The Enraged Ma Hun

Hoo!

Exhaling a long breath, Ye Zhen slowly opened his eyes, a layer of disappointment clouding them.

"Still no breakthrough..."

Three months. In three days, it would be exactly three months.

For the past three months, aside from completing Sect Missions, Ye Zhen had barely stepped out of his room, engaging in bitter cultivation. For the sake of the Human-tier High Grade Cultivation Manual promised by Instructor Liao Feibai, Ye Zhen had been pushing himself to the limit.

A mere Human-tier Low Grade Essence Blood Origin Body Art had already given Ye Zhen a taste of the benefits of high-level techniques. One could only imagine the temptation of a Human-tier High Grade manual, something unlikely to be obtained even by an Inner Disciple.

Over these three months, Ye Zhen had cultivated like a madman. The bottle of Condensing True Pill given by Liao Feibai had long been consumed, and the Marrow Spirit Liquid he had accumulated over three months was also nearly exhausted.

Not only that, the two hundred Sect Contribution Points Ye Zhen earned from missions over these three months, combined with the three hundred and fifty points he had left previously, had all been exchanged for Condensing True Pill. At one hundred points per pill, he was now down to his last fifty points.

Just moments ago, Ye Zhen had consumed the final Condensing True Pill he had exchanged for, yet he still failed to fully convert his blood energy into true essence and break through to the True Essence Realm.

He was only one step away. As long as Ye Zhen could convert the vortex of blood energy in his dantian into true essence, the essence blood energy within his body would be completely transformed, allowing him to thoroughly break through to the True Essence Realm.

But it was precisely this final step that had consumed three Condensing True Pill over the last six or seven days, yet it remained completely unmoved.

"It seems I've hit a bottleneck..."

Whenever one encounters a bottleneck, blindly closing oneself off for bitter cultivation is rarely enough to solve the problem. Generally speaking, there are two ways to break through a bottleneck.

The first is combat—fighting against the heavens, against men, or against beasts. Perhaps after a fierce, life-or-death battle, the bottleneck might shatter.

The second is one's state of mind. Perhaps a word of guidance from a wise teacher, a casual remark from a child, or a sudden moment of enlightenment could clarify one's mind and allow one to break through the existing barrier.

However, for Ye Zhen at this moment, the concept of "state of mind" was still somewhat profound. Since he had hit a bottleneck, the best way to break through was through combat.

A truly exhilarating battle.

Originally, Ye Zhen's desperate cultivation had other reasons besides earning the reward from Instructor Liao, such as—beating someone up!

If one were to talk about the liveliest place on East Arrival Peak of the Qi Yun Sect, it would have to be the canteen during the three daily meal times. Aside from Outer Disciples who were away on Sect Missions, nearly ninety percent of the Outer Disciples came to the canteen to eat at these times.

Therefore, in the canteen of East Arrival Peak, which spanned over a thousand meters, some very heated events would occasionally occur, such as right now.

Ye Zhen finished off a large basin of beef stewed with potatoes, drinking even the broth until it was completely clean. After wiping his mouth in a leisurely manner, he scanned the area and found his target within the massive canteen.

Whoosh!

With a flick of his wrist, the pair of chopsticks in Ye Zhen's hand emitted a shrill sound as they tore through the air, shooting rapidly toward a table a hundred meters away.

Hearing the sharp whistle, any Outer Disciple in the path of Ye Zhen's chopsticks instinctively ducked. This kind of thing happened in the canteen every day; they were already used to it.

Of course, the result for those who weren't used to it was, at best, having their meal trays overturned, and at worst, being pierced through by the chopsticks.

Ye Zhen's target, Ma Hun, was far enough away that when the whistling sound began, he immediately realized the chopsticks were aimed at him.

However, Ma Hun remained seated calmly. When the pair of chopsticks shot by Ye Zhen reached him, he flicked his own chopsticks out like lightning, intending to deflect the incoming pair.

The chopsticks in Ma Hun's hand intercepted Ye Zhen's pair with pinpoint accuracy, but the moment they collided, Ma Hun's hand couldn't help but tremble.

Such powerful force!

Snap!

The terrifying momentum contained within Ye Zhen's chopsticks turned Ma Hun's skillful deflection into a brute-force struggle, and the chopsticks Ye Zhen had thrown were suddenly snapped in two.

The broken halves spun and flew, embedding themselves deep into the basin of soup and vegetables in front of Ma Hun.

Bang!

The immense force was as if the basin had been stomped on by a horse, and soup and vegetables splashed everywhere instantly.

Caught off guard, Ma Hun was drenched in soup from head to toe.

He looked as wretched as one could possibly be.

Whoa!

The Outer Disciples watching the scene erupted into laughter.

Ma Hun stood up, his face turning green. As he wiped the soup from his face, he was about to let out a string of curses, but at that moment, Ye Zhen's roar echoed through the hall.

"Ma Hun, do you dare to fight me, Ye Zhen!" Ye Zhen pointed at the soup-covered Ma Hun from afar, his finger beckoning.

"Why wouldn't I dare! Ye Zhen, I'll f*** your ancestors..."

"I'll be waiting for you at the Martial Arena. Oh, and you'd better wash your face first." Before the furious Ma Hun could finish his cursing, Ye Zhen tossed out a light remark and turned to leave.

"Ye Zhen, I'm going to tear you into pieces!" The enraged Ma Hun had been completely provoked by Ye Zhen.

He stripped off his outer robe, gave his soup-covered face a hasty rinse, and rushed off in pursuit of Ye Zhen's retreating figure.

The thousands of Outer Disciples in the canteen also surged toward the Martial Arena, following Ye Zhen and Ma Hun. Based on their experience, the more commotion a challenge caused, the more intense and spectacular the battle would be.

This group of energetic, carefree Outer Disciples was the demographic that loved excitement the most.

Among them, Jin Yuanbao ran the fastest. Despite his round, chubby appearance, he dodged left and right, quickly outpacing the crowd and sprinting toward the Martial Arena in a flash.

An opportunity! This was a chance to get rich!

Last time, when Ye Zhen fought Li Xuelong on the Martial Arena, he hadn't opened a betting pool because the disparity was too great, and he had regretted it bitterly. If he missed this chance again, he might as well just die.

"My Jin Yuanbao's Iron Betting Pool is now open! Fellow disciples, place your bets! Small bets for fun, big bets for fortune, don't bet and stay poor for ten thousand years! Come and place your bets!"

Ma Hun, ranked 308th on the Earth Ranking, odds 4 to 1; Ye Zhen, an up-and-comer who had only been promoted from Menial Disciple to Outer Disciple four months ago, odds 1 to 2.

"Come place your bets! A small wager for fun, a big one for fortune, and no bet means poverty for a lifetime..."

Over the past few months, Ma Hun's ranking on the Earth Ranking had climbed significantly.

Not long after Ye Zhen arrived at the Martial Arena, Jin Yuanbao had already set up his gambling stall there.

Given Jin Yuanbao's reputation, people were lining up to place bets; in just this short while, over a hundred people had already wagered.

"I'm putting five hundred taels on Ma Hun."

"I'm putting three hundred taels on Ye Zhen."

"Why are you betting on Ye Zhen? He started as a Menial Disciple; his talent is mediocre at best. So what if he became an Outer Disciple? It's only been four months. His greatest achievement is just defeating Li Xuelong."

"And Ma Hun is a veteran Outer Disciple of over two years. More than half a year ago, his cultivation already broke through to the Blood Refining Fifth Level. He has long since condensed his true essence, and quite a significant amount at that. How could Ye Zhen possibly win?"

"That's where you don't understand. I'm betting on the underdog. If he wins, my money doubles in an instant—a nice little windfall. Even if Ma Hun wins, how much do you make? Only a hundred taels."

"My bet is a sure thing, practically free money. Just toss five hundred taels in, and I'll walk away with over a hundred in profit."

"Ma Hun's strength over these years is no joke. I'm betting on Ma Hun!"

"Betting on Ma Hun!"

"I'm betting on Ye Zhen. Since the kid dared to issue a public challenge, he might have some ruthless tricks up his sleeve."

Before long, Jin Yuanbao's iron-clad stall was surrounded by people. Although a small minority bet on Ye Zhen, the majority favored Ma Hun. Soon, because so many people were backing Ma Hun, Jin Yuanbao waved his hand and adjusted the odds for Ma Hun to 5 to 1.

In the meantime, Ma Hun, having cleaned himself up, arrived and leaped onto the Martial Arena first, roaring at Ye Zhen below, "Ye Zhen, didn't you want a martial duel? Get your ass up here!"

"In such a rush to die? Just wait for me." Ye Zhen rolled his eyes at Ma Hun, watched as the crowd around Jin Yuanbao thinned out, and then turned to walk toward Jin Yuanbao.

***********

ps: Thanks to all you brothers for keeping Pig Three on the front page of the new book rankings for most of the day, though I've been pushed off again.

Fine, this old Pig isn't satisfied. Regardless of whether they botted their way up or just squeezed me out, I don't care—I just want to fight back!

I ask you brothers to lend me a hand. As long as you help me get back on the rankings, I'll release extra chapters!

Seeking votes, clicks, and bookmarks!