Chapter 31: Extreme training in the Death Canyon, all the pain just flies away!

"Senior Benti, your laughter doesn't sound like that of a good person."

With the giant hand only 0.01 centimeters away from him, Zhao Xuanzhen opened his eyes, his tone tinged with a hint of helplessness.

"Is that so?"

The dark gold slowly faded, revealing Mu Ye's face. The Benti Sect Master rubbed his chin and said in surprise, "Although I didn't deliberately suppress my aura, it's not something a Soul Master in the Meditation state should be able to detect. Your perception seems too keen."

Zhao Xuanzhen smiled without a word; the wind was his second pair of eyes, inspecting everything around him on his behalf.

"Since you've discovered me, then this Sect Master won't bother pretending!"

Mu Ye chuckled, and then Zhao Xuanzhen felt his nape tighten, his entire body flying up as if he were riding the clouds.

The moonlight was like silver, and the end of the sea of clouds merged with the sky. As the cool night wind brushed against his face, Zhao Xuanzhen looked down at the earth from a high vantage point, watching the brilliant and magnificent Tiandingcheng gradually shrink and recede.

"Senior Mu Ye, changing a sneak attack into coercion isn't very honorable." Zhao Xuanzhen looked at Mu Ye.

You are in great danger yourself!

Just now, he almost triggered the Eight Deceptions God protection mechanism; the Tengshe almost performed a point-blank explosion!

"You brat, you've gained an advantage and are still acting coy." Mu Ye snorted coldly, "Tonight, this Sect Master is taking you to perform the most important ritual in a Benti Soul Master's life: the second awakening of the Benti Martial Soul.

Not admitting you into the Benti Sect, but making an exception for a second awakening. I'll give you a chance to rephrase your words; am I honorable or not?"

"Very honorable."

Zhao Xuanzhen nodded and sincerely gave a thumbs up.

He could foresee this exception; Zhao Xuanzhen had already noticed since mealtime that Mu Ye was a completely different person before and after cooking, likely due to someone's persuasion.

Among everyone Zhao Xuanzhen knew, the only person with the qualifications and ability to persuade Mu Ye was the Illusion Brain Douluo Li Qiankun. At the same time, it was Li Qiankun who had let Zhao Xuanzhen avoid Leng Yaoju and come here; the old comrade had calculated everything clearly long ago, benefiting both sides.

Regardless, the favor of the second awakening was a fact. Repaying a drop of water with a gushing spring is virtue, but repaying a drop of water with a path to death is the behavior of a beast.

As a normal human being, Zhao Xuanzhen would inevitably repay Mu Ye in the future, helping him with the revival of the Benti Sect.

The two traversed the sky, and Zhao Xuanzhen suddenly frowned and asked, "Senior Benti, where are we going?"

"I'll tell you when we get there." Mu Ye said mysteriously, looking quite mischievous upon closer inspection.

A sense of foreboding rose in his heart. Zhao Xuanzhen had an excellent sense of direction, and Mu Ye was not flying toward the sea nearest to Tiandingcheng, but continuously advancing inland.

"It seems my second awakening site is not the ocean..."

Zhao Xuanzhen was clear-headed. The first Benti Sect Master was framed and sunk into the deep sea, and under the immense pressure of the seawater, his own martial soul underwent a second awakening, erupting with the true power of a Benti Martial Soul.

The second awakening of a Benti Martial Soul is, to put it plainly, using external pressure to stimulate the limits of the human body, squeezing the potential of the Soul Master to the extreme, and stimulating new potential in a desperate situation.

The ocean is just one of many pressures. Tang Wulin's deep-sea training was because he was on a ship heading to the Star Fall Continent at the time and had almost no other choice. Zhao Xuanzhen's situation was completely different; he was now in the inland city of Tiandingcheng, and he could go anywhere in the sky or on the ground.

Mu Ye didn't need to be obsessed with the ocean; he had nine ways to drain Zhao Xuanzhen dry!

An hour later, a canyon came into view. The moonlight spilled over the craggy rocks, plating the entire canyon in a bizarre scarlet.

On the dark red ground, withered trees were knotted like the ghost claws of a dancing demon horde. Viscous red liquid seeped from the cracked bark, and half-rotted vines hung from the branches, as if countless hangman's nooses were swaying silently.

"Welcome to the Death Canyon." Mu Ye deliberately lowered his voice and said eerily.

"Death Canyon..."

Zhao Xuanzhen narrowed his eyes. The continent map did not depict this place, but he had read through the three volumes of Douluo Dalu and even finished half of the salted-fish stories from ten thousand years later. He quickly flipped through his memory and found a few scattered words.

During the Soul Master Tournament twenty thousand years ago, the Spirit Hall team was defeated by the Shrek Seven Devils led by Tang San. The Golden Generation learned from their pain and vowed to temper themselves to regain their dignity and glory. Hu Liena went to the Slaughter City alone, while Xie Yue and Yan went to the Death Canyon together!

"The Death Canyon can be traced back to the Spirit Hall era."

Sure enough, Mu Ye began to introduce it: "The environment of the Death Canyon is extremely harsh and doesn't have much utility value, so the Spirit Hall always used it as one of the cruelest punishments.

After the crushing defeat at the Battle of Jialing Pass and the destruction of the Spirit Hall, the Death Canyon became a land without an owner, later incorporated into the sect by the predecessors of the Benti Sect. The second awakening requires such a wicked land.

The second awakening is a process of extracting human potential and is a test of extreme pain.

Are you ready?"

Without waiting for Zhao Xuanzhen to reply, Mu Ye immediately let go of the giant hand grabbing his clothes. Whether you're ready or not, down you go!

The gale whistled past his ears, and Zhao Xuanzhen fell from the sky like a meteor. The moonlight poured down, illuminating the deep, dark blue in the depths of his eyes.

"Xun character, Storm."

The gale steadily supported his falling body, and Zhao Xuanzhen landed safely.

"Damn, what kind of magical little trick is that?"

Mu Ye yelled in frustration. He had originally intended to launch a surprise attack and save Zhao Xuanzhen at the last moment to stimulate his potential, but the result was that the kid could control the wind, and the plan was declared a failure!

Zhao Xuanzhen curled his lips and walked straight into the depths of the Death Canyon along the twisted and winding path.

The sinister wind swirled, kicking up sand and gravel like bone fragments. Every wisp of airflow was like the fingernails of a dead soul, scratching bone-chilling coldness onto his skin.

As the air poured into his nose and mouth, the feeling of suffocation turned into a sharp blade scraping through his chest. Zhao Xuanzhen faintly heard his bones rattling, his eardrums were swollen and painful, and his body seemed to be bound by invisible chains, dragging him down into the abyss.

"Evil aura..."

The Death Canyon had an evil aura that had not dissipated for ten thousand years, constantly eroding the body and soul of intruders. Zhao Xuanzhen decisively released the Yin and Yang Qi to annihilate the evil attributes that were everywhere in the air.

The moonlight shattered into mottled fragments, getting further and further away, darker and darker.

As his soles crushed a half-buried skeleton, the moment Zhao Xuanzhen passed by, phosphorus fire lit up in the hollow eye sockets of the skeleton. A dark green flame shot up three feet, only to instantly extinguish into ashes.

Rustling sounds came from the depths of the Death Canyon, like thousands of insects gnawing on flesh and blood. A thick, foul stench permeated the air, mixed with the smell of rust and sulfur, almost condensing into a solid form.

Zhao Xuanzhen stopped his pace, and the dark green light spots in the distance lit up like ghost fires.

Mu Ye's voice rang out at the right time: "The evil aura within the Death Canyon is not the most terrifying crisis.

What is truly fatal are those undead creatures that have spawned; they are neither human nor beast, fear neither life nor death, and have an abnormal craving for life energy."

The dark green light spots began to shake; those were pairs of cruel and greedy pupils. The sound of bone friction was hoarse and unpleasant, and the undead creatures gradually revealed their outlines.

The hunched bodies of the Liches were covered in rotting bones, pus and blood dripped from the broken horns of the evil spirits, and the skeleton claws dragged across the ground, sparking fire.

The fat monster in the front row grinned, its bloody mouth splitting to its ears, its tongue licking its layered sharp teeth. Green saliva dripped onto the rocks, corroding pits that hissed.

Douluo Dalu naturally has undead creatures; otherwise, there wouldn't be Abominations, Liches, Skeleton Kings, and Soul Masters with Bone Dragon martial souls. The Death Canyon is one of the gathering places for undead creatures.

Dense undead creatures filled every inch of the horizon. Zhao Xuanzhen looked up at the sky gloomily and watched Mu Ye quietly. He clearly hadn't said anything, yet it was as if he had said everything.

"The sect has neglected to clean it up for decades, so the number is a bit high." Mu Ye scratched his head awkwardly, "However, their overall strength is limited. This Sect Master believes in you. Kill them, the True Self is invincible!"

"Is that for real..."

Zhao Xuanzhen exhaled a breath of turbid air, his three ten-thousand-year soul rings lit up instantly, and his Territory Dao Art was fired up to the max!

Since things have come to this, just do it!

"Boom—"

As dawn broke, the Death Canyon suddenly bloomed with a beam of dark golden radiance. Mu Ye shattered a large number of undead creatures with one strike and dragged a blood-stained figure out from a pile of skeletons, clicking his tongue in wonder:

"You brat, you can really fight! A peerless evildoer of the practical school! Both your soul power and spiritual power were exhausted, yet you could still barely hold on with that fist technique of borrowing force to strike force. It took a total of twenty-seven waves of undead creature charges to drag you down."

Zhao Xuanzhen was exhausted all over. After squeezing out the last trace of energy in his body, he even lost the strength to speak. His face was as pale as a dead fish, without a hint of human vitality.

When it comes to stimulating potential, the better the talent, the more painful it is. Others would kneel after resisting at most eight or nine waves of undead creatures, while Zhao Xuanzhen was too persistent, his combat power far surpassing the geniuses of the Benti Sect in the past. He fought from late night until dawn, finally achieving the effect of burning out.

The two returned to the Tiandingcheng Blacksmith Association along the same path. Mu Ye threw the limp Zhao Xuanzhen onto the bed, his palms turned dark gold, and he patted his back dozens of times. Every pat quietly injected a stream of air.

Zhao Xuanzhen's skin surface radiated a halo, a layer of magnificent golden patterns spreading across his whole body like blood vessels and meridians.

"Benti Secret Method, allowing your body, which is on the verge of its limit, to get the greatest relaxation."

Mu Ye wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with satisfaction, "Your blood and energy are so vigorous, and your spirit is so strong, the likes of which I have only seen in my life. The True Self that the sect's predecessors dreamed of is indeed extraordinary.

I can't wait to see what level the True Self second awakening is...

By the way, you have quite a few injuries on you. I'll get you some medicine, and we'll continue training tonight."

Mu Ye left a sentence and hummed a little tune as he left the room, leaving Zhao Xuanzhen lying on the bed with a face full of sorrow, feeling that his life was one of toil, destined to labor for a lifetime...

"Creak—"

The room door was gently pushed open. Before the person arrived, a fresh fragrance had already refreshed the heart. This definitely wasn't the smell of food from that cook Mu Ye. Zhao Xuanzhen tried hard to turn his head, and a black-clad silhouette holding a jade bottle sat down beside him with a smile.

Gu Yue.

Perhaps the confusion in Zhao Xuanzhen's eyes was a bit obvious, Gu Yue explained, "I met Senior Benti on the way, and he said you were injured, so he sent me to help you apply the medicine."

"I see, sorry to trouble you."

Zhao Xuanzhen was in a poor state. With the Tengshe spiritual backlash plus a whole night of high-intensity training, he had a sense of exhaustion as if a month's worth of reserves had been spent in fifteen minutes. He buried his face in the fluffy velvet pillow, his blood-stained back facing up, obediently letting Gu Yue do as she pleased.

"It's no trouble."

Gu Yue smiled like a little fox who had succeeded. In fact, she had indeed bumped into Mu Ye, but she had volunteered to apply the medicine for Zhao Xuanzhen.

As long as she showed a shy expression of a young girl in love, Mu Ye would logically hand it over to her!

Silver Dragon King, the symbol of wisdom!

Lung-fog Xiang Xiang Naer, cry, cry loudly!

Gu Yue tore open Zhao Xuanzhen's tattered clothes and discovered that he was actually the top-tier type who had muscles when undressed. His jade-white spine shimmered with water, and his muscles bulged with just the right arc, making him look like a nine-section green bamboo, vigorous and upright.

Clothing debris stuck to his wounds. Gu Yue condensed water elements to carefully clean the surroundings, then used ice tweezers to accurately pick them up, and finally squeezed a ball of ointment onto her fingertips. The moment she pressed it on, Zhao Xuanzhen gasped.

"Does it hurt?"

"... I suspect the Benti Douluo is retaliating; some kind of spicy herb was added in several times the amount."

Zhao Xuanzhen turned his head and said seriously. As the burning pain struck, his expression twitched slightly.

"Shh—"

The young girl pressed her index finger to his lips. The morning breeze carried the fragrance of her sleeves into his nose. In his daze, Zhao Xuanzhen heard the sticky sound of the ointment being rubbed in.

Kneeling beside him, the young girl's slender calves under her skirt were like jade soaked in milk. Her hands, covered in white ointment, swayed in front of Zhao Xuanzhen.

"Bear with it, it's always the girls who cry out in pain." Gu Yue's tail tone rose.

Zhao Xuanzhen firmly believed that Mu Ye had definitely added extra ingredients. Heat waves exploded on his skin, as if someone had poured boiling copper water into his pores.

Yet the girl's soft palms were like being wrapped in ice silk satin, pushing from his tailbone to his shoulders and neck with a strange rhythm. Wherever they passed, the sharp pain and coolness were intertwined. Zhao Xuanzhen clearly felt Gu Yue's little finger hook under his ribs, deliberately scraping the edges of his scars with her nails.

"Evil aura... It is said that evil attributes are difficult to remove completely. Will the wounds leave scars?"

She leaned down, her nose tip close to his shoulder peak, and her warm breath brushed past. A suspicious red color appeared on the tips of Zhao Xuanzhen's ears.

"No, the Benti Martial Soul has strong recovery power."

The medicinal effect steamed like thousands of fire ants biting his back. Just at this moment, Gu Yue tucked her long hair behind her ears, and when the ends of her hair swept across Zhao Xuanzhen's waist, it was like a gentle rain falling from the sky.

"Turn over, it's time for the front."

"Mm."

In the morning light, the floating dust danced like gold powder, condensing into tiny halos on the girl's eyelashes. In Zhao Xuanzhen's eyes, a quiet, stunning face was reflected, rippling with a moving, slightly red color.

"What did you and Senior Benti do to get covered in injuries?"

"Probably just a night of clanging, clattering, and crashing..."

"Is that so? Your onomatopoeia is really messy."

Gu Yue smiled and took the cue, lowering her eyes to apply the ointment evenly, while lightly parting her red lips and asking pointedly, "If it were Xiang Xiang Naer now, what would she say at a time like this?"

"Her..." Zhao Xuanzhen tried to substitute her.

"Nine times out of ten, it would be, 'Zhenzai Zhenzai, be good, all the pain just flies away!'"

Gu Yue burst into laughter, imitating Zhao Xuanzhen's tone: "All the pain just flies away!"

"You're so childish... Huh?"

Zhao Xuanzhen was halfway through his complaint when he was horrified to discover that the pain had actually flown away!

Gu Yue is a divine doctor!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 32 =====