Chapter 111: First Stage Of The Breathing Technique Perfected
Crimson Moon Mountain, the scorching sun hung high.
Groups of new players stepped down from the medium transport vehicles. Each of them curiously surveyed everything at the foot of Crimson Moon Mountain, full of curiosity about everything.
“Why are there only a few of you guarding the main gate?”
Fang Zhen got off the vehicle and looked at the six beginner apprentices standing guard at the mountain gate, his gaze full of surprise.
These six beginner apprentices were exactly the newcomers they had brought from the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to Crimson Moon Mountain last night. Normally, these newcomers were not qualified to guard the gate. After all, the vagrants coming to Crimson Moon Mountain for transactions generally had decent strength, with no shortage of beginner and intermediate apprentices.
If any of those wilderness nomads caused trouble, it would be hard for beginner apprentice newcomers to suppress them.
Because of this, Luo Wu Shang, Yi Ye Fu Yun, and the others who had just gotten off the vehicle also looked curiously at the six new apprentices. The gate-guarding task came with quite a decent reward from the hall master and could even be called a cushy job.
After all, for half a day they did not need to do anything and could idle for 300 points and 50 contribution; normally the veteran players who came to Crimson Moon Mountain would rush to grab it. How could it possibly be left to newcomers?
While idling at the gate, players were free to cultivate the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique. It served as some relaxation for their tired bodies and minds, and also allowed them to gain levels. The only issue was that if they accidentally practiced incorrectly and suffered serious injury or death, they would be forced to spend a lot of time traveling back from the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
“We were unlucky with the draw. We did not get selected, so we could only stay here to guard the gate,” a few of them said with a bitter smile.
“Unlucky, so you came to guard the gate?” Fang Zhen was even more shocked. “What is going on at Crimson Moon Mountain now that being unlucky gets you gate duty?”
“The hall master announced a martial arts hall secret realm a few hours ago. You only need to pay 200 points and 20 contribution each time, and each person can enter that secret realm for a limited time once per day. The stronger you are, the longer you can stay inside.”
“Beginner apprentices can stay eight hours, intermediate apprentices ten hours, advanced apprentices twelve hours, and limit apprentices fourteen hours. As for what you can obtain, that depends entirely on yourself.”
“But Crimson Moon Mountain must maintain a minimum level of defense, so we are the first batch to stay behind.”
The six apprentice newcomers saw Fang Zhen and the others’ disbelief and slowly explained Lin Qi’s latest announcement at Crimson Moon Mountain.
“A martial arts hall secret realm?” Yi Ye Fu Yun was stunned. “I was only gone for the duration of my resurrection cooldown, and there is already a new gameplay?”
Just from the name alone, the martial arts hall secret realm sounded formidable. As a second-batch veteran player, he had finally taken on huge debts to become a first-tier expert, yet because of resurrection issues, he missed the first wave of pioneering the secret realm. That was a huge loss.
“Let’s go over right now. It has only been a bit more than three hours since we resurrected. It should not be too late to head to the martial arts hall secret realm now,” Fang Zhen said, taking it in stride, far less anxious than Yi Ye Fu Yun.
The previous robbery and raid missions had earned their team quite a lot. Now each of them carried an A6-grade weapon, making them the best-equipped among the three teams. Even if there was some secret realm, he did not think other players could close such a huge gap in a short time.
“Right, Crimson Moon Mountain also opened a resurrection point. You just need to go there and spend 2,000 points to bind it, and you will be able to resurrect directly at the Crimson Moon Mountain resurrection point in the future,” one of the apprentice newcomers on gate duty reminded as he watched them preparing to head for the secret realm.
“A resurrection point? What is going on here? We just resurrected once, and how much have we missed already?” Yi Ye Fu Yun was completely dumbfounded at the apprentice’s reminder.
At this moment it was not only Yi Ye Fu Yun; Luo Wu Shang, Fang Zhen, and the others present also could not help stopping. They all looked at the apprentice who had spoken, their eyes tinged with shock, finding it hard to believe what he said.
Although this new map, Crimson Moon Mountain, was excellent in all aspects and practically a paradise for veteran players, it had always had one glaring flaw.
Resurrection was troublesome.
For veteran players like them, already advanced apprentices, a normal resurrection took more than half an hour, not to mention the trip all the way from the martial arts hall. This made them wary of improving their martial skills and cultivation methods at Crimson Moon Mountain. More often they would wait until they had earned enough points, then choose to die and return to the hall to crazily improve there.
This wasted far too much time.
If Crimson Moon Mountain truly had a resurrection point, then this new map would be flawless. They could not only attempt breakthroughs with greater peace of mind, but also earn large amounts of points.
“The resurrection point opened together with the secret realm. It is that temporary rest house inside the mine. You only need to register with the hall master,” the apprentice newcomer explained.
“Damn, if I had known, I should not have resurrected so quickly.” Yi Ye Fu Yun instantly regretted it. Although changing the resurrection point cost quite a few points, if he had waited a bit, he would not have needed to travel this long distance. Thinking that his sister Ye Qinglu, despite being badly injured, still went to the mine to cultivate, he could not help sighing, “My sister really is the chosen one. I must stick with her in the future.”
Ye Qinglu had always enjoyed smooth sailing since childhood, which made Yi Ye Fu Yun envious. He had thought discovering High Martial Arts Descend first this time meant he had a lead over Ye Qinglu, and he had even been able to take her along for tasks, something he had never dared imagine before.
But now it seemed the chosen one was still the chosen one. A casual choice from her could easily close the gap between them.
As more resurrected players registered their new resurrection point with Lin Qi and then followed him into the cave of the small energy vein, each of them was stunned by this martial arts hall secret realm.
Energy ore filled the cave. The dense energy was two to three times stronger than in the mine. With a simple breath, it felt like swallowing a mouthful of blood essence rice, and the energy quickly flowed through the entire body.
“The free-floating energy here is insanely dense!” Saiwai Qiangke felt the unimaginably rich energy in the air and could not help saying, “I feel like if I casually circulate my breathing technique, I will soon be able to break through to limit apprentice.”
“This place is indeed very suitable for cultivation,” Luo Wu Shang nodded, but then quickly added, “but only before becoming a martial artist you can break through freely. To successfully advance to martial artist, you must cultivate the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique to 100% proficiency. Only then will the future path of promotion be easier.”
Hearing Luo Wu Shang, Fang Zhen and the other experts present fully agreed.
The martial arts hall secret realm was indeed a holy land for cultivation that could greatly accelerate level-up speed, but as experts they knew very well that if you wanted to stand at the peak in a virtual game, foundation was the most important.
Especially after witnessing Lin Qi’s terrifying strength, everyone understood the importance of foundation even more. Even for simple apprentice-level martial skills, they now felt it necessary to cultivate them to the perfection realm, let alone the crucial cultivation methods.
“Realizing it so quickly?” Lin Qi was a bit surprised that Luo Wu Shang and the others were not blinded by the dense energy.
The worldview of normal players was completely different from someone like him who lived in a high martial arts world. For players, this was just a game, and levels were all that mattered. Normally they would never think about solidifying their foundation.
He had originally planned to explain, just like he did for the earlier groups: that quickly leveling in the small energy vein had no problem before becoming a martial artist, but if they broke through without bringing the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique to 100% proficiency, they would bear the consequences themselves.
Now that Luo Wu Shang and the others had understood the true purpose of the small energy vein, he saved himself that explanation.
“There is also a secret technique inheritance within this martial arts hall secret realm,” Lin Qi said as he looked at the group preparing to cultivate. “That secret technique inheritance is in a hidden metal cave over there. Everyone who enters the secret realm can freely study it, but the difficulty of learning this secret technique is extremely high and it may not be suitable for everyone. Judge your own limits.”
“There is another secret technique to learn?” Yi Ye Fu Yun’s eyes lit up.
Previously, he had not been very interested in the hall’s mental secret technique, feeling that it was far less important than upgrading martial skills. But after the death match with the White Feather Gang, Yi Ye Fu Yun realized how powerful mental secret techniques were, so he immediately went to Lin Qi to learn.
After learning the mental secret technique, his control over internal force obviously improved, helping him create the new Spiral Demon Spear Kill. Now, with a B2-grade halberd in hand, he was definitely number one in offense.
Now there was another secret technique to learn. Naturally, he could not miss it.
Yi Ye Fu Yun immediately ran to the inheritance room to study the new secret technique. The others, after exchanging glances, also walked over curiously to see what it was.
Only after everyone had finished learning did many of them frown.
“This secret technique is heaven-defying, but it is ridiculously hard to learn.” Saiwai Qiangke, after trying it, complained with a headache, “I clearly remember how to draw in external energy, but using that energy to remodel the cells according to the inheritance is a hundred times harder than threading a needle. And the slightest error causes the remodeled cell to collapse instantly. Is this really a secret technique people can learn?”
Many players in the cave who had obtained the inheritance nodded in agreement, feeling that the Body Strengthening Secret Technique was inhuman to cultivate.
The difficulty of learning the Body Strengthening Secret Technique was at least ten times harder than learning the mental secret technique, and the deaths during practice were absurdly frequent. The learning cost was huge.
“At this difficulty, it must be some kind of hidden tank class,” Twilight of the Gods, who was studying the Body Strengthening Secret Technique nearby, said excitedly. “What we want is something that only a very few can master. Otherwise, would this hidden tank class not be everywhere? This will be the most in-demand class for dungeon runs and boss fights later on. Whether you practice it or not, I definitely will.”
“Exactly. The master of the pavilion is rarely this generous, letting us directly class change to a hidden class for free, and you still do not appreciate it,” Yi Ye Fu Yun nodded, rolling his eyes at those who gave up. He strongly agreed with Twilight of the Gods.
Previously, because he had not practiced the mental secret technique right away, his sister had quickly closed much of the gap. Now, with this god-tier secret technique designed for melee combat in front of him, he had to master it no matter how difficult it was.
Just thinking about mastering the Body Strengthening Secret Technique felt exhilarating.
High attack and insanely tanky; it was simply the perfect class.
Yi Ye Fu Yun’s words instantly made the experts present suddenly realize he was right.
For such a hidden class, Lin Qi had not charged them tens of thousands of points. It was a huge bargain. If they did not learn it now, then after this internal test when the hidden class showed its heaven-defying power, Lin Qi, as hall master, would definitely charge crazy prices.
While their inheritance memories were still clear, they had to master it as soon as possible. Otherwise, learning it later would cost many points.
As everyone suddenly became enthusiastic about practicing the Body Strengthening Secret Technique, Lin Qi was a bit stunned. He had no idea what had gotten into these players.
Previously, once they learned how difficult the Body Strengthening Secret Technique was, most had given up and focused on rapidly improving the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique.
Now each of them was highly motivated to study the Body Strengthening Secret Technique, actively discussing and researching how to learn it, acting as if they would never rest until they succeeded.
“Forget it, let them be. It is best if they can learn it; at least it means I did not waste so many energy crystals making a resurrection device at Crimson Moon Mountain.” Watching everyone study the Body Strengthening Secret Technique, Lin Qi felt quite pleased.
He had used a full two energy crystals to make the player resurrection device.
Energy crystals were extremely rare. There might not even be many in the entire miniature energy vein, and the two in his possession were all that players had mined in recent days. Whether any more could be obtained later in the miniature energy vein was unknown.
Time passed. Watching players cultivating madly in the small energy vein, Lin Qi unconsciously let ten hours slip by, and outside the sky had completely darkened.
“At this time, it is almost right.” Lin Qi checked his smart watch. There were less than thirty minutes left until midnight. He then found an empty cave, opened the system panel, and chose his extraction targets. “I hope this time they can help me reach 100% proficiency in the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique.”
Previously, his Startling Spirit Breathing Technique had been stuck at 90% proficiency. It was not that he refused to improve, but that he could not. Extracting from players under 60% proficiency in the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique had no effect, so he could only wait for them to improve.
Now that the top players, thanks to the resurrection point in Crimson Moon Mountain, had let loose and were freely pushing the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, combined with the small energy vein’s support, their speed of improvement was astonishing.
Over this half day, ten players had reached over 60% proficiency in the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, with Luo Wu Shang and Li Ranxing being the most impressive at 71% and 70%. They had reached quasi-martial artist level, and their rate of improvement was terrifying.
Next were Zhang Qing Wei, Fang Zhen, Zhao Hu, Yi Ye Fu Yun, Ye Qinglu, Xiao Wan Ye Feng Kuang, Saiwai Qiangke, Yi Qiang Ba Jue, and others, all over 60%, becoming true limit apprentices.
With so many players above 60% proficiency, Lin Qi decided to push for 100% proficiency. With that, he might break through to martial artist, which would give him more confidence against the Great Ape Gang.
System: Congratulations to the host, Startling Spirit Breathing Technique （ First Level proficiency 93% ）.
System: Congratulations to the host, Startling Spirit Breathing Technique （ First Level proficiency 95% ）.
System: Congratulations to the host, Startling Spirit Breathing Technique （ First Level proficiency 96% ）.
……
After five consecutive extractions, the First Level of the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique reached 99% proficiency, exceeding Lin Qi’s expectations.
From 90% to 99% proficiency, his physique did not improve, but his blood qi increased by 30%, and his brain felt unprecedentedly agile and clear. His neural reactions felt no worse than when wearing A6-grade battle armor.
“Good, just the last step. I have to succeed.” Lin Qi chose to extract from Luo Wu Shang, who had the highest proficiency.
Beep!
System: Congratulations to the host, Startling Spirit Breathing Technique （ First Level Perfected Realm ）.
As the system prompt sounded, Lin Qi felt an unprecedented comfort, as if his entire body had been reborn.
His dense blood qi faintly manifested on the surface of his body, surrounding him in a thin mist that radiated waves of heat.
“Did I already become a martial artist?”
Lin Qi opened his attribute panel and was immediately stunned.
