Chapter 35 - Natural Born Martial Addict
Xiao Qingxue covered her smile with her hand and said, “I was having a bet with Bai Heng. I bet that you would learn the martial skill in eleven hours; he bet twenty four hours. The stake was one hundred Xiantian Pills and it seems like I’ve won.”
“A hundred Xiantian Pills?” Qin Nan frowned his eyebrows.
He did know the value of Xiantian Pills, but he had never seen them before.
What shocked him was that the stake was one hundred Xiantian Pills—such a high stake just for a bet between Xiao Qingxue and Bai Heng.
“Senior Sister Xiao, these are the pills.” The gloomy Bai Heng took a small jade jar out which contained one hundred Xiantian Pills in it.
Qin Nan immediately glanced at it; the Xiantian Pills appeared to be five times smaller than Body Tempering Pills. They looked like small, clear crystals. He could tell the amount of Qi these pills contained was at least ten times more than the Body Tempering Pills.
Apart from that, Qin Nan could feel a special force enclosed within the pills.
“If I consumed one hundred Xiantian Pills, what level would the Divine Battle Spirit be improved to?” A sudden thought came up to Qin Nan.
Bai Heng, on the other hand, felt his heart was dripping blood. He could not control his anger when he looked at Qin Nan and said, “Qin Nan, you have learnt Mystical Eight Steps in just five hours’ time. Why don’t you show it to us? I’ve heard the name of Mystical Eight Steps before, but I’ve yet to witness it myself.”
Even though there was nothing wrong with his words, it was obvious that his tone was filled with doubts.
Qin Nan let out a gentle smile as he had no intention to argue with him. His body started moving.
It appeared as though his body’s outline started to turn blurry. His location would change with every step he took; there came the second step, the third step, and the fourth step… Every step had a mystical feeling to it, and the steps were all different. Each step was accompanied by a surge of wind, as if Qin Nan was transforming into a phantom, a lightning, a flame at times—it was difficult to determine his exact location.
Qin Nan’s movement had finally stopped at the hundredth step, who ended up at the initial location—as if he did not move at all.
That was the Mystical Eight Steps.
The martial skill involved one hundred different pieces of footwork which appeared to be unrelated to each other; but there was actually an undetectable connection between them. As the skill was improved, the number of steps would decrease; only eight steps would be left when one had mastered the skill.。
As the number of steps decreased, the power of the martial skill was increased.
When he saw this this, Bai Heng unknowingly shut his mouth—he did not dare to say anything more.
However, Qin Nan did not plan to let it go; with a sudden thought, he smilingly said, “The bet between Senior Brother Bai Heng and Qingxue was quite interesting. Would Senior Brother Bai Heng be interested to have a bet with me?”
“Another bet?” Bai Heng was slightly shaken, and had a slightly terrible expression on his face. He was getting annoyed of the word ‘bet’ being mentioned.
“Yes.” Qin Nan calmly said. “There are nine days left until we reach the Mystic Spirit Sect, which I could make use of the time to practice Mystical Eight Steps. Our bet would be to see if I’m able to master this Mystical Eight Steps in the remaining nine days.”
Not only Bai Heng was shocked, even Xiao Qingxue was shocked too, who said, “Qin Nan, nine days to master Mystical Eight Steps, are you out of your mind?”
It was known that even for a tenth-grade Huang ranked super genius, it was impossible to master an ultimate martial skill in less than a month’s time.
Now Qin Nan dared to bluff that he could master Mystical Eight Steps in just nine days?
“HAHAHA.” Upon hearing this, Bai Heng started laughing. “Junior Brother Qin, you’re no doubt a youngster, being so ballsy and having such confidence. If you say so, I would be willing to participate in this bet. If Junior Brother Qin does not manage to do so in nine days, you will have to hand over one hundred Xiantian Pills. How does that sound?”
After finishing this sentence, Bai Heng stared at Qin Nan with a pair of fiery eyes—he could not wait for Qin Nan to accept the bet.
Xiao Qingxue slightly frowned her eyebrows and said, “Bai Heng, stop the nonsense. Qin Nan, don’t agree…”
In Xiao Qingxue’s view, there was no chance of Qin Nan winning the bet. He would end up giving one hundred Xiantian Pills to Bai Heng for free.
“Qingxue, I understand the risk of the bet. I was not trying to win, but rather to give myself some pressure.” Qin Nan let out a gentle smile at Xiao Qingxue, then turned to Bai Heng and said, “Senior Brother Bai Heng, I do not have one hundred Xiantian Pills on me right now; Why doesn’t Sister Xiao Qingxue be our witness, and I’ll give it to you sometime later?”
“Of course, no problem.” Bai Heng immediately nodded his head; he was not worried that Qin Nan would renege.
Xiao Qingxue shook her head slightly, but decided not to say anything after she saw Qin Nan’s firm expression. The fact was, one hundred Xiantian Pills was not a big deal.
“Good. Then, since the bet is confirmed, I won’t waste anymore time and I’ll go practice.” Qin Nan held his fists toward the two, then proceeded forward with Mystical Eight Steps in a step-by-step fashion.
Same as before, Qin Nan had fallen into a stance of ‘One with the Mind.’ His surroundings were no longer relevant to him—Mystical Eight Steps was the only thing he cared for.
Despite that, Bai Heng was not at all worried after seeing this—in fact, he was extremely excited.
Even a Super Genius with a tenth-grade Huang ranked Martial Spirit would not be able to reach the ‘Greater Success Stage’ of an Ultimate Martial Skill in a month’s time. Even if you Qin Nan are super talented, you wouldn’t be able to master it in nine days, right?
Although Bai Heng was still suspicious at first; where did Qin Nan get his confidence from to come up with such a crazy bet?
However, his doubt was soon eliminated; no matter how outstanding you are, you have to obey the principles of nature, right?
Therefore, in Bai Heng’s mind, he had assumed the victory to be his in the bet.
Now with the thought that Qin Nan would owe him one hundred Xiantian Pills, Bai Heng no longer looked at him with eyes filled with jealousy; he started to admire him.
The three continued their journey, with Qin Nan practicing his martial skill at the same time.
The way Qin Nan immersed himself in his practice had once again shocked Xiao Qingxue and Bai Heng.
Qin Nan was repeating the same action over and over again like a puppet with no sense of tiredness; there was no sign of him stopping.。
Xiao Qingxue and Bai Heng had noticed that his whole body was trembling due to fatigue, but he had no intention to stop.
This guy was like a maniac, who would keep on going once he started doing something!。
A day had gone in a rush; it was soon night time. The sky was densely filled with shiny stars and the valley fell into a silence.
Qin Nan’s Mystical Eight Steps had reached ninety steps in a day’s time.
Despite that, it was still a long journey from mastering the Mystical Eight Steps.
Suddenly, Qin Nan’s body—which was executing the martial skill continuously—finally came to a stop.
When he saw this, Bai Heng was filled with joy, and said laughingly, “Brother Qin Nan, there’s no need to try so hard. With your current cultivation base being just at the fifth-layer in the Body Tempering Realm, you still need to meditate at night. Even I am unable to keep going for a whole day; it’s impossible unless you’ve reached the Martial Emperor Realm.”
Xiao Qingxue nodded and said in a gentle voice, “Bai Heng’s right. Qin Nan, come over and rest for a bit.”
Even though she admired Qin Nan’s determination in practicing, she did not wish Qin Nan to practice without resting. If he continued for the whole day, it would have negative impact on Qin Nan’s body, which could hinder his future growth.
Qin Nan stood before them without moving, as if he could not hear a single word from the two.
Bai Heng’s expression changed in an instant—he then rushed up to Qin Nan. If something happened to Qin Nan while he was practicing this martial skill, Bai Heng would be the first to blame due to the bet.
Xiao Qingxue appeared beside him too.
However, as the two arrived before Qin Nan, a shocked expression appeared on their faces again.
It seemed like Qin Nan had his eyes closed while breathing in a regular pattern; his whole body was relaxed—it looked exactly like someone who had fallen asleep.
Apart from that, what shocked them was that Qin Nan was mumbling like he was talking in his sleep, “Mystical Eight Steps, profound steps, with each step having their own definition. Grasping these definitions would allow the steps to be merged and combined…”
As Qin Nan continued to mumble, his body started to move slowly; he began to execute Mystical Eight Steps!
Xiao Qingxue and Bai Heng took a deep breath at the same time.
Is this Qin Nan… still practicing even in his sleep?
While the two were in shock, Qin Nan’s actions were getting faster, with the steps producing gusts of wind.
At times—in the dark valley under the night sky full of stars—his body was either floating around like a cloud of smoke, or came flooding like a sea of flame; his aura changed continuously.
Xiao Qingxue said as she recovered from the shock, “I have finally understood why Qin Nan has such talent in learning martial skills. It is said that there are people who were born for learning Martial Skills. While these people are practicing, they are not worried about food, sleep, or even if the apocalypse came. These people are known as Martial Addicts!”
“I was told that in the Mystic Spirit Sect, there existed a powerful senior who was a Martial Addict, but it was yet to be proven. Never did I expect to see a Martial Addict myself here today.”
After saying this, her gaze was fixed onto Qin Nan’s back, with a pair of flickering eyes.
Qin Nan’s body continued to flash to different spots, until he merged and became one with the darkness of the valley and the night sky.