Chapter 6 - Minor Mastery

Amidst this arduous yet euphoric cultivation, three days swiftly passed by.

During these three days, wind and thunder often rang out in this remote grove, accompanied by golden light flashes. It appeared as if a precious treasure had manifested in this world, but it was merely Chen Fan diligently practicing the Vajra Seal.

Through relentless repetition over the past three days, Chen Fan’s execution of Vajra Seal had become smooth, devoid of any delays. He had become extremely familiar with it. This level of mastery resulted from countless repetitions, numbering in the tens if not hundreds.

Primeval qi circulated and flowed into Chen Fan’s palms, making them shine like the sun, illuminating an area of three meters around him. As his primeval qi stirred up, he thrust out his right hand in a powerful strike.

Suddenly, a palm seal, seemingly forged from gold, materialized. Even the lines on the palm could be seen clearly. Golden light emanated from the seal, exuding a formidable aura capable of toppling mountains.

Bang!

An explosion rang out.

The palm had forced the air in its palm to explode, forming a fierce shock wave that spread in all directions.

Bam!

The golden palm seal smashed violently into a large stone. A loud bang rang out, and the large stone immediately exploded, and the resultant fragments flew out in all directions.

The golden palm dissipated. Chen Fan stood in place, looking at his palm with surprise and joy.

“This is the power of the Vajra Seal? I have merely achieved minor mastery, but I can already make a stone weighing thousands of jin explode? This palm strike likely carried nearly 3,200 jin of strength at the very least!”

His cultivation had advanced from the early stage of the second level of the Qigong realm to the late stage, and his strength increased from 2,600 jin to 2,900 jin. Furthermore, after enduring three days of intense self-mutilating training, his physical strength had increased by another 100 jin. In other words, his full-force punch would possess a striking power of 3,000 jin without using martial skills.

This strength was already comparable to an early-stage third-level Qigong martial artist.

That palm strike from before carried close to 3,200 jin of strength, thanks to the boost from the Vajra Seal. It resembled an all-out punch from a middle-stage, third-level Qigong martial artist. How could he not be pleasantly surprised by it?

In other words, Vajra Seal, at minor mastery, increased his power by another 200 jin. One should not underestimate the significance of this increment. It could determine the outcome of a battle between martial artists of the same cultivation level, potentially deciding victory, defeat, or even life and death.

“All this while I have only achieved minor mastery? What would happen at major mastery or... complete mastery? Wouldn’t the increase in power be even more terrifying!?”

The thought left Chen Fan excited and expectant.

The lightning strike had transformed the human named Chen Fan. His meridians had become wide and tough, his dantian ten times bigger than others, and even his martial arts comprehension had improved.

If anyone else were practicing Vajra Seal instead, achieving minor mastery without training for ten days, perhaps even half a month, would have been impossible. Chen Fan, on the other hand, only needed three days.

“Vajra Seal is at minor mastery. Now, I’ll cultivate the Myriad Elephants Divine Art to the first layer. This will increase my strength further. Then, I wouldn’t be afraid of fighting against even a late-stage, third-level Qigong martial artist.

“Not only that, I am now at the late stage of the second level of the Qigong realm. If I advance to the third level, I can defeat almost all martial artists with third-level cultivation and be on equal footing with experts at the fourth level of the Qigong realm!”

Chen Fan felt full of confidence.

Previously, he had set his goal to reach the fourth level of the Qigong realm before the Outer Sect Grand Competition started. In hindsight, he felt that his goal had been quite humble.

His current strength was already comparable to a middle-stage, third-level Qigong martial artist. Entering the top 10,000 in the Outer Sect Grand Competition wouldn’t be too big of a problem.

“It is rumored that the sect will reward the top 100 disciples with martial arts, elixirs, treasures, or weapons. They can also directly enter the inner sect and become an inner sect disciple, standing above all. The reward for the top 10 is even better: Access to a blessed land to train. It will surely increase their cultivation.”

Chen Fan’s heart began thumping violently, his ambitions rising.

“But my current cultivation is still too low. Let alone the top 100, I can’t even enter the top 1,000 with it. Increasing my cultivation is what I should be focusing on. Only with a high enough cultivation level backing me up will I be able to shine brightly at the Outer Sect Grand Competition.”

“I have already achieved minor mastery with the Vajra Seal, so any more immediate progress is impossible. I also can’t achieve a breakthrough in my cultivation in just days. So, now I shall focus on cultivating the Myriad Elephants Divine Art.”

Although three days wasn’t long, Chen Fan’s physique had become much tougher under his self-mutilation training. One could tell from the many small stones scattered on the ground how much Chen Fan had suffered over the last three days.

There were now noticeably fewer large stones inside the clearing, but the ground now had many more stones of different sizes and shapes.

This resulted from Chen Fan practicing the Myriad Elephants Divine Art, charging right into those large stones time after time, shattering these large stones and turning them into pebbles.

Under this kind of refining, his skin had become rough, no longer as smooth and shiny as before.

Seeing the few remaining large stones in the surrounding area, Chen Fan furrowed his brows.

Crazily charging half-naked into boulders was a good but slow way of training. If he wanted to break through to the first layer, he would need another six to seven days of practice. He needed to think of another, quicker way to refine his physique.

Suddenly, Chen Fan’s gaze fell onto the waterfall by the side. A spark of inspiration ignited within him as he swiftly devised a more effective approach.

He ran to the bottom of the waterfall, trembling as he beheld the powerful cascade plummeting from a height of tens of meters.

The force of the waterfall's impact was equivalent to thousands of jin. Chen Fan wasn’t sure he could endure the battering if he stood directly under the waterfall.

“Screw it!”

A resolute and unwavering expression crossed Chen Fan's face. Suffer the harshest pains would allow him to stand above others. He would have to learn to endure if he wished to become strong. He had to endure it all, no matter how painful or tiring.

Chen Fan took off his shirt and walked toward the bottom of the waterfall. He found a large stone sitting there. He could stand on it to receive the battering of the waterfall.

One could see the clear contours of Chen Fan’s naked upper body. Although his muscles were not excessively bulging, they possessed explosive strength.

Rumble!

The waterfall’s water seemingly fell from the sky like the heaviest stone in the world, weighing thousands of jin and crashing into Chen Fan. He gritted his teeth and stood atop that large stone.

Chen Fan cried miserably as if his bones had shattered. The torrent directly knocked him away, and he fell into the pool. He trembled and convulsed non-stop, sucking in breaths of cold air.