Kapitel 34: Increase in Power
In the recent attempt, Chen Chong clearly felt that after consuming the spiritual fruit, the operation of the "Ultimate Boundless Qi Gong" was like an engine fueled with added fuel. The efficiency and magnitude of the true qi cultivation had greatly improved.
These spiritual fruits grew uniquely, similar to immortal beans, containing a kind of life essence that can be absorbed by the human body. However, the amount of life essence in a single fruit was far less compared to an immortal bean.
This was different from how awakened individuals in this world passively digest spiritual energy fruits. Chen Chong possessed the high-level ** evaluation from the main god, and his processing of spiritual fruits was equivalent to complete assimilation. There was no waste of life essence, and the conversion efficiency was extremely high. It only took him a short ten minutes to completely digest the spiritual fruit, and the effects immediately manifested.
"Cultivate essence and refine qi, cultivate essence and refine qi..."
Compared to yesterday, there was a nearly doubled increase in the strength of the true qi within his body. Chen Chong had a realization in his heart:
"The essence is the blood and vital energy of a person, the ubiquitous vitality within the body. Cultivating essence and refining qi means gathering and condensing the intangible vitality, transforming it into the form of 'qi', and then using it to nourish the body in a more proactive and efficient way, constantly strengthening oneself!"
It was like before cultivating essence and refining qi, the functioning of the human body and the exertion of muscles and bones were akin to the efficiency of a manual laborer. But after cultivating essence and refining qi, the human body seemed to have evolved directly from manual labor to steam-powered machinery, fundamentally different.
"These spiritual fruits are quite useful for my cultivation. If I were to completely assimilate them, it would be equivalent to ten days of arduous training. According to the information here, spiritual fruits also have different grades. The better the quality and the more life essence they contain, the greater the help they would provide for my qi cultivation!"
Chen Chong looked at the remaining fourteen spiritual fruits in front of him with a burning gaze, feeling regret in his heart:
"Unfortunately, I currently cannot leave the territory and have no way of obtaining a large number of spiritual fruits. Moreover, the quantity of these spiritual fruits is too small. If there were a continuous supply of a large number of spiritual fruits for me to assimilate every day, it wouldn't take long to completely cultivate essence and refine qi."
The amount of life essence contained in the spiritual fruits provided by General Blood was not much, and the quantity was too small. Although Chen Chong realized that consuming a large number of spiritual fruits would greatly accelerate his training progress, he was currently essentially under house arrest in the Crimson Red Territory. There were no other channels to obtain spiritual fruits besides the bi-monthly ration.
After some consideration, Chen Chong did not plan to save the remaining spiritual fruits for later use. He swallowed ten of them in succession and quickly entered a meditative state. While the true qi circulated along a unique route, it rapidly assimilated the spiritual fruits consumed by Chen Chong.
If other awakened individuals saw Chen Chong's actions, they would be dumbfounded. The nourishment and digestion of spiritual fruits within the body were supposed to be gradual and imperceptible. For them, taking one or two fruits at a fixed time every day was the best way to nurture and strengthen their life field through the spiritual fruits.
Swallowing a dozen spiritual fruits all at once like this would not allow the body to fully absorb the life essence contained in the fruits and would result in considerable waste, equivalent to Pigsy eating ginseng fruit, a squandering of precious resources!
However, with the extremely superior cultivation technique of the "Ultimate Boundless Qi Gong," for Chen Chong at present, rapidly converting everything that can be used into his own strength was the most important thing.
In the circulation of true qi, Chen Chong's lower abdomen dantian seemed to have turned into a small furnace. Smoke billowed, and the qi was fully activated. A warm feeling spread throughout his limbs and body, and then it was all absorbed by the circulating ultimate true qi, visibly strengthening at a rapid speed.
After more than three hours, when Chen Chong felt that the small furnace in his abdomen had finally stopped emitting life essence, he opened his eyes, revealing a gleam of light.
After completely assimilating all fifteen spiritual fruits, his true qi had increased several times compared to before. If his true qi was like a strand of thread before, now it was close to a tiny stream!
With a crisp sound of bone cracking, Chen Chong leaped off the bed.
Hoo! Hoo!
In the room, Chen Chong's fists and feet swiftly struck through the air, creating a heavy wind noise that caused the air in the room to surge, leaving no doubt about the astonishing power contained within.
"My power..."
Silently feeling the resistance of the air during his punches and kicks, Chen Chong's eyes brightened.
Yesterday, the birth of true qi in his body had already brought about noticeable changes in his strength. Now that the true qi had further grown to the level of a tiny stream, he immediately felt that his power had greatly increased compared to yesterday!
If he felt that he could knock out a cow with a single punch yesterday, it was just an illusion. But now, he truly felt that his power had reached this level!
"Do I have a strength of 1000斤[pounds] now?"
The Guinness World Record for punching force held by the former boxing champion, Tyson, was 520 pounds, roughly equivalent to 500斤[pounds]. This was already considered the physical limit for ordinary humans. After the Super God Water triggered the potential of Chen Chong's human body, he estimated that his physical strength had barely reached this level. However, in just two days since the birth and growth of the ultimate true qi within his body, Chen Chong felt that his strength had made a great leap forward. It felt as if a ferocious beast was lurking within his body, ready to burst out with astonishing power at any moment.
Leaving aside his limit strength for now, just judging from the heavy wind noise produced from his punches and kicks, his regular strength already easily surpassed the so-called boxing champion from his past life. It was definitely not something an ordinary person could withstand.
And this was only his simple attempt, not his maximum strength.
Although Chen Chong was eager to test his limit strength, he forcibly suppressed it due to the current situation.
Estimating that it was about time, he packed up the package and left the accommodation building, heading towards the place where food was distributed, as mentioned by Yin Hu.
"...Hurry up, hurry up, stop dawdling!"
"I'm starving! After delivering the trash, let's eat quickly!"
On the way, Chen Chong saw several teams of territory guards hustling and bustling, each pushing a cart with wooden barrels on it, heading towards various factories. When Chen Chong passed by, he glanced and discovered that the barrels contained a kind of foul-smelling soup with nauseating green floating substances, as well as a pile of hard black biscuit-like objects. He didn't know what they were made of.
Understanding that the things in the bucket should be the food for the workers, Chen Chong frowned.
This is the treatment that the workers, like slaves, get after working for General Blood for more than ten hours a day. Such things are not even fit for pigs to eat in peaceful times, but now they are the food that over seventy percent of the workers in the territory rely on to survive.
In such a world, being resentful and cynical is meaningless. Chen Chong remained expressionless and continued walking for two to three hundred meters until he reached a semi-open factory shed.
Inside the shed, there were several stone tables that served as dining tables. At this moment, dozens of henchmen from the territory were gathered around the stone tables, eating heartily with bowls or jars in their hands. There were still many henchmen rushing over hurriedly from all directions.
As Chen Chong walked through the crowd and took a quick glance, he found that the henchmen were eating thick porridge with an oily sheen and palm-sized flatbreads. Although it couldn't be considered abundant, it was undoubtedly much better than the worker's food he had seen before.
After observing for a while and looking around, Chen Chong saw the captain of the supervisory team, Yin Hu, the supervisor of the warehouse, Gu Jun, and two other figures he had never seen before, who seemed to be territory managers as well. They were heading in his direction, followed by a group of subordinates.
Chen Chong narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, and walked up to them, beginning without any pleasantries, "Captain Gu, Captain Yin, what a coincidence?"
"It's you."
Gu Jun and Yin Hu's expressions were cold, and they nodded reluctantly. Chen Chong didn't mind and turned to the two tall and ferocious men beside them, asking, "And these two...?"
He had vaguely guessed earlier that these two people should be territory captains like Gu Jun and Yin Hu, and they were likely Awakened individuals. Now that he approached them, it immediately confirmed his suspicions.
"Kid, I know you were brought back by the General."
Beside Yin Hu, a man with high cheekbones and triangular eyes stared at Chen Chong and laughed loudly, "But I don't know you, so don't try to get close to me!"
Their subordinates burst into laughter, while the other Awakened individual, whose temperament was gloomy and nameless, gave Chen Chong a cold glance without answering. Then, the four Awakened individuals walked past Chen Chong and headed directly into the factory shed, while their subordinates made faces at the air, seemingly mocking Chen Chong.
Encountering this setback, Chen Chong didn't show any feelings of shame or anger. He stared at the backs of these four people, silently calculating something in his mind: "Tieshan, Gu Jun, Yin Hu, and these two people. Currently, there are at least five Awakened individuals in the Crimson Territory... I wonder if they are all controlled by General Blood's bloodline gu?"
Chen Chong didn't come here to get close to them naturally. He turned his gaze to the many henchmen who were having their meals: "These people cannot be ignored either."
General Blood himself was not only an extremely powerful transcendent being that ordinary people couldn't fathom, but in the territory, there were also nearly a hundred henchmen equipped with homemade guns that possessed certain combat capabilities. Although the effective range of these homemade guns was only twenty to thirty meters, their iron shot ammunition was no less powerful than standard firearms at this distance. Even if Chen Chong's strength reached a thousand jin, facing the encirclement and suppression of nearly a hundred guns, he would undoubtedly be covered in blood without exception.
Furthermore, Chen Chong also knew that the heavily guarded chemical factory under General Blood's command had the ability to produce homemade **!
Although Chen Chong hadn't personally witnessed the power of these homemade **, he clearly understood that the human body couldn't resist it. Without this ** substance, relying solely on homemade firearms, General Blood's group would obviously not be able to rampage in the perilous wilderness.
"General Blood should not be eating here, and Tieshan is also not here."
As his thoughts drifted through his mind, Chen Chong noticed the difference between where Yin Hu and the others received their food and the other henchmen. He also walked into the factory shed and came to the food cart where Yin Hu and the others were getting their food:
"I am Chen Chong. The General instructed me to have a captain-level quota."
The two henchmen distributing food in front of the food cart saw Chen Chong, a unfamiliar face, about to curse at him, but the mention of the General made them immediately hold back their words.
They obviously knew the General's instructions and reluctantly handed over the food to Chen Chong.
Chen Chong took it. Compared to the other henchmen, this was a generous meal: a large cup of vegetable porridge, a greasy meat cutlet, and two steaming hot pancakes. It was clearly a privilege reserved for captain-level individuals.
Glancing casually at where Yin Hu and the others were sitting, Chen Chong didn't approach them either. Instead, he found a corner with fewer people, buried his head, and started eating heartily.
...
Beside the stone table, Yin Hu, Gu Jun, and two other Awakened individuals were sitting opposite each other.
"This kid... he didn't even fart just now. Seems like he's nothing special."
The triangular-eyed man who had mocked Chen Chong earlier glanced at Chen Chong not far away and sneered, "This kid has no merits but enjoys the General's free food. It's really infuriating!"
"It shows that this kid knows how to endure, knowing that you guys aren't easy to mess with."
Yin Hu smiled indifferently, provocatively saying, "Li Bao, you and Zhang Long lead the hunting team to risk your lives in the wilderness, working hard and enduring. Naturally, you can't stand this kind of parasite. But the General must have treated him well because he has value. Why bother getting so worked up?"
These two people were the captains of the hunting teams under General Blood. Their job was to hunt down the ferocious mutated beasts in the wilderness that were harmless and edible. Most of the meat in the territory was brought back by them after they risked their lives hunting.
And this work was extremely dangerous. They had to capture equally ferocious mutated beasts in the perilous wilderness, where death rates were extremely high. Without extraordinary abilities, they would not be able to survive. That's why Li Bao and Zhang Long, the captains of the hunting teams, carried a lingering bloodthirsty aura.
Zhang Long coldly said, "Everything we have now is built with our own blood, sweat, and punches from the General's orders. Yin Hu, you haven't forgotten that, right?"
Before Yin Hu could speak, Li Bao, with the triangular eyes, disdainfully smiled, "I want to see if this kid can really endure!"
Then he waved his hand and called over a few henchmen who were eating nearby, whispering something in their ears as if giving some instructions.
Yin Hu's eyes showed an imperceptible look of someone watching the show, and at that moment, Gu Jun, who hadn't spoken all along, raised his head with a cold expression and said, "Li Bao, don't cause trouble."
Li Bao dismissed two of his subordinates with a wave of his hand and smirked, "Captain Gu, I'm not causing trouble. I'm just helping General to test this little guy. Even a mad dog knows how to protect its food. I just want to see if this kid has any guts and courage, whether he deserves to work for the General!"
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein