Chapter 20: Yu Liang’s Opportunity

After everyone had retreated back into the main mine tunnel and blocked the passage with stones, Yu Liang suddenly let out a piercing scream. His body curled up on the ground like a shrimp, convulsing and rolling madly!

The whole group was startled, especially those who were dividing up the snow ape meat. Each of them turned ashen with fright, suspecting the meat was poisonous.

“There’s nothing wrong with the meat. Go ahead and eat. Yu Liang is suffering because he drank that icy water, which has thrown his inner energy into chaos.”

Wei Cheng, however, remained calm. The moment he focused his mind on Yu Liang, the cause was crystal clear.

Yu Liang wasn’t suffering from ordinary stomach trouble brought on by contaminated water. All of them had already surpassed the realm of ordinary mortals—at least by common standards. Even in Master Jin’s books, there weren’t many characters with two or three cycles of inner power. In fact, possessing just one cycle was enough to walk unchallenged.

Unaffected by cold or heat, immune to a hundred ailments, and blessed with longevity—this was no mere boast.

The true reason was that the icy layer formed there wasn’t ordinary ice. It was a force much like inner power, yet perhaps even more refined.

Even at his peak, Wei Cheng couldn’t fully withstand it, which spoke volumes.

Yet if it were only that, Yu Liang—reckless as he was—would have turned into a frozen corpse after a few sips. The key was the eruption of two Flame Stones, whose firepower greatly neutralized the extremity of the cold within the water.

This lowered the threat, but greatly increased the benefits.

It was, as the saying goes, “fools have their luck.” Yu Liang had stumbled into an extraordinary opportunity.

Alas, too much is as bad as too little. Had he drunk only half as much, the fortune he’d gained would have been phenomenal—cultivating three cycles of inner power would have been effortless, and he might even have reached four.

Now, with the power raging uncontrollably, Yu Liang was helpless. If no one intervened, the best he could hope for was to leave a whole corpse behind.

With this thought, Wei Cheng acted decisively. He sat down behind Yu Liang and struck his back with a palm. Under the force of his mighty Mountain-moving Inner Power, Yu Liang—over a hundred pounds—spun through the air like a ball.

Each second, Wei Cheng’s hands moved over a dozen times, using his own inner power to smooth the flow of Yu Liang’s energy channels. While he was at it, he took the opportunity to reconfigure the direction of Yu Liang’s inner energy flow.

The structure of lines and points isn’t set in stone; from a higher vantage, the permutations are endless.

With this boon, even though Yu Liang still couldn’t comprehend the Mountain-moving Visualization Chart, his cultivation efficiency rose by thirty percent. With this opportunity, reaching four cycles of inner power was within reach.

Of course, Wei Cheng didn’t leave empty-handed. He didn’t take too much—just a modest ninety-nine percent of the force created by the clash of cold and flame.

About half an hour later, Yu Liang’s breath steadied, and his Mountain-moving Inner Power found its proper path.

“Don’t dwell on it. Focus on consolidating your gains.”

Leaving these words behind, Wei Cheng slipped away. Such a trifling matter wasn’t worth mentioning.

The others could only admire him, unaware of the true sequence of events. Even Yu Liang remained oblivious.

Wei Cheng then went to check on Cheng An, who had not partaken in the snow ape meat. The three seconds of divine radiance he’d received had already given him tremendous vitality, and together with his increased mental strength, his body’s growth potential was rapidly expanding.

Even with Wei Cheng’s current spiritual perception, he couldn’t help but feel some envy.

He himself was truly an ordinary man—aside from his bulk, his potential was meager, and his progress was built up bit by bit from a modest starting advantage.

Cheng An, on the other hand, had only received the divine radiance once—this was his first real opportunity. Even so, the effect was remarkably clear. In terms of innate potential, Cheng An was at least fifty percent greater than Wei Cheng.

“If only we had more resources, reaching four cycles of inner power would be a certainty,” Wei Cheng thought with a sigh. Geniuses like that only need a little sunlight to shine brilliantly.

He glanced at the others. None dared to take all the snow ape meat, leaving a generous portion for Wei Cheng. But he no longer cared for it. He picked it up and placed it before Cheng An.

“Work hard. We’re already falling behind.”

Afterward, Wei Cheng found a quiet corner, sat cross-legged, focused his mind, and began to slowly dissolve the mass of power created by the fusion of cold and flame within him, using the Mountain-moving Heart Method.

Such a force was deadly poison in Yu Liang’s body—sharp fangs impossible to suppress. But in Wei Cheng’s hands, as long as he didn’t engage in battle, he could keep it perfectly under control.

It was a veritable feast, a treasure-trove of resources. To Wei Cheng, who had hit the bottleneck of his own growth, it was a timely blessing.

The miner’s ration of clear water and vegetable cakes now yielded little benefit, and even the snow ape meat, aside from its small quantity, wasn’t much better.

Wei Cheng soon entered a state of deep cultivation. His Mountain-moving Inner Power flowed quietly and swiftly along the mountain paths depicted in his Visualization Chart.

His cultivation speed was three times that of the others, twice as fast as Cheng An, and five times as fast as Zhang Yong and Han Dong, who practiced the Purple Mist Heart Method.

Of course, different techniques made such comparisons meaningless.

Yet this high-speed, stable flow of inner power was a tremendous advantage in combat. When his Golden Bell Shield was on the verge of shattering, he could instantly restore it to full strength with a surge of Mountain-moving Inner Power.

This was the foundation of survival.

Under the silent nourishment of his inner power, the mass of supreme energy was being gradually broken down—just enough to keep his cultivation running at full efficiency.

It was a shame that, without a relevant method, he couldn’t assimilate this power into his own foundation.

Meanwhile, he also devoted part of his mind to probing the subtler intricacies of his inner energy flow, seeking further upgrades for his Mountain-moving Visualization Chart.

This session of deep cultivation stretched on. Unnoticed, five days passed. When Wei Cheng finally opened his eyes, he found the others squatting nearby, staring at him wide-eyed, like onlookers at a zoo.

Wei Cheng frowned slightly. Before he could speak, Yu Liang blurted out, “Boss, bad news—the checkpoint on the northern branch has been cleared by someone else!”

“How long ago?” Wei Cheng wasn’t surprised; this was only to be expected. From their earlier intelligence, both the southern and northern teams were strong. The only reason they’d gotten ahead was that they hadn’t wasted time at the main checkpoint.

“Boss, about five days ago,” Cheng An replied immediately, his manner deferential, assuming the role of loyal follower.

Wei Cheng took in the others’ hesitant faces—their awkwardness, their yearning mingled with unease—and felt a quiet satisfaction. He was, after all, just an ordinary man, and this feeling was quite pleasant.

But he couldn’t forget the real business at hand.

These five days of cultivation had allowed him to break through to five cycles of Mountain-moving Inner Power. Though this amounted to only thirty years’ worth of progress, it was a monumental achievement during a bottleneck period—the difficulty akin to the last decimal of a downloading progress bar that stalls at 99.9%.

He had consumed all of the supreme energy, which showed just how hard the breakthrough had been.

The only benefit was that the repeated cycling of his inner power allowed him to observe and memorize even finer details.

This was a great harvest. He had finally managed to memorize ten percent of the subtle structure—an immediate improvement.

Unlike in games, where a hundred percent is required to level up, here, the ten percent he’d grasped was already reflected in his Visualization Chart, making some elements more vivid and realistic.

Now, as his inner power flowed, it generated not only the previous resonant hum, but also an incredibly soft yet resilient force—like water, nurturing all things without contention. Because it does not contend, none in the world can contend with it.

This was the insight Wei Cheng gained.

Moreover, with his inner power now at five cycles, he naturally opened his fifth innate meridian.

Yet the increase in strength from opening each meridian was not multiplicative—it was steady and consistent.

This made Wei Cheng realize that opening all nine meridians might only be a small step forward, not a whole new realm.

And the immortal who initiated this trial—if he wanted Earth’s people to achieve something, why not simply impart the celestial arts?

The real answer was likely that their bodies were simply too feeble.