Chapter 94: Chapter 89: The Radiation Pool Again
A torrent of thoughts flooded his mind, and Chu Bamboo quickly made a decision. He turned and sped out of the city.
「One hour later.」
Chu Bamboo looked at the familiar mountain peak before him and took a deep breath. "I can’t believe I’m back here so soon!"
Shaking his head, Chu Bamboo found the vines and, in just a few movements, scrambled rapidly to the top of the peak.
’Cultivation and Body Refining require different Cultivation Resources!’
Chu Bamboo stared at the smokestack in front of him, mulling over what he had read in the Great Brightness Technique—Body Refining only required Fushui, but Cultivation required Radiant Stone.
However, Chu Bamboo had a slight doubt about this:
’What’s the difference between Fushui and Radiant Stone?’
’Is it the amount of radiation they contain?’
’If that’s the case, then an entire pool of bottomless Fushui might not necessarily be inferior to a Radiant Stone, right? It might even be better!’
’Next up is the experiment. If it succeeds,’
Chu Bamboo suppressed his surging emotions. ’Then I won’t be lacking Cultivation Resources for a long time to come!’
He leaped down once more.
A familiar time, a familiar scene.
Chu Bamboo passed through a barrier, and the sight before him was completely different.
’This time, I used all my strength for my Perception. It seems... what I passed through wasn’t a barrier,’ a stream of ideas surfaced in Chu Bamboo’s mind. ’It was more like some kind of repulsion. Is it a problem with the air density above and below? Or a magnetic field? Or some other reason?’
While pondering this, Chu Bamboo focused all his effort on circulating the Basic Immortal Cultivation Technique. ’When you can just try again, it’d be a waste not to go for the highest-stakes pool!’
He plunged into the deep pool, and then, Chu Bamboo felt a stinging pain.
’Something’s wrong. This feeling is completely different from before!’
Previously, the pain had been instantaneous, and Chu Bamboo had dropped dead almost immediately. But now, although the pain was much milder than before, it lasted infinitely longer and showed no signs of stopping.
After a moment of thought, Chu Bamboo was pleased instead. This meant he could last longer in the Fushui pool.
One, two, three... twenty-one... fifty-two...
Chu Bamboo could feel warm currents surging throughout his body. Of course, he didn’t think this was any kind of Inner Strength or Spiritual Power—it was probably just an illusion created by his brain as massive numbers of his cells died and regenerated.
’It hurts, it’s numbing, it’s unbearable... but at the same time, it feels so fulfilling!’
With a sigh, Chu Bamboo’s consciousness gradually sank into the abyss.
’Holding on this long... is my limit... Well then.’
’Reverse!’
Then, everything returned to the beginning.
Chu Bamboo opened his eyes, got out of bed, washed up, and walked out the door without hesitation. The entire process took no more than two minutes.
Zhang Hai: "???"
What just happened? Zhang Hai was completely bewildered, his gaze following Chu Bamboo out of the room. He scratched his head. ’Am I invisible? How could Chu Bamboo act like he didn’t even see me?!’
Suddenly, he snapped out of it. "No, wait! What’s gotten into you? Did you change your mind? At least say something!"
Chu Bamboo rejected Zhang Hai out of habit, left the city as usual, and finally arrived at the smokestack of the suspected nuclear power plant.
’My physical fitness has been improving this whole time! Although I don’t have a specific value, it should be higher than a seven now, right? I wonder if it’s an eight yet?’ Chu Bamboo mused to himself. Compared to the previous period of rapid growth, it had clearly slowed down a lot.
’The growth in my constitution should be in line with previous test data, unrelated to my last jump into the Fushui—but after using the Basic Immortal Cultivation Technique, my mind feels much clearer!’
Normally, after a reset, Chu Bamboo’s mind would feel groggy.
But this time, although it couldn’t compare to the clarity he felt after falling asleep in the Real World, it wasn’t far off.
’Maybe if I truly become a Cultivator, I can increase the number of dream resets beyond five?’ As this thought occurred to him, Chu Bamboo froze, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
’If becoming a Cultivator is the only way to increase it, then what was it when I was young? I could reset again and again, even dozens of times, and still be full of energy.’
’A beginner’s protection period?’
To this day, Chu Bamboo still couldn’t understand why he could reset without limit as a child, without feeling tired at all... but that the number of resets would gradually decrease over time, all the way down to the current five per day...
But now, had he just seen a way to make the number of resets increase again?
Forcing himself to focus, Chu Bamboo’s expression turned serious, and he leaped down once again.
「Crossing.」
A fantastical, beautiful, radioactive landscape.
The unfathomable pool of radiation.
And... a pain that seared itself into his very bones!
Chu Bamboo landed at the bottom of the pool, sat cross-legged, held his breath, and circulated the Basic Immortal Cultivation Technique with all his might.
His hair fell out at a visible rate, as if he were undergoing chemotherapy.
Blood trickled from his nostrils, but it blended into the black water and quickly vanished from sight.
’This time, I lasted three seconds longer than before!’
This was the last thought in Chu Bamboo’s mind.
Waking up abruptly again, Chu Bamboo looked around at the dense forest, stunned for a moment before it dawned on him. "This time I reset to a point when I was on my way to the nuclear power plant! That’s good, I get to skip dealing with Zhang Hai."
As he ran, Chu Bamboo tried to sense his condition.
To be honest, he didn’t really understand his progress in Cultivation. After all, besides his mind feeling clearer and being better able to withstand the resets, there was no difference from before. His body hadn’t gotten stronger, and there were no other changes.
