Chapter 13
The next two days Chen Zhen endured the torture of his dantian being expanded. Each time he could last a little longer before having the clone take over. After the second night before Chen Zhen fell asleep the clone had a conversation with him.
[You are now at level 4 of body refinement. I felt it was important to inform you that one of the souls will fully awaken tomorrow. Since we don't know how its awakening will affect you it might be pertinent to inform Shanggu Julong now, so we can postpone your training for a day or two for you to adjust to having a new voice in your head.]
Chen Zhen rolled over and called to Shanggu Julong, letting him know that one of the souls was going to awaken tomorrow.
"Really, so soon? I thought it would take a couple weeks to a month at least before they would start to awaken. Now that I think about it, didn't you say that the energy you took in was being distributed between your mind, body, and soul?", Shanggu Julong asked.
Chen Zhen nodded his head, feeling sleep overtaking him and trying to fight it.
"That explains it. Your knew cultivation method has been giving them the energy they needed to awaken sooner. Chen Zhen my boy you really are a genius! But this once again changes everything. I have no way of planning our next move before they awaken so we will have to hold off on expanding your dantian till they both have fully awakened. So starting tomorrow I will begin teaching some of the body strengthening martial techniques of my clan.", Shanggu Julong said with a wicked smile on his face.
Chen Zhen couldn't hold on anymore and was already asleep before Shanggu Julong finished speaking. Had he still been awake he would have had a s.h.i.+ver travel down his spine looking at Shanggu Julong's devilish countenance.
When Chen Zhen woke up the next day his head had a slight pressure to it. It literally felt full to him. The added pressure was like a migraine making his eyes sensitive to sunlight. Chen Zhen had a light dizzy spell as he sat up. Chen Zhen crossed his legs underneath himself and began cultivating.
"This feels very weird.", Shanggu Feng said startling Chen Zhen
"Yes, I agree. This definitely feels very weird.", Lou Tian said in agreement.
"So you both have awaken. How do you feel?", Chen Zhen asked them. It felt very strange to him having two different voices in his head.
"I don't know how to answer that question. I can feel everything that is happening in your body, but I can't move or control anything. The best I can describe it as is weak. I feel weak.", Shanggu Feng replied
"I would say weak also. I
Chen Zhen brought the two up to speed on what he has been doing to get stronger. He was honest about everything he had experienced except for his clone. Not even Shanggu Julong knew that his sea of consciousness was still opened to his use. When Chen Zhen explained what Shanggu Julong and he had been doing to expand his dantian Shanggu Feng and Lou Tian became outraged.
"Has your ancestor gone senile in his old age?! Is he trying to kill us?!", Lou Tian howled.
"I don't know what he was thinking but I'm going to give him a piece of my mind as well! His plan is insane!", Shanggu Julong yelled as well
"Guys look at my dantian before you go questioning whether Shanggu Julong has lost his sanity.", Chen Zhen said to calm them down.
After checking Chen Zhen's body the two of them were momentarily speechless. They had never seen or heard of a dantian that big in a level 4 body refinement stage cultivator. At level 4 Chen Zhen's dantian was the size of a large bowl. There were still six more levels before he entered the liquid core stage. If this continued then by the time he entered the liquid core stage his dantian could hold the power of a solid core realm cultivator. This was insane, this meant if he was trained properly he could jump realms and fight warrior much more advanced then he was. This completely boggled their minds.
"As to be expected of my revered ancestor! He has always been a genius when it comes to the martial path and always thought outside the box. Chen Zhen you are truly blessed to be lead by such a master on your martial path.", Shanggu Feng said with utmost solemnness.
Chen Zhen and Lou Tian both rolled their eyes at Shanggu Feng's thick skin. At this time Shanggu Julong walked into the shack and noticed the change in Chen Zhen's aura.
"Good they both have awakened at the same time. Since they are awake we need to experiment to see if they will be a help or a hinderance to your training progress.", Shanggu Julong said with a big grin on has face, and rubbing his hands together like a mad scientist.
"This can't be good….", Lou Tian said.
"You have no idea…", Chen Zhen agreed.
Chen Zhen started by eating the Thunder Bison and Fire Ox again. As he was eating his third plate he noticed it was taking too long to fill his dantian with energy. When he asked the clone he was shocked to find that he now had three separate dantians now. Now that the other two had awakened they were able to store and hold energy as well. This energy is what they would use to cultivate their souls. Chen Zhen was disappointed to find out that he couldn't use their energy as well. Whenever he tried he found there to be something blocking his attempts. The other noticed the same thing when they tried also. After eating and cultivating all day it took Chen Zhen eating nine plates before all of their dantians were full. When asked Chen Zhen explained to Shanggu Julong about the other two dantians. Shanggu Julong was surprised to learn about this because he couldn't sense them in Chen Zhen's body.
When they were ready to expand their dantians Chen Zhen held a rank 2 Thunder Bison spirit core. As soon as he started to absorb the energy the spirit core was instantly drained. This was the first time this had ever happened. Seeing this Shanggu Julong didn't seem to be surprised, he just shook his head like this was what he expected to happen all along. Shanggu Julong handed Chen Zhen another rank 2 Thunder Bison spirit core and a rank 2 Fire Ox spirit core. Chen Zhen looked at Shanggu Julong asking was he sure. Shanggu Julong just nodded his head to show it was ok.
This time he felt the torrent of power flow into him again. The three of them all circulated the energy and felt their dantians crack, but this time the pain was a hundred times less for Chen Zhen. Shanggu Julong and Lou Tian were both very powerful cultivators. Even though their powers were sealed in their souls they were still very powerful souls in their own right. They took the lion's share of the pain allowing Chen Zhen to fully focus o his cultivation. Because of this Shanggu Julong no longer had to reduce the energy flow into Chen Zhen's body. Within five hours they had already expanded their dantians and drained both of the spirit cores. Besides having to wipe a little sweat off of his forehead Chen Zhen actually felt fine. His quiet rumination was quickly ruined by Shanggu Julong.
"Since you can still stand after that its time to learn martial techniques