Using all the cards in my sleeves, I was able to successfully reach the place that had become my obsession, I had arrived in the place where the pressure came to be from .
After I did this, rush of clarity hit my mind and I was able to understand the severity of what I did just now and it awakened me from the crazed state I was in just now .
My mind become clear and with this happening, I understood that what I just did was wrong across many levels .
I used all my hidden cards and made quite the scene, not to mention that I might have exposed some of the Panel abilities just like that, after all, how in the world would I have been fine after making use of two Secret Techniques just now, if that wasn't suspicious, I don't know what was .
Without even getting the chance to taste the joy of achieving what I wanted, I suddenly become tensed at thinking that someone like Old Ma for an example, being the one responsible for this place and being the one whom I heard his voice a few minutes ago .
I hurriedly tried to stop using my two secret techniques, but just as I was about to do this, I remembered what kind of place I was currently in, then removed the idea from my mind .
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Even though I was still worried about being caught by the Old Man, I was more worried about what might happen to me if I were to stop using the only two things that allowed me to keep surviving under this hellish pressure .
My ears were buzzing with notifications telling me of how ridiculous were the current amount Tempering Energy that was in my body currently and how was it still rising like crazy .
That was enough to give me a thoroughly idea about how strong was the pressure that my body would be under if I were to turn off those two secret techniques, just the amount that was seeping into my body was this ridiculous, my head was beginning to hurt just by thinking of what might happen if I were to lose the protection those two Skill Secret Techniques grant me .
But I can imagine being squished to death in an instant, so if I were to choose between dying squished and getting caught by old Ma, I would pick the latter without any hesitation and it really seemed that I won't have to choose between the two .
I had contemplated on this for over a minute and a half, yet there was no sign of Old Man Ma to come and check on me or anything like that, I was in the center of the pressure, but for some reason, I had no doubt that this Old Man would still be able to come and fetch me with quite ease .
But there being no sign of him after some time like this made me began to believe that he might actually not be coming to check on me, that made me feel quite conflicated, if he wasn't coming to check on me after 3 to 4 minutes, I might still die, but if he were to come and see my current state, I might get interrogated first before getting dissected .
Thinking like that, I took a deep breath and calmed myself down, I might not be able to make it, in less than two seconds earlier to what I had expected, I might end up losing my Blood Qi due to the fact that there was a Mysterious Force Devouring it without any reservation .
If I can, I would like to go back, but here's the thing, my current Blood Qi reserve was running quite low, it was no mistake to say that I might end up dying midway my try to return to where I was before due to exhausting my Blood Qi and that will force my physical body to bear the pressure of where my Blood Qi will run out .
No time to retreat, no time to waste in trying to wait for help to arrive, not enough Blood Qi to grant me both enough time and a way to retreat, that was how I would describe my situation right now, a desperate situation to the extreme, yet I wasn't panicking or more accurate to say that my heart and mind become numb from the overstimulation of this whole damn situation .
I was having no clue about how to turn things around, all I knew was that I was running out of time here and that the fate of not being able to come up with a way to win this current race against time, I will be turned into a meat paste .
Sensing the amount of Tempering Energy inside my body, I couldn't help but have a crazy and reckless thought, one that was even more reckless than anything I did before, if I were to succeed in pulling this off .
I would need to apologize to Master and Senior Brother later for breaking the promise I made to the two of them, about not doing any more reckless things, but if I didn't, then I can only hope that my Senior Brother won't be holding a grudge against me and maybe I might be able to make up for this in my next life, if there was one .
My chest was heaving up and down, my breath was rigid, I was in no position to achieve a breakthrough, but I still decided to go ahead and try breaking through to the second layer of Flesh Tempering in this place and at the current time .
But that was the only solution that I could think of and I had no more time to think of another plan, but I will need to make a few arrangements before trying to breakthrough, one of those arrangements was to cut the expanses of my Blood Qi first .
For starters, I will need to stop running one of the two secret techniques currently on, I already decided that I would be turning off Dragon-Tiger Transformation secret technique, the reason was simple, the other secret technique the Life-Severing Sword was completely running on borrowed strength, it wasn't costing me anything at all .
But the first mentioned secret technique was devouring the Blood Qi I had left, what made me hesitant to do this was me being unable to guarantee that I will still be able to hold on without it, but with it currently on, I was sure that my Blood Qi would be gone in a more faster rate .
Will Life-Severing Sword being able to keep me safe, I don't know, it was a huge gamble, but I was beginning to feel that it might actually work, if the Life-Severing Sword was capable of offsetting the pressure on me, then the chances of my success would increase greatly .
There was no time to dwell on this matter anymore, I need to take action directly, I stopped activating the Dragon-Tiger Transformation Secret Technique, the moment I did this, I felt the pressure on me increasing all of a sudden and it kept on increasing as well .
My whole body suddenly went tense as the pressure finally took effect on me, my whole body was fixed in place, what was even more worrying was the fact that the pressure was increasing slowly but steadily, as if a hole was made in the water and it was now being swarmed by the waves to fill it again, the sad news was that I was this hole .
I was being swarmed by pressure, I already have began losing hope in surviving this, my orifices began to bleed, my internal organs were being crushed and nothing from what I had in mind was going as planned .
Not to mention practicing, I might die in the next second, if there was no time to panic before, now there was barely enough time to panic, any increase in the pressure I'm under again and I'm a goner .
My mind was filled with all kind of thoughts and hopes that I might still have a chance in surviving, but with the current situation like this and with the inability of offsetting this pressure on me by using the other secret technique, no matter how I tried to wreck my brain in finding a solution .
There was no idea that could help me in surviving, my only solution was to turn the secret technique back on and try to get away from here as possible as for still getting severely injured, I guess that I will need to pay the price of my recklessness in the end .
Just as I was about to retreat, I felt like something went off in my mind, an idea that I had never thought off before, it was related to the disappointing Life-Severing Sword Secret Martial Skill, the idea might really allow me to survive, if it worked that is .
No, it will work, I feel that it will, there was a strong belief in me that it will indeed work, for me this idea was the last straw that I could hang to, in hope of saving myself .
Since the power that keep supporting the use of that secret technique was borrowed, then how about borrowing more of it then, if the fuel that this technique and this sword demand was my Life Force, then how about giving them all of it to them then in exchange for the strength and power that could help me in offsetting the pressure being exerted on me .
As if finally seeing a light in the end of the tunnel, my mind and heart calmed down in an instant and as I was about to go ahead and do this, my heart was assaulted by doubts, those doubts were regarding the Panel and its ability to offset the price that I needed to pay completely .
That what gave me the confidence in trying to do this, I believed that the Panel would still be able to prevent the secret technique from sucking me dry, but at this crucial moment, doubts about my ability to do this arose in my heart .
I was jolted awake from my doubts due to the sudden increase in the pressure around me, I really didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this happening, the pressure helped me in waking up from the doubtful state I was in, helping me to strengthen my resolve, I began to circulate my Blood Qi even more stronger than before .
And time after time, I began to turn on the secret technique and run it in a more intense way than even before, my heart wasn't calm and collected at first, even though I discarded all my doubts, but the failure in my plans before, made me quite wary about this failure happening again this time .
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But shockingly enough, my gamble seemed to be working, as I kept increasing the output of my Blood Qi and enticing the sword to absorb more of my Life Force, all that it was actually doing was siphoning more and more of that borrowed strength and accumulate it in the sword, then like before when I was fighting Lu Sun, the Sword began to channel this borrowed strength through me as well .
Cold and sinister, that was my first impression on these deep red wicked energy that was currently coating my body, before I wasn't able to see these changes clearly due to how short of time I had before to check these changes, at that time, I needed to deal with Lu Sun as quickly as possible, but now I was able to see that the sword edge was now completely red .
The color was similar to that damn red pill from before and just looking at it made my heart palpitate, I was currently engulfed in an energy coat that was in the exact same color, I kept holding my breath for a few seconds thinking that something bad might start happening to me but other than that Blood Pool trying to control me and its influence on me increased for a second there .
But then the Panel was able to remove that influence directly, it was one message about the contract being promoted was what made me almost throw the sword in my hand away, but in the end that promotion too was detected and removed, I once again was glad that I had the Panel .
What made me almost jumb from joy was the fact that my gamble worked and the pressure on me was directly removed
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The only problem currently was the ringing sounds of notifications, but those I can be able to block them from bothering me, already sensing that time was quite tight, I first take a look at the walls, wanting to see what was going on here .
I saw that there were a stone tablets scattered around the corners of the wall in the end of the gave, they had some weird symbols written on them and what shocked me to the core was that I saw these symbols were actually glittering with light .
But I soon regained my composure, after all, I really didn't have time to dwell on this too much, I need to breakthrough now, or I really mind end up exploding from being bloated by the amount of Tempering Energy tha I had accumulated inside me .
Using the safe passage that the Life-Severing Sword carved for me, I decided to be more darer and started to practice the Solid Rock Fist Technique and even for a slight of a few seconds, I used Dragon-Tiger Transformation to land a punch with all my strength against the pressure .
Wanting to creat a huge impact that would help me in increasing the Tempering Energy I have even more, doing all this while holding the sword in my heart, but as if my heart was so excited to care about these things, I felt no discomfort and even the tiredness from before was completely swiped away .
As I landed the punch, it seemed that I have awakened some deep sleeping monster from its slumber, the pressure that was on my body increased again and I got what I wanted the amount of energy I accumulated was beyond what I imagined, but as I was rejoicing this, a pressure like bubble bomb exploded right in front of me .
I used the sword in hand to fight against it, but I was still pushed back a few steps, I didn't try to go forward again, all I did was that I hurriedly sat down crosslegged on the hard floor and began trying to run the Internal Martial Technique Part of the Solid Rock Fist, that Master had given me, wanting to achieve my very first breakthrough to another layer.
But just as I sat down a problem occurred, after sensing my current state, I understood that the sword would be a problem, but I then tried to find a position where my body would still be relaxed and while still holding the sword that was currently filled with that wicked borrowed strength and was the reason I wasn't feeling that much pressure as before .
I put the sword on my lap and held its handle with my left hand and hoped that whatever that energy was, it won't end up in causing me any harm or causing any sort of problem to my breakthrough .
I began to make use of my Blood Qi which was at its limit to begin triggering a breakthrough, my whole body was already Tempered so much that there was no other room for the Tempering Energy to go .
Circulating the Tempering Energy for the first time into the new circulation route mentioned in that technique .
Made me understand that this Technique was far behind Ferocious Blood Refinement in terms of the ability to hold the Tempering Energy, so I wasted no time and did what I did yesterday, used the other technique I had since it was faster and it didn't affect me badly in the slightest .
After I kept circulating the Tempering Energy all-over my body, I was suddenly having some other crazy thought, the sparring with senior brother earlier had inspired that thought to appear in my mind, what about tempering my neck as well .
For other, this was nothing but a suicidal attempt, after all who might be sane in mind to actually do something like this and without having any techniques to lead him to where he should go and how should he temper his body .
But for me who have the Panel, I had nothing to be afraid of, unless the Panel was living in my head and ended up being destroyed, even though these doubts appeared in mind, I still went on and did it .
I had the experience of how to enhance my senses and even if I were to do a mistake, I would still be able to make up for it .
( MovingForward15 minutes )
" Woahhh .
I woke up from my coma and only found Senior Brother's smiley face, but it was more of a frown than a smile to my eyes, he said :
So how did you find the taste of Nine-Shock Rock Formation ? .