Chapter 94 - Training s.p.a.ce
Unedited cough cough
Lin Yi felt a little awkward upon hearing Jiao Yazi"s words- he was most likely conscious. A guy in a dream wouldn"t be asking himself if he was dreaming, at the very least.
"So where am I right now?" Lin Yi asked curiously, convinced that he wasn"t dreaming. Where was he? He was lying in Mengyao"s villa one second, and he was transported to this weird place the next!
"This is the fourth dimensional s.p.a.ce within the jade." Yazi said with a hmph. "I really can"t imagine how someone can be as stupid as you are- You"ve finally come! I"ve been waiting in this jade for many years…"
"What? I"m in the jade?" Lin Yi wasn"t a coward or anything, but he couldn"t help but drop his jaw in surprise upon hearing the words.
"That is correct." Yazi frowned. This guy"s the fated one..? This is a little too much…
"Then how did I get in?" Lin Yi asked as an important issue crossed his mind. Didn"t this Yazi guy say that he"d been waiting in the jade for years?
"Naturally, you gain entry right after falling asleep." Yazi answered faintly.
"Hah?!" Lin Yi blinked in disbelief. "That simple?"
"How complicated did you expect it to be?" Yazi rolled his eyes at Lin Yi. "I"m absolutely speechless- so many years, and you"ve never, ever fallen asleep… You… You...You… You"re really amazing. Very amazing, as my mentor would say."
Lin Yi didn"t know what to say… He"d found a scroll for the Art of Dragon Mastery the same time he"d found the jade, so naturally he followed the process on the scroll and replaced sleep with training… Years just pa.s.sed like that.
"I… I"ve been practicing the Art of Dragon Mastery……" Lin Yi explained embarra.s.sedly as he scratched at his head.
"I know that, I can see you from the jade." Yazi hmped coldly in response. "Honestly, I must say- it"s quite impressive for you to train for nothing all these years. Really amazing kid you are, what commitment."
"Ugh…… For nothing..? That"s a bit much don"t you think… I"m even at the late phase of the first stage……" Lin Yi smiled bitterly.
"Oh?" It was Yazi"s turn to be surprised. He shot an arm out and Lin Yi dodged in response, only for it to be fruitless- the man tapped his hand on Lin Yi"s arm much faster than Lin Yi could"ve imagined. The guy looked like he freaking teleporter! What confused Lin Yi, however, was the fact that he felt nothing from the movement- the guy was like an illusion or something.
"You"ve managed to get to the late phase even under those circ.u.mstances? I must say, you have talent." Yazi said, not expecting this.
"Haha…" A soft grin crept across Lin Yi"s lips as Yazi praised him. The guy kept calling him stupid since the moment they met, even mocking him by saying how amazing Lin Yi was… The praise this time around sound genuine, and it felt nice.
"But… what a pity!" Yazi shook his head. "You would"ve been able to get to this point after just a few months, but you used up a long ten years! A waste of both talent and youth……"
"Ugh……" Lin Yi didn"t expect another blow from Yazi like that, and didn"t know what to say. Yazi"s words got him thinking, however- was he destined to never make the breakthrough? He couldn"t help but feel sad at the notion. "Are you saying that I can"t break through the first stage and into the second?"
"Break through the first stage? Is your goal to just get to the second stage?" Yazi asked, stunned- he never expected the guy to have such low expectations.
"Are you saying there"s more stages I can reach?" Lin Yi asked in turn, stunned as well.
"If only you"d entered the jade ten years ago, working hard without talking big… You"d have broken through the third stage already!!" Yazi said, his eyes full of pity as he looked at Lin Yi. "Though, it"s not difficult for you to achieve that at your age, except there"s only one problem: it gets harder the older you get!"
"......" Lin Yi was stricken with grief and regret- he felt like crying! Who would"ve thought that his years of hard work would turn out like this? He"d started training with all his heart without delay the night after finding the Art of Dragon Mastery, and look where that got him?! It was a complete f.u.c.k up! He"d have jumped in bed for a good sleep from the very start if he knew about this!!
The old man sighed. "Don"t look so down. You won"t be able to be an outer s.p.a.ce walker like my mentor, but it"s really good too if you manage to break through the third stage." Yazi said as he looked at the disappointed Lin Yi, intending to cheer him up. "There might even be a genetic change you"re not expecting, making you super strong instantly… You never know."
Lin Yi lit up a little at the words- if what Yazi was saying was true, then it wasn"t that bad. He thought about how strong he got with just this last phase of the first stage, and concluded that breaking through the third stage would make him into an absolute beast. Lin Yi decided that he"d settle with just that- he didn"t want to be too greedy.
"Are you saying I"ll be able to break through the first stage right now?" Lin Yi asked, a little excited after having cheered himself up.
"Naturally." Yazi nodded. "The energy within this s.p.a.ce is many times and even tens of times higher than the energy you"d find in the outside world- meaning that the training taking place here would be tens of times more effective than any training you do outside. It"s especially so if a breakthrough is imminent; the outside world has too many unfavourable circ.u.mstances and surroundings pitched against you, thinning the energy- you"ll never have a supply of energy with a magnitude enough for something like breaking through stages: this is also why you always fail at breakthroughs."
"Ah?" This was the first Lin Yi heard about this talk of "energy". He did understand his training as absorbing a portion of qi from the natural world- he"d just a.s.sumed it was qi because of the wuxia novels he"d read. It was termed as energy, apparently, according to Yazi.
"Although, I"d suggest that we cut the chit-chat. You"d better get training soon, that set of stone doors were set up by my mentor a long time ago, and even I myself wouldn"t be able to force it open, even if my physical body were here!" Yazi said faintly. "Don"t waste your time with any more bulls.h.i.t if you don"t wanna miss this opening."
Lin Yi"s eyes widened as he remembered the time- it was almost five years, and the doors were opening! He never expected to discover a secret like this within the jade right before that took place!
He"d only seen the jade as a premonitory warning system that protected him from harm, but as things turned out- it was a full fledged training s.p.a.ce, with a Jiao Yazi guy just waiting for him in there!
Lin Yi got the general gist from Yazi"s words- the Art of Dragon Mastery was left behind along with the jade by Yazi"s mentor. He didn"t know what kind of a powerful character this mentor was, but he understood one thing- he got lucky big time!!
(I translated what Yazi calls his master as "mentor", but it"s actually "mentor"s mentor)
Chapter 95 - Just Like That?
"Wait, one last question……" Lin Yi asked quickly; the guy seemed to be getting impatient.
"Speak." Jiao Yazi said dully.
"Who are you, exactly? And who"s this mentor you keep talking about?" Lin Yi asked curiously.
"I am Jiao Yazi, as I"ve just told you." Yazi answered. "My mentor, naturally, is someone of absolute power and ability, though that is not of your concern. You also don"t have to fantasize about becoming his pupil just because you picked up a scroll and jade he made when he was bored! Impossible!"
"Ugh……" Lin Yi wasn"t sure where this wa.s.s coming from, but Yazi"s eyes seemed to be asking "who do you think you are?", and Lin Yi didn"t understand what he"d said to p.i.s.s him off- the guy was obviously calm and neutral just awhile ago.
Lin Yi thought about it, and came to a realization- the guy who left the scroll and jade was the master of Yazi"s master: this meant that Lin Yi would be Yazi"s elder if he were to go under that guy"s tutelage! No wonder Yazi was so upset! Lin Yi smiled at Yazi at the thought. "Of course not! Even if I were to become anyone"s pupil, it"d be Elder Jiao before anyone else!"
"Hm… Not bad, kid- you know your stuff!" Yazi said as a smile finally squeezed its way onto his face. "Well, I"ve seen your sincerity, so I guess I"ll teach you for a little bit!"
"Ah…" Lin Yi smiled, deciding to leave it at that. He then sat down cross kneed on the floor, entering a training state.
Lin Yi decided to stop asking about the mentor- Yazi obviously didn"t want to talk about it, and there was no point in forcing it. The time would come eventually, if Yazi deemed it necessary or appropriate to speak to Lin Yi about it.
An overwhelming amount of energy surged into Lin Yi"s body from all directions, taking Lin Yi aback with shock. He"d experienced fast absorptions in the deep mountain forests before, since there was more natural energy there in comparison to the cities… But it was nowhere near fast as this! It was as if all barriers were removed, allowing the wealth of energy to flood in with no restrictions at all! A sensation of overflowing filled Lin Yi"s body up before he managed to control the absorption rate.
"Fuu…" Lin Yi noticed Jiao Yazi looking amused some distance away, and Lin Yi squinted his eyes helplessly. Did the old guy think this was some sort of joke? Couldn"t he at least warn him about something like this beforehand?
The energy from all around continued surging into Lin Yi even after he"d limited the absorption- the only difference was how fast it was going in. It wasn"t long before Lin Yi felt a sensation of the energy filling him up, capping as if his body was at its limit… But the energy never stopped flowing in!
Lin Yi started sweating at the sensation- what was going on? He"d never went through something like this before!! Lin Yi was a bit frightened, but continued to let the energy flow in nonetheless- there wasn"t much more he could do to stop the flow.
He felt like a magnet, pulling everything to him without halt.
"Jiao Yazi……." Lin Yi said, calling for help- he felt like he"d explode any minute now…
But the guy only looked at him, as if he were watching a show- it was obvious that there"d be no help coming from him.
A rumbled sounded, and Lin Yi"s body started breaking down from the pressure- his entire essence seemed to explode as his clothes blackened into crisps, flying away from him.
"Fuu……"
Lin Yi"s eyes fell on his red, naked body just as he thought he"d died. He was standing right in front of Jiao Yazi, and an indescribable sensation permeated throughout the entirety of his body- it was very pleasant indeed.
Was this a breakthrough? Lin Yi was dumbfounded- he"d never experienced a breakthrough before, and the burst of overflowing energy was a strange sensation to him as well. Lin Yi didn"t know what to say.
So that was why Jiao Yazi didn"t do anything about it- he"d expected this to happen from the very start!
"Well, how was the breakthrough? Feels pretty nice, doesn"t it?" Yazi spoke up.
"It does feel nice, but I didn"t expect the energy here to be so overwhelming that I"d make a breakthrough just like that- I thought I"d died, even." Lin Yi said, smiling bitterly.
"You were on the verge of a breakthrough in the first place, but there"s just too many hazardous circ.u.mstances in your surroundings outside. There"s simply not enough energy for a one time burst like that." Yazi said with a smile. "There"s plenty of energy here, that"s why you had the energy needed to break through instantly."
The explanation enlightened Lin Yi: So he was on the verge this whole time, and all he needed was a supply of energy strong enough for a single burst? It also seemed that an overflowing like that only came about during breakthroughs, and there probably wouldn"t be surges like that during regular training.
"Thank you, Mister Jiao." Lin Yi gave the old man a genuine bow- the guy had helped him a great deal no matter what, and Lin Yi had only sincere grat.i.tude.
Yazi was a little stunned at the bow- this Lin Yi was acting so solemn and serious all of a sudden. "Okay, kid, no need to be so serious. You can call me Elder Jiao or Old Jiao from now on, whatever you want. Actually, let"s stick with Mister Jiao……"
"Then I"ll call you that." Lin Yi nodded in compliance. "Mister Jiao, so do you think I"m ready for training the second stage?"
"The second stage? Do you have that?" Yazi asked, startled.
"Huh? Don"t you?" Lin Yi looked curiously at the elder, startled as well.
"Where am I to pull one out for you? You"re supposed to go get that from behind the second set of doors." Yazi said, a little speechless.
"Doesn"t that belong to your master"s master? Did you not practice it before?" Lin Yi asked, even more speechless than Yazi.
"So I have to train something just because it"s my master"s master"s?" Yazi said with a roll of his eyes. "My path is different from this one, I train in different things. This one"s for you to master only."
"Ah… I see... " Lin Yi scratched his head awkwardly- his mentality seemed to be limited by conventional thoughts. The guy was right, he didn"t have to train in the Art of Dragon Mastery just because his master"s master left it behind.
"You think I"d be asking you to hurry up if I knew that art?" Yazi continued helplessly. "Don"t be expecting too much from me now, I"m just an illusion! My function here"s pretty much just a lecturer: I tell you about the uses of the training s.p.a.ce and things like that, also maybe chatting with you a bit if you"re feeling down or bored… There isn"t much beyond that! The rest depends on you yourself."
Lin Yi only blinked speechlessly at the statement. It seemed that even slacking off wasn"t an option anymore, there was no second stage for him to train yet… It was still a while before the gates opened- what should he do with his time before that?
top 4 isnt going anywhere, ezzzz XD