Extracting Heaven Yuan Qi

Su Yu chatted briefly with Niu Baidao and the others. He noticed the tables, chairs, and benches scattered around the perimeter, the fruit peels and peanut shells, the remnants of the bonfires, and the fact that some people seemed ready to light another fire and keep the party going! He had entered on the twelfth, and now, as dusk fell, it was already the fourteenth. Two and a half days had passed—not quite three full days. Yet over these two-plus days, Su Yu had reaped immense gains. In high spirits, he couldn't be bothered to lecture these slacker Great Ming students. *Go ahead and keep partying!* Su Yu still had a mountain of tasks ahead of him and had no time to loiter. After bidding farewell to the instructors, he quickly walked over to Zhu Tiandao, who was waving at him from a short distance away. *** Zhu Tiandao looked Su Yu up and down. After a long pause, he finally chuckled. "Quite a haul, eh?" "Not bad!" Su Yu smiled as well. "Manor Lord, King Daming truly possessed heaven-encompassing erudition. This Baidao Pavilion is truly a priceless treasure!" "Not bad!" Zhu Tiandao echoed the exact same words before adding with a grin, "It wasn't forged by my father alone. Many experts took part back then, all of them standing at the peak of their respective disciplines." After brushing off the topic, Zhu Tiandao studied him again and asked, "Still haven't stepped into Tengkong?" "Soon." Su Yu explained, "I haven't settled on a body-reforging method yet. Once that's decided, I'll make the breakthrough! Entering Tengkong with both my physical body and willpower together will allow me to reforge my body a few extra times." Zhu Tiandao nodded slightly. This was a path many strove for. Back at Great Xia Civilization Academy, Zhan Hai, the top ranker on the Top 100 list, had also aimed to break through with both at once. Entering Tengkong, manifesting willpower, strengthening the physical body, and then reforging it through the body-reforging technique granted a double enhancement to the physique. However, Zhu Tiandao pondered for a moment and cautioned, "Given your physical strength combined with the intensity of your willpower, breaking through with both simultaneously means you must choose a suitable location. You can't just pick any random spot. Be careful not to run dry of willpower or yuanqi halfway through, or you'll end up stuck in limbo." Su Yu looked thoughtful and nodded slightly. That was true! The amount of yuanqi and willpower he would consume during a breakthrough was bound to be staggering. Zhu Tiandao continued, "Not only that, it's best to reforge your body in an environment rich with Heaven Yuan Qi..." Su Yu looked at him, his face full of anticipation. *Since the Manor Lord is mentioning this, does he know such a great place?* "Honestly, reforging your body in the God Realm, Demon Realm, or Immortal Realm would be ideal!" "..." Su Yu was left speechless! Zhu Tiandao burst out laughing. "Just kidding. If you can't go to those places, there are two other options. The War God Hall and the Quest Realm each have a small area like that. How about I take you to the Quest Realm to make your breakthrough?" Su Yu furrowed his brows. "Manor Lord, would that really work?" Zhu Tiandao nodded. "Of course it would. That sacred ground in the Quest Realm doesn't belong exclusively to them. My Zhu family has a share too. Granted, our family hasn't produced any earth-shattering geniuses, so we never bother heading there for breakthroughs under normal circumstances. But if you're willing, I can send you over!" Su Yu hesitated. "Is it primarily that the Heaven Yuan Qi and willpower are exceptionally dense there?" "Yes." Zhu Tiandao nodded. "Especially Heaven Yuan Qi—it provides enormous help in reforging the body! Using blood essence to reforge the body is ultimately just a way to utilize the Heaven Yuan Qi inside it! Why are god and demon blood essences so sought after? Because their blood essence is packed with Heaven Yuan Qi. In contrast, other blood essences—like some low-grade trash—are ninety-nine percent garbage and only one percent Heaven Yuan Qi. When reforging your body with that... even swallowing a hundred drops won't do much good, and you'll risk bursting your body and polluting your apertures..." Su Yu had realized this himself, so he nodded. "I noticed that too. Manor Lord, has anyone in the Great Ming Prefecture tried extracting the Heaven Yuan Qi from blood essence to use directly for body reforging?" "It can't be extracted." Zhu Tiandao shook his head with regret. "Many people in Great Ming have tried, but Heaven Yuan Qi has already been absorbed into the bodies of those gods, demons, and beasts, transforming into their power. It forms a single, integrated whole with the blood essence. If you tear the Heaven Yuan Qi apart, the blood essence is ruined. And once the blood essence is ruined, the Heaven Yuan Qi vanishes too... It's an inherent contradiction. There's no way to reconcile it." Su Yu nodded once more; he also felt it sounded extraordinarily difficult. With that in mind, he asked, "Manor Lord, then how is the Heaven Yuan Qi inside a Heaven Yuan Fruit preserved?" "Well... that's hard to explain. If you need any, I can send a fruit or two your way later." *Your family still has some?* Su Yu was surprised. When he had asked Zhu Hongliang earlier, the young man had claimed they were all gone. Zhu Tiandao smiled and said, "Such things are plentiful in the territories of the gods and demons, and in the Immortal Realm as well. But that doesn't mean the Human Realm has none. Like I said, the Quest Realm and the War God Hall each have a spot with Heaven Yuan Fruit Trees. We Invincible families receive a share whenever the trees bear fruit. "A Heaven Yuan Fruit Tree takes three years to flower, three years to bear fruit, and three years to ripen—nine years in total. Each tree yields thirty-six fruits per harvest. The Quest Realm has two trees, and the War God Hall has three. That's one hundred and eighty fruits every nine years." Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "Some Invincibles without descendants don't bother taking their share, while the families stationed permanently at the Quest Realm and War God Hall ask for a bit more. My Zhu family gets about two fruits every nine years." An Invincible family received only two fruits every nine years! That was remarkably few! Still, centuries had passed since the founding of the prefecture. Over time, the Zhu family had probably collected sixty or seventy fruits. At this thought, Su Yu suddenly asked, "Have these Heaven Yuan Fruit Trees been around since ancient times?" "Not at all. Three hundred years ago, King Daqin and King Dazhou joined forces, slipped into the Immortal Realm, seized some Heaven Yuan Fruit Trees, and transplanted them back here." "..." Su Yu stared blankly for a second. *Why go to the Immortal Realm?* *Aren't the Immortals supposed to be neutral?* *Why not steal from the gods or demons?* Guessing Su Yu's thoughts, Zhu Tiandao smiled. "It was partly a test. There were many reasons behind it that aren't convenient to discuss. Furthermore, the existence of the Immortal race is both a blessing and a curse. The fact that the gods and demons have never launched an all-out assault against humanity is partially related to the Immortals. Of course, the Immortals aren't acting out of goodwill. The leader of the Immortal race is slightly weaker than the leaders of the gods and demons and has been in secluded cultivation in recent years. The Immortals are likely just biding their time..." Su Yu nodded slightly, thought for a moment, and asked, "Manor Lord, are their leaders all Half-Emperors? Just how strong is a Half-Emperor? And if there are Half-Emperors, are there true Emperors?" "No..." Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "'Half-Emperor'... that's just our designation. They don't acknowledge the title themselves, though several ancient races do. According to the records and legends of those ancient races, humanity once had a true Emperor!" He smiled broadly. "Therefore, no matter how strong anyone else in the myriad realms may be, they can only be called Half-Emperors! "Humanity was once immensely powerful. That much is universally recognized—just look at those ancient ruins! But a great cataclysm occurred, causing humanity's strength to decline. The ancient Emperor and those Invincibles vanished. Perhaps they died, or perhaps they set off to explore the unknown worlds..." Zhu Tiandao clearly knew far more than Su Yu. Reaching this point, he sighed. "Those predecessors may have met with catastrophe or death, but before departing or perishing, they didn't leave empty-handed. At the very least, they sealed off the All-Heavens Battlefield, the passage connecting the myriad realms. Unfortunately, three hundred years ago, that seal shattered, bringing about the crisis the Human Realm faces today!" Su Yu nodded. He had heard conjectures along these lines before. The Human Realm had once experienced an era of unparalleled glory! Blindingly glorious! The center of the myriad realms! He had heard that the lack of realm suppression in the Human Realm was tied to this history. It wasn't that the Human Realm couldn't exert suppression, but rather that ancient human experts had voluntarily dismantled it. As the core of the myriad realms and the sanctuary where all heavens came to pay homage, there was no need for oppressive realm force to suppress the visiting races. Sadly... that glory had not endured. Moving on from the subject, Su Yu said, "Manor Lord, I won't go to the Quest Realm or the War God Hall. It's better not to invite trouble. If you have a Heaven Yuan Fruit to spare, just giving me one will be enough. I'd like to run some research and analysis on it." "All right!" Zhu Tiandao did not press the matter. Going to the Quest Realm might indeed cause headaches. Heaven Yuan Qi was exceptionally rare, making those areas the premier sanctuaries for nurturing the younger generation; even the descendants of the Invincibles felt there wasn't enough to go around. Letting Su Yu, an outsider, compete for those resources might spark friction. With business concluded, Zhu Tiandao thought for a moment before offering a reminder: "That little fur ball you're carrying... be as careful as you can with it. If you head to the All-Heavens Battlefield, try not to leave the Eastern War Zone. That little critter has serious backing." *The little thing has powerful patrons behind it, so it's best not to take it out of the Human Realm.* *Even if you go to the All-Heavens Battlefield, you'd better leave it behind.* Su Yu nodded. Within his sea of will, the little fur ball ignored them completely. Perched atop the small hammer, it gazed yearningly toward the depths of the sea of will. It couldn't see the golden album, but it could sense that the area smelled the most delicious! So fragrant it practically drooled! Until it got to eat that, it refused to leave! Only after devouring it—whenever that might be—would it ever consider going. *** After their brief conversation, Su Yu also inquired about his recent earnings. Lately, the *Primordial Spirit Character Art* had spread far and wide, circulating across all the major prefectures. The number of people redeeming the upper volume had reached forty thousand, while slightly fewer—around ten thousand—had redeemed the lower volume. Many people cultivated techniques this way, redeeming one volume at a time. At 50 merit points per volume across fifty thousand copies, the gross earnings reached 2.5 million points. According to their profit split, Su Yu was entitled to forty percent. That was a full one million merit points! Sure enough, creating cultivation arts was the most profitable venture in the world! Unless another technique emerged to supplant it, Su Yu could collect royalties from this for years to come! One million points... an astonishing sum. However, Zhu Tiandao explained, "This requires bureaucratic procedures and multiple checkpoints, so it's impossible to collect everything in one lump sum right now. If you're short on funds, you can take an advance from Great Ming Prefecture..." Su Yu waved his hand. "No need. Settling at the end of the year is fine. I'll settle accounts with Great Xia Prefecture first! Back then, I agreed with Great Xia that I would receive one merit point for every person who acquired the aperture fusion method. There are far more warriors out there; over a million people have probably learned it by now. At one point per person, that's another million points in royalties!" Even if Marquis Xia didn't bring it up, Su Yu certainly wouldn't forget. One merit point per copy was already dirt cheap! Back then, ignorant of how royalty shares worked, he had practically handed it to the Xia family on a silver platter. If Su Yu had earned a million points, Marquis Xia had pocketed at least ten times that amount—and that was a conservative estimate, not counting the licensing fees raked in from the other prefectures. Warriors vastly outnumbered Civilization Masters! By all rights, it was time to distribute the payout. All things considered, Su Yu wasn't short on money at all right now—not in the slightest! It simply hadn't landed in his account yet! Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "True enough. Xia Xiao'er made a fortune off that aperture fusion technique. Still... that gravy train is coming to an end. Once the ultimate version came out without his authorization, the market impact of the other two versions plummeted." Su Yu said nothing, though he doubted the impact had dropped that much. The basic version only required opening eighteen apertures, while the advanced version required thirty-six. Not everyone could easily open thirty-six apertures. When it came to cultivation arts, stronger wasn't always better; accessibility often mattered more. He needed to settle accounts with Marquis Xia! If he didn't demand payment, that fellow would play dumb and drag it out until the end of time. Su Yu had heard that the Xia family was tight on funds—perpetually broke from maintaining such massive armies. Marquis Xia scavenged for money wherever he could. As for what to do once he got his hands on all that wealth, the answer was obvious: buy massive quantities of blood essence! And extract vast amounts of Heaven Yuan Qi! Su Yu certainly couldn't use it all by himself, but even so, he had to claim what was his. Besides, if he planned to cultivate his own faction, how could he manage without money? How could he manage without resources? Most importantly, he had a pet to feed. That little fur ball alone was enough of a bottomless pit to give him a headache! Thinking of this, Su Yu remembered the three great demons and said, "Manor Lord, I'll also have to trouble you to remind Great Xia Prefecture to deliver those three great demons to me soon. I promised to send them back to the All-Heavens Battlefield. Even if I can't do so right now, I won't go back on my word!" He would send them back sooner or later! "All right. I'll mention it to Xia Xiao'er later. It would be best to hold another discussion anyway. The *Primordial Spirit Character Art* hasn't been finalized with Great Xia yet, and Xia Xiao'er probably wants to negotiate with you as well." Agreements had been reached with the rest of Great Xia Prefecture, but the three major academies had yet to finalize terms. This matter inevitably required further negotiation. *** Having wrapped up his discussion with Zhu Tiandao, Su Yu lingered no longer. Calling for Wu Lan, he headed toward the research institute with her. Along the way. Upon learning that Wu Lan had only reached Floor 17, Su Yu thought for a long moment before offering comfort: "You're a researcher. Your primary focus is research, so it's completely normal not to excel at clearing combat trials!" "..." Wu Lan ignored him. He might as well have said nothing. *Aren't you a researcher too?!* Su Yu chuckled and said, "Honestly, that's already quite good. Clearing Floor 20 by raw strength puts you on par with the top three of Great Xia's Top 100 list. Floor 19 corresponds to roughly the top thirty, and Floor 18 is around the top fifty. Reaching Floor 17 means you'd easily rank among the Top 100 students back at Great Xia!" Wu Lan grumbled dejectedly, "Is the Top 100 supposed to be impressive?" She didn't feel it was. Back at Great Xia, she had nearly broken into the Top 100 herself, and several months had passed since then. "Everyone else is making progress too. It's only natural." Su Yu glanced at her. In truth, her progress wasn't slow at all. She was already at the eighth tier of the Qianjun Realm, and her character-nourishing fullness had exceeded ninety-five percent. In the past, that would have been considered respectable—though against current standards, it was indeed somewhat lacking. Su Yu smiled. "You don't really need to cultivate the *War God Art* anymore. I suggest you switch to the *Primordial Spirit Aperture Opening Art*. Isn't opening apertures just a matter of spending money? It's not like you're broke. Just buy some Earth Yuan Fruits at 500 merit points each. Pick up thirty to fifty of them, pop open fifty or sixty apertures, and you'll practically have mastered the *Primordial Spirit Aperture Opening Art*." Wu Lan rolled her eyes! That would cost tens of thousands of merit points! *Does he think I'm an idiot?* *Where would I get that kind of money?!* Earth Yuan Fruits could indeed open apertures, but each fruit only opened one or two at a cost of 500 merit points, and their efficacy diminished the more you used them. Seeing her expression, Su Yu laughed. "Just buy them. Actually, if you don't want to spend, I have quite a few on hand that will go to waste otherwise. Later, I can give you—" "I don't want them!" "Consider it your dividend." Su Yu smiled. "The Primordial Spirit Research Institute has made money—a massive amount of it. As the head of the assault team, isn't receiving a dividend of ten or twenty thousand merit points entirely reasonable?" "I already have the *Primordial Spirit Character Art*!" "That thing isn't worth much. Anyone can redeem it for a hundred points now." Su Yu laughed. "The same goes for the aperture fusion method; it doesn't fetch many merit points anymore either. Before being released, it was valuable. Once made public, something anyone can get for several dozen or a hundred points loses its prestige." He added, "And it's not just you. I plan to compensate the others as well. I didn't expect to release the ultimate version of the aperture fusion method so quickly back then. I'll make it up to Jiang Mu, Xia Huyou, and the rest later on!" This was the honest truth. He hadn't anticipated spreading the technique so rapidly. Even though they had learned it months in advance, looking back now... it hardly seemed worth what they had invested. Back then, they had poured substantial resources and effort into acquiring what could now be bought for a few dozen merit points. He also planned to compensate Zhang Hao, Hu Zongqi, and the other members of the Mutual Aid Society. Learning it early was an advantage in itself, but Su Yu still felt they had gotten the short end of the stick. He was someone who kept a clear ledger of debts and favors; what was owed had to be repaid. As for Wu Lan, who had traveled thousands of li to come to the Great Ming Prefecture, Su Yu had even less reason to mistreat her. He truly did have a massive crate of Earth Yuan Fruits. He had no use for them himself, so leaving them to sit would be a waste. That crate held at least a hundred fruits! A hundred fruits were worth 50,000 merit points. Still, Su Yu intended to set some aside, perhaps to save for his father later. Naturally, Heaven Yuan Fruits were best for opening apertures. The core of a Heaven Yuan Fruit was Heaven Yuan Qi. If he could extract Heaven Yuan Qi, Earth Yuan Fruits wouldn't matter at all. However, extracting Heaven Yuan Qi would probably come with a hefty price tag. Only blood essence from the Tengkong Realm could yield Heaven Yuan Qi. A single drop of Tengkong blood essence—even from a useless creature—was hardly cheap. And if the creature was too weak, its Heaven Yuan Qi content would be minuscule, requiring him to purchase higher-grade blood essence. All of this required spending money! Wu Lan didn't know what Su Yu was thinking, but hearing that he intended to compensate everyone, her face lit up with a beaming smile. "Can I really get that many Earth Yuan Fruits as my share?" "Of course. You're the head of the assault team!" "Then should I switch to the *Primordial Spirit Aperture Opening Art*?" She had heard Su Yu mention that once mastered, this art allowed one to open subsequent apertures at incredible speed. Su Yu nodded. "It's a fantastic technique. After practicing it, if you feel its offensive power is lacking, you can even pick up a Heaven-rank cultivation art. Opening apertures will be rapid, fusing them will be swift, and you'll reach the ninth tier of the Wanshi Realm in no time! Otherwise, grinding along on your own, you won't reach Wanshi for another year or two." "I'm a Civilization Master, not a warrior..." Wu Lan didn't care much about that, quickly adding, "I want to advance to Tengkong! Being invincible within the same realm is out of reach for me anyway, so advancing early wouldn't be bad either..." "You haven't opened many divine apertures, have you?" "I've opened eight!" Su Yu was speechless. *With so few opened, what's the rush to advance?* Still, it wasn't slow. It had only been a little over two months since he gave her the technique. Opening eight divine apertures in two months was quite respectable. In fact, it was very fast—she had likely devoured a massive amount of willpower. "It's best to open all seventy-two!" Su Yu advised, "Once you open all seventy-two, reaching the Lingyun Realm will be a breeze!" Wu Lan complained with a headache, "But without advancing, my willpower is too weak, and my efficiency is terrible! Lately, I find myself struggling to even read books. I've outlined six divine characters, and nurturing them consumes so much willpower that it scatters my focus." *Outlined six divine characters?* *So fast?* Su Yu paused in surprise. Wu Lan groaned, "It's so weird. Ever since coming to the Great Ming Prefecture, I've been outlining divine characters much faster, and my nightly cultivation has accelerated too. Just two days ago, I glanced casually through a text of will and ended up outlining another character!" *Why outline so many?!* She hadn't even intended to outline that many. Su Yu was momentarily stunned, then quickly pieced it together: it was the influence of his "Fire" divine character! He hadn't felt it distinctly himself, but Wu Lan had reaped immense benefits. Her willpower couldn't keep up with the consumption, leaving her distracted and unable to concentrate on reading. This was a common affliction, requiring vast amounts of treasures and resources to replenish. That was why people said the Multiple Divine Characters Faction devoured money like water. And that was with merely six characters; once she reached ten or twenty, the burden would be even worse. His senior sister, Wu Jia, had outlined quite a few as well, which was why she hated reading... Ahem, there was no helping it; her focus was severely divided, leaving her with no mental energy left to study. "Endure it for a while. I'll figure something out later!" Su Yu offered some consolation. Not everyone was like him; for ordinary people, possessing too many divine characters became an overwhelming burden. Jin Sheng, for instance, carried too many divine characters, which created a tremendous strain and prevented him from breaking through to Lingyun for a very long time. *** Returning to the research institute, Su Yu shut himself inside the cultivation chamber. "Heaven Yuan Qi, body-reforging methods, primordial spirit aperture." Su Yu murmured to himself. He needed to test the primordial spirit aperture to see whether linking his 180 divine apertures and opening 380 yuan apertures would cause it to manifest automatically. Furthermore, opening 180 divine apertures had not formed a self-contained circulation. Did that mean he hadn't reached the limit yet? Were there 360 divine apertures in total as well? Whatever the case, even if there really were 360, Su Yu had no intention of waiting. Races that cultivated solely through divine apertures were exceedingly rare; so far, he had only discovered five techniques from the Five Elements race. To open another 180 divine apertures, who knew how many years it would take? He couldn't remain stuck in the Character Nourishing Realm forever. No matter how strong a Character Nourishing cultivator became, there was still an upper ceiling. At this moment, Su Yu had practically reached that limit—strong enough to battle Lingyun cultivators. "If I link all 180 divine apertures, I won't accidentally trigger willpower manifestation on the spot, will I?" Feeling a bit uneasy, he decided to set that aside and focus on obtaining Heaven Yuan Qi first. How to preserve it was a major conundrum. Divine characters... "Which divine character can quickly contain Heaven Yuan Qi and keep it from dissipating?" Retrieving a drop of blood essence, Su Yu prepared to test whether any of his existing divine characters could store Heaven Yuan Qi. Swallowing the blood essence, he activated the album. The body-reforging technique engaged! A faint wisp of Heaven Yuan Qi radiated from the apertures within his body. Su Yu began manipulating his divine characters, guiding them into his flesh to extract it directly. The "Blood" character entered, but proved useless; it worked wonders against blood essence, but had little effect on Heaven Yuan Qi. "Thunder," "Battle," "Blade"... none of these worked either. Soon, however, Su Yu discovered one that did! To his surprise, the shadow barrier cast by the "Yin" divine character seemed capable of containing it when formed into an orb! It made sense—the shadow barrier was designed specifically to seal yuanqi and prevent leaks. And "yuanqi" naturally encompassed Heaven Yuan Qi. That the "Yin" character's barrier possessed such utility came as a pleasant shock. He had previously assumed the "Beast" character might work best, as it contained an internal dimensional space that might store Heaven Yuan Qi. Testing the "Beast" character, Su Yu sensed that Heaven Yuan Qi could indeed be deposited into the beast dimension. The problem was... he couldn't take it back out! "It would work well for raising beasts, though!" Su Yu thought thoughtfully. The "Beast" character served as a mount dimension; infusing vast amounts of Heaven Yuan Qi into it to nurture demon beasts would definitely yield tremendous benefits. "Since the shadow barrier works, that saves me the trouble of running around trying to outline new divine characters..." In his hand, a dark orb gradually took shape. This was the shadow barrier. When the "Yin" character was merely Tier-1, the barrier it generated was tiny, barely able to cloak a few apertures, leading Su Yu to deem it useless at the time. Now, after being repeatedly nourished, it had reached Tier-2, and inside the Baidao Pavilion, it had even peaked at the pinnacle of Tier-2. When he exited seclusion earlier, even Elder Yun and the others had struggled to detect the changes in him precisely because this barrier had grown so potent. A peak Tier-2 "Yin" divine character offered significantly greater utility. Pondering for a moment, Su Yu shaped the barrier into an apple-sized orb, then swallowed a drop of Ironwing Bird blood essence. A Tengkong-grade drop! A single drop of Tengkong-grade god or demon blood essence—even from an ordinary member—cost over a thousand merit points. It was prohibitively expensive! Ironwing Bird blood was far more economical! Early Tengkong blood essence could be acquired for as little as 20 merit points a drop through proper channels. That was a colossal disparity. Even late Tengkong blood essence could be secured for around 50 points a drop. Of course, securing it for 50 points required someone like Xia Huyou. Compared to god and demon blood essence, that was a fiftyfold price difference; compared to the Primordial God Race or Primordial Demon Race, the gap exceeded a hundredfold! If the Heaven Yuan Qi he extracted could reach just one-fiftieth of what god or demon blood essence yielded, Su Yu wouldn't lose a single point; in fact, he would turn a profit. God and demon blood essence was priceless and practically impossible to buy on the open market, whereas blood essence from common races like the Ironwing Bird was readily available everywhere! Even if the unit cost balanced out, one was plentiful and easy to trade, while the other was impossible to obtain for any amount of gold. The two were worlds apart. Casting aside stray thoughts, Su Yu ignited the blood essence. Wisps of faint Heaven Yuan Qi were swiftly extracted, channeled through his fingertips, and infused into the shadow barrier. Gradually, inside the dark shadow barrier, a hair-thin, undulating strand of energy appeared. It was golden! This was Heaven Yuan Qi! "Twenty merit points, and it only yielded this tiny scrap..." Su Yu felt a sharp twinge of pain in his teeth! When the little fur ball broke through earlier, he had absorbed an immense amount of it. By his calculation, that haul had been at least a thousand times greater than this single strand! Did that mean his casual breathing earlier had swallowed 20,000 merit points' worth of qi? And the little fur ball had absorbed at least ten times more than him... The thought was terrifying! Oh well, some treasures truly couldn't be bought with merit points. "How much Heaven Yuan Qi is inside a single Heaven Yuan Fruit?" Su Yu calculated silently. A Heaven Yuan Fruit was extraordinarily valuable—a precious treasure that money couldn't buy. He recalled reading a record stating that Zhou Potian, the son of King Dazhou, had consumed a Heaven Yuan Fruit and opened all nine Kaiyuan apertures within three days! Such items were far too scarce, completely absent from the open market. "Rare goods command high value. Even if the nominal price is low, ordinary buyers can't acquire them... Regardless, being able to extract Heaven Yuan Qi is the greatest possible advantage!" As for whether the monetary value was equivalent, that hardly mattered. Su Yu tested another type of blood essence: Fire Porpoise... Early Tengkong Fire Porpoise blood essence yielded even less Heaven Yuan Qi than the Ironwing Bird! While the price was slightly lower than Ironwing Bird blood essence, it didn't seem cost-effective. Su Yu continued testing several other types. The one offering the highest cost-performance ratio was neither the Ironwing Bird nor the others, but... the Mountain-Breaking Ox! Su Yu's eyes filled with a bizarre expression! *Back when I was opening apertures, I consumed the blood essence of at least a hundred Wanshi-grade Mountain-Breaking Oxen. Does this mean... I have to go buy Tengkong-grade Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence now?* *What did those poor creatures ever do to deserve this?!* *Should I switch to another species instead?* He finally understood why the blood essence of the Mountain-Breaking Ox race enabled such rapid aperture opening. The cultivation technique was one reason, but another was likely the dense concentration of Heaven Yuan Qi contained within their blood! "Wherever the Mountain-Breaking Ox race lives, there must be a sacred ground rich with Heaven Yuan Qi!" There had to be! Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence wasn't cheap either. Previously, early Tengkong blood essence cost at least 50 merit points per drop. He would need to ask around to see if bulk purchases could bring the price down. He would also test whether early Lingyun or mid-to-late Tengkong blood essence offered even better value. "My apologies to your race, but you're just too fragrant!" Su Yu felt utterly helpless. He hadn't wanted this; countless Mountain-Breaking Oxen had already died on his account. Without trade, there would be no slaughter. But damn it... they were just too fragrant! From the same drop of blood essence, they yielded four times the Heaven Yuan Qi of an Ironwing Bird, while costing less than three times as much. The cost-performance ratio was simply unbeatable!