Chapter 22 Breakthrough

Rocky collected his thoughts on his way back to the quarters. He was sure that the healing properties of Uriah's saliva came from the mysterious liquid coming from the bump in its mouth. What was magical about the liquid was that it helped expedite metabolism and regeneration. Cells, organs, and blood could be reformed or refreshed by the liquid, so when Uriah licked Rocky's wounds, its saliva alleviated his pain and cured the lesion like magic.

"That liquid is definitely worth taking an extensive look at," Rocky marveled.

As he rushed back to his room, Rocky saw that the other young men were heading for the dragon field for training. So as soon as he put Uriah in the room, he shut the door and ran to the dragon field as fast as he could. By the time he arrived, they had already started the physical fitness training under Mia's strict instruction. Following her orders, each of them lifted a huge stone up and down simultaneously.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Rocky said to Mia.

Mia turned to glare at him, her brows knitting together, while the others grew excited to see that Rocky was going to be punished again.

"Run twenty laps around the dragon field! Don't cheat or play any trick! A deputy instructor will look at you. Don't forget the lesson you learned yesterday!" Mia yelled with a poker face, and she then ordered a deputy instructor to supervise Rocky.

Rocky nodded and began running around the dragon field. After the new change that took place in his body, he felt it easy to finish the twenty laps and wasn't tired at all. After he finished, he joined the others and began the physical fitness training.

Most of them were out of breath after the whole morning, but Rocky was still full of vigor despite the intense training.

"Did he take some special medicine or something? Why doesn't he feel tired at all?" someone questioned.

"That's so weird! He was as weak as a kitten yesterday, but now..." said another one, gasping for air.

"He must have cheated!"

They shot Rocky suspicious scowls and murmured among themselves. They were all clearly perplexed at Rocky's new demeanor. Rocky soon realized he was being scrutinized. In order to clear the air, he pretended to collapse with exhaustion in the afternoon training.

Late that night, Rocky took Uriah to the pond in the bamboo grove again.

"It's a risky try, but it's worth another shot." What happened to his body had been exquisitely amazing after he swallowed the magic liquid. Rocky desired to experience it one more time.

Although he knew well he was taking a gamble on his life, it could very well prove an effective shortcut to make him stronger. He made up his mind to try it again despite the high risk.

Rocky repeated what he did yesterday. He opened Uriah's mouth and took a drop of liquid from its bump. But he didn't take it directly this time. Instead, he picked up a bamboo leaf from the ground and folded it into the shape of a bowl. He then used the bamboo bowl to get some water from the pond. After he had mixed the liquid with water, he slowly drank it up.

After a moment, the same sensations took place, but they were not as strong and fierce as yesterday's, owing to the dilution. Rocky was going through the transition much better this time and began cultivating the first grade of the Mysterious Dragon Skill. He closed his eyes and began the meditation, channeling his dragon spiritual power to his energy meridians.

The night was over when he finished his cultivation.

As he opened his eyes, the first ray of sunlight appeared. He had finished with the circulation of the dragon spiritual power through his energy meridians forty-nine times. A whole process of the circulation usually took two hours, but he had completed nearly fifty in merely a night! His cultivation speed had advanced by leaps and bounds. Rocky then sensed his dragon spiritual power and he was ecstatic to find that it had achieved great progress.

"Ha-ha! The liquid is so amazing! I wonder if it's on par with the magical effect of dragon's saliva. Maybe I should call this magical saliva! My dear Uriah! You are my mascot!" Rocky exclaimed with a wide grin as he held up the sleeping beast.

After taking a refreshing bath in the pond, Rocky snuck back to his room. As he slightly opened the door, he was greeted with the sight of Flint.

"Hi, Flint! You've gotten

up so early!" Rocky laughed awkwardly as wondering whether Flint would ask about where he went. After all, he had been away from his room for two nights. And he was thinking about a reasonable excuse to answer Flint.

But Flint just glanced at Rocky and greeted him with a nod, and then left the room right after.

"He is really a weird one!" Rocky let out a deep sigh of relief. Then he got into the room and changed clothes for training. After he gently laid down the sleeping Uriah on his bed, he headed for the dragon field.

In the following days, after he finished the training at day, Rocky would sneak into the bamboo grove at night for cultivation, using the magical saliva to help him.

It took him only two days to reach the first grade of the Mortal Stage.

After a week, which marked ten days since Rocky had come to the dragon field for training, he had reached the second grade. This level of rapid progress was totally unprecedented. He had also begun cultivating the second grade of the Mysterious Dragon Skill.

However, nobody had noticed his breakthrough in cultivation, including Mia. The trace of his dragon spiritual power was still as weak as they felt before.

Because of the magical effect of the magical saliva and the intense daily training, his body had undergone extreme changes. He had firm muscles over his limbs and now even had a four-pack of abs. He had grown taller and stronger, too. He no longer was the weak and feeble Basil. Now, he carried an air of confidence.

However, troubles came to visit him as well.

When he finished his training one day, the man from the Ximen Clan went to the dragon field with two other trainees and made trouble for Rocky again. When the other young men saw that, they surrounded the four and waited for a good show.

Rocky remembered that he was named Bear Ximen. It was quite befitting, because he really looked like a bear.

"Hey! You! My boys want to play a game with you. Do you dare to accept the challenge?" Bear yelled at Rocky, raising his eyebrows. After what happened between him and Rocky last time, he had been nursing a grudge. But he knew well that he would get severe punishment because of stirring up a quarrel, so he took two men with him this time. He was not stupid enough to pick a fight with Rocky in person. The two men were his new subordinates, who were the perfect choice to teach Rocky a good lesson for him. No matter what happened, he would not be taking the fall for their actions. But Rocky would be the most miserable one anyway.

Rocky sneered and shot Bear Ximen a cold glare. He wasn't born yesterday and could tell what Bear had up his sleeve. He would not fall into his trap anyway, so he just ignored Bear and got ready to leave.

Bear was infuriated by this. He nodded and squinted at the man with a crew cut, gesturing for him to make a move.

The man strode forward and put his hand on Rocky's shoulder. Rocky stopped at once. He turned to the man and asked indifferently, "Can I help you?"

The man smirked and activated his Dragon Spirit Mark as Rocky turned his head to him. A dazzling light appeared and he channeled the dragon spiritual power to his fist and threw it at Rocky's face.

The spectators smiled as they witnessed this. They all thought that Rocky was going to be taught a good lesson this time. The man with a crew cut was in the first grade of the Mortal Stage, after all! Of course, they still thought that Rocky hadn't reached this level yet. It was as easy as blinking an eye for the man to beat the living daylights out of Rocky.

But to their surprise, when the man's fist was only an inch close to Rocky's face, a brighter light flashed like lightning.

"Bang!" The man was thrown into the air and smashed away on the ground. He struggled to get up for a while but failed.

Everyone's jaw almost fell to the ground when they saw this picture. Only now did they realize the changes that had taken place with Rocky. The trace of his dragon spiritual power had grown much stronger than before.

"The first grade of the Mortal Stage!? He has reached it!? How is that even possible!?"

"That's no way! I remember he hadn't even reached that level a few days ago! How could he make such huge progress in only a few days?"

To their further surprise, the strong trace of his dragon spiritual power disappeared right away.