Chapter 108: This Young Master Advances

Chapter 108: This Young Master Advances

When Chen Haoran first saw the Heavy Core Pill, he had been intimidated by its size. So his first reaction when he easily downed it was surprise. The Heavy Core Pill sank like a stone to his core, leaving a spicy grass taste on the back of his tongue. Chen Haoran exhaled and smelled spring in the air. He could feel the aroma of the Heavy Core Pill spread thickly throughout his whole body as he waited for it to take effect.

He did not wait long.

As if it had caught the scent of something delicious, his qi began to scramble madly toward his core. Chen Haoran quickly sat on the ground to focus, or rather, he was forced to. When Jiang Lei had told him the Heavy Core Pill was an aid in attracting qi, he underestimated just how effective it was. It wasnt just the qi freely flowing in his meridians that rushed to his core; it pulled out the qi that had seeped into his body. It pulled qi from places he didnt even know had qi, and from where it took Chen Haoran felt empty. Not low. Not sluggish. Empty. Even in his worst qi exhaustion, there was still qi flowing evenly through his meridians. Now there was nothing.

His limbs sagged as he was assaulted with a profound sense of weakness, and it became a struggle to even sit up straight. Without the passive enhancement of qi, he was forced to use the strength of his muscles instead. The difference was stark. It surprised Chen Haoran that he was surprised at what being normal felt like. He had unconsciously grown so used to being a cultivator that he forgot he was once a man.

He let out a shuddering, spring-filled breath and put those thoughts to the side. The Heavy Core Pill did the majority of the work condensing his qi but not all of it. He had to focus.

The Yellow Dragon roared as it danced through the deluge of qi. It sank to his core and coiled around the shining green Heavy Core Pill at the storms center. Surrounded by the swirling mass of qi, it possessively roared as if it were claiming a treasure hoard. Qi pressed down on it and covered the pill until not a speck of green light could be seen. Chen Haoran tried to grab ahold of his qi and create some sense of order but found it ripped away by the irresistible attraction of the pills dense wood energy.

Fine then. There was no need to be delicate.

The Yellow Dragon roared and squeezed the pill. The qi within his core immediately contracted simultaneously as if it were being squeezed by a giant hand. The Dragon roared again and tightened further. His qi condensed. Under Chen Haorans direction, his qi slowly and steadily condensed into a smooth sphere with the Yellow Dragon as its center. At the same time, the Yellow Dragons form drew together tighter and tighter as it crushed the Heavy Core Pill into an even smaller mass. Empty space gradually grew within his core as his qi contracted until, eventually, only the Yellow Dragon remained.

It sat alone within his core, glowing golden bright. Its proud head was pressed flat against its coiled-over body. Its roars were long silent. Chen Haoran would not make the mistake of thinking they stopped, however. Its arrogance was still there, just turned inward and pressed like his qi. The Yellow Dragon was on the verge of transformation now, but it still wasnt enough.

Chen Haoran weakly raised his hands and pressed them together. Between them, he imagined the Yellow Dragon. He squeezed, and the Yellow Dragon grew smaller. Chen Haoran wordlessly shouted and pressed his hands harder. The Yellow Dragon shrunk and grew even brighter. Chen Haoran squeezed until he felt pain in his hands. Squeezed until he felt something crack. The Yellow Dragon shrunk to a pinprick and glowed so bright he could barely see the outline of his form. He roared and pressed one last time. The Yellow Dragon blurred.

A drop of golden water appeared.

In his head. Not his core.

From where it appeared, he did not know. How it appeared when every scrap of qi had been dragged from his cells was obvious. It was not his. He had forgotten about the water drop the Machu River made him absorb after deeming it harmless. Now Chen Haoran was forced to watch in disbelief as the Yellow Dragon raised its head and roared. The golden water drop fell straight from his head to his core. Water met Dragon.

Despite what it seemed at times, the Yellow Dragon was no more real than the phantom Lan Yao he sparred with to learn the Scattering Petal Palm. It was a figment of his mind, a useful mnemonic to help him use the Yellow River Dragon Refinement. When the Yellow Dragon met the Machu water drop, it should have passed right through it.

Instead, they merged.

The Yellow Dragon did not devour the water drop, and yet it absorbed it better than it ever did any qi. Spectral scales gained solidity; imaginary eyes glowed with sharp light, an invisible roar gained real force. Before Chen Haorans eyes, the dragon he had only ever pictured in his mind came to life. It opened its jaws and roared, and he felt the vibrations drum through his meridians and match the beat of his heart. When Chen Haorans thoughts descended to the Yellow Dragon, another mind rose to meet him.

The Yellow Dragon waved hello.

Chen Haoran's response was brief.

He needed to advance.

The Yellow Dragon roared in approval and shot off. With the merging of the droplet, the qi the Dragon once had to chase now willingly threw itself into its maw. With the merging of the Dragon, the qi did not pass through like with the droplet but stayed. The Yellow Dragon danced and devoured, and as it did, it glowed with golden light as all the qi in Chen Haorans body was absorbed within its form. After completing an entire revolution through his body, he was again left empty. Strangely enough, he didnt feel weak this time. Not when the Yellow Dragon was still dancing through his meridians.

Chen Haoran breathed.

The Yellow Dragon breathed with him.

Yellow River Dragon Refinement.

Qi surged into his body and was devoured by the Yellow Dragon. After refining it all, he breathed again and took in even more qi than before. Devour, refine, breathe. In this way, each successive breath was larger than before until even the air around him was disturbed by the intake of qi. The golden glow around the Yellow Dragon intensified until it became a liquid and trailed from its body as it danced through his meridians.

Liquid Qi, the mark of the Liquid Meridian Realm.

Chen Haoran ascended with a dragon's roar.