Bab 57: The Result
Shout-out to Juan Carlos Neves.
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***
Bibi Dong called others out after a full hour had passed. Slowly, everyone emerged from their tents. Within their personal spaces, none of them actually wasted their time. After learning the truth as to why this class is formed, how will any of them have the heart to rest? To achieve the greatest advantage, they needed the greatest strength to completely assure their victory. Even if Bibi Dong didn't explicitly state it, the spirit bones would be given to the victorious team and be shared amongst them.
By now, nobody in this particular class questioned the material benefits obtained by joining Spirit Hall and revealing their talents.
For a moment, Xie Xan, Ah Yin, Liu Erlong, and Hu Lana glanced at the masked Ja Sun wearing his black battle robes again and then at Bibi Dong.
"Start jogging," Bibi Dong pointed at the second, slightly higher hill, "40 times, back and forth. Total, 80 times. No use of spirit energy is allowed."
Everyone glanced towards the kilometer-high peak whose slope turned too steep by the peak. The distance in number was extremely small, but coupled with the humid environment and the danger of the steep slope of the hill, this exercise was rather gruesome.
"Go."
Bibi Dong waved her hands calmly.
"I have given you the basic information of the spirit beasts found here. Keep an eye out. You will fight any and every spirit beast in the way. If poisoned, return and dip into the lake," Bibi Dong sat in the middle of the encampment.
"We have to fight spirit beasts without spirit energy, too?" Ah Yin inquired.
"Yes." Bibi Dong thought for a moment before speaking up, "You're allowed to use spirit energy for any spirit beast above 1000 years of cultivation."
Everyone glanced at each other. At this moment, even Ah Yin felt a sense of camaraderie with the remaining three before the four of them shot a glare in Ja Sun's direction.
It was all because of this freak.
"Come on," thinking for a moment, Ja Sun finally decided to put a hold on the mask. Placing it within his belt, he gave a carefree chuckle, "It would be a pity if any of you lost to a spirit elder in stamina and persistence."
With that, the hellish torture began. In the beginning, the group marked their own path on the steep slope by forcefully punching through the rocky exterior to form their own grips. However taxing climbing up the hill was, getting down was even more dangerous. Climbing up exerted them physically, climbing down exerted them mentally.
Though this mission did reach the level of S-rank, even Ja Sun was hard-pressed in completing it. Even if his stamina didn't fail him, nature itself is quite fickle. His path was disrupted not only by spirit beasts that he didn't kill in the end but also by the natural changes in his path. For instance, the grip he created by punching through the rocky slope would crumble and make him slide across the surface, making his fingers hurt. Naturally, he didn't wear the Vajra Gauntlets.
"Look for the crimson grapes. They will hydrate you."
Bibi Dong would continuously direct every single student towards what they needed the most. Her ability did manage to finally make Ja Sun understand what his master meant by Bibi Dong's ability to teach. Even he was guided and taught the art of tracking and hunting for required things.
This was an extremely strange form of imparting knowledge but effective nonetheless.
Among everyone present, Liu Erlong was the one who got poisoned and was helped up by Ah Yin till reaching the pool before she was unceremoniously pushed into the pool and a green drop of liquid shooting out of Bibi Dong's fingers.
Once this task was completed, another one waited for the group. Foraging. Not fruits, but venom.
Bibi Dong taught the method to collect poison and made others fill a small vial with mixed poison. Snake, scorpion, or even a poisonous rat. Anything worked.
After that?
She made everyone, including Ah Yin and Liu Erlong, make a small cut on their palm and then pour the collected poison over their palms before pushing them into the lake once again.
Three days. This torturous training continued for three days.
This entire time, Bibi Dong didn't make anyone fight against anyone else. On the third day, there were two parchments for Ja Sun and Ah Yin from Qian Daoliu stating that their training would be postponed until the completion of the first stage of Bibi Dong's training.
---
15 days.
A total of fifteen days passed by in the blink of an eye. Bibi Dong proved with her actions that her training was by no means as simple as everyone thought previously. Their training method did not change, but only the intensity did.
The first valley's forest contained 10-year-old spirit beasts and a meager number of 100-year-old spirit beasts. The second valley's forest changed things drastically.
The average poisonous spirit beast was easily at the cultivation of 100 years and the group also faced a few thousand-year-old spirit beasts. Not to kill them, but to take their poison. Under Bibi Dong's strict orders, none were allowed to kill the poisonous beast but only extract useful things from them without killing them. In a way, much crueler method. The slope of the third hill was as high as 2 kilometers with the peak literally being a precipice. Not only that, the lake formed from the poison of 100-year-old silver toads was indeed harmful to the body from the exterior which finally started to make the bodies of every spirit master under Bibi Dong tough.
She was using poison as a medicine.
The situation truly turned dangerous in the third valley's forest. In fact, the group spent six days in this forest and even if they had to complete the rock climbing task, they also had to move silently for they couldn't afford to provoke a horde of thousand-year-old beasts. They willingly jumped into the pool of venom created by 1000-year-old gold toads and with Bibi Dong's assistance, recovered quickly. In fact, Hu Lana was the most enthusiastic in jumping into the pool of venom after a few days.
And in this maddening training regime, Ja Sun's life turned lavish.
They didn't enter the fourth valley's forest since it was a restricted area by a Star Luo Empire clan and fatal to the group.
Within his tent, Ja Sun silently cultivated. His hands wrapped in pitch-black gauze, a gift left by Qian Daoliu in Bibi Dong's hands. Since Ja Sun never revealed his hand, Qian Daoliu simply brought him a very practical item that wouldn't corrode or get damaged easily. The black gauze was wrapped around both of his fists and wrists but not his fingers.
Callous and faint scars were easy to see over the tips of Ja Sun's fingers.
The task Bibi Dong represented was divided into a collection of venom and climbing the hill. The two of them brought him batches of rewards similar to each other at every level of intensity.
In reality, once Ja Sun was experienced in a task, say, collection of venom, the mission difficulty would fall automatically. But Bibi Dong revealed her worth. Constantly increasing the intensity by changing the forest itself.
From the missions regarding the collection of venom, Ja Sun received multiple apparatuses for the same. They just varied in quality. Alongside this, he received poisonous substances that he ate to refine it with his blood and then dip into the poisonous lake to temper his body altogether.
On the other hand, trekking only gave him boots. Each one was better than the last. He managed to complete an S-ranked mission regarding this particular task but still— Boots. Just the kind that can be sought but not found.
At this moment, internal qi created soft rumbling noises within his body. His entire physique gave a faint luster. His hair, which was slightly dull due to being unkempt for a long time, now looked extremely lush and lustrous. While a third party would have thought that bathing with poison would have left him with pus, in reality, his skin was healthier than ever. There were scars, definitely. But his skin was smooth. The color was not pale, but healthy and wheatish in complexion. He was still relatively thin, but due to constant climbing and enhancement, his back was already well-built.
There were three major changes despite all of this.
First, Ja Sun's Revitalized Blood Qi Art reached the peak of the sixth realm.
His body's quality was equivalent to a strong Spirit King.
In 15 days, his cultivation had broken through from 33 to 36.
Opening his eyes, Ja Sun's pupils revealed a slightly deeper shade of gold, indicating that he never stopped practicing his relevant techniques.
Once again, Ja Sun dressed up after combing his hair.
Wearing a black battle robe with silver linings, he strapped on his Vajra Gauntlets, and finally, he wore a set of dark brown boots. These boots were extremely dark, almost black, but the faint shine of scales revealed that this item was extraordinary. And it was. Just like Vajra Gauntlets, even if this pair of boots wasn't considered a spirit essence tool, it still increased his speed naturally. These boots are called Wingless Covers. Feel light without wings.
His attire itself was extremely lavish at this point.
Slowly, Ja Sun stored everything back into his storage essence tool. With Olivia perched atop his shoulders, he walked out and directly stored the tent, too.
When he came out, he found Bibi Dong sitting alone. It was already dawn and it was the time of their departure.
For a moment, Bibi Dong glanced at Ja Sun's boots. This was the first time he was wearing it since they will be traveling once again.
Her glance didn't last for more than a moment as Ja Sun smiled and greeted her.
"Teacher," he gave a short bow.
After the first day, Bibi Dong found that according to her real training methods, Ja Sun was the most pleasant individual. Others whined. Even Ah Yin did. But Ja Sun never did.
In reality, with 15 days passing, everyone would have thought that the relation between the group would have grown but in reality, all of them had grown indifferent to each others' groups. Liu Erlong kept to herself. Xie Xan and Hu Lana wouldn't include others in their discussions and Ah Yin and Ja Sun continued to stay in their original terms.
The reason was simple.
Bibi Dong worked them too hard. She squeezed every drop of potential out of them. If they are too tired, how will they communicate? The only thing the group achieved was indifferent tolerance to each other's existence.
"You broke through?" Only Bibi Dong was the one communicating with each one of them.
"Rank 36. The credit goes entirely to you, teacher," Ja Sun chuckled, sitting on the log placed next to her.
"I would be a foolish teacher to take such a credit."
"Well, teacher, those are your words, not mine."
Ja Sun shrugged. He only wound Ah Yin up with his words but Bibi Dong would always offer herself up. How could Ja Sun give up the chance to rattle the masked and mysterious teacher of theirs?
Sensing that no animosity leaked from her body, Bibi Dong was startled and then her eyes glowed.
'Close... I can feel it. It's almost covered up...' Bibi Dong gulped slightly. She had her own training, too.
She was quite pleased with her own progress. Having her buttons pushed, she held the urge of choking Ja Sun out barely. This, on the other hand, managed to quicken her pace of controlling her oozing killing intent.
"A fool! *Hoot* A fool!" Olivia hooted weakly, already feeling sleepy as the morning grew brighter.
Ja Sun's smile froze and he quickly set Olivia on the area next to him.
"She's sleeping, hah," Ja Sun snickered but feeling Bibi Dong's slightly cruel gaze falling on himself, his lips twitched.
"Teach your pet well," Bibi Dong stated coldly.
"As you say, teacher," Ja Sun coughed.
With time, everyone slowly packed up and came out. Sitting next to him, Ah Yin naturally picked Olivia and gave her the shade of her cool spirit energy.
Just like Ja Sun, aside from Ah Yin, everyone had some extent of a transformative period. In the intensity of complete change if Ja Sun ranked the first then Hu Lana was at the second rank. Her skin turned clearer and smoother. Her hair grew out more lustrous and she increased by one rank, finally being a rank 54 Spirit King. Liu Erlong and Xie Xan also had their cultivation rise by one rank each. Both of them looking healthier and more stable in the aura.
"Did you hear them last night?" Ja Sun inquired softly while nudging Ah Yin slightly. She glanced in the couple's direction and nodded calmly. But Ja Sun observed her expression changing slightly. Even Liu Erlong sat a little distance from Hu Lana and was closer to Ah Yin.
Such a change did not go unobserved by Hu Lana and her expression changed after a moment's thought. Hurriedly, she tilted her head and whispered something into Xie Xan's ear and his face turned pale. Xie Xan quickly looked towards Bibi Dong but she didn't match his gaze. He then looked at Ah Yin and Liu Erlong who looked away, too.
Only Ja Sun matched his gaze with a grin. But the grin didn't have any feeling of warmth. It was definitely a sadistic sneer.
"Brother Xie," Ja Sun gave a hollow chuckle, "Who knew you have a passion for pain like me? Want some pointers?"
Ja Sun's words made Hu Lana and Xie Xan shudder. An extremely embarrassed blush crept over Hu Lana's face, her cheeks turning extremely red. Xie Xan, meanwhile, couldn't stop his lips from trembling.
"N-no..." he whispered.
"Oh, Brother Xie. Remember, when you scream next time... instead of a squeal, try giving a growl. Like *Hrrrr* or—"
"Enough," Bibi Dong shot a glare at Ja Sun and looked at the couple in front of her.
"Just be careful. We all are adults... and understand. But we also have a competition in two years so... keep it safe, physically, too," Bibi Dong instructed awkwardly. She had demonstrated her ability to teach the martial path, but this...
She couldn't keep a straight face.
"Teacher means to say that while you're close... finishing outside is the right path."
His heart was filled with bursting joy.
"It's all your fault!" Hu Lana very cruelly slapped Xie Xan's back with her palms spread out.
*Aaaaaaghhhhh!*
Xie Xan shouted.
"There's that squeal, pfft, hahahaha!" Ja Sun howled in laughter, holding his stomach with one hand and rubbing his eye with the other.
"You, too, beat it!" Hu Lana glared while raising her warm hand.
"Well..." Ja Sun slowly grew in control once again before his chuckle echoed again. Hu Lana instantly felt distressed. Ja Sun was one person she couldn't threaten with pain, after all.
"Sigh, what a bang of an end."
They all started to trek and leave the mountain range.
"Xie Xan, did she slap you one the back yesterday, too, or somewhere else?"
"Say, Hu: Is your heart still beating fast?"
"No, I Xie only find you sweet!"
"Oh, brother Xie!"
"My sweet Lana!"
Hu Lana and Xie Xan had gloomy expressions as Ja Sun laughed the entire journey.
"Enough already," Ah Yin's blade of grass slapped his back, too.
"Ow, that was uncalled for," Ja Sun scoffed.
"Say whatever you want, at least, they both have each other. You, on the other hand, are alone," Liu Erlong snorted.
Her words made the couple feel better. But they already vowed to keep their voices in check. Ka-ul is too dangerous!
"Oh?" Ja Sun turned and looked at Liu Erlong with a smile. Suddenly, she felt a chill before her expression grew resolute.
"Go ahead. You'll insult me again? Let's see how long can you do that."
"Alright," Ja Sun's readiness struck everyone speechless.
"Say, Erlong—"
"Don't call me Erlong!" She growled.
"Shush. Say, Erlong, what did the Fire Dragoness say to the Fire Dragon?"
Ja Sun inquired.
With a cold expression, Liu Erlong refused to reply.
Curious for the answer, Bibi Dong inquired, "What?"
"I could blow you with a breath!"
Bibi Dong's expression froze.
The previously angered Xie Xan's expression contorted as tried his hardest not to laugh. He tried. He did.
"Pfft!"
"Idiot! She helped us and you...!"
*Smack*
*Aaaaghhhhhhhhh*
"There it is," Ja Sun couldn't stop laughing again.
The entire trip was chaotic, to say the least.
***
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