Chapter 59: Stealing Qi?

It was currently holiday break, and the entire Divine Capital Martial University was deserted. Jiang Yan had no mind to appreciate the clusters of blooming flowers along the roadside, focusing solely on heading toward the Spirit Gathering Chamber location displayed on his student card screen.

The Spirit Gathering Chamber was built next to the Divine Capital Martial University gymnasium.

As Jiang Yan entered the area, he noticed that even during the holiday, many people were still entering and exiting the rooms one by one, taking advantage of the break to cultivate and absorb Qi.

Along the way, many recognized his identity, and Jiang Yan received various kinds of curious glances.

However, unlike the crowds outside, no one swarmed around him—they merely nodded in acknowledgment as a form of greeting.

Jiang Yan was content with the peace and quiet, following the example of others by placing his student card on the card reader at the entrance.

The black screen lit up.

“Card swipe successful.”

“Student Jiang Yan, your remaining usage time is: +∞. Please exit the Spirit Gathering Chamber within the designated time, or the monitoring system will take mandatory measures.”

Jiang Yan smiled faintly. Divine Capital Martial University’s efficiency was quite impressive—they had basically fulfilled their promises.

“With my current time limit, I could practically live in here, right?” Jiang Yan thought as he stepped into the Spirit Gathering Chamber.

The room was not large, only about twenty to thirty square meters. Unlike traditional buildings constructed with reinforced concrete, the walls were a monotonous silver color with a strong metallic texture.

In the center of the room lay a silver-white cushion.

Jiang Yan plopped down onto it.

“Ding!”

A holographic screen projected in front of him.

An electronic female voice sounded.

“Facial recognition in progress…”

“Please blink your eyes.”

“Please turn your head to the right.”

…

“Ding, identity confirmed successfully.”

“Respected student Jiang Yan, your remaining cultivation time is +∞.”

“Now, the system will extract a trace of Primordial Qi from you. Once successful, the cultivation chamber will match you with the corresponding Qi.”

Following the instructions, Jiang Yan released a wisp of Geng Metal Primordial Qi.

Above him, a ventilation system opened, and the Geng Metal Primordial Qi quickly flowed into the opening.

One minute later.

“Ding, matching successful. From now on, the Spirit Gathering Chamber will supply you with Primordial Qi of the same origin.”

Through this series of operations, Jiang Yan quickly grasped the underlying logic of the cultivation chamber.

Every Martial Artist required different types of Qi and could only absorb Qi that shared the same origin as the Primordial Qi within their bodies.

The Spirit Gathering Chamber had the function of filtering Qi. Once identification was successful, the system would automatically supply the Qi you needed.

This process saved Martial Artists the time of searching for Qi themselves. The Spirit Gathering Chamber directly delivered what you needed, eliminating any middlemen and greatly improving efficiency.

From here on, it was purely a test of Jiang Yan’s Qi absorption speed.

Golden air currents continuously poured in from the opening above. Jiang Yan entered a meditative state, circulating the Geng Metal Breathing Method and absorbing the incoming Geng Metal Primordial Qi with all his might.

“You are absorbing Qi. Your Qi absorption speed has slightly increased.”

“You are absorbing Qi. Your Qi absorption speed has slightly increased.”

“You are circulating the Geng Metal Breathing Method. The quality of the Geng Metal Breathing Method has slightly improved.”

“Your Geng Metal Primordial Qi is growing. Your Geng Metal Primordial Qi is accelerating its growth…”

…

Countless air currents converged into Jiang Yan’s body, transforming his surroundings into a golden vortex that greedily absorbed the Primordial Qi swirling around him.

Control Center.

“Teacher Zhao, Spirit Gathering Device No. 6 is showing abnormal energy fluctuations!”

A young man’s fingers flew across the computer keyboard as he stared incredulously at the fluctuating data on the screen.

“What’s going on?”

An elderly man with graying temples but vigorous energy hurried over behind the young man’s computer in two or three steps, asking loudly.

“Teacher Zhao, look—this Spirit Gathering Device numbered 6 shows all parameters functioning normally, yet its filtration rate is abnormally slow, far below the standard value.”

The old man examined the data carefully and indeed spotted the anomaly. Frowning, he quickly deduced the cause.

“How strange… How could such peculiar Qi exist? Our current technology shouldn’t be bottlenecked at this stage…”

The young man looked puzzled as he stood up to ask the old man:

“Teacher Zhao, what exactly is the reason for this?”

The old man, his gaze fixed on the screen displaying the abnormal data, replied calmly: “It’s the Qi!”

The man: ?

“The opponent’s Qi is unusual—it exists within the air but is extremely difficult to separate. In theory, the filtration system separates Qi at a consistent rate, but with this mass of Qi, there’s a mismatch in separation speed, causing the Qi Gathering Device to absorb too much useless Qi while struggling to filter out the effective Qi.”

“In that case…”

The man: In that case, what will happen?

The old man glared at his student! “What will happen? Of course, it will cause the Spirit Gathering Device to temporarily stop operating! I’ve told you not to just memorize things rigidly—when you encounter special situations, you don’t know how to handle them.”

The man scratched his head and asked quietly: “Teacher Zhao, then how should I handle this Spirit Gathering Chamber?”

“It’s holiday time now—there should be quite a few empty Spirit Gathering Chambers. For now, temporarily connect other Spirit Gathering Devices in series with Device No. 6.”

“Oh, okay.”

The man’s fingers danced rapidly across the keyboard.

Spirit Gathering Chamber No. 6.

“Strange, why is the Qi becoming less and less? Could it be broken?”

Jiang Yan opened his eyes and looked up at the holes above, where only sparse golden Qi flowed out—nowhere near enough to satisfy him.

But soon, a violent engine-like hum erupted overhead, and a large amount of Gengjin-origin Qi streamed down from the small holes above.

“Hey, I misjudged you.”

Jiang Yan continued circulating his breathing technique, his body once again transforming into a golden vortex.

Control Center.

“Teacher Zhao! Teacher Zhao! Something’s wrong!”

The same young man shouted again.

The old man’s face darkened as he stepped forward and rapped the student’s head irritably: “Learn to solve problems on your own—don’t come running to me for everything. Speak, what’s wrong now?”

The student said with a pained expression: “Teacher Zhao, I connected Spirit Gathering Devices No. 13 and No. 14 in series with Device No. 6, and now all three devices have completely paralyzed—they’re not moving at all.”

“Damn it, did you input the wrong formula? Fuck, one of these things costs more than our lives are worth! If you’ve broken it, I’ll have to clean house today!”

The old man erupted in anger and hurriedly checked all the data.

A moment later.

“Xiao Zhang, bring me my glasses.”

“Oh, okay.”

The old man put on his reading glasses and carefully examined the data from the three machines.

“Hiss~ The formula isn’t wrong… How could they short-circuit?”

One minute later.

“So that’s it! So that’s it!”

“Xiao Zhang, allocate three more Spirit Gathering Devices over there! I refuse to believe today—let’s see who’s faster, you absorbing or me releasing!”

“Also, bring up the surveillance for Spirit Gathering Chamber number six. I want to see who’s got the nerve to sneak into the Spirit Gathering Chamber and steal Qi!”