Battle Through the Heavens Prequel – The Legend of Yao Lao c8

Chapter 8 - Closed Cultivation


The person who shouted out was Yao Yun, who was in the ninth place, whose facial expression was frosty as he shot dagger like glares at Yao Chen.


Directly questioning the elder like he did was extremely disrespectful, but being ranked ninth was an extremely painful to be in, as he was so close to qualifying for the tournament and anyone else in his position would be furious too.Furthermore, Yao Yun was a petty person and had already treated Yao Chen as his hateful enemy.


Though it was disrespectful, Yao Lan’s expression remained the same as he placidly replied.


“The results for the compet.i.tion this time round was determined by elder Yao Wan Huo, anyone who does not accept the results may take their complaints to him.”


Elder Yao Wan Huo. In an instant, everyone was suppressed.


Yao Wan Huo was the grand elder of the clan and was held in incomparably high esteem as he was well known to be fair and impartial, and no one said anything more since the grand elder had spoken.


Yao Yun as obviously displeased but he gritted his teeth and endured, questioning the school elders was a small matter but if his words should implicate the grand elder, he would be guilty of the offense of disrespecting the grand elder.


The crowd slowly dispersed and Yao Chen declined the various invitations offered him as there was nothing more important to him than getting home.


The walk home was quiet and the normally talkative Luo Shu was unexpectedly silent, the surging excitement in his heart growing with every step.


Under a tree by the entrance of the alleyway was a beautiful and elegant figure that looked towards them


“Mother.”


Yao Chen’s eyes s.h.i.+ned and for reasons unknown, his nose started to run and his eyes became moist.Originally he thought that the only value in being crowned the champion in the school compet.i.tion was the qualifications for joining the tournament and that everything else was meaningless but now, upon seeing the earnest look on his mother’s face he felt that there were many things that he wanted to tell his mother.


Yao Chen ran to his mother and opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly forgot what he had originally wanted to say.


“I’m back.”


“Let’s go home”


Yao Qing smiled faintly, the gentle look in her eyes seemingly able to encompa.s.s everything in the world.


“Aunt Qing, Brother Chen is the champion, Qunt Qing you shoulda seen the look on their faces , haha, it was awesome. Aunt Qing….what’s for dinner tonight?”


Finally, Luo Shu couldn’t take it any more and exploded.


“Brother Chen is no less than the champion, the C.H.A.M.P.I.O.N, how can you be so placid? At the very least, you have to increase the number of dishes right?”


As the walked along the alley, returning home, the courtyard in front of their houses was already brightly decorated and Luo Shu’s family was still bustling with activity at the gates , stopping only when they saw them as they walked towards Yao Chen.


“Excellent work Yao Chen. Champion of the compet.i.tion, back then…...haha anyways, you did not shame your father.”


Yao Bing slapped his shoulders forcefully, his eyes s.h.i.+ning as he probably recalled his past with Yao Chen’s father ,however, when his gaze fell onto Luo Shu his smile turned bitter. Back then, Yao Huo and Luo Bing were such glorious figures in the school, Luo Shu oh Luo Shu, could you try to not be an embarra.s.sment?


Luo Shu’s neck shrank as he understood the meaning behind his father’s gaze, he wasn’t like his father and his father wasn’t like him and if he did not quickly change the subject, he was going to be taught a lesson again so he quickly changed the subject.


“Aunt Qing, aren’t we going to have a big feast to celebrate Yao Chen becoming the champion?”


Luo Bing shook his head.This son of his was hopeless but luckily he had a good son in his eldest child Luo Shan.


“Alright, you’re pretty good at such petty tricks, if only you could apply it to your cultivation….”


While it was claimed to be a feast, in actuality it was more of a family meal with additional dishes accompanied by wine as the two families sat together, laughing and joking with plenty of encouraging words for Yao Chen.


More than half of what was spoken was trivial and inconsequential though Yao Chen did not mind and remembered them all, though no matter how much was said, the events two years past was never mentioned.


Though his ban on alcohol was supposedly lifted, Yao Chen only drank three cups and never touched a single drop more.


There was still a month before the tournament, and while the time left was neither long nor short, time flows like water and if Yao Chen wanted a good showing at the tournament, he could not let himself relax even for a moment.


With the wine drunk and the food eaten and everyone’s stomachs filled, Luo Bing took his leave with his two sons following in tow. Yao Qing cleaned the table in the blink of an eye and turned her head, looking gently at Yao Chen.


“Chen-er, being the champion is good but…..remember what your father said. The arrow hits the first bird, remember not to get complacent.”


“Chen-er understands mother, i’ll go practice now.”


“En, wait.”


Yao Qing nodded her head but stopped Yao Chen from going to the underground training chambers.


“The current medicinal formula is unable to let you advance to a martial master in just the one month that we have, and if you aren’t a martial master, regardless of how exquisite your refining techniques are, it would be hard to use them in the tournament.”


“Mother?”


Yao Chen blinked his eyes.Though time was short, if he gritted his teeth and gave it all he had, there was still a chance that he would be able to advance to a martial master in a month.


“From today onwards, add an additional portion of the medical bath formula.”


Yao Qing bit her lips and said viciously.


With an additional portion of the medical formula, the agony when taking the bath would double.


Yao Chen smiled, he would have added an additional portion even if his mother had not told him to.


The bath was already ready and heated geothermally when they arrived in the training chamber after activating the entrance mechanism.The liquid in the bath was not the same as before and had been replaced with another type of medicinal liquid.Yao Chen took out some ingredients and measured them carefully before throwing them into the bath, causing roiling waves to form,streams of violet smoke to rise up and a pungent smell of medicine to quickly fill the room.


Yao Chen had only a whiff of the smell before his body instinctively reacted and his body involuntarily shook.


The type of medicinal liquid used was different from the marrow cleansing and bone was.h.i.+ng liquid used previously.The previous liquid only caused an intense itchiness while this liquid causes intense agony that will elicit an intense reaction from the body even he if bathes in it all year and had already grown accustomed to it psychologically.


Yao Chen took a deep breath,removed his clothes and took out a pale azure pill, placing it in his mouth causing an intense bitterness to overwhelm his senses. It was a bitterness that would be able to revive the dead, however, Yao Chen was used to it and he bit the pill and slowly chewed it. Although the simple be swallowed, the effects of the pill was best absorbed by taking it slowly.


Refining this pill requires large quant.i.ties of various medicinal ingredients and was a huge toll on Yao Chen’s family, and since most of the ingredients was hand picked by his mother, even if it was h.e.l.lishly bitter, he would still think it was sweet.


It was only after several minutes when the pill had dissolved in his mouth before Yao Chen stepped into the bath.


*Whoosh..boom..*


A faint roar could be heard as the liquid in the bath seemingly came to life, forming waves that resembled insects as they rushed into Yao Chen’s body as if they were drawn by the medicine that Yao Chen had just ingested.


“Ahhhh….”


Even if he had already experienced this at least a hundred times,Yao Chen was unable to bear it, even more so now that he had added an additional portion of medicine and he screamed out involuntarily even as he tried to endure.


Agony.This was an agony worse than having ten thousand arrows piercing through your heart.


However, the agony was not the worst part of the ordeal, what was even tougher was that Yao Chen had to maintain a state of calm clarity while separating the medicinal energy entering his body and imbue it with his dou qi before circulating it throughout his body, five viscera,four limbs, brain,dan tian…...and this was not the end as he still had to use his dou qi in conjunction with the medicine to strengthen his body.


After an unknown amount of time, suddenly spirit fire ignited in front of Yao Chen with a bang as Yao Chen got used to the pain and was no longer screaming pitifully.At this moment, his dou qi infused it self into the flame and the medical essence was slowly catalyzed into a strange ent.i.ty that resembled dou qi but was not dou qi that entered Yao Chen’s body but unexpectedly did not enter his dan tian but his muscles,excluding his bones instead, and became silent as if it went into hibernation.


Yao Chen tried to control the enormous power than entered his body but no matter what he did, the power seemed to have disappear like mud in an ocean, without a trace of it to be seen.Contrary to his expectations however, it brought upon Yao Chen an even fiercer surge of agony and his eyes dimmed and he almost lost his consciousness amidst the pain. Yao Chen hurriedly gave up trying to control the power and focused his consciousness and continued absorbing the medicine essence ; Once he loses his consciousness, the medicine bath would go to waste, and given how dest.i.tute Yao Chen’s family is, any form of waste of unacceptable.


The colour of the medical liquid slowly grew fainter till it was no different from clear water before Yao Chen allowed himself to relax as the pain subsided.It was only now that the greasy sweat poured forth from his pores and in an instant,Yao Chen felt dehydrated and weakened.


Yao Chen picked up one of the five altar sized canteens of water to the side, tilted his head and gulped down all the water till not even a drop was left.However, the water that had just entered his body was expelled from his body as turbid sweat.He took up another canteen and gulped the water down but it was once again transformed into turbid sweat and was expelled from his body as perspiration.Yao Chen continued with the third,fourth canteen….. it was only till he had reached the last canteen that he stopped sweating.


However, producing such a large amount of perspiration was a strain on his body and a wave of weakness overcame Yao Chen and his eyes saw nothing but darkness as he hurriedly clambered out of the bath and wearing his clothes before feeling his way along the wall to the stone bed in the closed cultivation chamber where he used the Tri Flower Flame Concentrating technique as his dou qi carefully inched along his meridians and he vaguely felt the barrier separating the nine starred martial pract.i.tioner realm from the martial master realm.




Crossing this thin line was all it took to advance to the martial master realm though it was easier said than done.It was not just the normal restrictions from the martial pract.i.tioner realm that was holding him back, two years ago Yao Chen’s mother sealed the dou qi in him, in addition to his power making it even more difficult for him to break through.At this moment, the dou qi circulating in Yao Chen’s body formed a cyclone, however, the cyclone was weak and unstable, flickering in and out of existence as if it was incorporeal, and was unable to take shape.


Yao Chen stubbornly held on with his willpower for an unknown period of time before he was no longer able to hang on and felt his mind slow down as he lost consciousness.However, even when he was unconscious Yao Chen’s body instinctively continued to use the Tri Flower Flame Concentrating technique, circulating it throughout his body, combing every inch of it and cleansing his body. Throughout this process, subtle changes were happening to the Tri Flower Flame Concentrating technique, it did not increase in power but in terms of control as the flame attribute dou qi of the Tri Flower Concentrating technique merged together with Yao Chen’s spiritual sensitivity, and it was as if it became an extension of his arm.


Just like that, the night pa.s.sed quietly.


The early morning air entered the closed cultivation chamber via the vents, carrying the faint scent of the morning dew as Yao Chen eyes twitched faintly as he stirred from his slumber.As he opened his eyes, he was ravenously hungry as his stomach grumbled and though his body still felt weak, he was full of energy.


Yao Chen got out of bed, filled a bucket with spring water drawn from the side of the room, took a shower and changed his clothes before leaving the room.


As he reached the courtyard, his mom had already went out though she had left the table filled with a spread of food.Yao Chen ran to the table and wolfed everything down, noticing the note on the table only when he had cleaned the plates.


Yao Chen knew without even looking at it that his mother had gone to the mountains behind the clan to pick herbs.Yao Chen’s daily cultivation necessities required far more than what the clan gave them and the amount given had decreased in the past two years, half of the items needed for Yao Chen’s medicinal bath was personally picked by his mother and this was why he was able to endure the agony of the bath no matter how painful it was.


Yao Chen’s mother would not return for several days whenever she went out to pick herbs and Yao Chen’s heart wavered as he was naturally worried about her though he quickly steadied himself. A man should not be indecisive, and since he knew his mother was enduring such hards.h.i.+ps on his behalf, he had to focus on his cultivation in order to repay her.


As he was pondering how he should practice his cultivation for the next few days, he heard the little fatty’s voice outside.


“Brother Chen , Aunt Qing, i’m here.”


Luo Shu’s face turned green, the situation was not good as his lips trembled


“Broth….Brother Chen, Aunt Qing has gone out again..?”


Yao Chen smiled as he nodded.


“I’m afraid that i’ll be going into closed cultivation for this period of time.”


Luo Shu’s green face turned ashen as he nodded his head in a daze.


“I understand….I’ll go back and eat Mantous..?”


“Haha… My mother left this braised pork for you, if you aren’t greedy, it should be enough for you.”


“Aunt Qing is the best. Heh, go for your close cultivation Brother CHen, i’m returning home.”


Luo Shu s.n.a.t.c.hed the pork and rushed out happily, if he was late, there wouldn’t even be mantous left in his house.


Yao Chen shook his head and collected himself as he made his preparations, sealed up the house gates and returned to the cultivation chamber.He did not have a second to waste as he had to advance to a martial master within a month but also had to solidify his cultivation as well.To a receptarier, there could not be any mistakes whatsoever when refining a pill as apart from spiritual perception, the ability to maintain a certain level of odu qi for extended periods of time was required in pill refining.


Though the medicine bath was a shortcut, it was also a double edged sword.Currently, without the medicine bath, the Tri Flower Concentrating technique’s progress was frustratingly slow and though his dou qi was circulating, it was only a solid foundation and had no indications of breaking through to the next realm.


After ten revolutions, Yao Chen took a deep breath and smiled bitterly.A solid foundation was a good thing, though it also increased the difficulty of breaking through to the next realm because the process of breaking through was a destructive one where the old dou qi method was destroyed and a new one was formed. As such, the more solid a person’s foundation is, the greater the energy expenditure required to break it though the benefits gained would also increase proportionally. It was an exchange of sorts where the increase in power gained had to be exchanged with an increase in the amount of hard work needed.


The difficulty was expected and Yao Chen was not in a hurry. After having had the medicinal bath for the past two years,a terrifying power lay dormant in his body and truthfully, not even Yao Chen knew how strong the power was as he only had a vague feeling that if he wished to break the barrier and step into the martial master realm, all he had to do was draw this enormous power out and he would be able to break his old dou qi method and the seal that was laid two years ago, and form the cyclone of a martial master.


This was not the first time he had attempted this, and while none of his previous attempts had succeeded, this time, he would definitely be able to succeed in one month.He ate soldier pills when he was hungry,drank spring water when he was thirsty, and had other pills to replenish his body and Yao Chen also had cleansing pills to solve the matter of his excrement and spent half a month in the cultivation chamber without a hint of frustration . The most essential quality of an exceptional receptarier was actually not spiritual sensitivity but patience because a receptarier who could not endure loneliness and dullness would have his achievements limited regardless of how terrifying his talent may be.


In this half month, Yao Chen’s mother only came once to formulate the powder for the medicine bath before leaving without uttering even a single word to Yao Chen who was currently in closed cultivation.