Death... and me

After rebuking the two for over an hour, Hamarlia finally asked Opril to call Juri over. Sometime later, Juri came back with Alanda, and for some reason, Malaka was there too. Rean and Roan looked at Malaka, puzzled.

"Sigh... She found out about you two passing out, so insisted thousands of times that she wanted to come."

Rean then laughed out loud.

"I see! It seems like you are missing our fighting lessons. Don't worry, after we recover, we will double the time just for you."

Inna Malaka's face became ashen!

"You bullies!"

She turned around and dashed away as if there were monsters in that place.

Juri and the others saw that and laughed as well.

"Anyway, I knew you were going to enter the Foundation Establishment Realm, that is okay. But what the hell happened with your Dantians?"

Rean and Roan looked at him, not understanding what he meant.

"You mean the ten pillars coming out?"

Juri nodded.

"How did that happen?"

"Wait! You and Alanda's Dantians don't have pillars?"

Juri shook his head.

"We do have pillars, but they are inside our Dantians. How did it grow to the point of breaking the shell? Also, am I seeing things right? Are there really ten pillars there?"

The twins were taken aback. They followed what was described in their cultivation manual and Sister Orb's instructions. When she said that Juri and Alanda had three pillars each, they thought that this is how their Dantians were supposed to be. However, it seems like the others' pillars stay inside the Dantian instead of coming out.

'We need to ask Sister Orb later.'

"Errr... We made it like this so that the pillar would have an easier time absorbing the surrounding Spiritual Energy. Trust me when I say it is really effective. Well, it was excruciating as well. But everything turned out fine."

Juri and Alanda were surprised to hear that.

"Let me see your cultivation speed."

Rean and Roan nodded and started to cultivate. The exchange of Light and Dark Elements began, and the balance was quickly achieved. However, this exchange happened at least three times faster now. As for a reason, it was obvious. Roan's Light Element Pillar and Rean's Dark Element Pillar were intermediating the exchange, so their dantians accepted the opposite element easier than before.

The surrounding Spiritual Energy then started to rush into their bodies at a frightening speed, which alarmed Alanda and Juri. That speed of absorption was at least four to five times faster than their own. Their hair, obviously, became white and black again.

"It's frightening. If Rean and Roan use Spirit Stones instead, just how much faster then can they cultivate?"

Alanda couldn't help but wonder.

"Could it be that we were wrong? Should we have our pillar breakthrough the Dantian Shell too?"

Juri and Alanda couldn't answer that question. Neither could they try it anymore since they already finished their breakthroughs.

Rean and Roan were also delighted to see just how fast their cultivation is now. Also, the spiritual energy pool inside their Dantians seemed to have increased at least three times.

The twins then stopped cultivating and looked at Alanda and Juri.

"That's how it is."

Juri took a deep breath and then asked another thing.

"I can't see anything wrong with your Dantian, it seems like it is working fine even though the pillar came out. However, how did you build so many pillars? Also, what is wrong with the pillar in the middle?"

Roan shrugged his shoulders before saying.

"We simply kept building them until we couldn't anymore. As for the middle one, this is an Elemental Pillar. It helps us to control the opposite element better. This was an idea we had on the spot and the reason we fainted in the end."

Of course, that was Sister Orb and the cultivation manuals' fault. But they couldn't talk about neither of them.

Juri and Alanda didn't know if they were geniuses or crazy.

"It is good that all ended well. If you had failed the breakthrough, your Dantians would have broken. You would end going back to the Body Transformation Realm and would need to create a new Dantian again. Well, considering your cultivation speed, it wouldn't be that big of a problem anyway."

"Rest well for next few days since your bodies are too weak. Once you feel better, you can go back to your training or whatever. Well, you two are also adults... partially, so you know what is better for you."

Rean and Roan nodded. The group talked a bit more before those two left. Hamarlia then came in to check on them, and after seeing that they were fine, she left as well.

Rean looked at Roan and couldn't help but feel excited.

"The cultivation speed is so much faster now! We might be unbeatable in the world."

Roan nodded.

"All that pain wasn't for nothing, at least."

[Faster? Hahahaha! Sure, it is faster, indeed. Hahaha!"]

"Sister Orb!"

Rean and Roan wanted to ask about the pillar breaking through the Dantian Shell, but her earlier words made them even more concerned.

"What do you mean? Could it be that we are wrong?"

[You are not, your cultivation speed is indeed a lot faster. The problem is, your Spiritual Pool is much larger and deeper as well. If you rely only on Heaven and Earth's Spiritual Energy, Alanda and Juri might make breakthroughs earlier than yourselves.]

They were taken aback by those words. Doesn't that mean that it would take them several years for every stage of the Foundation Establishment?

[It seems like you understood. That is also why we had to make your Dantians like this. If not, it would take even longer. Well, that is only in the case where you have no Spirit Stones. Fortunately, Rean's Steel project has resolved it for the moment. That being said, the time necessary will be significantly reduced.]

[Of course, it also has its advantages. The amount of Spiritual Energy that you have now can be compared to a Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator. I reckon that if you two fight together, you should be able to fight that Azure Hyena Leader that is a peak Stage Two Demon Beast. If you use Rean's Spiritual Swords, you might even win.]

Rean and Roan sighed in relief. At least, their increase in cultivation time was not without advantages.