Chapter 10: Waiting is Unnecessary (1/2)

Volume 1 – Between Daybreak and Evernight, Chapter 10: Waiting is Unnecessary

Qianye felt an extraordinary space in his abdominal area. Origin power faintly surged inside of it, as if it were a fledgling butterfly trying to break out of its cocoon. Only by breaking through the invisible barrier wrapped around that space could he ignite this node and allow the origin power inside and outside his body to merge together.

Each cultivation art had a different process of breaking through said barrier. Most of them were on the gentle side, slowly grinding the barrier down thinner and thinner. The barrier would eventually be broken, and the origin power would naturally merge.

Some arts were more violent and forceful, attracting the inner and outer tides into repeatedly crashing into the barrier. The Combatant Formula was one such example. It was an art that would make the origin tides become wild and potent, and the force it created was comparable to first-class cultivation arts. However, it would also damage the body’s internal organs in the process of breaking the barrier.

Qianye was able to quickly activate his first complete origin tide. Today his objective was to attempt an assault on his node barrier.

He carefully directed the surging origin power to rush toward the node in his lower abdomen. Waves of origin power slowly adjusted their angle and crashed into the node barrier.

The node barrier resembled a tall dam that firmly kept the origin tides away.

Qianye slowly grew absorbed in the task, and even the strange fragrance of the Vermillion Countenance Blood had vanished from his senses. He felt as if he had become one with the origin tides, surging tall and powerfully crashing against the barrier before falling apart and transforming into a myriad of origin power droplets. It was as if he were actually the tides themselves.

The next wave, however, would only be taller, and its force would be even stronger than before. Each impact and each recoil of the origin power caused Qianye’s body to shake slightly.

During the process in which the origin tides in Qianye’s body crashed against the node barrier, the origin power that resonated in the outside world constantly replenished Qianye’s origin power. In this way, Qianye’s origin power gradually increased.

It was unknown how many times this tedious cycle repeated, and when a cycle of origin tides finished, before the surging origin power could completely subside, a new wave suddenly appeared!

Qianye was both shocked and overjoyed. He hurried to concentrate and guide this wave to crash against the node barrier. When the tide crashed into the barrier, Qianye’s ears buzzed and became filled with the sounds of roaring water. His body involuntarily shuddered at the impact, and he was nearly thrown from where he sat.

This was the first wave of the second cycle of the origin tides. It was imbued with the surplus force of the first cycle of origin tides, and its impact was already proportionate to the fourth or fifth wave of the first cycle.

This was the first sign of success. As Qianye accumulated more origin power, the second, third, and fourth cycles of origin tides would naturally form as well. As more origin tides formed, the more powerful the tides became, and the more impact they would have against the node barrier.

It was said that the time to activate the abdominal node would be after the third cycle of origin tides’ formation.

When the bell rang, Qianye tidied himself as he usually did and swiftly left the cultivation room. This time, he had achieved a breakthrough in his assignment, and there were a dozen or so other children who had cultivated alongside him also looking happy with their own successes.

But Qianye didn’t feel very happy. His progress could be considered quick, but he could only be ranked among the top one third in this class. Almost half a year had passed, and it was said that, in some other classes, someone had already ignited their first origin node.

As usual, the children fell into formation in the valley’s empty ground. For some reason, Chen Lei stood beside Qianye.

When everyone ran to the training field under the instructor’s command, Chen Lei approached Qianye and lowered his voice. “I’ve started cultivating my third cycle of origin tides. Once I ignite my origin node, you better watch out!”

Qianye kept looking forward as if he hadn’t heard anything.

The combat and Biological Structure classes came next.

Qianye’s opponent during the combat class was an average kid. Neither side had a relationship or grudge with the other, so the result of the combat was ordinary. Then came Biological Structure.

This time, however, the instructor was a thin, bald, and wrinkled old man that looked unfamiliar. He had a pair of murky gray eyes, and when they swept across Qianye, he felt as if his entire being was being seen through. Qianye immediately shivered.

The old man’s eyes had already swept past Qianye at first. Then his eyes twitched, and he turned back to look at Qianye once more.

There was a laboratory workbench in front of every student, and a rectangular thing covered in white cloth sat on top of it.

The old man cleared his throat, and his voice was as coarse and raspy as a crow’s cry. “Hello, kids! From today onward, I will make you into true monsters! I believe that none of you will be willing to remember my name, but after the next half year, this name will accompany you for a very, very long time. My name is Sheeeeeeeeeeeen Tu!”

Shen Tu then explained how his class worked. It was very simple. They needed to complete their task within the allotted period of time, and no one was allowed to vomit.

“Alright! I would like you to now pull away the white cloth in front of you and this up!” Shen Tu raised an object that resembled a thin hook.

Qianye took a step forward and lifted the white cloth on top of the laboratory workbench. He was immediately caught by surprise!

Beneath the white cloth was an icy cold corpse! However, the corpse had a familiar face. Qianye remembered that this was a kid who had entered the training camp with him!

The corpse before him was clearly well preserved. Even though almost a year had passed, it had no rot and was still in perfect condition.

At the corner of the laboratory workbench was a tray filled with dozens of oddly shaped tools. Like the tool that Shen Tu was holding, one of them was a hook.

There was also a corpse on stage. Shen Tu plunged the hook into the corpse’s chest and pulled it upward. Then he used a sharp, small knife to cut through the thin layer of the corpse’s skin.

Seeing this familiar face, Qianye was deeply conflicted and just couldn’t find it within himself to act. Just like Qianye, a large majority of the children appeared to be both terrified and at a loss. A small minority of the children, however, began to do as Shen Tu said. Some of them even wore cruel, sinister smiles on their faces.

Suddenly, a guard began to loudly count down from ten.

Shock went through the children. It was the human countdown that they knew extremely well! They knew that anyone who failed to act by the end of the countdown would be punished, and there was no telling if Shen Tu’s punishment would be even more brutal than Zhang Jing’s!