Chapter 9: Gathering Energy

When Qian Ye stepped out of the room, a hint of dawn had already appeared on the horizon. His true vision swept over the small courtyard, and he could clearly see that the artificial landscapes at the four corners would occasionally emit a wisp of white mist, denser than the natural dawn force in the void.

Qian Ye then entered a busy day.

He first went to the library. The Song Clan only opened the basic theories and lower-grade cultivation methods to guest warriors, so not many people came here. Generally, even fighters from common backgrounds, most of whom reached level nine, had already learned special techniques through various opportunities, and thus were not very interested in those basic things.

However, what Qian Ye lacked was precisely the basic theory. He now possessed both dawn and dark forces, which, under the influence of the Song Ancestral Scroll, coexisted like ice and fire, and did not hinder his cultivation progress. However, compared to the noble children with secret combat techniques, Qian Ye’s use of force was as blank as an infant learning to speak.

Take the Bingfa Jue for example; although he could steadily push through forty-five cycles of tides during practice, he could still only unleash thirty-five cycles instantly in combat. Resonating with the force in the environment relied entirely on instinct, unlike Zhao Jun Du or Song Zi Ning, who could trigger natural forces to form fixed domains.

Qian Ye spent the entire morning in the library, specifically reviewing the basic theories of various types of force. These were the contents learned by Song Clan children before they officially practiced secret combat techniques, so the corresponding bookshelves were almost deserted. However, Qian Ye gained much from it, and many questions became clear.

The process was very smooth, and the librarian even made two copies of some of the texts for Qian Ye, a privilege that didn’t even require him to go through Song Zi Ning; the escorting guards could handle it. Additionally, Qian Ye found a basic skill book for dual-sword fighting, which was a significant gain.

For the rest of the time, Qian Ye planned to devote himself entirely to cultivation. He followed the escort to the Song Clan’s training grounds, and despite his mental preparation, he was still stunned.

The largest concentrated training ground Qian Ye had seen was in the Yellow Springs Training Camp, which could accommodate hundreds of people, but the training rooms were merely rows of long metal huts.

In front of him, the entire area occupied half a hillside and the entire valley bottom, larger than the Yellow Springs, yet only several dozen training rooms were built. Each room was vast, situated on an enormous force array, with two towering power towers providing the necessary energy.

Qian Ye’s eyes faintly glowed blue, and with his true vision, he saw that each force array’s basic structure was similar, just varying in size.

He spotted the core of the array, a windowless stone chamber in the corner. Several servants were carrying crates of black crystals into it, then removing boxes of depleted waste stones. Rich force flowed from under the stone chamber, passing through the force array, undergoing layers of transition, purification, and transformation, ultimately becoming dawn force, which was then supplied to the training rooms for absorption.

As the guard led Qian Ye to register, the girl in charge of the procedures widened her eyes, staring at Qian Ye curiously, clearly unable to ignore him.

Qian Ye was taken aback, but before he could ask, the girl giggled and said, “There’s nothing wrong! I’m just curious about what kind of person can make Young Master Seven give up his annual quota.”

“Annual?” Qian Ye glanced at the registration book, which stated three days.

The girl lifted her chin and said, “The Song Clan’s training grounds are not some low-class place like outside martial arts halls. There are only seven heavenly-level training rooms in the entire estate, and sometimes the elders use them. Young Master Seven has three days’ quota, which is more than many others. Most other young masters and ladies of the main house only have one day, and some don’t even get that!”

As she spoke, both the girl and the guard showed a hint of envy. They were both Song Clan members, though their bloodline was quite thin. They had no access to the heavenly-level rooms, let alone the slightly lower human and earth-level ones.

The girl led Qian Ye to the heavenly-level training room. With his true vision, Qian Ye observed that if calculated by the concentration of dawn force allocated, the earth-level rooms received ten times as much as the human-level ones, and the heavenly-level rooms received several dozen times more. Converting this into black crystals, it was an astronomical amount!

Qian Ye finally understood why the Song Clan, despite its wealth, had only built seven heavenly-level training rooms.

The girl pushed open the gate of a small courtyard and pointed to the training room in the center, saying, “Here it is.” She paused, unable to resist adding, “It’s a pity you’re not at level nine yet; otherwise, the heavenly-level training room would be the most helpful for breaking through to the war general stage. The elders say it can increase the chances by ten percent!”

“Ten percent!” Qian Ye couldn’t help but be shocked.

There were countless human warriors, but for most, level nine was the peak of their lives. Only one in a million could successfully gather qi into a vortex and truly step onto the war general stage.

Even with excellent bloodlines, proper cultivation, and substantial financial support, less than ten percent of the clan’s disciples could break through to become war generals. The heavenly-level training room effectively doubled the chances of breaking through. It was a pity that, despite having such resources, the younger generation of the Song Clan was still lacking in talent.

The girl pointed out all the facilities to Qian Ye, then lightly tapped the bronze bell at the courtyard gate to start the timer.

After the girl left, Qian Ye removed his warrior’s uniform and entered the training room, which was entirely made of bluish-green stone. He sat cross-legged.

The room was filled with mist, so thick that it was almost impossible to see one’s hand in front of one’s face. The training room had no windows or ventilation, and the mist seemed to emanate directly from the bluish-green stone walls and floor.

Without needing to use his true vision, Qian Ye knew that this was not mist but extremely dense dawn force. Compared to the energy-gathering array in the “Yun Shen Tang,” this was far more potent.

Qian Ye touched the ground and found that the bluish-green stone, though rough-looking, was actually smooth and delicate, with a soft and warm feel.

This was not ordinary stone! It was the legendary Qingyang Warm Jade, usually used by noble families to make cushions for meditation. A piece the size of a palm was priceless, but the Song Clan had used it to build the entire training room.

If not for seeing it with his own eyes, Qian Ye would never have imagined the Song Clan had such a foundation. Though the other three clans might not be known for their wealth, they must have accumulated substantial resources over the centuries. As for the imperial family, they were like a behemoth hidden among the mountain peaks and clouds.

Qian Ye suddenly thought of the Eternal Night Continent, where a silver coin was a fortune many scavengers never saw in their lifetimes, and a handful of gold coins could make hunters and mercenaries risk their lives. For talented young nobles like Gu Li Yu and Ye Mu Lan, they would do anything to marry into influential families.

There was never any fairness in this world. Even in nature, dark forces were abundant and powerful, while dawn creatures struggled to survive in the gaps.

Qian Ye composed himself and began to cultivate. His current cultivation core was the Yáo Xuan chapters of the Song Ancestral Scroll, and he had achieved a preliminary balance. Dark force mainly came from blood qi, which was replenished endlessly through slaughter. This was a fast-track path, not worrying about progress but needing to control the amount of blood essence absorbed to avoid excessive strength, which could disrupt the fragile balance in his body.

In comparison, dawn force required cultivation, with no shortcuts, and became the weaker link. Even though Qian Ye’s Bingfa Jue had reached an astonishing forty-five cycles, it was still easier to obtain blood essence through killing.

This perhaps reflected the overall difference in cultivation between humans and dark races.

With a calm mind, Qian Ye took a deep breath. The dawn force in the room was now so dense that it was visible to the naked eye. He inhaled as if gulping down the ocean, with no end in sight. The mist not only entered through his nose and mouth but also seeped into his body through his skin.

In an instant, the dawn force in the room was completely absorbed.

So, this was the benefit of a heavenly-level training room!

Now, Qian Ye’s body was filled with dense, mist-like dawn force, almost overflowing. Such a concentration of dawn force filled his limbs and bones, pressing painfully on his muscles and organs. Fortunately, Qian Ye had been overcoming unimaginable obstacles since he started cultivating Bingfa Jue, and compared to that, this pressure was almost negligible.

Activating the Yáo chapter of the Song Ancestral Scroll, Qian Ye’s internal dawn force slowly rotated, forming a vortex. In the center, a drop of pure, milky dawn force gradually formed. The droplet grew larger, and when all the dawn force was consumed, it finally took shape, falling from the vortex center into the qi sea.

In that moment, it seemed as if the entire world was filled with the sound of a single drop falling into the sea.

Qian Ye involuntarily shuddered, instinctively exhaling a white breath, pure and white like milk, taking the form of an arrow and shooting towards the opposite wall, piercing a finger-sized hole in the Qingyang jade wall!

Exhaling like an arrow was the sign of entering the hall as described in the Yáo chapter. At this point, once the force was sufficiently thick, forming a vortex and breaking through to the war general stage would be a natural progression.

Qian Ye slowly opened his eyes. The room was again filled with mist, with strands of dawn force continuously seeping in from the ground and walls. It wouldn’t be long before the room was again filled with dense force.

Qian Ye looked at the timer. Less than an hour had passed.

He got up to stretch, going through the basic stances of military combat techniques. Seeing the dawn force in the room become as dense and wet as rain again, he sat down and took another deep breath, clearing the dawn force and then closing his eyes to focus on refining and purifying it.

An hour later, Qian Ye exhaled another arrow, all the dawn force transforming into a single drop of milky fluid, collected in the qi sea.

At this pace, an hour of cultivation was equivalent to half a month of external cultivation, and this was compared to his forty-five-cycle Bingfa Jue. Qian Ye was now completely at ease. During the upcoming tournament, he would rely on dawn force to win, avoiding the use of blood qi unless absolutely necessary. Otherwise, under the watchful eyes of many strong figures, especially Lady An, there might be some risks.

Given the effectiveness of the heavenly-level training room, he even had time to integrate the basic force theories he read in the morning and learn some dual-sword skills.

Thus, every hour, a drop of milky fluid would fall into the qi sea. Qian Ye no longer paid attention to the time, fully immersed in the world of cultivation.

However, outside the training room, chaos had erupted.

Among the seven sets of heavenly-level power installations, six were operating normally, but one power tower was rumbling like thunder, constantly spewing out large clouds of white gas, operating at a speed beyond the critical point, teetering on the brink of danger.