Chapter 242: Mysterious Girl

Ye Guan was sprawled out on the ground. His head felt extremely heavy as if it were filled with lead.

Meanwhile, Ba Wan was holding a flaming rod in her hands as she stared straight at Ye Guan. To be more accurate, she was staring at his head, looking like she wanted to hit him again.

However, she abandoned the thought of giving him another beating after recalling that she had just eaten his dragon meat. Ye Guan had fed her good food, so Ba Wan thought that she couldn’t go too far.

Ye Guan slowly stood up, and he shook his head fiercely to dispel the dizziness. He then turned to look at Ba Wan and asked in bewilderment, “Lady Ba Wan, why did you do something so dirty?”

Ba Wan pretended that she didn’t understand him and asked, “Dirty? How so?”

Ye Guan exclaimed, “That was a sneak attack!”

Ba Wan frowned and said, “You said you wanted to spar.”

“Yes, I want a spar,” Ye Guan nodded and said, “But shouldn’t we leave this village and find an open space outside to fight? You weren’t supposed to just attack me from behind without saying that you’re going to attack me?”

“Do people from the outside world go through all this trouble just to fight?” asked Ba Wan.

Ye Guan was silent.

Ba Wan asked once again, “Want to have another go?”

“Sure.” Ye Guan nodded, and he hurriedly added, “Let’s get out of the village and find an open space to fight.”

The villagers were ordinary people, so they wouldn’t be able to withstand even the shockwaves of their battle.

Ba Wan nodded and said, “Okay.”

Ye Guan turned around and hopped onto his sword. He found a wide grassy area a hundred and fifty kilometers away from the village. When he landed on the grassy plains, Ba Wan was already not too far away from him.

Ye Guan’s expression fell. It seemed like her speed was on par with his speed. This was the first time Ye Guan had encountered someone of the younger generation who could keep up with his speed.

Ba Wan was holding a flaming rod in her hands.

“Fighting is really exhausting, so you have to be responsible for my meals, okay?” she said.

“Sure.” Ye Guan smiled and said, “You can just focus on eating!”

Ba Wan grinned, revealing some of her teeth.

“Let’s eat!” Ba Wan exclaimed, “Oh, I mean, let’s fight!”

Swoosh!

Ba Wan moved as fast as lightning as she made a beeline for Ye Guan. Her swift movements tore spacetime apart as she rushed toward Ye Guan, creating a terrifying sight.

She arrived in front of Ye Guan in the blink of an eye.

With a soft cry, she swung her flaming rod toward Ye Guan’s head.

Boom!

The space around Ye Guan caved in beneath the flaming rod’s power.

Ye Guan’s heart became filled with shock, but he didn’t even attempt to dodge. Ba Wan’s attack looked like an ordinary swing, but she had pre-emptively sealed all of Ye Guan’s escape routes.

Ye Guan could only face it head-on, and that was what he did.

He thrust his sword forward—thirty swords and the Invincible Sword Intent!

Ye Guan didn’t dare to underestimate Ba Wan, and he decided to try and attempt to end the fight with just one sword move by going all-out.

Crackle!

The surrounding spacetime shattered.

Boom!

Ye Guan’s sword struck Ba Wan’s flaming rod, and the spacetime within a kilometer around the two spontaneously exploded as if a giant hammer had struck it. The powerful backlash sent Ye Guan flying hundreds of meters away.

Ba Wan was sent flying as well, and she froze when she finally came to a halt. She looked down at the flaming rod in her hands, and a gust of wind blew past her.

The gust of wind reduced the flaming rod to ashes.

In the distance, when Ye Guan stopped, fresh blood flowed out from the corner of his lips. He looked at his right hand, which was now completely busted and completely covered in blood.

Fresh blood seeped out of Ye Guan’s lips. He looked down at his right hand and found that it was a bloody mess. Ye Guan’s expression turned grim as he turned toward Ba Wan and asked, “Lady Ba Wan, what’s your cultivation realm?”

Ba Wan frowned slightly and asked, “Cultivation realm?”

Ye Guan was silent—to think that Ba Wan didn’t even know that concept!

Ba Wan revealed a crooked smile and said, “Let’s go eat!”

Ye Guan’s expression stiffened, but he quickly prepared multiple chunks of dragon meat for Ba Wan. Of course, he also prepared an entire pot of rice for her to eat along with the meat.

Afterward, Ye Guan leaned against a boulder and tended to his wound while Ba Wan stuffed herself with mouthfuls of meat and rice.

Moments later, Ye Guan’s wound didn’t look that grotesque anymore. He made a sidelong glance at Ba Wan and asked inwardly, “Senior, does she really not have a cultivation base?”

The mysterious voice replied, “Of course, she has a cultivation base.”

Ye Guan asked, “Really?”

The mysterious voice said, “Yes, but she doesn’t know it. She was once a cultivator, but it seems that she has forgotten that fact.”

Ye Guan’s confusion deepened.

Meanwhile, Little Pagoda spoke to the mysterious voice in the tiny pagoda.

“She’s not simple. Do you know anything about her?” asked Little Pagoda.

“She’s not someone you can afford to provoke,” said the mysterious voice before adding, “So you should stop fishing for information from me!”

Little Pagoda had no idea what to say.

Ba Wan put down her bowl and lay on the ground.

She burped and revealed a look of satisfaction.

Ye Guan laughed and asked, “Lady Ba Wan, are you full?”

“Yes, I’m full.” Ba Wan nodded and said, “It’s been so long since I was this full!”

“If you don’t mind me asking, Lady Bawan,” said Ye Guan before asking, “How did you learn to fight?”

Ba Wan suddenly sat upright and asked, “Do you want to know that?”

Ye Guan nodded and said, “If you want to tell me, sure.”

Ba Wan chuckled and said, “I learned how to fight in a cave!”

A cave? Ye Guan was bewildered. “A cave?”

Ba Wan nodded and asked, “Do you want me to bring you there?”

Ye Guan examined Ba Wan’s expression. Upon realizing that she was serious, Ye Guan nodded and said, “Sure, why not?”

“Hahaha.” Ba Wan laughed and said, “Let’s go, then.”

With that, Ba Wan got up and started walking away.

Ye Guan followed closely behind her.

Ba Wan and Ye Guan soon found themselves in front of a cave. The stalactites and the stalagmites started emitting light the moment they entered the cave, allowing the two to see clearly in the dark cave

Ba Wan brought Ye Guan to a certain wall, and Ye Guan saw a yellowed, ancient-looking book on the wall.

Ba Wan plucked the book and handed it over to Ye Guan.

“I learned it from this book,” she said.

Ye Guan flipped it open and saw there were three words written boldly on the first page—Unbeatable Fist Art!

Unbeatable Fist Art!

Ye Guan flipped a few more pages, and his expression turned heavy. He had no idea just what rank the book belonged to, but it described six seemingly powerful moves—Move the Mountains, Break the Earth, Shake the Heavens, Pluck the Stars, Seize the Moon, and Bury the Gods.

Ye Guan looked up at Ba Wan and asked, “You learned all these moves?”

Ba Wan nodded. “Yep.”

Ye Guan was silent. Evidently, Ba Wan had held back against him earlier.

Ye Guan shook his head and laughed. He had always thought that he was talented, and it wasn’t that strange of a thought considering his improvement speed. However, it seemed that he had grossly overestimated his self-worth.

The mysterious senior in the tiny pagoda was right. The vast expanse held many worlds and universes, each of them containing a myriad of talents. In other words, there would always be someone better than anyone out there.

Ye Guan chuckled and said, “Lady Ba Wan, this book is extremely precious, so why did you not take it with you?”

Ba Wan calmly replied, “What would I do with it? It’s not like I can eat it.”

Ye Guan didn’t know what to say. Ba Wan’s was just… unique.

“You should go ahead and read it if you want to learn the moves in it,” said Ba Wan.

“This book is precious in the outside world,” said Ye Guan.

Ba Wan shook her head slightly and said, “It doesn’t matter to me. The book was already here when I first came here, and it’s not mine, so I can’t just take it away with me. Of course, it would have been a different story if it were edible.”

Ye Guan chuckled to himself. Ba Wan’s words were so absurd that he truly had no idea how to respond to her. Eventually, Ye Guan flipped through the pages and memorized the moves within them before putting the book down.

“Are you not going to take it with you?” asked Ba Wan.

Ye Guan smiled and said, “The book was already here when I first came here, and it’s not mine, so I can’t just take it away with me.”

Ba Wan froze and stared at him. She asked softly, “Why did you repeat what I said?”

“Pfft!” Ye Guan boisterously laughed.

Ba Wan suddenly pulled him away. “Let’s go!”

Ye Guan asked, “What’s with the rush?”

Ba Wan sounded serious as she said, “It’s time to eat!”

Ye Guan’s expression froze. Didn’t you just eat?

Ba Wan rolled her eyes at him and said, “You really have to change that attitude. You have to be more enthusiastic when it comes to eating. Otherwise, you won’t be able to find a wife in this village.”

Ye Guan’s face darkened at that.

Right when they were about to leave the cave, Ye Guan looked back to take one final glance at the cave when he noticed a fiery red rune on the cave wall. The fiery red rune trembled ever so slightly before disappearing.

Ye Guan was astonished.

Ba Wan abruptly yanked Ye Guan away and started running out of the cave.

Once they were out of the cave, Ba Wan stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath before turning to look at the cave.

“It appeared again!” she exclaimed.

Confused, Ye Guan asked, “What was that?”

Ba Wan looked a bit scared as she replied, “I don’t know, but it felt dangerous.”

Dangerous? Ye Guan frowned. His curiosity was piqued, but Ba Wan suddenly removed the large bowl hanging on her back and said, “Let’s eat!”

Ye Guan was rendered speechless. Regardless, he proceeded to cook for Ba Wan, but he made two pots of dragon meat and two pots of rice for her to eat this time. He believed that Ba Wan would definitely be satisfied for a while with that much food.

Afterward, he started studying the Unbeatable Fist Art. He was a Martial God, and the Unbeatable Fist Art was a technique he couldn’t possibly resist learning, so Ye Guan didn’t waste any time learning it.

At first, his progress was pretty smooth and fast. He learned Move the Mountains and Break the Earth in just three days, but he started having issues with Shake the Heavens.

Ye Guan decided to approach Ba Wan and asked, “Lady Ba Wan, I have a question about Shake the Heavens. The book said that the heart and the mind must be united when the move is executed, but the energy drain is insane whenever I attempt to execute the move, and it’s not as strong as I thought it would be. Why is that?”

Ba Wan swallowed a chunk of meat and replied, “I don’t know!”

Ye Guan froze and went quiet.

Ba Wan looked at him and asked, “Is it that hard to learn?”

Ye Guan hesitated for a while before he asked, “How long did it take you to learn the Unbeatable Fist Art?”

Ba Wan annihilated a spoonful of rice and said, “I mastered every move by the time I’m done eating a meal!”

Ye Guan was rendered speechless. Her words had truly disturbed him. She learned every move in the Unbeatable Fist Art in just the time it took for her to finish a meal?

Ye Guan suddenly felt like he was completely useless. It took him three days to learn just three moves, after all. In the end, Ye Guan shook his head and chuckled bitterly before walking over to the side and sitting down cross-legged to cultivate.

The mysterious voice suddenly said, “Enter the Unity Between Heart and Sword Man and Sword Unification state. Empty your mind and focus on the task at hand.”

Ye Guan nodded and closed his eyes.

After a long while, he finally fell into a trance, and he felt as if he was an old man in the middle of meditation. His mind was empty, and he was completely focused on the task at hand.

He started circulating his profound energy according to the Unbeatable Fist Art’s instructions, and his profound energy soon pooled in his arms. Ye Guan’s eyes shot wide open, and he waved with both of his arms.

Boom!

A kilometer of spacetime in front of him was obliterated in an instant.

Ye Guan took a deep breath and grinned. He finally got it!

He looked down at his arms and realized that he had to have been too eager to succeed earlier, which meant that his mind couldn’t unite with his heart, causing him to fail his previous attempts.

With that thought in mind, Ye Guan unconsciously turned to look at Ba Wan, who was still in the middle of eating. Ba Wan’s power was beyond astonishing, and Ye Guan was convinced that there was another reason aside from her talent.

Her mind was simple, and she had zero distracting thoughts aside from thinking of when she would have her next meal.

Ye Guan wanted to learn the other moves, but he soon discovered that he couldn’t even afford to learn them. His cultivation base was too low, and his profound energy reservoir was too small to accommodate the other moves.

The more powerful moves demanded more profound energy to execute. Pluck the Stars was the next move after Shake the Heavens, and it allowed a cultivator to pluck a star with their bare hands. Needless to say, it was incredibly powerful, but Ye Guan was confident that he could definitely not afford to learn such a move for now.

His low cultivation base was his greatest weakness. He did not feel that this was something that was holding him back in the past. After all, against someone as insignificant as Lu Tian, Ye Guan was completely unable to display his full power.

Ye Guan hadn’t really been paying that much attention to his physical realm, as his tiny profound energy reservoir hadn’t been bothering him against the insignificant Lu Tian.

However, the vast expanse beyond the Guanxuan Universe made Ye Guan understand that his low cultivation base was truly his greatest weakness.

For example, Ye Guan had zero chance of defeating Ba Wan at the moment because his cultivation base was too low. However, if he were an Immortal Realm cultivator, Ye Guan was confident that he would have at least a fifty percent chance of defeating Ba Wan.

How come Ye Guan was so certain about that? Well, the mysterious voice had told him that Ba Wan was an Immortal Realm cultivator, and she simply had no idea that she had a cultivation base.

Ye Guan set aside his thoughts. He had to stop cultivating the Unbeatable Fist Art and focus on making a breakthrough into the Major Tribulation Realm.

Ye Guan had been suppressing his cultivation base because he only wanted to advance to the next cultivation realm once he had a complete grasp of his current cultivation realm. This way, his foundation would have a stable foundation once he made a breakthrough into the next cultivation realm.

Ye Guan took out a few spiritual cores and started absorbing the pure spiritual energy within them. He only took out a few spiritual cores, but the combined spiritual energy they contained was on par with the spiritual energy of this entire world.

Ye Guan cultivated for a few days before he dared to spar with Ba Wan once again.

As usual, Ba Wan seized victory and suppressed him, but Ye Guan didn’t mind it because he was improving by leaps and bounds.

Ye Guan’s combat sense was also improving at an astonishing speed, as he had to be extremely sensitive when it came to Ba Wan’s every single movement.

One mistake was enough for him to lose and receive a violent beatdown from Ba Wan, so he had to make sure that he was taking full advantage of his speed to avoid getting caught too early.

Ten days passed just like that, and Ye Guan finally reached the Major Tribulation Realm. His overall prowess had increased so much that he could feel it. In fact, Ba Wan could no longer suppress him completely.

Twenty days later, Ye Guan made another breakthrough, reaching the Law Tribulation Realm. His overall prowess improved massively, and he could now exchange a few moves with Ba Wan.

Of course, Ye Guan still couldn’t defeat Ba Wan. To make matters worse, Ba Wan still hadn’t used the final three moves of the Unbeatable Fist Art against him.

However, it wasn’t like Ba Wan was unaware of it. She simply didn’t want to lose Ye Guan, which was why she had been holding back. Ye Guan was a long-term food coupon in her eyes, and she didn’t want to kill him inadvertently.

Yes, a long-term food coupon. She just had to spar with Ye Guan once a day, and the latter would cook five meals a day for her—five! It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in her eyes, and she wasn’t going to let go of it.

Just like that, Ye Guan’s routine remained the same for an entire month. Ye Guan was still a Great Sword Sovereign, but his prowess had increased drastically, as he had already become a Dao Tribulation Realm cultivator.

He broke through four cultivation realms in just over a month!

Unfortunately, Ye Guan’s breakthrough speed wasn’t really that fast. His cultivation method was the Universe Beholdment Skill, and he was absorbing spiritual cores along with the mysterious voice’s guidance. He was supposed to be faster than this.

Of course, Ye Guan had slowed down his breakthrough speed on purpose.

Otherwise, his cultivation realm would have been higher than the Dao Tribulation Realm. However, Ye Guan realized that his foundation was starting to get shaky, so he decided to suppress his cultivation base in the meantime.

Ye Guan’s recent breakthroughs had happened during his sparring sessions with Ba Wan. The first three moves of the Unbeatable Fist Art were no longer a threat to Ye Guan. In fact, he was starting to push Ba Wan back whenever they sparred.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

His sword attacks had gotten incredibly quick, and Ba Wan was starting to have difficulties dodging Ye Guan’s sword moves. Aside from his progress with his cultivation base and sparring sessions with Ba Wan, Ye Guan was also starting to comprehend the fourth move of the Unbeatable Fist Art—Plucking the Stars.

Moreover, Ye Guan was also making progress in his quest to imbue the moves of the Unbeatable Fist Art with his Invincible Sword Intent. The resulting effect was awesome, and it made the moves incredibly powerful.

Unfortunately, it consumed too much profound energy.

However, Ye Guan was thrilled. He felt like he had just pioneered a new cultivation path—merging martial arts and the sword dao!

It was also worth mentioning that Ye Guan could now wield forty swords and execute the Critical Method with each and every one of them at the same time!

An increase of ten swords didn’t seem that much, but it was starting to get difficult for Ye Guan to wield more swords. In fact, if he wanted to wield forty-one swords, he would need to make another breakthrough.

The profound energy cost had gotten too expensive for him to bear.

Ye Guan decided to call it a day. He prepared two pots of meat and two pots of rice for Ba Wan. Ba Wan’s appetite had never failed to shock him since the day Ye Guan discovered her shocking appetite.

Ba Wan annihilated the food that Ye Guan had cooked for her.

She washed the large bowl that she had been using and slung it over her shoulder.

Ye Guan glanced at Ba Wan’s stomach and wondered. It’s really weird that she’s not getting fat even though she’s eating so much food every day.

The mysterious voice suddenly exclaimed, “There’s danger!”

Danger? Ye Guan’s expression changed, and he whipped out the tiny pagoda.

Little Pagoda was beyond speechless at what he had done.