The emerald green plunge basin may look green on the surface, but it had an unimaginable depth. Yi Yun had previously tried exploring its depths but he had never managed to dive to the bottom.
After submerging himself at about a depth of ten meters, he felt his ears hurting.
Human ears were extremely vulnerable. The most unbearable pressure a diver experiences comes from his ears. Martial artists were no different.
As a person goes deeper, his eardrums will rupture before his organs could feel the pressure. Yi Yun blew up the air in his mouth. By increasing the pressure from his mouth, he could balance the external pressure surge, reducing the pain in his eardrums.
After diving to an unknown depth, Yi Yun experienced poor light conditions underwater. Only by looking towards the water surface would he see the beautiful sunshine being transmitted down.
In order to have a means of escaping danger, Yi Yun kept close to the cliff. Peppering the cliff were weird rocks. The rocks led downwards into a deeper depth that was complete darkness. It was a terrifying and bottomless darkness.
Thankfully, Yi Yun had reached the Vigor realm; his breaths could last him a long while. With one breath, he was able to endure about fifteen minutes.
On Earth, the breath holding record underwater was about thirteen minutes. Of course, those people had undergone professional training, and if Yi Yun trained himself more, his timing would be longer.
As the pressure increased, Yi Yun felt his lungs being compressed. His abdominal cavity was filled with bodily fluids.
The ribs enclosing his lungs were under immense pressure. It was as if a huge bear was stepping on his chest. Yi Yun even heard a creaking sound from his ribs.
If not for the bone training he had just completed, Yi Yun's ribs would most definitely have broken.
With his abdominal cavity compressed, tremendous pressure was transferred to Yi Yun's body, compressing his bodily fluids and organs.
Slowly, Yi Yun felt his limit approaching.
Diving was a dangerous sport. The moment one lost consciousness due to the water pressure, one was undoubtedly doomed. The corpse would slowly fall to the bottom and get completely crushed.
On Earth, deep diving enthusiasts had to make all sorts of preparations such as ropes, balloons and other life-saving devices.
As for Yi Yun, he naturally had none of that. He had to rely on his own assessments.
"Splash! Splash!"
In the quiet depths underwater, Yi Yun could hear his own heartbeat and even the sound of his blood flowing.
The sunlight in the mountains was already dimmer, but at these deep depths, one could say that Yi Yun was totally surrounded by darkness. Under a quiet, dark and high-pressure environment, the only thing that Yi Yun could clearly feel was the Purple Crystal Origins in his chest. That cool feeling flowed through his bloodstream.
This cool feeling was like the fountain of life in fairy tales. Although it was extremely weak, it could ensure Yi Yun's survivability. It allowed Yi Yun to stay conscious under such extreme conditions.
This situation resembled the time when he had experienced the cave-in back on Earth. Trapped under the earth, the Purple Crystal had accompanied him in that quiet and dark environment.
Yi Yun also felt that the Purple Crystal was like his life's last refuge. When his organs were damaged under the immense water pressure, the Purple Crystal would silently repair his organs. It allowed him to not only experience the immense water pressure but also recover in the shortest time possible.
Yi Yun lost his sense of time underwater. He kept following the theories of "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" by circulating his energy. When he felt his breath was mostly used up, he began to swim upwards.
Deep-sea divers would usually not have much energy or air. As swimming upwards consumed a lot of energy, most people on Earth used devices like balloons to propel their bodies upwards, but Yi Yun had to rely on himself.
This was without question a great test for Yi Yun's heart and lungs.
Under such immense pressure, his breathing and heart beats experienced a hundred times more stress.
Yi Yun held his breath, and by virtue of his willpower and the lifeline provided by the Purple Crystal, he swam upwards meter by meter!
"Splash!" As Yi Yun's head emerged from the water, he took in large gasps for air. His face was pale. His lips were white and his pupils constricted.
Having dived to a depth of more than a hundred meters for more than twenty minutes, Yi Yun could not believe that he had done it without any device except a rock. He was surprised at the degree he performed "Dragon Dancing in Vast Water" for the first time.
Yi Yun swam towards land as water dripped from his hair. After a few long breaths, he was certain that his body was no longer the same.
The energy from the Power of Desolates had been completely digested. Before coming to the plunge basin, Yi Yun had felt bloated with energy, but after this round of cultivation he now felt extremely hungry. It was as if he had not eaten for three days.
This was the effect of "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist"!
The "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" combined with the Power of Desolates from the desolate bones had increased Yi Yun's strength by leaps and bounds!
"It really… feels great!" Yi Yun could not help uttering a cry.
"Ka Ka Ka!"
In the midst of this long cry, Yi Yun's joints began to emit cracking sounds. Although they were not loud, they were extremely clear, like the sound of stirring steel pellets.
"Thunderous realm, this must be Mortal Blood's third realm, Thunderous!" Yi Yun was delighted. The five levels of Mortal Blood were natural endpoints after sufficient training. Without any bottlenecks, as long as one worked hard, anyone could reach the fifth level of Mortal Blood with sufficient energy supplied.
Although anyone could reach level five of Mortal Blood, the difference in speed of doing so was great.
A talented person would not only cultivate quickly, his fundamentals would be solid, making him much stronger than ordinary people.
As for people with little talent, being stuck among the levels of Mortal Blood for three to five years wasn't uncommon.
Yi Yun knew that he lacked talent. After tunneling through space-time, he was a normal person who was thin and weak. He had little strength that amounted to being able to lift a 30-catty rock weight.
Such a body's talent could be in no way good. It was probably not far from the son of one of the men refining the desolate bones, "Da Tou".
But with the help of the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun's cultivation had improved tremendously. In half a month, he was already at the third level of Mortal Blood.
Then was it possible for him to become a Purple Blood Warrior in two and a half months' time at the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection?
With a Purple Blood Warrior in this tiny tribe, it would cause a sensation and craze among the people!
No matter who it was, if they could become a Purple Blood Warrior in the Lian tribal clan, they would be worshiped!
He would have the highest prestige and wield absolute power in the tribe to determine life and death.
Yi Yun looked at the time. After this round of cultivation, it was already late afternoon. He had cultivated since morning and Yi Yun had once again not slept.
Having just broken through to the Mortal Blood level three's Thunderous realm, Yi Yun did not feel a tinge of sleepiness. He meditated according to the 'Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist' methods for two hours, and felt as if he had slept soundly for eight hours. He felt he was brimming with energy!
"It's about time to refine the desolate bone. I'm famished from cultivating the whole day!" Yi Yun had not eaten for a day. Previously, he had the energy from the desolate bone to support him, so although his stomach was hungry, his body was able to provide him the energy without problems.
But after undergoing the intense training from the "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist", the desolate bone energy within Yi Yun's body had been depleted, so his hunger was much more unbearable.
From the color of the sky, the sun was about to set. Yi Yun returned to the village.
At the grain-sunning ground, the cauldron was burning bright, and it was time to change shifts.
Seeing Yi Yun return, Da Tou's father pointed to a stack of firewood and said straight, "These firewood. Chop them up for me. You didn't do anything last night. This place doesn't employ useless people. If you can't finish it, there will be no porridge for you today."
Yi Yun was speechless upon hearing that. It was not as if he had eaten any porridge yesterday. The men had all rushed headlong into the fray. The number of rice grains Yi Yun had managed to receive could be counted with his fingers. He drank the bucket of rice porridge and licked it so clean that it didn't even need scrubbing.
Yi Yun sat in the corner and began to chop the wood unhurriedly.
This firewood was as thick as a fully grown leg. It had to be chopped apart before dicing it into uniform sizes, in order for the fire to burn uniformly.
Without anyone realizing, a sheet of red and blue light that came from the cauldron, now covered Yi Yun as he chopped wood.
Previously, Yi Yun did not absorb all the energies from the herbs, leaving something for Lian Chengyu, because he was fearful that Lian Chengyu would realize something was amiss.
But this time, for the desolate bone, it was different. Yi Yun was determined to absorb all the energy from it, and increase his strength by leap and bounds. By then, he would no longer fear Lian Chengyu.
Yi Yun felt a little sorry for Lian Chengyu. He confessed in his mind: "Young Master Lian, I'm sorry. If I don't reach the Purple Blood realm, then it's too bad. For me to finish up this piece of desolate bone cleanly, with nothing left, I can only apologize."
"If through luck, I can reach the Purple Blood realm before I finish absorbing the desolate bone, then I'll… er… carry on sucking it dry. After all, the Purple Blood realm is just the beginning step on the road of martial arts. There's still a long way ahead."
"So please be a good man till the end. I will always remember you in the future." After Yi Yun finished confessing, he began to absorb the desolate bone energy.
It was a tremendously comfortable feeling to be able to absorb the Power of Desolates without any restrictions while his body was seriously lacking in energy.
The lack of energy and hunger—although they were two different feelings—had much in common.
In the case of extreme hunger, what greater joy was there besides having a sumptuous meal of delicacies?
Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony with Lian Chengyu. He knew that the desolate bone's energy was so vast that he would need a while to absorb fully.
After all, Lian Chengyu's primitive methods of brewing the desolate bones could at best refine a small amount of the desolate bone's essence. Just this small amount of essence was enough for Lian Chengyu to break through to the Purple Blood realm.
However for Yi Yun, using the Purple Crystal to absorb the desolate bone's energy, he could absorb it completely and with high efficiency. Also, Yi Yun's cultivation level was still low at the Thunderous realm: if his cultivation speed increased any faster, Yi Yun might even scare himself…