I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

How did he manage to endure it?

The physical pain was one thing, but the mental torment was worse. The feeling of geckos and centipedes crawling into his nose and ears had nearly driven him mad.

Just then, Shao Qiu noticed Chen Fan appear at the entrance of the Yunling Pavilion.

He hastily struggled out of the altar and said, "Domain Lord."

"It’s fine."

Chen Fan walked to the altar in the Yunling Pavilion, his expression complex as he looked at Shao Qiu, who was clearly not in good shape. After a long pause, he turned to Qi Yue. "Have you told him yet?"

"Not yet."

Qi Yue shook his head, hesitating. "I still don’t know how to tell him. He doesn’t seem to be in a good state of mind right now. I’m afraid he’ll have a mental breakdown if I tell him."

"What needs to be said, must be said."

Chen Fan said softly. ’At least, this should be the last case in the Mortal Realm. We can’t have everyone following this example.’

"Alright, Shao Qiu, take a rest for today. I need to head to Mortal City for some matters. I’ll leave the rest to you all."

With that, he turned and walked out of the Yunling Pavilion.

He had to go to Mortal City today to check on their recent progress.

Before leaving, Chen Fan suddenly looked at the unwell Shao Qiu in the altar and said with a serious expression, "Oh, right. I watched your Body Tempering process."

"If you can endure that kind of Body Tempering, you will surely have great achievements in the future."

"Keep it up."

’I don’t know if it’s because the people in this world are all particularly ruthless.’

’Or is it just that Qi Yue and Shao Qiu are the ruthless ones?’

’Watching these two go through Body Tempering nearly left me dumbfounded.’

’Does Cultivation have to be like this? It’s not that I don’t understand the principle of ’no destruction, no construction,’ but isn’t this a little too much destruction? What if they can’t ’reconstruct’ afterward?’

"Thank you, Domain Lord."

Hearing Chen Fan’s praise, Shao Qiu excitedly stood up from the altar and grinned. "Don’t worry, Domain Lord. Just leave any future assassination missions to us at the Dark Pavilion."

Chen Fan said nothing more.

He turned, left the Yunling Pavilion, boarded the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage, and headed for Mortal City.

...

"Heh heh."

Lying in the altar of the Yunling Pavilion, Shao Qiu’s face beamed with a smile of pride, despite having endured three hours of torment.

Those three hours had tormented not only his body—his physical injuries had already been healed by soaking in the altar—but mainly his mind.

But now, he felt it had all been worth it.

He was the Mortal Realm’s second Tenfold Body Tempering Martial King.

Not only that, but more importantly, he was an Assassin. For an Assassin to achieve Tenfold Body Tempering to break through to Martial King was even more difficult. From a certain perspective, he was even more Rare than Qi Yue, and the difficulty was much higher.

More importantly, he could tell that before the Domain Lord left, he too was full of admiration for his breakthrough.

"By the way."

Shao Qiu suddenly looked up at Qi Yue with curiosity. "What did the Domain Lord mean by what he said before he left? What was it that I ’don’t know yet’? Is there something you haven’t told me?"

His face was wreathed in smiles.

He was in an excellent mood.

How could one describe this feeling? It was like studying for ten years and finally passing the imperial exams with flying colors. The moment he learned of his success, all the years of fatigue and pressure melted away.

This was the best feeling in the world.

Most people don’t have many highlight moments in their lives, but for him, today was his. Many years from now, his Cultivation might be higher, but he would absolutely remember this day—the moment he gambled with death to attempt a breakthrough to Tenfold Body Tempering.

"..."

Qi Yue was silent for a long time. He tried to choose his words carefully, worried about causing Shao Qiu to have a mental breakdown, but after thinking it over, he couldn’t find a better way. He decided to just be direct. "Shao Qiu, the Domain Lord upgraded the Yunling Pavilion to Max Level. The Cultivation Speed is now forty times faster."

"Huh?"

Shao Qiu froze. After a long moment, he mumbled, "Is upgrading the Yunling Pavilion that simple? Then why couldn’t we upgrade it at all back in the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land? Forty times... that’s too insane. This is a good thing, though. Why hide it from me?"

"There’s something else." Qi Yue paused before continuing, "Did you know that when a building is upgraded to Max Level, it gets a Max Level Effect?"

"No."

Shao Qiu shook his head decisively. "I’m not an Architect, how would I know that? But I get what you’re saying. You mean that after the Yunling Pavilion was upgraded to Max Level, it gained a Max Level Effect, and this effect sounds pretty good, right?"

"That’s right."

Qi Yue nodded. "The effect is actually quite simple. It allows any Martial King within the Yunling Pavilion who has reached Ninety-nine Percent Body Tempering to automatically break through to Tenfold Body Tempering. To put it simply, you could have just taken a Martial King Pill to guarantee you reached Ninety-nine Percent Body Tempering, and then the Yunling Pavilion would have automatically turned you into a Tenfold Body Tempering Martial King."

"You wouldn’t have had to go through all that trouble."

As his words fell, the smile on Shao Qiu’s face slowly stiffened.

His head drooped.

He remained silent for a long, long time, his body perfectly still.

Seeing this, Qi Yue waited for a while. He had originally intended to say something comforting, but he was terrible at consoling people. After some thought, he decided to leave and give Shao Qiu some time alone.

He could understand.

This blow was truly a bit too much to take.

He himself had it better. After all, when he broke through to Martial King, the Yunling Pavilion didn’t have this Max Level Effect yet. But Shao Qiu... he had started his breakthrough right after the Yunling Pavilion was upgraded to Max Level, before the Domain Lord even had a chance to announce it.