Chapter 438 A Breakthrough
“He is coming out. Look, that’s Ding Ning.”
Nie Fan exclaimed excitedly, pointing at Ding Ning’s image on a screen. These clear pictures in the No. 1 villa were sent back to the LCD screen in their car by the CCTV installed in the delivery truck.
“Shh, keep your voice down, or we’ll be d*mned.”
Startled by the fuss made by Nie Fan, Master Mo hushed him in a hurry. Upon hearing his warning, Nie Fan shrank back and closed his mouth.
On the monitoring screen, they saw Ding Ning walking out hand in hand with Luoxue. He asked these delivery workers to freely lay the raw stones on the grass of the villa and then sent them away politely.
Master Mo took a deep breath and said, “Let’s go. It’s enough to know that Ding Ning lives here. We can’t afford to provoke such a person, so we can only leave him to our leader.”
“Sure. I dare not irritate Ding Ning, who had hounded Zhai Fang to death. Anyway, it is enough for me to report his residence to our leader.”
Nie Fan knew his limitations, so he directly started the car, stepped on the accelerator, and pulled away. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Should we tell our leader about the whiskered man?”
Master Mo frowned and said after a moment of thinking, “Forget it. Don’t raise new issues for us. Besides, we don’t know where that whiskered man is. If our leader can’t find him, he will order us to look for this man. Ninghai is a big city with such a large population. How can we find him?”
“You’re right. If the leader knows the matter about this man, given his character, he will plague us to death with it.”
Nie Fan nodded in agreement. It was already a pleasant surprise for them to find Ding Ning’s residence. Because they only wanted to give their leader a reply, both of them didn’t want to waste much more time on that whiskered man. After all, once Ding Ning or the whiskered man noticed what they were up to, they would be in great danger. But they hadn’t yet enjoyed enough the good days in this dazzling world.
“Young master, Second Miss, what are all these? Why did you buy so many stones?”
Xiahe asked, blinking her big eyes in confusion.
Ding Ning just smiled, giving her no explanation. Without thinking, he said perfunctorily, “I put them there just for fun.”
Xiahe stuck out her tongue and made a face behind Ding Ning. She whispered, “Young master is really a wastrel. He actually brought a pile of broken stones to play!”
“Shh, don’t talk nonsense.”
Qiuju said while pulling her promptly to shut her up.
Ding Ning chuckled, shaking his head. There was no need for him to explain to Xiahe. If they knew that these raw stones were worth at least a few hundred million yuan, they would surely go crazy.
But Luoxue, she had once seen Ding Ning uncover the jade from a raw stone. Subconsciously, she touched the jade ornament on her neck and raised the corner of her mouth, revealing a sweet smile. She thought, “Brother will make some jade from these stones again!”
As soon as Ding Ning went back to his room, he plunged into the gym and started to work out again.
Luoxue went back to think about the menu in her room. This time, she didn’t stick to Ding Ning as before, which made Ding Ning feel a little lost but relieved at the same time.
In the past, the whole world of Luoxue revolved around him. Although Ding Ning felt good of being depended on, he was happier with her present state—she had her favorite hobbies and could live independently now.
Over and over again, Ding Ning kept practicing the first punch. The more he played, the more skilled and interested he became.
He found that this physical exercise boxing in Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique seemed to violate the common principles of human body engineering. When he practiced, he couldn’t even mobilize his Spiritual Energy. The only thing that he could rely on was his physical strength.
Practicing precisely in the opposite way, he seemed to have been doing everything against the rules of the universe. It appeared that each punch and each movement of him were going to break the shackles between heaven and earth, which could easily help people reach the limit of the human body.
After practicing this technique for six times, Ding Ning almost collapsed and didn’t want to move even a finger. He was not happy about this. But Xiahou, who was a Great Master, was too tired to get out of bed after practicing for only three times. The thought of him suddenly relieved Ding Ning, who then thought to himself, “This is probably the effect after having been refined as a weapon.”
With a steadfast will, Ding Ning continued practicing boxing while shaking. He knew that the moment when he reached the limit of his body, there would definitely be a breakthrough. If he rested now, all his previous efforts would be wasted.
This time, he practiced at a very slow pace and mobilized every cell in his whole body as if he were resisting the entire world. The enormous pressure made him shudder, and he badly wanted to lie down and have a good sleep.
However, Ding Ning knew that he couldn’t give up. Now he was so exhausted that he could hardly stand on his legs. But still, he gritted his teeth and kept punching, his sweat running down like raindrops.
It seemed that a century had passed before Ding Ning finally finished this set of boxing. With a bang in his mind, his tiredness faded away like a tide. The power coming from nowhere washed away all his exhaustion. The strong sense of power made him utter a long and loud cry involuntarily to express his feeling right now.
The muscles all over his body kept on wriggling, and his physical strength recovered fast. In previous, Ding Ning thought that his body had become flawless already. But once again, it secreted a layer of black and smelly filth.
After a simple wash, Ding Ning looked delighted. He clenched his fists and unexpectedly heard a string of air explosions.
Ding Ning realized that he had once again broken through the human body’s limit. Besides, his physical strength soared to twice as much as before, reaching a terrifying 3,000 kilograms.
What did 3,000 kilograms mean? 3,000 kilograms was 3 tons. That was to say, he could lift a small car merely by his physical strength.
The soaring power brought him a feeling of weightlessness. As a result, when Ding Ning turned off the shower, he accidentally broke the switch, which made him feel both funny and annoying.
However, Ding Ning didn’t dare to move a bit. Standing quietly in the bath, he tried to control his power because he was worried that he might crush the bathtub under his feet.
Now Ding Ning felt like an ancient Violent Dragon with immense power that was full of vigorous Qi and blood and seemingly inexhaustible energy. Even his blood became viscous, flowing slowly in blood vessels like mercury. Besides that, there was a faint silver radiance over his bones whose toughness had been greatly improved. The explosive strength filled his streamlined and slightly bulging muscles. Though his skin was whiter and tenderer, it became more robust than before. What was more, covered under a layer of colorful radiance, all his internal organs wouldn’t get hurt even if he was bumped by car high into the air. Also, his heartbeat became stronger and slower, and his heart rate was only around 30 beats a minute…
Changes occurred all over his body. It seemed that he had thoroughly remolded himself and turned into a totally different person. Meanwhile, an unconquerable belief arose in him.
The message sent by the burning hot stone man revealed only a tip of the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique, but Ding Ning still had a panic fear after that and considered himself lucky at the same time.
Although refining himself like a weapon could strengthen his body, it was the external force that brought this benefit to him. The drug that Ding Ning used was too strong. It could rebuild his body, but meanwhile, it could also make him a monster.
Back then, the drug had affected Chiyou in both positive and negative ways. Although his eight feet, three heads, and six arms could give him the advantage of strong deterrence, he was regarded as a monster rather than a human. Since then, Chiyou was stigmatized by others as a demon.
Chiyou said that he didn’t mind. But in his heart, he cared a lot. After all, even the women he got along with day and night started to look at him with strange eyes.
Therefore, Chiyou swore to develop a set of cultivation techniques that could reshape his body back to a human’s. Only then did the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique come into being.
Chiyou integrated the cream of what he had learned throughout his life into this set of cultivation techniques. As long as he kept on practicing it, he could return to his human form. But it was a pity that not long after he successfully developed it, the war broke out.
Chiyou’s death was partly because he had practiced the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique. He had used the Spell of Savage Soldier’s Body to cultivate himself like a weapon. After he reached the greatest achievement, he went back to cultivate the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique. But practicing in this order was not good for him. It was just like demolishing a building only to give it a new foundation. Thus, Chiyou could only exert 30% of his strength then. What was worse, his physical strength plummeted. Otherwise, though Xuan Ji had sealed Chiyou’s soul, Yellow Emperor could still not break the defense of Chiyou’s physical body by the Xuanyuan Sword, let alone cut off Chiyou’s head.
Ding Ning couldn’t help sighing. If Chiyou hadn’t recultivated his body by the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique, he would have maintained his combat capability at the peak. In that case, it was hard to say who would win the final battle against Yan Emperor and Huang Emperor.
Perhaps, Shenzhou would be a completely different place now. However, all of this had nothing to do with Ding Ning. This idea just flashed across his mind.
To his delight, based on Chiyou’s experiences, Ding Ning followed strictly the prescribed order to practice the Spell of Savage Soldier’s Body together with the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique. Thus, he would not turn into a monster, but instead, he could reach a high level that even Chiyou had never achieved.
As for what kind of high level it would be, the stone man only provided a vague message for him—although it had only four words in total, it was quite domineering. The mere thought of it made Ding Ning’s blood boil. The message was: slaughter immortals like animals.
Well, Ding Ning was not very willing to believe the stone man’s arrogant words. After all, immortals were untouchable, supreme existence for human beings.
However, Chiyou badly battered Yan Emperor and Yellow Emperor with only 30 percent of his fighting power. At last, he was killed by Xuan Ji, who sneaked attack him by a divine artifact. Plus, Xuan Ji praised Chiyou highly. Therefore, Ding Ning subconsciously felt that perhaps the stone man didn’t brag.
But none of this really mattered now. The most important thing was that both the Spell of Savage Soldier’s Body and the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique were the top-ranking body refining skills in the world. They could help Ding Ning achieve an unprecedented high level. Whenever Ding Ning thought about that, he would get very excited, full of fighting spirit.
Ding Ning had to admit that the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique was indeed a treasury of body refining. It could make a person a super master with an invincible body even without the cooperation of Spell of Savage Soldier’s Body.
Ding Ning was not in a hurry to continue practicing. Instead, he sat down quietly and felt his changes carefully. A sudden comprehension made him think that the national martial arts in the modern practicing system were a little like the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique.
The Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique would refine not only the physical body but also its internal organs, limbs, and bones. At the later stage, there was also the cultivation of True Qi. Beyond that, its way of cultivating True Qi was the same as the stone man’s, which would run an internal circulation.
Because of that, Ding Ning made a very bold assumption that the national martial arts followed the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique. However, since the national martial arts had lost the ancient inheritance, practitioners could only rely on their wisdom and comprehension to explore the way forward, which made the practice of the national martial arts extremely difficult.
If that was the case, then Xiahou Weiyang’s intelligence and enlightenment would be too shocking. As a person who was able to make himself a Martial-arts God by practicing without any inheritance, Xiahou Weiyang was definitely a martial arts genius that was rare to see in ten thousand years.
However, it was no more than speculation. Perhaps, Xiahou Weiyang had had some other adventures. But soon, Ding Ning threw aside all these thoughts and began to analyze himself according to his current status.
If the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique was the orthodox cultivation method of the national martial arts, then did it mean that he had cultivated both the ancient and national martial arts at the same time?
The Heart Sutra of Bodhi was a mentality-practicing method of ancient martial arts, which enabled Ding Ning to absorb the Spiritual Energy between heaven and earth to improve his level of cultivation. Accordingly, the Cattle-butchering Skill was his martial arts technique. Then the stone man’s way of cultivating, which was named Nameless Heart Sutra by Ding Ning, was the True Qi internal circulation cultivation method of the national martial arts. Accordingly, the set of boxing covered in the Barbarian Physical Exercise Technique was equivalent to Ding Ning’s martial arts technique.
Now, he had a set of ancient martial arts cultivation methods of external circulation and a set of national martial arts cultivation methods of internal circulation. Beyond that, Ding Ning was also a spiritual master who used the Sutra of Cultivating Spirit to improve his spiritual strength. Then, was he a tri-practitioner now?
Ding Ning hadn’t yet included his assistant methods like the Rune Doctrine, the Matrix Doctrine, the Gu Doctrine, and the Medicine Doctrine. If these were the methods of warlocks, then Ding Ning could be regarded as an all-round practitioner who was an Ancient Warrior, a Modern Warrior, a spiritual master, and a warlock at the same time.
After making a careful check of his skills, Ding Ning felt a little amused. “If all this information about me were spread out, people would catch me and cut me into pieces to run a lot of tests. After all, my existence sounds too ridiculous.”
But since incredible existence like the stone man and the Mermaid Totem were real, Ding Ning thought that being an all-round practitioner seemed to be less unusual.
