Being wounded by Tianling-er right after using the Demonic Body Toning Method, it took Zhong Shan almost four hours to feel better.  It wasn’t until the next day that he fully recovered from the after effect of the Demonic Body Toning Method.

He took care of the mountain lion’s body and found an inner core inside its body.  With the inner core he retrieved from the silver wolf last time, he now had two inner cores.  However, Zhong Shan still didn’t know what the inner core could even be used for.  Therefore, he just carefully put them away and waited to use them at a later date.

He made jerky out of the mountain lion’s meat, which tasted delicious.  The skin was made into several pairs of pants.  Zhong Shan only had a few change clothes here.  He was careful not to wear them too often because they could easily be destroyed inside the kiln.  But those pants made of animal skin were extremely strong which could survive the fire inside the kiln.

His life continued; he practiced machete forms, Dayang Shengong, Hongluan Manual, and Demonic Body Toning Method during this time.

But after two months, Zhong Shan found his progress to be discouraging.  He had reached the first level of the Dayang Shengong and was moving towards the second level. But he was stuck and couldn’t move up to the second level.  By this time, he’s no longer afraid of the heat; even if he added a lot more firewood, the flame was still not strong enough for him.  Zhong Shan needed a more powerful heat source.

Tianling-er was waiting outside a cave near the Yanshan Peak.  She kept looking at the boulder which blocked the entrance to the cave.  There were several instances where she almost used the red silk in her hand to blast the boulder to pieces, but she bit her lips and calmed herself down.

“Honglonglong ~ ~ ~”

The cave finally opened up.

“Xiaonanzi, come out, quick.”  Tianling-er immediately called into the cave.

“Uh, s.h.i.+mei, no, s.h.i.+jie, why are you here?”  From inside the cave came the voice of Nanbatian, somewhat surprised.

Soon, Nanbatian came out of the cave and looked at Tianling-er in amazement.

“I have waited for you for two months now.  What took you so long?  Did you have a breakthrough?”  Tianling-er asked.

“En, I’m at Xiantian 8th stage too. I’ll catch up with you pretty soon.  Hahaha, by that time, you will be a s.h.i.+mei again.”  Nanbatian laughed.

“Hum, to catch up with me?  You’re dreaming.  I will reach the 9th stage very soon.  I’m the best among the third generation disciples in terms of intelligence and innate talent.”  Tianling-er spoke full of confidence.

Seeing Tianling-er’s confidence, Nanbatian could only helplessly shake his head.

“Then, s.h.i.+jie, why are you here looking for me?”  Nanbatian asked.

“Oh, right, I want to ask a favor from you.”  The tone of Tianling-er’s voice suddenly became weaker.

“You want to ask a favor from me?”  Nanbatian widened his eyes in disbelief.

“Yup, are you going to help me or not?”  Tianling-er changed her tone instantly and stared.

“Sure I’ll help you.  You are the princess of our Kaiyang School.  Who would dare not to help you.”  Nanbatian answered with a sad face.

Zhong Shan came out of the kiln with knitted eyebrows and traces of frustration in his eyes.  No, it wouldn’t work with the kiln.  If he didn’t seal off the kiln, the temperature inside wouldn’t rise high enough.  But, if it’s seal off, then there’s not enough oxygen to keep the fire burning inside the kiln.

With a troublesome look on his face, he walked out the kiln.  

“Zhong Shan.” The moment he came out, he heard a shout came from the front of his yard.

Zhong Shan looked over and saw Nanbatian standing not too far away in black clothes and holding a big glaive.  There’s a circle of about one meter diameter under Nanbatian’s feet.  At the moment, he was staring at Zhong Shan.

“Jiu s.h.i.+xiong?”  Zhong Shan frowned.

“With your full strength, attack.  I’ll just use 20% of my power.  You win if you can push me out of this circle.”  Nanbatian suddenly said with confidence.

Zhong Shan wasn’t sure what exactly Nanbatian’s intentions were. But he could tell that Nanbatian didn’t mean any harm.  Besides, Zhong Shan also wanted to see what kind of progress he had made from his training.  He, therefore, shouted right away, “alright.”

After saying that, Zhong Shan took up the machete next to the kiln and slashed towards Nanbatian.

When he got closer, Zhong Shan jumped up holding the machete upright.

Mountain Splitter!

The machete cut towards Nanbatian.

Nanbatian also used his glaive to meet the machete head on.

“Bang ~ ~ ~”

The force from the collision forced Zhong Shan to back away a little bit, but Nanbatian was still standing in the original spot. Zhong Shan didn’t stop and the machete slashed across again.

Annihilating Slas.h.!.+

“Good ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Nanbatian shouted and once again his glaive met the machete.

“Bang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Zhong Shan flew out. He steadied himself mid-air and put himself down.  He looked again at Nanbatian, sure enough Nanbatian was very strong.  20% of the power?  Was he really just using only 20%?

Noticing that Nanbatian’s feet were still inside the circle, Zhong Shan all of a sudden became even more combative.

He braced himself and continued slas.h.i.+ng towards Nanbatian.

Zhong Shan’s strikes became faster and more relentless.  He stood outside of the circle mercilessly hacking at Nanbatian, while Nanbatian stayed inside the circle and quickly moved his glaive in tight movements to defend against Zhong Shan.  As Zhong Shan’s attacks grew more and more forceful, Nanbatian began to knit his brows more and more.

In a corner not far from them, Tianling-er stood there watching with a slight frown.  She bit her lips, clenched her fists, and tried to keep herself calm.

“Bang~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

After two hours, Zhong Shan was drenched in sweat.  But Nanbatian was simply too strong even with only 20% of his power.

Zhong Shan became even more relentless; if he couldn’t force the 20% Nanbatian out of the circle today, how could he fight with Prince Lietian in the future?

Zhong Shan made his resolution and rushed towards Nanbetian again.

Nanbatian looked at Zhong Shan with amazement.  He could tell from Zhong Shan’s power that he was at the first level of Xiantian, but his determination and momentum was stronger than his power.  Fortunately, Zhong Shan’s strength was much weaker than his.  In Nanbatian’s mind, there’s only one word to describe Zhong Shan, fierce.  He’s a fierce man.  He was the fiercest man among his peers.

Demonic Body Toning Method!

Mountain Splitter!

Zhong Shan’s muscle suddenly bulged up.  He suddenly used Demonic Body Toning Method and viciously slashed Mountain Splitter at Nanbatian.

“Bang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Nanbatian staggered.  What had happened?  How could Zhong Shan’s strength suddenly increase?

“Bang ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

Zhong Shan was unforgiving, madly attacking Nanbatian without mercy.

“Ah ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”

After a short while, Zhong Shan’s last Mountain Splitter finally forced Nanbatian to step out of the circle.”

“Hu ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ hu~ ~ ~ ~ ~ hu~ ~ ~ ~ hu ~ ~ ~ ~”

Nanbatian was out of the circle.  Zhong Shan was out of breath.  Obviously, the challenge was over.  The hand holding the machete was shaking.  Nanbatian was too strong, but he finally forced him out of the circle.

Nanbatian, now out of the circle, was also astounded.  Was this really a man who was only at the first level of Xiantian?  He was too vicious.

“Thank you, Jiu s.h.i.+xiong.”  Zhong Shan immediately said.

Zhong Shan felt that he had learned a lot from this battle.  Nanbatian seemed to come here just to be his sparring partner.  Therefore, he had to be grateful to Nanbatian.

“It’s alright.  Zhong Shan, you’re a fierce man.”  Nanbatian only had this comment.  But this comment expressed what Nanbatian thought about Zhong Shan.

Tianling-er was also amazed to see Zhong Shan force Nanbatian out.  Originally, she had planned for Nanbatian to pretend to step out of the circle.  But, it looked like Zhong Shan had done so with his own power.  Didn’t father say that Zhong Shan didn’t have the innate talent and wouldn’t be able to do practice well?

“Haha, s.h.i.+xiong is very powerful.”  Zhong Shan laughed.

“You don’t need to call me s.h.i.+xiong.  At Kaiyang School, the ranking of disciples is always changing after all.  You can call me Nanbatian, or even Batian.”  Nanbatian heartily laughed.

“Alright.  May I know what brings you here today?”  Zhong Shan earnestly asked.

He knew Nanbatian couldn’t have just come here to be his sparring partner; it couldn’t be this simple.

“As a matter of fact, I was forced to come here.”  Nanbatian shook his head and laughed.

“Forced?”  Zhong Shan found the reply odd.

“Yeah, I’m here to apologize for someone.”  Nanbatian answered.

“Apologize?”  Zhong Shan was even more confused.

“Didn’t the daughter of our headmaster, Tianling-er, break one of your wooden statues not too long ago?  She felt sorry about it but is too ashamed to come to apologize.  So I’m here to apologize for her.”  Nanbatian said.

After Nanbatian finished, Tianling-er clenched her fists again and carefully watched Zhong Shan’s reaction.

“Tianling-er?  Oh, I don’t blame her at all.  It is I who owe her an apology.”  Zhong Shan shook his head.  He was the one who lied to her in the first place.

“Oh, really?  If that’s the case, it would be great. Tianling-er is going to be here soon, you can tell her yourself.”  Nanbatian said.

Hearing that, Zhong Shan looked around and knew in his mind that Tianling-er must be nearby.

As he had expected, Tianling-er flew in again on her red silk.

“Zhong Shan, I’m really sorry that I broke your wooden statue that day.”  Tianling-er sorrowfully said.

Zhong Shan couldn’t be angry with her, she was young enough to his granddaughter, after seeing the pathetic look on her face.  Besides, he didn’t really blame her.

“It’s nothing.  I was wrong that day too.  You two have a seat.  I’ll go get something, as a token of my apology.”  Zhong Shan went into his yard after saying so.

Zhong Shan came out shortly with something in his hand and brought it in front of Tianling-er.

“Come, this is for you, as a token of my apology for lying and offending you.”  Zhong Shan said.

In Zhong Shan’s hand, it was also a small wooden statue.  The image, however, was Tianling-er.

Tianling-er liked it the moment she saw it and took it right away.

“You carved it?”  Nanbatian asked.

“No, I used this machete to chop it out when I’m bored with practicing my machete forms.”  Zhong Shan replied.

Looking at the delicate wooden statue, then looking at the machete in Zhong Shan’s hand, Nanbatian could only say, “You’re fierce, you truly are fierce.”

Tianling-er in the meantime was caressing her own statue without pause.