For the next month and more, Xiang Yun drilled the disciples of the Primordial Hall mercilessly, while also giving them pointers on their martial arts.
After all, the sect exchange wasn't his personal show.
The Primordial Hall's disciples would all have to take the stage too. It was just that, compared to the bloody brutality of the sect competition,
the sect exchange really wouldn't cost anyone their life. But broken arms and legs were perfectly normal; once a fight started, who could keep track of all that?
But injuries were a small matter. Losing face was a big one, all right?
I, Xiang Yun, fought so hard to earn that face, and you're going to lose every bit of it for me? How could I not drill you mercilessly?
"The Three Heaven-Breaking Forms: exerting force is one part of it, but you also need momentum. Yours isn't enough. Your force and momentum need to be in sync!"
Xiang Yun stood with his arms crossed, watching the disciples on Battle Heaven Peak's Pill River platform. Of all the peaks, Battle Heaven Peak had the greatest mastery of the Three Heaven-Breaking Forms.
And to improve their strength, what remained was for them to deepen their understanding of the Three Heaven-Breaking Forms.
But after watching for a moment, he shook his head. Their exertion of force and its circulation paths were indeed fine.
Yet the Three Heaven-Breaking Forms valued momentum over form, intent over moves. Otherwise, how could they be one of the Primordial Hall's ultimate techniques?
There were only three moves, but at their core, they could be combined with any martial art.
The disciples exchanged glances, especially Lin Feihu. He considered his own mastery quite good: he had learned the first two of the Three Heaven-Breaking Forms.
He had even scratched the surface of the third.
"I have just one demand next: throw a punch at me!" Seeing their expressions, Xiang Yun spoke calmly.
The disciples were even more puzzled. What was so hard about throwing a punch at Xiang Yun? Whether they could beat him was another matter.
And just then,
they saw Xiang Yun's originally slender frame swell, his shoulders broadening.
In an instant, fabric ripped in quick succession, and scraps of cloth fluttered down.
Fifty feet.
The blood and Qi surging around him were like a blazing furnace. Waves of heat rolled outward from him, warping the air and making everything in sight waver.
But that was only the beginning.
The next moment, an incomparably vast surge of Origin Energy erupted from his body.
Purple Origin Energy soared into the sky, churning into a heavy canopy of clouds high overhead and shrouding the entire sky above Battle Heaven Peak's Pill River platform.
The pressure of his Origin Energy descended as though it were solid.
The faces of the disciples closest to him instantly changed.
They felt as though a mountain had suddenly settled on their shoulders, and their knees buckled involuntarily.
Their Origin Energy circulated madly as they tried to resist the pressure, but the more they resisted, the heavier that force became.
Some clenched their teeth, veins bulging on their foreheads and legs trembling violently.
Others had already dropped to one knee, bracing both hands against the stone slabs, which cracked beneath their palms.
"Thud."
The first disciple fell to both knees.
Then came the second, and the third.
The sounds of knees slamming against stone rang out one after another. These Nirvana Realm disciples couldn't even stand steady before Xiang Yun.
Lin Feihu was still standing.
His legs were shaking too, his Origin Energy rushing wildly through his body, his blood and Qi roiling like boiling water.
The pressure bore down on him as though it meant to press him into the ground.
His spine creaked, his bones bearing an enormous load.
But he didn't kneel. He was Battle Heaven Peak's strongest disciple, at Seven Yuan Nirvana. How could he kneel?!
Xiang Yun's voice rang out through the suffocating space, like the tolling of a great bell.
"Punch."
Lin Feihu jerked his head up.
"You useless trash."
Xiang Yun walked toward the disciples one step at a time, the ground trembling with each footfall of his fifty-foot body.
"Punch, now!"
"Use your Three Heaven-Breaking Forms and hit me hard."
He stopped before Lin Feihu and looked down at this senior brother at Seven Yuan Nirvana.
The purple curtain of light churned behind him. The pressure of his Origin Energy didn't lessen in the slightest; instead, it kept growing stronger.
Lin Feihu felt the circulation of his Origin Energy growing sluggish. Even his blood and Qi were suppressed, slowing to a crawl.
"You ball-less lot."
"No wonder so many people think the Primordial Hall is weaker than the Sword Sect. It's because of trash like you!!"
The instant those words fell, something seemed to explode in Lin Feihu's mind.
He remembered how many years he had been stuck at Seven Yuan Nirvana, how he had hesitated and shrunk back before every tribulation, and how Xiang Yun had said he lacked confidence.
Did he lack it?
He didn't.
He was just afraid.
Afraid he wouldn't survive the tribulation, afraid of dying, afraid all his efforts would be washed away.
But Xiang Yun was calling him ball-less.
Calling him too afraid to throw a punch.
Lin Feihu's eyes reddened, a result of his blood and Qi surging upward, and of something that had been suppressed for too long finally breaking free.
His Origin Energy began to circulate wildly, and his blood and Qi erupted like oil set ablaze.
Golden Origin Energy mingled with crimson blood and Qi as it burst from his body, forming a thin membrane of light around him that forcibly pushed back the pressure of Xiang Yun's Origin Energy by a fraction.
His knees straightened.
"I'm a man!!"
Lin Feihu let out a low roar, his voice hoarse and fierce.
He took a sudden step forward, and the stone slab beneath his foot exploded.
Like a beast that had broken free of its shackles, he charged at Xiang Yun.
His fist clenched, the force of the Three Heaven-Breaking Forms circulated wildly through his body. The fist intent of Earth Splitting gathered over his knuckles, carrying the momentum of one who would press forward without return.
His fist smashed toward Xiang Yun.
Once there was a first, a second followed.
Several of the disciples who had been kneeling joined in the roar, their eyes red and their blood and Qi surging.
They struggled to their feet, their Origin Energy circulating wildly as they broke through the pressure bearing down on them and charged at Xiang Yun.
Fists, palm strikes, elbow strikes-they used everything.
Xiang Yun didn't move.
He stood where he was, letting their fists hammer against him.
The purple membrane of light over his fifty-foot body flickered faintly, blocking every attack.
He swept his gaze over the disciples charging at him, his face expressionless.
"That's it? Too light. Harder."
Lin Feihu was sent flying back. He flipped in the air, pushed off a stone slab with both feet, and charged again.
His fists trembled, his Origin Energy already circulating at its limit, his blood and Qi surging so fiercely they were almost bursting from his pores.
"Again!!"
Lin Feihu's roar echoed across the Pill River platform.
More disciples followed him into the charge. Purple Origin Energy and golden blood and Qi intertwined and collided, while dull impacts sounded in rapid succession, like a torrential downpour.
And Xiang Yun stood motionless within that purple curtain of light. At last, a trace of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.
Now these disciples' fighting spirit could be put to use!
"Lin Feihu, now!!"
Xiang Yun gave a low shout, and Lin Feihu, who had been pummeling Xiang Yun wildly, suddenly understood.
Using the force to propel himself backward, he leaped onto one of the Pill River platforms.
In an instant,
his whole body grew scorching hot. His terrifying blood and Qi surged around him, sweeping in the surrounding Nirvana Qi.
An hour later, Lin Feihu opened his eyes, and his presence surged. Eight Yuan Nirvana, achieved!!