One Hundred Giants

Venerable Seven Cultivations led Song Shuhang to the 16th level of the cave, a vast, pure white space, completely empty and free of any clutter.

These 16 layers are the most concentrated areas of 'Ball God matter and energy' within the cave.

The Venerable Seven Cultivations asked, "Young friend Shuhang, since you cannot use true qi now, let's have a sparring match without using true qi. What kind of battle environment do you prefer? Jungle? Ancient City? Plains? Ocean?"

"Can the battle environment be changed at will?" Song Shuhang thought for a moment and replied, "Then let's go to the Ancient City."

"Alright, Ancient City!" Venerable Seven Cultivations spread his arms and activated the spiritual power within his body.

The next moment, the pure white space changed.

Space extends and expands infinitely.

Walls nearly ten meters high rise from the ground, and arrow towers, clock towers, houses, castles, town centers, and all sorts of ancient buildings emerge from the ground.

In the blink of an eye, this Sixteen- story underground space transformed into a heavily fortified Ancient City.

Song Shuhang blurted out, "Real Illusion?"

Only the Venerable's 'Real Illusion' could create such a scene of creation out of thin air.

--The Real Illusion is a space created by Seventh-Grade Venerable in the real world. Everything in the illusion space is indistinguishable from real things. Even injuries sustained inside will be brought out when leaving this 'Real Illusion' space, just like Venerable White's 'Desert World'.

Venerable Seven Cultivations smiled slightly, "It seems that young friend Shuhang has already experienced Fellow Daoist Bai's 'Real Illusion'? However, we are still in the real world."

"Still in reality... then is it 'Illusory Reality'?" Song Shuhang exclaimed in surprise.

The opposite of the ability [Real Illusion].

The Illusory Reality, once unfolded, can transform some 'real events' into illusory memories.

The Venerable White had grasped a smattering of this ability and had given Song Shuhang a taste of it—a truly tragic memory.

That day, Song Shuhang, who had turned into a goldfish, was swallowed whole by Doudou, along with her sharp dog teeth and stomach acid.

Just thinking about it sent a chill down Song Shuhang's spine.

"Young friend, you even know about 'Illusory Reality'?" Venerable Seven Cultivations looked at Song Shuhang with some curiosity, then explained, "However, my ability is not 'Illusory Reality.' That's an ability that Eighth-Grade Profound Sage can master after displaying their power in Manifestation Before All. I'm still a little short of that."

"My ability is simply a combination of runes, barriers, and formations inscribed in the cave, which then materializes some things from my 'Real Illusion' into the real world through the Daoist technique of 'Form Mimicry'. In other words, it's a kind of 'Object Manifestation' spell; everything you see is made of pure energy, and you can tell by touching it."

Song Shuhang curiously touched the city wall, and sure enough, he felt that what he was touching was a kind of pure energy. It could be touched, but it was different from a real city wall.

What amazing Daoist magic!

The Ancient City materialized out of thin air.

Song Shuhang asked, "Senior Seven Cultivations, how shall we practice?"

He was only Second-Grade Cultivator, unable to mobilize his true qi and spiritual power. If Senior Seven Cultivations wanted to spar with him, he would probably have to limit his strength to around the second grade.

The Venerable Seven Cultivations said, "Before we spar, let me first understand your current combat strength. Come on, attack me with all your might!"

A person of exceptional character.

Upon hearing this, Song Shuhang launched an attack on Venerable Seven Cultivations without hesitation.

He can't use his true qi and spiritual power right now. All he can use are the <Vajra Foundation Fist>, the <Reverse Scale Saber Technique> which is a pure blade technique without true qi, and the <Gentleman Travels Ten Thousand Miles> movement technique.

With the addition of the Mouth Aperture Talent for speaking, one could barely use the Lion's Roar, but Lion's Roar would definitely be useless against Venerable Seven Cultivations.

Song Shuhang, using the Gentleman Travels Ten Thousand Miles's Journey of Ten Thousand Miles technique, quickly closed in on the Venerable Seven Cultivations. He unleashed the Vajra Foundation Fist, attacking the Venerable from various tricky angles.

The Venerable did not retaliate, but simply stood still, parrying each move. His hands flew, effortlessly blocking all of Song Shuhang's punches. And his feet did not move an inch.

"Indeed, your fist technique has reached a high level of mastery. It is flexible and versatile in execution, not bound by rigid moves. The coordination between your body movements and fist techniques is also very precise," the Venerable said with satisfaction.

Five breaths later, Song Shuhang had already performed the entire <Vajra Foundation Fist>.

Then, he stopped his attack. "Senior, I have several other techniques, but they require internal energy to support them. In my current state, I cannot use them."

It's quite a pity that Senior Seven Cultivations finally had the time and inclination to practice with him, but he could only use this set of <Vajra Foundation Fist> -- it's like finally collecting Dragon Pearl, being able to make a wish, but in the end, all he could wish for was 'I'm so hungry, please treat me to a meal'.

Song Shuhang knew that he was lacking in martial arts and Daoist techniques, but there was nothing he could do about it, since he had only been practicing for a short time.

Venerable Seven Cultivations nodded. Based on Song Shuhang's attack just now, he could roughly estimate Shuhang's current combat strength.

Now, let's move on to the second phase of training.

The Venerable Seven Cultivations asked first, "Shuhang, do you have experience fighting large demonic beasts or Demons?"

"Yes, I encountered Blood Demon once, and also a strange Giant Squid Monster. However, I never fought it head-on," Song Shuhang replied.

"Then, let me focus on supplementing your experience in 'fighting giant creatures.' Also, your attack methods are somewhat lacking. When you have time, you can go to the 'group space' of the Nine Provinces Number One Group. There should be some fellow Daoists with some tasks that reward 'cultivation techniques and martial arts skills.' Complete those tasks when you have time, practice more attack methods, and it's never a bad thing to have more skills," said Venerable Seven Cultivations.

"That's exactly what I was planning to do," Song Shuhang replied.

"That's good... Next, let's try a different training method! I'll find you a few suitable practice partners!" After saying this, Venerable Seven Cultivations raised his hands again. "Settings: Height 5-10 meters. Setting: Strength Second-Grade Realm. Setting: Martial skill: <Lightning Fist>. Setting: Quantity 100. Setting: Fatal weakness is randomly marked—Come forth, Seven Cultivations Giant!"

As the Venerable Seven Cultivations's voice faded, a hundred enormous figures emerged from the ground outside the Ancient City.

These giants have faces identical to those of the Venerable Seven Cultivations, are covered in muscles, and stand between five and ten meters tall. Like the buildings of the Ancient City, these giants are composed of pure energy.

At this moment, they all struck poses outside the Ancient City, each in the manner of Terminator making their entrance.

Song Shuhang stared at the giants that had risen from the ground outside. "Senior, you don't mean I have to fight all one hundred of these giants, do you?"

Even if these giants were all only at the Second-Grade rank, their sheer size and sheer number of them (a hundred) made it impossible to fight them. Song Shuhang felt he would be crushed.

The Venerable Seven Cultivations smiled slightly, "Young friend Shuhang, have faith in your strength. These are the opponents I've calculated best for your cultivation based on your combat power. As long as you unleash one hundred percent of your power, these one hundred giants are nothing to fear."

"Senior, are you sure?"

"Definitely... Young friend Shuhang, you have two choices. First: Endure for an hour against these one hundred Seven Cultivations Giant and protect the town center. Second: Eliminate all one hundred Seven Cultivations Giant."

"If you succeed, I will teach you my unique method of [Secret Voice Transmission], the kind that allows for Group Secret Voice Transmission."

Song Shuhang, ever outspoken, asked, "What if we fail?"

"If I fail... I haven't decided yet." Venerable Seven Cultivations thought for a moment and said, "It's alright if you fail, after all, the main purpose is for your training. So, if you fail, the Ancient City will be restored, and a continuous stream of giants will be created to train you until you succeed!"

Song Shuhang: "..."

Is this a continuous retake system, where you keep retaking the test until you pass?

"Furthermore, given your current condition, young friend, you cannot use true energy. Therefore, these giants can only rely on brute force." Venerable Seven Cultivations snapped his fingers, "Then, let's begin!"

Outside the city walls, a hundred Seven Cultivations Giant roared and charged towards the walls.

The ten-meter-high city wall was no match for these giants; once they got close, they simply flipped over and jumped over.

Senior Seven Cultivations, your method of giving me special instruction is incorrect!

"Oh, and one more hint: Little friend Shuhang, do you see the fist-shaped marks on these giants? Find those marks, and with your current strength, punch them with all your might. That's the giants' fatal weakness." The Venerable Seven Cultivations's voice came.

Song Shuhang's lips twitched. He took a deep breath, used the "Gentleman Travels Ten Thousand Miles" movement technique, and ran towards the city wall. He would try to shift the battlefield to the city wall or outside the city wall first.

As Song Shuhang Upper City, a ten-meter-tall giant had already rushed to the foot of the wall, his hands gripping the wall and half his head peeking out.

And in the giant's mind, there happened to be an imprint.

"Good timing!" Song Shuhang leaped high into the air, the Overlord Shatter Saber appeared in his hand, and he slashed at the giant's head.

"Oh, right, I forgot the last hint: Little friend Shuhang, I'm going to activate triple gravity!" Venerable Seven Cultivations's voice continued.

Senior, don't screw me over!

Song Shuhang felt a sense of foreboding.

The thought had barely formed when he felt a sudden weight lift over him. His body, suspended in mid-air, lost its balance due to the unexpected gravity.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the ten-meter-tall giant swung its hand up, swatting at Song Shuhang like swatting a mosquito—they were energy beings, unaffected by gravity...

************

The Venerable Seven Cultivations stood in the void, his hands behind his back, watching the battle between Song Shuhang and the giant.

Beside him, the White Jade Lion Four Cultivations had returned and stood side by side with him. "Seven Cultivations, I don't see anything special about young friend Song Shuhang. He doesn't have a special physique for cultivation, and he's missed the golden age for foundation building. His combat experience is also quite ordinary; there's nothing particularly impressive about him."

"But he advanced to the Second-Grade Realm in just about two months," Venerable Seven Cultivations said with a smile.

First update, two more to come.