Chapter 171: Extreme Tribulation, Breakthrough!

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

“If someone were to use this Five Elements Hall as a training base, how long would it take for him to, say, get from a five start Mystic Martial Artist to a Great Mystic Martial Master?”

“Authorisation has been granted. I am permitted to answer your question,” the stone giant responded, “It is two years for those who are talented and one and a half years for those who are extremely talented!”

That didn’t sound good to Yang Dingtian. From what he was hearing, one and a half years was still too long for him to achieve his goals.

“Well, how talented am I, then?” Yang Dingtian inquired. “You’re in the top 1 percentile,” the stone giant replied as it placed its hand on top of Yang Dingtian’s head.

“So long would it take for me to become a Great Mystic Martial Master?” Yang Dingtian persisted.

“One year,” the stone giant replied after doing a bit of calculation.

“The fastest I can do is a year?” Yang Dingtian asked. “Yes,” the stone giant confirmed, “Theoretically, someone with a meridian in the top 1 percentile would take one year to level up from a six start Mystic Martial Artist to a Great Mystic Martial Master.”

“Can’t it be faster?” Yang Dingtian asked. One year was just way too long for him.

“Not under usual circumstances,” the stone giant answered. “What about circumstances that aren’t usual, then?” Yang Dingtian persisted, “And what you mean by unusual circumstances?”

“Death mode is what I meant by unusual circumstances. Death mode is meant to be a simulation of real combat. Those who enter the death mode will risk injury or death.”

“If I go for that, how long would it take for me to become a Great Mystic Martial Master?” Yang Dingtian asked.

“For those with extraordinary talents, it would take half a year if they don’t die during the process,” the stone giant replied.

Half a year? If that’s how long this would be, there’s still not a lot of time for Yang Dingtian to finish his training. However, though, half a year would still give him some time to practice the third stage of the Pig Slaying Sword Art and find the Heaven and Earth Mystic Flame. There was still a bit of hope left for him.

“Sure, that’s fine. Give me the death mode right away,” Yang Dingtian demanded.

“Are you certain?” the stone giant asked, “Warnings: the risks you will face in death mode are the same as that of real combat. Your opponents will not show any mercy. Are you certain that you will risk injury? Death, even?”

“I’m very certain!” Yang Dingtian asserted.

The stone giant responded, “Please select your difficulty for entering death mode. You can choose between standard hard, intermediate hard, advanced hard, and extreme hard. Each level is 1.5 times faster than the one before it, meaning that the chance of you dying will be increased by 10% every time you increase your difficulty.”

From what the giant was saying, choosing standard hard would let Yang Dingtian become a Great Mystic Martial Master in half a year. If this number was to be put into the equation that was mentioned after, it was estimated that choosing extreme hard would let Yang Dingtian become a Great Mystic Martial Master in five months.

“What is the chance of me dying in standard hard?” Yang Dingtian asked.

“45%,” the stone giant replied, to which Yang Dingtian was actually kind of relieved. By this logic, it would take a little more than five months for him to become a Great Mystic Martial Master. Well, not to mention that the chance of him dying would rise to 75% if you chose extreme hard here.

“By the way, what level do I have to be to get out of this secret realm?” Yang Dingtian asked as he suddenly remembered the most important question.

The stone giant replied, “You must be at least a three star Great Mystic Martial Master to leave the sixth room of the golden palace. That is if you aren’t holding any weight on you.”

Too bad. Yang Dingtian thought he could leave as soon as he became a Great Mystic Martial Master. But no, he must spend a lot more time to attain three stars in his desired rank.

“Please select your difficulty,” the stone giant reminded once more.

Yang Dingtian grinded his teeth, “Extreme mode.”

The stone giant stated, “You have chosen extreme hard. The speed of your training is now increased by 15%. The chance of you dying is increased by 30%, and it’s now 75% in total. Please select again to confirm your choice.”

“I select again,” Yang Dingtian said.

The stone giant said slowly as a bright light flashed across the entire hall, “The Five Elements Hall secret realm will now increase its training difficulty to: extreme hard!”

Yang Dingtian hadn’t seen anything ‘unusual’ as of yet, but he definitely felt a chill at his back. It was like he was suddenly surrounded by danger in all directions.

***********************

So that’s what real combat mode was like. Before, Yang Dingtian could proceed with his training however he pleased, but now he had opponents to spar with.

Not just any opponents, too. Whatever was waiting ahead, it was not going to show any mercy to him.

Yang Dingtian headed towards the first room of the golden palace. Because of how nervous he was becoming, he had to take a long, deep breath before he opened the door.

To his surprise, there wasn’t anything inside the first room, where the mass was three times that of normal condition.

“Wait. What the hell?” Yang Dingtian scratched his chin as he looked from outside the room, but everything changed when he took his first step in.

Right after Yang Dingtian had made his entrance, a sharp light flashed across the room. A stone man then fell from the wall and charged right towards him.

Unlike the stone giant outside, this stone man was only about two meters tall. It had one head, not three, and it was carrying a hammer in its hands.

“Trespassers! Kill him!” The stone man shouted as it waved its hammer around.

Yang Dingtian was a bit surprised to see that his training had already begun, but he didn’t have much time to react, either. The stone man attacking him was very agile. It didn’t even look like it was affected by the gravitational pressure here.

“Swish…”

From the power of this hammer swing, Yang Dingtian could tell that this stone man was on the same level as him. The only difference seemed was that Yang Dingtian was much slower due to the threefold gravity here.

“Swish swish swish…”

In just a few seconds, the stone man had already made more than ten strikes with its hammer. Yang Dingtian actually had no way to make a counterattack. With that in mind, the best he could do here was to keep jumping backward until he found an opening.

But still. Under three times the normal gravity, Yang Dingtian couldn’t jump back as fast as he wanted either. Just when he was about to move his legs, the hammer was already about to land on his face.

“Crap…” Yang Dingtian raised his youngling sword to block the attack, but the hit was so devastating that it knocked him ten meters behind.

“Oof…”

One hit. It was just one hit, and Yang Dingtian was already spitting blood from his injury. He would like to keep on fighting, but his entire right arm went numb from blocking the attack.

Damn this place, and damn this stone man. It was just as strong as Yang Dingtian, but not only was it three times faster than him, its attacks were also three times stronger due to the gravity here.

In other words, Yang Dingtian’s ability was de-buffed 300%, but the stone man here was buffed by 300%! No wonder they called it extreme hard! Yang Dingtian was already injured in less than a minute.

And just like the stone giant said, the stone man didn’t show any mercy to Yang Dingtian. Just when Yang Dingtian was wiping the blood off his mouth, it was already running towards him again.

Yang Dingtian had two choices here: he could either retreat from the deadly attacks he was facing. Or, he could choose to confront it directly. Needless to say, anyone with common sense would go with the former.

However, Yang Dingtian made a different choice.

“Agh…”

While screaming towards the ceiling, Yang Dingtian moved his mystic qi around and stood still at where he was standing. He didn’t intend to move at all, because even if he did, what would be the point? He clearly had no way to dodge the incoming attacks.

As the stone man launched its attack, Yang Dingtian raised his youngling sword and swung as hard as he could. He wasn’t trying to make a counterattack at the very least. If anything, it was more of an attempt to parry away the hits.

“Unyielding and indestructible…”

Dang.

A loud clash followed by Yang Dingtian spitting another mouthful of blood. He flinched for a bit, then took another few steps backward.

The stone man, on the other hand, didn’t feel the need to take a break. It was still coming at Yang Dingtian, giving him no chance to adjust himself.

Dang Dang Dang Dang Dang.

Yang Dingtian had to block every hit with his Unyielding Sword technique. He wanted to save his energy, but he just couldn’t afford to do that.

After blocking thirty hits with Unyielding Sword, Yang Dingtian’s entire body was covered in blood. The muscles in his hands were splitting up, and he was forced to take another twenty steps backward. There wasn’t any mystic qi left in his body.

Unbelievable! Yang Dingtian had to spend four days to use up all his mystic qi before, but it took no time for this stone man to force out all that energy from him. At this stage, blocking thirty strikes was about the most Yang Dingtian could do.

“Kill the intruder,” the stone man shouted as it readied its hammer. Like all the hits before, it was trying to aim for Yang Dingtian’s head.

“Unyielding and indestructible…” Yang Dingtian chanted as he used his final bit of strength.

Dang.

Suddenly, an intense force was plunged inside Yang Dingtian’s body, almost ripping his organs and meridians apart.

To Yang Dingtian’s surprise, however, his life wasn’t quite over yet.

Somehow, while its owner was clinging onto his dear life, the youngling sword in Yang Dingtian’s hand generated a streak of qi and parried the stone man’s attack.

That being said, this qi wasn’t powerful enough to make the stone man retreat, but it at least gave Yang Dingtian an opening to make his escape.

Having seized this opportunity, Yang Dingtian ran out of the room and came back to the center of the Five Elements Hall. He knew the stone man wasn’t going to chase him if he got out of the training room.

And just like he expected. As soon as Yang Dingtian went out of the golden palace, the stone man immediately stopped pursuing him.

With his life spared once again, Yang Dingtian came to the center of the hall and sat down for a rest. He opened his ring of storage and reached for Ning Ning’s pill.

Ning Ning’s pill really worked like magic. Yang Dingtian felt like his body was falling apart, but after swallowing the medicine, he could feel a warm energy, swarming through his inside and washing away the pain.

After the healing was complete, Yang Dingtian grabbed onto his 150 kg youngling sword and stared at it in awe.

As its creator, Yang Dingtian knew his youngling sword didn’t have any meridian crystal or seal soul crystal in it. But if that were true, there should be no way that it could store mystic qi inside of it.

Yet, if that was the case, how did this thing shoot out qi just then? It happened very quickly, but Yang Dingtian could swear he saw that happening in front of him.

And why did this sword decide to do that? It was technically a newborn baby, so it shouldn’t have the intelligence to save its master’s life. There were simply too many questions to ask here.

Yang Dingtian had felt it before. He knew this youngling sword had some kind of soul inside of it. That soul might have a very unstructured form to it, but it was capable of forming thoughts and reflexive actions.

Oddly enough, it was capable of doing something that complex in its fetal form. Yang Dingtian was thinking of treating it just as a sword before. Now, he was thinking of treating it as a living being, a family member related by blood.

“Maybe I’ll name you after your look. Let’s call you Ugly from now on, how about that?” Yang Dingtian said, to which the youngling sword’s soul was moving around in a very volatile way. From Yang Dingtian’s perspective, however, it was unclear whether this reaction was meant to convey approval or disapproval.

“Meh, whatever,” Yang Dingtian shrugged his shoulders, “Whether you like it or not, Your name is Ugly from now on. If you have a problem with it, go tell me about it when you become a soul sword.”

Having named his own youngling sword ‘Ugly,’ Yang Dingtian resumed to his breathing session. He was very familiar with the process now, so it didn’t take long for him to wait for the mystic qi around him to travel into his starved qi vessel.

An hour later.

Yang Dingtian suddenly felt a slight bloat in his qi vessel. He just ranked up from a six star intermediate Mystic Martial Artist to an advanced Mystic Martial Artist.

Three hours later!

The mystic qi inside Yang Dingtian’s body was starting to move very rapidly. As a consequence of this, his qi vessel was also expanding in size.

A white ray of light struck across Yang Dingtian’s body. And just like before, Yang Dingtian’s senses entered into a temporary rest because of this.

After thirty seconds, Yang Dingtian regained control of his body. His meridian and qi vessel, too, were starting to flow once more.

Another breakthrough!

Yang Dingtian couldn’t believe it, but spending half an hour doing extreme hard training was enough for him to become a seven star Mystic Martial Artist. It was kind of hard to believe since he had just spent about eight hours to make the same progress before. This secret realm was really full of surprises.

Yang Dingtian continued on his breathing session. His meridian and qi vessel were now emptied again, and they were desperately absorbing qi from the air around them. This time, however, it took at least four hours for Yang Dingtian to fill up his meridian and qi vessel.

When Yang Dingtian was done with his breathing session, he saw that his qi vessel was not enlarged in any war, nor did he have another breakthrough.

*************************

Yang Dingtian said to his youngling sword, Ugly, “Let’s do this again. That stone man did me pretty bad before, but we’ll see if the same thing happens this time.”

It was about ten hours since Yang Dingtian was almost killed inside the golden palace. Having replenished himself up, he was ready to enter the first room again.

“All trespassers will be eliminated. They will be eliminated unconditionally!” As the stone man fell from the golden palace’s wall, it started charging right towards Yang Dingtian with its hammer.

Yang Dingtian was going to respond in the same fashion as before. This time, however, he could feel that his youngling sword was much lighter.

Dang

And the attack wasn’t as impactful now. Before, blocking one hit was already enough to send Yang Dingtian flying from where he was standing. Now, the same attack was just enough to make his hands flinch.

If anything, the stone man was the one who had to move. Yang Dingtian was bouncing off the attack so hard that its legs started trembling.

So that’s the difference between a six star and a seven star Mystic Martial Artist. Yang Dingtian actually had the upper hand now, and it was he who had to show no mercy to his opponent.

“Unyielding and indestructible…”

“Unyielding and indestructible…”

“Unyielding and indestructible…”

Yang Dingtian wasn’t changing his tactic. With every Unyielding Sword he was using, his swing came harder and harder at the stone man in front of him.

Eventually, the attack became so overwhelming that the stone man started stepping back.

“Break!” Yang Dingtian asserted his dominance at the stone man.

Bang.

While it’s unclear what the hammer was made of, Yang Dingtian was able to destroy it with one decisive strike. After that, he dissected all four limbs off the stone man’s body, leaving its upper body to fall to the ground.

After that, Yang Dingtian knocked out its head with the Pig Slaying Sword Art, sending the stone man’s skull a room away from the rest of its body.

Clatter Clatter Clatter.

After being completely destroyed, both the stone man’s remains and its hammer were shattered into dust, which then vanished after a breeze came across the room.

Nothing less of a seven star Mystic Martial Artist.

In less than a few minutes, Yang Dingtian was able to turn the table around against his opponent, which essentially marked the end of his first trial inside the golden palace.

Since Yang Dingtian still had more mystic qi inside him, he decided to check what the second room was like.

He knew that the gravity would be nine times heavier than usual in the second room. Just what enemies were waiting for him here, though, they were still unknown to him.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep