Chapter 15: Training

Although Zuo Qingcang’s spirit could support him training for days and nights, his body clearly could not endure this kind of exercise that went beyond his current limits.

In the end, training was just a process of adaptation involving destruction and then repair. Every broken muscle fiber, every damaged tendon, must be accompanied by nutritional supplements and bodily rest to grow stronger and more robust.

So in the following days, all of Zuo Qingcang’s time was filled by sleeping, eating, practicing martial arts, and studying Dao Arts knowledge. He was like a newborn baby who, after arriving in this world and finding a temporary shelter, began frantically absorbing every nutrient that benefited him, then growing strong and healthy.

And his speed of growth surprised the Old Man time and again.

First, because of the abundant Spiritual Power contained within the Dwarf Spirit, Zuo Qingcang’s Innate Primordial Breath received the maximum energy replenishment each time he trained, greatly accelerating his growth. Other parts of Zuo Qingcang’s body, every muscle he trained, also continuously accelerated the repair process of tendons and fibers due to the presence of Spiritual Power.

But what made the Old Man even more startled was Zuo Qingcang’s willpower.

People who have been to a gym or participated in sports training might know that having a coach urging you on makes a huge difference in training results.

Because as long as one is human, there is laziness. Often, one needs someone to push them to train to their limit. For example, when training alone, reaching seven or eight out of ten might be the limit, but with a coach urging them on, they can reach nine or ten. Training, especially physical training, only yields the best results when one reaches and breaks through their limit every time.

But every breakthrough was a war involving the entire body. Your whole body, every muscle, every organ, every cell would tell you to stop, that you needed rest. But what you had to do was endure the full mental agony and fatigue, then hold on until you broke through the limit.

Yet Zuo Qingcang, his mind seemed completely unaware of fatigue and pain. He was like a tireless machine, squeezing out every bit of his physical strength daily, consuming every shred of vitality in his cells.

Five months passed, and the Old Man still hadn’t seen a trace of weariness or irritation on his face. What the Old Man often had to do was not urge him on, but remind him to rest, to prevent overtraining from leaving hard-to-heal internal injuries.

While training, Zuo Qingcang also learned various kinds of knowledge about this world from the Old Man, mainly about Dao Arts, especially materials used in Dao Arts. This period of learning not only gave him a deeper understanding of Dao Arts, but also made him aware of many attack methods used by Taoist Priests.

Like those bottles and jars he found with the Yu Huo Shen Jian, although they were left in the base, based on his memory of their appearance and the knowledge the Old Man taught, he had some guesses about what Dao Arts materials were inside and their functions and properties. But perhaps out of caution, he never told the Old Man about this matter from start to finish.

And the Old Man was also surprised by Zuo Qingcang’s progress speed in all aspects.

‘Such self-control, unheard of…’ For some reason, seeing Zuo Qingcang training, resting, and eating with machinelike precision, a chill rose in the Old Man’s heart: “And such endurance. In this pitch-dark place, even knowing the Dwarf Spirit corpse is a treasure of heaven and earth, how many people could restrain themselves and cultivate so calmly for five months?”

Heaven-and-earth-grade Spiritual Power food, unprecedented iron will, rest from deep sleep methods, Authentic Transmission Martial Arts from the South Saint Sect, and the Old Man’s patient guidance—all these enabled Zuo Qingcang to repeatedly increase his training intensity, again and again breaking through his limits in strength, explosive power, and endurance. Countless times he approached the brink of physical collapse, yet always eased back just before it.

Thus, training that on Earth would exhaust someone to death in just a week, completely breaking their body, had become routine for Zuo Qingcang in the Ancient Tomb. His physical strength advanced rapidly under such training, and the Innate Primordial Breath in his chest grew robust at an astonishing speed.

With a roar like thunder, a thunderous sound appeared in the tomb chamber, as if lightning had struck out of thin air.

That was the sound of Zuo Qingcang’s fist tearing through the air. And with his subsequent movements, every punch, every kick caused fierce winds to surge, even crashing against the tomb walls with crackling explosive noises.

In the Old Man’s Spiritual Energy Vision, Zuo Qingcang’s chest, belly, waist, and back looked as if clad in fiery armor. Crimson Spiritual Power continuously radiated from Zuo Qingcang’s torso, like a great ball of fire; even the Old Man could feel a trace of heat from where he stood.

That was Zuo Qingcang’s Innate Primordial Breath. Over five months, through extreme Underworld training, Zuo Qingcang forcefully relied on Spiritual Power food and inhuman willpower to fully connect the Innate Primordial Breath throughout his torso: chest, abdomen, both sides of ribs, both waist areas, lower back, back, shoulder blades, etc.

Now, Zuo Qingcang’s every punch and kick contained immense power. He could clearly feel that whether in strength, speed, explosive power, or endurance, he had surpassed the so-called Olympic champions of his previous life. Even his resistance to strikes—if ordinary people hit his chest, belly, back, or such places with iron rods or wooden clubs, such damage was completely nullified for him.

This combat power far exceeded what Zuo Qingcang possessed in his previous life. He believed that with his current skills, even several dozen ordinary people couldn’t get near him.

In the tomb chamber, another series of booming sounds erupted. Every step Zuo Qingcang took on the blue bricks produced a loud noise, and the entire tomb chamber shook because of it. The blue bricks on the ground seemed about to crack and burst apart, unable to bear the force.

After a cloud of dust flew up, the whole scene looked like a human-shaped Gundam running rampant.

The Old Man coughed repeatedly, waving his hand to clear the dust, shouting loudly: “Stop, stop! Do you want to tear this place down?!”

The shaking stopped. A puff of white air blew out from Zuo Qingcang’s mouth, like a strong gust of wind, sweeping all the dust into the Corridor and revealing Zuo Qingcang’s current appearance.

Now, Zuo Qingcang’s body didn’t look as robust as five months ago; it could even be called skinny. Only his eyes shone like bright stars.

This was because of the purity of Spiritual Power and the Underworld-like cultivation. Most of the fat on his body had been consumed, leaving behind almost only the most essential muscles.

And the parts where he had connected his Innate Primordial Breath, the tendons had become incredibly strong. The stretching and contracting ability of each muscle fiber was several times greater than before, making the muscles contract more severely in their normal state, so he appeared thinner than usual, but his physical quality was actually higher.

He lightly clenched his fist, and a series of crisp sounds of bones and sinews clashing came from his arm. Zuo Qingcang said calmly, “This Northern Peng Hanging Heaven Style is truly remarkable Authentic Transmission Martial Arts. I estimate in a few more months, I can connect the Innate Primordial Breath throughout my entire body. Then, when practicing the muscle-shifting and bone-breaking techniques within it, my physical strength can explosively increase again.”

“Indeed, this Qi Training method passed down by the South Saint Sect’s direct line has unique aspects far surpassing previously practiced Authentic Transmission Martial Arts.” The Old Man sighed. “It trains more body parts, allowing the Innate Primordial Breath to connect to almost every inch of muscle on the body’s surface. Once you achieve the Grand Completion of Qi Training, connecting the breath throughout the entire body, the practitioner’s strength far exceeds that of others at the same level. It lays a solid foundation for future cultivation.”

What the Old Man didn’t say aloud was: although this technique is powerful, because it trains more meticulously and complicatedly, it requires more mental effort and time. To reach this level in just five months definitely couldn’t be explained by ordinary resources, talent, and effort alone.

The Old Man looked at Zuo Qingcang before him, thinking to himself: ‘He’s simply… a monster among monsters.’

‘If you escape this place, what kind of storm will you stir up in this world?’

“However, the limbs are one thing; the two points of Innate Primordial Breath in the head and lower groin aren’t so easy to connect.” The Old Man said, “Your strength has greatly improved now. When do you plan to go down?”

By “go down,” the Old Man meant to check the two Tomb Robber’s Tunnels in the Sacrificial Chamber, and possible cracks in the Corridor leading to the tomb’s lower levels. Over the past months, although Zuo Qingcang had been undergoing hellish Martial Arts training, he hadn’t checked any of the three downward passages.

The Old Man had urged him several times, and today he finally couldn’t help but ask again.

“Not urgent.” Zuo Qingcang said slowly while moving his joints, “I feel I still have room for improvement. My Martial Arts training hasn’t reached a bottleneck yet. I’ll wait until I’ve trained a bit longer before deciding.”

Seeing Zuo Qingcang’s calm and unhurried manner, the Old Man felt somewhat frustrated: “Train more? Do you really like this pitch-dark Ancient Tomb so much? Aren’t you anxious at all?”

“Of course I want to get out. But neither of us has been down there. How dangerous it is, no one knows.” Zuo Qingcang said calmly, “Humans are very fragile creatures. We need a lot of time for rest and relaxation each day. We need air, food, water. Any slight change in airflow or temperature, changes in terrain, a small accident or trap—any of these can easily kill us.”

“Especially in such a dangerous place, accidents are endless.” Zuo Qingcang said, “So before my training hits a hard-to-break bottleneck, I won’t go down.”

“Our chance might only come once. Only with greater power can we better ensure our safety.”

Zuo Qingcang didn’t mention one thing: here, there were heavenly treasures and peerless secret manuals. Life was just a bit boring. If he didn’t encounter a bottleneck, he’d even be willing to train his Martial Arts here until achieving great mastery before leaving.

After hearing Zuo Qingcang’s words, the Old Man didn’t insist on going down anymore. He could only continue to suppress the anxiety in his heart and wait. But in this hopeless environment, making himself train desperately like Zuo Qingcang was something he couldn’t do, either mentally or physically.