With the help of the Heaven and Earth Fusion State, Mu Qing made excellent progress in mastering the fifth stage of Thunderstorm Fist. It barely took him any time at all to become thoroughly proficient in it.
"Pant, pant."
Mu Qing was drenched in sweat. He gasped for breath as waves of pain throbbed through his mind.
He was already quite familiar with this condition. It meant that his Mental Power had been completely depleted.
A heavy drowsiness washed over him. Mu Qing knew he needed to rest to recover his lost Mental Power.
He simply flopped down. He was in no danger inside the Barrier, especially with Ke Fei there to protect him.
Just as Mu Qing closed his eyes, he caught a glimpse of Ke Fei crouched in front of a Nameless Tombstone, stroking his chin as he pondered over something.
When he woke again, his Mental Power had fully recovered.
As soon as Ke Fei saw Mu Qing awake, he came over and handed him three things.
They were the weeds, dead tree branch, and Crow Blood that Mu Qing had eaten before.
Ke Fei had prepared them in advance. When Mu Qing woke up, he handed over the three things and told him to swallow them once every day from then on.
Before Mu Qing could react, Ke Fei had returned to the Nameless Tombstone, stroking his chin as if he were studying something.
As a Top-tier Martial Venerable, Ke Fei could go for months without sleep. Mu Qing, on the other hand, kept having to sleep because he often depleted his Mental Power.
Mu Qing left Ke Fei to it and swallowed the three things, one after another.
The familiar bitter taste bloomed across his taste buds. Frowning, Mu Qing entered the Heaven and Earth Fusion State once more. Blood Refining Technique roared into action inside him as he waited for the energy to erupt.
He could clearly feel waves of energy brewing within him, quivering from time to time before suddenly bursting forth.
Mu Qing was ready for it. Relying on the Heaven and Earth Fusion State, he frantically refined the energy.
Light enveloped his entire body once again, and wisps of Dawn Light streamed in and out through his mouth and nose.
Ke Fei came out of his thoughts and watched Mu Qing, deep in contemplation.
Even Ke Fei had never seen anyone refine energy or cultivate martial techniques as quickly as Mu Qing. He was astonished.
He knew Mu Qing had secrets, but he wouldn't pry.
In fact, he hoped Mu Qing would become even more astonishing, refining the energy faster and raising his cultivation. That way, Ke Fei could leave the Barrier sooner.
Suddenly, Ke Fei's brows twitched. Had he thought of something? A grin spread across his face, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth and giving him a rather sleazy look.
He had thought of another way to make Mu Qing stronger!
Although Mu Qing refined energy at an incredible speed, Ke Fei could tell that the Bloodline Method he practiced was merely the most mediocre Blood Refining Technique from West Lake High School.
The Blood Refining Technique was a mediocre Bloodline Method that one of West Lake High School's former principals had obtained from the Federation Branch. It was mainly intended to familiarize students with Bloodline Methods and did little to help with actual cultivation.
The fact that Mu Qing had managed to cultivate with the Blood Refining Technique at such a speed was already astonishing.
Ke Fei woke Mu Qing. He placed a hand on Mu Qing's shoulder, and a terrifying surge of energy poured out. Mu Qing felt the surging energy inside him suddenly freeze in place, no longer moving.
As Mu Qing stared at him in confusion, Ke Fei smiled and taught him a Bloodline Method.
According to Ke Fei, it was a low-grade Human-rank Bloodline Method.
Though the method's grade was low, it was still worth a great deal—and for Mu Qing right now, it was the limit of what he could practice.
Blood Qi Seventh Rank. It was only because Mu Qing had a Dual Blood Spirit that he could barely practice a low-grade Human-rank Bloodline Method.
Giant Elephant Transport Technique!
Ke Fei drew a pattern and some words on the ground again. Like its name suggested, this Bloodline Method condensed the power of a giant elephant to transport the energy and Bloodline Power within the body.
Mu Qing's face lit up. He memorized it carefully, then analyzed it in the Heaven and Earth Fusion State. By half a day later, he had grasped the basics.
The Giant Elephant Transport Technique was a Bloodline Method far superior to the Blood Refining Technique.
It helped Mu Qing tremendously. Just as its name suggested, when he practiced this Bloodline Method, it was like a giant elephant carrying all the vital blood within his body.
When Mu Qing first activated the Giant Elephant Transport Technique, he found that he could refine energy countless times faster than before. Waves of Origin Force surged into his mind and dantian.
Ke Fei stepped forward and told him that this was an outstanding method among low-grade Bloodline Methods.
A Bloodline Method that a powerhouse like Ke Fei considered worthy, even a low-grade one, was no ordinary thing.
Mu Qing nodded in agreement.
Although he had only just begun practicing this Bloodline Method, the surging Origin Force within him and its astonishing speed made it clear that it was far more powerful than ordinary Bloodline Methods.
Especially when Mu Qing tried it again in the Heaven and Earth Fusion State.
He discovered that the Giant Elephant Transport Technique moved at a truly outrageous speed in that state.
Even the mysterious energy between heaven and earth was quickly drawn into Mu Qing and absorbed.
When Mu Qing had practiced the Blood Refining Technique before, he had never been this fast. Even in the Heaven and Earth Fusion State, he could only absorb a mere sliver of the energy of heaven and earth.
Now, as he practiced the Giant Elephant Transport Technique, Mu Qing could absorb and refine a tenth of that energy. This was a major breakthrough!
The energy of heaven and earth was incredibly mysterious. Only after reaching the low-level Martial Practitioner stage could one slowly absorb it.
Mu Qing's ability to absorb it at this stage gave his Origin Force an exceptionally high quality, far surpassing that of students at the same rank.
As a Top-tier Martial Venerable, Ke Fei could naturally tell that Mu Qing was absorbing energy from heaven and earth.
But he wasn't particularly surprised. He was already numb to it. Mu Qing had shown him too many incredible things; even a Top-tier Martial Venerable like him was astonished.
Before long, Mu Qing had fully refined the energy in his body.
In the days that followed, Mu Qing spent nearly every day practicing Myriad Water Barrier and the Giant Elephant Transport Technique. Sometimes, he also sought Ke Fei out for a sparring match.
Mu Qing knew that although his cultivation was advancing by leaps and bounds, and swallowing dead tree branches, Crow Blood, and weeds every day rapidly raised his cultivation, he still lacked combat experience.
He set his sights on Ke Fei. He asked Ke Fei to suppress his cultivation to Blood Qi Seventh Rank and fight him at the same level.
But there was no question that Mu Qing was no match for Ke Fei. Even at the same cultivation level, Ke Fei knocked him flat with just a few punches, leaving bruises all over his body.
Mu Qing was a little helpless. The gap between them was simply too great. It was practically a one-sided slaughter, and it did nothing to improve his combat experience.
But one day, to Mu Qing's astonishment, Ke Fei drew on the power of the Barrier and condensed the Ice-Fire Storm into a human-shaped puppet.
The puppet looked enormous, standing a full three meters tall, with fists like sandbags. It looked incredibly imposing.
Ke Fei told Mu Qing to come forward and spar with the human-shaped puppet he had created.
Mu Qing examined it closely and noticed thin strands running through its limbs and head, seemingly formed from energy.
These energy strands connected to Ke Fei's five fingers. As his fingers twitched, the puppet moved in response.
Since it was a puppet—and one Ke Fei had assembled with extremely crude technique—it couldn't fully reproduce Ke Fei's combat skills.
This was undoubtedly the most suitable opponent for Mu Qing right now. He could hone himself against the puppet and improve his combat experience and technique.
Mu Qing grinned and stepped forward, immediately unleashing the fifth stage of Thunderstorm Fist. Five streaks of blazing white lightning danced through the air.
Ke Fei laughed as well. His fingers twitched, controlling the puppet as it punched at Mu Qing.
Mu Qing's fist collided with the puppet's. A terrifying burst of energy exploded.
Mu Qing was surprised to find that the puppet's body was incredibly hard. It also contained the fearsome energy of Ice and Fire. Its punch seemed to have no technique behind it, but the power it unleashed was in no way inferior to the fifth stage of his Thunderstorm Fist.
The powerful rebound sent Mu Qing staggering back more than a dozen steps.
He looked at the puppet, whose body hadn't moved an inch.
The toughness of this human-shaped puppet, crudely assembled as it was, had already exceeded Mu Qing's expectations.
But Mu Qing didn't back down.
With a loud shout, he charged again. Keeping his eyes on the puppet, he slowly drained his Mental Power as he used Perceive Weakness to search for its weaknesses.
Ke Fei controlled the puppet, displaying his combat skills and experience in a different way. He wasn't using any martial techniques, but merely identifying weaknesses in these combat moves took a great deal of Mental Power.
After Mu Qing had fought the puppet for a while, his eyes suddenly lit up. At last, he had sensed its weakness.
Mu Qing swung his fists again and again, and Origin Force surged out of his mind. He held nothing back, nearly draining all the Origin Force in his mind. Five streaks of blazing white lightning wrapped around each fist.
He traded blow after blow with the puppet, growing more valiant as the battle went on. Even its sturdy body couldn't withstand such a frenzied assault.
At last, the puppet staggered backward. It could barely hold its ground, and the energy around it was beginning to disperse.
Blood had already trickled from the corner of Mu Qing's mouth. But he smiled as he pressed a finger to the puppet's chest.
At his fingertip was a single crystal-clear droplet of water.
The droplet looked plain and ordinary, but there was a symbol within it.
Before you continue