Nine Astra Skies

In the end, Ye Changxuan and the seniors decided to leave three Chi Deposition Pills for Ye Chen himself while dedicating the other fifty of them to the improvement of the clan's powers.

After that, Ye Changxuan, Ye Zhantian and the rest of the upper-echelon summoned a massive crowd of acolytes and started to give guided training in cultivation right in the main hall.

The changes of what fifty Chi Deposition Pills could do was unknown but the prospects were optimistic enough for one to hold their breath.

Seeing that he was no longer needed, Ye Chen made his way out of the main hall and strode towards his brothers' residence.

Now that the shops in the County had been closed down, Ye Peng suddenly found himself left with a lot of free time. So he took this opportunity to further his cultivation progress by training in his yard. Being one of those who did not attain the Sixth Stage by the age of eighteen, his Celestial Chi stage had become cemented at the peak of the Fifth Stage and his meridian channels had succumbed to systemic stasis. No longer fit for lifelong cultivation, he was appointed as one of the Head of Staffs for the House of Ye.

Truth be told, Ye Peng had never made peace with how life turned out for him. However, as of late, he had a little consolation in the new cultivation system that Ye Clan had started practicing. Since practicing Thunder Emperor Discourse, he could feel his stiffened meridian channels undergoing some sort of rejuvenation, which translated to a minute but significant progress in his own cultivation base.

It was not anything big, but it was enough to move him.

He was in the middle of training when he heard someone knocking on his door. Hurrying to meet his guest, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Ye Chen. "Hello, Little Brother! Fancy seeing you here!"

"I have always wanted to pay you a visit, Big Brother." Ye Chen grinned, returning the enthusiasm.

Ye Peng flashed an effusive smile. "Please, do come in!"

"It won't take a long time, Big Brother. I'm here for something important, and would return to my own training soon as well," Ye Chen said pointedly.

Throughout this period, everyone in the family had been dedicating their time to training themselves. This included Ye Chen, who also refused to spend his time idly. He was clearly not the only one who thought so, as before he entered Ye Peng's quarters, Ye Chen's astral sense had already informed him that he was interrupting his Big Brother's own training.

"Oh, it's fine either way. Anything I can help you with?" Ye Peng replied with a nod. Studying his brother, Ye Peng was filled with quiet, joyous pride. His brother had grown up so much, both physically and mentally.

"Big Brother, here's a pill that I would like to gift to you," Ye Chen said, cutting straight to the chase after producing a Marrow Absolution Pill from his Heaven-Earth Pouch.

Ye Peng fixed the pill in his hand with a questioning look. It was a strange pill the man himself had never seen before. It was many times larger than a common pill, but it did not seem special or potent.

"Are you sure this is edible?" Ye Peng asked hesitantly after taking the pill from his brother's hand. The most common pills that could be found in the market were none other than Chi-amassing Pills and Chi Deposition Pills due to their wide variety of applications in an average person's daily lives, which include the ability to substitute money. On the other hand, other kinds of alchemical pills were usually very limited in their results. Hence, the Apothecaries themselves very rarely spent their time to cultivate them. Lastly, due to the price of really advanced pills such as Marrow Absolution Pills, these pills rarely made an appearance in a commoner's market. This was why Ye Peng had never actually encountered one before.

Now, he wondered if Ye Chen had just given him an experimental pill made by some rookie Apothecary.

"Mm. It will help your cultivation progress, Big Brother. Believe me," Ye Chen replied affirmatively.

"Alright then, I trust you." Ye Peng could not help but be convinced. His cultivation progress had been stagnated for so many years, and nothing had ever truly alleviated him from such a predicament. If it could help his case, Ye Peng would be more than happy to try that strange pill since Ye Chen was so adamant in its effects.

So, he swallowed the Marrow Absolution Pills. He then felt a sudden surge of incredible force coursing upwards from his navel, thrashing across every vein in his body before running amok to all parts of his body! Ye Peng was justifiably horrified as he thought, 'What pill is this?! Its effects are terrifying!'

He quickly sat down cross-legged and revolved his Celestial Chi. He could feel his body spiking in temperature as if he was on fire. Even his skin was glowing red as white vapors started exiting from his body together with hot sweat. Accompanying all of these changes was an undistinguishably gamy scent.

What a terror to behold! Even if Ye Peng was a simple-minded fool, he would still know better than to think that the pill he had just swallowed was just another run-of-the-mill pill.

After sitting on the floor for fifteen minutes or so as he had absorbed much of the pill's effects, Ye Peng's eyes bolted open. Ignoring his new pungent bodily odor, he leaped up, face flushed and rosy, and gripped his little brother's shoulders hard as he cried, "What did you let me eat?"

Observing his brother's state, Ye Chen knew that the pill was working exactly as intended. Just thinking about his Big Brother finally breaking the curse of meridian channel stasis and therefore finally given another shot at a life of cultivation, Ye Chen could not help but succumbed to his mirth as he sang, "Why, it's a Marrow Absolution Pill!"

"M-m-marrow… Absolution Pill?!" Ye Chen's reply was like a bolt out of the blue. When Ye Peng finally registered it in his head, he realized that the Marrow Absolution Pill was a pill even more expensive and rare than Nexus Pill itself! Ye Peng's mind exclaimed as he stared at his brother in a daze, 'Holy heavens, I just ate a Marrow Absolution Pill!'

Ye Peng did not seem ecstatic at the answer. Instead, he looked absolutely petrified. "Little Brother? I-I don't know how and when you even got a Marrow Absolution Pill, b-b-but you should have bartered them away into Chi-amassing Pills so that Father could share it with everyone in the clan! That way, its uses can be maximized… instead of squandering it on a single person as unremarkable as me!"

Ye Peng was seized by a strong sense of guilt. After all, he did just eat something rare and highly sought after. It was as if he had just eaten an enormous pile, or a dozen years or even decades worth of Chi-amassing Pills in one single gulp!

"That's not very practical, Big Brother. For starters, I don't think anyone would want to buy something as exclusive as a Marrow Absolution Pill even within the span of a few months. And secondly, its exclusiveness would only attract the avarice of others, which may even result in an extinction event for the family. It's simply wiser to just use it in secret," Ye Chen explained. That was just how his Big Brother has always been — a kind, altruistic man who would rather put his clan above his own needs, even if it meant costing his chance to improve himself.

"Well, when you put it that way… I got to admit that you're right, Little Brother. It's just hard to ignore this feeling of guilt," Ye Peng admitted.

"Well, you shouldn't harp too much on that, especially when you have already eaten that pill. Remember, there is a war coming. The family would need your new and improved strength to help carry the day, so take this as an opportunity to become better," Ye Chen said.

Ye Peng gave a piercing, deep stare into Ye Chen's eyes and muttered slowly, but solemnly, "As payment for what you have given me, my life is yours now, Little Brother."

"Oh c'mon, Big Brother! That's not what you should be saying to your own brother! Isn't there a saying that goes, 'blood is thicker than water'?" Ye Chen replied and, changing the topic, he added, "Say, where's my second oldest brother? I still got another Marrow Absolution Pill with me —"

"There's one more?" Ye Peng cried out in bewilderment before a look of ecstasy crossed his face. "Just you wait, I'm getting him!"

With that, Ye Peng sprung to summon Ye Mu.

Ye Chen could not help but chuckle at the stark difference. When it was Ye Peng himself who ate the pill, he became wrapped in guilt. Yet, when the receiver was his own brother, the same man became excited and high-spirited.

Both Ye Peng and Ye Chen kept quiet about the pill's identity implicitly when Ye Mu arrived. They then handed him the pill, instructing him to consume it immediately.

Although Ye Mu looked just as puzzled as his brother had been, the man obeyed his brother's directives without much question as well. It took about half an hour for Ye Mu to finally absorb the power of the Marrow Absolution Pill when he stood up with a frantic stumble. When he knew that he had just consumed a Marrow Absolution Pill, he reacted just as strongly as his Big Brother did too.

"C'mon, Little Brother. Even if we're not planning to sell it, we should at least give it to the most promising martial artist in the family," Ye Mu protested with a sigh.

"A 'promising martial artist' would have already attained the Sixth Stage before eighteen, don't you think?" Ye Chen replied with a chuckle. "There wouldn't be any need for a Marrow Absolution Pill anymore, right?"

Ye Mu was stunned into silence for a while before he smiled with resignation. "Ah, well. Now that it's already in my tummy, I guess what's done cannot be undone."

Comparably, Ye Mu was a lot more relaxed than Ye Peng.

Now that his two elder brothers had eaten the pills and hence improved their powers, Ye Chen was beyond happy. He remained at his brother's residency for a while and had a pleasant, convivial chat. He even divulged the Second Grade Teaching of the Thunder Emperor Discourse as well as the revised version of Shadow Storm Talon Discourse to them.

His brothers had proven themselves to be dedicated and driven as on the very same day, both of them had attained the Sixth Stage. Of course, one could not overlook the potency of a single Marrow Absolution Pill. Not only did it revitalize their inflexible and worn meridian channels such that they returned to their thirteen and fourteen years old state, but it also helped improve their ability to absorb Celestial Chi in general, which ultimately translated into an exponential increase in cultivation speed.