A Pervert

Shi Yan lay on his back with his arms and legs spread wide. His face was red as if blood were about to seep from it, his chest heaved violently, and he gasped for breath. Every so often, his body gave a twitch.

Gazing up at the dazzling starry sky, Shi Yan felt every cell in his body trembling. With each twitch, his muscles, meridians, bones, and organs expanded and contracted in a steady rhythm.

Without using a trace of essence, he slowly closed his eyes and felt the wondrous changes in his body after his strength had been drained. He sensed the strange tremors in his muscles and bones, the breakdown and reassembly of his cells, and the power that had ebbed away slowly gathering again...

As an extreme-sports fanatic with years of experience, Shi Yan knew that one limit was often only the beginning of the next.

The limits of the human body could be broken again and again. One could surpass them over and over; the human body's potential was boundless, without end.

His experiences with extreme sports had taught him time and again that only by breaking through his limits could he make significant progress.

With his eyes closed and not a trace of essence in use, he could still clearly feel the changes taking place in his muscle cells.

He focused on the sensations and soon realized that the Undying Martial Soul in his body had begun to work. It was repairing him in a way he could barely understand, reassembling his torn muscle tissue and making it tougher and stronger!

High-intensity weight training could improve explosive power. Only when muscles were pushed to their limits and torn would they grow stronger and more powerful as they rebuilt themselves, increasing in size and boosting explosive power in turn.

As an extreme-sports fanatic, Shi Yan knew the truths proven through repeated practice inside and out. He knew what methods would increase his body's strength the fastest.

Feeling the soreness in his muscle cells and carefully sensing the effects of the Undying Martial Soul, Shi Yan's lips slowly curled into a smile. He forced himself to sit up, took the food from his pack, and devoured it with abandon.

Intense exercise consumed too much of the body's energy. To recover as quickly as possible and gain greater strength, plenty of food was essential!

He tore into chunks of dried meat and swallowed them. The moment they reached his stomach, they were rapidly digested and turned into nourishment that spread through his body.

Before long, he had polished off the food meant for five people in one sitting.

Sensing the changes in his body, Shi Yan smiled even more broadly. After slowly loosening up his arms and legs for a while, he finally closed his eyes and circulated his essence through his meridians.

The moment his essence stirred, Shi Yan's body gave an involuntary shudder.

Just as he had expected!

Essence flowed through his meridians at least thirty percent faster than before!

After being pushed to its limit, his body had become extraordinarily sensitive, and his meridians were exceptionally active. As wisps of essence flowed through them, his meridians seemed to absorb faint traces of it. Nourished by that essence, they seemed to have expanded slightly and grown incredibly resilient!

Shi Yan had long suspected that tempering the body was just as important as cultivating essence, and that the two complemented each other.

When the body was strong enough, essence would gather more quickly through cultivation. The stronger the body, the more it helped with gathering and wielding essence. Perhaps the two Martial Souls hidden within him would grow stronger along with it, too.

After putting his theory to the test today, Shi Yan finally confirmed his suspicions and grinned from ear to ear.

In the grass some distance away.

"Xiao Die, what are you doing here? You should be resting. Only with plenty of sleep can your Martial Soul recover sooner." Luo Hao had sensed Mu Yu Die's arrival while using the gravity field on Shi Yan. When Shi Yan had collapsed, utterly spent, he had quietly come over. His first words were a reproach.

"I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk. I just happened to see you training." Mu Yu Die clearly wasn't afraid of him. She smiled lightly.

After a pause, Mu Yu Die suddenly gave him a strange look. "Uncle Luo, weren't you... a little too harsh? I remember you only used a threefold gravity field when you trained Zhao Xin, and he was already at the Xiantian Second Heaven back then. He'd even trained his body before. But you started this guy off with fivefold gravity. What were you thinking?"

Luo Hao smiled wryly, shook his head, and sighed. "I started with fivefold gravity because I didn't want him wasting his energy at a time like this. I meant to make him back down. Who knew—who knew this kid would be so crazy? I was dumbfounded at the end. I tried to call a halt several times, but he wouldn't listen!"

"So you meant to scare him off right away, so he wouldn't dare come to you for training again?" Mu Yu Die rolled her eyes, nearly speechless.

"That's right." Luo Hao let out a sigh. "You know that controlling a gravity field takes some essence, and I can't let my focus slip. I didn't want to waste my strength, or leave him unable to walk the next day and slow us down. Who would've thought this kid was such a lunatic?"

"Uncle Luo, how many laps did you expect him to last before backing down?"

"Four!"

Luo Hao held up four fingers and said solemnly, "An ordinary Martial Artist who has just entered the Innate Realm and hasn't undergone systematic physical training can only manage four laps under fivefold gravity. Five laps might be their limit. That kid looked so scrawny that I figured he'd call it quits on his own after four laps."

"...Uh, he finished eleven laps." Mu Yu Die's expression turned incredibly odd. She couldn't help glancing furtively into the distance. Shi Yan sat there, calm as a mountain, and had actually begun cultivating again. "Oh! He's—he's sitting up again!"

"What? He can still move?" Luo Hao stared at Shi Yan in the distance, then shook his head with a wry smile. "Lunatic. That guy's a lunatic! Carrying on like this, he probably won't be able to move tomorrow. After training this hard, he'll find that there's not a single place on his body that doesn't hurt. Looks like we'll have to change our plans for tomorrow."

"Ah, I guess we have no choice. What a reckless guy." Mu Yu Die shook her head, then smiled brightly in amusement.

Early the next morning, before the sun had risen, the mist was thick.

"Xiao Die, come down. We're leaving." Under the ancient tree, Luo Hao called up to her again and again.

"Let me sleep a little longer," Mu Yu Die murmured drowsily. "Why do we have to leave so early today? Didn't you say that guy definitely wouldn't be able to move..."

"He's already waiting for you," Luo Hao whispered. The shock on his face still hadn't faded.

Ten minutes earlier, Shi Yan had come over full of energy and asked him for three portions of food.

Right in front of him, Shi Yan had wolfed down all three portions, then patted his stomach and said, looking satisfied, that he was ready to set off. Luo Hao had been so astonished that he couldn't speak for a moment. He stared at Shi Yan with a bone-chilling look for several minutes before finally coming to his senses and muttering, "What a pervert!"

"Is that guy waiting for me too?" Mu Yu Die murmured, rubbing her eyes as she reluctantly roused herself.

"He's already up. He's more energetic than the rest of us." Luo Hao smiled wryly.

"What?" Mu Yu Die jolted awake. Her beautiful eyes sparkled as she searched beneath the tree for Shi Yan. When she spotted him standing ramrod straight, his eyes bright and lively, she gaped just like Luo Hao and muttered, "What a pervert!"

Shi Yan carefully checked his clothes again. After making sure nothing was out of place, he frowned. "Uncle Luo, Miss Mu, what exactly makes me look like a pervert?"

"Everything about you!" Mu Yu Die burst out laughing, suddenly in a wonderful mood.

Her radiant smile was like spring arriving. It seemed to eclipse every other beautiful sight in the Gloomy Forest.

A look of fascination appeared in Zhao Xin and Hu Long's eyes, but they quickly came to their senses and lowered their heads in embarrassment, not daring to look Mu Yu Die in the eye.

Shi Yan narrowed his eyes and boldly let his gaze wander over Mu Yu Die's ethereal face. "Miss Mu, if I were a pervert, you'd be the first I'd make a move on. You'd better be careful tonight. I might not be able to control myself. When the time comes, you must scream as loudly as you can. I love hearing women shriek like crazy."

"How dare you!" Di Ya Lan snorted.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot there was another beauty here. Maybe you got angry because you thought I was playing favorites. Don't worry, I'll remember to come looking for you, too. You don't have to be jealous." Shi Yan looked as though he'd just had a sudden realization. He repeatedly slapped his forehead in self-reproach, as if he'd genuinely forgotten something important.

"Hee-hee! Hahaha!" Mu Yu Die clutched her stomach and laughed so hard on the tree that she nearly fell off. She laughed until her whole body trembled, then pointed at Shi Yan. "You're something else! How can someone as funny as you even exist? Hahaha..."

Di Ya Lan froze for a moment, then couldn't help bursting into laughter too. She looked as if she had no idea what to do with Shi Yan.

Zhao Xin and Hu Long stared, dumbfounded, their expressions indescribably strange.

They couldn't understand it. They had always treated the two beauties with impeccable courtesy, afraid of doing anything that might offend them, and had been as careful as could be. Yet despite all their attentions, the two women rarely smiled at them.

But Shi Yan wasn't the least bit polite to the two beauties, and his words were so flirtatious. Still, the two women didn't hold back their laughter at all. What the hell was going on?

"Ahem!" Luo Hao gave Shi Yan a strange look and smiled. "All right, quit fooling around. Let's go."