William Clark sat cross-legged and once again used the inner vision technique. The sea of stars in his dantian showed no change, remaining clearly distinct from his spiritual power, with neither affecting the other.

Using his divine sense to observe from the side, after about half an hour, William Clark decided to take a risk. He used his sect’s mental technique to gather the blue light dots that made up the sea of stars, just as he would gather spiritual power.

This process carried certain dangers. The blue light was an unknown entity, and the dantian was the foundation of a cultivator. One wrong move could bring disaster.

However, nothing ventured, nothing gained. If he wanted benefits, he had to take risks. Besides, after this period of observation, William Clark felt fairly confident. He had always been cautious and thoughtful in his actions, and today’s experiment was the result of careful consideration.

Before long, beads of sweat the size of soybeans appeared on William Clark’s forehead. Compared to the spiritual power in his dantian, those blue light dots were much harder to control. But William Clark was mentally prepared for difficulties, so he neither panicked nor rushed. He continued methodically, and after repeated attempts, the blue light dots finally gathered together.

Wisps of white vapor rose from William Clark’s head as he tried to manipulate them like spiritual power. The process was extremely difficult; every movement of the blue light was awkward and sluggish. Fortunately, there were no other discomforts.

He continued to try.

Time ticked by, second by second...

“Huh?” William Clark raised his eyebrows, and a hint of surprise finally appeared on his calm face. When the light dots flowed along his meridians to his right palm, instead of circulating back to the dantian like spiritual power, they drifted out of his body.

Although William Clark had considered various possible scenarios before attempting this, he had not expected this particular outcome.

It was unexpected, but William Clark was not flustered at all. He stopped circulating his energy and slowly opened his eyes. Sure enough, he saw many blue light dots floating in front of his chest, exactly like those he had seen in his dantian.

William Clark reached out to touch them and felt a warmth like sunlight, but he could not reabsorb them into his body. After a while, the light dots grew dimmer and eventually disappeared.

The young man sat cross-legged again and used inner vision to check his dantian, discovering that the sea of stars inside was now slightly smaller than before.

Lying on his bed, William Clark began to ponder. It seemed his deduction was correct: these light dots could indeed circulate through the body like spiritual power. However, why they were expelled from the palm still required further research.

After carefully analyzing the day’s gains, drowsiness overtook him. Circulating the light dots through his meridians was even more exhausting than performing nine full cycles of spiritual power. Only William Clark could persevere; anyone else would have lacked the willpower to finish.

...

The rooster crowed, and the sun broke the dawn.

After a good night’s sleep, feeling refreshed, William Clark did not go to the Young Eagle Pavilion to practice as usual, but instead sat cross-legged on his bed. Yesterday’s experiment had yielded great progress, and he was determined to keep going and continue testing.

He once again used the inner vision technique to examine his dantian, and a barely noticeable smile appeared at the corner of William Clark’s mouth. The situation in his dantian was exactly as he had expected.

Yesterday, because some of the light dots had leaked out of his body, the sea of stars in his dantian had shrunk considerably. But after a night’s sleep, it had already returned to its original state.

William Clark had speculated yesterday that since these light dots could merge with his body, they probably weren’t a one-time resource. After being depleted, they should be able to recover through some means. Otherwise, Emily Carter wouldn’t have valued them so highly and called them a supreme treasure.

Although he was quite confident, it had only been a hypothesis. This morning’s discovery finally put his mind at ease.

It was even better than he had expected—no special conditions were needed for replenishment. These light dots seemed to have become a part of his body, like strength itself: when tired or depleted, after a good rest, they could regenerate on their own.

There was no need to worry about running out of light dots. This was another major discovery William Clark had made through his exploration. The most urgent task now was to figure out their use.

Chapter 13: Turning Waste into Treasure

In the days that followed, William Clark spent half his time practicing and the other half researching the sea of stars within his body. In the blink of an eye, a week had passed. Although he still hadn’t found the key, at least the blue light now circulated more smoothly through his meridians when he treated it like spiritual power.

“How exactly should I use it?”

William Clark toyed with a pill in his hand, carefully reviewing all the experiments he had conducted with the blue light dots over the past few days.

Unlike other elixirs, this pill gave off a burnt smell because it was a failed pill given to him by Elder Mason. For cultivators, failed pills were useless, but William Clark couldn’t bear to throw it away, since the ingredients used to make it were still rare treasures.

Mere contemplation was useless; to truly understand, he had to experiment.

“Let’s do another full cycle.”

William Clark had already circulated the blue light through his meridians like spiritual power many times. Each time it reached his right palm, it would dissipate from his body. This was clearly the key, so William Clark persisted, hoping to find a breakthrough here.