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…
Chapter 27: Sick
Yi Yun absorbed the desolate bone's energy at night, filling up his energy reserves. In the day, he would spy on the warrior preparation camp's practicing, secretly listening in on Yao Yuan's teaching of "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist".
The warrior preparation camp was not a restricted area. It was common for people to come and go. As long as Yi Yun was careful, he would not be discovered.
After learning the skills, Yi Yun would go to the back mountain to cultivate. He would digest the energy from the desolate bone, fusing it into his body. Such a cultivation rhythm was perfect.
Within days, Yi Yun's Thunderous realm became more and more stable. He could stay underwater for twenty-five minutes, almost as long as a dolphin.
About a month before the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection, a man who was refining the bones with Yi Yun fell sick.
Although Yi Yun had absorbed as much of the toxic blue light energies as he could, there were still some light dots that entered the bodies of others. Unfortunately, the leftover blue dots still caused them to contract the so-called "typhoid".
After the first person fell sick, Yi Yun also "fell sick", and his "sickness" was extremely serious.
Yi Yun could no longer refine the desolate bone. According to Jiang Xiaorou, he had diarrhea, was pale in the face, and was extremely weak. Jiang Xiaorou had to take leave on his behalf as he was bedridden.
Zhao Tiezhu strained his ears to finish hearing Jiang Xiaorou's description. A delightful sense of schadenfreude engulfed him as he broke into a smile, "Oh my, diarrhea? Pale in the face? Extremely weak? Tsk tsk tsk, wasn't he pretty hardy? How could he be bedridden this time?"
Zhao Tiezhu said it with an eccentric voice. Jiang Xiaorou's face turned cold, as if in a rage. But in fact, she was just acting. She obviously knew that Yi Yun was fine, and that he was just feigning sickness.
"Your brother was originally a weakling. Even if he died, it wouldn't be a big deal. But Young Master Lian sure has a good heart, and he has handed me the pills!" Zhao Tiezhu said as he reluctantly pulled out a red pill from his hip.
Zhao Tiezhu had no intention of giving Yi Yun the pill. He could only wish for Yi Yun's death, but he did not know why Lian Chengyu had high appraisals for Yi Yun, and specifically gave him the pill to pass to Yi Yun. He was to make sure that Yi Yun ate the pill.
Did Young Master Lian really think that highly of the little bastard?
Zhao Tiezhu felt upset thinking of this.
"Young Master Lian is such a good person!"
"Young Master Lian is too kind!"
During that period of time, as the men refining the desolate bone fell ill one after another, many people had gathered to obtain a pill. Having seen Zhao Tiezhu take out the legendary pill that could bring people back from the dead to give to Yi Yun, the people began to sing praises of Lian Chengyu.
These people had previously thought Lian Chengyu would ignore them. But seeing that a useless lad like Yi Yun could receive a pill, they believed that their strongman at home would also receive one.
Furthermore, the bulging bag Zhao Tiezhu held in his other hand looked like it contained bacon. These people became even more agitated. The situation had put the crowd in a nearly uncontrollable frenzy.
"Lord Zhao, my man in the house has fallen sick too!"
"Lord Zhao, my child's father is seriously ill. He has been vomiting for three days!"
A crowd gathered around Zhao Tiezhu hoping for a pill, and some bacon. Their eyes were full of hope. They were almost about to kowtow to Zhao Tiezhu.
Zhao Tiezhu was pleased because he enjoyed being praised by a crowd of people. He found Young Master Lian too soft hearted. Giving such precious pills and bacon to these poor commoners was such a waste!
Zhao Tiezhu had originally wanted to secretly eat a pill, but Lian Chengyu had warned him previously, so he had to give up on that thought. The fact that he had to personally deliver the pill to that monkey Yi Yun upset Zhao Tiezhu tremendously.
"Stop making a fuss! As long as you are really ill, there will be something for you!" Zhao Tiezhu opened up the cloth bag, and after accounting for the number of people, handed out the pills and bacon.
Everyone who received a pill and bacon gave endless thanks, "Thank you Lord Zhao! Thank you Lord Zhao!"
"What are you thanking me for. You should thank Young Master Lian. Young Master Lian will remember your sacrifice to the tribe. As long as you work hard refining the bones, Young Master Lian and the tribe will not let you down."
Zhao Tiezhu said it with a sense of achievement. He had the illusion that he was representing the Lian tribal clan's upper echelon. In fact, at that moment, Zhao Tiezhu felt like he was one of the upper echelon of the Lian tribal clan.
"Yes, yes. Thank you Young Master Lian," as some of the people knelt down and kowtowed towards the Patriarch's compound.
Zhao Tiezhu was pleased with the outcome. He had distributed most of the pills and bacon. There were two pieces of bacon left: the biggest and smallest pieces.
Of course the biggest piece was left for himself. The moment Lian Chengyu had allowed him to distribute the bacon, he had reserved the largest piece for himself.
There was a count of the number of pieces of bacon, so it was a problem if there was one less. The solution was to cut out a small piece from the second largest piece of bacon.
Of course, this piece was the smallest piece of bacon. He gave this smallest piece of bacon to Jiang Xiaorou.
"This is yours." Zhao Tiezhu said it straight.
"You…" Seeing the tiny piece of bacon, Jiang Xiaorou knew Zhao Tiezhu had done it on purpose. However, she knew that it was pointless to argue, so she accepted the piece of bacon.
Yun-er had not had meat in a long while.
"How's your brother?" said Zhao Tiezhu lazily as he kept the largest piece of bacon.
"Didn't I tell you earlier!?" replied Jiang Xiaorou sharply.
"Hehe, let me follow you back. What can I do? I have a good heart and I care for the citizens," said Zhao Tiezhu as he made a division between himself and the commoners. The word "citizens" was extremely irksome to the ears.
As for why he wanted to see Yi Yun was partly due to Lian Chengyu's instructions, or he couldn't care less. Zhao Tiezhu did not understand why Lian Chengyu was taking such good care of the little monkey.
Actually, Lian Chengyu had only said it to Zhao Tiezhu casually, and did not take it to heart. He had aspirations higher than the sky, to become one who lords above all, and enjoy endless riches. Why would he bother about some small character like Yi Yun?
He was just curious why Yi Yun had not died all this while.
He had fallen off a cliff when picking herbs the first time. He was even able to dig himself out after being buried.
The second time was when he had secretly transmitted a fatal Yuan Qi into Yi Yun's body, but Yi Yun still did not die.
Lian Chengyu wanted to know that with the refining of the desolate bones—the desolate bone's frost poison together with the toxicity of the Blood Thinning Pills, could Yi Yun still survive it?
To Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun was like a cockroach. Although a cockroach was small and weak, it had an extremely tenacious vitality. Even after being squashed with its organs bursting and losing the capacity to move, a cockroach could still survive a day or two without food and water.
Yi Yun was similar. Although he was so weak, he had survived numerous death experiences.
"Peng!"
The yard door was kicked open. Jiang Xiaorou asked with a crisp angry voice, "What are you doing!"
"Haha, to see your brother." Zhao Tiezhu strutted in and saw Yi Yun lying on the bed.
Yi Yun's face was covered in sweat. His hair was wet and sticking to his forehead. There was a pot that seemed to contain vomit, emitting a foul stench.
"Damn it, it's noxious!" Zhao Tiezhu pinched his nose and passed the Blood Thinning Pill to Yi Yun, "I don't really know how you lucked out for you to get special treatment from Young Master Lian. You look worse than a beggar of beggars. Looking at you makes me feel sick. Quickly eat this pill!"
Yi Yun picked up the Blood Thinning Pill on his blanket with a deadpan expression. Jiang Xiaorou rushed forward with a bowl of water.
When Yi Yun held the Blood Thinning Pill, he could feel the energetic properties of the pill.
There were pathetic amounts of energy in it. It did not contain any valuable herbs, but contained a very poisonous substance.
A good pill contained energy within it. The pill's medicinal essence would spread through the body when a person consumes it. It will then naturally heal injuries, giving the person a new lease of life.
But a bad pill like the Blood Thinning Pill contained nearly no energy. It used the toxic substance to stimulate a person's potential, without any concern for the consequences.
So although a person could recover quickly after eating this pill, it would greatly shorten the person's life.
Yi Yun obviously did not eat a pill that did more harm than good.
Although Zhao Tiezhu was looking from the side, it wasn't hard for Yi Yun to deceive him. He ate the Blood Thinning Pill and drank a mouthful of water. It seemed like he drank a lot of water, but when the bowl was removed, Yi Yun had spit out all the water back into the bowl.
Following that, Yi Yun looked as if it took a lot of work to swallow, but his mouth contained no water, so naturally nothing was actually swallowed.
Immediately after that, Yi Yun pretended that his body was weak to point that he had difficulties even in drinking water and coughed violently.
Jiang Xiaorou came forward with a cloth to wipe Yi Yun's mouth. In the process of wiping his mouth, Yi Yun spit out the Blood Thinning Pill without any trace, leaving the pill in the cloth.
With the cloth scrunched up, nothing could be seen.
Zhao Tiezhu was full of disregard and impatience, so he did not see through Yi Yun's act. Even if it was Lian Chengyu who came, he would probably not have seen Yi Yun spit out the pill.
After all, Yi Yun had the appearance of a twelve-year-old. Who would think that he could be capable of such acts?
"Count your blessings! After eating this pill, it will not only save your life, but it will make you more energetic. It's better than looking like an ill-ridden weakling!" With that said, Zhao Tiezhu walked off.
After Zhao Tiezhu left, Yi Yun scrutinized the Blood Thinning Pill in the cloth with a flash in his eyes. Lian Chengyu is truly cruel. To refine that piece of desolate bone, he was prepared to kill numerous people!
This strange world was unlike Earth.
On Earth, there would be instances where a child brought a knife to school to stab another child to death after a quarrel between the two. These kinds of situations were rare, and only seen on news networks like Tencent.
But in this power-oriented strange world, such matters where someone could be killed over some words, eh… Could it still be labeled a matter?
Because of the peaceful rule of law on Earth, murder was a huge deal, but over here, murder was as commonplace as slaughtering cattle.
In fact, plenty of times, killing someone did not need a reason. Not looking right was a sufficient reason…
Gifts
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received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
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