Chapter 38 – Progress (3)
At night, Miaomiao sorted his system inventory. Before he went to sleep every night, he never forgot to sort his inventory and his spatial ring's items. He put 2 refined Yang stones in the inventory slots, which occupied 2 of 10 rooms. The rest of the available spots were taken by magic weapons, clothes, and magic armors.
Miaomiao fell asleep afterward and returned to the Isolation Training Space. As usual, he didn't waste any time working to get stronger. Every subtle improvement slowly added up.
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[Isolation Training]
Conversion Ratio (Real World Hour/Isolation Space Hour): 1:5
Upgrade Cost: 1,000 Yang Essence
Next Conversion Ratio (Real World Hour/Isolation Space Hour): 1:10
After you've fallen asleep, your consciousness will be sent to System's isolated space for special training sessions that you can design for yourself.
Inside this space, you can choose to fight against illusions of fighters that you had once encountered in the past, or you can spend your time practicing various arts that you haven't mastered.
The Conversion Ratio is the time in the real world and the time you can spend in space. Currently, five hours in the isolation space is one hour in real life. You can upgrade the conversion rate by spending the yang essence.
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Currently, Miaomiao could train in this space for five hours, but only an hour would pass in the real world. As he usually slept 8 hours a day, Miaomiao spent 40 hours training every night.
For the first 10 hours, Miaomiao absorbed Qi from refined Yang stones or Yin stones to increase his overall power.
Next 10 hours, Miaomiao practiced dual-flame techniques and the basics of other skills. Then, another 10 hours, he increased his Qi circulation efficiency by dissolving his Qi strands until his body couldn't handle any more backlashes. During the process, he died 100 times on average.
And the last 10 hours would be spent sparring with strong opponents. Right now, Miaomiao chose to challenge stage 1 level 10 cultivators as the weaker ones did not have useful skills to steal or upgrade.
At the moment, the entire white cubic room engulfed in flame as Miaomiao had taken out one of the prepared Yang stones from his system inventory and absorbed its energy.
Frost Turtle Breathing Technique was at work. Although the skill itself was based on Yin energy, Miaomiao could still use the technique for absorbing Yang Qi from the stone without difficulty. It became the Flame Turtle Breathing Technique whenever he applied it to Yang instead of Yin.
Yang represented light, fire, holy, and violent. The chaotic energy burned Miaomiao's skin and slowly cooked him from the inside, but he ignored it as the system space would continue healing him over time.
Only 3rd stage cultivators could use refined Yin or Yang stones, but Miaomiao exploited the space feature to practice his breathing technique.
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The system kept reporting his gain every second. Yang Qi added up in his dantian, increasing his backup energy for the future dual-cultivation sessions.
After a few hours, one of the Yang stones was used up and disintegrated into dust. As for the other one, its remaining energy was still usable, so Miaomiao kept it for tomorrow night.
"Next, Dual Flame…"
With a snap of fingers, one red fireball manifested from Miaomiao's right hand, and one blue fireball appeared from his left hand.
Miaomiao had gone through the first three chapters, Fire manipulation, Yang Flame, and Yin Flame. As long as he had Yin and Yang Qi, it wasn't hard to summon these flames.
However, mastering it and applying it in real combats were another story.
The red fireball, Yang Flame, was potent enough to melt his opponent as long as it could touch them. Still, shooting or throwing this energy required precision and fire manipulation mastery. Most importantly, Miaomiao's constitution had to be able to resist the burning energy as it also harmed the user.
The blue fireball, Yin Flame, couldn't burn Miaomiao or his targets. However, it would turn his target's flesh and blood cells into ice, and the transformed ice parts would slowly disintegrate into ice particles, corroding his victim to death.
Now, Miaomiao summoned both flames, but he didn't use them to harm anyone. Instead, the fireballs began burning and freezing his body. Miaomiao's right side was melting because of Yang Flame's heat while the left side turned into ice and broke apart. This was resistance training, so his body could handle these skills.
For 5 hours, Miaomiao died over 500 times. In the beginning, he died every 30 seconds. But after 5 hours passed, Miaomiao's body managed to resist against these flames for 35 seconds before he died.
The improvement was small and subtle, but Miaomiao was happy.
"Next, switch sides…"
Like a masochist, Miaomiao didn't stop killing himself. He dispelled the two previous flames and switched sides by summoning the two flames again. Yang Flame came out from his left hand, and vice versa, Yin Flame came out from his right hand.
The self-torture continued. Yet, Miaomiao's eyes revealed his confidence and pleasure. He gazed at the carved wall that had his handwritten on.
Pain is my calm,
Failure is my goal,
Keep dying until the sunrise,
So tomorrow I can defeat my foes.
'It doesn't matter how many times I've failed here. I'll gladly die here a thousand times to survive tomorrow!'
Miaomiao had completed the previous tutorial quest, and he was preparing himself for the next fateful event.
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[Tutorial Quest 5]
Mission: Participate in the Annual Exam Event and Survive.
Quest Reward: Unlock 2nd Stage.
Failure Penalty: Death.
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= The Next Day =
Ten inner disciples and ten outer disciples, including Miaomiao, left the brothel to the northern district of Mountain Goose City early in the morning.
All women wore different clothes this time. They didn't wear sexy short kimonos to seduce horny men, but everyone wore colorful long-sleeve dresses. None of them revealed their smooth skin, and they even had thick veils to cover their beautiful faces.
However, Miaomiao couldn't wear dresses like them. He put on a standard studded leather armor, which Qi Hong provided. Then, he wore a thin white robe to hide his gears, giving a finishing touch to his aesthetic sense.
Now, with new clothes, Xu Miao's handsome face, white hair, and pale skin, Miaomiao stood out as if he were a charming prince. If he stood next to Xu Xiuying, nobody would believe that they were not relatives.
Qi Hong, Qi Ning, and Xu Xiuying also escorted the disciples to participate in the annual event, where both Silver Phoenix Sect and Mountain Goose Sect would hold a joint examination. A thousand of helpers and workers, including Jiang Lan, were also tagging along.
Jiang Lan managed to come here because of Miaomiao's authority. The latter excused that he needed a maid to carry his supplies around, so Qi Hong and Xu Xiuying allowed him to bring her along. In reality, Miaomiao wanted to keep her around in the case that he needed emergency Yin Qi, which could be resupplied via sex. Dual-cultivating with a Yin Cauldron like her always gave Miaomiao at least several hundred strands of Yin Qi per session.
By the time they arrived, it was 5AM. The sun had not risen yet, but over 10 thousand cultivators were already there, occupying available spaces to erect their observation towers or spectator stands.
The northern district was a plain area with nothing but paved concrete bricks. The only landmark of this place was the 5-meter tall Mountain Goose's entrance gate and tall walls, which are located at the foot of the mountain, north of this area.
Normally, there would be nothing but plain concrete tiles in this zone. However, a giant 100x100m square stage had been placed in front of the sect's gate. It stood tall and served as a threshold marker, which separated the line between the sect and spectators.
The wide area in front of the stage was used as a gathering place for cultivators, who were waiting to join the event. Many prominent families occupied the best spots near the stage and built watchtowers for their family leaders, so they could get a better view of this event.
As for commoners, small noble families, and weak organizations, they had to settle behind those elite clans as they couldn't afford to offend them. Weak cultivators were forced to stay further away from the stage.
As the Silver Phoenix Sect was the co-host of this event, their seats had been reserved in advance. Xu Xiuying guided everyone to take a VIP spectator stand behind the stage, located between the sect gate and the 100x100m arena.
As soon as many cultivators noticed Xu Xiuying and her people's arrival, the crowd was thrown into an uproar.
"T-The Silver Phoenix Sect! They're here!"
"The sect of fairies. Now that I can see them, my life is not in vain."
"Their presence is as domineering as ever. It's a shame that they have a wastrel as their young master."
"True. Man, I'm jealous of Xu Miao. He gets to bed those beauties."
"I'm going to do my best and join this sect! Mom, is it true that Silver Phoenix Sect's members won't get old?"
"Yes, dear. Their vice master, Xu Xiuying, is over a hundred years old, but she still looks young."
"Wow. Now, I'm motivated!"
Buzzing noise and murmur got louder, but everybody's eyes fixated at the 19 disciples and three elders. However, when male cultivators spotted Miaomiao, they clicked their tongue as if they had seen something foul.
"That wastrel…"
"I wish I can beat him to a pulp!"
"I'm so jealous of that asshole. He has everything!"
"Shh, calm down. They might hear you. He's still from the Xu Clan, remember?"
Miaomiao became a common enemy for male cultivators. Everyone was so envious that they wanted to be reincarnated as him.
Among the angry crowd, a certain blacksmith also stood there, watching his ex-girlfriend following behind the spoiled young master.
Xie Tian's eyes burned with determination. He planned to confront Jiang Lan one last time and solve his heart devil. As long as he could assure that Xu Miao was a good man or the marriage was Jiang Lan's decision, Xie Tian wouldn't mind blessing giving up on her.
However, if Xie Tian were to find that Jiang Lan was tricked by this spoiled young master, he might have to deal with his heart devil issue the hard way.
'I'll confront them. If he's a good guy, I can leave Jiang Lan to him. But if Jiang Lan was tricked or he's as bad as the rumor said…'
Xie Tian's eyes turned cold, and his pupils turned yellowish.