The high ranking officer was surprised that he wasn't even able to make me budge in the slightest, but that didn't stop him from still holding my hand and shoulder .
Even though his tries to make me retreat using force failed, he was still not letting go of me, it seem like things won't end up peacefully, just as this thought appeared in my mind, I remembered senior brother Fu's words from before, about how becoming a Close-Disciple would make me have quite the strong face in the whole city .
My actions after the realization hit me was quick and soon I withdraw the Token that represented my identity and position in the Dojo, the guard who was trying to pull me away just now, directly let go after he seemed to have become a bit shocked about either my identity or maybe my ability, either way he let go of my hands .
But he was still not willing to drop trying to persuade me against entering the core area where that chaotic energy was, he said :
I'm sorry if I had offended you anyway, but I still want to advice you against throwing your life away like this, we were given orders to stop anyone from approaching this place until a further notice .
But young master here isn't considered a simple character that someone like me could move or order around, so even though you can enter, I hope you don't create troubles for me or yourself by venturing into the core area where that energy was .
The City guards all bowed down to me and even the two high ranking officers did the same thing, then the seemingly more friendly of the two continued to say this .
Having prestige did come quite in handy, due to my identity as Master's disciple, I was able to get not quite the few privileges, one of them seemed to allow me to enter places that wasn't even allowed to enter by other people, not to mention the respectful attitude that even the city guard had to show me .
All this prestige and yet Fa Shi before mentioned that my Master was a branch Master, what kind of a big backer was supporting our Dojo, I truly wonder .
After coming to terms with how this world worked, it was quite easier for me to accept this kind of development, I nodded at the unknown officer and ignored the shady look that was being given to me by the other high ranking officer here and sunk into the hollowed earth beneath us .
Sliding down, I was able to understand how horrifying was the power that caused such a big gap and such a strong change in the scenery, as I descended the windy atmosphere become stronger more and more at quite the pace, after reaching some kind of an invisible checkpoint, the air began to take physical form and exerting pressure on my body .
Just like what happened back then with the Nine-Rock Shock formation, understanding some of what was going on, I began to hesitate about marching forward, my Blood Qi had completely recovered and I should be able to head deeper, but the reason to my hesitation was that I was afraid about achieving a breakthrough after heading deeper .
If others heard about my worries, I had no doubt that they might puke blood, but this was indeed the only worry I currently have, my Panel should be more than capable of dealing with the negative effects that might come with venturing deeper, but it had no effect on the Tempering effect that such extreme place and situation have .
Even now I was able to sense that the pressure here was pushing me toward another breakthrough, not to mention my special case of lacking Blood Vitality, but just the fact that I might be the first person in the whole world that managed to reach this level of strength in such a short period of time .
Even though Master before wasn't able to tell my Realm because of my Mental Strength, I was still found out after he checked my pulse, so even though I can hide achieving a breakthrough here from almost all the prying eyes, I will still be unable to hide it from Master .
Not to mention that this was already quite the difficult predicament, but now that I was contemplating on what I needed to do, I discovered that if I wanted to honor my promise and take responsibility and be a man of my words, I will need to become as strong as possible in the shortest period of time, Zi Xue mentioned that her enemies were beyond my comprehension .
If this didn't mean that they were terrifyingly strong, I didn't know any other conclusions that I can come up with, that made me stand on an edge, on one side I needed to safekeep my secrets, on the other side, I need to grow up quickly to be able to shoulder my responsibilities .
I was beginning to get a headache, but just as I was at loss of what to do, the cold air appeared once again in my mind and calmed me down, I was currently enhancing my eyes to the extreme and was barely able to see in the current deep darkness here .
But maybe because the scene around me was so quiet, it helped me in gathering my thoughts effectively, I was able to recall where was my position in this world clearly, I was a no one, but I also held a special secret that made me able to stand tall in front of anyone, just if I worked hard enough and played my cards right .
Sooner or late I would still be able to achieve the level of strength that allowed me to look down on all the people in this world, sooner or later I would reach to the top of Martial Arts in this world and ascend to the Heavens, sooner or later, I would be able to roam this land without any worries .
Sooner or later, I would break all of my own shackles and find Zi Xue and shield her from all those who wished to do her any harm, if I were to choose then I would just trust what my instincts were telling me and choose for this to come true sooner than later .
With this idea appearing, I felt all my worries being washed away, all that remained was the unshakeable resolve of seeing everything here through and hopefully I found what I came here looking for .
My Blood Qi hadn't still been used to protect me, I no longer was able to see what was going upstairs and the reason was because I was currently descending into the core area through a more deeper hole that I was only able to see after descending down .
The bigger hole surprisingly wasn't that deep, but at the center of this crater like shaped hole and where was the house of Liu'er family once lived, there was even a deeper hole underneath, the width was just much smaller, the hole in the center of this crater was barely enough to hold 4 to 3 people maximum and it seemed quite unstable .
The wind that was coming out of the that hole was enough to blow normal people away and even those at the early stages of the Flesh Tempering stage would found them blown away if they were to recklessly lose their focus in the slightest .
But if they were to use their Blood Qi, then they can barley stand around the hole for two or three minutes, before they would consume all their Blood Qi and still be blown away directly after, that was just how strong was the wind that was being released around the hole .
As for where I was currently, I was already inside the deeper hole and my body can no longer bear the pressure that this wind was exerting and I was beginning to use my Blood Qi to march forward, one thing that was different regarding this core area I was in was that it had a weird green glow that illuminated this space .
Trying to see where that glow was coming from, it was unproductive, there seem to be something at where the glow was coming from that obscured my ability to see what was there, even after I kept enhancing my eyes to the maximum I could .
My instincts were telling me that whatever had caused this much destruction, I would most likely be able to find clues after I reached where that weird glow was, the air around here was pressing on my lungs and my internal organs, breathing was becoming difficult, but I was still able to carry on .
The place in front of me looked like a cave underground, no matter how much did I try to shake that idea off, it kept on coming back, the cave seem to stretch in one direction, so there was no way to take, but continuing forward, or let the wind carry me out throw the hole I came through .
Just as I was about to continue forward, I suddenly heard a few obscured by the wind sounds of footsteps coming from upwards, I was a bit alarmed first, thinking that someone might be alive around here, but after I focused on enhancing my ears, I was able to understand that those footsteps sounds, came from upwards and relaxed a bit, but only a bit .
Hearing footsteps here can only mean one thing, either the guard was now allowing people to enter, or someone used the same method as I did to barge in here, either way, I decided to make haste before any problem occurs .
Continuing forward, I felt that the air around me seemed to be getting more and more heavier, without my Blood Qi, I might have began to bleed out from all my orifices, but it was also that heavy air around me that was currently enforcing my body and my internal organs, the way to practice Martial Arts mostly depended on forcing the body to its extreme and that what this strong air pressure was currently doing .
I would have liked to use Dragon-Tiger Transformation or even use Life-Severing Sword, but not willing to forsake an opportunity to achieve another breakthrough in my strength anymore, I chose that it was best for me not to .
As I continued forward, I did hear the sound of footsteps getting more closer, this time the sounds no longer came from upwards as before, but the sounds currently was coming from behind me in the distance .
There was currently no need for me to focus on enhancing my eyes, as there was no need to do so now, so I focused my energy on enhancing my hearing, currently I was able to sense even the vibration that those who were entering this area through the hole make with their steps .
They were approaching my location quite quickly too, so either they had something helping them in withstanding the pressure, or their strength was quite strong and both conclusions were bad for me, I began moving even faster than before and due to this, my body suffered some mild injuries, the air pressure here was so strong that the wind here began to have a sharp edge to it .
If someone waited to adjust briefly after taking a few steps at a time, they would be able to evade getting cut by the wind, but since I no longer have neither the time nor the ability to stand by and watch how the situation would unfold, the only possible solution was to keep marching forward .
Using my Blood Qi alone was no longer enough, I withdraw a mask from my Beast Pouch and then began activating Dragon-Tiger Transformation Secret Martial Skill, the wind that was trying to cut me before seemed to have sensed something disturbing with my sudden change .
The wind that were trying to cut those who tried to go forward, only trying to cut those who moved hastily, was now like a mad dog who was trying to attack those that it deemed as its target relentlessly .
The wind began to stir and green cyclones began to try and swallow me, but this wasn't possible, I withdraw my Retribution Sword and dissect the cyclone using Life-Severing Sword, but even after successfully dissecting one of the weird cyclones that was close to me .
The wind that formed it would directly try and sink into my body, but with Gliding Swallow I would be able to barely evad the incoming torrents of wind, only to find myself getting attacked by another cyclone, thinking that the problem might have been with me using a wrong method to deal with the cyclone from before .
I enhanced my sight again to the maximum and saw something that was weird to the level of both insanity and astonishment, the gray wind cyclones in front of me was all made of green wisps of energy and the air was merely circling around them forming these cyclones .
Thinking of what was that weird energy wasn't possible at the moment, I was currently being surrounded by wind cyclones, they weirdly enough seem to be drawn to me in some weird way that I can't explain, still focusing on finding a way to deal with the cyclones in my mind .
I couldn't help but find myself drawn to that wisp of green glimmering energy I saw before, I couldn't help but recall the incident with the resentment from before, the two shouldn't be linked in any sort of way, but my intuition was telling me that the solution out of this predicament might be linked to how I deal with these wisps of green energy .
Before I dissected the cyclone vertically, then the remaining wind torrent would still try to attack me, this shouldn't be the way to do it, then how about trying to dissect them horizontally, but this time I might as well focus on getting the green wisp of energy with my attack .
Not wasting anytime I began trying to test the plan in my mind, the closest cyclone to me was coming on my lift side, the slash I delivered this time was a horizontal one, aimed at the wisp of green energy that was in the core of the cyclone, the moment I successfully pierced through the cyclone with my sword, the green wisp of energy didn't dissipate even after it was cut by the sword, rather it caught me off guard and directly sunk into my body .
The moment that wisp of green energy sunk into my body, I felt a refreshing feeling, it was like drinking cold water on a sunny day, a sense of weird fulfilment arose within me, then it disappeared as if it was never there, but I'm certain that it was there, the traces it left on my body were certain .
I felt that my body seem to have gotten slightly stronger, that wisp of energy seemed to be devoured the second it sunk into my body, I didn't got any notification, any response from the Panel nothing at all, this both assured me that this energy was indeed weird but at least harmless .
Not only was it harmless, but it was even beneficial to me, absorbing a few more should be enough to breakthrough directly to the 6th layer, just as my eyes began to burn with desire as I looked at the cyclones in front of me .
Something suddenly occurred, I saw two people dashing behind one another, I didn't know who were they, I managed to barely get a glance of the two, before they disappeared into the deeper parts of this cave, if before I would have become nervous and tried to follow after them, but after witnessing the weird wisps of green energy here, I changed my mind .
This place was strange, but the strangeness with it was also what protected it, the intense torrents of wind and the mysterious green energy, all these things will become even more harder to deal with the more someone go deeper .
The two guys that just passed by here know that or not wasn't concerning to me, seeing me struggling just now, neither of them offered a helping hand, so why would I, if they died because of recklessness then this has nothing to do with me .
After organizing my thoughts, I still found it a bit weird that these cyclones didn't target any of the two guys that moved by them just now, but let's not dwell much on it, for now let's breakthrough to the 6th layer of Flesh Tempering first .
For three minutes straight, I kept flashing from one side of the area I was in to another using Gliding Swallow, wanting to increase my proficiency with using it as much as I could and surprisingly it was actually working, I was able to finally breakthrough to the 6th Layer Flesh Tempering here .
I can see Master dissecting me to see what was wrong with me, but I have already made up my mind, since an opportunity to increase my strength had appeared, then I will certainly do my best to grasp it fully .
After breaking through the 6th layer, the cyclones were much easier to be delt with, after swallowing yet another Blood Qi Recovery Pill, making this one the number 4 or maybe, the pill number 5, I really didn't count, every time I would slash 5 cyclones, I would be forced to take a Blood recovery pill at least that was how things were at the start .
But now for some reason my consumption of Blood Qi had increased greatly, even though the effect of it was apparent if I were to look the improvement of my strength and the elevation of my body defensive capabilities, but I couldn't help but think that something was wrong with me .
As I was about to reach for a wisp of green energy that I had used Mental Energy to trap and broke the cyclone it created, I heard a voice from behind me saying :
Hand over the treasure or you will die .