He Yuan could practically feel the tension in the air singe his skin as they got closer and closer to the Back mountain. A huge barrier covered the entire mountain area like a dome but since the both of them had permission tokens, they crossed the barrier quite easily.
BOOM!
CRASH!
ZZZZZZ!
The entire surroundings were filled with loud sounds coming from the inside of the Back mountain. The skies were not spared either as flashes of lightening struck repeatedly with reckless abandon. The smell of sulphur was also really strong.
Elder Mo landed his crane a long distance away from the second barrier and He Yuan got off. "Remember," He said sternly, "One step inside the second barrier and I'm locking you up." When He Yuan nodded firmly, he took out a bottle of pills from his interspatial ring and threw it at He Yuan.
Secluded cultivation had no set time. Sometimes it could take as little as a day and other times, it could last for centuries. "Those are high grade fasting pills. A single pill could last you an entire month."
He Yuan held the bottle tightly and cupped his fists. "Thank you, master."
Elder Mo calmly nodded and took out his beast satchel to release Da Hei.
ROAR!
The golden fanged tiger took to the skies with a loud roar and after flying for sometime, it came down to settle at He Yuan's feet.
Elder Mo nodded at his disciple once more before leaving.
He Yuan's shoulders sagged as he turned around to look at the entrance beyond the second barrier. It looked so dark and eery, like something straight out of a horror movie. He shuddered.
He walked forward, but before he could take three steps, the heavy pressure in the air bared down on his very soul and caused his insides to churn.
He Yuan gasped and fell to his knees as Da Hei rushed over to nudge him backwards. When he managed to retreat a few feet away, the pressure stopped but the burn in his chest remained.
"Looks like I'd have to cultivate my tolerance forwards," He said as he patted his chest with one hand and stroked Da Hei's fur with the other.
With the state of this body, it was impossible to go anywhere close to the second barrier so He Yuan marked the entrance of the Back mountain as his goal.
If he was able to temper his body to enable him reach the entrance of the Back mountain without succumbing under the heavy pressure then he would have achieved a lot. After all, a cultivator needed to be in the early stage of Foundation establishment in order to successfully cross the entrance.
Just to cross the entrance alone though because the cultivator needed to be above the middle stage of Foundation establishment to last more than five minutes in the Back mountain.
The only exception had been Mo Jiu. When the man was eight, he'd been taken away by a traitor in the sect and dumped in the Back mountain. He'd only been in the middle stage of Qi gathering then and had been able to last for ten minutes in the Back mountain.
Even if He Yuan disliked Mo Jiu's overbearing nature, he had to admit that he was a tiny bit glad that no harm had come to the eight year old child.
The distance between where He Yuan was standing and the entrance to the back mountain behind the second barrier was about 100 metres. So he was going to work towards it, taking ten metres at a time.
He looked around and when he found a large tree pulsing with spiritual energy, He Yuan walked over and sat in the lotus position under its broad leaves. The method he was going to use to cultivate would involve combining Mo Sheng's cultivation method with the [Strongest Martial Arts].
Combining two different cultivation methods was very risky and might lead to a qi deviation, or worse, death but He Yuan wanted to give it a try. The [Strongest Martial Arts] had been gotten from an Ancient task realm so it was a bit lacking when used in a Cultivation task realm.
Mo Sheng's cultivation method was suitable but it had a flaw which was the unwanted qi that would steadily accumulate overtime.
He Yuan planned to get the best out of both cultivation methods. He was going to be extremely careful and at the first sign of casualty, he was going to give up. This was why he needed to cultivate in the Back mountain. The amount of qi here would be enough to support this risky endeavour.
Da Hei growled lowly as he settled next to He Yuan and curled itself around He Yuan's figure. It was almost as if the spirit beast could sense the risk He Yuan was about to undertake.
He Yuan closed his eyes and lolled himself to a state of nothingness. It was all complete meditation and intense focus. He'd spent the day before researching on this method in the sect library so he knew that it could be done.
It was hard and very risky but it wasn't impossible.
If it was a forbidden method then the information would not have been made available on the ground level of the sect library.
As soon as a rush of qi entered He Yuan's body, he gasped out in pain. It was too much. Too, too much.
Ten seconds later,
"Shit!" He Yuan cursed as he lost his focus. He was covered in sweat and his chest was burning. "Fuck!" He cursed again when he realized he couldn't get back his focus, his mind kept drifting to the intense pain.
Since Mo Sheng's dantian was sealed, he had to focus the brunt of the qi in his meridians and it was too much for his vessels to handle at once hence the attempt was even more painful than it was supposed to be.
Da Hei grunted when He Yuan stood up to walk around but He Yuan ignored the spirit beast. He was also disappointed but not everyone was an ultra talented unparalleled genius.
He Yuan walked around the edge of the 100 meter mark for a while and after the burning in his chest subsided, he decided to try again. The result was the same so He Yuan gave up and decided to practice the Duoluo sect's sword stances instead.
He also needed to hone his fighting skills. It was impossible to tell time in the Back mountain but since He Yuan was outside the second barrier, he could still fairly make out the appearance of the sun.
At high noon, he stopped practicing the sword stances and decided to try again. There was no difference and Da Hei soon started giving He Yuan amused looks. It annnoyed He Yuan but there was nothing he could do so he kept whispering encouraging words to himself.
It took an entire week for He Yuan to be able to last five minutes with his refurbished cultivation method without giving up.
Cultivators came and left the Back mountain so He Yuan moved further away from the entrance area. He walked in a circular path around the second barrier until he found a cave about a mile away from where the entrance of the Back mountain was situated.
The cave was barren with a bunch of wild spirit grass growing everywhere. It was very much okay so He Yuan entered the cave and settled in with Da Hei beside him. He needed to focus on working the cultivation method first of all. He would begin his hundred meter journey when he was more confident in his abilities.
At first, He Yuan was keeping track of the passing days with counting symbols drawn on the rocky walls of the cave but he soon lost track as he was able to last days cultivating without stopping.
Or that's what he believed, he wasn't too sure anymore.
He Yuan almost had the illusion that he was back in his system space with its contorted sense of time the only thing anchoring him was the fact that he had only used three fasting pills.
According to elder Mo's words, a pill was enough for a month, that meant he'd spent about three months in this cave. The effect of the pill on Mo Sheng's body might vary due to the fact that he was only a step above being pure mortal but He Yuan still counted time as three months.
After he took another pill, He Yuan began to notice some changes in his body. The pain from cultivating his revamped method had subsided a bit and the size of his meridians had increased. Meaning that he was able to hold a larger amount of qi in his vessels. This was good.
That way, he wouldn't have to depend solely on his dantian in order to expended spiritual power and protect himself. He kept practicing diligently as time flew past. Although he still remembered that he had to go back in time for the Spirit beast hunt.
So by the time He Yuan ingested the fifth pill, he finally broke his cultivation pose. With a stretch that absolutely wasn't needed, He Yuan decided to leave the cave and make the journey back to the entrance of the Back mountain. It was time to challenge the goal he'd set for himself.
Starting from the first ten meters.