She paused, letting the words sink in, her gaze locked on Ava's. "Your body's always trying to maintain an internal balance—it's like a natural law. So, when you cultivate, it focuses on strengthening these new, weak cells first, pouring all your alchemical solutions and training energy into bringing them up to the level of your older, evolved cells. Back when your overall cell strength was lower, this wasn't a big deal. The new cells could catch up quickly, and then your body would resume enhancing all your cells together, pushing your cultivation forward."
Ava nodded slowly, following along, her fingers twitching as she processed the explanation. But Barbara's next words hit like a hammer.
"Now, though, your older cells—your muscles, your bones—are so far ahead, so insanely enhanced, that the new cells can't keep up. It's gotten harder and harder for them to reach the same level. Eventually, your body gets stuck in a stagnation cycle: the new cells die before they can match the strength of the older ones. Then the cycle repeats—new cells form, soak up your resources, die, and get replaced again. All your effort, all those solutions, have been funneled into this endless loop of playing catch-up."
"WHAT?" Ava's heart sank. Didn't that mean she had been wasting all her time and resources all this time? It had been over 50 years since her cultivation stagnated. If she didn't know about this, she would have continued repeating the pointless cycle until she died.
"All of my hard work…" Tears slowly filled Ava's eyes.
She, who had never shed a tear, not even through the searing agony of body cultivation's torturous trials, felt her resolve crumble. The pain of broken bones, the burn of alchemical solutions searing her flesh—none of it had ever brought her to tears. But this? It was too much. Her lips trembled, and the tears spilled over, tracing slow, glistening paths down her cheeks. Who wouldn't break under such a truth, knowing their life's work had been for naught?
Barbara was stunned. Seeing Ava like this, she didn't know what to say to make her feel better. Although she had a theory to solve the stagnation cycle and push Ava's cultivation forward, it was still just a theory.
Oh no… what should I do? Wait, wait, wait! Tears, don't drop! Oh my lord, Ava is crying. Ahh… I don't care anymore, I'll just tell her the theory. We'll figure out how to do it later!
"Ava! Ava! Don't lose hope! Didn't I say I have a theory to solve your problem? This will be our next step! Don't worry, I will always help you!"
Hearing such kind words from Barbara touched Ava's heart. She had never had a good friend like this. What a precious, sweet girl. But the warmth only deepened her emotions, and instead of calming, Ava cried harder. Her tears fell like a waterfall, as if two hundred years of pent-up sorrow, frustration, and unspoken burdens were pouring out, flooding the cavern with her raw grief.
This caused Barbara to panic even more and try her best to cheer Ava up.
For a while, the mine was a cacophony of raw emotion— Ava's wrenching sobs mingling with Barbara's earnest, flustered consolations.
---
A while later, the mine was quiet again.
"So, what's the solution? I'm ready to hear," Ava said with her usual tone, her eyes swollen after crying her heart out. It was unknown whether she would ever cry again after this.
"There are multiple solutions to your problem," Barbara said.
"Multiple?" Ava was stunned. Then why couldn't I think of a single one all this time? Am I that stupid? Maybe all body cultivators are like this; that's why we couldn't progress.
"Hehe. The first one is to make a more potent alchemical solution than what you're using now. That way, your short-lived cells can catch up faster with the older cells, and then your body will resume enhancing itself. However, after some time, you will reach the stagnation cycle again. Meaning, you will need an even more potent alchemical solution. Unfortunately, to go on with this option means you need a great alchemist by your side and obviously even more resources."
After listening to the first option, Ava thought of the Clover Family first. They had nine Alchemy Grandmasters and only one Alchemy Prince, her direct ancestor who established the Clover Family. But the Clover Family's cold indifference toward her lashed through her mind. Their sneers, their dismissal of her path… no chance they'd lift a finger to help. She could almost hear their mocking voices, see their disdainful glances.
After that, she thought of the panda alchemist who shook the South Region with her talent, earning the title Princess of Alchemy Formula. Ava's heart softened as she recalled her conversation with Anda, who, without hesitation, agreed to help her in any way without raising any conditions. Anda even lamented that it took her seven years with them to open up about her problem with body cultivation.
Even though Ava had never fully accepted being married to the Leyan Family, becoming the wife of that sex fiend, it was also undeniable that they had always treated her extremely well. If she told them about this, they would definitely do their best to help.
Ava returned from her deep thoughts and focused on Barbara, who had waited for her. "What about other solutions?" she asked.
"Hehe," Barbara said, her voice light but carrying a hint of excitement. "The second one's obvious: we find someone who can learn spiritual touch to bring this spiritual vein back. Even though you can't own it outright, I'm sure the Protectors would let you have frequent access to cultivate with it. If they can't even allow this much for the person who found it, then I'll quit the institute and help you full time!"
Ava immersed herself in her thoughts again. In the past three months, her body cultivation had definitely shown improvement again after so long, not just a little, but great improvement. This spiritual vein was definitely a great treasure for her. Owning it personally would be ideal, but she knew the danger it could bring, so leaving it to the Protectors was the only choice. But before all that, she needed someone who could bring the spiritual vein back first.
This time, it was the sex fiend who popped up in her mind first. Leyvi, with that kind of monstrous spiritual sense, could definitely learn spiritual touch and help her bring the spiritual vein back. But she didn't want to owe him, so she would rather let this be the last resort for now.
Ava looked at Barbara again. "Do you still have another solution?"
"Hehehe," Barbara said, her voice brimming with excitement, her eyes twinkling like stars. "Of course I saved my best discovery for the final solution. And this one? It'll rely entirely on you. If you can pull it off, Ava, the future of body cultivation is guaranteed. But if you can't, well, you can always fall back on the other options."
Ava's eyes lit up. She liked the sound of this. Relying on herself felt the best.
Barbara's smile widened, her hands gesturing with the enthusiasm of a storyteller unveiling a grand twist. "In the three months I've been observing your cells, I noticed something incredible happening while you meditate in the spiritual vein's stream. Normally, when your short-lived cells—like your skin or gut lining cells—die, all their organelles, including the mitochondria, die with them. But in the vein's stream, something different happens. Before those cells die, their mitochondria leave the dying cells and migrate to your long-lived cells, like your muscle or bone cells. They either increase the number of mitochondria in those cells or merge with existing ones, making them bigger and stronger. Ava, do you know what this means?"
Ava's eyes widened, realizing the implications. Barbara had already told her that these mitochondria were the ones that provided power to a body cultivator. If they could be transferred to other cells, enhancing them before their original cells died, then her body cultivation could resume!
"I see, I see…" she said, her voice trembling with excitement. "So that's why my cultivation's been soaring these past three months while bathing in the stream of flowing light. The vein's spiritual energy doesn't just seep into my cells directly—unlike the spiritual energy in the atmosphere or spirit stones, which my body can't absorb without alchemical solutions. It's also moving my mini-dantians to better cells! What a magical thing this spiritual vein is!"
"But... I wonder why this happened?" Ava had a curious expression.
Barbara blinked. Mini dantians? Oh, the mitochondria. Is she never going to call them mitochondria?
"I'm not sure why, exactly. My guess is it has something to do with energy. The spiritual vein's energy is a higher, purer form of spiritual energy compared to what's in the atmosphere or spirit stones. Maybe it interacts with the mitochondria in a way that triggers this migration." Barbara said.
Ava's face lit up, her mind racing with her own interpretation. "Ohh, I get it!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "The mini-dantians produce and store energy, just like the spiritual vein's energy. They're like… distant cousins! The vein probably senses the mini-dantians as its relatives, so it's trying to save them from dying by transferring them to stronger cells. That's it, right?"
Barbara was speechless. That wasn't what she had in mind, but sure. Ava could have that as the explanation.