Chapter 25: Self-mutilating Cultivation
Yi Yun spent a whole night refining the desolate bone, but he could not absorb the energy within the desolate bone without inhibitions.
Yi Yun realized that there was a limit to his absorption before he felt a feeling of fullness. Just like when eating a meal, there would be a point where one couldn't eat anymore.
If he carried on absorbing the energy, he would feel a turbulent flow of energy within his body, making his body feel numb.
At this point, Yi Yun felt full of strength, and needed to vent it.
He couldn't wait to go up to the mountains to cultivate!
After arduously waiting till dawn, the day shift came to swap out Yi Yun. Yi Yun raced to the back mountains. He had originally jogged at a slow speed to the mountain entrance, but when there was no one around, he began to run like the wind!
He was like an agile antelope. A simple jump covered five to six meters.
A three-meter high boulder was bypassed with a leap, and a five-meter-tall tree was crossed through the middle.
Yi Yun was not running, but appeared like he was flying while sticking to the ground! The mountain terrain was complex, but under Yi Yun's keen senses, no terrain was an obstacle for Yi Yun.
He ran to the top of the mountain and descended from the other side down a valley to reach the back of the mountain.
During this period, Yi Yun had not rested once. While travelling, he maintained a constant deep breathing pace. His heart was beating at a constant frequency, slow, but strong!
After running for an hour, Yi Yun finally stopped. Even after such a long run, his face hadn't turned red and his pulse was still normal. Running was also a form of cultivation. After running far enough, Yi Yun stopped and enjoyed the sweat from the run.
This location was the furthest away from the village and it was safe. Any further, he would go beyond the protection of the wonderland, and he could encounter behemoths and desolate beasts.
At Yi Yun's present strength, he was doomed if he met a desolate beast.
The vegetation was not rich here. A few patches of black rocks littered the ground.
This was black ironstone. Black ironstone was as heavy as steel, and was several times stronger than normal rocks. Even the moss, which could break rocks, could not sprout on the black ironstone.
The place where Yi Yun was standing was a flat area below a cliff. It was about thirty meters in diameter.
Above the cliff was a waterfall. Numerous droplets of water danced and flew in the air currents, catching the sun and creating rainbows in the mist. This scenery would have been a fascinating tourist attraction on Earth.
The waterfall was not considered wide, but the vertical drop was high. It was more than a hundred meters. The turbulent water flow continued its relentless assault downwards, producing a rumble that could be heard from a distance.
Yi Yun chose this cultivation location previously, precisely for the waterfall.
Yi Yun took a deep breath and circulated the energy within his body. His tough training was about to begin again.
In an isolated mountain wilderness without anyone in a radius that spanned about a dozen kilometers, Yi Yun practiced each "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" stance.
There was no lack of boulders at the back of the mountain. Yi Yun had specifically chosen a flat piece of ground with black ironstone.
Yi Yun stood in front of the black ironstone and started sending punches at it!
How could mere fists made of flesh and blood break apart such lifeless black ironstone?
Yi Yun gritted his teeth.
One punch, two punches, three punches… ten punches, twenty punches!
He used all his strength in every punch!
The first few punches resulted in bruised fists. The pain was heart-wrenching as his fists turned bloody. Finally, as the punches flew, his joints began to rattle.
The pain traveled from his fingers to his heart. It was an indescribable pain but Yi Yun gritted his teeth and endured through it. His face was drenched in sweat. His lips turned white as his face turned pale!
Only when the surface of his fists was nearly reduced to bone did Yi Yun stop.
Following that, he began kicking the boulder. He did so till his legs were covered in bruises, allowing him to barely stand. After a breather, Yi Yun began hitting the boulder with his shoulders and back!
Yi Yun used every possible part he could use, but he was eventually still unable to do anything to the black ironstone; instead, his body was filled with cuts and bruises.
Pain!
Yi Yun rested on the ground. His body was out of strength, and even his vision was blurred.
He focused on his breathing, and followed the theories of the "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" technique to circulate his energy.
This was a self-mutilating cultivation method that Yi Yun did not dare to try previously.
However, a few hours ago, Yi Yun had eaten his fill of the Frost Python's desolate bone energy.
The energy contained within desolate bones was called the Power of Desolates; it was a great gift to any cultivator!
Compared to the Power of Desolates, the herbal essence in the Lian Clan Herb Mountain was trivial.
Even a hundred-year-old herb would be lacking.
With the support from the Power of Desolates, only then did Yi Yun dare to proceed with such self-mutilating practice.
This practice was recorded as the Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist's "Tiger Claws Smite Rocks", a method to train the bones.
Using the boulder to smite his bones was a tremendously painful and difficult process. It was impossible without strong perseverance.
Even with perseverance, he had to have the resources to support it.
If not, one could end up disabled instead of having the bones trained.
Because of limited resources, the members of the warrior preparation camp did not dare to attempt Tiger Claws Smite Rocks.
Only the gifted in the large tribes could withstand such injuries through the consumption of desolate beast meat and soaking in desolate beast blood.
The Power of Desolates rapidly circulated within Yi Yun's body. His wounds began to itch, indicating the recovery of his wounds.
The desolate bones were indeed top notch. Together with the Purple Crystal's purification; the energy used to heal his body was at a tremendous speed, visible to the naked eye!
The method used by "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" to train one's bones, letting the Power of Desolates to heal those wounds was a cultivation method similar to iron forging.
The method of forging swords was to repeatedly hit a steel sword when hot to forge a peerless sword!
Yi Yun's current practice was similar to the forging of a sword.
He treated his body as the raw steel and the black ironstone as the anvil. Through repeated hits, he forged his body as a form of cultivation!
After resting for six hours, Yi Yun felt that he had recovered. There were scabs on his hands, so it did not affect his movements.
Yi Yun wrapped his wounds with cloth, and without any hesitation dived into the waterfalls!
"Splash!"
The water smashed into his body, like a thousand-pound jackhammer!
Under the waterfall was a deep plunge basin!
From the perennial impact from the waterfall, the plunge basin was of an unknown depth. From land, the plunge basin was emerald green in color with no obvious bottom.
This was the deepest water body Yi Yun could find in the vicinity of the Lian tribal clan grounds.
Yi Yun was practicing another stance of the "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist"—"Dragon Dancing in Vast Water"!
In actual fact, "Dragon Dancing in Vast Water" was not cultivated this way. The vast water referred to the ocean, but there was no ocean in the vast wilderness. Yi Yun could only use the plunge basin of a waterfall.
"Dragon Dancing in Vast Water" was a technique to train a body's internal organs.
The more Yi Yun practiced "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist", the more he understood its subtleties.
A warrior's strength and energy was easily cultivated. But it was much harder to cultivate the tendons, bones and internal organs.
In the stances of the "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist", a warrior could cultivate his tendons through "Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain" by pulling his tendons like a bowstring, strengthening them tremendously.
Using "Tiger Claws Smite Rocks", he could train the bones like steel being forged repeatedly.
As for the cultivation of organs, it was even harder. Organs were incomparable to tendons, as a warrior could not easily control his organs for training.
So the creator of "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" had come up with the method of "Dragon Dancing in Vast Water".
"Dragon Dancing in Vast Water" required a practitioner to jump into the ocean and reach a depth of two hundred meters with one breath. The pressure at that depth was extremely high, enough to burst the eardrums and the organs of people!
The water pressure would exert itself on a person's organs. Under prolonged periods of such pressure, a person's organs would become even tougher!
Yi Yun took a deep breath and jumped down into the deep depths of the plunge basin while grabbing a heavy rock!
Chapter 26: Thunderous
The emerald green plunge basin may look green on the surface, but it had an unimaginable depth. Yi Yun had previously tried exploring its depths but he had never managed to dive to the bottom.
After submerging himself at about a depth of ten meters, he felt his ears hurting.
Human ears were extremely vulnerable. The most unbearable pressure a diver experiences comes from his ears. Martial artists were no different.
As a person goes deeper, his eardrums will rupture before his organs could feel the pressure. Yi Yun blew up the air in his mouth. By increasing the pressure from his mouth, he could balance the external pressure surge, reducing the pain in his eardrums.
After diving to an unknown depth, Yi Yun experienced poor light conditions underwater. Only by looking towards the water surface would he see the beautiful sunshine being transmitted down.
In order to have a means of escaping danger, Yi Yun kept close to the cliff. Peppering the cliff were weird rocks. The rocks led downwards into a deeper depth that was complete darkness. It was a terrifying and bottomless darkness.
Thankfully, Yi Yun had reached the Vigor realm; his breaths could last him a long while. With one breath, he was able to endure about fifteen minutes.
On Earth, the breath holding record underwater was about thirteen minutes. Of course, those people had undergone professional training, and if Yi Yun trained himself more, his timing would be longer.
As the pressure increased, Yi Yun felt his lungs being compressed. His abdominal cavity was filled with bodily fluids.
The ribs enclosing his lungs were under immense pressure. It was as if a huge bear was stepping on his chest. Yi Yun even heard a creaking sound from his ribs.
If not for the bone training he had just completed, Yi Yun's ribs would most definitely have broken.
With his abdominal cavity compressed, tremendous pressure was transferred to Yi Yun's body, compressing his bodily fluids and organs.
Slowly, Yi Yun felt his limit approaching.
Diving was a dangerous sport. The moment one lost consciousness due to the water pressure, one was undoubtedly doomed. The corpse would slowly fall to the bottom and get completely crushed.
On Earth, deep diving enthusiasts had to make all sorts of preparations such as ropes, balloons and other life-saving devices.
As for Yi Yun, he naturally had none of that. He had to rely on his own assessments.
"Splash! Splash!"
In the quiet depths underwater, Yi Yun could hear his own heartbeat and even the sound of his blood flowing.
The sunlight in the mountains was already dimmer, but at these deep depths, one could say that Yi Yun was totally surrounded by darkness. Under a quiet, dark and high-pressure environment, the only thing that Yi Yun could clearly feel was the Purple Crystal Origins in his chest. That cool feeling flowed through his bloodstream.
This cool feeling was like the fountain of life in fairy tales. Although it was extremely weak, it could ensure Yi Yun's survivability. It allowed Yi Yun to stay conscious under such extreme conditions.
This situation resembled the time when he had experienced the cave-in back on Earth. Trapped under the earth, the Purple Crystal had accompanied him in that quiet and dark environment.
Yi Yun also felt that the Purple Crystal was like his life's last refuge. When his organs were damaged under the immense water pressure, the Purple Crystal would silently repair his organs. It allowed him to not only experience the immense water pressure but also recover in the shortest time possible.
Yi Yun lost his sense of time underwater. He kept following the theories of "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" by circulating his energy. When he felt his breath was mostly used up, he began to swim upwards.
Deep-sea divers would usually not have much energy or air. As swimming upwards consumed a lot of energy, most people on Earth used devices like balloons to propel their bodies upwards, but Yi Yun had to rely on himself.
This was without question a great test for Yi Yun's heart and lungs.
Under such immense pressure, his breathing and heart beats experienced a hundred times more stress.
Yi Yun held his breath, and by virtue of his willpower and the lifeline provided by the Purple Crystal, he swam upwards meter by meter!
"Splash!" As Yi Yun's head emerged from the water, he took in large gasps for air. His face was pale. His lips were white and his pupils constricted.
Having dived to a depth of more than a hundred meters for more than twenty minutes, Yi Yun could not believe that he had done it without any device except a rock. He was surprised at the degree he performed "Dragon Dancing in Vast Water" for the first time.
Yi Yun swam towards land as water dripped from his hair. After a few long breaths, he was certain that his body was no longer the same.
The energy from the Power of Desolates had been completely digested. Before coming to the plunge basin, Yi Yun had felt bloated with energy, but after this round of cultivation he now felt extremely hungry. It was as if he had not eaten for three days.
This was the effect of "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist"!
The "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" combined with the Power of Desolates from the desolate bones had increased Yi Yun's strength by leaps and bounds!
"It really… feels great!" Yi Yun could not help uttering a cry.
"Ka Ka Ka!"
In the midst of this long cry, Yi Yun's joints began to emit cracking sounds. Although they were not loud, they were extremely clear, like the sound of stirring steel pellets.
"Thunderous realm, this must be Mortal Blood's third realm, Thunderous!" Yi Yun was delighted. The five levels of Mortal Blood were natural endpoints after sufficient training. Without any bottlenecks, as long as one worked hard, anyone could reach the fifth level of Mortal Blood with sufficient energy supplied.
Although anyone could reach level five of Mortal Blood, the difference in speed of doing so was great.
A talented person would not only cultivate quickly, his fundamentals would be solid, making him much stronger than ordinary people.
As for people with little talent, being stuck among the levels of Mortal Blood for three to five years wasn't uncommon.
Yi Yun knew that he lacked talent. After tunneling through space-time, he was a normal person who was thin and weak. He had little strength that amounted to being able to lift a 30-catty rock weight.
Such a body's talent could be in no way good. It was probably not far from the son of one of the men refining the desolate bones, "Da Tou".
But with the help of the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun's cultivation had improved tremendously. In half a month, he was already at the third level of Mortal Blood.
Then was it possible for him to become a Purple Blood Warrior in two and a half months' time at the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection?
With a Purple Blood Warrior in this tiny tribe, it would cause a sensation and craze among the people!
No matter who it was, if they could become a Purple Blood Warrior in the Lian tribal clan, they would be worshiped!
He would have the highest prestige and wield absolute power in the tribe to determine life and death.
Yi Yun looked at the time. After this round of cultivation, it was already late afternoon. He had cultivated since morning and Yi Yun had once again not slept.
Having just broken through to the Mortal Blood level three's Thunderous realm, Yi Yun did not feel a tinge of sleepiness. He meditated according to the 'Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist' methods for two hours, and felt as if he had slept soundly for eight hours. He felt he was brimming with energy!
"It's about time to refine the desolate bone. I'm famished from cultivating the whole day!" Yi Yun had not eaten for a day. Previously, he had the energy from the desolate bone to support him, so although his stomach was hungry, his body was able to provide him the energy without problems.
But after undergoing the intense training from the "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist", the desolate bone energy within Yi Yun's body had been depleted, so his hunger was much more unbearable.
From the color of the sky, the sun was about to set. Yi Yun returned to the village.
At the grain-sunning ground, the cauldron was burning bright, and it was time to change shifts.
Seeing Yi Yun return, Da Tou's father pointed to a stack of firewood and said straight, "These firewood. Chop them up for me. You didn't do anything last night. This place doesn't employ useless people. If you can't finish it, there will be no porridge for you today."
Yi Yun was speechless upon hearing that. It was not as if he had eaten any porridge yesterday. The men had all rushed headlong into the fray. The number of rice grains Yi Yun had managed to receive could be counted with his fingers. He drank the bucket of rice porridge and licked it so clean that it didn't even need scrubbing.
Yi Yun sat in the corner and began to chop the wood unhurriedly.
This firewood was as thick as a fully grown leg. It had to be chopped apart before dicing it into uniform sizes, in order for the fire to burn uniformly.
Without anyone realizing, a sheet of red and blue light that came from the cauldron, now covered Yi Yun as he chopped wood.
Previously, Yi Yun did not absorb all the energies from the herbs, leaving something for Lian Chengyu, because he was fearful that Lian Chengyu would realize something was amiss.
But this time, for the desolate bone, it was different. Yi Yun was determined to absorb all the energy from it, and increase his strength by leap and bounds. By then, he would no longer fear Lian Chengyu.
Yi Yun felt a little sorry for Lian Chengyu. He confessed in his mind: "Young Master Lian, I'm sorry. If I don't reach the Purple Blood realm, then it's too bad. For me to finish up this piece of desolate bone cleanly, with nothing left, I can only apologize."
"If through luck, I can reach the Purple Blood realm before I finish absorbing the desolate bone, then I'll… er… carry on sucking it dry. After all, the Purple Blood realm is just the beginning step on the road of martial arts. There's still a long way ahead."
"So please be a good man till the end. I will always remember you in the future." After Yi Yun finished confessing, he began to absorb the desolate bone energy.
It was a tremendously comfortable feeling to be able to absorb the Power of Desolates without any restrictions while his body was seriously lacking in energy.
The lack of energy and hunger—although they were two different feelings—had much in common.
In the case of extreme hunger, what greater joy was there besides having a sumptuous meal of delicacies?
Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony with Lian Chengyu. He knew that the desolate bone's energy was so vast that he would need a while to absorb fully.
After all, Lian Chengyu's primitive methods of brewing the desolate bones could at best refine a small amount of the desolate bone's essence. Just this small amount of essence was enough for Lian Chengyu to break through to the Purple Blood realm.
However for Yi Yun, using the Purple Crystal to absorb the desolate bone's energy, he could absorb it completely and with high efficiency. Also, Yi Yun's cultivation level was still low at the Thunderous realm: if his cultivation speed increased any faster, Yi Yun might even scare himself…
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
104 Power
stone 
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