96: Energy Purification and the "Rebellious" Golden Elixir

The "blood crystal" energy purification project was designated as the "Dawn Project" by Wen Youyi and classified as the highest secret of the Research Hall. Senior Brother Zhang personally led the team and opened a completely isolated laboratory in the deepest part of Lijian Valley to conduct it.

This was undoubtedly an extremely bold and dangerous attempt. Using "poisonous grain" condensed by the Evil Path and filled with negative energy to feed their own pure "ark" network sounded like lubricating precision instruments with gutter oil—pure suicide.

But Wen Youyi's reasoning was also very sufficient: energy itself has no right or wrong; the key lies in the method and purpose of its use. Rather than letting these energies, which contain the resentment of living beings, become nourishment for "the ones above," it was better to find a way to "intercept" them and turn them to their own use. This in itself was a form of rebellion.

Senior Brother Zhang and the Research Hall Disciples began their research work with a sense of excitement and caution, akin to "touching a live wire."

First was the thorough analysis of the "blood crystal" energy structure. They used every detection method they could think of, and Wen Youyi even utilized the unique perception ability of the star core fragment, finally managing to roughly figure out the energy composition of the "blood crystal":

At the core was a highly concentrated, high-quality Spiritual Qi Origin, accounting for about 30%; wrapped in the outer layer was violent energy mixed with life essence, accounting for about 40%; the outermost layer, and also the most troublesome, was the negative emotion fragments and resentment Impurities that clung like bone-eating maggots, accounting for about 30%.

The difficulty lay in the fact that these three were not simply superimposed but were tightly entangled like a tangled mess of hemp. Conventional purification methods, such as Buddha light or Heart-Cleansing Mantras, either had poor effects or were prone to "collateral damage," purifying the core Spiritual Qi Origin along with them, which was not worth the loss.

The research hit a deadlock.

Until one day, when a Research Hall Disciple was debugging a node of the "ark" network, he accidentally leaked a trace of core Spiritual Qi (pure Spiritual Qi filtered by the "ark") into the Magical Artifact used to isolate the trace amounts of "blood crystal" energy.

A miracle happened!

That trace of pure "ark" Spiritual Qi, as if it had encountered a natural enemy, or like clear water dripped into a frying pan, instantly triggered a violent reaction in the "blood crystal" energy! The resentment Impurities on the outer layer melted away rapidly like snow meeting the sun, and the life essence in the middle layer also became docile. Only the core Spiritual Qi Origin remained unharmed, and even became more translucent!

"It works!" Senior Brother Zhang was so excited he almost jumped up!

They immediately adjusted their research direction, focusing on how to use the pure Spiritual Qi of the "ark" network as a "purifying agent" to safely and efficiently strip away the harmful components in the "blood crystal" energy.

This was an extremely delicate job, requiring ultimate, nuanced control over the characteristics of the two energies. Fortunately, they had built the "ark" network with their own hands and knew its energy characteristics like the back of their hand. After countless failures and adjustments, they finally designed a complex "energy sieve" System composed of multiple miniature Formations.

This System could guide the "blood crystal" energy to pass through slowly, while simultaneously using a precise proportion of pure "ark" Spiritual Qi to flush and neutralize it. Like a sieve, it stripped away the resentment and violent life essence layer by layer, ultimately leaving only the purest Spiritual Qi Origin.

When the first wisp of purified, soft, milky-white Spiritual Qi, containing not a trace of Impurities, was slowly extracted from the experimental device, the entire laboratory erupted!

"Success! We succeeded!" The Research Hall Disciples hugged and cheered, and Senior Brother Zhang even had tears in his eyes. This was not just a technical Breakthrough; it meant they had found a viable path to "snatch food from the tiger's mouth"!

Wen Youyi received the news and rushed over immediately. Feeling the pure, gentle Spiritual Qi, which far exceeded ordinary Spirit Stones, a brilliant smile appeared on his face.

"Well done! I knew you could do it!" He patted Senior Brother Zhang on the shoulder forcefully.

Soon, a small, stably operating "blood crystal purification device" was created. They placed the blood crystal that Hou San had presented into the device and started the Formation.

A few hours later, a crystal the size of a pigeon egg, entirely milky white and emitting a soft halo and pure Spiritual Qi, appeared before everyone. Its energy intensity was not inferior to the previously sinister "blood crystal" at all, and it was even more gentle and easier to absorb!

"This... this is even purer than a High-Grade Spirit Stone!" Wang Wu picked up the milky-white crystal, feeling the surging yet gentle energy within, and exclaimed.

Wen Youyi took the crystal, carefully perceived it, and confirmed that it contained no negative Impurities, only the most fundamental Spiritual Qi. He named it "source crystal."

"source crystal," originating from "blood crystal," but reborn, symbolizing new life and hope.

"Conduct safety tests immediately!" Wen Youyi suppressed his excitement and gave the order.

After rigorous biological (tested on spirit rabbits raised in the valley) and Formation tests, confirming that the "source crystal" energy was safe and harmless and had excellent compatibility with the "ark" network, Wen Youyi made a decision.

Carrying this first "source crystal," he went to the core node of the "ark" network—the stone platform where it was first born, disguised as a Spirit Gathering Formation.

Under everyone's nervous and expectant gazes, he carefully placed the "source crystal" in the center of the node and started the energy injection program.

A milky-white, gentle light lit up, and the pure Spiritual Qi in the "source crystal" flowed into the "ark" network like a sweet spring.

In an instant, the entire "ark" network seemed like it had encountered sweet rain after a long drought, emitting a joyous "hum"! All nodes lit up simultaneously, the originally faint halos became solid and stable, and although the network's coverage did not expand immediately, the speed and quality of the energy flow within it instantly improved by a grade!

The Spiritual Qi concentration in the core area increased by a small margin, visible to the naked eye! Although it was still far from reaching the level of a blessed land, compared to the pathetic "network speed" before, it was already a world of difference!

"Success! We really succeeded!" Zhao Iron Pillar felt the significantly richer pure Spiritual Qi around him and grinned foolishly.

All core members were incredibly excited. This meant they had found a shortcut to quickly charge the "ark" and accelerate its growth!

Wen Youyi looked at the stably operating, glowing "ark" network, his heart filled with heroic spirit.

Using the "poison" that the enemy used to harvest all living beings, refined into "nutrients" to nourish the sparks of their own rebellion!

Could there be anything more exciting and rebellious than this?

He felt that the spiritual power in his Dantian, which had been silent for a long time, began to spontaneously accelerate its circulation under the nourishment of this pure "source crystal" energy and the influence of his current state of mind, faintly showing signs of condensing and compressing!

He seemed to have touched the threshold of the Qi Refining Sixth Layer!

As expected, is robbing the granary of "the ones above" the fastest way to Cultivate?

A "naughty" curve appeared at the corner of Wen Youyi's mouth.

(End of this chapter)