Chapter 3623: Preparing For The Real Test
Chapter 3623: Preparing For The Real Test
Lin Mu thought about the work before him. Its process and the discoveries along the path. There was a satisfaction in it that was difficult to describe.
It wasn’t the thrill of battle, nor the pursuit of power, but something quieter. Something rich and deep.
The kind of fulfillment that came from understanding, from solving a problem that had resisted countless others. A feeling few would understand.
Lin Mu allowed himself a faint smile.
Then he turned back to his work as the next phase required preparation. A lot of it. The current setup was insufficient for what came next.
What he had tested so far were refined lumps of bloodline essence. Small, isolated portions, only a fraction of a foxkin’s entire system.
That was no longer enough.
"If I am to test this on a living subject..." Lin Mu thought, "then the scale must change."
He raised his hand as it glowed lightly..
SHUA
Nature Energy flowed once more.
The Heart Tree responded immediately.
The wood around him shifted.
The floor expanded, reshaping itself under his guidance. The chamber grew larger, the walls extending outward as the structure adapted to his intent.
Half of the hall transformed.
The wooden surface sank, forming a vast pool at the center.
Its interior was smooth, layered with natural fibers that pulsed faintly with life. This would serve as the primary chamber, capable of housing an entire foxkin body or even several later.
The remaining structure adjusted accordingly.
Two massive containers formed along the walls.
One for Nature Energy.
One for Beast Qi.
The hollow vines connecting them grew thicker, stronger, capable of handling the increased flow required for a full-body process.
Lin Mu did not stop there.
He summoned his Rune Shaping Brush once more and began inscribing new formations.
The complexity increased significantly.
Energy isolation.
Flow regulation.
Pressure control.
Emergency venting.
Stabilization formations layered upon stabilization formations. Every possible contingency he could think of was accounted for. This was no longer a simple experiment.
This was a system.
A chamber designed to alter the very foundation of a being’s bloodline.
Time passed.
Days blurred together as Lin Mu refined every detail.
Once complete, he stepped back and observed it. The difference in scale was immense. The energy required, even more so.
Lin Mu’s gaze shifted to the Beast Qi container.
"This will be the limiting factor," he thought.
Nature Energy was not a concern.
The Heart Tree provided it in abundance.
But Beast Qi...
That was different.
It could only come from him.
Lin Mu began the process.
He activated the Nurturing Heart Sutra of the Beast Path, converting his Immortal Qi into Beast Qi.
The streams flowed steadily into the container.
Slow.
Controlled.
But the scale...
Was daunting.
The container barely filled.
Not even close.
Lin Mu continued.
Hours passed.
Then days.
He stopped briefly, analyzing the situation.
"The conversion ratio..." he murmured.
It was inefficient.
For every hundred units of Immortal Qi, only one unit of Beast Qi was produced.
A hundred to one.
The loss was immense.
Lin Mu looked at the container.
Even after exhausting a significant portion of his reserves...
It was not even ten percent full.
He exhaled slowly.
"This will take time."
There was no shortcut.
No alternative.
If he wanted to proceed...
He would need to prepare.
To gather.
To build up the required reserves.
Lin Mu closed his eyes briefly, centering himself.
Then, without hesitation, he continued.
Three more days passed in a steady rhythm.
Lin Mu remained within the transformed hall, his focus unwavering as he continued the slow and demanding process of converting Immortal Qi into Beast Qi. The chamber pulsed faintly with life, the Heart Tree’s presence ever constant, its vast reserves of Nature Energy flowing like an endless tide through the structures Lin Mu had shaped.
The Beast Qi container, however, was a different matter.
Each thread of Beast Qi required deliberate effort. The conversion was inefficient, draining, and required sustained concentration. Streams of energy flowed from Lin Mu’s body into the massive container, where they were stabilized and compressed by the arrays he had constructed.
The progress was visible.
But slow.
Painfully slow.
Lin Mu would work for hours, steadily feeding the container, before finally pausing to recover. Even then, his recovery was far from ordinary. The surrounding Nature Energy flooded into him the moment he relaxed his control, entering his body in gentle waves that soothed his meridians and replenished his reserves.
More often than not, he did not even need to rely on pills.
Though he had them.
Many.
High-grade restorative elixirs that could replenish Immortal Qi rapidly.
Yet the environment itself was enough.
The Heart Tree did not hold back.
It poured its strength into Lin Mu without reservation, as if recognizing the importance of what he was doing. The entire hall seemed to breathe with him, the air thick with vitality, the wood beneath his feet alive with silent support.
After the second day, Lin Mu paused.
His gaze shifted upward slightly, his thoughts turning toward the entity that had been assisting him so willingly.
"Are you... certain this is not too much?" Lin Mu asked.
There was a brief silence.
Then the voice came.
Calm and ancient.
"This... is but a drop... of my strength."
Lin Mu listened.
"I have lived... longer than most... cultivators ever will," the Heart Tree continued. "Time has given me... depth... beyond what you see."
There was a faint shift in the surrounding energy, as if the forest itself stirred in response.
"And I am not... alone."
Lin Mu’s eyes flickered slightly.
"The Mother Forest... is with me," the voice said. "Every tree... every root... every leaf... we are connected."
The realization settled within Lin Mu.
The Heart Tree was not an isolated entity.
It was the core.
The anchor.
But the entire forest was part of its existence.
What he had thought to be a single source...
Was in fact an entire network.
A living ecosystem of an immense scale.