With both of her hands holding onto Yang Dingtian’s cheek, Dugu Fengwu gave a deep, passionate kiss to his lips. She then reached inside his Deep Sea Mystic Clothes and placed her palm directly on top of his chest.
“I will remember you, Yang Dingtian. You are my very first man, and you’ll be the only man I’ve ever had,” Dugu Fengwu whispered as she released a powerful qi into her hand.
Poof…
As the mystic qi struck straight to Yang Dingtian’s chest, a tall streak of blood shot up from his mouth at about fifty meters from where he was lying. After that, Yang Dingtian stopped breathing and dropped dead.
For reasons she wasn’t sure of, Dugu Fengwu could feel a sharp pain in her heart when Yang Dingtian stopped breathing. She didn’t think she would ever feel this way, but the pain was much more real than it should’ve been.
Dugu Fengwu probably didn’t feel like doing it. Maybe she didn’t want to kill Yang Dingtian. After all, he saved her life before, and he never actually defiled her. But did any of that matter? The deed was already done.
Dugu Fengwu raised herself off from Yang Dingtian’s body. She then cleaned herself off and dressed herself up. “Farewell. I’ll remember you for the rest of my life.”
With droplets of tears falling out of her eyes, Dugu Fengwu headed towards the golden element room and disappeared from the Five Elements Hall.
******************
Dugu Fengwu wasn’t joking around about not going easy on Yang Dingtian. After hearing that even Zhu Hongxue wasn’t able to kill him with one palm, she decided to deliver the killing blow with a point-blank shot to the chest.
As Yang Dingtian felt the heat leaving his body, he could faintly see the three-head golem towering over him. It was also saying something rather odd to him.
“The VIP member is losing his life energy…”
“The guardian shall begin his first attempt at rescue…”
“The guarding is now in the middle of attempting his rescue…”
Then, without any explanation, the stone giant picked Yang Dingtian up and opened the stone slab located at his chest.
Strangely, there was a pool filled with emerald-green liquid inside, and this giant was trying to grab Yang Dingtian and drown him in it.
As soon as Yang Dingtian was placed inside this mysterious pool, countless sparks of white light began to shine and penetrated through his body.
*************************
Yang Dingtian wasn’t sure how long it had been since he fell unconscious, but slowly and steadily, he could feel his broken body and soul being reassembled into its original shape.
When the final healing process was finished, Yang Dingtian woke up and found himself lying inside a pool filled with life energy. He had a gist of what was going on, but more importantly, the memories were coming back to him.
Honestly, though, Yang Dingtian never thought that Dugu Fengwu would’ve actually done it. She threatened to kill him on the road, she threatened him while they were inside the Fire Cloud Devil Cave, but the threats never did him any real harm.
That being said, reality struck hard on Yang Dingtian. In the end, Dugu Fengwu did kill him technically, and he finally learned his lessons.
“You taught me well, Dugu Fengwu,” Yang Dingtian murmured to himself, “Thanks for letting me know the ways of your Evil Dao. I was stupid to think that there was any humanity in you…”
“No more mercy to the Evil Dao. No more rainbows and fairy-tales, oh no…”
“Just you wait, demon woman. I’ll get better than you one day, and I will take your life when the time comes. I swear it.”
“The guardian has succeeded in his rescue attempt. The VIP member will now re-enter his trial!”
While cheering to itself, the stone giant opened up its chest and took Yang Dingtian out. Then, after placing him on the ground, it went back to sleep in its original sculpture form.
*****************
Just what the hell was in that water pool inside the golem’s chest? Yang Dingtian had no idea, but as far as he was concerned, all his fatal wounds were recovered from it. If anything, it was making him much very energetic, like he just got out of a sauna or something like that.
Yang Dingtian was more focused on something else, though. He must use this Five Elements Hall to make him stronger. He had just one breakthrough just then, and there was no telling how many more he could get if he stayed here longer.
Considering the time that he had, Yang Dingtian decided to stay inside the Five Elements Hall until he reached level fifteen when he was to become a Great Mystic Martial Master.
That’s right. To be considered a respected Mystic Martial Artist, Yang Dingtian must reach level fifteen before he leaves this place. If he couldn’t attain level fifteen, he wouldn’t even qualify to begin training his mystic techniques.
**********************
Once again, Yang Dingtian sat right at the center of the training hall. It was his second breathing session in this place, and he wasn’t going to stop absorbing the mystic qi gathered around this area.
Speaking of which, Yang Dingtian was still absorbing the mystic qi here after he had his first breakthrough, but Dugu Fengwu came and interrupted.
This time too, however, Yang Dingtian was not alone. Even during his breathing session, Yang Dingtian would have his arms wrapped around his deformed, staff-like youngling sword while he focused on inhaling and exhaling the qi around him.
From now on, all of Yang Dingtian’s training would be accompanied by his youngling sword. For every moment he spent with it, a little more progress would be made to shape its sword’s soul.
As Yang Dingtian opened himself up once more, a powerful, highly concentrated streak of mystic qi entered through his body once more.
One hour had passed.
Two hours.
Three hours.
One day.
After one day of just breathing in and breathing out the qi, Yang Dingtian’s empty qi vessel was now filled again. This time, however, his qi vessel was not as rigorous nor inflated as before.
Yang Dingtian tried shoving more qi inside his qi vessel, but his body was simply too full for it. Any extra amount was pushed out as they were pushed in. With that mind, the issue then became a matter of enlarging Yang Dingtian’s qi vessel.
But, this real question was how. Of course, by practicing martial arts.
Generally speaking, most Mystic Martial Artists would spend eight hours a day just to enlarge their qi vessel and meridians with their physical training. After that, they would spend two extra hours absorbing mystic qi in and out of their body. Only after repeating this routine for half or one year, or maybe even after many years, would another breakthrough be plausible to achieve.
The purpose of training martial arts was to expand one’s meridian and qi vessel. Holding breathing sessions, on the other hand, served the purpose of filling in those new spaces. The two acts must be performed together; otherwise, there wouldn’t be a point.
So open up and fill it in. Open up. Fill it in. Since Yang Dingtian was just done with his breathing session, he was now ready to practice his Pig Slaying Sword Art.
As dull as this whole process might be, Yang Dingtian had hoped that the results would surprise him.
****************
With his 150 kg sword in hand, Yang Dingtian walked into the first room of the golden element training ground, where the gravity inside was three times of the outside world.
“Huh…”
With both of his arms tensed up, Yang Dingtian raised his youngling sword and began acting out the Pig Slaying Sword Art. He was planning to complete the entire choreograph in one go, all the way from the first to the ninth.
The youngling sword in Yang Dingtian’s hand was weighing around half a ton right now. Under normal circumstances, he could’ve performed the entire set of the Pig Slaying Sword Art in thirty seconds, but now it would take him five whole minutes.
Four minutes and thirty-five seconds the second time.
Four minutes and thirty seconds the third time.
With every swing of his sword, Yang Dingtian could feel the mystic qi flowing violently out of his body.
Ten times.
Twenty times.
Thirty times.
One hundred times.
Three hundred times.
Five hundred times.
One thousand times.
After swinging the youngling sword a thousand times, Yang Dingtian was now able to perform the whole Pig Slaying Sword Art within less than one minute, even under the condition of being under three times the normal gravity.
By the time he was finished with his physical training, Yang Dingtian had already spent two days and one night. His mystic qi, too, was completely drained out by this routine.
But still. Given that Yang Dingtian was only inside the first room, he actually made quite a progress. Within just a day, his strength was already several times stronger than before.
After all that exercise, Yang Dingtian didn’t even feel like his body was his anymore. He was tired, numb, and he had to drag himself all the back to the center of the Five Elements Hall, sit in an upright position, hold his youngling sword, and begin another breathing session.
Once again, those pure mystic qis flooded through Yang Dingtian’s meridian and made their stop at his qi vessel. And because of how exhausted Yang Dingtian was, the qi was immediately dissolved as soon as it was absorbed. It was like his body was a desert, and no amount of water was enough to turn it into a river.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
Five hours.
Five hours of breathing out, and five more hours of absorbing the mystic qi. After this long and repetitive process, Yang Dingtian was finally able to fill his qi vessel again. Unlike last time, however, the breakthrough he just had was not a big one. He went from being a six star novice Mystic Martial Artist to a six star intermediate Mystic Martial Artist.
With his body fuelled up again, Yang Dingtian made his way back to the first room of the golden element palace. This time, since he was done with the first stage of his workout, the Pig Slaying Sword Art, he was now going to move to the second stage.
To be more specific, he was going to practice the Unyielding Sword, which was the fourth technique of the Yin Yang Heaven and Earth Sword.
So, the Unyielding Sword. As the name suggested, the point of this technique was not how fast it was, but rather how powerful the blade was as it strikes.
That being said, Yang Dingtian was under three times the normal gravity, and the youngling sword in his hand was heavier than a bear. Since most of his qi was focused on holding the sword alone, it was very difficult for the swings to have any speed.
“March forth! Unyielding and indestructible…”
While enchanting the words that were taught to him, Yang Dingtian began practicing the Unyielding Sword over and over again.
Tens of times.
Hundreds of times.
Thousands of times.
Finally, after spending three days to use up all his mystic qi, Yang Dingtian was able to make his strength many times stronger than before.
After he was done practicing the Unyielding Sword, Yang Dingtian went back to the center of the Five Elements Hall and began another breathing session. He was going to spend five hours on it.
To his disappointment, Yang Dingtian didn’t have any breakthrough this time. Yes, not even a minor one like going from an intermediate to an advanced six star.
That was how it was supposed to work. The more you use the same routine, the harder it would be to make progress.
Yang Dingtian spent several hours to get from a five star to a six star Mystic Martial Artist, but after seven to eight days of being inside the Five Elements Hall, his rank only went up to about half a star.
What about becoming a Great Mystic Martial Master, then? There were still fifteen levels before Yang Dingtian could become one, so how long would that take?
Given how slow this was going, Yang Dingtian would probably have to take several months, or even one whole year, if he wanted to become a Great Mystic Martial Master inside the Five Elements Hall.
That wouldn’t do. That just wouldn’t. A year from now on, Yang Dingtian would have to return to the Cloud Heaven City to fight in the Grand Tournament. He didn’t have that much time to finish his business with Ximen Ju.
And just exactly how powerful was Ximen Ju? At least a Martial Ancestor, that’s how powerful he was! Since Yang Dingtian was a six star Mystic Martial Artist now, there were about forty levels, or four ranks, of a gap that he had to overcome in a short span of a whole year.
Yang Dingtian did not have a lot of options here, but there were about three opportunities in which he could level himself up faster.
One, he must at least become a Great Mystic Martial Master here in the Five Elements Hall.
Two, he must learn the third stage of the Pig Slaying Sword Art.
Three, he must find a Heaven and Earth Mystic Flame, then somehow craft his core flame with it.
Crafting a core flame was probably the most troublesome bit. To be able to use a Heaven and Earth Mystic Flame, one must at least become a Martial Mystic first. And, as mentioned before, Yang Dingtian didn’t have the luxury to grind his level up slowly.
Becoming a Great Mystic Martial Master in one year was, by no means, something easy to do. If Yang Dingtian were somehow able to follow through, no one in this world would underestimate him anymore.
But so what? Even if he became a Great Mystic Martial Master, Ximen Ju could still finish him in one hit.
*****************
This time, after he was done with the breathing session, Yang Dingtian didn’t return to his physical training. Instead, he decided to have a word with the stone giant guarding the Hall.
“Hey, giant, if you don’t mind me calling me that. Could I ask you some questions?” Yang Dingtian asked politely.
“Only if I’m authorized to answer those questions,” the mountain-sized thing opened its eye and replied.
Yang Dingtian asked, “If someone were to use this Five Elements Hall as a training base, how long would it take for him to, say, get from a five star Mystic Martial Artist to a Great Mystic Martial Master?”
