Back in the cave he had found, Yun Fei still had a grimace on his face as his Qi fluctuated wildly. He didn't imagine that the pills he had treated like snacks would prove to be so much trouble.
There didn't seem to be as much Qi in them as was currently coursing through his body. His wounds were now healing at an even faster rate but currently that wasn't his primary concern.
If his Qi kept going berserk like this, he could suffer even greater injuries than he already had. He had to fix this situation fast.
Yun Fei finally decided on something. He believed it had a very high chance to quell his discomfort and benefit him in conjunction.
It was to break through to the 4th level of Qi Condensation. To normal people, this would just be the process of opening up their 4th set of meredians and being on their merry way. But to Yun Fei, it was a great deal more difficult.
He had to create the 4th set of the meredians himself, which took tremendous concentration as well as going through unbearable pain.
Atleast he had the crown. If it didn't dampen the symptoms he faced, Yun Fei would've had a much harder time in concentrating.
He used the excessive Qi currently coursing through his body. Under his control, the chaotic waves were transformed into controlled streams of fast water. He used these streams to cut the paths for the 4th set into his body.
At first, these paths looked very rudimentary and only had a general position. He had already completed this step while he was practicing in the underground chamber.
Back then, what had stopped him from breaking through had been the lack of Qi. The low concentration was not enough to maintain the pathways.
Now, he didn't have to be slow since he had an excess of Qi. He could use it to progress into the 4th stage boldly. As he increased the details in the rudimentary pathways, he even corrected some of the minor areas of the first three sets.
When he was utilising his Qi in the fight with Li Gan, Yun Fei had chanced upon some parts of his meridians that would be able to have a better function with some minor changes.
These changes were so minor that they were naturally different among many different people.
Just as how only the general body structure of humans is the same and the details such as the face and the fingerprints are different. it is the same for the meridians.
The general rudimentary layout was the same but there were many minor differences across the people. If looked at in a lot of detail, each person had their own unique layout.
What Yun Fei was currently doing for the first to the third set of his meridians was making minor distinctions in the layout.
He had discovered these improvements in a life and death encounter. It would have been a waste if he had ignored them.
This could be said to be picking the better of the distinctions. Just as some people are objectively better looking, some meridian layouts simply function better.
This also led to that person having a more efficient operation of Qi. These people are generally more successful in various matters that are related to the layout of the meredians.
Time passed and Yun Fei got closer and closer to completely creating the 4th set of meredians. Those would solidify his cultivation into the Qi Condensation 4th layer.
He had already made all the changes he had noticed. Now, all his focus was on the 4th layer. His Qi was more stabalised now and his aura sharp. He took the final step with utmost concentration and succeeded.
Qi rushed from his body into the newly created 4th set of meridians and completed a circle across the meridians.
Just as he broke through, Yun Fei recieved a burst of warmth all over his body. This warmth signified his progress and brought a different kind of pleasure to him.
It was like a pleasurable feeling in the soul. Whenever he broke through, he would feel this and his motivation to become stronger would increase.
As the wave of pleasure faded away, what remained was the feeling of power. Every time he broke through, he could feel just how much his power had increased.
This feeling of surpassing his limits and entering into a new level of strength had become addictive for Yun Fei.
He could feel the maximum amount of Qi he could store in his meridians increase. Without even testing, he knew that he could use Qi more thoroughly to assist his punches and kicks. Even the normal assistance to his movement was improved.
Although, he had survived through this disaster that he had brought upon himself and even profited in the process. He still didn't understand the seriousness of the predicament that he had experienced.
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What he had done by eating a lot of medicinal pills had been nothing but some kind of suicide scheme. Yun Fei was truly lucky that there were no pills with opposing effects.
If there were, he would currently be shaking on the floor of the cave while he vomited blood left and right.
Even without the pills with conflicting effects, the only reason he was able to profit was his rigid physique and his flesh that was already used to Qi flooding it.
What would happen to any average person without these protections was definitely something much more gory and painful.
Yun Fei had learnt a lesson from this mistake, he almost took a loss because of his carefree attitude. He decided to treat matters related to cultivation with more carefulness and vigilance.
Planning to take proper steps only after he knew about the various consequences of his actions.
He stood up and stretched his body in the dark cave. He could see everything around him perfectly without any need for illumination.
The wounds on his stomach and thigh had now completely healed, only having some marks that would dissapear in time. The injury of his jaw and hand however was much more serious.
His jaw was currently setting and the flesh on it had yet to completely regenerate. He could feel throbbing pain if he tried to open his mouth.
His palm had almost gotten torn apart completely and his hand bones had suffered minor fractures. It was now on the path to recovery and the flesh had mostly regenerated. But the bones were yet to heal.
He wrapped this hand with the bandages he carried to provide some extra covering for it. He also wrapped his jaw, connecting it properly to himself.
Yun Fei wanted to recover for some more time but it was already dawn. He wanted to get far away from this place and to also reach the peak in time.
So he left his cave behind and took steps towards the mountain that was his goal. His head and hand wrapped in white gauze.
The long term partners, Gao Jian and Li Gan had set out at the break of dawn in a straight rush towards Yun Fei's position..
Li Gan had recovered to a large extent but his fighting strength was insufficient to play anything but a supporting role in the upcoming clash. He only planned to distract Yun Fei and block his escape route.
The oblivious Yun Fei had finished recovering as much as he could. He didn't want to delay his journey anymore. The deadline was fast approaching and he was still some ways away from his destination.
As he emerged from the cave and turned towards the towering mountain. His hair stood on ends as a jolt passed throughout his entire body, preparing him to face the predicament he was in.
The duo had just caught up to the location shown on their tracker. Without wasting a second, the main force of their assualt, Gao Jian rushed forward.
Li Gan moved for a pincer attack, bursting into a dead sprint. He wanted to finish the fight as swiftly as possible and get rid of the cause of his shame.
The timing was perfect, their target was caught completely by surprise. There was no hope for him to escape anymore. All his struggles would be just like a flailing fish on the chopping board.
Yun Fei was not a fool. Because of his closed off upbringing, he was often obtuse regarding social norms and sometimes he was blind to things that others considered a matter of fact... but he was never, a fool.
He was capable of learning from his mistakes and taking the appropriate decisions to ensure his survival. Each of his thoughts were stations in his train of reasoning, it ran at blinding speeds and never lost time.
The previous night's fight had been a mistake, too much faith had been placed in his trump card and many reckless decisions had been taken. He had already learnt his lesson, he wouldn't be so lax anymore.
To battle against two opponents when one of them, had just a few hours ago, pushed him to the brink would be a completely idiotic decision.
Although he wanted to try out his power at the 4th level of Qi Condensation and fully explore the effects of the optimisations he had carried out. He wasn't going to risk it. He didn't want his injuries to worsen.
Gao Jian's cold eyes focused onto Yun Fei's bandaged face as he expressionlessly accelerated towards him. His bearing highlighted his disdain towards his target and the conviction to put an end to the fight.
As the duo moved into their positions, Yun Fei's face carried a frosty expression as he burned the images of both of his attackers into his mind.
He made a small leap backwards towards the direction of the mountain and then vanished after a momentary flash of darkness and a deafening 'CRACK'.
The space where Yun Fei had stood flexed strangely, causing illusions as light bent around it like a ripple in the ocean before collapsing back together into a whole.
The only thing the two were capable of was, staring in shock at the space in front of them.
‘To think that he still had this method left.’ Gao Jian thought with a grim expression.
Li Gan also had an irritated expression on his face. He didn't think that the situation would become this complicated when he originally attacked a kid in the 3rd layer of Qi condensation.
"So he always had this assurance. Even with this he still almost fought me to the death, last night. Does he think that I'm such a soft persimmon to pinch?
Hmph! I'll crush this bastard the next time we find him. If only I could use my weapon, we would never reach this situation."
“You should've shown this vigour when you fought him the first time. The situation has gotten somewhat complicated now. This matter is probably out of our hands.
After using this space treasure, he should've already reached the mountain. There's almost no chance of us catching up to him before he reaches the peak."
Even the usually calm Gao Jian was irritated because their mission was now, most certainly a failure.
“Anyway, we don't need to care about this anymore. We just have to follow the plan and join the association now. The higher ups have other methods to complete these small tasks.”
Li Gan knew that it was because of him that their mission had failed and that Gao Jian truly detested failing missions, so he didn't have any complaints about Gao Jian's comments.
He simply nodded, blanching at his prospects when they reported this situation to the higher ups.
--
At a distance of about one kilometre, a familiar figure was spat into the air as space rippled, correcting itself once again.
Yun Fei's eyes darted about as he quickly scanned the area around him. His caution reduced as the token finding talisman remained unresponsive.
While he was adjusting to the environment and getting over the dizziness and discomfort from travelling through space, he finally noticed that he was falling down.
He looked down and saw his own image getting bigger and bigger until his legs muddled up the clear and reflective surface. He fell into the pond with a subdued plop.