Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
In the state of All-Seeing God, Lou Cheng withdrew his Qi and blood at the perfect time. Immediately, the crystalline shell of the Jindan burst apart and scattered all over. Within it, the lands and waters went into a turbulent state. Losing its balance, the Jindan was on the verge of disintegration.
With a boom, the cold waves surged and unfurled violently. The piercing coldness forced Lou Cheng out of the state of Force Concentration. He could only watch as the Dan Force fell apart, his mind returning to its place. He could only watch as the veins and vessels—starting from his abdomen—turned rigid. He could only watch as the liquid of life, reeking of metal, froze in an instant. The sanguine cruelty permeated him inch by inch. It reached his intestines. It reached his heart.
Thump, thump, thump!
Lou Cheng’s heart contracted and expanded violently, pumping out warm blood and invigorating streams of fire flowing from his delicate parts. The flame put up a tough defense against the lonely coldness. The loud noise from it resembled a drum being drummed, reverberating in every corner of the training arena.
Thankfully this all happened in the torso region. If it had occurred at the head, it would most likely have left irreversible damage! When the Jindan disseminated, Lou Cheng’s brain would likely have be damaged by the impact. His solution to that was to find the right time and contract his Qi and blood with the aid of Encountering Gods in the Void! He had to move the main battleground to his abdomen!
After the eruption of his Dan Qi, with the gushing of his blood, a fatally low temperature rapidly spread across Lou Cheng’s body. Right away, it was about to pass his neck and spine and enter his head.
At that moment, Lou Cheng lowered his shoulders. Heat rushed into the blood, producing a white mist. The inside and outside balanced. When the blood reached his head, it was only mildly cold.
At the two pivotal points of the Yin-yang Taichi Diagram, Ji Jianzhang and Dou Ning, each wielded a longsword of one meter. By stirring at the magnetic field, they produced a swirling, intertwining light and darkness that mantled the frighteningly pale Lou Cheng in it.
The cold was being extracted, and warmth delivered. Lou Cheng’s body began to stabilize. His steaming hot blood melted the frost, retaking the affected regions.
If the third awakening of supernatural ability was only at this level, he felt that he could attempt it at the Inhuman Stage and have an exceedingly high chance of succeeding, provided that the Jindan had not yet disseminated. Unfortunately, the starry sky had already mutated. Unfortunately, the highlight was the disintegration that comes next!
At that time, the crystal-clear ice and scarlet-red flames, having lost their individual structures, had stopped spreading. A bright meteor shot across the sky with a fitful flare. The Great Suns resembled an enraged beast. What followed after the extreme repression and heavy tremor was going to be an extremely horrifying explosion.
Lou Cheng could already foresee it. A boom from inside his body. His vital organs being thrown out. His limbs, torso, and eyes sprawled across the ground. Him turning into minced meat.
This was no different to taking a last-ditch blow from a top-tiered Physical Invulnerability Master—at a vital spot no less!
The disintegration of a Jindan was enough to blow any Inhumans to smithereens, or even tear down a skyscraper!
That was when the Dragon King interfered. He reached out with his right palm, grabbing at Lou Cheng’s abdomen with fingers enveloped by exceedingly dense dark-purple flames. It went in without a sound, like a hot knife through butter, charring the blood vessels and sealing the ruptures along its path. Not a sanguine drop dripped out.
The dense flame, like a moth-attracted to the flame of a candle, caused the Great Suns to quickly converge around it. The heat and light released from them were all absorbed into Chen Qitao’s palms.
He withdrew his hand. At the center of his palms, the incandescent flames were exaggeratingly bright. The savage force, seemingly turning tangible, was about to blow up and turn everything into flat ground.
Impassive, the Dragon King suddenly clenched his hand into a fist. The dark-purple flames flared, and the incandescent flame was instantly extinguished before it could wreak havoc.
At the same time, he straightened his back and aligned his feet.
Deep beneath the the earth, a sudden explosion occurred and shook the ground violently. The alloy-forged training arena produced a clattering sound, nearly collapsing. At the nearest observatory station, signs of a low-magnitude earthquake was noted.
Lou Cheng felt the Great Suns in him quietly disintegrating, turning into pure Fire Force, charring his skin and clothing. The stars completely lost balance, and were about to expand and disseminate!
Geezer Shi, with a cough, reached out and pressed his left hand on Lou Cheng’s shoulder. His body turned mirage-like, as though an endless stretch of darkness and coldness resided within him.
Scratching through his disciple’s muscles, he grabbed hold of his blood vessels and abruptly dragged them outward. With Ji Jianzhang and Dou Ning’s repression and conversion, the crystal scraps from the brilliant stars naturally flowed into his arm, soughing.
Jerking his shoulder and swinging his forearm, Geezer Shi tossed the spreading cold waves behind him. He began coughing violently.
The air temperature fell sharply. Thick layers of ice instantly formed on the alloy walls and switchable floorboards. Nimbus clouds gathered in the room as snowflakes the size of goose feathers fluttered down. Rather than Jiangnan, it was more redolent of the North Pole.
The odd sight lasted for a long time. With the aid of the Physical Invulnerability Mighty Ones, Lou Cheng had, at last, made it through the most dangerous and volatile stage.
It was even more terrifying than what Geezer Shi had expected! Of course, that was mainly because he did not know that it was the Jindan at that time.
Lou Cheng did not relax. The scattered Jindan had brought forth many heat streams and cold waves, allowing them to roam freely in his body. At times, it charred his blood vessels. Then, it froze his body fluid. The relatively fragile vital organs were being damaged, causing internal bleeding everywhere.
Bearing pain that was intolerable to an average person, Lou Cheng found himself unable to control his body at all. He felt as though he had turned into a glass puppet. From the most delicate parts of his body, cracks spawned, connected and intersected.
Light and darkness intercrossed as Yin and Yang reversed. Ji Jianzhang and Dou Ning, with visible perspiration on their foreheads, danced their swords to help their grandson-in-law sort out his flame and ice. The wild energy backflow and negative effects began to smoothen and disperse gradually without causing the impact of a dam being flooded.
These were already tightly connected with Lou Cheng’s body. Other than this, there wasn’t much they could do. The rest was all about whether or not Lou Cheng could last until the end.
In the surveillance room, Yan Zheke seemed to have turned into a statue. Her crossed hands were pressed against her lips. Her hands did not move an inch, but the patterns of her protruding veins and vessels were completely different than before.
The intense pain bit at his heart. Lou Cheng, driven by instinct, wanted to pass out. Still, he managed to persevere and continued surveying his body. His teeth bit through his lips. Blood streamed down in rivulets, sometimes turning into ice and sometimes into steam.
As of now, the delicate parts of his body underwent changes with the raging ice and flames. Mutations that usually required a few days were being completed in a short amount of time, but the wounds in his vital organs were deteriorating. Lou Cheng felt as though he was losing control over his body.
If that continues, his genes might become corrupted and condemn him to a life worse than death!
Even if it weren’t that severe, the mutation of his root pulp had a high chance of erasing his supernatural ability!
Damn, I have to do something!
In the piercing pain, Lou Cheng extracted his consciousness, one bit at a time, until it rose above him.
For the sake of Ke Ke’s eternal promise! For the sake of not subjecting my Mom and Dad to pain and misery! For my pride and dreams! Lou Cheng’s thoughts screamed within him. His eyes, stretched wide open, were bloodshot. In the extreme pain, he finally managed to extract his consciousness from his body and entered an overlooking position.
All-Seeing God Mode!
Amidst the chaos that was happening in his body, Lou Cheng could not manage control on a microscopic level, but he gritted his teeth and channeled his blood to achieve Dan Equilibrium!
The cold enveloped the heat, and light illuminated the dark. Ice and fire balanced and revolved around each other, weaving into a new universe as though it corresponded with the external Yin-yang Taichi Diagram.
Under the guidance of Ji Jianzhang and Dou Ning, the process that began slowly and difficultly slowly became smooth and fluid.
The rampant forces in his body eased and changes happened at a slower rate. The burden on Lou Cheng’s body was reduced at once. Finally, he managed to pull through the terrifying stage where he could only rely on himself.
Stripped of its source, the energy backflow became weaker and weaker. Gradually, it was being contained. In his helpless state earlier, Lou Cheng had become numb to his pain, which allowed him to gradually regain microscopic control.
His blood and flesh squirmed to stanch his internal bleeding. When the Ice and Fire had weakened to a certain extent, Lou Cheng abruptly visualized the Forwarding Formula, keeping his negative sensations at bay and returning to a state of peace.
After that, he uttered the following words in a husky voice.
“Confrontation! Army! Fighting! Swordsman! Wholeness! Formation! Dequeuing! Forwarding! Attainment!”
The ancient characters appeared one after the other, forming a three-dimensional seal script which immediately contained the remaining power of the Jindan. Guiding the genes along, the root pulp mutation headed towards a state of near perfection.
Bam!
Lou Cheng suddenly swung his arms to the sides, punching out the remaining forces that he couldn’t digest. Air currents, with scarlet flames and crystalline ice intertwining, swept up and decorated the floor in a balanced pattern of char and ice.
After doing all that, he stood still as though he was inspecting, or spacing out.
Geezer Shi heaved a sigh of relief internally. He harrumphed.
“How are you feeling, smelly brat?”
How am I feeling? Lou Cheng snapped out of his dreamy state, realizing the weakness of his body and the severity of his internal wounds.
He bit down on the charred wound on his lips, went forward with a sliding step and jerked his arm into a side-punch.
His feet almost gave way and caused him to collapse, but his fist still went out determinedly.
Bam!
Half-slouching, Lou Cheng punched out again with difficulty.
He felt weak and strengthless all over, but it had been a long time since he felt this good.
The cold and heat energy backflow weren’t manifesting anymore!
Bam, bam, bam!
Like a Martial Artists struggling at his last breath, Lou Cheng’s body slouched lower and lower, but the look in his eyes became brighter and brighter.
Yes, I have lost my Jindan, the greatest source of my strength in the past.
Yes, due to the special circumstances of Dan Equilibrium, I couldn’t use the chance to make the great leap and attain Physical Invulnerability.
However, what I still have is myself, my powerful supernatural ability, my undamaged body, and my solid martial arts foundations!
However, I am no longer affected by sequela or other problems! I can steadfastly, and truly begin on a path of my own!
The slouching Lou Cheng suddenly lifted his head and roared, punching upwards.
Bam!
White mist and frost light shot to the roof, which contained the dense and burning white-hot flames.
The light fell down slowly, limning Lou Cheng’s exultant face.
From today onwards, I have regained freedom, like a fish swimming in the borderless ocean or a bird soaring in the vast skies!
In the surveillance room, Yan Zheke suddenly buried her face in her hands, sniffing softly.
They were tears of joy.