Time, like sand, slipped through their fingers, and half a month passed in a flash.
For half a month, Mu Chen underwent increasingly intense, rigorous training every day under the waterfall. He couldn't count how many times he had jumped back and forth between the two wooden stakes, nor how many times he had been knocked into the lake. His fingers had swollen red countless times. If he hadn't continuously soothed and nourished the bones, flesh, and blood in his fingertips with abundant spiritual energy, they would have been crushed long ago.
Five days prior, he had been so dizzy that he was half-conscious, and Master Mo had to drag him ashore by his head. The young man, usually as gentle and warm as the sunlight, would make even Master Mo's expression change when he was focused on something.
However, after the first week of adaptation, Mu Chen began to display his astonishing talent. Although he suffered many injuries, his progress was remarkably swift.
Every day and night, Master Mo could easily see him adapting better than the day before, gradually grasping the timing and speed of the falling water.
And each time his fingers swelled, they were carefully nurtured by spiritual energy, training them to become increasingly resilient. Occasionally, he would even pierce through some of the wooden stakes falling from above.
The arduous, devilish training was finally showing results.
That half-month wasn't just about Mu Chen strengthening his combat power. The four others, struggling under the pressure of the silvery water on the other side, also made simultaneous progress, most notably Chen Fan and Huo Yun.
After all, the two of them had already attempted to condense their spiritual wheels several times before. Now, with just small steps, they could truly overcome their bottleneck. Finally, on the 13th day, they were overjoyed to discover that they could completely condense spiritual energy into a light wheel within their Qi Sea, greatly enhancing their power.
But even though they successfully broke through to the Spiritual Wheel Realm, Master Mo still compelled both of them to cultivate under the waterfall to quickly stabilize their realm firmly, preventing any wasted effort from causing a regression.
Tang Tian'er and Mo Ling, seeing the others succeed, were also greatly stimulated. Their daily rest time significantly decreased as they gritted their teeth and endured the pressure to circulate spiritual energy within their bodies, eagerly striving to quickly enter the Spiritual Wheel Realm.
The scorching sun hung above the waterfall. Below, five young men were diligently training, oblivious to the silent passage of time.
"Boom! Boom!"
The water flowed through the mountain crevices, then extended into the void and poured into the lake below, creating a dense mist that enveloped the surface of the lake.
Beside the lake, Master Mo stood with his arms crossed, glancing at the four disciples sitting cross-legged in cultivation. He nodded, sensing their increasingly robust spiritual energy over time, then turned to look at the other person, who was flickering in and out of sight behind the curtain of water.
The waterfall seemed to be falling faster and faster, the enormous volume of water creating earth-shaking sounds, like rumbling thunder, echoing throughout the mountain gorge.
Under the waterfall, on a wooden stake barely wide enough for one foot, Mu Chen's shadow darted back and forth between two wooden stakes with the speed of a nimble monkey, often too fast to follow with the eye.
"Still not enough!"
But Mu Chen was far from satisfied with that speed. He frowned, the cold mist blowing onto his face helping him maintain his constant alertness.
Dark spiritual energy surged from within Mu Chen, wrapping around his legs. The rumbling sound echoing in his ears suddenly vanished.
The endlessly falling water completely obscured his vision.
Mu Chen gently narrowed his eyes, then suddenly, like a flash of lightning, he shot through the dense curtain of water. His speed had been pushed to its absolute limit.
A blurry shadow appeared on a wooden stake, but unexpectedly, the water flowed completely through it, and then it immediately vanished. It turned out to be an afterimage created when speed reached a certain level!
"Oh?"
Beside the lake, Master Mo, who had been paying attention to him, involuntarily let out a cry of surprise.
At this moment, Mu Chen's body felt separated from the outside world. He clearly felt his body becoming much lighter. Originally, he hadn't fully grasped the swift current of the water, but now it seemed to have slowed down a bit, allowing him to clearly see the gaps in the silvery water curtain.
As long as he passed through those gaps, it meant he would cross the waterfall without getting a single drop of water on him!
"Whoosh!"
Mu Chen's shadow shot out, his two legs continuously urging his dark spiritual power, making him resemble a black streak as he burst out from within the waterfall.
"Rip!"
Just as his foot landed on the wooden pillar, a black shadow fell with the rushing water.
Mu Chen focused calmly, then simply extended his hand. After a brief pause, he shot straight forward like an arrow leaving a bow, sharp as a long spear, tearing through the mist, precisely striking the black shadow that was rapidly descending.
"Thump!"
A deep thud echoed. Mu Chen's two fingers had forcefully pierced the wooden stake. Wood chips flew out, mixing with the falling water and splashing into the lake.
A sudden surge of joy rose from within his heart. In the past twenty days, this was the first time he had acted with such exhilarating ease. The feeling of power coursing through his body was as if the raging water before him had permeated his very being.
"Hahaha!"
The rising euphoria made him unable to resist letting out a joyful laugh. Suddenly, he transformed into a dark streak of black, piercing through the waterfall.
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
As he passed through, his two fingers continuously attacked three black shadows, accurately and swiftly like lightning, piercing through three stakes that fell closely together.
The sound was incredibly satisfying to hear, blending with the rhythm of the waterfall to form a wonderful symphony in Mu Chen's heart.
Tang Tian'er and the others were also attracted by the laughter and crisp sounds from this side. Seeing the ghostly black shadow darting back and forth through the waterfall, they all felt a sense of disbelief.
"That... madman."
Chen Fan opened his mouth and cursed softly. The day before yesterday, after stabilizing his Spirit Wheel Realm cultivation for a few days, he had been unwilling to listen to Master Mo's advice to quietly cultivate. He had tried to climb the wooden stakes, but in the blink of an eye, the rushing water had engulfed him, submerging him in the lake despite having spiritual power protection.
Yet now, Mu Chen not only crossed the waterfall as if walking on flat ground, but also pierced through several stakes falling as fast as shooting stars. Had his speed and finger strength increased to such a terrifying degree?
A prodigy like him, throughout the entire Northern Spirit Academy, perhaps only Liu Mu Bai from the Western Courtyard could compare.
By the lake, Master Mo also nodded with a satisfied expression.
More than ten minutes later, Mu Chen suddenly stopped, his two feet stably balanced on a wooden stake.
He did not leave it. Instead, under the curious and doubtful gazes of Tang Tian'er and the others, he bent his legs and lowered himself, sitting cross-legged on the wooden stake. Dark spiritual power surged powerfully from his body, completely blocking the water that was crashing down on his head.
Tang Tian'er looked at Mu Chen's strange actions and posture, so surprised that she was dumbfounded, and she unconsciously felt as if a rather special spiritual energy fluctuation was emanating from his body.
"What is this...?"
Teacher Mo frowned slightly.
"Has the spiritual art cultivation technique he practices had a breakthrough?"
Teacher Mo's guess was very accurate. Before this, Mu Chen suddenly felt an indescribable joy in his body. When he pushed his speed to the limit, he simultaneously discovered that the spiritual energy within him was actively circulating. And its circulation path was precisely that of the Great Pagoda Art.
Dark spiritual energy surged out, bravely rushing into his Qi Sea, and Mu Chen's spirit followed it in. He was astonished to see that above his spiritual wheel, dark spiritual energy was gathering little by little, forming a small, illusory black pagoda about the size of a palm.
The black pagoda was very faint, as if it would dissipate if a breeze blew past. But upon closer inspection, the black pagoda seemed to have nine levels. Except for the bottommost level, which appeared a little clearer, the remaining levels were all blurry and difficult to discern.
At that very moment, the mysterious black spots that had appeared before reappeared in his body, spreading throughout every part of his body. He meticulously observed the whole, and clearly saw that if those black spots could be connected, they would also form a pagoda with a shape identical to the black pagoda in his Qi Sea.
At the same time, outside, Teacher Mo saw his dark spiritual energy begin to activate, forming a not-so-clear black pagoda.
That pagoda enveloped his entire body within it.
"Rumble Rumble Rumble"
The surging waterfall crashed down, striking the faint black pagoda, but it did not cause any damage to it.
However, the black pagoda only appeared for a moment before quickly dissipating. Mu Chen had already opened his eyes, his gaze filled with extreme joy.
The Great Pagoda Art that he cultivated had unexpectedly entered the Condensation Form realm today!