Chapter 455: Chapter 442: You’re Not Dead Yet?
Black Death puffed out his chest, sucked in his gut, and lifted his head, striking a pose like a hero marching to his doom. Then, he leaped into the wooden tub and was instantly encased in ice.
As expected of a Commander, he didn’t make a single sound the entire time.
The other four Commanders and all the members of War Wolf looked on with admiration.
At first glance, his brawny, thick-waisted frame might lead one to believe he was nothing but a simple-minded brute. In reality, he was incredibly intelligent with an unyielding will.
Otherwise, how could he have ever become a Commander of the Purple-clothed Guard?
A corner of Ying Huo’s mouth curled into a smirk. "How about a little wager?" he said to the other three. "I bet Black Death can’t last an hour in that tub. The stake? Ten Middle Grade Spirit Stones."
One Middle Grade Spirit Stone was equivalent to a hundred Low Grade Spirit Stones, making ten worth a thousand. This was no small wager.
"I’ll take that bet. With Black Death’s Cultivation and willpower, I have absolute faith he can last more than an hour!" Shadow Charm was the first to agree.
You Yue secretly glanced at Shen Lang and smiled enchantingly. "I don’t normally gamble, but since the ever-so-straitlaced Ying Huo is making the suggestion, how could I possibly refuse?"
Her bewitching demeanor nearly caused some of the men in the War Wolf ranks to lose their composure.
Evil Song grew furious. With a cold expression, he said, "What do you think you’re doing? Black Death is helping our lord test the potency of this terrifying Medicinal Liquid. Instead of supporting him, you’re using him as a gambling chip? And in front of our lord, no less? How dare you!"
From within the wooden tub, the now-frozen Black Death was moved to tears of gratitude and couldn’t stop himself from speaking. "Evil Song is the best after all..."
Evil Song shot a cold glare at Ying Huo. "Ying Huo!"
Ying Huo chuckled awkwardly. "Hey now... I was just kidding. Don’t take it seriously."
"No," Evil Song said, a faint smile on his lips. "What I mean is, since you’ve already made the offer... put me down for five shares of that bet!"
A strange noise came from within the ice sculpture, as if something had shattered...
Beside the tub, Shen Lang pressed his palm against Tie Feng, pouring a surge of Spiritual Power into him.
The Spiritual Power transformed into a wave of heat that coursed through Tie Feng’s meridians, finally causing his body temperature to slowly begin to rise.
A moment later, Tie Feng slowly regained consciousness.
He struggled to lift his head and look at Shen Lang, asking, "My lord, does this mean I’ve succeeded? My whole body is numb. I can’t feel a thing. It’s like my limbs don’t even belong to me... I bet if someone cut off my little buddy right now, I wouldn’t even notice."
"Tch! That bastard should’ve just frozen to death!"
A group of women in the crowd blushed and cursed him, while the other men roared with laughter.
In a situation like this, only a character like Tie Feng, out of the thousand people present, would say something so outrageous.
Shen Lang shook his head. "Succeeded? You’re a long way from that. I already felt the dose in this Potion was too potent for the average person. I’m just surprised you didn’t kick the bucket after half an hour."
"..."
Tie Feng was speechless, on the verge of tears. He knew Shen Lang’s experiments were terrifying, but not *this* terrifying.
’So I really did take a walk on the edge of death.’
’But for some reason, even though it feels like my limbs aren’t my own, I also feel completely reborn. It’s like my entire body is brimming with power. I really did reap some great benefits... Bwahahaha!’ Tie Feng gloated inwardly.
Shen Lang turned to Nalan Ziyun and the other two. "Ziyan, you three should head to the other side of the forbidden grounds first. I’m going to finish calibrating the Potion’s dosage here, and then I’ll join you."
Shen Lang’s own Physique was extraordinary, so he couldn’t be used as a benchmark.
He needed War Wolf members from every Cultivation Realm to test it so he could determine the appropriate Potion strength for Martial Artists at each level.
Otherwise, they might end up like Tie Feng, passing out after half an hour in the Potion. Another half an hour, and they would likely be dead for real.
"Okay."
Nalan Ziyun gave Shen Lang a deep, affectionate glance, then nodded and walked out of the canyon with Shen Moran and Chu Qingcheng.
...
「Three hours later.」
Beyond the knife-edge cliffs lay the other side of the Profound Dao Sect’s forbidden grounds.
The crowd gathered here consisted of elite disciples below the Xuanwu Realm, selected from the Profound Dao Sect and four other sects through a major competition.
In two months, this group would travel to the Imperial Capital to participate in a ranking tournament.
Only by achieving a certain rank in this tournament would they earn the right to enter the Yumu Cave Blessed Land for its trial.
For now, these several hundred individuals were gathered here, being personally instructed and trained by the Elders from their respective sects.
It was currently a break time.
A crowd had gathered around Chu Qingcheng...
Some came seeking his guidance on Cultivation... While Chu Qingcheng was known for his outrageous statements, even the Elders deeply admired many of the casual remarks he made about cultivation;
Female disciples from various sects were drawn to him like moths to a flame... When it came to attracting women, even the demonically handsome Mo Ge couldn’t hold a candle to him;
And many more were just there for the spectacle.
But that rascal Chu Qingcheng never gave anyone a straight answer. When people asked him about Cultivation, he would always pivot to matters of character and personal conduct.
He would bamboozle everyone with grand principles until their heads spun, yet they couldn’t help but feel that he had a point.
For instance, Tang Yiyi had come to ask him about Swordsmanship.
Chu Qingcheng told Tang Yiyi, "You can hear all the wisdom in the world, yet still fail to live a good life. You can meet countless good people, yet still fail to find true love. You can have a thousand dreams, yet still be unable to see the future. You can see a world of scenery, yet still be unable to walk every path."
Shen Jianfeng discreetly took out a brush, jotting it down while nodding in agreement.
"I asked about the flaws in my Swordsmanship, not for your philosophical ramblings," Tang Yiyi said coldly.
Chu Qingcheng smiled faintly. "A sword, a saber... they are merely extensions of your limbs. Flaws in your swordsmanship are often just reflections of flaws in your state of mind. The ultimate height a person’s swordsmanship can reach is rarely determined by talent, but by their character—by their heart."
"When you have a knot in your heart that you cannot untie, your Cultivation may advance, but your Swordsmanship will often stagnate. This problem will only become more apparent as your Cultivation and your perspective grow."
"The mind moves the will, and the sword is born from the heart. Only when your sword is no longer the blade in your hand, but the blade that resides within your heart, can you reach the state of forgetting both self and object, the Realm of the Unity of Heaven and Man."
"Xiaolang shattering your Spiritual Artifact with a simple Cloth Stick proves this very point. Yet you’re still hung up on your defeat. If this continues, the very sword in your hand will lose its spiritual essence, becoming a mere object with form but no soul. Go back and reflect on my words."
Tang Yiyi nodded thoughtfully and walked away.
"Damn, where did you learn all that?" Shen Jianfeng asked, his expression full of admiration. "I was completely lost, it sounded so profound and unfathomable. It even shook my state of mind a little!"
"Er... I was just making it up," Chu Qingcheng whispered. "Didn’t you notice? That whole speech would work on you, or pretty much anyone else. I learned it from a fortune teller."
"..." Shen Jianfeng was dumbfounded.
Just then, Mo Ge silently broke away from the crowd and walked off.
Ever since he emerged from the Life and Death Reincarnation Array, Mo Ge had become even more taciturn, and his gaze had grown more terrifying.
Aside from Su Rong, basically no one dared to get near him.
This Fierce Beast-like momentum he exuded wasn’t the result of any Cultivation Technique or his Cultivation Realm; it seemed to be innate.
In the past, he had been quiet, but he had never explicitly pushed Su Rong away.
This time, however, when Su Rong approached his side, Mo Ge held out a hand to stop her. "Don’t follow me."
Tears welled up in Su Rong’s eyes. She bit her lip, her expression aggrieved as she watched Mo Ge’s retreating back.
Chu Qingcheng watched Mo Ge’s back, sighed, and said gently, "Matters of the heart can’t be rushed, Junior Sister. You have to learn to let things go."
"Let it go... How can I just let it go?" Su Rong asked reflexively.
Chu Qingcheng flicked open his paper fan and said with suave confidence, "If he is naive and new to the world, then show him all its worldly splendors. If his heart is old and weary, then take him to gaze upon the great sea. If his heart is just beginning to flutter with love, then you disrobe and entice him. If he has known a thousand women, then you win him over at the hearth and home. As long as he’s not made of stone, no matter his state, he will have a weakness. Exploit it, and you’ll be ’facing the sea, where spring blossoms warm the air.’"
Hearing the phrase "disrobe and entice," Su Rong shot Chu Qingcheng a harsh glare, but the corner of her mouth curved into a slight smile.
At that moment, however, everyone’s gaze shifted to the space behind Chu Qingcheng.
Chu Qingcheng turned, and his face instantly scrunched up like a bitter melon. Not far behind him, standing under a large tree, Shen Moran was watching him with a frosty expression.
Clearly, Shen Moran had heard every word.
"Oh, Moran, that wasn’t me! It was Xiaolang! Xiaolang taught me all of that!" Chu Qingcheng explained frantically.
Seeing his chance, Shen Jianfeng, who was standing nearby, immediately decided to kick him while he was down. He pointed at Chu Qingcheng and said with a deeply pained expression, "Old Chu, oh, Old Chu... *sigh*!"
Shen Moran said nothing, simply turned, and stalked off.
"I’m done for, I’m done for..." Chu Qingcheng quickly chased after her.
...
Elsewhere, Tian Hao, who was once again wrapped up like a Mummy, was drooling as he stared at the disciples of the Xiu Hua Sect.
Yan Qi, standing beside him, couldn’t watch any longer. "Can I ask you something? You’re beaten to a pulp, so how can you still be staring at their chests?"
"That’s two questions! As for the first one, it’s *because* they beat me up like this that I have to get my fill of looking. Otherwise, I’d be taking a total loss, wouldn’t I?"
"As for the second question, a woman’s chest is her pride, a man’s hobby, a baby’s beverage, and a lover’s snare. Now you tell me, is it important or not?"
Yan Qi nodded thoughtfully. "You know, when you put it like that, it actually makes a lot of sense... Hey, your nose is bleeding!"
"Huh? Oh! See? My injuries aren’t just superficial, I have internal damage too!" Tian Hao wiped away the nosebleed and went right back to peeping.
Suddenly, Shen Lang appeared from behind Yan Qi.
He glanced at Tian Hao, noticing he was once again covered in bandages, and couldn’t help but do a double-take. "Weren’t your injuries already healed? How did you get back into this state?"
"None of your damn... Ah! Junior Brother! You have to get justice for me!"
Tian Hao’s first phrase was vicious, but the moment he turned his head and saw Shen Lang, he immediately broke into a loud, sorrowful wail.
His wail was filled with such an indescribable sense of injustice that it seemed powerful enough to make it snow in the middle of summer.
It was so "moving" that the beasts in the canyon scattered and fled, while the disciples from the various sects rolled their eyes in exasperation.
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