Suddenly a shockwave accompanied by a gush of air was once again released from my body, the feeling of that mysterious tempering energy appearing came and go, the only thing that I felt was that my power had increased, also my Blood Qi seemed to have been restored .
Another breakthrough, I'm following the path of Full Body Tempering and have already reached the later stages of the Flesh Tempering Realm, I'm currently in the 8 Layer, I really should began to think of a way to explain this to Master, otherwise it will be difficult to stay in the Dojo anymore .
No, even staying in the Howling Wolf City would be difficult, if luck was in my side, I would be able to get a clue about where Liu'er had went and then I should be able to get where Zi Xue and Li Fu had went, hopefully .
As I was thinking like this, I felt an intense gaze fixed on me, there was no one here in this cursed place other than me and Chu Ji Xi, opening my eyes, I found the girl had already closed the distance between us and was looking intently at me as if she wanted to see through all my body's secrets, she also had a weird emotion planted all over her face and expression .
I couldn't help but cough slightly and luckily my cough was enough to make her realize what she was doing, she got embarrassed and directly stepped backwards, but she almost fell on the floor due to losing her balance, I couldn't help but try and reach here and I was successfully able to prevent her from falling .
The stubborn and courageous girl from before had become quite sheepish and weak hearted, I couldn't understand what made her become like this, but I also didn't have time to ask her about, the most important thing to do currently was to try and practice, in hope of achieving some more mastery over those three Martial Arts .
This was the only method that could get us out of here, speaking of which I couldn't help but spare the girl who was currently sitting in the ground while staring at me absent-mindedly, then I couldn't help but remember her feeding me that Blood Qi Recovery Pills .
The reason that was important, was because the mask I was wearing shouldn't have allowed her to kiss me, so could she have possibly taken it off while I was asleep, I couldn't help but touch my face and hope that she didn't .
My actions seemed to have forced her into coming back to reality, I heard her saying in a stuttering tone :
I had removed it earlier to.., to...., to give you the pills, I'm sorry if this brought any trouble for you .
Just seeing the blush on her face made me understand clearly what had happened, I couldn't help but shook my head at her looking all guilty about it, I assured her that it was okay and she released a weird sigh of relief, I was about to ask her about her circumstances, seeing how tensed and weird the atmosphere between us had become, but for a second time I heard a bang, then sensed the cave suddenly shook, so anything that I had in mind had completely dissipated .
The only thought that remain in my head was me needing to finish my preparations as fast as possible, else, even if we were to survive again this time, no one knows what might happen in the next wave of attacks .
I shut my eyes and start recalling the notes left regarding the three methods, starting with Charging Tiger, I recalled the moves of that skill and stood up and directly began to move with my eyes still closed, my Charging Tiger was beginning to improve thanks to the Panel helping in directing me towards the mistakes in my execution before .
In less than 5 minutes, I successfully achieved to raise my Mastery officially to the Great Success realm, the Tiger's Force also seemed to have no more problem, in fact due to me taking the path of Full Body Tempering, it seem that my whole body was connected to that weird seed inside of me .
But even after I tried to for 5 minutes more to achieve success in reaching the Perfect realm of mastery and even with the help of the notes, more like poems on how to reach the Perfect realm, I seem to lack inspiration on how to do so, if I were to describe my predicament, I would say that I keep running into a wall, trying to understand the obscured concept left in the 3 methods .
Sensing that it would be a waste of time and effort to continue trying to achieve another success in this short period of time, I ended my training session and released a sigh of relief as I opened my eyes, I saw that the girl seemed to be trying to calm her mind by engrossing herself in practicing .
But just as I stared at her, I saw her coughing a mouthful of blood and had already withdraw an Azure Wood Pill from my pouch and was handing it to her while asking about her state .
She shook her head and insisted on that she was fine and that there was no need for me to worry or hand over such a precious pill, before she finish her words, I already handed her the pill and sat beside her .
She still kept the pill in her hand and squeezed it strongly, but she still showed no sign of her taking it, maybe she was still guarded against me, maybe this wasn't the case, I didn't know for certain, all I know was that the interaction between us was quite weird, I kept talking about how will we be able to find a way out of here and all she did was nodding at me .
But for some reason, I felt that she was reluctant to go outside, a crazy thought about her preferring to actually stay here appeared in my mind, but was squashed the second it appear, as I thought a crazy thought, just as I was thinking like that, a head suddenly leaned on my shoulder and with a soft tone of voice, I heard the girl say :
Are you honest about what you said before, regarding my scar ? .
Seeing her acting like this, I didn't push her away, I removed my mask and looked at her in the eyes, two eyes of different colors were staring at one another, both eyes were filled with hope, hope that was for different reasons, but one with filled with sadness, while the other pair of eyes were filled with expectations and aspirations .
I was surprised at seeing the reflection of my eyes in hers, I was feeling like I was hypnotized, I couldn't help but lean forward, but just as we were about to get entangled with each other, I woke up from my trance and coughed slightly as I moved my head backwards and created some distance between us as before, then said :
" It's my own opinion, but if you don't want it, I can try and help removing it for you, do you want me to do it ? .
The girl seemed to be quite shocked at my words first, then a deep blush appeared on her face once again and she didn't say anything more, just shook her head after taking some time to gather her thoughts, I didn't know why was she refusing, but I hadn't lied to her, that scar didn't even made her lose any bits of her charm, for me it made her more dazzling even .
But since she seemed to have made up her mind, there was nothing for me to see anymore, the awkward silence between us continued for quite some time, this happened quite a lot, so we were almost got accustomed to it .
She sat there leaning on my shoulder and even though there was nothing that I could lean on, the place was completely cleared of any thing that can act as a wall to lean on, I still didn't feel any burden by continuing to stay like this .
~crackle~ ~crackle~ .
Just as we sat like that for no more than 2 minutes, there was the familiar sound of another wave of attacks coming our way, I sensed the girl body shuddered slightly, I couldn't help but stand up and pat her on shoulder to catch her attention from the Green Energy Weps that the blades were starting to shine on, seemed ready to come and take our lives .
Seeing that I had caught her attention, I extended my hand to her and said :
" Do you trust me ? .
The girl kept staring at me then at my hand for a while, seemed to be at loss of words, I wouldn't have blamed here if she had refused to trust me, after all we barely met and now I was asking her to trust me, even if I were to be in her place, I would have very much done the same thing .
But surprisingly after she seemed to have made up her mind, she gave me a brilliant smile and took my hand and I directly raised her off the ground, then said :
" Well, the plan is like this, I would be trying something out that should allow us to get out of here, but just as I'm not even certain if it will work as I wanted it to and since I also not sure of what might happen if I were to be holding you while I try this method of mine, I would like for you to stand close to me in the back .
" I will be in the front and you will be behind me, don't hesitate to tell me if an Energy Blade like those bounced off .
She nodded her head weakly, but I sensed something that disturbed me a little, so I couldn't help but hold both of her hands in mine and say in a comforting way :
" For now don't think about anything but to survive and get out of here, don't worry about anything else, when we out I will help you deal with everything else that might be on your mind .
Ummmm .
In a mosquito like voice, she gave me her answer, but even though she agreed with what I proposed, I still felt that something was wrong with her, but I wasn't given much time to think of anything, the barrage of attacks had arrived, we were both standing in coordinate with the arrangements I made, not so far from one another .
Surprisingly, not many blades did hit us even though we were heading in a straight line towards the source of all those attacks, but our luck didn't last long, the energy blades coming at us began to become more troublesome, some vertical, some were horizontal, some came from bizarre directions and with bizarre shapes, but those still managed to barely brush our side, but hadn't cause any substantial damage .
As I saw this, I took a step forward and the girl behind me suddenly tugged my shirt, I looked at her from the corner of my eyes, not daring to shift my attention from the see of energy blades in front of me, then I heard her say :
Are you still determined on getting that treasure, shouldn't we just try to evade them, then we can find a way out after this round of attacks is over ? .
Seeing her pale face, the pressure we were under was quite huge, even breathing was a bit difficult, but after I heard her words, I couldn't help but reminiscing about my encounter with Zi Xue and the reason I was doing this, wanting to prove myself to her .
I find myself turning involuntarily towards her and saying with a smile on my face :
" Hadn't I told you, I'm determined to get that thing as it the last clue I have that could lead me to find the person I told you about, so whatever that happens here today, I will walk out of this place with it in hand .
The girl seeing me acting like this was momentarily dumbstruck, I didn't know what made her become like this, all I know was that her expression suddenly turned to be quite grave as she yelled all of a sudden, saying :
Watch out .. .
Through the reflection in her eyes, I was able to see a vertical slash of energy that was coming right at us, seeing this, my expression too turned to be quite serious, the incoming attack left us no room to parry, the girl seemed to have already understood that and closed her eyes as if already accepting death, I suddenly sensed the girl's hands around my back, holding me in a tight hug .
My expression become solemn now, first I didn't know whether will that plan of mine succeed if my body was free, now with it being held like that, the success rate dropped instantly, second now there wasn't even enough time for me to try and use any countermeasure .
If I tried my best I could break the energy blade's ability to lock on the air around us, but I would just be escaping fire, just to jump into a volcano, buy in this situation, I would be jumping in a sea of Energy Blades, alone, I could barely have a chance to escape, together it would be impossible .
Time was ticking and even though my enhanced senses gave me some time to contemplate on what I'm going to do, it wasn't nearly enough for me to devise a plan, good enough for our survival both, the blade was getting closer and closer, it seem that the situation was already completely out of hand .
So all I can do now is to try my best, hopefully this plan of mine work, else I would really die here with her today, no, it will work, it will, I directly began running the three methods in my body, Dragon-Tiger Transformation had already kept running since the start, taking advantage of the fact that all my meridians were connected thanks to the path I took .
I began to sense that the established connection with that white force seed that had taken root in my Dantian, after the connection was established, I felt that it was smoother than before, controlling that seed I mean, I was able to feel that my whole body was engulfed in a warm cocoon, the unsettling feeling from before had disappeared, my body, mind, soul were as if they were aligning with each other .
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The change was amazing, but I had no time to contemplate on those brought up changes, I forced that sead to began lending me its power, but no reaction came from it, discarding of all the notifications that kept ringing in my mind, this was by far the most notifications sounds I heard .
All the side effects were telling me one thing, if not for the Panel interference, I will die and my soul would dissipate, that was how dangerous what I was doing, seeing no reaction of any kind came from that seed of force, I understood that my plan had failed .
I was about to accept death, when I felt my brain suddenly get jolted with a strange and dangerous idea, but since we are already considered dead, what could possibly stop us from adapting some dangerous and reckless moves, recalling the incident where that seed devoured the shard of energy blade a few minutes ago, I instead thought of a different approach .
Just as the green glow of the blade appeared before us, the girl held me tighter and said in a whispering voice :
I have no regrets .
I completely had no clue about what she was mumbling at this point of time all I know was that I pushed one hand forward towards the vertical energy blade, then magic started to happen, a sudden clash of two forces started, a small spark of white energy suddenly apperd covering my hand and in the path of the incoming Blade way .
Air torrents appeared and the girl behind me opened her eyes to see that she was still alive and was almost currently hovering in the air and the only thing that kept her from being sent flying by the air torrents, was here sticking to me with all the strength she got .
Her auburn eyes were sparkling as she saw the energy blade and the white spark like energy that wrapped my whole hand, the look on her face was that of shock, but her shock was not lesser than mine .
I was almost got blinded by the flashing lights that came from the confrontation of the two forces, but my shock had only started, the blade which had me severally injured before was now unable to even move forward an inch, my hand was like a closed gate that had millions of guards protecting it .
But this wasn't all that was there to it, I felt that the energy in the blade was getting weakend at an alarming rate, I didn't even need to ask about the thing responsible for this, since I felt huge surge of energy coming from my arm and circulating through my whole body .
It succeeded, this was all that I was able to think about, my desperate move did actually succeeded, it was desperate because my hands were completely forced and due to how dangerous what I just did was .
I figured that since that damn seed weren't willing to share its power with me, then the best course of action was to let that damn thing be the one to take the blame, so since I'm unable to borrow strength from it, I used the connection I established to move it towards my hands instead .
At least I wanted to cover two of my hands by that weird force, that I'm able to control a bit better now, but then a problem arose, luckily a small one, this force seed didn't have enough energy for both my hands, so I just accepted what I had and hoped that it will be a success .
My Full Body Tempering path helped me greatly this time, but in the end all thanks to that weird force seed in my Dantian and now in my arm, the energy blade in front of me kept on shrinking and like as if it was stuck to the palm of my hand, it never left it and was just stuck there waiting to be completely devoured and that what exactly happened .
The energy this blade brought me didn't allow me to breakthrough directly, mostly because the energy this time was absorbed by the Seed, but some of the dissipated energy was still refined and given to me, the amount this time didn't bring another breakthrough, but it was almost there .
Thinking like this I couldn't help but look in front of me while licking my lips and my eyes filled with greed for all those energy blades that can help me practice faster and help me in reach Perfection with Tiger's Force here and today .
Suddenly hearing a coughing sounds from right behind me as the wind torrents had finally calmed down since the blade that caused them to appear had completely disintegrated into nothing and disappeared, I saw Ji Xi looking at me with an expression of worship and mixed with it was a little bit of dread .
" You okay ? .
Uhh, Aahh, Ohh, Ummm, hmmm .
What should I make of that response, I wonder, checking her, I saw that other than her shocked expression, she was still holding me up tightly and seemed to be quite fine, seeing this my tensed mind eased a bit, due to that strange seed I was as steady as a rock, or maybe the force of attraction between the two energies was what completely made me unmoving, but the same could not be said about her, so I needed to check .
Seeing that she was fine, I directly took a bottle of Blood Qi Recovery Pills and swallowed another pill, the only thing that concerned me right now, was running out of Blood Qi Recovery Pills, the consumption of running three method together, adding to the consumption of Dragon-Tiger Transformation itself which was at least 10 times more, after the matter was finished, I felt my body was almost empty .
But that's a problem for later, I told her that if she liked she can hop on my back and stick closely as possible, since we will be only going forward from here on out, she was still a bit skeptical at first, but soon she took the initiative in getting on my back while tightening her grip on my chest .
If someone were to look at how intimate we were acting with one another, he won't doubt that we are lovers for even a second, but the only people who were currently able to witness this scene here, was only dead people .
I sensed the seed in my lower abdomen getting stronger by the second and was quite happy about this, since it meant that now I can use more of it to protect myself and the girl on my back, but that was yet to be tested, what I did just now was enough to kill me, but the Panel came to my rescue as always .
What did you just do ? .
I already expected such a question, even though it had taken quite the considerable amount of time, knowing that our situation wasn't as tight as before, I said while continuing forward :
" Would you believe me if I were to say that I myself didn't know what happened exactly ? .
Of course the answer would be.... .
I do believe you .
I felt a head that seemed to weight a ton resting on my back after she gave me that response, I felt this much weight, because I myself wasn't able to tell why she had this much belief in me, was that responsibility I was feeling, but why would I have a feeling like that .
I got no time to dwell much on this, since the energy blades were raining down on us, but like before with the Energy Wisps, I began to feel much lighter while moving around here compared to before, I was able to use my two hands now and cover them with the power from the seed and absorb the incoming attacks that came towards us, but it seem as if I had triggered some defensive mechanism by getting closer to the Feather .
The barrage become even more intense, but I was now able to cover my whole body with that weird energy, after I gradually become able to cover my whole arms, upper body, head, torso, lower body, it was a gradual process that was hastened due to the increased in the amount of energy absorbed and the growth of the seed as a result .
It was first the size of a pigeon egg, but now it was as big as a clenched fist of a normal sized hand and it was still growing, after this much energy was absorbed, I had reached the peak stage Of Flesh Tempering, I achieved a breakthrough to the 9th layer and even reached the peak stage .
There was no need to worry about what Master says anymore, if a word about what was happening here was to get spread out, I'm most likely done for, just as I was about to take a step forward, a sudden pat on my shoulder appeared, looking at the girl who was silent all this time, I saw that she had an embarrassed expression on her face as she said :
I'm having a breakthrough, what should we do ? .
" Are you sure ? .
But my question was answered the moment I turned my head towards her, her body was flashing like jade, I instantly understood that something was wrong with here, so I put her down and said while shrugging my shoulders :
" What can we do, just focus on achieving a breakthrough and I will be here to watch over you .
But ... .
" There is no need for you to say anything more, just focus on your breakthrough .
Seeing how I cut her off resolutely, she lowered her head in shame, then sat down and her skin began to flash in white light like jade, I was certain that something was going on with the weird flashing, but what exactly, I had no clue, while waiting for her I began to inspect my body, my limbs feel lighter and thicker than before, my height seemed to have increased a bit too, the clothes now stuck to my skin .
My skin in all over my body seemed to have been tempered, but even with all this, I still felt something was amiss with my realm, it seem that I'm still missing something to breakthrough to the Organ Quenching Realm, as I was thinking of this, the wind around us suddenly were pushed away by another torrent of air that tore through the pressure for a few seconds .
While I held a horizontal slash of energy with both my hands and started to absorb it, the girl sitting behind me in such a dangerous environment rose up, then she stick to me like before and leaned into my ears and said :
You really are my lucky star, thank you .
But all I responded to her with was a simple nod, after this was over, I began to feel that the area from the bottom of my neck all the way to my head was beginning to heat up, I felt as if my whole body was starting to boil like a cauldron, luckily we had already arrived at a close enough distance to see our goal for all that we have been through, mine at least .
The barrage of attacks had also came to a stop and I was feeling restless more and more, the girl on my back began to sense a bit of heat coming from my body, I was starting to fume, my whole skin was turning red in color, urging my Blood Qi felt like I was harboring Lava inside of me .
What in the world was wrong with me ? .
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