly more than what was obtained from refining Lin Qinshuang.

He suppressed the urge to continue refining his fellow disciples and quickly took out all the Spirit-Replenishing Pills from his storage bag...

There were a total of 230 Spirit-Replenishing Pills, all of which were taken from Ji Bochang's storage bag last night.

Ye Chen immediately began using the spiritual liquid from the Purple-Gold Gourd to upgrade the grade of these second-grade Spirit-Replenishing Pills...

Each pill was infused with a drop of spiritual liquid, instantly refined into a Grade 5 Spirit-Replenishing Pill upon absorption, immediately emitting a rich medicinal fragrance...

He followed the same method and quickly refined all 230 Spirit Replenishing Pills. Each pill now had added pill patterns, shimmering with a wisp of light...

In an instant, the entire room was filled with fragrance, as if one were in a medicinal herb garden...

Ye Chen looked at the Grade 5 Spirit Replenishing Pill in front of him with great joy, and grinned excitedly.

"Shouldn't this be enough to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage?"

"I refuse to believe that the effects of so many Spirit-Replenishing Pills can be negated by swallowing them!"

He murmured to himself, glancing at the purple-gold gourd in his hand. It still contained a good amount of spiritual liquid, but unfortunately, he had no more spirit-replenishing pills...

After putting away the purple-gold gourd, Ye Chen quickly sat cross-legged on the bed, grabbed a handful of fifth-grade spirit-replenishing pills, stuffed them into his mouth, chewed them a few times like candy, and swallowed them...

Having learned from his previous experience, he quickly activated the "Supreme Induction Technique" while consuming the pill. The medicinal power surging into his body was rapidly refined, transforming into strands of pure spiritual energy that converged towards his dantian...

This time, Ye Chen carefully sensed the changes in the spiritual energy within his body, clearly understanding the direction of each strand of spiritual energy.

The moment it entered the dantian, it was rapidly absorbed by a black dot...

"this..."

Ye Chen was startled, watching the black dot rapidly absorbing spiritual energy, and for a moment he didn't know what to do...

At this point, he had no way to stop it and could only let it absorb and grow larger...

"Very well, this great king will see how long you can keep sucking..."

He was going all out; before the medicinal power within his body was fully refined, he grabbed another handful of Grade 5 Spirit-Replenishing Pills and swallowed them...

The overwhelming potency of the medicine nearly caused his body to burst...

Fortunately, the Supreme Induction Technique is incredibly efficient. No matter how much medicinal power is involved, it is completely suppressed and refined after circulating through one small cycle, without even a chance to stir...

In a short while, he had refined most of the medicinal power, and the pure spiritual energy circulated throughout his body before gathering in his dantian.

Such a massive amount of spiritual energy would have allowed Ye Chen to break through several realms long ago, but his cultivation level remained unchanged, and his dantian couldn't even fill it...

"Holy crap...it can absorb that much?"

Ye Chen focused his inner vision on the black dot in his dantian, which was still frantically absorbing spiritual energy, showing no sign of stopping...

He was originally very confident that he could break through to the Foundation Establishment stage this time, but now he suddenly felt uncertain.

"How much spiritual energy must it have absorbed?"

At the rate at which this black dot absorbs spiritual energy, even two hundred and thirty Rank 5 Spirit Gathering Pills wouldn't be enough for it...

Ye Chen was in a bit of a predicament.

Without cultivation, one's cultivation level will definitely stagnate, but if one continues to take pills, the spiritual energy will be absorbed by the black spots, making it impossible to break through to a higher realm...

Having come this far, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue taking the pills.

As Ye Chen swallowed handful after handful of Grade-Five Spirit Gathering Pills, his aura grew stronger and stronger. Even though his cultivation level remained unchanged, his strength had been further enhanced...

This put Ye Chen at ease a little, and he suddenly felt less heartbroken.

At least the pills he consumed weren't wasted. Even if they didn't increase his cultivation level, it wouldn't matter much; as long as he didn't lose money...

Two hundred and thirty pills seemed like a lot, but Ye Chen swallowed them all in no time...

Any other disciple would probably have burst by now, but for Ye Chen, who cultivates the Supreme Induction Technique, there was no pressure whatsoever...

As the black dots grew larger, Ye Chen could vaguely make out their outlines...

The black dot in the dantian looks like a... square platform!