The Black Observatory

Normally speaking.

Cultivating even a single martial art technique could already consume the vast majority of a cultivator's time, energy, and resources.

There was no helping it.

A person's time, energy, and resources were all extremely limited.

Even if one did not lack those things.

[Talent], an inborn factor set in stone from birth, often locked down many hard conditions long ago.

Therefore, cultivating multiple martial art techniques was always a laborious and thankless endeavor for most cultivators. It would only make them work twice as hard for half the result, wasting their time for nothing.

Only the exceedingly few who could be called geniuses could handle things properly.

And their method of handling it was simply having enough time, energy, resources, talent, and diligence.

Every day, they had to cultivate different techniques day and night without rest.

They spun around all day like tops.

Someone like Ling Wuyuan, who operated two martial art techniques at once, was rarer still among the rare—a textbook case of dividing one's mind in two.

Though this approach did seem to offer a genuine boost to cultivation efficiency.

It could also very easily lead to extremely serious mistakes.

For example, two techniques being operated simultaneously might both require Qi and Blood to pass through the same meridian. Once the two streams of Qi and Blood crowded together, they could immediately block the meridian—or cause the meridians inside one's body to rupture on the spot...

In short.

This was the sort of operation where trying it could mean dying!

If he did not possess the [Internal Vision ability] to observe the state of his body in real time, and if he had not been born with an abnormally high degree of control over his own body, even Ling Wuyuan would not have chosen to operate two entirely different cultivation techniques simultaneously. It was like driving two cars at once on an expressway with no speed limit. Under normal circumstances, it was nothing less than deliberately courting death.

It had taken Ling Wuyuan several full months before he could continuously operate two techniques around the clock without them interfering with each other.

Besides that.

As his strength grew greater, through repeated research and in-depth development of his innate abilities, along with long-term consumption of special medicines capable of strengthening the meridians, Ling Wuyuan had become increasingly confident in his idea of using his innate abilities to accelerate the circulation of Qi and Blood, thereby increasing his cultivation speed.

He expected to be able to put it into practice before long.

When that time came.

The time he needed to operate his techniques would be drastically reduced.

And the speed at which he grew stronger would become faster and faster.

The only thing to worry about was whether his body could withstand large quantities of nutrients being converted into Qi and Blood.

The wool came from the sheep's back.

That was unchanging.

Refining Qi and Blood required his body to expend a great deal of nutrients or Life Force.

So during this period, Ling Wuyuan had been trying to find some special medicine that could replace large amounts of ordinary food.

Otherwise, even if he developed his ability to the necessary degree, he would be unable to raise his cultivation speed to the level he expected.

If his nutrition could not keep up.

Cultivating too quickly would only train him to death...

Hmm...

Perhaps eating ginseng like rice was an option...

About three hours later.

Near the mountaintop—the White Crow Gang's training ground.

Since newcomers normally were not allowed up the mountain, no one knew much about the terrain and buildings on it.

It took the newcomers some time to learn from a steward where exactly they needed to carry all the various items.

Following behind the steward who led the way.

Everyone was rather curious about the sights around them.

Whether it was the majestic-looking buildings.

Or the members carrying out their final training for the Gang Competition.

All of it caught their attention.

For a moment.

There were simply too many things for their eyes to take in.

"Wow~"

"That handsome guy's swordsmanship is so fast. I can't even see it clearly, let alone fight him..."

"Did you notice? That woman over there is so pretty. I wonder which hall she belongs to..."

"I know the answer to that!"

"That beauty is a member of the Punishment Hall!"

"Oh? How did you know?"

"Two months ago, when I failed my assessment and went to the Punishment Hall to receive my punishment, she gave me a whipping."

"I heard a lot of senior brothers and junior brothers deliberately make mistakes just to get punished when she's on duty..."

Hearing that.

The listener, only fourteen years old, froze at once.

"Huh?"

"Why would those people do that!?"

Since he was too young and still had no interest in women, he simply could not understand why those senior and junior brothers would deliberately do such a thing.

The speaker, who was around the same age, spread his hands, indicating that he did not really understand it either.

"I don't get it either!"

"I only know that beauty hits really hard!"

"It really hurts!!"

They failed to notice that some people beside them who had been eavesdropping on the conversation briefly revealed eager, tempted expressions...

As for Ling Wuyuan, he merely silently surveyed the scenery along the way.

As though he had come out for a leisurely stroll.

That sense of ease lasted until he saw something very strange.

It was a black observatory placed directly in front of a certain building.

"?"

Looking at the object that gave him an intense sense of déjà vu, he immediately recalled a certain lake he had been quietly searching for over a year, without any results whatsoever.

At that moment.

His first thought was, This thing really does look similar!

He did not truly take it for the observatory beside the lake depicted on the treasure map.

After all, White Crow Mountain was over three thousand meters high. What lake could possibly be here?

There were supposedly several ponds, though...

However.

The next moment, after repeatedly comparing the patterns on the observatory using his photographic memory, he discovered that this observatory really was the one drawn on the treasure map!

"Huh?"

"What does this mean?"

"Could White Crow Mountain have actually been a lake a thousand years ago?"

"But that can't be right... If terrain this high had been a lake, then wouldn't the entire White Mist Country have been beneath the deep sea? Some kind of deep-sea fishman kingdom?"

"Or had the White Crow Gang already found that treasure long ago?"

"Could they have even moved the observatory near the treasure here as part of their haul?"

For a time, countless conjectures flashed through Ling Wuyuan's mind.

Although there was still no answer.

His heart found it difficult to calm down.

He understood that if the White Crow Gang had already obtained the treasure, then that treasure map no longer held any value whatsoever. For all he knew, the treasure might already have been used up!

But... if the White Crow Gang had merely discovered the observatory by accident and moved it here as an ornament, knowing nothing about any treasure, then there was truly much to gain...