The ‘Floating sword’ technique didn’t take long to understand as Bi Fan had already mastered the basics of a similar technique, the ‘Rainy-fly sword’.
‘Fire and ice dragon’ and ‘prancing tiger’, formed a complete set. This new ‘inner energy’ refining method suited Bi Fan perfectly, and the ‘prancing tiger’ boxing technique’s power, amplified multi-fold with its help.
Bi Fan studied the ‘fire and ice dragon’ technique several times, and then started practiced it without any hesitation.
As the ‘fire and ice dragon’ burst started running inside his body, ‘inner energy’ started flowing like waves through the innermost beings of his body.
The ‘fire and ice dragon’ burst was much faster than the Longevity burst method as far as restoration of ‘inner energy’ was concerned, but didn’t have the same effect in terms of healing power.
The ‘Fire and ice dragon’ Burst, must be a very high-level method, as it seemed to gelling with high-level martial art techniques brilliantly, and was providing excellent support in making them even more powerful.
Ling Xin Ya hadn’t made any mistakes and had picked out the perfect techniques to suit Bi Fan’s style. After Bi Fan had understood these new techniques, he started practicing the ‘prancing tiger’ fist again, and could feel the ma.s.sive increase in its power.
The fourth book that he had received was about footwork; a technique named ‘Babu Swimming Dragon’. ‘Babu Swimming Dragon’, coupled with ‘Swimming Dragon’, formed a very suitable match for the ‘Floating sword’ technique and could even be used with the ‘fufeng double-edged sword’ to deliver great results.
‘Babu Swimming Dragon’ and ‘Swimming Dragon’ were relatively new techniques and Bi Fan paid special attention to them.
As compared to ‘Dance of the mist’, the ‘Babu Swimming Dragon’ was a lot faster, and required a lot lesser effort in terms of energy, which meant the Bi Fan could use it more freely.
As far as the ‘Swimming Dragon’ fist was concerned, it wasn’t as forceful as the ‘prancing tiger’ fist, but still, was an awful lot quicker when used properly, and required much lesser strength when used along with the ‘Babu Swimming Dragon’. Bi Fan deemed the ‘Swimming Dragon’ fist as a more suitable choice, when it came to hand-to-hand combat, as it required much lesser energy and strength.
Behind closed doors, Bi Fan continued to practice in full force; he also dedicated a good amount of time to refine and enhance his physical strength as well. He would restore his energy when exhausted, and then get back to his practice; in fact, he barely rested. Even then, Bi Fan couldn’t help but feel that he was one step behind the entire time, as if needed more time; he needed to put more effort, and needed more time still.
In a flash, one month pa.s.sed by; Bi Fan hadn’t even stepped out of residence the entire time.
The ‘Swimming Dragon’ and the ‘Babu Swimming Dragon’ techniques were coming through very well, and could be used in a battle to confront the enemy. The ‘fire and ice Dragon’ burst was complementing the ‘prancing tiger’s’ starting moves brilliantly and would come in handy.
At present, Bi Fan’s inner energy was at the pinnacle of the ‘brave’ layer and he could make the breakthrough very soon. His strength had been growing as well; in fact, his strength had already surpa.s.sed his ‘inner energy’ and had reached almost nine Yun Shi.
Bi Fan’s combined strength had reached almost seventeen Yun Shi, which meant that he had, in a way, encroached into the ‘transformation’ layer.
Even though he could compete with the ‘transformation’ layer now, but winning against a combatant of a higher layer would still not be very feasible for him, as the difference in strength of these two layers was far too great.
However, Bi Fan was confident that with the help of the armor that he had purchased from the Ting Feng valley, he would be able to survive inside the first layer of the Devil’s Abyss.
If he could somehow find a nucleus to power his armor, then it would enhance its defensive capabilities and make things a lot easier for him defensively.
Once he was ready, Bi Fan decided to visit Ling Xin Ya, and initiate the process for entering into the Devil’s Abyss.
“It’s not recommended, but since you’ve made up your mind, I won’t stop you. But, be very careful.” Ling Xin Ya cautioned.
Ling Xin Ya took out a Double-edged sword, which was adorned with purple bird feathers at the bottom of its hilt, wisteria armor plus helmet and a Yin Yang pouch, and handed them over to Bi Fan.
“Bi Fan, as your master, it’s my duty to prepare you; and this equipment might prove out to be life-saving, in case you’re face with adversities.”
“Thank you master!” Bi Fan was genuinely very grateful, and he accepted his master’s gifts with both hands.
Ling Xin Ya stated: “First you must go and get ready; request your big brother, Yang Feng, to help you out with the arrangements. Come to my chambers tomorrow morning and I’ll send you to the first layer of the Devil’s Abyss.”
Bi Fan took his master’s leave and went out to find Yang Feng. He asked Yang Feng for some water, food, a change of clothes; the basic necessities of life. Finally……he asked Yang Feng for some herbs, after all, he needed to prepare food for the Marten as well.
Yang Feng didn’t even ask once as to what Bi Fan intended to do with all these things, and he simply arranged for everything that Bi Fan had requested.
“Thank you, Big brother…” Bi Fan was grateful; in fact, he was almost at a loss of words.
Yang Feng said: “Bi Fan, be careful once you enter the Devil’s Abyss. And always remember, that your life is the more important than anything else.”
“I know, big brother.”
Soon after, Yang Feng told Bi Fan about the things that he had personally experienced inside the Devil’s Abyss, and some of the things that Bi Fan might need to look out for.
Bi Fan listened very attentively, as he was well aware that this information might vitally save his life someday.
Once Bi Fan returned to his chambers, he opened the Yin Yang pouch and realized that it contained a lot of spars and Dan pellets. The Dan pellets included some healing Dan and antidotes, amongst other high-level Dan pellets.
“Master is too kind to me.” Bi Fan was touched; he felt overwhelmed with a sense of grat.i.tude.
The Sword that he had just received was much better to the light-ray sword that he was currently using.
The Wisteria armor was also pretty good. Anyway, his body would need protection from the enemy’s attacks, and this armor looked good enough to protect him in moments of need.
A good armor is a like the treasure for the body’s defense.
He was going to enter the Devil’s Abyss tomorrow, and so Bi Fan started making the final preparations; starting with revising the new techniques that he had learnt in the past month.
Equipment, books, Dan pellets; all ready and collated, so they could be easily accessed in the moments of need.
Once everything was ready, Bi Fan decided to rest for a few hours, until dawn.
As the sun lit up the bright blue sky, Bi Fan combed his hair, washed his face and then, made his to Ling Xin Ya’s chambers.
Bi Fan’s mind was riddled with a lot of emotions; excitement, antic.i.p.ation, anxiety, fear and curiosity.
“Young Bi Fan, are you ready?” Ling Xin Ya asked in a grave tone.
Bi Fan answered: “Yes master, Bi Fan is ready.”
“The Yangshan peak’s ancient masters, opened up a channel to the Devil’s Abyss in a time gone by, however, this is only a one way pa.s.sage, which means that the Devil’s race cannot enter Yangshan through this channel. However, in order to return from the Abyss, you will require a special medium, a special conveyor seal. This conveyor seal, you must protect by all means; for, if this seal is lost, you will not be able to return to Yangshan. Remember, that the seal must be used only after spending at least fifteen days inside the Devil’s Abyss, otherwise, it won’t work and you will end up losing your only chance of return.” Ling Xin Ya stated.
Bi Fan took the conveyor seal and incorporated it into the Tian Yuan ring.
Fifteen days… Bi Fan wasn’t just going to hide inside the Devil’s Abyss, and he fully intended on using this time to practice his martial arts, hoping that he can break into the ‘emerging from the womb’ layer.
Actual combat was the fastest way to increase strength, and Bi Fan simply wasn’t going to miss such an excellent opportunity.
Bi Fan planned on extending his stay inside the Devil’s Abyss as much as possible, unless he was met with a very critical situation. The Jiu Yu List was less than year away now, and Bi Fan had his sight set on winning the tournament.
Ling Xin Ya opened the channel. The channel was very deep, its end wasn’t even visible, and one simple couldn’t make out where it led to.
Bi Fan didn’t hesitate as he entered the channel.
The insides of the channel were very dark, and even though Bi Fan had an excellent night vision, he still couldn’t see a thing.
He floated in the air for a while, for a long while….
He had no idea as to how long he had been inside the channel, but then suddenly he landed on solid ground.
The second he hit the ground, he quickly put on the armor that he had purchased at the Ting Feng valley and the Wisteria armor that he had received from Ling Xin Ya, in order to protect his body from any immediate attacks.
Yang Feng had told him many things about the Devil’s Abyss, one of them being that the Devil’s Race could be found almost everywhere inside the Devil’s Abyss. And sometimes, an unfortunate pract.i.tioner may fall into a group of enemies upon arrival.
In such cases, sometimes, the pract.i.tioner in question could die instantaneously; a sad and somber death, as the pract.i.tioner may not have even had the time to react and certainly wouldn’t get to experience the Abyss either.
Bi Fan had just worn the armor, when suddenly; a dozen or so attacks befell his body.
“Boom! Boom! …..” The attacks were violent and strong; but fortunately for Bi Fan, he had two good quality armors protecting his body. Due to the excellent defense that he his body was being guarded by, the attacks failed to cause any damage.
‘Rainy-fly Sword!’
With his new sword in his hand, Bi Fan cast out the most powerful sword technique that he knew the best.
His sword flew and blood sprinkled.
Bi Fan had already killed at least a dozen beasts in a very short period, and the floor was soaked in their blood.
Bi Fan hadn’t even had the time to take a look at his surroundings, as he had managed to land himself in a large group of creature, which now, surrounded him.
These devilish creature that surrounded him, had the most grotesque of appearances. In fact, some of them seemed to be made of black gas, and it appeared as if they could transform their appearance as well.
With his sword play called into action from second one, Bi Fan had already managed to kill a pretty large number of the creature that had initially surrounded him.
The Devil’s creature that surrounded him weren’t very strong, and most of them hadn’t even reached the ‘inner breath’ layer, so naturally, they didn’t stand much of a chance against the likes of him.
Soon, Bi Fan had managed to kill the majority of them, while the rest fled.
At last, there were no more beasts left to pounce at him and finally, he could at least glance at his surroundings.
The Devil’s Abyss had its own sky, which was complete with a Sun; A purple Sun.
The Devil’s Abyss looked relatively gloomier than Tian Yu; the vicinity was devoid of any vegetation, while the ground comprised of black gravel and sand.
Since he had first arrived here, Bi Fan had been feeling very uneasy, as if he simply wasn’t suited for this kind of an environment; he could feel the chills going up and down his spine.
He had already slaughtered a lot of creatures, and so he decided to incorporate the carca.s.ses of the strongest ones into the Tian Yuan ring.
The Devil’s race that dwelled the Devil’s Abyss sometimes contained nucleus inside their skulls. But even then, the frequency wasn’t very high, and they were still a rarity.
At present, Bi Fan had no time to inspect the carca.s.ses of the creatures that lay all around him, as he simply couldn’t clean up the mess that he had made, and he didn’t want any more creatures to come looking for him, attracted by the sounds or stench of this ma.s.sacre.
The Devil’s Abyss was vast and had an awful number of occupants dwelling inside it. Mostly, humans entered the Devil’s Abyss in groups, as they would need to rest from time to time; and having companions meant that someone could watch out for trouble, while the others rested.
At present, Bi Fan also needed to rest. Left with no other choice, he summoned the Chimera. And with the Chimera standing as guard, Bi Fan started restoring his inner energy, as he decided to rest for a while.