Chapter 176: Time Passing Quickly, Countless Battle Outcomes…

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

That’s when something struck at him.

Splat!

Suddenly, a streak of white light struck at Yang Dingtian in the middle of complete darkness, and it instantly shot him out of the palace.

Yang Dingtian wasn’t just screwed over. No, it was much worse than that. He got knocked out without even knowing what happened. He didn’t know what he was fighting against. He didn’t know what the thing that hit him was. He didn’t even get the chance to test out his strategies.

After being sent to the hall, Yang Dingtian was picked up by the three-headed giant again.

“The trainee has been injured for the fourth time. I will now check on his conditions!”

“There is no sign of life in the trainee. There is a chance that he is permanently dead!

“The guardian will now prepare to eliminate traces of the trainee’s existence. This training session has been declared to be a failure…”

“The elimination process will begin after a ten-second countdown!”

“Ten!”

“Nine!”

“Eight!”

….

The giant’s grasp was becoming tighter by every second. Once it had counted down to one, there wouldn’t be a single trace left of Yang Dingtian’s dying body.

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

Suddenly, the giant felt a twitch in its hand.

“I suspect that there’s still a trace of life in the trainee’s body. The guardian will now reconfirm that…”

“The trainee is still alive. I shall now put him back into the holy water pool for another treatment…”

Out of all the times he had been knocked out in this secret realm, this was the closest Yang Dingtian had been to being killed.

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

Three days and three nights. That’s how long it took for Yang Dingtian to wake up from the magical green pool. For all the times he had been treated here before, this was by far the longest in the record.

Worse yet, Yang Dingtian wasn’t even fully healed when he woke up from his coma. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was himself in charcoal black.

He was burnt everywhere on his body. The injury was so bad that it was barely bearable to look at.

The thunder palace wasn’t just a bug of the whole Five Elements Hall. It was just a nightmare. You go in, you can’t find your enemy, and suddenly, you get struck by a flashing bolt without any means to defend yourself.

So the results did match Yang Dingtian’s expectations. The thunder palace was nothing more than a spare. If Yang Dingtian wanted to become a three star Mystic Martial Master, he could just train in the other four palaces.

Again, thunder was such a ridiculous element. Unless you are naturally immune against it, meaning you’re born with thunder as your element, there was absolutely no way to undergo the trial of the thunder palace.

It took about ten more hours for Yang Dingtian’s dark skin to wear off. He would prefer waking up much later, but now he’s got enough time to, well, look around him.

Just what exactly was this magical green pool made out of? Whatever it really was, it did have the power to heal up any kind of injury. Yang Dingtian could even make the statement that it could bring the dead back to life.

The thought of Yanyan suddenly came to Yang Dingtian. From judging from the first-hand experience, this pool could probably repair a meridian that had been completely destroyed.

The more he thought about the plausibility of it, the faster his heart started to beat. Yang Dingtian had never thought about stealing anything in his life before, but he could see a very good reason to violate that record.

So, the three-headed giant called this liquid the ‘holy water.’ It was a very befitting name; it sounded exactly like something that Yanyan would need for her devastating wound.

Yang Dingtian wasn’t going to take the risk yet, however. There was still quite a bit of distance before he could finish training in the Five Elements Hall. If there were a day he was going to commit his first theft, he would have to become a three star Mystic Martial Master beforehand at least.

Once he had refilled his mystic qi, Yang Dingtian grabbed his youngling sword and headed towards the golden palace.

As for the thunder palace, let’s just not mention it again. Yang Dingtian had no intention to traumatize himself for a second time.

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

The first room of the golden palace.

Just as always, a stone man dropped from the wall and swung its hammer at Yang Dingtian. Even its battle cry was repeated word by word.

Clang.

Yang Dingtian wasn’t wasting any time here. With a flick of his sword, he instantly knocked the hammer out of the stone man’s hand.

Swish.

And a slash to its head. The stone man stood with absolutely no chance against Yang Dingtian at his current level. To put it simply, the power gap between the two went from extreme to its polar opposite.

Of course, destroying the stone man was not as rewarding as it was before. If it were an enemy that could be destroyed within a few seconds, Yang Dingtian wouldn’t make any progress with his breakthrough.

With that being said, the boss awaiting in the next room was, by no means, an easy enemy to defeat. Yang Dingtian still remembered the traumatizing experience of being knocked away flying by just one hit.

Yet, he was much stronger now. He had only returned to this challenge after becoming a one star Mystic Martial Master, so who knew? Maybe the outcome would be much better than he had predicted.

Still, nine times the normal gravity was rather challenging to get used to. That would always be the case no matter what level you’re at.

After taking one step in, Yang Dingtian could see the silver robot charging at him with a giant sword in hand. He arched his legs, held his breath, held tightly onto his weapon, and readied himself for another fight.

“Agh…” Yang Dingtian yelled as he clashed swords with the robot. A few days ago, he was on the verge of death after blocking one hit from this thing in front of him. There’s no telling how different it would be this time.

“Agh…!” Yang Dingtian kept on screaming. Like two giant glaciers, the two heavy swords collided with each other. Neither one was ready to back down. This was a direct contest of strength, a match between two mystic qi users.

“Poof…”

Yang Dingtian spat out a mouthful of blood. He quickly took a few steps back and found his chest wallowing up in pain.

Another mouthful of blood. Not just that, both of his hands were trembling, and there wasn’t any sign of them stopping at any time soon.

On a good note, however, that was about it. The last time he fought against the silver robot resulted in a humiliatingly quick defeat. This time, he was still alive, he was still conscious, and there was still a chance for him to achieve victory.

The silver robot continued to charge at Yang Dingtian.

“Come on, bring it!” Yang Dingtian roared, “We’ll see who goes down first!”

Clang!

The swords clashed again. Yang Dingtian spat out another mouthful of blood, then took a few more steps back. He was still adjusting to the strength of his opponent, and he was very fast at it.

So just a small mouthful of blood and ten more steps back. Needless to say, the silver robot wasn’t letting Yang Dingtian take any breaks. No matter how many times he had retreated himself, the giant sword would always come at him to deliver deadly blows.

“More! More!” Yang Dingtian taunted as he was about to block the robot’s third strike.

Clang!

Eight steps back. A shot of blood filled up Yang Dingtian’s mouth, but he had no problem swallowing it back down again. Even now, he was still making new progress.

“More! More!” Yang Dingtian waved his sword around like an angry ape. The silver robot saw this and decided to accelerate training speed.

Fourth hit.

Fifth.

Sixth.

Seventh.

Eighth.

Ninth.

Clang!

Yang Dingtian wasn’t taking any step back after the robot’s ninth swing. The table was finally turned now.

“My turn now, you bastard!” Yang Dingtian screamed, then went straight for the silver robot’s head.

“Unyielding Sword, unyielding and indestructible…”

Now, the silver robot was the one on the defense.

“There’s still more on the way…” Yang Dingtian raised his sword again.

“Unyielding and indestructible…”

“Unyielding and indestructible…”

“Unyielding and indestructible…”

Three hits.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

A total of nine hits, and they were all Unyielding Sword. The silver robot was left with no opportunity for a counterattack.

Yang Dingtian leaned back for a bit. As dominating as he was now, he was pretty exhausted when he was about to deliver his last attack.

“Unyielding and indestructible,” Yang Dingtian chanted as he used up his last bit of qi.

Clang.

Despite having taken two steps back, the silver robot still managed to block the hit. If there were some qi left inside of Yang Dingtian, he would’ve just kept on making his push. Instead, however, he decided to take the chance and ran straight out of the golden palace.

Yang Dingtian wasn’t able to complete the challenge. That being said, he was still quite satisfied with the progress he was making. The next time, he would certainly remove the silver robot’s head from the rest of its body.

As he returned to the hall center, Yang Dingtian realized that all the muscles on his body already turned into countless tiny pieces. The parts that were bleeding just kept on bleeding, and there were literally gaps between his thumbs and index fingers.

Yang Dingtian was much stronger now, not just physically but also mentally. This time, he didn’t choose to heal himself up inside the giant’s chest. Instead, he chose to sit for another breathing session.

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

If anything, it felt really good when the mystic qi started channeling through his body.

“This feels so good…” Yang Dingtian cried out in relief. His qi vessel was dried up before, but now it was slowly starting to fill up again. Slowly and steadily, the qi was making its way through his meridian and eventually ended up inside his qi vessel. After a few hours, he was completely recharged again.

Since he was so close to defeating the silver robot, Yang Dingtian wasn’t looking to have another breakthrough during this breathing session. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge if he were to re-enter the trial after leveling himself up.

To Yang Dingtian’s surprise, however, a white light flashed out and put his body into a temporary state of rest.

Despite it being against his will, Yang Dingtian just had another breakthrough. The assumption was that he had to actually defeat the silver robot to level himself up, but he would’ve never thought that simply ‘winning’ against it would be enough to produce the result.

So he went from a one star intermediate to one star senior to a two star Mystic Martial Master. As satisfying as it was to make progress this fast, Yang Dingtian was starting to feel a little confused. Still, though, this was good news.

As his qi vessel was reset again, Yang Dingtian sat for several hours of breathing session.

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

After spending several hours to fill up his mystic qi, Yang Dingtian was ready to resume to his trial again. The destination, obviously, was still the second room of the golden palace.

This time, Yang Dingtian was feeling much more confident.

Clang!

Without waiting and just jumping straight to the business.

The moment Yang Dingtian took his step in, the silver robot came at him with a direct hit of its giant blade.

Clang!

Yang Dingtian wasn’t taking any steps back, nor was there any blood coming out of his mouth.

As shocked to see this, the silver robot flinched for a bit.

“Time to finish you now,” Yang Dingtian smirked as he raised his sword.

“Unyielding and indestructible…”

One hit, and the giant took three steps back.

Two more, and the giant took five steps back.

Three more. Nine steps back.

Four. More than ten steps back!

“Unyielding and indestructible…”

Unyielding Sword! With one solid hit, the silver robot was finally overwhelmed by the sheer force Yang Dingtian was generating.

“I’ll destroy you now!” Yang Dingtian shouted, and the silver robot was sent flying several meters back.

“Now! Be destroyed!” Like a tiger hunting a deer, Yang Dingtian kept on chasing the silver robot while it was still in mid-air.

After falling to the ground, the silver robot saw that Yang Dingtian already had his feet pinned to its body.

Unyielding and indestructible.

Unyielding and indestructible.

Unyielding and indestructible.

Unyielding and indestructible.

One and another. After taking ten or more hits, the silver robot’s sword was shattered into pieces. Yang Dingtian was finally able to damage straight to its solid hard body.

With every hit that was made, Yang Dingtian would leave a deep, spark-inducing cut to the silver robot’s body.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Fifty.

One hundred.

With Yang Dingtian’s leg stepping right on top of it, the robot had completely lost the ability to stand up. The most it could do was to wobble its limbs while lying flat on the ground.

“Now, get destroyed…” Yang Dingtian chanted as he channeled up his qi for a final blow to the spine.

A loud crash.

The silver robot was completely split into half by this devastating attack. After that, its remaining continued to shatter into even more tiny pieces.

With his Yin Yang Heaven and Earth Sword, Yang Dingtian was able to eliminate his fifth target in this secret realm. It was also his first time defeating a boss that was not from a palace’s first room.

With all the mystic qi depleted off his body, Yang Dingtian dragged himself back to the hall center from another breathing session. There was nothing more energizing than letting mystic qi run through your meridian, and Yang Dingtian absolutely loved the feeling of replenishing himself up.

After several hours of absorbing the qi from the Five Elements Hall, a white light flashed out Yang Dingtian’s body. However, he didn’t lose consciousness or anything, though.

What he had just witnessed then was a breakthrough, not a big breakthrough, though. He went from a two star Novice Mystic Martial Master to a two star Senior Mystic Martial Master. There was still a tiny gap between him and becoming a third star Mystic Martial Master.

Yang Dingtian was feeling very excited now. After all, he had just understood the functioning of this secret realm. The rest of his training here would be much easier from now on.

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

After several hours, both Yang Dingtian’s meridian and qi vessel were filled up again.

This time, Yang Dingtian decided to re-enter the wind palace. He was going to face the second boss of the wind palace secret room.

Yet another fight.

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

So just like this, seconds, minutes, hours, and many days have passed since Yang Dingtian had immersed himself in the training of this secret realm.

He was aware of the flow of time at first, but soon lost awareness of how much time he really was spending here. The only thing he was focused on was getting himself stronger by killing all the bosses in this place.

He didn’t know how many times he had been injured or how many times he was bathed in the holy water pool. He didn’t know many times he had been on the verge of death, lost count of the times his organs were damaged, nor was he aware of the times he had been sent to a coma.

Palace. Hall center. Holy water pool. Yang Dingtian was traveling between these three points. He had lost track of the amount of time he had spent in a breathing session, nor was he aware of the number of times he had a breakthrough.

Actually, how many times did he have a breakthrough? Yang Dingtian really had no idea.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep