403: Chapter 403: The Divine Body

At this moment, only seven people remained in the pool.

The twenty-something people who had come out sat by the edge of the pool, their gazes fixed on the Spirit Spring.

Su Mingyuan closed his eyes, sensing the flow of Qi within his Meridians.

It had been half an hour, and the Spirit Spring was still pouring into his Meridians; the speed had not slowed, and there were no signs of his Meridians becoming engorged.

It seemed as if, after the Qi entered Su Mingyuan's body, it was swallowed by something, disappearing without a trace.

He did not pay attention to this anomaly, because his teammates nearby had begun to show signs of activity.

Su Mingyuan opened his eyes to see Chen Rong sitting cross-legged in the Spirit Spring, motionless, but the Spirit Spring around him seemed to be boiling.

Dense bubbles emerged on the pale cyan liquid surface, making a faint crackling sound as they burst.

A blue light began to radiate from the surface of Chen Rong's skin, growing brighter and brighter.

Subsequently, a wisp of an electric arc darted out from the roots of his hair.

Immediately following were a second, a third, becoming increasingly dense, until finally, a cluster of blue-white sparks seemed to explode atop his head.

The lightning-attribute Qi within his body was running wild.

"Hum—"

A low vibration emanated from Chen Rong's body, pushing the surface of the Spirit Spring outward in a circle, causing Zhou Jian, who was closest to him, to sway from the ripples.

Zhao Ping, standing by the pool, stood up, and the others also looked over.

The Randan Spirit floated above, wooden staff held upright before him, staring at Chen Rong for a few seconds without speaking to intervene.

Almost at the same time, things began on Lin Wan's side as well.

Unlike Chen Rong's violent display, the reaction on Lin Wan's side was much quieter.

She sat on the west side of the pool, eyes closed, hands resting on her knees.

Su Mingyuan saw a layer of thin ice forming on the Spirit Spring around her, spreading outward from her knees; the speed was not fast, but it was unstoppable.

The surface of the ice layer had fine, intricate patterns, like frost creeping across glass.

A layer of white ice crystals hung from Lin Wan's eyelashes, and her exhaled breath turned into a white mist, gathering in a small cluster before her that did not disperse for a long time.

Moreover, the temperature around her was dropping; Su Mingyuan could feel a chill even from thirty or forty meters away.

Her ice-attribute Spirit Body had also been activated.

On Chen Rong's side, lightning arcs crackled; on Lin Wan's side, ice crystals spread.

Two completely opposing forces of Qi were released simultaneously in this small space; the air in the auxiliary pool area became alternately dry and damp-cold, with the temperature fluctuating wildly.

The people by the pool didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

The Randan Spirit's gaze shifted away from these two and landed on Han Li.

Han Li's reaction was slower than both Chen Rong's and Lin Wan's.

She sat in the position closest to the stone wall, head slightly lowered, breathing very steadily. Su Mingyuan initially thought she hadn't started yet, but after looking closely, he realized something was wrong.

The color of the Spirit Spring around Han Li had changed.

The Spirit Spring elsewhere was a uniform pale cyan, but only the liquid within about an arm's length around Han Li was slowly turning green.

It was that translucent green of fresh spring leaves just unfurling, carrying an indescribable Life Qi.

Then, a scent of medicinal herbs suddenly surged up, so intense it was like crushing a dozen different herbs together and shoving them under one's nose, directly overpowering the faint base scent of the Spirit Spring.

Zhao Ping wrinkled his nose by the pool: "This scent smells so good; I feel like the hidden injuries I suffered before have already healed at this moment."

At this moment, Han Li had both hands resting on her knees, her fingers trembling slightly.

The Ten Thousand Wood Spirit Ruins Body was awakening.

Tao Zhe sat two meters to the right of Su Mingyuan, having shown no movement the entire time.

Su Mingyuan glanced at him a few times, having assumed for the first twenty minutes that he, like himself, hadn't started yet.

But after Han Li's reaction emerged, he noticed a layer of extremely faint white light on Tao Zhe's shoulders.

The white light was barely visible, clinging to the surface of his skin like a thin layer of mist.

If not for the weak illumination of the Spirit Spring and the dark background, this layer of white light would have been impossible to spot.

Tao Zhe himself had probably noticed it too; he opened his eyes and glanced at the back of his hand, where the roots of the fine hairs were glowing with a faint light.

Then he closed his eyes again, not saying anything.

Zhou Jian and Zhao Cheng also each had their own reactions.

A dull, pulsing sound faintly emanated from Zhou Jian's Meridians—not loud, like a drumstick tapping on a stone through a layer of cloth.

It was very quiet on Zhao Cheng's side, but a pale yellow halo appeared on the Spirit Jade he was sitting cross-legged upon, spreading outward from beneath him.

Six people's Spirit Bodies were all activating.

Some fast, some slow, each with different displays.

Only Su Mingyuan had no reaction at all.

He sat in the Spirit Spring exactly the same as when he had first sat down several hours ago.

If he couldn't clearly feel the Qi still pouring into his Meridians, he would even suspect that the Spirit Spring had no effect on him at all.

But the Qi was indeed being absorbed by his body, and the speed was even increasing.

Su Mingyuan frowned and opened his eyes.

He looked up at the Randan Spirit.

The Randan Spirit happened to be looking at him as well.

The old man's expression was different from before.

When watching Chen Rong and Lin Wan earlier, the old man's face carried a hint of satisfaction.

When watching Han Li, it was gratification; when watching Tao Zhe and the other two, it was curiosity.

But when watching Su Mingyuan, the old man's face was filled with confusion.

"Something is not right!"

The old man's brows knitted together into a knot.

Su Mingyuan looked at him.

"What is it, Senior?"

The Randan Spirit did not answer; a pale golden Qi was released from the tip of his staff, sweeping down from the top of Su Mingyuan's head like a net, scanning across the surface of his body before being retracted into the staff.

This time, the old man was silent for a long time.

"Where did the Qi in your body go?"

The Randan Spirit spoke, his voice lower than before.

Su Mingyuan shook his head.

"I don't know either. The Qi has been continuously absorbed by me, but I have yet to feel the existence of a Spirit Body."

The Randan Spirit's brows knitted together.

"You should not have a Spirit Body."

A few people by the pool heard this and looked over.

Although Su Mingyuan's expression didn't change, his heart sank.

Only hearing the old man continue.

"Because the Physique you possess is one level higher than a Spirit Body."

"One level higher, what does that mean?"

Tao Zhe also opened his eyes and looked over.

"If I am not mistaken, the Physique he possesses is called—a Divine Body." The Randan Spirit's voice suddenly became very slow, with a pause between every word, as if he were weighing whether to say it out loud. "In the five thousand years of the Danding Heavenly Palace, I have never seen one with my own eyes; I have only read about it in the records of ancient texts."

He paused for a moment and continued.

"I still remember the original words in the texts—'Those with a Divine Body consume Spirit like drinking, and swallow Qi like eating; their Meridians never fill, their Dantian never overflows; their entire body is a furnace, and Heaven and Earth are the fuel.'"

The pool was silent for a few seconds; the crackling sound of the lightning arcs on Chen Rong's body seemed exceptionally jarring in this quiet space.

"But—" The Randan Spirit's tone suddenly changed; he withdrew the wooden staff from Su Mingyuan, gripping it with significantly more force, so much so that the staff itself bent slightly.

"There are only a dozen or so types of Divine Bodies recorded in the texts. I cannot tell which type your Divine Body belongs to."

"However, even the weakest Divine Body possesses a power that these Spirit Bodies cannot compare to."

Before he had even finished speaking, the Spirit Spring at the bottom of the pool began to surge crazily toward Su Mingyuan.

The liquid surface was dropping visibly to the naked eye.

The Randan Spirit's expression changed.

"Oh no—"