HSSB210: The Fourth Extreme Yin Bout
The Internal Crystal Furnace rumbled, overflowing with streams of light.
The furnace was actually circulating very slowly internally, enveloped by numerous clouds as it was impossible to clearly see what was happening within.
Yan Zhaoge appeared especially serious as he operated the Internal Crystal Furnace.
At the same time, he was also especially patient. He wanted to forge for himself a treasure purely created by him that stemmed completely from his intentions, compatible with his martial abilities.
Yan Zhaoge already had an idea of it within his heart, as he sought perfection as much as possible. This was not something that he could expect to complete in a single go.
Regarding this, Yan Zhaoge was neither panicked nor harried as in the midst of the forging process, he unceasingly fine-tuned and improved on his original thoughts based on the actual results seen.
In the days that followed, Yan Zhaoge’s days were extremely fulfilling, as he either worked on martial cultivation to raise his strength, on the studying of formation principles, or on the forging of his treasure with the Internal Crystal Furnace.
As time whizzed by, a few months had already passed.
Over this period of time, Yan Zhaoge spent nearly all of his time holed up working on his endeavours. It was only when the season when the Black Nightmare Storm of the Great Western Desert weakened was soon to arrive that he finally emerged.
“Ah Hu, help me to contact our clan’s people in the Wind Domain, getting ready some necessities beforehand,” Yan Zhaoge stretched his body lazily, with Ah Hu nodding, then leaving to carry out his task.
Squinting, Yan Zhaoge raised his head to look into the forest, rays of sunlight penetrating through the gaps between the branches and the leaves.
“The Fourth Extreme Yin Bout should already have ended. I wonder what the result was?” Murmuring to himself, Yan Zhaoge pondered as he walked.
In the Fourth Extreme Yin Bout, Broad Creed Mountain had still remained on the sidelines, not participating.
While Feng Yunsheng’s Extreme Yin Physique had already been restored, she was still in the midst of cultivation.
Not only Yan Zhaoge, even Fu Enshu and the other higher echelon experts of Broad Creed Mountain, while greatly feeling the urgency of the situation, did not ask Feng Yunsheng to participate in the Fourth Extreme Yin Bout by a tacit understanding.
The reason was none other than Feng Yunsheng still needing more time to make up for the two years she had missed.
Her opponents were also improving, similarly giving it their all to progress rapidly, and not staying where they were waiting for her to catch up.
As Yan Zhaoge pondered, he came to the little valley which Feng Yunsheng resided in.
There, as expected, he saw Feng Yunsheng cultivating diligently and painstakingly as always.
Her sabre-wielding hand was always stable, but within the depths of her gaze, there seemed to be flames surging, getting more and more blazing hot.
Outsiders would generally find it very hard to understand what kind of strength someone who obtained a chance after plummeting down to the bottom of the lowest valley, having gained a chance to regain that which had been lost, could erupt with.
Feng Yunsheng’s will and resolve were all the best of the best, all of the pressure on her being transformed into motivation as she continued pushing herself beyond her limits.
Even while she had temporarily not been dispatched by Broad Creed Mountain to participate in Extreme Yin Bouts, she could also understand that as she just worked even harder in raising her abilities.
Yan Zhaoge stood silently where he was, looking at Feng Yunsheng cultivating in martial arts.
On the other side, another person was cultivating in martial arts in a methodical manner.
That was a child who was still not even twelve, yet had already refined his qi into aura-qi, stepping into the Martial Scholar realm!
Ying Longtu had successfully broken the record set by Yan Zhaoge’s father Yan Di, becoming the youngest recorded Martial Scholar of the entire Eight Extremities World following the time of the Great Calamity.
The current Ying Longtu was fully focused, his gaze flickering with an intelligence that usually could not be seen within, cultivating without the slightest sign of fatigue whatsoever, his level of concentration not inferior to Feng Yunsheng by the side in the least.
It was only at times like this where he didn’t seem as slow as he usually was.
Accompanied by his punches, the qi and blood of his robust body surged, far surpassing many martial practitioners of the same cultivation level.
Yan Zhaoge smiled as he watched the two cultivating. In the distance, the giant panda Pan-Pan was currently seated on the ground, extremely boredly stuffing food inside his mouth. Seeing Yan Zhaoge now, his eyes instantly lit up as he ran over towards him.
“Following junior apprentice-sister Feng, your stomach has been blessed,” Yan Zhaoge smiled as he hugged Pan-Pan, stroking his huge head.
Feng Yunsheng’s small black dog Little Meaty had long since gotten close to Yan Zhaoge. While she didn’t rush over like Pan-Pan, she also wagged her small tail happily.
Finishing with his fist-technique, Ying Longtu retracted his stance. Seeing Yan Zhaoge, his eyes also lit up, heading over towards him as he smiled somewhat shyly, “Senior apprentice-brother Yan.”
Yan Zhaoge smiled, “Have you met with any problems in you cultivation?”
Scratching his head, Ying Longtu worked hard to consolidate his thoughts, “Before, I heard a senior apprentice-brother said that it is hard to achieve both speed and power at the same time, also having used Infinite Boundless Mountain and the Heavenly Thunder Hall as a comparison. However, it just felt like he was wrong somewhere.”
Yan Zhaoge smiled. Han Long’er was frank indeed, just that he did not know why he had not promptly brought up this query to that senior apprentice-brother.
“What he says is right, whilst also wrong,” Yan Zhaoge explained, “Purely saying that it is hard to achieve both speed and power at the same time is not accurate. Punching out with your fist, as long as your fist is fast, the power contained within it will not be low.”
“People often say that the Heavenly Thunder Hall’s attacks are as fast as flashing lightning and like the descent of thunderbolts. The first half is speaking of its high speed, while the second half praises its fierce attacks.”
Yan Zhaoge raised his palm, pushing forward, “However, when we strike, it is always connected to the matter of force exertion. Only with force both accumulated and exerted is an attack truly launched.”
“But in the process of accumulating and exerting force, one would have to make a choice between speed and power. In most situations, the more ample the accumulated force, the fiercer the exerted force, just that the time required will also be longer.”
Yan Zhaoge looked at Ying Longtu, “It is often said that Infinite Boundless Mountain and the Heavenly Thunder Hall walk extreme paths-the split between them actually lies here.”
Ying Longtu nodded rather dazedly, “It is in the entire process of exerting force where the choice between speed and power lies, with speed not being an entity independent of the exerted force.”
Yan Zhaoge smiled, “That’s right. Rather than saying that the difference between Infinite Boundless Mountain and the Heavenly Thunder Hall lies in the speed of their techniques, it might as well be said that there is a difference in the speeds at which techniques are executed.”
“In terms of style in power, both of them walk roads of toughness, with the Heavenly Thunder Hall’s attacks being more violent, and Infinite Boundless Mountain’s more forceful.”
As the two talked, Ah Hu arrived within the valley, his face wide in an open grin as he came up to Yan Zhaoge.
“Young Master, I have already contacted the Wind Domain’s side as you instructed,” Following his normal report, Ah Hu then said happily, “Also, the results of the Fourth Extreme Bout are out-the Sacred Sun Clan’s Meng Wan failed!”
Yan Zhaoge raised his brows slightly, “Speak more specifically of this.”
Ah Hu smiled happily, “A problem seemed to crop up with Meng Wan herself, with her meeting defeat in the final round of the Bout.”
Yan Zhaoge knit his brows slightly, “Did our clan’s spectating Elder bring back a recording of it?”
Ah Hu nodded, “Yes.”
Watching the scenes of the battle play out for real, not only did Yan Zhaoge not rejoice, his expression instead turned grave, “What I had feared has truly happened-the worst case scenario has surfaced.”