Episode 7: Born Talents
Duan Tianyi saw that all five of them had entered the four gates, and he estimated that they wouldn't be able to get out for a while. Pointing at the text in front of the Lord Yue's statue, he said to Yang Mufeng, "Mufeng, quickly help me go over there. This might be the exit of the ancient tomb."
After the four gates were opened, a treasure box gradually rose in the center of this text. It was about five feet long, about one foot wide, and about eight inches thick. There were several lines of golden characters on the treasure box.
"Those who can enter my Lao Huan Fudi are all people with destiny. Those with destiny can see this box and should be given divine weapons and supreme martial arts."
The two were extremely surprised. They never expected that the real treasure was this treasure box. Yang Mufeng held Duan Tianyi's hand and picked up the treasure box with his other hand. Just at that moment, the entire golden hall began to vibrate violently, and at the same time, four beams of golden light shot out from the four doors of the Celestial Yellow and Black and enveloped the two of them. The two felt an unprecedented huge power of the universe constantly gathering around them, pressing them so that they couldn't move a bit. Gradually, Duan Tianyi lost consciousness first and passed out. After a while, Yang Mufeng couldn't withstand the pressure and also passed out.
The hot sunlight shone on the desert, causing waves of heat to rise. The gentle wind blew, stirring up layers of sand waves. A pair of people in total disarray were lying in the scorching desert, and if not paying attention carefully, it might seem like they were having a sand bath. Beside them were two leather backpacks and a purple sandalwood treasure box.
"Rin..."
The two lying people's bodies moved slightly. The scorching sand stimulated their faces, and they suddenly sat up, looking at each other in surprise.
"We're still alive, Tianyi. We're still alive. Ha ha... We finally escaped from that hellish place. Heaven won't abandon me!"
These two people were no one else but Duan Tianyi and Yang Mufeng who were forcibly transported out of the Yue King's tomb by the bright light.
The two were extremely excited about keeping their secret. This adventure was mostly safe. Duan Tianyi took out a compass from his backpack and looked at the sun, then fiddled with it for a while.
"Tianyi, how about it? What direction are we in now?"
Duan Tianyi helplessly shook his head and put away the compass. "I don't know. The compass seems to be broken."
"Can't it be worse? Then how do we get out of this desert?"
"Ha ha... This time we can only rely on you, the desert expert."
The two couldn't figure out the direction for the moment and could only rest to recover their strength and take a look at the spoils of this adventure.
The two excitedly looked at the precious treasure box they had come out of this near-death experience, Duan Tianyi slowly opened the treasure box. Inside there was a rusty big knife, black and dark, about four feet long, and a golden sword, but it had no luster at all. There were also green spots that looked like copper rust on it. There were also two books, one with the cover written "Inherent Divine Power" and the other with the cover written "The Complete Collection of the Six Meridians Divine Sword".
Duan Tianyi was proficient in history and naturally wouldn't be unfamiliar with these two martial arts secret books. These were the most renowned martial arts treasures in Chinese history, said to have eventually fallen into the hands of the Daliang family of the Southern Song Dynasty. Could this unknown hero be a descendant of the Duan family? Duan Tianyi couldn't care less. He continued to search inside the treasure box, only to find that the so-called treasure box contained only those two so-called divine weapons and these two martial arts secret books.
Although it was a little disappointing, they were still extremely fortunate to have come out alive.
The two of them each took one of the so-called divine weapons, while the two martial arts secret books were memorized by the two within a short while and were directly stuffed into the backpacks.
Yang Mufeng held the black and dark treasure knife with a depressed expression and said, "Tianyi, do you think these are divine weapons? I feel like they are just a piece of scrap iron with some weight."
Duan Tianyi stood up and picked up the equally ugly-looking sword and casually played with it, smiling, "Perhaps this is the difference between divine weapons and ordinary weapons." "Perhaps one day when our martial arts skills reach perfection, these two ugly-looking weapons will truly become divine weapons. There's no guarantee about that. This is like having a knife in your hand but a sword in your heart; without the knife, you still have the sword; without the sword, you still have the knife."
"Wow, Tianyi, your level is very high. I feel like you are even higher than the old man Song from the Water Moon Sect. It seems you are almost at the Grandmaster level, right?"
"Shit, when did you start making fun of me? Anyway, the nameless hero said these are divine weapons, so it must be true. We just don't know the secret. Let's slowly figure it out?"
Suddenly, Duan Tianyi seemed to have an epiphany, "Do you feel there's an indescribable powerful force in your body now?"
Yang Mufeng scratched his head and chuckled, "As soon as I woke up, I felt it. I thought it was an illusion. What's wrong? Is there anything wrong?"
Duan Tianyi laughed excitedly, "It's fate, truly fate. Do you remember the fruit I asked you to eat?"
"I remember. I saw you swallow it in one go, and I followed your example and swallowed it too. We didn't taste anything. Was it because the fruit was defective, a poisonous one? Now it's on its last legs. Tianyi, you've killed me!"
"Shut up about its last legs. That fruit should be a primordial fruit. After eating it, it can not only greatly increase the chance of ascending to the primordial level, but also give you twenty years of martial power. The golden light that shot out from the Four Gates of Heaven and Earth and Huangyan in the Golden Hall earlier should be a teleportation array. When it was activated, the powerful force of heaven and earth compressed, unintentionally connecting our Ren and Du channels. So, we can now be considered primordial masters, and we have twenty years of martial power. Don't believe it? You can try following the breathing method I taught you before."
Yang Mufeng sat cross-legged and slightly exhaled, immediately feeling ecstatic. "Really? And I feel that all the major meridians in my body have also been unblocked. Only a few delicate peripheral meridians have not been unblocked. And I really want to be able to internalize and observe. I vaguely seem to be able to see my Dan Tian and Zifu. The space is huge, and my meridians are also very thick. There are two powerful true energies, black and green, in my Dan Tian and Zifu that are moving around. It seems to be blocked by some kind of restriction."
Duan Tianyi also sat cross-legged for a while to cultivate his qi, carefully feeling it. He was overjoyed and explained, "These two masses of true qi within us are formed by the black lotus fruit and green lotus gall we consumed. One has the power of a hundred years, and the other has the power of a thousand years. That's why they are mutually restraining within us. As long as we guide it with the 'Primordial Divine Power' technique, it should gradually be able to be transformed into something useful for us. This 'Primordial Divine Power' can only be cultivated when one reaches the primordial state. It is just suitable for us. If we can resolve it, we will have a total of 180 years of internal energy. At that time, we will be a master-level expert who has no rivals in the world."
"Haha..." Really? Just thinking about it makes one excited. If I were born in ancient times, wouldn't I have become a powerful ruler and even have the chance to serve various emperors? Haha... But now we only have twenty years of power within us. Isn't that a bit lacking? I think Thomson has at least thirty or fifty years of power. If we encounter him, with our current limited skills, we might end up losing again, right? By the way, you still have two precursory fruits. Why don't you take them out and eat them to increase our power by another twenty years?"
"Yes!"
Duan Tianyi immediately took out two precursory fruits that still emitted a faint green light from his backpack. "In fact, each mature precursory fruit can increase one zhai (a Chinese time unit) of power. But I don't know why I only felt a twenty-year increase in power. Could it be that I expended it during the breakthrough into the precursory state?"
One fruit each, without hesitation, they swallowed them. Suddenly, a huge warm current formed in their Dan Tian and Zifu, rushing straight to the top of the Hundred Confluence Points, then flowing down from the Hundred Confluence Points to the Yinquai point and finally to the Zunquan point at the sole of the foot, and then returning to their Dan Tian and Zifu. They felt as if their entire body was bathed in the sunlight of spring, feeling incredibly pleasant.
The two immediately sat cross-legged, following the warm current guided by the "Precursory Divine Power" technique. They continuously nourished all the major meridians and acupoints throughout their body. The two with their spirits bathed in the warm current directly entered the highest realm of martial arts, with the warm current constantly being absorbed by all the major meridians and acupoints throughout their body.
When they opened their eyes, they were pleasantly surprised to find that the world before them had become incredibly clear. Even looking directly at the sun in the desert felt warm and cozy. At the same time, they realized that their power had not increased by twenty years but a terrifying forty years. Moreover, there were over ten minor meridians in their body that had been. Now they had sixty years of power, becoming a genuine precursory master. This proved Duan Tianyi's prediction. The previous precursory fruit was mostly consumed during the promotion into the precursory state, while the one they just ate was a precursory fruit that was not fully mature. Therefore, it increased their power by forty years.
The two took out their backpacks and stood up. They felt full of strength, even feeling that they could defeat Thomson even now. They held the "Divine Weapon" in a white vast desert, although they didn't know the direction, their hearts were filled with heroic sentiments.
"Ti, what's the name of this knife and sword? Isn't it just called Divine Weapon and Sharp Tool?"
"Then let's just give it a random name?"
"Okay, from now on, this one of mine will be called the Great Dragon Sword, and your sword will be called the Little Phoenix Sword?"
"Too vulgar."
"Then you, the brilliant student of history, give it a more elegant name?"
"Forget it. It's just a name. Although it's a bit vulgar, it's still quite imposing. But this Little Phoenix Sword is not very pleasant to hear. Let's call it the Little Dragon Sword."
"Okay. I'm the Great Dragon Sword, and you are the Little Dragon Sword. From now on, we will hold the two dragons in our hands and ride across the world. How magnificent!"
"Really? Or hurry up and think of a way to leave this place? Just now I checked the time, we have been practicing for three days. If this continues, we really will be in a tragic situation in this desert."
Yang Mufeng looked surprised, "Why do masters practice for such a short time? It's too unreliable. Fortunately, we are both precursory masters and can fasten our breath. Otherwise, we would surely starve to death."
"Fasten our breath? This is because our internal energy is profound. We don't feel hungry for the time being. In another thirty to fifty days, we will definitely starve to death. Fastening our breath can only be achieved at the late stage of the master or the grand master level."
Yang Mufeng didn't hesitate. He looked around, seemingly not finding any good solutions. "Although I don't know how to cross this desert in the shortest time, according to my many years of experience, always going east will definitely lead us out."
"Damn, that's your good idea, screw you."
But the two had no good ideas either. They could only keep walking in one direction.
Three days later, the two of them already felt exhausted. What was worse was the water problem. After walking for three days, they didn't even see a single drop of green.
"Mo Feng, how much longer before we can get out?"
"Almost there. Trust me."
"You've heard me say this hundreds of times already."
Ten days later, the two were so hungry and thirsty that even a natural master couldn't withstand it.
"Mo Feng, how much longer before we can get out?"
"Almost there. Trust me."
During these ten days, this question and answer exchange had been repeated countless times. Now, they even had no energy to speak anymore. The two of them lost their footing and fell into this vast desert.