By a Pond in Qingfeng Valley
Yang Ye sat cross-legged beside a pond, his eyes half-closed as he focused his mind inward. After his earlier excitement, Yang Ye felt something was off. The presence of two dantian felt strange to him, and the more he thought about it, the more something seemed wrong. He decided to clear up the mystery about the small vortex dantian deep inside him.
This time, he clearly observed the small vortex dantian. It was about the size of a palm, constantly emitting a pulling force. It was this force that caused all the mysterious energy he absorbed during his training to be sucked into this small vortex in an instant.
This small vortex drained all the energy from his dantian, preventing him from becoming a true mysterious practitioner. No, to be precise, he had already been a mysterious practitioner long ago. The qualification to become one is based on one's aptitude, and as long as someone can absorb the mysterious energy through physical training, they are considered a mysterious practitioner.
However, his mysterious energy was immediately absorbed by the small vortex upon entering his body, which made him believe for the past year that he wasn’t a mysterious practitioner. In reality, he was already one, from the standards of becoming a mysterious practitioner.
Yang Ye tried to control the small vortex. Since it was inside his body, it should have been his, something he could control. But to his disappointment, every time he tried to draw the mysterious energy out, the small vortex seemed to respond to some sort of stimulus, spinning faster and faster, preventing him from pulling out a single drop of energy.
"That energy is mine!"
After struggling for a while, Yang Ye became frustrated. He thought angrily to himself, If I can’t control this small vortex, will I spend my whole life working for it?
The most important thing was, without the mysterious energy, how could he improve his training? His current training regimen had already reached his limit. Without cultivation resources, if he didn't have the mysterious energy to sustain and repair his body, pushing further might lead to irreversible harm.
"Give me a little, just a little. You should know, without me, you wouldn’t be able to absorb the mysterious energy. If you give me a little, I can absorb more energy. The energy I absorb will still be yours! How about it? Win-win, or lose-lose!"
Unable to force the vortex into submission, Yang Ye decided to try a softer approach. Though it felt somewhat humiliating since he had worked hard to cultivate the mysterious energy, he had no other choice. His future as a mysterious practitioner and his path to becoming an outer sect disciple depended on it, so he had to swallow his pride.
After a while, when the vortex showed no response, Yang Ye was about to curse when, suddenly, a faint golden mysterious energy flowed out of the small vortex. Seeing this, Yang Ye was so excited that he nearly jumped up. After a short while, another thread of energy flowed out. Gradually, one thread after another of faint golden energy kept flowing out until about twenty threads had been released. Finally, the vortex stopped.
The faint golden energy flowed into his normal dantian, and just as Yang Ye was about to shout in joy, he felt the energy suddenly spread throughout his meridians. Then, the energy began to slowly seep into his muscles. At that moment, it felt as if he could hear his muscles' countless cells celebrating. The fatigue and soreness vanished, replaced by a feeling of increasing vitality.
Just as Yang Ye was puzzled, he suddenly felt something wriggling on his body. He quickly took off his clothes and looked down, his eyes widening in shock. The skin on his body was shedding at a visible rate!
Shedding skin!
This was the phenomenon of the Body Refining Art reaching the fourth stage! That meant he was now a Level 4 Mysterious Practitioner!
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"Haha..."
Laughing with joy, Yang Ye jumped up from the ground. After laughing for a while, he suddenly realized something wasn’t right and quickly stopped, lowering his gaze to his body. His skin was still shedding. He quickly stripped off all his clothes, then jumped into the pond. After the skin had completely shed, he rolled around in the pond, then leaped out. Slowly, his hand touched his chest, and as he ran his hand over his skin, it felt as smooth and hard as stone. A peculiar sense of hardness filled his palm.
Clap! Clap!
Suppressing his excitement, Yang Ye picked up a nearby branch and immediately performed a basic sword technique. With each move, the sound of wind echoed around him, and the force was strong enough to lift dust from the ground. The momentum was far greater than anything he could have managed before.
Finishing the sword practice, Yang Ye quickly focused his mind inward once more. A moment later, his face lit up with ecstatic joy. Yes, he had really reached Level 4 in the mortal realm!
From not even being a mysterious practitioner to suddenly reaching Level 4, Yang Ye felt like he was dreaming. But he soon came to his senses. Since joining the Sword Sect, he had been practicing the Body Refining Art diligently. Although he wasn’t the hardest-working among the outer sect disciples, he was definitely among the top three.
After nearly two years of practicing the Body Refining Art, his body had already reached an extraordinarily strong state. Now, with the mysterious energy entering his body, it was like he had been handed a golden ticket with a code—once he had the code, he could unlock the gold inside.
In simpler terms, it was like building up strength and then releasing it all at once!
Suddenly, Yang Ye frowned, as a thought struck him: My mysterious energy is golden! Is it unique to me, or is all mysterious energy faintly golden? He was puzzled.
"Forget it. Once I become an outer sect disciple, I’ll meet more people and find out if their energy is the same," Yang Ye was not one to dwell on small details, so he decided to put this thought aside for now.
Sitting cross-legged again, Yang Ye focused his mind inward. This time, in his regular dantian, the golden mysterious energy had disappeared, leaving it empty.
"Brother, I’m sure you understand what I’m saying. From now on, the mysterious energy I absorb will be split fifty-fifty. I’ll give you all the energy I absorb, but you must give me that faint golden energy. It’s not that I’m taking advantage of you; you should know that only when I get stronger will I be able to absorb more mysterious energy. If I don’t get stronger, the energy I absorb will be very little. So, for now, it’s better for me to take the lead. Once I’m stronger, you’ll get more energy, understand?"
Yang Ye had a strange feeling that the small vortex could understand him. There was no specific reason, but he just had this instinct. So he decided to try and negotiate with it, or else it would keep monopolizing the energy, leaving him with no choice but to suffer.
After a while, just when Yang Ye was starting to lose patience, the small vortex began to spin. After a few moments, it stopped.
Feeling the movement of the small vortex, Yang Ye smiled. His intuition told him that it had agreed. It seemed the vortex wasn’t happy with the current rate of energy absorption, so it had decided to let him get stronger first. This was an investment!
After putting on his clothes, Yang Ye went to where he hid his Xuan Iron Block. He wore it, and at that moment, he felt no weight at all.
Since he had no cultivation technique, he had to rely on physical training to absorb the mysterious energy. The harder he trained, the more energy he would absorb. The more energy he absorbed, the more faint golden energy he would get. And with more of that energy, he could continue strengthening his body and improving his realm.
"Ah... help, don’t chase Bao'er, Grandpa help..."
Just as Yang Ye was preparing for intense training, a piercing scream suddenly came from the woods. It was a young voice, clearly that of a little girl.
Hearing the cry, Yang Ye paused and looked toward the woods. Suddenly, a little girl in a flower-patterned white dress ran out of the woods in a panic. The girl, about thirteen or fourteen years old, had a long braid tied at the back of her head. Her face was pale, her mouth tightly clenched, and she was running frantically.
When the little girl saw Yang Ye, her already pale face turned even whiter. While running, she shouted, "That little servant, run! The little snake’s gone mad!"
Boom!
As Yang Ye froze in shock, the ground suddenly shook, and a giant creature burst out of the trees behind the girl.
The Giant Snake King!
Upon seeing this massive creature, Yang Ye’s face turned as white as the girl’s. This isn’t a little snake! This is the Giant Snake King!
The Giant Snake King was a Level 5 mystical beast, over three times the size of an adult, measuring three zhang long, with eyes as large as fists. Most importantly, its scales were so tough that even sword techniques might not be able to cut through them!