From Death to Life

From Death to Life White Ape scratched his ears and cheeks, instinctively wanting to check on him, but in the end, he suppressed the impulse. He began practicing Ape King Stake to divert his attention, though he still kept a sliver of focus on Ning Qi's side.

Inside the room.

Ning Qi slowly opened his eyes. A trace of vicissitude and bewilderment flashed through them and vanished, but fortunately, they soon returned to their lively brightness.

"Great Dream, Nine Deaths. Each time the Physical Body dies, it is, in truth, to experience life and death once."

"It isn't only a transformation of the Physical Body. There are also certain benefits I never anticipated before."

Ning Qi was somewhat amazed.

He estimated the time and knew that Seven Days had already passed. During these Seven Days, he had entered an exceedingly wondrous state.

Unknowing and unfeeling, with no sensation and no light.

Yet there had been no fear or loneliness. There, time seemed to have lost all meaning—seemingly extremely slow, yet in truth extremely fast. He felt as though he had only just entered the state of Physical Body death, and then he had awakened again.

He smiled faintly. The withered skin on his face pulled taut, instantly letting Ning Qi know the current state of his Physical Body.

But he did not panic.

With a thought from Ning Qi.

The Light of Vitality hidden deep within his Physical Body immediately began to pulse anew.

Invisibly, it was as though he could hear the humming of flames burning again. Waves of incomparably dense vitality surged out from his limbs and bones. Not only that, his Inner Strength also merged all at once with that vitality and burrowed deep into his Physical Body.

"Buzz!"

His withered Physical Body began to fill out at a speed visible to the naked eye, and at once, a crystalline luster like jade surfaced over it.

Vitality flourished, and his aura was powerful.

White Ape, who had been practicing Ape King Stake in the courtyard, could not help looking over in shock as well, his face carrying reverence and delight.

But immediately after.

That vitality gradually withdrew.

Ning Qi rose from the bed, a joyful smile appearing on his face. He gently clenched his fist and could feel that his Physical Body had grown stronger by another stretch.

Not only that.

After his original Inner Strength had been absorbed into his Physical Body, it was now born anew from the new Physical Body, and both its quality and quantity had risen by a great deal.

"From Death to Life, digging out the potential of the Physical Body to the extreme—it has increased by a full fold!"

"This is something other Layered Strength Arts can see from afar but never reach."

"Not only that, my Inner Strength has also grown stronger. Right now, I am only in the Second Layer Realm, but it has already begun to show a few traces of 'solidity.' If this trend continues, perhaps I won't need Inner Yuan Grand Completion before I can begin attaching attributes to my Inner Strength?"

The heaven-defying nature of the Great Dream Nine Deaths Technique had already begun to gradually reveal itself.

Ning Qi's foundation was somewhat outrageous.

For other people, Layered Strength was slow work, water grinding stone by stone. Even after forming the connection, their Inner Strength had to transform strand by strand. But Ning Qi, by relying on his Physical Body withering into silence and being reborn, could transform all of his Inner Strength in an instant, saving an enormous amount of time.

His cultivation was fast, and the Physical Body and Inner Strength he condensed were stronger as well.

The only flaw was perhaps that it was difficult.

This Great Dream Nine Deaths Technique—even if it were placed in front of others, they still would not understand it.

But for Ning Qi, with this first experience of Physical Body rebirth, what came after would be much simpler.

Next.

He only needed to continue accumulating, constantly going From Death to Life. At most, he would have to spend more effort when breaking through the three great bottlenecks of minor accomplishment, major accomplishment, and perfection.

Ning Qi pushed the door open and stepped out.

White Ape walked over with joy written all over his face. By now, he had already begun slowly abandoning the habits of walking, leaping, and tumbling like an ape, becoming more and more like a human.

Ning Qi smiled faintly. "Just normal cultivation. There may be a few more times like this in the future. No need to worry."

White Ape nodded again and again.

He then respectfully began practicing the stake posture off to the side. Ning Qi watched calmly and nodded inwardly.

White Ape's Body Tempering progress was very fast, only inferior to his own.

His future strength would absolutely not be weak. Perhaps he might even surpass the others among the True Martial Nine Sons.

Thinking of that scene, Ning Qi could not help laughing.

"If Third Senior Sister one day learns that the little monkey she brought back has surpassed her in strength, I wonder what kind of expression she'll make. It will definitely be fun."

In the blink of an eye.

Year-End arrived.

The entire True Martial Sect was incomparably lively.

"What a pity. Little Eight isn't here. Our True Martial Nine Sons are missing one."

Seventh disciple Song Cheng let out a long sigh. He had entered the sect only a few years before Qin Yun, and the two were not far apart in age, so their relationship was very good.

Everyone fell faintly silent.

Then Ye Qinghe smiled and said, "Don't worry. Eighth Junior Brother has always been clever. He probably gained quite a lot from going down the mountain for training this time. We have to work hard too. Otherwise, if Eighth Junior Brother catches up to us one day, we'll lose a bit of face."

Luo Wentian waved a hand and said, "I'd rather see every one of you surpass me. You should all learn more from Fifth Disciple—especially you, Qinghe. Such fine talent, wasted for nothing, and you even drag Little Nine along to drink with you."

Everyone burst out laughing at once.

The corners of Ning Qi's mouth also curved up.

Although he spent most of his time cultivating alone, his senior brothers and senior sisters doted on him as much as ever, granting whatever he asked.

He very much liked the atmosphere on True Martial Mountain.

A moment later.

Luo Wentian saluted Dragon Mountain Daoist atop the high platform, then shouted loudly, "I declare that this Year-End Grand Competition officially begins!"

"It will be divided into the Inner Sect Competition and the Outer Sect Competition. The top twenty in each will all receive rewards!"

The disciples, who had long since finished their preparations, were eager to have a go.

The competition proceeded like fire raging in full swing.

First came the Outer Disciples' matches.

After that were the Inner Disciples' matches.

The various True Disciples watched from the side. From time to time, Ning Qi chatted with his senior brothers and senior sisters, occasionally turning his attention to the matches. However, in his eyes, these disciples' battles were like children playing house. Only now and then did one or two people make his eyes light up.

The current Ning Qi, though only at the Second Layer Realm, had no opponent among the Inner Disciples.

Even among the True Disciples, there were probably several who would not be his match.

As for great experts at the Inner Yuan Realm Ninth Layer like Luo Wentian and Jiang Baishan, Ning Qi could not be completely certain. He would have to fight them to know, but there was clearly no need for that.

The competition ended.

Luo Wentian handed out rewards to the disciples ranked near the top. After that, several True Disciples also shared their own martial dao experience one after another, aiming to raise the strength of the Outer and Inner Disciples in preparation for the coming Celestial Being Ceremony.

"Little Nine, want to go up and give it a try? Your senior brother will feed you a few moves?"

Fifth Disciple Jiang Baishan grinned as he draped an arm over Ning Qi's shoulder.

Beside them, All Direct Disciples showed looks of curiosity.

Even now, they still did not know what realm Ning Qi had reached in Body Tempering.

But they were not blind. They kept feeling that the aura Ning Qi gave off was not simple.

A wicked smile appeared in Ye Qinghe's eyes.

Careful, or your dog eyes will be shocked blind.

But Ning Qi refused with a perfectly serious face. "No fight. I don't have a tendency to enjoy being abused. In another twenty years, I'll come ask Senior Brother for instruction."

Everyone laughed loudly, though they also felt a little regret.

Jiang Baishan gave a wry smile. "Good one, Little Nine. Holding grudges like this—you're planning to come beat me up twenty years from now."

But he did not take it to heart.

Luo Wentian took the initiative and said:

"Fifth Junior Brother, let's fight!"

"Good!"

Their fighting spirits soared to the heavens.

After watching for so long, their hands had grown somewhat itchy as well. They had originally been thinking of letting the True Disciples show a little of their ability, setting an example for the other disciples and serving to incentivize them.

Now was exactly the opportunity.