Three days after the old man tied Liang to the bed he finally woke up. His head was groggy, and a dull throbbing pain was the only thing he could feel from his arms. They were foreign to him, almost as if they were no longer his and the old man placed two different arms next to his side.
Their appearance did not change; however, he was unable to move anything from his shoulders down. Twisting his neck side to side, he scanned the room but did not see the old man. There was an open jar of water and a bowl of what smelled like porridge over a heat stone on the desk.
Curling his body up while his arms dragged across the bed, Liang shook his head several times to clear the grogginess wondering how he was going to eat the porridge. He felt ravenous, and though the jar was tricky, he was confident in drinking the water.
After adjusting for several more moments, he was able to stand, though wobbly at first. The sensation of walking with no feeling in his arms was odd, but at the same time, he found it humorous. While standing in the middle of the room he twisted his upper body from one side to the other causing his arms to flap freely.
Chuckling for several breaths, he walked to the desk then bent over placing his mouth around the brim of the jar. He wanted to raise it slightly to sip the water slowly but it was not easy. The smooth heavy crystal was difficult to hold and it slipped from his mouth the moment he raised it.
To compensate he clenched his teeth on the jar and snapped his neck back resulting in a small portion of the water entering his mouth while the rest gushed onto his face and into his nose. He began choking immediately and dropped the jar on the floor spilling the rest of the contents.
He felt completely defeated. His mouth was dry and unfortunately, most of the moisture in the porridge had evaporated from sitting on the heat stone for too long. It would be difficult to swallow but the pain in his stomach pushed him to eat it anyways.
Deciding not to pick up the bowl in the same way, he stuck his tongue in and tried to scoop it into his mouth. However, this only moved globs of porridge from one side of the bowl to the other with him chasing after.
Although he was able to get a bit from the brim, it was a frustrating process. Finally, he worked out a technique that scooped the porridge out of the bowl onto the desk where he could suck it up. It was difficult to swallow but it was better than eating nothing.
After finishing the porridge his mouth was extremely dry and he thought about licking the water on the floor until he heard “interesting” coming from the corner. Turning quickly he saw the old man standing while writing in his journal.
It was embarrassing and Liang asked, “Master, how…, how long have you been here?” The old man finished writing in his journal and placed it in his ring before replying, “I never left. I hid after waking you up to see how your intelligence compared to animals acquiring food.”
Liang was used to the insults now so he let them slide, but he could not believe the old man was watching him from the corner the entire time and did not offer any help. Taking a deep breath, he reassured himself that this was a test and the old man must have had a real reason for it.
Sighing, the old man’s gaze fell on the jar and he said, “Alright, looks like I’ll suffer once again. Indeed my disciple sure knows how to trouble me. This is the heavens punishment for challenging them, but I, your master has never bowed to the heavens. Sit down on the bed boy.”
After filtering through the old man’s words Liang sat on the bed and drank water from a wineskin fastened to the wall. The cores fused successfully and the old man proclaimed, “With me carving the arrays there is no need to be concerned.” Then he told Liang they would need to go through the process several more times.
As the days went on the old man taught him how to activate different arrays in his shield and sword and when to use them. He also discussed the arrays carved into his bones and explained the way he would be able to channel qi through the circuits, which had benefits such as shielding and strengthening.
The cores would absorb the qi naturally from the air but the old man said there was a specific core that would link them together. Once the network was completed, his strength and abilities would increase dramatically telling Liang, “You’ll be a walking bundle of array’s boy.”
Each divine beast was a legendary creature and the Zhuyan ape, progenitor of the red furred apes, traversed the nine heavens freely because of its incredible strength. Using the properties of the cores combined with the arrays, the old man enhanced Liang’s arms in the same way he enhanced his spine.
However, until he strengthened the rest of his skeleton and his core muscles he would not be able to bring out his full potential. His chopping, jabbing, and slicing would all see a marked improvement but he had a very long way to go.
The old man told him his strength was equivalent to a mid-core formation cultivator. Until he familiarized his body with the changes though, he could probably only fight at the early core stage level. This was because of coordination issues due to his new strength.
Because of that, the old man decided to register him in the peak-core category telling Liang, “You’ll familiarize yourself quicker if you fight stronger opponents.” However, after a long time of back and forth the old man agreed to allow him to sign up for the mid-core contests.
Early on the fifth day since the fusion the old man woke Liang up telling him, “Alright boy, it’s the last day for you to register for this competition apparently. In two days, there will be a free for all and the top 40 will enter the sect contest. Looks like we were off by a day. Shouldn’t be a problem though.”
Liang understood “shouldn’t be a problem” actually meant, “You’ll need to figure this out.” He was finally able to bend his elbows slightly so he hoped that in 2 days he would be able to participate in the free for all competition without twisting his body around slapping his opponents.
After a quick breakfast, they went to the arena and waited for over three hours before they could sign Liang up. The Free for all battle lumped opponents by age, not cultivation. The old man activated the cultivation mask on Liang’s ring and signed him up for the 15-20 year group.
Five years between cultivators in that age range would often mean a large gap but the old man told Liang it would not be an issue. Free for all battles were about lasting until the end, he just needed to avoid any intense one-on-one fights and pick off easy opponents. The sect competition was the real test of skills.
Before leaving, they decided to go to the arena and watch a few of the battles taking place. The free for all battle was two days away but there were many hot-blooded youths looking to garner attention from the crowd and make a name for themselves early.
A number of people watched as a young man with golden blonde hair walked on the stage waving an extremely expensive sword. His elegant movements left bright red streaks racing through the air several meters. The old man explained it was an intact beast core and the boy was able to activate it to enhance his sword qi.
His refined movements caused many in the crowd to cheer him on and he appeared to have a large number of women who were interested in his good looks. It was extremely obvious to everyone that the young man worked diligently to hone his craft and Liang could sense the man was more powerful than he was.
His opponent walked out on stage carrying a massive Warhammer that the old man estimated to weigh 500 Jin. He was equally young but unlike the refined blonde man, he looked more like a brute and carried the hammer over his shoulder clumsily.
Strength wise Liang sensed the blonde man was stronger and the old man confidently said, “That blonde boy will win. That hammer is too heavy for the other boy; he won’t be able to keep up with him in speed. If the hammer was half the size it would be a closer battle.”
Liang nodded in agreement; the hammer was a clumsy weapon and a heavy one at that. A quick and skilled opponent would be very difficult for him. Unless he mastered a specialized movement technique, he would have a hard time keeping up.
When the bell rung signifying the beginning of the match the young brute shot off the floor and swung the hammer down with massive force. The incredible strength crushed the blonde man into the ground breaking many bones within his body. The match was over; it was a one hit defeat.
The crowd went silent and the young man with the hammer stumbled across the stage exiting the arena as if he just left a tavern. It was a shocking result and many began questioning how it was possible and had pale faces after they realized they bet on the wrong person.
Liang looked towards the old man who was now nodding and saying, “Exactly how I imagined it. Indeed, spending so much time learning fancy moves is such a waste. A big hammer will always win. Just as I told you boy, any technique that has an incredible name is worthless.” Liang understood the old man would never admit to being wrong, but this switch was incredible.
The old man left quickly causing Liang’s arms to flap from side to side as he struggled to keep up. While they traveled towards the inn he heard the old man mumbling to himself, “Hmmm…, that plum wine is stronger than I thought, clouding my judgment, maybe I should hold back.” A moment later, he turned to Liang and said, “That reminds me, it might be a good time to create that armor for you.”
