Chapter 567: A Thousand Bridge Veins!
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
Fu Dong, the manager of the training chamber, was a brawny man over 2.2 meters tall. His two arms had been torn away by demon beasts, and shocking scars could be seen on his chest. He used two giant artificial arms on his bare shoulders and controlled the metal hands with his spiritual threads. When the artificial arms were extended fully, they could be well over two meters long.
Wu Mayan explained to Li Yao in a low voice that Manager Fu Dong was the toughest mentor in the temple and that he knew the guy's teaching too well. The manager was truly a cruel and merciless man.
"This training chamber of mine is reserved for the real tough men. Boss Xiong told me last night that you are an out-and-out one. That's why I decided to keep the training chamber for you today."
Fu Dong waved his iron arms and picked up multiple training tools, which seemed more suitable for interrogation, while he eyed Li Yao coldly and said, "If you are not a hard man, just give up right now. There are a lot of other training champers in the floors above. Let's not waste each other's time!"
While talking, he tossed a pile of metal shackles Li Yao.
"The veins of a human can be divided into the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins. For ordinary fighters, they mainly focus their attention on training the Twelve Essential Veins. When someone enters the Refinement Stage, they start training their Eight Subsidiary Veins."
Fu Dong's right arm was lengthened by the spurting spiritual gas. He pointed at the pictures of veins on the wall and explained, "The Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins constitute a circulation where the spiritual gas will loop and trigger the potential in one's cells.
"However, in the middle of the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins, there are a lot of capillary vessels as thin as a hair!
"Cultivators discovered the capillary vessels long ago. But before the apocalypse, no one had attached much importance to the training of capillary vessels, because such training could prove excruciating, and the capillary vessels only had a limited capacity as they could not be expanded too much. It was more rational to consider how to build the foundation and form the core than to devote much time and energy to the training of capillary vessels!
"However, since the apocalypse, we qi-trainers have focused on the utilization of spiritual gas!
"Although each capillary vessel is as insignificant as a hair and can only store a tiny amount of spiritual gas, the total amount when all the capillary vessels are made use of is never to be underestimated. The Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins combined are only twenty veins, but there are thousands of capillary vessels inside your body. If the width and hardness of all the capillary vessels are increased by ten times, how much more spiritual gas will you be able to store inside your body?
"This was the principle of training for the qi-trainers in the beginning. After the apocalypse, the land was wreathed in darkness, the demon beasts dominated the planets, and we lost all our heritages. We had absolutely no other options except to concentrate on the training of capillary vessels!
"The trial turned out to be successful, but in a different way from what we imagined. As our ancestors continued training and broadening their capillary vessels, they discovered eventually that the function of the capillary vessels was to connect the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins!
"Before, it was commonly believed that the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins were solely connected by the Two Bridge Veins. That was how the theory of becoming an expert of martial arts by breaking through the Two Bridge Veins originated.
"But right now, as long as the capillary vessels are expanded and strengthened, the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins can better communicate, too!
"When the capillary vessels get stronger, the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins will be improved, too!
"In short, the purpose of this training is to transform all the capillary vessels inside your body into new 'Bridge Veins' so that there will be a hundred or even ten thousand Bridge Veins in you!
"Breaking through two Bridge Veins is enough to make one an expert martial artist. It is not hard to imagine how overwhelmingly strong one will be if they can make ten thousand Bridge Veins in their body!
"This is our path of training!
"Look at the pictures on the wall carefully, especially the distribution of all the capillary vessels. Boss Xiong said that you'd done some training sessions before and you were in the 14th level of the Refinement Stage. If so, remembering the pictures is not going to be a difficult task for you, is it?"
Li Yao shook his head and studied the pictures wholeheartedly.
Transforming the capillary vessels into the Bridge Veins and breaking through all of them? That sounded rather violent!
Five minutes later, Fu Dong picked up the training tools that looked like shackles and put them on Li Yao with Wu Mayan's help.
The set of training tools was made of two handcuffs and two leg cuffs. All the cuffs were black, heavy, and clumsy. There was no telling what they were made of, but each of them weighed more than two hundred and fifty kilograms. Pressure meters, which were full of gears and valves and brought a feeling of messiness and crudeness, had been welded on top of them.
Li Yao stretched out his arms and legs. Although he was carrying a thousand kilograms of weight, it was not a big deal for him, who had become used to loaded training, and his punching was as fast as previously.
Seeing that the trainee took the weight for nothing, Fu Dong was slightly surprised. However, he didn't comment on it. "These tools are known as 'True Qi Locks'. They are the best magical equipment to broaden your capillary vessels! As long as they are activated, the hollow syringes in the interior side of the shackles will pierce into your body shallowly and inject hundreds of streams of compressed spiritual gas into your capillary vessels!
"They will help the expansion of your capillary vessels, and the spiritual gas inside your body will be triggered to launch counterattacks at the intruding spiritual gas!
"Both the expansion of capillary vessels and the war between the local and foreign spiritual gas are extremely painful and unbearable for most people.
"Qi-trainers of the Furious Bears Tribe all start their training when they were little kids. They widened their capillary vessels bit by bit, sometimes only working on several of them in a day. Gradually after days and years of hard work, the more dogged and talented ones would make it in the end and become real qi-trainers!
"Boss Xiong said that you want to participate in the battle against the apocalypse next month and hope to improve your capability as quickly as possible. I don't know whether or not you've received training with True Qi Locks before, but either way, one month is too short!"
Fu Dong mumbled something to himself and brought over almost twenty True Qi containers together with Wu Mayan.
Li Yao noticed that the readings on the pressure meters of all the True Qi containers were above 95%, which indicated that these were all high-level True Qi containers that could be used for real battles!
The True Qi Locks had several holes on them through which the True Qi containers could be docked. However, the airtightness of the gadgets was apparently not very good, as white steam was spurting out nonstop. A moment later, Li Yao was already enveloped in fog.
"There's a pressure setting device on the True Qi Locks. Look, you can adjust the triggering level of the spiritual gas by spinning the gear this way.
"The standard pressure equals to the intensity of a middle-level True Qi container releasing all the spiritual gas evenly in ten minutes.
"I suggest you train at one third of the standard pressure in the beginning. If it is too much for you, you can change it to one fifth.
"When your body is used to the True Qi Locks, you can try to increase the pressure to twice the standard pressure, five times the standard pressure, or even ten times the standard pressure. This set of True Qi Locks is prepared for the experts and supports thirty times the standard pressure at best!
"But remember, don't increase the pressure recklessly. Such a training process is like filling air into your body. You must keep your head in the clearest state and guide the spiritual gas into your veins consciously. If your head turns dizzy because of the pain, the spiritual gas will mess around inside your body. If you are lucky, you might be mentally deranged. If you are unlucky, one of your limbs might explode on the spot!"
Fu Dong reminded him of the risks seriously.
Wu Mayan interjected, "If you can hold back the pain, you can train your physical strength with the equipment on the ground. The training effect will be better if you do them at the same time!"
"Watch your mouth!"
Fu Dong glared at him and said angrily, "That is a very advanced training method that is only suitable for the real experts. Do you think everybody else awoke their spiritual roots when they were ten just like you?"
Li Yao nodded his head, showing that he had fully understood the risk.
Fu Dong extended one of his fingers and said, "For the last time, give me a hint if you can't stand it any longer. I'm going to open the valve now!"
Li Yao lifted his hands and watched him tranquilly.
In the room next to the training chamber, Xiong Wuji and Sha Yulan were observing Li Yao through a one-way mirror.
Beside Sha Yulan was a large box in which various medical drugs were stored.
She glanced at Xiong Wuji and asked, "I'm here to because someone might need to be saved. What are you here for?"
Xiong Wuji replied casually, his hands behind his back, "Observation. One can only reveal their true personality when they are in anguish. Our plan concerns the destiny of Iron Plateau. I cannot trust a shy and weak man without knowing exactly what he is.
"I don't care how much pain he can resist; I only want to see how he resists the pain."
Sha Yulan suddenly tremored. She said softly, "Big Xiong, have you really made up your mind? Once the plan is initiated, it's very likely that you will turn from the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau and the well-respected hero into the biggest traitor of Iron Plateau and a rat that everybody spits on!"
Xiong Wuji was silent for a long time, before he opened his mouth again. "Maybe I haven't made up my mind yet. But now that fate has brought such a guy to me, I can only launch the plan no matter what!"
Sha Yulan asked, "Are you not scared of disdain and even death?"
Xiong Wuji took a long breath. He looked at Li Yao, deep in thought, while he replied briefly, "All for survival."
Sha Yulan smiled bitterly. She lowered her head and said, "Then, let our names rot together!"
Their hands, one large and the other small, and one dark and the other fair, held each other tightly.
On the other side of the one-way mirror, Fu Dong opened the valve on the True Qi Locks brutally.
Earsplitting shrieks burst out from the joints of the True Qi Locks. Spiritual gas spurted more than ten meters away like white arrows!
Spiritual gas less than one third the standard pressure had been blown into Li Yao's body!