Chapter 11: Condensed Defensive Airflow & the Three Realms & the Mysterious Realm
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
“Oh, his eyes… ”
No one knew that a handsome young man had been standing atop the roof. It was the man that had previously appeared in Qingyang Market. He had intended to go deep into Misty Mountain to pluck herbs, but when entering into a small village on the edge of Misty Mountain, he had come across a black bear foraging for food and then followed it here.
Of course, he was not a man who would do a courageous act for a just cause, and he had no intention to defend the village. He was the sort who always acted according to his feelings, and it was curiosity that drove him to follow the black bear… just to see what would happen. He just wanted to ease the boredom of the journey, and had not expected to witness such an incident.
When Little Shiba dashed toward the black bear, the handsome young man could not help grinning, laughing at this boy’s audacity. He was very surprised that a boy, only three or four years old, should be able to stand up after suffering such a heavy blow! At least, it seemed that his willpower was certainly excellent. Because of this, he gazed at Little Shiba appreciatively and got ready to give him a hand. Just at that moment, he caught sight of Little Shiba’s eyes.
Little Shiba roared, and a plume of thick blood appeared in his eyes. It looked just like the clouds of the evening sunset reflecting a red glow across half the sky, clear and bright ruby-red. His pupils darkened against the thick blood. Around his pupils, a faint circle of black veins loomed up, showing some hint of devilishness and mystery.
It seems just like those eyes from the legends! But it’s said that such eyes have become extinct. How can they appear here? Well, he seems to know a bit about martial arts, although his Internal Qi still seems somewhat superficial and diffused… it’s better than nothing. Let me have a look at the boy with such a pair of legendary eyes and see just how much ability does he have.
The Younger retracted the index finger of his right hand. With great interest, he fixed his eyes on Little Shiba, who had been standing up staggering when the black bear made a lunge for him.
“Hey, boy, do not let me down. Otherwise, I’ll eliminate everyone here! Ah ha ha… ” The Younger let out a grin, spreading an atmosphere of bleakness with his cold breath.
The black bear was so fast that it rushed in front of Little Shiba in the blink of an eye. He wielded his colossal paws, slapping Little Shiba.
Seeing that the black bear was so fast and so close to Little Shiba, Zhou Hua and Wang Tianlei’s parents all covered their eyes. They would never have thought that Little Shiba could escape from such a dangerous situation.
Ordinarily, there would indeed have been no chance for Little Shiba to escape. But he twisted his body and rolled on the ground just as the black bear launched his attack. A blinding flash of strange light was sparkling in his devilish eyes.
At that crucial moment, he suddenly saw a world that was totally different from all that he had known before.
In his eyes, the whole world slowed down, just like in those slow-motion scenes on TV in his previous life. He could even see clearly that the black bear had slowed down when lunging toward his head, thus enabling him to dodge easily.
So, he gently twisted his body to dodge the black bear and then unintentionally fell into a somersault, rolling toward an axe that he had dropped before. With a quick yank, he pulled it into his hand.
Failing to knock Little Shiba down, the black bear flew into a rage and swooped down upon him, snarling.
This was his chance!
Aware that the black bear was about to pounce on him again, an idea flashed through his mind. He shrank back, turned a somersault, and seized the opportunity to give the bear a fierce slash.
At that time, the black bear was roaring and did not see that Little Shiba was about to hack at him, so it did not dodge the axe. Little Shiba took this advantage and with all his strength chopped deep into the bear’s throat.
Hacking at the bear had drained Little Shiba’s strength. He turned over and lay on his side, unconscious.
“Little Shiba… ” Zhou Hua called in a squeaky voice. Then, she felt a burst of pain in her abdomen.
“What rotten luck! She’s going into labor!”
The Younger’s face contorted upon seeing Zhou Hua. His figure flashed by and then disappeared from the roof. Almost at the same time, a crowd of people, hearing the cry, flooded into the courtyard. However, they were too late, just like the cops in American TV shows.
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What’s this place? What am I doing here?!
Little Shiba was aching all over and, as if he had been tied up, he could not move his body. But at least he felt that his mind was still clear.
But this feels wrong! Did I have a nightmare or something?
Soon, Little Shiba confirmed that something was wrong. The feeling, which he often encountered in his previous life, was not strange to him. It was a nightmare. A nightmare might be a rare experience for ordinary people, but he had suffered a lot on account of his heart problem. Especially when he was having an afternoon nap, he often felt that there was a ghost on his bed.
So he was not nervous, but thought gloomily in his mind, “Could it be possible that I have a heart problem in this life too? Perhaps the black bear damaged my heart and so the nightmares from my previous life are beginning to repeat? Oh, what is… My tendons? My veins?”
Soon, Little Shiba realized what was different about this nightmare. In his previous life, even if he had a sober consciousness, what he saw and heard could be quite obscure. But now, what he saw was extremely clear. He could distinguish every vein, every bone, and even the Internal Qi that was scurrying around in his body.
This is Unusual Strength Qigong!
Little Shiba was pondering over whether or not the Internal Qi was actually Unusual Strength Qigong. In the past, he could just feel a tiny current of heat flowing through his tendons and meridians and thought everything was going well. But now, he could see the tendons and meridians of his whole body and could even watch the Internal Qi flowing through them.
It was really different from what he had imagined.
He had originally imagined that Unusual Strength Qigong, despite only being the very most superficial Internal Strength to be widely used by the military, could nevertheless be used to practice Internal Qi. It had indeed proved to be a useful skill, but now it seemed that it was not quite useful enough.
After practicing for about half a year, the Internal Qi of Unusual Strength Qigong was still as weak as the pinkie of a baby. Little Shiba had not expected it to become strong in such a short time. However, his Qi was formless and disorderly, and it felt as though there was a white worm wriggling in his tendons and meridians. And of course, his muscles and his circulation were not worthy of praise.
Before practicing Internal Qi, Little Shiba was young and his tendons and meridians were not completely closed. Because of this, Wang Tianlei envied him for getting double the results with half the effort and making much more progress than him. Little Shiba was very pleased to hear these words from him. After all, everyone loves to hear praise.
Looking at his own tendons and meridians, Little Shiba became aware that what Wang Tianlei said was not completely correct. The Internal Qi of Unusual Strength Qigong only went through a few veins, and besides, some veins got blocked to different degrees. All in all, they were not as unimpeded as Want Tianlei had made them out to be.
Is this the legendary Inner Vision?!
Little Shiba turned a blind eye to the blockages in his tendons and meridians, now that there was no good way to solve it. The Unusual Strength Qigong was able to go through the unimpeded tendons and meridians, and furthermore, Inner Strength of Fire tripled the course of the Unusual Strength Qigong, so it was obvious that the rest of the veins would be unimpeded after practicing Ignis Skill. Of course, it was too early to think about it. The top priority was to figure out why he suddenly got the Inner Vision.
Did I regain consciousness before death? Or am I dreaming?
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“That boy must be indestructible!” thought the Younger, who had appeared in Wang Tianlei’s yard before. He was walking against the cold wind toward Misty Mountain one step at a time, with a bitter smile on his face. “That chop had perfect timing and proper speed. It’s even hard for an old hand with over 10 years of training to chop so precisely in such a high pressured situation, let alone a small child. Yet he could pull it off by perfectly combining his limited Internal Qi and muscle strength. Hence, it all must be to the credit of his eyes!”
Thinking of Little Shiba’s bizarre red eyes, the Younger’s face twitched slightly. “An extinct bloodline? If I take him to the mountains, what would the old fellows think? Would they laugh their heads off? Well, perhaps not. Those three old fellows might kill the boy in secret just like they had done to Yunshan. Huh! Who knows!? They seem to kill me, too!”
The cold wind, though mounting to a roar, could not stop the Younger. Just about one foot away from him, there seemed to exist an invisible barrier that forced the wind current to split off into two. If a man of perception was watching such a scene, he would have surely gasped in astonishment.
Protective Gang Qi!
It must be Protective Gang Qi! Only a man whose cultivation had come up to Level Seven would be able to condense a defensive airflow and cultivate the Protective Gang Qi.
A Level Seven expert?!
How many were there in this world?
Among billions of people in Jin, only a hundred or so experts were at Level Seven. But now, here was one, at such a young age and appearing on this desolate Misty Mountain!
He seemed like a youth in his twenties. Practicing martial arts skills to a high level could help one retain their youthful looks. That was to say, if you achieved success in your forties, you could retain only the appearance of someone in their forties. And if you did it in your fifties, your appearance could remain that of yourself in your fifties. It was unheard of that a man who achieved success in his forties could turn to 20 overnight. That was impossible unless your strength was above the Level Nine and you had entered the legendary Mysterious Realm.
The Mysterious Realm…
The martial arts skills in this world emphasized balancing the Inner and Outside Cycle. Three Realms were included, Skin-Toughening, Bone-Forging, and Tendon-Changing. Aside from this, the three realms were further divided into nine levels.
Skin Toughening belonged to the lower three levels, the Bone-Forging Realm to the middle, and the Tendon-Changing Realm belonged to the upper third.
The upper three levels were what people called Copper Skin, Steel Tendons, and Iron Bones. And above these nine levels was the Mysterious Realm.
Only by passing through these three phases could you get into the Mysterious Realm.
It was said that some elders in the world’s largest schools were able to get into the Mysterious Realm. But no one had ever witnessed it, so this remained no more than a legend.
Protective Gang Qi was a sign that someone had entered into Level Seven. Since this man could unleash the Protective Gang Qi, he must be at least an expert in Level Seven. In that case, there were two possibilities: First, his cultivation had reached Level Seven while he was still only in his twenties; Second, he was actually an old man who had reached the Mysterious Realm, and his mastery of cell viability within the body had helped him to rejuvenate himself. Either way, it was enough to know that he possessed extraordinary talent.
Hum, what’s that sound? How strange it is!
Accompanying the cold wind, a burst of growling and grinding interweaved through the air, falling into the Younger’s ears.
“There seems to be some fun to be had in the west!” The Younger chuckled. His figure moved slightly and floated away to West Mountain, liked a leaf floating with the wind.