Chapter 105: Approaching
The entire Mechanical City was abuzz with activity. Although Xu Yunfan didn’t know what was being discussed, the atmosphere had grown noticeably more tense. Even the thousand-strong Quenching Blade Army, under the Sect Leader’s direct command, was now patrolling the city.
This day, Xu Yunfan had just finished a meal of Red Lion Trout fresh from Cuibo Lake. No more than two hours had passed from the moment it was caught to when it was served, ensuring its spiritual essence was maximally preserved.
Full and content, he soaked in the steam of his medicinal bath, watching the Skill Level progress bar in his vision climb at a dizzying rate. His Flying Leg technique was just one step away from Perfection.
In just twenty-seven days—less than a month—Xu Yunfan had trained tirelessly day and night, earning over a thousand points of Skill Level. Backed by sufficient resources, he was confident he could reach Muscle Refinement Perfection in three days at most.
Once he achieved Muscle Refinement Perfection, he would manifest the signs of Golden Skin and Jade Veins, and his power would naturally take another leap forward.
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An iron chain bridge, only three fingers wide, clung to the cliff’s edge on Guniu Mountain North Peak. In the twilight, a bronze wind lamp from the Hidden Blade Pavilion’s watchtower swayed back and forth.
This spot offered a panoramic view of the entire Mechanical City. From this cliff face, one could just make out Xu Yunfan’s private courtyard, located three li away within the city.
"So that’s Xu Yunfan?"
The speaker was a tall young man in white, no older than twenty-five. His brow was furrowed with a hint of frustration. Every movement revealed the clear, powerful lines of his muscles—solid, but not bulky.
"That’s him. I haven’t seen him leave his courtyard once these past few days. He hasn’t even visited Langyue Tower in the Mechanical City. He just trains every day. Rises before the roosters and sleeps after the dogs. I’ve calculated it—he doesn’t even sleep more than two hours a night."
Beside him, Yue Mountain rumbled, a look of admiration in his eyes.
Leaving aside their own rivalry, friction and conflict were only natural among the various powers of the Celestial Craft Cave’s Nine Peaks and Six Ministries, their interests constantly at odds.
But this man’s dedication to his training was beyond anything he could have imagined. It was enough to make his skin crawl.
A day or two of that would be one thing, but he had kept it up for a solid month. Even a man of iron wouldn’t be able to endure it, yet somehow, Xu Yunfan had persisted.
He turned his head to look at the young man.
"Senior Brother Qi, you placed seventh in the Various Sects Martial Arts Performance. That should be enough to secure a spot to enter the mountain, right?"
A flash of frustration crossed Qi Huan’s eyes. He shook his head. "I was off by quite a bit. I’ll have to compete for it again next year. I returned this time on my master’s orders to participate in the Weapon Casting Hall’s True Inheritance Ceremony and win a True Inheritor spot for the Hidden Blade Pavilion."
Yue Mountain said no more. Anyone could see that Qi Huan was in a foul mood.
Qi Huan fell into thought. Just as he was about to speak, his gaze suddenly sharpened, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
Xu Yunfan lowered the solid steel chains in his hands and looked toward the distant mountain peak, at the proud, upright figure of the young man in white.
As their gazes met, Qi Huan saw the nonchalance in Xu Yunfan’s eyes. Xu Yunfan’s expression was calm, but there was an undercurrent of coldness in his gaze.
’A worthy opponent!’
’An absolute monster of an opponent!’
Qi Huan’s heart grew heavy. His mind raced as he slowly retracted his gaze.
Only after watching the other man leave did Xu Yunfan look away, shaking his head slightly.
’With the True Inheritance Ceremony so close, all the ghouls and goblins are crawling out of the woodwork.’ These days, Fu Jin had been visiting more and more frequently. But seeing that Xu Yunfan never set foot outside his gate and was content to just hide away in his courtyard to train, Fu Jin couldn’t help but relax a little.
If Xu Yunfan had grown restless and decided to venture out, plenty of people would have likely sought a chance to challenge him.
Xu Yunfan himself was actually eager for a fight. But if his opponents weren’t formidable—or worse, were weaker people who overestimated their own strength—his Skill Level would barely rise. It would be nothing but an endless annoyance and a waste of training time.
Thanks to the elixirs, medicinal foods, and herbal baths, his Skill Level had been soaring these past few days. At this rate of cultivation, the daily increase in his Skill Level gave him a profound sense of accomplishment.
Late at night, Xu Yunfan slowly concluded his practice. He looked at his Attribute Panel; his Flying Leg was just twenty-five Skill Level points away from a perfect five thousand. He couldn’t help but feel a bit impatient.
Being this close to the finish line naturally left him feeling antsy.
"A pity..."
Xu Yunfan’s entire body ached. He felt as if every last ounce of strength had been wrung from him, leaving him unable to even lift his arms or move his feet.
His body had reached its limit. If he continued to train, it would break down.
He soaked in a medicinal bath as two brawny, muscle-bound disciples massaged his entire body, helping the medicinal properties seep into his muscles.
Afterward, he sat cross-legged on his bed and formed the Linn Character Seal with his hands. He silently recited the Supreme Kindness Heart Spell, and his Heart and Spirit swiftly sank into a state that was both void and not. His Self God emerged from the swirling mists to preside over his Sea of Consciousness, calming all stray thoughts.
Since reaching the entry-level of the Linn Character Technique, he had barely rested. Although practicing it made his energy more vigorous and his mind clearer, the Skill Level increased at a snail’s pace. Reaching Minor Achievement was still a distant prospect.
「Early the next morning.」
Xu Yunfan swallowed two Primordial Candle Pills. Then, he took out another elixir from his robes. It was the size of a quail’s egg, shaped like an iron pellet, and gave off a pungent medicinal odor. It was from Fu Jin.
It was a Sun-Rising Pill from the Jiuyao Sect, valued at a hundred gold. It was immensely beneficial for Martial Artists at the Martial Master level and was so rare it was essentially unavailable on the open market. Just holding it in his hand, he guessed it must have weighed at least five jin.
If not for Zhan Yan’s reputation as a Master of Weapon Forging, Fu Jin would never have been able to procure this elixir.
An ordinary person couldn’t even digest this iron pellet; swallowing it would most likely be fatal. But for a Martial Artist with a terrifyingly powerful digestive system, it was perfect.
GULP!
Xu Yunfan swallowed the pill. He felt an iron ball sink into his stomach, the weight so great it made his whole body lurch downward. He quickly engaged his stomach and diaphragm muscles, contracting them to keep the heavy pill from causing a prolapse.
Before long, wisps of warmth began to flow from his abdomen into every corner of his body.
He exhaled and began to move, barefoot, across the bluestone slabs of the courtyard. His toes gripped the ground like an Eagle’s Claw, the muscles in his calves knotting like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree.
The qi and blood in his body surged like a river bursting its banks. Every step kicked up a fierce wind, sending fallen leaves spiraling into the air.
The Yongquan Acupoints on the soles of his feet throbbed. His great tendons tightened and released like bowstrings. He became a blur, weaving between the plum blossom poles that occupied a ten-foot-wide space.
The medicinal power of the Sun-Rising Pill boiled in his flesh and blood. As he was Emitting Force, he channeled the energy into his great tendons, and for a moment, his legs burned fiery red.
CRACK!
By nightfall, the third plum blossom pole, one forged from Refined Steel, snapped under the force.
Xu Yunfan’s movements came to an abrupt halt. Beads of sweat trickled down his sharp jawline, splashing onto the bluestone slabs below.
He took a deep breath, picked up a stone lock, and strapped it to his ankle. All the old techniques for practicing the Flying Leg—the joint exertions, the force channeling, the hip thrusts, the gaits—flashed through his mind like scenes in a revolving lantern.
When the Sun-Rising Pill’s potency burned through his great tendons like a thunderclap striking a bowstring, he snapped his eyes open and leaped!
BOOM!
The three-hundred-jin stone lock crashed to the ground and gouged out a deep pit, but Xu Yunfan was already flipping over the wall like a sparrowhawk.
The night wind filled his robes, making them flap loudly. In the moonlight, his feet tapped lightly on the roof tiles—so lightly that the bronze bells on the eaves didn’t even have time to sway—and he had already drifted over a hundred feet away. His figure suddenly landed on a branch of the old locust tree in his courtyard, perfectly still.