Chapter 37

After Bai Lang took down the pair of halberds, he discovered a strap on the antler rack; the loops seemed designed to let the user wear the pair of halberds on the back. He was quite pleased, packed the items away, and when he turned his head he saw the others had already begun exchanging—perhaps they were a bit more familiar with each other, after all they had shared life‑and‑death battles, so there was a little interaction, but it seemed each was exchanging for something they coveted.

"By the way, can we exchange points?" Bai Lang asked offhand. The voice immediately replied, "Not allowed, but you can exchange items with each other." Bai Lang curled his lip, "As expected, pulling down your pants to fart is redundant."

Everyone exchanged fairly quickly, but it seemed that apart from Bai Lang, no one else exchanged anything conspicuous—apparently they all traded divine pills and elixirs. At that moment Bai Lang said, "What's up with the little monk Ci En? As for me—this trial is definitely… problematic!" His words made the two women's eyes redden slightly, and the two men let out a sigh.

"What a pity for the little monk…" Indeed, the monk was a brave and diligent type; had he not sacrificed himself to break the target's defense, everyone here might have died. The words were filled with endless regret and self‑reproach for not being strong enough. Bai Lang blinked; although his contact with the monk was brief, the monk liked to talk and was easy‑going—a truly good monk, and if he returned to lay life he would be an even better one—yet dying like this was truly a shame.

"By the way, can they be revived?" Bai Lang shouted, "We'll talk about that when you have enough points and heavenly treasures." The voice sounded rather annoying, but its words lifted everyone's spirits. So everyone said they'd keep in touch, and then followed the voice's guidance, walked out of the palace and vanished into the clouds. Mu Ronghua squeezed Bai Lang's eyes and said, "I'll come find you later." Then she left first.

Bai Lang was the last to leave the palace; he patted Yu Yu, glanced back once, and stepped into the clouds.

It was another flash before his eyes, but Bai Lang immediately saw a strange ghost‑head with flashing eyes on his chest, which then vanished into his chest. "Hm?" Bai Lang didn't want to say much for the moment, kept walking a few steps, and the white mist simply disappeared. He found himself standing in his own room… the pair of halberds were still on his back, his clothes still ragged, but nothing else was abnormal.

"What is this…" Bai Lang patted Yu Yu, "Could it be that this fish is causing the trouble?" When he held Yu Yu up to his eyes, he saw the fish looked much more moist, as if it were about to become a living fish. "That fast?" Bai Lang muttered.

He quickly changed into another set of clothes, then sheathed the Purple Gold Halberd, and cursed a few times, "The weapon I just forged wasn't even heated up yet, and it's already gone. Even the short sword broke; what kind of situation is that!" Yet there was an unexpected joy: the fight had advanced his Golden Bell Shield internal force along the meridians considerably, perhaps in a few months he could open the twelve primary channels together with the eight extraordinary vessels, and then truly break through the second stage.

The situation unfolded just as he expected; after three months he had indeed opened all his meridians, and his martial skill surged. His internal force was massive like a bell, yet he still hadn't opened the Ren and Du channels, so he couldn't reach the innate stage. The second stage of the Golden Bell Shield had silently broken on the day he opened all the meridians. However, Mu Ronghua, who said she would come find him right away, still hadn't arrived—Bai Lang didn't mind; his current state was fine, and if Mu Ronghua came looking for him, he would have a hard time hiding.

Bai Lang had no interest at all in standing out within the Chang Le Gang.

Mu Ronghua not coming didn't bother Bai Lang—after all, he might meet her again in the next trial. Now that Bai Lang had broken the second stage of the Golden Bell Shield, he found the third stage already before him. The three passes of the Golden Bell Shield form one segment; the initial three passes were meant to be broken through like a hot knife through butter, and Bai Lang gritted his teeth, ready to smash the third pass directly.

After breaking the second stage of the Golden Bell Shield, a layer of true qi settled over his five organs and six bowels, making internal injuries hard to incur under normal circumstances, and the protective qi gradually solidified, so he no longer needed to consciously circulate qi to make his body a unified whole, rather than previously having to channel qi to shield specific parts. Only after this second stage could one truly say "Thirteen Tai Bao practicing the Golden Bell Shield", and with the Golden Bell Shield internal force combined with the San Shi Er Lu Chang Quan's power cultivation, Bai Lang's strength rose another notch.

In these months he also tried to find a set of fist‑and‑kick techniques stronger than the San Shi Er Lu Chang Quan, but he had a condition: the Tiger Form True Meaning he cultivated could not be practiced in isolation, so he had requirements for the style, namely it should have a Tiger Form—fortunately this world has tigers, likely top‑tier beasts, so Tiger Form fists certainly exist. However Bai Lang hadn't found a suitable one; his contribution points weren't enough to buy a proper one, and he didn't want unsuitable ones.

But a good thing is his Iron Halberd method was taking shape; in fact it's even simpler to use than swords, essentially just smash, hook, swipe, roll and thrust, with smash and thrust being the most common. If he could borrow horse power… "But my Lightness Skill is already very fast at short range, so this one that especially needs horse power might not be necessary." Bai Lang thought so, yet this didn't stop him from using a donkey and the horses handled by Ya Xingli to practice a bit—he still had that privilege.

Of course, the people in Ya Xingli and the gang knew that Bai Lang had found his preferred weapon, but most just laughed—using swords and sabers is the norm for martial artists; wielding an iron halberd… the aesthetic just doesn't fit. This country doesn't forbid armor, but martial artists don't wear full armor; at most they wear soft armor to guard against stabbing. Among martial masters, it's better to spend that money on a precious sword than to don armor.

Bai Lang ignored them; that day he harnessed a surge of qi and began to assault the third stage. The third stage also requires external aid, and since Bai Lang didn't want anyone to know he was training the Golden Bell Shield, he had to do it himself. He swung the iron halberd, striking his own body… this is the pái dǎ technique, and cultivating the third stage calls for using this technique to harden flesh, tendons, and bones, making the meridians resilient; the skin and flesh become hard to be cut by swords, and even if injured the pain is minimal, preventing loss of combat ability due to pain.

In this stage, the heavier the strikes, the faster the breakthrough—though not too heavy, as excessive force would cause fatal injuries and be foolish. After three days of pái dǎ, Bai Lang had already completed the third stage—this stage turned out to be the easiest and quickest. As for the fourth stage… Bai Lang flipped through the manual, "It basically will take time." At that moment, Yu Yu leapt again, whooshing out a void, and Bai Lang, bare‑chested, lifted the iron halberd and stepped into it.