Immortal

“By the way, what are you practicing?”  Nanbatian asked.

“Dayang Shengong.”  Zhong Shan answered.

Though Nanbatian had expected it, he found it difficult to believe that Dayang Shengong could be so powerful.  He could only conclude that Zhong Shan was a fierce man.

“Thank Tianling-er for that.”  Zhong Shan said.  It was because of Tianling-er’s tip that had made it possible for him to find the manual.

“You’re welcome.  With this wooden statue, let’s forget about what had happened before.  If anyone at Kaiyang School gives you a hard time later on, just tell them you’re with me.”  Tianling-er proudly proclaimed.

Since she had become more familiar with Zhong Shan, Tianling-er was back to her old self.

Zhong Shan smiled, but didn’t reply.  In his mind, he couldn’t see himself doing that; a man who had to use a woman as a shield would be too gutless.

“I heard my dad said that your innate talent wasn’t too good.  But it seems that you’ve been progressing just fine?”  Tianling-er asked.

“Uh.”  Zhong Shan looked at Tianling-er and felt quite depressed.

“That’s right.  You’ve made good progress.  Maybe not among the fastest but at least not behind.”  Nanbatian also was curious.

Zhong Shan then pointed the kiln to them and told them about what he had been doing to practice.

Tianling-er was amazed at Zhong Shan’s unusual method and looked as if she wanted to try it out herself.

“However, I’m working hard to break through to the second level right now and it’s very difficult.  Now the kiln alone isn’t enough.”  Zhong Shan said.

“The Dayang Shengong manual is originally from Yenshan Peak.  It needs an extremely hot place to practice.  The kiln is good but the temperature won’t be hot enough.  But, don’t worry.  You can go to Yenshan Peak to practice in the future.  It’ll do you good.”  Nanbatian said.

“Yenshan Peak?”  Zhong Shan looked to the distance, the peak stood where the sky was full of red clouds.

“That’s right.  I was practicing in one of caves over there.  Yenshan Peak is actually a huge volcano.  The temperature underground is scorching hot.  You can achieve faster progress in much shorter time over there.”  Nanbatian explained.

“Volcano?  Then what about Xuezhu Peak?”  Zhong Shan pointed to another peak in the distance.  There was still snow slowly falling in some areas on that peak.

“You could say that it’s an iceberg.  The peaks at Kaiyang School, one is extremely hot, one extremely cold.  They are the wonders of our school.”  Nanbatian laughing said.

“It won’t work.  I’m close to Kaiyang Peak; there’s quite a distance from here to Yenshan Peak.  There may be many monstrous beast on the way.  I can’t go often.”  Zhong Shan frowned and said.

“Oh, wait.  I’ll be right back.”  Tianling-er immediately said.

She stepped on to the red silk after she finished and flew towards Kaiyang Peak.

Very soon, she flew back with a pair of white boots in her hand.

“My dad had these made for me before.  Wind Chaser Boots.  You wear them and infuse it with your genuine energy and those monstrous beasts won’t be able to catch up with you.”   Tianling-er said.

“The monstrous beasts at Kaiyang School are actually set free by the school for training new disciples.  In general, if you reached the sixth level, you don’t have to worry about them anymore.  As of now, you can’t beat them, but with these boots they won’t be able to catch up with you.  You can quickly pa.s.s through the mountain ranges to the peak.”  Nanbatian said.

“En, thank you very much.”  Zhong Shan earnestly said.

“You gave me this wooden statue and I’ll give you this pair of Wind Chaser Boots.  We are even now.”  Tianling-er said with a smile.

Zhong Shan nodded.  There was nothing more to say.  He knew in his heart that a small wooden statue was in no comparison to this pair of boots.  He would make it up to her in the future when he got a chance.

“Oh, yeah, Zhong Shan, I heard from my dad that you are not young any more?”  Tianling-er asked.

“Eighty.”  Zhong Shan told them the truth.

“Eighty?  You’re much older than Xiaonanzi and I?  You have to work harder, otherwise, it would be too bad if you died before you reach the Gold Core Stage.”  Tianling-er said with amazement.

“Die of old age?”  Zhong Shan frowned and looked at Tianling-er.

“Sure.  People who’ve reached Xiantian can live two hundred years.  Once you reach the Gold Core Stage, your lifespan doubles, 400 years.  When you move up to the Nascent Soul Stage, it’s 800 years.  Every time, you move up one stage, your lifespan doubles. You are already 80 and only at the first level of Xiantian, so you only have 120 years left.  You have to work extra hard.”  Tianling-er quickly answered.

“En.”  Zhong Shan nodded.

Immortality?  It looked like he still had a long, long way to go.

“Why did it take you 80 years to reach Xiantian?  Oh, I remember, my dad has said that there’s not enough spiritual energy out there so the progress is slower.”  Tianling-er said after pondering for a while.

Looking at Tianling-er, Zhong Shan shook his head and gave a wry smile.  Even though Tianling-er had advanced quickly, she still was quite naive.

“Oh, yeah!”  Suddenly, there was a trace of anxiety in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”  Nanbatian asked.

“Dashixiong comes back today.”  Tianling-er became somewhat anxious, or perhaps somewhat worried.

“Dashixiong?  The dashixiong of the third generation of disciples?”  Zhong Shan asked.

“No, he’s the second generation’s dashixiong.  Ling-er worships him.”  Nanbatian laughed.

“Hum, Xiaonanzi, don’t talk nonsense.  I have to go now.”  Tianling-er stared at him, then flew away in a hurry.

“Dashixiong of the second generation?”  Zhong Shan was confused.

“En, he’s the headmaster’s first disciple.  Even though Ling-er and I are the third generation, she calls him shixiong since she’s the headmaster’s daughter.”  Nanbatian explained.

“En.”  Zhong Shan nodded.

“Alright, I’m not going to chat any longer.  This time, it’s not just the second generation disciples that are coming back, there are a lot of others coming too.  It’ll be getting pretty hectic soon.  I’m not going to keep you company.  Practice well.”  Nanbatian said.

“Alright.”  Zhong Shan nodded.

After Nanbatian left, Zhong Shan immediately sat down with his legs crossed.  He needed time to recover after using the Demonic Body Toning Method after all.

The next day, Zhong Shan completely recovered and his body grew even stronger.

Zhong Shan lightly stepped into the Wind Chaser Boots.  The size of the boots seemed to change according to the size of his feet.  It was really magical.  He pushed his genuine energy into the boots and ever slightly raised his feet, he instantly rushed forwards more than ten meters.  Checking the distance he took with just this one step, Zhong Shan realized that his speed was more than five times faster than before.

With the boots, Zhong Shan was not afraid of those monstrous beasts any more.

Zhong Shan also recognized the fact that he didn’t just need to practice the machete forms but also needed actual combat experience to enforce it.  If he ran into a few monstrous beasts, he could fight them with all his might; if he couldn’t handle it, he could always run away with the boots.

However, the machete forms was only external practice, he would have to immediately continue his internal practice of Dayang Shengong.

With the machete on his back, he ran out with the boots on his feet and aimed at the Yenshan Peak in the distance.

Zhong Shan moved very fast.  He only needed to touch the gra.s.s lightly and his body would slide across a great distance.

By evening, Zhong Shan had reached a forest.  Zhong Shan discovered that there were different climates inside the Kaiyang School.  In his own yard, it was very comfortable.  While at this place, it was steaming hot as if it was the height of summer.  And it got hotter and hotter as he delved deeper into the forest.

It was true that this was the perfect place for his practice.

After eating some food, Zhong Shan continued forward.  At this moment, another mountain lion appeared not far behind him.

Looking at the mountain lion, Zhong Shan smiled to himself: let’s give it a try one more time.

He took the machete from his back and met the approaching mountain lion head on.

“Bang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~” …………………….

After an hour, Zhong Shan was covered in blood while the mountain lion lied next to his feet after he used the Demonic Body Toning Method.

He looked at the peak off in the distance and looked again at the road going back.

Zhong Shan pondered and made the decision to go forward.  He took out the inner core from inside of the mountain lion and continued to walk towards Yenshan Peak.  Though the aftereffects of Demonic Body Toning Method began to act up after an hour, Zhong Shan staved it off with his immense willpower.  In any case, as long as he had the boots and didn’t challenge any monstrous beast, the beast wouldn’t be able to catch him anyway.

By daybreak, Zhong Shan pa.s.sed a quiet valley.  The valley was very quiet and hidden away.  There was a pond inside the valley.

Looking over the blood that covered him, Zhong Shan shook his head and ran to the pond.  When he got near, he discovered that this was not a pond but a hot spring, a volcanic hot spring.

Zhong Shan quickly shook off his amazement and took off his clothes.  He jumped into the hot spring and began washing himself.

Footnotes