Huff!
Letting out a long breath, Ye Zhen slowly opened his eyes, a layer of disappointment surfacing in them.
"Still no breakthrough..."
Three months had passed. In three more days, it would be exactly three months.
Over the past three months, apart from completing Sect Missions, Ye Zhen had practically shut himself away in bitter cultivation. For the Human-tier High Grade Cultivation Manuals Instructor Liao had promised him, Ye Zhen had begun risking his life.
A mere Human-tier Low Grade Essence Blood Origin Body Art had already let Ye Zhen taste the sweetness of high-grade cultivation arts. One could imagine how tempting a Human-tier High Grade cultivation art, something even Inner Disciples might not obtain, was to him.
Over the past three months, Ye Zhen had cultivated desperately. The bottle of Condensing True Pills Liao Feibai had given him had long been used up, and the Marrow Spirit Liquid he had accumulated over nearly three months had almost all been exhausted.
Not only that, the two hundred Sect Contribution Points Ye Zhen had earned from Sect Missions over the past three months, added to the three hundred and fifty Sect Contribution Points he had left from before, had all been used to exchange for Condensing True Pills. At one hundred contribution points per pill, only the final fifty points of change remained.
Just now, Ye Zhen had taken the last Condensing True Pill he had exchanged for, yet he still had not completely transformed his blood energy into True Essence and broken through to the True Essence Realm.
He was only one final step away. As long as Ye Zhen transformed the vortex of blood energy in his dantian into True Essence as well, the essence blood energy within his body could be completely converted into True Essence, allowing him to thoroughly break through to the True Essence Realm.
Yet at this final step, Ye Zhen had used up three whole Condensing True Pills over six or seven days, and there had still not been the slightest movement.
"Looks like I've run into a bottleneck..."
Whenever one encountered a bottleneck, blindly cultivating behind closed doors could not break through it or solve the problem. Generally speaking, there were two methods for overcoming a bottleneck.
The first was battle—fighting the heavens, fighting people, fighting beasts. Perhaps after a hearty life-and-death battle, the bottleneck would be broken.
The second was one's state of mind. Perhaps a single remark from a renowned teacher, perhaps the playful words of a child, perhaps a sudden flash of insight—any of these could bring clarity to one's mind and break through the current bottleneck.
However, matters of the state of mind were still somewhat profound for the current Ye Zhen. Since he had encountered a bottleneck, the best way for him to break through it was battle.
A hearty battle.
Originally, Ye Zhen had cultivated so desperately not only for Instructor Liao's reward, but for other reasons as well—for instance, beating someone up!
If one were to name the liveliest place on East Arrival Peak of the Qi Yun Sect, it would be the dining hall at the three daily meal times. Apart from Outer Disciples who had gone out to complete Sect Missions, nearly ninety percent of the Outer Disciples came to the dining hall to eat at every meal.
Thus, in East Arrival Peak's dining hall, which covered more than a thousand meters, some extremely hot-blooded happenings occasionally took place—such as right now.
Ye Zhen happily wolfed down a huge basin of beef stew with potatoes, even drinking the broth clean. After leisurely wiping his mouth, he swept his gaze around and found his target within the dining hall.
Whoosh!
With a flick of his wrist, the pair of chopsticks in Ye Zhen's hand gave a shrill whistle through the air as they shot toward a dining table a hundred meters away.
Upon hearing that piercing whistle, every Outer Disciple in the path of Ye Zhen's chopsticks swiftly ducked without exception. This sort of thing played out in the dining hall every day; they were already used to it.
Of course, if they were not used to it, the light consequence would be having their meal tray knocked over by the chopsticks. The heavy consequence would be getting pierced clean through.
Ye Zhen's target—Ma Hun—had determined that the chopsticks were aimed at him the instant he heard their shriek, even from such a distance.
Yet Ma Hun remained as steady as an old god. When the pair of chopsticks Ye Zhen had thrown neared him, the chopsticks in his own hand darted out like lightning, intending to knock them aside.
The chopsticks in Ma Hun's hand intercepted Ye Zhen's pair with perfect accuracy, but at the instant the two pairs collided, Ma Hun's hand could not help but tremble.
What tremendous strength!
Crack!
The terrifying force contained in Ye Zhen's thrown chopsticks instantly turned Ma Hun's clever force into brute force, and Ye Zhen's chopsticks suddenly snapped in two.
The half-broken chopstick spun through the air and swiftly plunged into the bowl before Ma Hun, which was filled with soup and dishes.
Bang!
The tremendous force was like a horse hoof stomping into the food bowl, sending soup and vegetables splashing in every direction.
Caught off guard, Ma Hun was splashed all over the head and face with soup.
He looked as miserable as miserable could be.
Whoosh!
The Outer Disciples watching the scene immediately burst into laughter.
The moment Ma Hun stood up, his face turned green. Wiping and smearing the soup from his face, he was about to unleash a torrent of curses when Ye Zhen's roar rang out.
"Ma Hun, do you dare fight me, Ye Zhen?" Ye Zhen pointed at Ma Hun's soup-covered face from afar and crooked a finger.
"What's there to fear? Ye Zhen, I'll fuck 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 cursing, Ye Zhen lightly tossed out those words and turned to leave.
"Ye Zhen, I'll tear you into ten thousand pieces!" Ma Hun, hopping with rage, had been utterly provoked by Ye Zhen.
After stripping off his outer robe and hastily rinsing the soup from his head and face, Ma Hun hurried after Ye Zhen's vanishing figure.
The several thousand Outer Disciples in the dining hall also surged hurriedly toward the Martial Arena after Ye Zhen and Ma Hun left. In their experience, the bigger the commotion caused by a challenge, the fiercer and more exciting the battle would be.
This group of energetic Outer Disciples, free from worries over food and clothing, loved excitement more than anything.
Among them, Jin Yuanbao ran the fastest. Though his round body looked extremely plump, he dodged left and right, quickly pulled ahead of the crowd, and dashed toward the Martial Arena in a puff of smoke.
An opportunity—this was an opportunity to make a fortune!
The last time Ye Zhen and Li Xuelong had gone up on the Martial Arena, Jin Yuanbao had not opened a betting house because the gap between them had been too great. He had regretted it until his intestines turned green. If he failed to seize this opportunity too, he might as well go die.
"My Iron Casino is now open! Senior brothers and junior brothers, place your bets! Small wagers please the spirit, great wagers make you rich—if you don't gamble, you'll be poor for ten thousand years! Come place your bets!
"Ma Hun, ranked three hundred and eighth on the Earth Ranking, odds of four to one! Ye Zhen, a rising star who only advanced from Menial Disciple to Outer Disciple four months ago, odds of one to two!
"Come place your bets! Small wagers please the spirit, great wagers make you rich—if you don't gamble, you'll be poor for ten thousand years..."
Over the past few months, Ma Hun's ranking on the Earth Ranking had risen by a large margin again.
Not long after Ye Zhen arrived at the Martial Arena, Jin Yuanbao had already opened his betting house there.
Jin Yuanbao's reputation spoke for itself, and bettors came in an endless stream. In this short while alone, more than a hundred people had already placed bets.
"I'm betting five hundred taels on Ma Hun."
"I'm betting three hundred taels on Ye Zhen."
"Why are you betting on Ye Zhen? He started out as a Menial Disciple, so his innate talent clearly wasn't much. Even if he became an Outer Disciple, so what? It's only been four months. His greatest achievement was merely defeating Li Xuelong.
"Ma Hun, on the other hand, is a veteran Outer Disciple of more than two years. More than half a year ago, his cultivation had already broken through to the Blood Refining Fifth Level. He had long condensed True Essence, and not a small amount of it either. How could Ye Zhen possibly win?"
"You don't understand. I'm betting on the dark horse. If he wins, it doubles in the blink of an eye, which counts as a small windfall. Even if Ma Hun wins, how much will you earn? Just a hundred taels."
"My bet is guaranteed profit, practically money picked off the ground. Toss in five hundred taels casually, and I can earn back more than a hundred taels."
"Ma Hun's strength over the years is no sham. I'm betting on Ma Hun!"
"Ma Hun!"
"I'm betting on Ye Zhen. Since this kid dared challenge him in public, maybe he has some vicious trick up his sleeve."
Before long, Jin Yuanbao's Iron Casino was surrounded by people. Although a small number bet on Ye Zhen to win, most bet on Ma Hun. Soon, because too many people were backing Ma Hun, Jin Yuanbao swept his brush and changed Ma Hun's odds to five to one.
While this was happening, Ma Hun, having cleaned himself up, arrived and leaped onto the Martial Arena first. He shouted furiously at Ye Zhen below the stage, "Ye Zhen, didn't you want a martial fight? Get your ass up here!"
"In such a rush to die? Wait for me." Ye Zhen merely rolled his eyes at Ma Hun. Seeing that the people gathered around Jin Yuanbao to place bets were gradually thinning out, he instead walked toward Jin Yuanbao.
P.S. Thanks, brothers, for letting Pig Three stay on the homepage's new book rankings for more than half a day. But I got squeezed off the rankings again.
Fine. Old Pig refuses to accept this. Whether someone brushed Pig Three off or squeezed Pig Three down, Pig Three does not care—but Pig Three is determined to fight!
Brothers, please lend Pig Three a hand. As long as you get Pig Three back onto the rankings, Pig Three will post extra chapters!
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