Overlord of the Wilderness

(Thank you to Shushan Qingshui for the generous tip, and thank you to my readers for the Recommendation Tickets. There will be another Chapter in the early morning.)

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After leaving the Steward Hall, Zhaang Ye returned to his small cabin, packed up his things, and then headed straight for his new residence.

The small courtyard Zhaang Ye had chosen was located on the west side of the family compound. The entire courtyard was built on a massive rock. Below the rock were endless bamboo forests. Standing atop it and looking out, the green leaves stretched to the sky, and waves of bamboo rolled in layers. The scenery was quite impressive.

What satisfied Zhaang Ye even more was that next to this small courtyard, there was also a training ground. This training ground was built upon the rock, making it incredibly hard. He could abuse it as much as he wanted without worrying about causing any damage.

He scanned his surroundings and saw four other small courtyards on this massive rock. The layout of these courtyards was similar to his own. Their gates were all shut tight, and a Wooden Token hung outside each, reading ”In Seclusion. Do Not Disturb.” Clearly, the owners of these courtyards were in seclusion.

Zhaang Ye surveyed his surroundings, returned to his courtyard, and also took out a Wooden Token with ”In Seclusion. Do Not Disturb” written on it to hang outside his gate. Then, he entered a state of Cultivation.

Zhaang Ye already had a clear plan for his Cultivation. His Cultivation plan was divided into three main steps. First, he would deduce and perfect the Dragon Elephant Skill, and then cultivate it to the 5th Layer. Second, using the body strengthened by the Dragon Elephant Skill, he would push his Cultivation to the Martial Arts Fourth Layer in one go. Finally, he would go to the family’s Library Pavilion, find a Middle Level Body Technique, and strive to cultivate it to the Minor Achievement Realm in a short time.

Although the original Dragon Elephant Skill was quite powerful, it only scratched the surface of the Dragon Race’s and Elephant Race’s true abilities. Even if cultivated to the Great Success Realm, one could not truly obtain the power of a full dragon and elephant. Therefore, this technique was only considered a Mid-Level Technique. After sensing the way the Mammoth’s qi circulated, Zhaang Ye decided to make some modifications to the Dragon Elephant Skill, bringing its circulation closer to the Mammoth’s own.

Modifying a Cultivation Technique was an extremely dangerous practice. However, Zhaang Ye had a perfect understanding of how the Mammoth’s power circulated, and he also possessed several strands of pure Elephant Power within his body. Thus, this modification was not a problem for him. All Zhaang Ye needed was time.

Deducing a Cultivation Technique allowed for no mistakes. If the qi circulation went wrong, the lesser consequences would be chaotic qi and damaged Meridians. The severe consequences would be shattered Meridians, a destroyed Dantian, or even death by one’s body exploding inch by inch. Therefore, even though Zhaang Ye was extremely familiar with how the Mammoth’s qi circulated, he did not dare to be the slightest bit careless. He first took a Calm Spirit Pill to ensure his mind was in its clearest state, and then began the deduction process.

The first step of the deduction was to draw a diagram of the human meridians.

The Basic Inner Power Zhaang Ye cultivated focused on a breath of Qi of the Dantian, which primarily flowed through the Twelve Main Meridians. The Dragon Elephant Skill was the exact opposite. It cultivated a person’s tendons, bones, skin, flesh, blood, and internal organs, and it primarily flowed through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. By constantly washing over and tempering the body with qi, it made the physical body tougher and increased one’s physical strength.

After drawing the diagram of the human meridians, Zhaang Ye’s second step was to mark the current circulation path of the Dragon Elephant Skill on it.

These first two steps were easy to accomplish. The most difficult and most important part was the Third Step. The Third Step was to use the original Dragon Elephant Skill as a foundation, incorporate the Mammoth’s qi circulation method, and factor in his own condition to deduce a new qi circulation path.

Pondering, deducing, revising.

Time passed day by day. Zhaang Ye’s ideas for the new Cultivation Technique grew clearer and clearer. By the third day, he had already deduced the first layer of the new technique.

On the fourth day, he deduced the new technique’s 2nd Layer.

...

On the twenty-fourth day, Zhaang Ye successfully deduced the new technique’s 5th Layer.

The deduction of the Cultivation Technique had come to a temporary halt. After all, Zhaang Ye hadn’t even scratched the surface of the 6th and 7th Layers. To avoid making mistakes, he decided to wait until after he had cultivated to the 5th Layer before deducing the technique for the 6th Layer.

With the deduction complete, the next step was Cultivation. Because this new Cultivation Technique had some differences from the original, Zhaang Ye decided to start from the beginning and cultivate the Dragon Elephant Skill all over again.

With his original foundation, Zhaang Ye’s progress in cultivating the new Dragon Elephant Skill was extremely fast. He only took three days to cultivate the new Dragon Elephant Skill to the 3rd Layer.

He then spent another nine days cultivating the new Dragon Elephant Skill to the Late Fourth Layer.

The qi circulation path of the new Dragon Elephant Skill was not drastically different from the original’s. But this small change made the Cultivation Technique’s operation much smoother.

Another Transformation brought about by the new Cultivation Technique was that the six strands of Elephant Power within Zhaang Ye’s body were actually showing signs of fusing.

Although Zhaang Ye had refined these six strands of Elephant Power and they obeyed his command, they had never fused with his own qi. If Zhaang Ye’s qi was a river, then these few strands of Elephant Power were like blocks of ice in that river. They flowed with the water but never merged with it. Now that the Elephant Power was showing signs of fusion, Zhaang Ye was pleasantly surprised.

Although there were only a mere six strands of Elephant Power, Elephant Power was Elephant Power—the purest form of strength. If he could fuse them into his own qi, Zhaang Ye would not only be able to comprehend more of the mysteries of power from these six strands, but his own qi would also become much stronger with their addition.

Zhaang Ye had a faint feeling that when these six strands of Elephant Power fully fused with his qi, he would be able to easily advance to the 5th Layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill. With this premonition, Zhaang Ye cultivated with even greater diligence.

Another month passed. One day, while Zhaang Ye was in a profound state of meditative Cultivation, he suddenly felt a slight tremor in his body. The qi within him instantly grew much stronger. An indescribable, mystical feeling welled up in his heart, and in that instant, Zhaang Ye came to understand many of the mysteries of power.

Without alarm or elation, Zhaang Ye inspected his body and discovered that the change had occurred because he had just fused with a strand of Elephant Power. After this strand of Elephant Power merged into his own qi, it not only made his qi more formidable but also passed on a sliver of the Elephant Power’s mysteries to him.

The Elephant Race dominated the Ancient Times, suppressing numerous other powerful races, relying solely on their incomparably tyrannical strength. Although this single strand of Elephant Power didn’t contain much, for Zhaang Ye, it was a massive gain.

After fusing with the first strand, the speed at which the Elephant Power fused increased greatly. Over the next month, Zhaang Ye fused with three more strands in succession. The qi in his body grew more and more formidable, and he even began to faintly exude a trace of the unique Suppression characteristic of a Mammoth.

At this point, although Zhaang Ye had not yet entered the 5th Layer, he was now confident he could handle an ordinary master at the Late Stage of the Martial Arts Fourth Layer. After all, this new Dragon Elephant Skill was much more powerful than the original. Even though he was only at the Late Fourth Layer, its power was in no way inferior to the 5th Layer of the original Dragon Elephant Skill.

Zhaang Ye continued his Cultivation. Five days later, the fifth strand of Elephant Power in his body successfully fused. At this point, Zhaang Ye felt that the 5th Layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill was within his grasp.

’Once I fuse with this last strand of Elephant Power, I’ll definitely be able to enter the 5th Layer of the new Dragon Elephant Skill.’

Three days later, all the bones in Zhaang Ye’s body suddenly began to CRACKLE. At first, the sound was very, very faint, like the buzzing of a mosquito. As his Cultivation Technique circulated, the cracking of his bones grew louder and more intense, like an erupting tidal wave, bringing with it waves of deafening rumbles.

’Good! I’m finally about to reach the 5th Layer!’ Zhaang Ye rejoiced inwardly and continued to circulate the Cultivation Technique.

The 1st and 2nd Layers of the Dragon Elephant Skill cultivated the skin, while the 3rd and 4th Layers cultivated the flesh. Upon reaching the 5th Layer, it went a step deeper, cultivating the bones. The rumbling of Zhaang Ye’s bones now was a sign that he was about to enter the 5th Layer.

As the Cultivation Technique circulated again and again, the ringing of Zhaang Ye’s bones gradually became crisp and prolonged, as if stones were striking each other inside his body. This was because his bones, after being scoured by the Dragon Elephant Power, were slowly hardening like stone. Thus, when they knocked together, the sound they made was like stones colliding.

DING!

As the final ring of his bones faded, a dense golden light suddenly radiated from Zhaang Ye’s entire body, making him look like a golden statue. A few moments later, the golden light dissipated. Zhaang Ye slowly stood up. His aura was now thirty percent similar to that of a Mammoth, and his every move carried an indescribable Suppression.

Zhaang Ye opened his eyes and smiled faintly. ”Finally, I’ve cultivated to the 5th Layer! I wonder how powerful the 5th Layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill is?” he murmured as he walked toward the training ground.