Chapter 123: Rebuilding Vitality! (Seeking recommendations, seeking collections!)

Li Xianyi pushed the door open and looked at the maid waiting outside.

Seeing him emerge, the maid hurriedly said, "Young Master, the Patriarch requests your presence."

Li Xianyi nodded, his face dark and gloomy, and followed the maid. He was already aware of the disappearance of Yang Fan and the two Eighth-Rank Venerables. Such things could not be kept hidden; when two Eighth-Rank masters failed to return after so long, no one would believe that nothing had gone wrong. And as for Yang Fan? If the Eighth-Rank experts had met with disaster, it would be difficult to imagine that a mere Fourth-Rank martial artist like him could have fared any better.

As he walked, Li Xianyi could already guess why Kun Sha wanted to see him: it was nothing more than an order to travel to the outside world and convey Kun Sha’s "goodwill" to the martial artists of Earth. Sure enough, upon entering the great hall, Kun Sha was waiting for him with a smile on his face.

...

Meanwhile, Yang Fan sat cross-legged on the edge of the lava lake, enduring the intense heat as he practiced. After a long while, he opened his eyes and said to Kunlun, "Senior, the spiritual energy here is incredibly weak—practically non-existent. Trying to cultivate here feels like putting in double the effort for half the result."

Kunlun looked at Yang Fan with a teasing expression and replied, "This is the place where I am imprisoned. These four iron chains on my body are the seal; the surrounding spiritual energy is being absorbed by them. It would be a miracle if you could achieve anything while training here!"

Yang Fan was speechless. This old codger was truly heartless. He knew perfectly well that progress was impossible in such an environment, yet he insisted that Yang Fan practice the Indestructible Kunlun Arts, all just to watch him make a fool of himself. What a jerk!

Kunlun, however, remained indifferent to the rage simmering in Yang Fan. To Kunlun, Yang Fan was merely a chess piece, and whether a piece was angry meant nothing to the person playing the game.

Kunlun continued, "Stop fuming. There is a reason I have you train here. The Indestructible Kunlun Arts is, at its core, a body-tempering technique. When you fell from the Endless Cliff earlier, I observed that your physical body is not weak, and though it has been strengthened, it is still not enough. Once you master the Indestructible Kunlun Arts, your body's recovery capabilities will improve drastically. At its peak, you could stand there and let others strike you, and the damage they inflict would be slower than your rate of recovery. That is the nature of the Indestructible Kunlun Arts.

"Cultivating the physical body is arduous, and not everyone is suited to learn this art. In the past, the Indestructible Kunlun Arts was the heirloom technique of my clan; anyone within the tribe who could master it was destined to be the next patriarch. To practice it, one must first possess firm determination, because this art does not rely on spiritual power, but on the power of blood and vitality within your own body."

Yang Fan was surprised. "Blood and vitality?"

In his understanding, blood and vitality were merely a transitional phase for martial artists. At the First and Second Ranks, they were used to nourish the bones and muscles, ensuring that the body was strong enough to withstand the infusion of energy after opening the dantian. But after reaching the Third Rank, the power of blood and vitality held little significance beyond helping to regulate circulation and prevent excessive blood loss after sustaining an injury.

Seeing the astonishment on Yang Fan’s face, Kunlun continued, "Blood and vitality are not outdated powers. Blood and vitality originate from the human body itself, while energy originates from the spiritual essence of heaven and earth. One works from the inside out, the other from the outside in. Each has its merits, but blood and vitality take a long time to recover, whereas energy recovers relatively quickly. Fast recovery means shorter training times and the ability to grow strong rapidly. Because blood and vitality recover slowly and take longer to cultivate, they appear weaker than energy in terms of both offense and defense until a certain realm is reached. Gradually, the path of blood and vitality fell into decline.

"However, my Kunlun tribe once followed the War Ancestor. In those days, the War Ancestor’s blood and vitality surged to the heavens, and his physical body was unimaginably powerful. When the prodigies of my tribe asked the War Ancestor for guidance, he pointed us toward the path of blood and vitality. That is what created the ten thousand years of glory for my people!"

As he spoke, the pride in Kunlun’s expression faded, replaced by grief and desolation. Recalling past glory while looking at his current destitute state—Yang Fan could understand that feeling. He roughly grasped what Kunlun meant: the Indestructible Kunlun Arts could not rely solely on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. It was primarily about mobilizing the potential within the human body, stimulating cellular growth to boost recovery. In simpler terms, it was about accelerating the body's metabolism—not just by a little, but by dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times.

Kunlun fell silent. Yang Fan could feel that the elder’s state of mind was deeply unstable. He said nothing more and began to introspect, focusing on the power of blood and vitality within him. It was a sensation he had experienced many times before; after all, the First and Second Ranks were focused entirely on blood and vitality. Having only left that stage a few months ago, the feeling returned to him quickly.

...

In the vast cave illuminated by the glow of fire, Yang Fan and Kunlun remained silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Far away, in the eastern part of the Azure Plains, Li Xianyi entered the region under the protection of one Ninth-Rank Martial King and two Eighth-Rank Venerables.

At that very moment, a blue eagle with a wingspan of several dozen meters watched the group from the horizon, invisible to the naked eye. Ever since the Azure Eagle had been chased and beaten by Kun Sha, it had made a vow: anyone from the Kunpeng tribe who entered the Azure Plains would not be spared. That bastard Kun Sha couldn't catch the eagle, but his subordinates were fair game—one would be killed, and a pair would be devoured.

As they traveled, Li Xianyi remained calm, but the Ninth-Rank Martial King, Kun Jue, was constantly on high alert. Ever since entering the Azure Plains, Kun Jue had felt as if someone were watching them. Yet, despite sweeping his spiritual sense over the surrounding area, he found nothing, making him wonder if it was just his imagination. As they neared the border of the passageway, Kun Jue felt a prickling sensation on his back. He sensed something watching them, and thinking of the mysterious disappearances of Kun Lie and Kun Wu, he felt deeply uneasy—even though he was stronger than the two of them combined.

"What is that?" Li Xianyi asked, pointing ahead.

Kun Jue looked over and let out a sigh of relief. It was only a pile of bones. But as they approached, Li Xianyi’s expression shifted. It was a pile of corpses—some shattered and mangled, others reduced to bare skeletons, still draped in tattered rags. They were the bodies of people from Earth, all wearing Earth-style martial arts uniforms.

Li Xianyi’s eyes burned with fury; these were the companions who had entered the Kunlun Secret Realm with him. Looking at the state of the remains, they had clearly been bitten to death by exotic beasts and then torn apart.

Kun Jue, the Ninth-Rank Martial King, patted Li Xianyi on the shoulder. "Don't dwell on it. They are already dead. When you return, I will help you slaughter every exotic beast in this vicinity!"

Li Xianyi looked up, his gaze fierce. "They killed martial artists from my Earth. I don't need a senior’s help to avenge them; we, the martial artists of Earth, will do it ourselves. On Earth, no exotic beast has ever dared to launch such a large-scale attack on humanity. Never..."