"Cultivating the Qi-Concealing Art normally, following its instructions, would definitely be slow."
Chen Yu thought for a moment.
"But if I directly simulate the state of using the Qi-Concealing Art, then work backward to cultivate it..."
At that thought, Chen Yu sprang off the bed. Fast!
Then he mobilized the spiritual power within his body.
A left front kick!
Whoosh!
The sound of slicing air rang out.
Then a right roundhouse kick!
Whoosh!
Another rush of air sounded.
That was only the beginning. For the next two hours, Chen Yu kept throwing out different moves: a left jab, an uppercut, a straight punch, then another left front kick...
Finally, when Chen Yu was drenched in sweat,
the spiritual power within his body burned out.
He simply had no Martial Skills to use. Otherwise, he could have depleted his spiritual power even faster.
Panting,
he returned to the bed and sat cross-legged.
Then he began cultivating according to the mental method of the Qi-Concealing Art.
[Currently cultivating Martial Skill: Qi-Concealing Art.] [Progress: 1%...15%...] [45%...] [70%...] [90%...]
"Holy shit!"
So fast!
In less than five short seconds,
his cultivation progress for the Qi-Concealing Art had already reached an astonishing 90%!
At this rate, he would master it within ten seconds!
Excitement spread across Chen Yu's face.
But compared with mastering the Qi-Concealing Art within ten seconds, what excited Chen Yu even more was that he had finally grasped the correct way to use the system!
Before his eyes,
the cultivation progress of the Qi-Concealing Art continued to increase.
[97%...98%...99%...] [99.7%...] [99.8%...] [99.9%...] [...] [...]
More than ten minutes passed.
Just as Chen Yu was growing impatient with the wait,
[...100%!] [Martial Skill mastered: Qi-Concealing Art.] [Panel updated!] [Name: Chen Yu.] [Age: 18.] [Level: fourth layer of Qi Refining (49/50).] [Spiritual root: false spiritual root.] [Martial Skills: Qi-Concealing Art.] [Cultivation methods: True Essence Profound Canon, Flame-Transforming Art.] [Currently available experience points: 60.]
All right.
The installation process had been a little slow, but at least he had mastered the Qi-Concealing Art.
Now he had nothing to worry about.
Chen Yu looked at the panel.
"Allocate points!"
At his command,
Chen Yu immediately felt a powerful surge of spiritual power appear within his body, flowing along his meridians to every part of him.
His spiritual power, which had been almost completely exhausted, instantly returned to a brimming state.
"Qi-Concealing Art..."
With a thought, Chen Yu activated the Qi-Concealing Art.
The next second, the spiritual power throughout his body swiftly gathered into his dantian, meridians, and acupoints. It was just as the cultivation method described: light drawn into a lamp, flowing water converging in an abyss.
Concealing his strength to make it seem as though he had only just broken through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining, Chen Yu clenched his fists.
He made sure that even when using spiritual power normally, he would not reveal his true cultivation.
Only then did he nod in relief.
"Now my cultivation has reached the peak of the fifth layer of Qi Refining. To break through again, I'll have to cultivate the Earth-Warding Art."
"But there's no rush. I'll rest first."
"At least until I come out of the Immortal Ruins tomorrow night."
It was already late.
Chen Yu went to sleep early.
The next day.
Chen Yu slept until noon before getting up.
Once he got up,
he straightened his clothes, made sure nothing about his appearance violated the rules, then stepped out of his room.
And just as Chen Yu walked out,
"Creeeak-"
The door of his next-door neighbor, which had stayed tightly shut for who knew how long, slowly opened. Then a woman wearing the white robes of an outer disciple of the Dao Sect stepped out.
She was tall, with curves in all the right places and perfectly proportioned features.
At that moment, the woman turned her head and saw Chen Yu. Her cheeks flushed, and she quickly lowered her head before hurrying past him.
"..."
Chen Yu scratched his head.
Why was she blushing?
He had not expected his first proper look at his neighbor to unfold like this.
But on second thought, with that strange neighbor living next door, it seemed nothing that happened would be surprising.
He would be entering the Immortal Ruins tonight, so he needed to gather more information. Chen Yu walked into the bustling square by the establishment called the Emerald Cloud Inn and found a seat beside a group of people.
Outwardly, he sipped tea. In reality, he pricked up his ears to eavesdrop.
"...I heard another disciple from Jade Yao Peak found a high-value treasure last night and received 150 points on the spot!"
"150 points! Seriously?!"
"It's true. The news has already spread all over Jade Yao Peak. I have a good friend there. Apparently, that disciple found nothing worthwhile on his first three trips. It wasn't until he risked his life going in a fourth time that his luck finally exploded, and he brought back a Profound-grade cultivation method... Sigh, he seems to have been injured, but he earned 180 points in total from that trip. It really makes you envious!"
"180 points. Enough to take it easy for years."
"Looks like finding high-value treasures really does require risking a fourth or even a fifth trip inside! That's what they mean by risks and opportunities going hand in hand!"
"Say no more. No matter what, I'm going in four times tonight! I only need to stake everything on this one trip! Maybe I'll be able to take it easy for years!"
"Exactly. For people like us, the Immortal Ruins really are an opportunity!"
"..."
Listening to their conversations,
Chen Yu fell into thought.
Including the four examples Lü Yanyan had shared yesterday, he had now heard of five cases of people finding high-value treasures.
He sipped his tea and thought to himself:
"Of the five disciples I currently know about, two went inside and
found their treasures right away. They were blessed by the gods of luck, so their experiences aren't useful as a reference."
"Another went in five consecutive times. Although he ultimately risked his life to obtain a high-value treasure, there's only one such case, so it isn't really useful as a reference either."
"Only the last two found little at first, then had their 'luck explode' later..."
Chen Yu wore an odd expression.
These examples,
combined with the information about the Immortal Ruins,
made Chen Yu feel more and more that the Immortal Ruins resembled the extraction games he had played in his previous life.
Then he considered the only two examples with any real value as references.
These Immortal Ruins...
Could they have some kind of Elo system too?
"Since every treasure found inside the Immortal Ruins has to be handed over to the sect anyway, I might as well test it myself tonight. Even if my guess is wrong, I'll only miss out on ten points," Chen Yu thought.
Just as he reached that thought,
at that moment,
a figure appeared in front of Chen Yu.
He looked up.
It was the innkeeper.
"Dear guest, your free resting time for today has ended," the man reminded him with a smile.
"Oh."
Chen Yu stood up.
Then he left the inn.
He wandered around like a lonely ghost, eavesdropping everywhere for clues about the Immortal Ruins. Soon, evening arrived.
All the disciples of Emerald Cloud Peak gathered in the bustling square halfway up the mountain.
Then, led by Elder Sun,
they headed to the mass grave behind Little Bamboo Peak.
Night fell. Looking at the heavy, sinister white mist coiling around the mass grave ahead, the disciples of Emerald Cloud Peak all felt a little unsettled. Chen Yu was the exception. Looking at the mass grave ahead, especially the mountain hollow where he had practiced the Qi-Guiding Art every day back then, he almost felt as though he had returned to his days as a registered disciple.
Unfortunately,
Ah Zhen was gone.