Capítulo 23: Jumping Three Levels
Editor: Caron_
"Hu!"
Ye Tian gently closed the book and let out a long sigh, his heart growing more and more heavy. The Shen Zhou Continent was filled with danger, and even powerful figures like this young man could still perish at the hands of others.
Clearly, the endless danger that filled these lands couldn't compare to what he had experienced on Earth..
"Brother Liu, rest easy. I'll do all I can to fulfill your wish!" Ye Tian sighed quietly, placing his hand on Liu Yunfei's chest for a moment, but finally, he had to shake his head in disappointment.
"What did I expect? He's been dead for more than three days—the Martial Spirit within him has already scattered!"
Ye Tian was a little disappointed. After all, a powerful man like Liu Yunfei, the number one genius of the Mysterious Star Sect, definitely had a higher grade Martial Spirit. If Ye Tian could devour that Martial Spirit, his cultivation would proceed that much more rapidly.
But Ye Tian wasn't a greedy man. His minor disappointment quickly faded as he regained his calm. After all, he had already acquired this Black Rank Martial Skill, a huge windfall.
Turning away, Ye Tian focused on the five little jade bottles, and in his imagination, he was already hoping that each bottle contained miraculous pills.
His hopes were confirmed as the jade bottles really were built to contain pills. While four of the bottles were empty, one of them still contained three earthy-yellow pills, each of them carrying a faint and pleasant aroma, clearly not ordinary medicine.
"Five bottles and only three pills?"
Ye Tian smiled bitterly, disappointed again. "Brother Liu, you're the top genius of the Mysterious Star Sect, so why couldn't you have brought more elixirs with you?"
But after some thought, it still made sense. After fighting, getting poisoned, and escaping a trap, he must've used up all his pills.
These three pills that he saved were probably his worst and most useless meds.
But it was still treasure to Ye Tian. Liu Yunfei's cultivation level was too high, and even if he left behind his high-quality pills, Ye Tian wouldn't have dared to consume them. He was still too weak for genuine high-quality elixirs and it was very likely that he couldn't process the energy contained within them and explode.
"I don't recognize these pills; hopefully they're useful!" Ye Tian sighed again. After taking one more look at Liu Yunfei's corpse, he put the pills away and returned to the tunnel, taking the long route back.
"Hopefully that damn bear has left!"
Ye Tian comforted himself with the hope.
After the long walk back, Ye Tian was exhausted, his strength falling away as he approached the light.
Finally, that stupid bear is gone! Ye Tian thought with a smile of relief when he looked out at the empty hole.
But in the next moment, his smile froze.
A huge and twisted face extended upwards over the cave entrance, a pair of fierce eyes peering down at him.
An angry roar shook the skies and the earth.
"Roar! Roar!" The Black Cruel Bear King hadn't left, and as soon as it had heard the sound of Ye Tian's footsteps, it immediately returned to check the cave. When it discovered Ye Tian, it roared angrily.
"F*ck me! Heavens, don't play with me like this!" Ye Tian called out miserably, once again turning down into the tunnel until he could no longer see the Black Cruel Bear King's face. Only then did he sigh and rest his pounding heart.
But the anxiety within him only grew.
He thought that he had emerged on the other side of the crisis and discovered good fortune, but the truth was that the crisis was still here.
If he couldn't escape, the Black Rank Martial Skill he found would be useless!
It would do nothing but accompany him to his grave!
Without food, he would starve, trapped. Maybe after a few years, another lucky fellow would find this place, get the Star Hand and he would be the storied one while Ye Tian… would be nothing but a pile of bones!
No!
He wouldn't play a supporting role!
Ye Tian's eyes filled with refusal, his heart unaccepting of his fate. Finally, his eyes turned towards the three pills.
"There are three possibilities!" Ye Tian thought, organizing his thoughts as he stared at the pills.
"First, the pills might be too high-quality for me and I'll explode!"
Considering Liu Yunfei's status, this possibility was quite likely.
"Second, the pills might succeed and make me more powerful, but they might not be that effective and might simply allow me to reduce my appetite and live longer." Time was equivalent to life right now, and if Ye Tian could hold out even a day more, he might be discovered by a search party from Ye Family Village.
Originally, Ye Tian should've been able to hold out for quite a while, but after his trips along the tunnel, his strength was exhausted and the hunger was already creeping in.
"Third, the pills might make me a lot more powerful and I might escape from the Black Cruel Bear King!" Ye Tian's eyes gleamed. This third possibility was unlikely, but truthfully, it was his only way out.
"Brother Liu, watch over this little brother for your sake and the sake of your Third Junior Sister!"
Ye Tian recited a Buddhist mantra before closing his eyes and swallowing a single pill.
Hong!
The pill melted in his mouth and immediately a river of Qi blasted forward like a surging flood, flowing downwards through his throat and into Ye Tian's three opened Principal Meridians.
Ye Tian turned his attention inwards, excitement growing in his heart.
The flood transformed into pure True Qi and rushed through his meridians, directly flushing towards his fourth undeveloped Principal Meridian.
After a short moment, the fourth Principal Meridian was opened and Ye Tian had advanced to Martial Warrior Level Four. Spiritual Qi immediately vortexed around him and filled him with strength.
"Roar!"
Ye Tian yelled out in excitement. His body was filled with power and his hunger had completely disappeared.
Martial Warrior Level Four! He was probably the youngest person to have ever reached Martial Artist Level Four in all of White Cloud Town.
"What an outstanding pill! Truly worthy of the legendary Mysterious Star Sect—a single pill adequate enough to develop a Principal Meridian. If there were ten pills, wouldn't that make one an instantaneous Level Ten Martial Artist?"
Ye Tian was stunned silly at the thought. No wonder the Mysterious Star Sect had such a legendary reputation—this single pill would shock all of White Cloud Town.
A single pill enabling a practitioner to charge to the next stage? Even if Ye Tian was an imbecile, he would know the value of such a thing. This was something that money itself couldn't buy.
And this was probably the worst pill that Liu Yunfei had carried.
"Martial Artist Level Four! This pill has saved me half a year of bitter cultivation!" Ye Tian's eyes gleamed. Martial Warrior Stage Two to Three required more than a month, but the distance between Stage Three and Four was even wider. Ye Tian had assumed that it would take him half a year to break through.
But a single pill had allowed him to ascend to the heavens in one step, and he had actually advanced to Martial Artist Level Four.
Ye Tian's heart was filled with excitement.
He still had another two pills just like that one!
With Martial Artist Level Four, even if my Thundering Palm can't defeat the Black Cruel Bear King, I can still escape safely, Ye Tian thought excitedly, relieved that the crisis had been averted.
But now that he no longer had to worry, he wasn't eager to return home. Instead, he decided to take the other two pills.
"After taking these two pills, Martial Artist Level Six will be before my eyes!" Ye Tian's eyes burned, his heart reaching a new level of excitement.
Jumping three levels in one day—truly a heaven-sent opportunity!
Jumping from Martial Artist Level Three to Martial Artist Level Six represented a fundamental change in Ye Tian's strength.
In all of White Cloud Town, Martial Warrior Level Six was the cultivation of an above-average expert.
Hong!
Hong!
Two muffled sounds rang dully in the air as Ye Tian used the two pills in quick succession to develop two more Principal Meridians, advancing to Martial Artist Level Six.
After jumping three stages in a row, Ye Tian's body burst with explosive strength. He roared with energy, and the strength of his roar even startled the Black Cruel Bear King guarding the cave entrance.
"Power! I feel as if I could kill that damn bear with one blow!" Ye Tian yelled, not truly releasing his energy, afraid that he would collapse the tunnel.
His principal meridians were bursting with thick, dense True Qi. All of the Qi was ready for release, hiding tremendous power.
Martial Artist Level Six!
He would be considered an expert even within the Ye Family Village's Hunter Team, a capable warrior who could complete solo missions.
In the Ye Family Village, most men were limited by their talent and only ever progressed to Martial Artist Level Three or Five. The Sixth Level of the Martial Artist Realm was the entryway to elite status in the Hunter Team, and Martial Artist Seventh Level experts like Ye Tian's father were already the cream of the crop. Such an expert had a strong influence in the affairs of the village, and when he grew old, he would become one of the village elders.
And as for Martial Artist Level Eight and Level Nine experts like Ye Ba and Ye Feng, they would be the next Village Chief and the most powerful elder of the village.
Now that Ye Tian was a Level Six Martial Artist, he could use his perfected Thundering Palm to fight evenly with a Level Seven Martial Artist.
With a combat ability this high, he would already be considered an expert in White Cloud Town.
Today, Ye Tian finally felt as if he had built his foundation on Shen Zhou Continent, and at the very least, he would no longer have to hide in his village. In White Cloud Town, there were very few people who could threaten his life.
"Stupid bear. It's time to even the score!"
Ye Tian smiled coldly and walked towards the cave entrance.
"Roar!" When it heard the human's footsteps, the Black Cruel Bear King immediately stood. When it saw Ye Tian's head peeking out, it immediately smashed down with its big bear paw, trying to kill Ye Tian with a single strike.
Clearly, the Black Cruel Bear King had grown impatient after waiting for so long. Now all it wanted was to kill this annoying ant.
But just as its paw was smashing downwards, the bear noticed that the little ant was smiling coldly at it.
A provocation? The Black Cruel Bear King guessed instinctively.
This grandpa bear accepts your challenge! The Black Cruel Bear King roared, putting even more force behind its blow, its paw striking downwards furiously
In reply, Ye Tian casually lifted his palm, his tiny hand blocking the huge bear palm.
The Black Cruel Bear King's expectations weren't met, and Ye Tian wasn't smashed into pieces. Instead, Ye Tian grabbed the bear's claw so tightly that the bear couldn't retract its arm.
"Roar!" Even though the Black Cruel Bear King hadn't yet developed true intellect, it could tell that something was off about this exchange and it began roaring with fear.
"Did you have fun chasing me?"
Ye Tian smiled coldly, tightening his grip on the bear's claws before roaring, lifting up the entire bear before smashing it down to the ground.
"Hong! Hong! Hong…"
After a couple dozen more smashes, the powerful Black Cruel Bear King was smashed to death.
-- Regalo
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