Chapter 969 - 974, - 975: Sunbathing Adds Points_2

Nalan Yiren simply didn’t know what fatigue was. Her body was clearly screaming for a break, yet she forced herself to keep going until the Taotie Gu finally fell asleep before she stopped her cultivation.

Chen Mo held Nalan Yiren’s boneless-soft, cool and smooth delicate body in his arms. After a long silence, he said in a low voice, "From now on, you can’t do this anymore."

Nalan Yiren didn’t answer him. She quietly reached into the clothes thrown to the side, felt out a small porcelain bottle, poured out an elixir and swallowed it, then rolled over to the side to make room for Yue Ruyan. Without saying a single word, she lifted a corner of the quilt over herself and went straight to sleep.

To avoid pregnancy forcing the Taotie Gu’s cultivation to pause, Nalan Yiren had always been consciously using contraception.

Chen Mo: "..."

"Ru Yan, it’s getting late, let’s rest too."

Chen Mo reached out a hand to Yue Ruyan, who was squatting by the stone platform.

Yue Ruyan turned her head, stared at Chen Mo for a few moments, and in the end still placed her hand in the one he extended.

Chen Mo yanked her up onto the stone platform in one go, pulled her tall, supple, delicate body into his arms, buried his face into her hair, and said, "Sleep."

Chen Mo just held her like that, not moving at all.

He was tired today too.

Yue Ruyan’s hands had already clenched into fists. Seeing Chen Mo just fall asleep like that, she let out a breath of relief, yet at the same time felt an inexplicable annoyance.

If you’re not going to do anything, what did you drag me over here for?

They slept straight through till broad daylight.

The first light of dawn crept in.

The budding autumn wind blew across the stone platform; under the quilt, the three of them were tightly cuddled together.

Yue Ruyan woke up first. In truth she hadn’t slept all night—she had no sense of security sleeping outside, didn’t dare close her eyes at all. By morning, she simply couldn’t resist the drowsiness anymore and dozed for a bit; now the wind woke her, and she decided to stop trying to sleep.

She climbed down from the stone platform and began practicing her punches to the side.

When Chen Mo woke, the sun was already somewhat high. The dazzling sunlight shone on his face, making it impossible for him to fall back asleep even if he wanted to.

"Awake?" Yue Ruyan, who was punching, sensed Chen Mo wake up. She turned to glance at him, then stopped, lifting a hand to wipe the fragrant sweat from her forehead. A lock of hair hanging along her cheek lay against the sweaty collarbone beneath her graceful neck.

Chen Mo nodded slightly, glanced at Nalan Yiren who was still asleep, tugged the quilt up to cover her head, and asked, "Ru Yan, what hour is it now?"

Yue Ruyan lifted her head to look at the sun, estimated, and said, "It should be around 7:00 AM. Morning court has definitely ended by now."

As she spoke, Yue Ruyan added, "You left without a word last night. Right now, everyone in the Imperial Palace is probably looking for you."

"It’s that late already... Wait, no..."

As he spoke, Chen Mo’s expression suddenly changed.

"What’s wrong?" Yue Ruyan asked in puzzlement.

Chen Mo didn’t answer her for the moment.

He had noticed a problem.

If it was already around 7:00 AM now, then the Solar Purple Qi absorption window had passed.

But why was Golden Crow Heaven Burning Skill’s experience still increasing?

And the system’s notification sound was different as well.

[Supplemented a strand of Golden Crow Power, Golden Crow Heaven Burning Skill experience +1.]

And the absorption speed was insanely fast. Chen Mo counted silently in his heart—almost every two to three seconds it would gain one point of experience.

You should know, previously every strand of Solar Purple Qi took about a minute to absorb.

"Is it because of the Cultivation Technique Tier Break?"

"You... you’re okay, right?" Seeing Chen Mo not respond and his expression dull and frozen, Yue Ruyan couldn’t help feeling a jolt of alarm. She waved a hand in front of his face.

"I’m fine, I just suddenly thought of something." Chen Mo didn’t say more. "Wake Yiren, we’re going back."

...

By the time they returned to the Imperial Palace, another half an hour had passed.

Chen Mo confirmed one thing—that Golden Crow Heaven Burning Skill could absorb sunlight to increase experience, averaging one point every two seconds.

Whereas the previous Purple Qi Transformation Skill could only absorb Solar Purple Qi in the early morning; ordinary sunlight could only be used to recover Innate Spiritual Qi and couldn’t be used for cultivation.

But now, Golden Crow Heaven Burning Skill could.

This change delighted Chen Mo to no end.

If you conservatively count the daily sunlight absorption time as four hours, then in one day he could increase Golden Crow Heaven Burning Skill experience by 14,400.

In one month, that would be 432,000.

In two and a half months, he could break through again.

Of course, the premise was that those two and a half months were all bright, sunny days.

Still, even if you assume a worst-case scenario where the sun only shows five days a month, that’s just a little over a year.

Breaking through in just over a year—that speed was already very fast.

And that’s not even counting the income from the Gluttonous Technique through eating.

You have to know, it took him three to four years to break from Second Grade to First Grade.

In an instant, he felt his future was still full of promise.

Before, when he saw that Golden Crow Heaven Burning Skill Basic stage required one million experience, he’d felt like the sky was collapsing.

It had taken him three to four years to get those 300,000 experience.

One million—that’d be close to ten years, wouldn’t it.

Basic was one million; what about Intermediate and Advanced after that?

A First-Grade Martial Artist’s lifespan was only around one hundred and fifty years.

The remaining hundred and twenty years clearly wouldn’t be enough for Chen Mo’s cultivation to rise to the point where his lifespan could be extended again.

But now, he saw hope—and not just a little hope, a lot.

...

From the founding to the fall of Great Song, across nearly four hundred years of history, the Imperial Family produced four First-Grade Martial Artists, including Song Taizu.

Three of them left behind their Celestial Human Realm cultivation notes for later generations.

The one who didn’t leave any was King Wei, Chu Lin, from the era of Emperor Jing of Song, who sailed off to seek immortals overseas.

In the back garden, Chen Mo lay on a rocking chair, basking in the sun, carefully reading the cultivation notes left by these four Celestial Human Realm experts.

Mm, one of them was brought by Yue Ruyan.

The one Yue Ruyan brought was more or less as she’d said last night; the information recorded in it wasn’t of much use to Chen Mo.

The three copies preserved by the Great Song Imperial Family, however, were comparatively complete.

From the information provided in those three sets of notes, Chen Mo learned:

Not every Celestial Human Realm expert’s Soul Travel maximum duration was one quarter of an hour.

Emperor Wu of Song, Chu Li, a Celestial Human Realm expert—his notes recorded his Soul Travel limit as one and a half quarters, with a maximum distance of two li, much stronger than Song Taizu.

Emperor Wen of Song, also at the Celestial Human Realm—his Soul Travel limit was one cup of tea’s time. It was specially marked that his duration was shorter than the Grand Ancestor’s, but his maximum distance was greater, the same as Emperor Wu’s: two li.

This discrepancy made Chen Mo aware of other issues.

He found Wang Xiu and had her bring him the annals and daily records for Song Taizu, Emperor Wu, and Emperor Wen.

And he had Jia Yin summon Chu Ran.

From the histories and from Chu Ran’s mouth,

Chen Mo learned that both Song Taizu and Emperor Wu cultivated Earth Vein Dragon Qi.

Only Emperor Wen cultivated Thunderbolt.

Even though the sample size wasn’t large, Chen Mo still boldly guessed that Soul Travel duration and distance were related to the type of Innate Spiritual Qi taken in with the first breath.

That night.

He called Yue Ruyan over to act as his protector; Chen Mo intended to test his own Soul Travel limit duration first.

If he tested both distance and time at once, it would be somewhat inaccurate, since the two would affect each other.

So after his soul left his body, he didn’t leave the room where his body lay; he tested right there in the room.

When he felt his heart fluttering, close to suffocation and unable to breathe, he hurriedly returned to his body.

His final maximum duration turned out to be three quarters of an hour.

Converted, that was about forty-five minutes.

The next night, Chen Mo tested distance.

Why wait until the next night?

Because after Soul Travel, the body would enter a fatigue period.

And if you’re going to test, you definitely need your body and mental state at peak; only then will the data be reliable enough to serve as a reference.

When he reached five li from his body, Chen Mo was already feeling heart palpitations.

You have to know, by that time only one quarter of an hour had passed of his three-quarter-hour limit.

After walking another hundred or so zhang forward, Chen Mo’s sense of heart palpitations grew stronger and stronger.

Chen Mo didn’t dare go further; he hurriedly retreated, and once he was back within five li, the palpitations began to lessen.

So Chen Mo rushed back to the room where his body lay and tested the time again.

This time he hadn’t reached his three-quarter-hour limit; after about two and a half quarters he already felt he was at his limit and immediately returned to his body.

It seemed that being too far from the body would cause Soul Travel duration to decrease accordingly as well.