Vol Chapter 4 (1/2)

Coming from Jian Yu Island, w.a.n.g Lin had been very careful. He knew that any mistake would mean his end. Living in a world of survival of the fittest, he constantly reminded himself to be cautious.

Putting this aside, there was something else that concerned w.a.n.g Lin; Grade D spells were high level spells so the time required to train in them was longer than Grade E spells.

w.a.n.g Lin knew that what he was lacking right now, was time. Taking all of this into consideration, he decided to train with Grade E spells so that he could reach Level 3 soul power as quickly as possible. Future plans would be made after attaining the ability to defend himself.

Spiritual Enhancement Technique was a commonly seen spell in the Empress Mainland. It had one function, strengthening the body. Rumours were that practising this spell for an extended period of time could prolong one’s life.

This spell had no chants. One just needed to follow the poses shown in the ill.u.s.trations, and as described in the texts. Because of its utmost simplicity, it became the favourite for people in the Empress Mainland.

w.a.n.g Lin began practising by following the ill.u.s.trations in the book.

The pose for the first ill.u.s.tration was weird.. The arms were twisted to the back while both legs formed corkscrew motions. After a lot of effort, w.a.n.g Lin barely managed to make a pose similar to it.

No more than ten seconds later, he immediately felt burning aches all over his body as his breathing became laboured.

According to the requirements for the Spiritual Enhancement Technique, it’s considered a small progress to be able to hold a pose for more than ten minutes. If one was able to hold the pose for more than an hour, it would be considered a success and one could proceed to the next ill.u.s.tration.

After loosening up a bit, w.a.n.g Lin reattempted the pose from the first ill.u.s.tration with great determination. Ten seconds later, he could feel every inch of his muscles burning in pain, but he persevered with a strong will. He knew that there was no room to slack off as his time was precious.

After twenty seconds, the pain subsided. But before w.a.n.g Lin could even sigh in relief, a sharp pain radiated from his chest. He retched and vomited dark purple blood, before collapsing and falling unconscious.

After some time, w.a.n.g Lin slowly regained his consciousness. Upon waking up, he carefully observed his surroundings and gave a sigh of relief when he realised that everything still looked the same.

With the sky already turning dark, it appeared he was unconscious for quite some time. w.a.n.g Lin recalled his previous training and felt confused. The pose would explain the numbness and aching. But to think that he would have a sudden onset of chest pain and blood vomiting?

Unable to figure out the root of the problem, w.a.n.g Lin once again tried the pose. Ten seconds later, he felt the same aches.

With great focus, he maintained his posture. After twenty seconds, he could clearly feel pain all over the left side of his chest, as though something were tearing and biting through him. Before the pain got any worse, he stopped.

At this point, his face became pale. With every breath, traces of rosy redness returned to his face. It took a while for his facial colour to return to normal.

“Something is wrong!” w.a.n.g Lin’s eyes was full of apprehension. He opened his s.h.i.+rt, revealing his chest. He bent his head towards the left side of his chest to take a look while slowly palpating it.

He relaxed his body and shut his eyes. Slowly, his breathing became calmer. His surroundings were silent and he could feel his heart beating, “Lub dub, lub dub……”

Hold on, that’s not right. w.a.n.g Lin abruptly opened his eyes. He could feel that with every heartbeat, there was something moving within the left side of his chest.

With a finger, w.a.n.g Lin touched the location where he felt the sensation and gave it a good poke. That thing actually moved. It s.h.i.+fted away slightly from w.a.n.g Lin’s finger.

“This….. This thing is actually alive!” w.a.n.g Lin was horrified.

It must have been this thing that disrupted his training, but how did it enter his body? There were only two possible answers. One, was that it had been inside him ever since Jian Yu Island. The second explanation, would be because of the poison given to him by San Xiao Jie.

Between the two answers, he was more inclined towards the latter.

w.a.n.g Lin seemed to be in deep thoughts. He picked up the broken piece of clay from his bedside and put it under his foot. He knew very well that if he was not able to solve this problem, he would be unable to continue his training. Clenching his teeth, he took a deep breath and repeated the pose shown in the ill.u.s.tration again. Twenty seconds later, there was an extreme sensation of pain as expected. w.a.n.g Lin grabbed the piece of clay and unhesitantly stabbed into the location of the moving thing.

He disregarded the pain and the fresh blood flowing from his chest. With one quick movement, he explored the wound with his right hand. After a sharp shriek from inside the wound, w.a.n.g Lin sat weakly on the floor. In between his two fingers was a black, half bean-sized body of a worm.

“What a cunning worm.” Still s.h.i.+vering, w.a.n.g Lin brought out one of the herbs he bought. After munching on it, he applied it to his chest.

He felt drowsy and drained of energy.

“Lucky for me, one of these herbs is an excellent blood coagulant.” After a long time, w.a.n.g Lin’s pain slightly subsided. He then bandaged the wound with his s.h.i.+rt.