Chapter 176: A Friend

Now that Ye Tian Yun had temporarily crippled himself, he was going to focus on cultivating his sword techniques and working on his Sword Domain. Once he stabilized his Sword intent, he would then focus on his cultivation realm.

As for how was he going to return back to being a cultivator?

He already had a method for it, and it was also quite a simple one. Thus, this was the least of his worries.

For now, he needed to focus on slowly removing the acupuncture needles so he could properly stand up.

And since he wasn't feeling the numbness all over his body and was able to regain his sense of touch, it gave a clear sign that he was now a mortal.

Thus, he began to slowly remove the needles, first of all, he removed the longest pin that was being balanced between the index and middle finger of his hands. And then he began from his feet, then knees, pelvis bone, and so on as he moved upwards towards the last needle between his eyebrows.

Of course, the hardest to remove were the needles that were lodged near his heart. However, it wasn't as stressful as it was while putting the needles in.

After about ten minutes of slowly removing the acupuncture needles, Ye Tian Yun finally got the chance to sigh in relief.

Taking a deep breath, he couldn't help but feel a bit proud of himself because temporarily crippling oneself is not an easy task; it's risky and requires a certain skill level.

Ye Tian Yun was a cultivator. And he had spent all his current life, and previous life focused on increasing his cultivation and battle prowess. He hadn't worked on alchemy or any other craft.

For him to succeed in acupuncture proved his talent and ability to have a sharp memory.

After all, this method of crippling someone or oneself was not easy to learn because any mistake could cause permanent damage, relieving the person of his cultivation forever. And it became exponentially harder when it was performed on ourselves by us.

Ye Tian Yun had learned of this method from one of his friends. 

To call a person a friend, one needs to have a certain level of trust and relying on that person.

And for Ye Tian Yun, who, in his previous life, had always considered trusting others and making close friends a huge risk and burden to himself for his end goal to crown himself the Heavenly Emperor.

One shouldn't forget that Ye Tian Yun was at the peak in terms of talent and status in both the Middle and Lower Heavens. This fact itself made Ye Tian Yun an intimidating and untouchable figure, and with his upbringing by a cold and emotionless father, Ye Tian Yun never had the chance to make friends to begin with.

And later, as he grew up, the only thing he saw the kids of his generation as either trash or as rivals. Most of the time, they were trash to him. 

After he got older, Ye Tian Yun came to an understanding that everyone was after his position as the most talented person of this generation. This conclusion wasn't due to any baseless reasoning, but from the fact that he never heard any good news or anyone talking good about him whenever his informants reported him about the secrets chats between other young masters and princes of his generation.

Having informants at every corner of the continent gave him access to the deepest secrets of the young masters of the Middle Heavens and their thoughts regarding him.

Those kids hated him. They hated him for his power. They hated him for his talent. And they hated him for his indifference.

Thus, Ye tian Yun forced himself to think of others as a burden to his own future, and this reasoning somehow made him a person who wasn't always looking for a friend or an ally.

Ye Tian Yun had forced himself to be capable as a lone person. After all, it wasn't easy being at the top ever since one's birth.

However, there always comes an incident that somehow makes us oppose our ideas and thoughts. And this was something that happened when Ye Tian Yun made his first friend.

This person, who Ye Tian Yun had considered close to himself, was an alchemist and poison master at the same time. And one of the best ones of his generation.

Just like Ye Tian Yun, who was at the top of the list when it came to cultivation talent, this new friend of Ye Tian Yun was at the top in the alchemy world.

And Ye Tian Yun had even made an exception and trusted him so much that he allowed his friend to perform acupuncture on him, just so that Ye tian Yun can verify the news about the method which Shi Yan used to increase his Sword Cultivation with.

This trust shows how much Ye Tian Yun valued this friend, and it was from him that he learned a few tricks and techniques, acupuncture being one of those few.

And today, lucky for him, this method had come to his use when he had received a chance encounter with the chaos qi and also an opportunity to cultivate here for a month.

However, Ye Tian Yun wasn't feeling thankful or happy when this friend's face appeared in his mind. 

As stated earlier, a friend is someone who we can trust and whom we can rely on in our tough times.

And what was the tough time in Ye Tian Yun's life?

The arrival of the God's Legion in the Middle Heavens.

That was the time when things began to go downhill and he felt helpless for the first time in his life.

In such times, whom does the person turn towards? 

His family and friends.

But for Ye Tian Yun, both were missing.

On the day of his final battle, his father didn't interfere to save him, and his only friend betrayed him.