The entire journey from the Douluo Continent to the Star Luo Continent took about two and a half months’ time. This could only be achieved by using the ocean liner’s maximum speed.
Dusk had arrived once more, and Tang Wulin’s mental state had strengthened after eating. Since he could not flee, he would put all his efforts into surviving.
“Today is the forty-ninth day,” Mu Ye’s voice echoed. Tang Wulin’s spirit was shaken at the sound.
He could clearly remember that Mu Ye had once told him that the first stage of cultivation lasted forty-nine days.
The forty-nine-day cultivation process did not feel long, for it was only a brief period compared to the past ten years. Yet, he was brought to the verge of death on a daily basis within that short amount of time. Could he even describe it as ‘passing a day as if it were a year’?
Tang Wulin’s entire body shrank, but he appeared even more muscular now. Of course, he could also clearly sense the change in his body when he was tormented by the pain.
He was constantly pushing his potential to its limit with the extremely high water pressure and the continual struggle to survive. Then, he replenished himself with highly nutritious food the next day. During these forty-nine days, Tang Wulin felt that he had thoroughly remolded himself. When seen with his inner sight, the color of his bones, internal organs, and blood essence had turned from their initial pale golden hue to a bright gold. Moreover, Old Tang had already explained to him explicitly that he need not consume any more heaven and earth treasures once he had broken through the fifth layer of the Golden Dragon King seal. His body was strong enough to sustain itself now, and he could attempt to break through at any time that he wished to.
Tang Wulin was highly motivated when he realized that he could save some money. However, he did not have the intention to try for the fifth layer right now, for once he broke through a layer he would need to be ready to take on the next layer. He could wait a little while more and face it when he was fully prepared.
Old Tang appeared again on the tenth day of Tang Wulin’s cultivation. He assured him confidently that this was the Body Sect’s most extreme cultivation method, and that the technique of stimulating one’s potential on the brink of life and death would be highly effective for him. He just had to persevere.
Tang Wulin gritted his teeth and endured for forty-eight days because of that.
His soul power progressed fast in that time. Even his concentrated soul power had already increased to the peak of rank-39. After all, every tenth rank of one’s soul power elevation was the most difficult to break through.
This was the last day of his suffering in this ordeal!
“Today is going to be a hurdle for you. The time needed for the first stage of training cannot be calculated exactly. In other words, the forty-ninth day is just a standard benchmark. If your martial soul’s second awakening is successfully stimulated today, then you would’ve proven that you have adequate talent to join the Body Sect’s elite. Otherwise, you’ll need to begin another forty-nine days until you’ve completed the second awakening.” Mu Ye’s voice sounded very dull, but it felt like a thunderclap in a blue sky to Tang Wulin’s ears.
‘So this is not the end yet?’
In reality, Mu Ye was feeling very strange in his heart. As the Body Sect’s sect master, no one else in the world was more knowledgeable of the their cultivation method than he.
Tang Wulin was unaware that he was not enduring the Body Sect’s standard cultivation method for the past forty-nine days, but one that was many times more harrowing.
The endurance of Tang Wulin’s body had far exceeded Mu Ye’s predictions, especially in the stimulation of his potential. Tang Wulin’s condition had rarely been recorded appeared in the Body Sect’s ancient archives. Moreover, those members of the Body Sect with similar situations from ages past went on to become Limit Douluos.
Hence, Mu Ye had been testing him to the highest standards all along, and gave him the greatest challenges. Each time, he was only willing to stop after he was sure that Tang Wulin’s body had been pushed to the edge.
According to the Body Sect’s ancient records, if a person could endure such a cultivation method more than ten times, his second awakening should be completed. The Body Sect’s technique had a ninety-five percent success rate in stimulating the martial soul’s second awakening. In other words, it was highly possible for the second awakening of any martial soul, provided that the person could survive the highly hazardous process.
After just one attempt, the majority of people would breakdown, either physically or mentally.
That was why Mu Ye felt that Tang Wulin should have completed the martial soul’s second awakening earlier. Yet even now, there was still no sign of it after forty-eight attempts.
This was completely extraordinary! Generally, a martial soul capable of enduring such a cultivation method which also took a long time to awaken would be extremely powerful. The longer it took for the awakening, the stronger the martial soul. Yet forty-nine times of stimulating the potential was the limit. Any martial soul that had yet to awaken after that would fall into the extremely rare five percent. This signified that Tang Wulin’s martial soul was entirely mundane without any gene from an ancient bloodline. No second awakening would be possible, so it would point out that that he was a Body Sect’s disciple that could never achieve greatness.
Regardless, Mu Ye refused to believe this. Tang Wulin was an elite student of Shrek Academy, and he even possessed a superhuman physique and willpower. It did not make any sense at all that he would fail to complete his martial soul’s second awakening!
Today was the last day. In reality, he was even more anxious than Tang Wulin. Mu Ye had prepared a great surprise for him today in order to ensure the success of his awakening so he could stimulate his body’s potential further.
“Cough, cough. Teacher, will you please stop shaking my conviction!” Tang Wulin looked at Mu Ye out of frustration.
Mu Ye walked in great strides to face him. He grabbed Tang Wulin’s shoulder with one hand and murmured, “You must do as you have been, but it’ll be slightly different. I won’t be saving you today. I swear by the honor of a Title Douluo that I won’t give you the slightest help even if you’re facing a deadly crisis. You can only depend on yourself. Today is the last day and also your final appraisal. That is why you must live!”
Tang Wulin had never seen Mu Ye speak in such somber tones before. In the next moment, his body had already soared high into the sky as he flew out of the room under Mu Ye’s guidance.
This time, Mu Ye flew at an exceptionally fast speed. Moreover, he did not drop Tang Wulin into the sea at once, but he flew for an hour until he was far away from the two ocean liners before he stopped.
“Live!” He murmured once again then released his grasp. Tang Wulin dropped down from the sky like a rock.
With a thump, Tang Wulin fell into the ocean as the cold, surging seawater covered his face.
Tang Wulin’s ability to swim was vastly enhanced after he being tormented by the sea for so many days. He inhaled a deep breath at once to increase his body’s oxygen levels. He was astonished to discover that Mu Ye did not intend to press him into the deep sea, but instead vanished in a flash.
Tang Wulin was slightly confused as he soaked in the seawater. However, he still maintained the highest vigilance in his heart. He was certain that the situation that he was about to face today would be more difficult than before based on Mu Ye’s solemnity.
It was useless for him dwell on it further. He could only focus his efforts on facing whatever lay ahead.
As time passed soaking in seawater, Tang Wulin still did not meet any unusual situations. He wondered if Teacher Mu Ye was merely testing his ability to survive at sea? He fiddled with his spatial ring. There was a lot of food in there, so he could at least float on the sea for another ten to fourteen days if he were to keep going. His life would not be at risk.
There was no lack of food or water in the sea, what was lacking was balanced nutrition.
The moon shone beautifully that night, and the scenery on the sea was tinted with a faint silver brilliance. All of a sudden, Tang Wulin could just make out the blurry image of a few pieces of silver scales at a distance.
At first, there were only two or three, but soon, there were dozens.
At the next moment, he saw Mu Ye’s figure. Mu Ye’s hands were waving toward nothing while his body was in the air. Faint green shadows were scattering down from the air and crashed into the sea with a loud bang.
‘What is Teacher Mu Ye doing?’
Tang Wulin found out the answer very fast, because he had already clearly seen the origin of those silver scales.
Those were not scales but instead, were individual shark fins piercing the water’s surface.
The fins cut through the water as they charged straight at Tang Wulin like pointed silver arrows.
As fear registered on his face, he thought, ‘This isn’t just a shark… it’s a school of sharks!’
Escape?
Tang Wulin did not think of that at all. Although he was quite capable at swimming, it would be a foolish choice for him to race against sharks in the sea.
He finally understood his test today. Was it for him to live? To live when he was attacked by a school of sharks. Without a doubt, these were definitely not ordinary sharks.
‘This, this must be the Devilsoul Great White Shark that’s said to be one of the oceanic soul beast’s overlords in the legends of past!’
‘Teacher, you must be playing a bloody trick on me…’