It had been a week since Ye Xiu had been drugged by Hua Fei and she had taken the effort and time to visit the residence as often as she could when his friends weren't at the house. Due to this, she was uninterrupted when she was trying to earn Ye Xiu's affections. Ye Xiu, who was already drugged started to fall in love with Hua Fei though not at such a rapid pace since the elixir that Hua Fei used wasn't that potent.
The elixir was meant to be used long-term. It was supposed to build up feelings of love for Hua Fei to the point that the elixir would no longer be used. It was a fairly delicate process since Hua Fei noticed that Ye Xiu seemed to resist her seduction with ease, even when he had been dosed. Hua Fei didn't mind since she quite enjoyed the thrill of having her love acting hard to get with her.
Tian Bai, who was stuck inside Ye Xiu's soul space was literally screaming at the injustice that his master was suffering. Ye Xiu had long removed the block that disallowed him to view events from outside. He had watched as Hua Fei drugged him and removed his memories. He was trying to get Ye Xiu to summon him out but Hua Fei managed to capture Ye Xiu's attention for the majority of the day even after she left.
Tian Bai was trying his best to figure out how exactly he would convince his master that he was being played around with. The only possible way for him to even achieve that is sending memories through the telepathic bond but he was afraid that Ye Xiu would dismiss it as lies. Tian Bai was busy skulking away in the soul space, thinking of plans to convince his master.
Ye Xiu was currently training and all thoughts concerning others basically fled from his mind. Though Ye Xiu was able to split his mind's attention to several things at once, Ye Xiu would completely focus on his training without caring about other things. This was a reason why Ye Xiu was able to advance so easily because he would dismiss any extraneous thoughts not relating to training. This meant that this would be the best period of time for Tian Bai to inform Ye Xiu of the trickery that Hua Fei had employed.
Using the telepathic bond to send memories, Tian Bai started to scream for Ye Xiu's attention. Too bad that Ye Xiu was so concentrated on resisting the pain, trying to regenerate the gems and using his Qi to vibrate the tree. Shi Die was helping Ye Xiu with his defensive technique training whilst Ye Xiu was training his 'Pulsing Force' technique.
He had managed to enter the first stage for his defensive technique though he still hadn't had any luck when it came to the 'Pulsing Force' technique. He was certainly close to achieving the first steps of the technique but he wasn't there yet which meant he was still focused on the technique. Tian Bai was screaming. "You can multitask with at least three different things at once! WHY ARE YOU IGNORING ME!"
After several minutes of trying to get Ye Xiu's attention, Tian Bai finally gave up. He told himself that if Ye Xiu didn't want to notice him, then he'll just wait for the next time that Ye Xiu called him out to explain the issue.
Whilst Tian Bai was fuming inside the soul space, Ye Xiu realised he should've done this type of training a long time ago. The training though barbaric, improved Ye Xiu's ability to work under duress. This meant that he could technically keep a clear mind even whilst he was being tortured. When Shi Die saw that manic grin that Ye Xiu had when he realised what he had been missing, he started to shiver.
Shi Die, though reluctant to basically torture Ye Xiu, was still helping him with the training because he could see the benefits that would come with helping him. Ye Xiu would get stronger and so would Shi Die. Shi Die could test out his techniques and abilities that would've been considered way too dangerous to use in a sparring session. Ye Xiu was practising a defensive technique that would boost his defence beyond what he would be capable of piercing through normally.
It also helped that his claws and teeth were getting stronger. His claws and teeth were supposed to get stronger from constant use. When they regenerated from being damaged, they were supposed to come back much stronger than before. Now, since he was basically slashing against an object that was so tough, his claws would normally break if too much force was applied, he could strength his claws and teeth to unimaginable levels. He likened Ye Xiu's body to a whetstone.
Ye Xiu attempts at the 'Pulsing Force' technique made others that watched him wonder what he was doing. Shang Yang and Xiao Tu obviously knew that he was trying to train some sort of technique but they could see no visible effect even after an entire week of doing the exact same thing. To Ye Xiu, his progress has been tremendous but though his progress in both his techniques was great, Shi Die still felt like there was something extremely off with him.
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Being around Ye Xiu, for so long, it was natural for him to notice subtle differences in the smell. Shi Die had catalogued Ye Xiu's scent when he had first told him about his adventures during his test and he knew that something else was off with his smell. It was strange since like Shi Die had told Ye Xiu before, it was hard for a person's scent to change. Shi Die was going to talk to Ye Xiu after this to make sure nothing was wrong.
Whilst they were training together, Xiao Tu was busy sparring against Shang Yang. Xiao Tu was learning the technique that Ye Xiu had employed against illusions. Ye Xiu generously taught everybody in the group including Yan Guo on how to identify illusions with his technique. Instead of looking for subtle changes in the Qi flow with an observation technique, the Qi pulse technique would help find any abnormalities in the surroundings.
It not only allowed them to find and destroy illusions it also helped them identify whether there were people in the surrounding area or not. Though the technique was easily countered if a person knew how to completely hide their Qi signature and Qi reservoir. Whilst Xiao Tu trained in that technique whilst in a spar, Shang Yang was training in her ability to create illusions whilst fighting another person. This meant that she had devoted her time to being able to multitask.
She was able to do up to two things at the same time but that was after three years of constant meditation and training that Ye Xiu helped her through. Though she was able to multitask, it didn't mean that she was able to create illusions easily. Due to the new technique that Ye Xiu had introduced to the group, she had to make her illusions much harder to dispel and identify. It was possible to hide the abnormalities that an illusion would usually display and she was trying her best to perfect her own skill in doing so.
She was also slowly incorporating the tips and tricks that Ye Xiu had delightfully shared with her. It certainly made her much more formidable. Shang Yang's ability when it came to her daggers was nothing to scoff at anymore, especially when she had her illusions. She didn't limit herself to her daggers but also used Qi needles and Qi scalpels to her advantage. Qi threads were also part of her repertoire that made her extremely deadly.
She danced a graceful yet deadly dance that basically severed an opponent's defences like it was butter. She had smoothly integrated her hand-to-hand combat skills and her dagger skills. Her attacks struck with deadly precision and after she made sure to dissect her opponent's fighting style, it became easy for her to dismantle everything her opponent could do. If she knew that Ye Xiu had a technique that would be just as deadly in her hands, she'd probably beg him to teach it to her.
Even though Shang Yang had all of that going for her, everybody in the group knew how to counter each other with ease. It was only through mistakes that they made during the fighting, were they able to win. Ye Xiu still hadn't shown his transformation which meant that nobody would actually know how to fight him when he did show it. When it came to training in his transformed state, Ye Xiu made sure to have a private training room in the Dimension that only he could enter.
Yan Guo himself had learnt several new techniques after spending months together with the group. They had helped him make up his flaws and he had started to attend more and more of their training sessions when his father realised how beneficial it was for him. His father grudgingly admitted to himself that the friends that Yan Guo had made had definitely helped him when it came to training and progress. He didn't recognise that it was also because they helped changed Yan Guo's mentality into a brighter one.
The spar between Xiao Tu and Shang Yang was extremely interesting considering that Xiao Tu was using all the flashy moves which is what made it all the more interesting. Though Shang Yang didn't use any flashy moves, she still kept up with Xiao Tu. Xiao Tu's flashy moves were definitely strong in regards to what his usual techniques could do. He liked flashy moves since it covered the other moves that he needed to prepare as he fought. The flashy moves kept his opponent's attention which is what he wanted.
Xiao Tu always managed to stay out of Shang Yang's punching and kicking distance and he always managed to block the daggers that flew at him. All the other Qi projectiles that Shang Yang seemed to love was being incinerated by Xiao Tu's weapon. His weapon's enhancement of Xiao Tu's metal and fire Qi related abilities allowed him to destroy Shang Yang's projectiles with as little of his own Qi as possible.
The fights always lasted for a long period of time which meant both parties had to sustain as long as they could.
Yan Guo was also in the training yard though he was up to his own things. Whilst Shang Yang and Xiao Tu fought, he could also practice the new technique that Ye Xiu had taught them since Shang Yang was using wide-range illusions. Besides that, Yan Guo was training using his own technique that he had created. It was a shadow partner that could attack physical objects and it didn't receive damage. The only way the shadow partner could possibly be destroyed was if Yan Guo could no longer supply Qi.
The best thing about the ability was that Yan Guo could control it remotely. He couldn't be too far but he could use it to attack without him even needing to get his hands dirty. It could do everything he could in a fight, albeit at less strength. The shadow partner couldn't speak but it could use its actions to relay what it wanted to say. Currently, he was using it as his sparring partner. He wasn't actually fighting it but was testing his techniques against it.
Whilst the group was all having their own training, the person with designs on Ye Xiu was busy at a black market auction. She had bought multiple things that would enforce her status in Ye Xiu's heart and she bought multiple other poisons to make sure that if anybody came into her away, she'd be able to deal with them.