Chapter 1823: Chapter 1817: I’ve Mastered It

"He wants to go to the toilet?" Zhang Menglong’s excuse was somewhat hard to accept.

In everyone’s eyes, Zhang Menglong being able to endure this long was already monstrously impressive. If he had reached his limit, others might have felt somewhat relieved because, although there are differences between people, at least they are tangible and understandable.

But he had no intention of stopping, not even a bit. He even mentioned wanting to go to the toilet. This calm tone ironically made people feel a sense of defeat.

"Could you all turn your heads away for a moment?" Zhang Menglong said with slight embarrassment, "The Elder said once we enter this Sunset River, we can’t come out, or it would cost contribution points. So I have to do it here. But with all of you staring, it’s hard for me to go!"

"Get the hell out and relieve yourself! No one is stopping you from using the toilet!" Qi Congyun pointed at Zhang Menglong and yelled.

Here, this restriction isn’t so rigid. After all, if one can’t last one or two minutes, no amount of adjustment over a few days will make it possible to re-enter Sunset River.

The key issue is if Zhang Menglong really relieved himself in the Sunset River, no matter how strong the purifying power of the fortunate energy is, it would be awkward to cultivate in there later.

"Hehe, thank you, Elder Qi!"

Zhang Menglong quickly stepped out of the Sunset River, found a small bush nearby, and began to water it.

"Could it be that he really just needed a toilet break!" The onlookers started whispering among themselves again.

"Do you think this is halftime? If his body was really at the limit, stepping out for one or two minutes wouldn’t make a difference. If he can keep going, then it means he wasn’t at his limit yet."

"He might still be far from his limit!" someone commented, "If he were close to the limit, you’d see expanded meridians swelling on his skin; he doesn’t have any of that!"

"Yeah, where exactly is his limit!"

Someone suddenly thought of a possibility, "Could it be that he has no limit?"

The thought made someone gulp. Could the gap between people really be this enormous!

Sure enough, after releasing himself for one or two minutes, Zhang Menglong immediately returned to the Sunset River. He was now ready to begin practicing the second layer of the Nine Nether Sunset Art!

The once-quiet Sunset River began bustling again. After all, everyone was here to practice, not to just watch Zhang Menglong without purpose.

However, the disciples cultivating in the Sunset River made space for Zhang Menglong, as no one wanted to disturb him.

The intern disciples had already left. From now on, they would undergo three years of training. After three years, they would be assessed to determine if they can continue into the Outer Sect to learn.

"This thing is really tough!" For someone like Zhang Menglong, hardly anything could stump him, but practicing the second layer of the Nine Nether Sunset Art did present some challenges.

The first layer involved controlling a few hundred strands of fortunate energy, but the second layer’s requirement increased a hundredfold, needing him to control tens of thousands at once.

For Zhang Menglong, controlling thousands of strands wasn’t too difficult, but locking onto this energy became more challenging, requiring him to focus intensely to control them.

To put it simply, it was as if a highly nearsighted person was asked to do a vein injection in pitch-black darkness without glasses. No matter how skilled, it’s easy to make mistakes when you can’t see clearly, and that’s what Zhang Menglong was experiencing.

"At this rate, it will take at least two months to completely master the second level of the Nine Nether Sunset Art!" Zhang Menglong estimated. However, he clearly didn’t have the patience to spend that long learning a Cultivation Technique.

If the people from the Sunset Sect knew his thoughts, they’d probably want to kill him.

There were only a few people in the entire Sect who could grasp the second level, and even the fastest ones took decades to get the hang of it, while achieving complete mastery took even longer, sometimes even a century or more!

If it took only a few months to learn the second layer of the Nine Nether Sunset Art, many would be willing to trade everything they own for it, and yet Zhang Menglong still thought it was too long.

"Oh right, the mirror!"

Suddenly, Zhang Menglong remembered he had a mirror he got from the Ancient Cave Heaven! Just like the Fountain of Sunset River, it was for practicing the Nine Nether Sunset Art, though it was merely for auxiliary purposes. Could it be...

Stealthily, Zhang Menglong took out the mirror. Now, with fewer people paying attention to him, this small action went unnoticed.

He infused a small strand of fortunate energy into the mirror, initially just experimenting, but unexpectedly, that was the method to activate it!

After being filtered through the mirror, the strand of fortunate energy seemed to be dyed, and then returned to his body. The fortunate energy within him also became much more visible due to the colored energy’s inclusion!

It was like a highly nearsighted doctor giving an injection to someone with glowing veins; although not entirely clear, this method greatly increased the success rate!

Zhang Menglong no longer needed to worry about mishandling the energy, potentially hurting himself. The circulation speed of his energy dramatically increased by dozens of times!

"This thing is really an auxiliary tool!" Zhang Menglong was overjoyed. In such conditions, he would finish training the second layer in just three days!

Truthfully speaking, this second layer didn’t provide much help to Zhang Menglong. Short-term increases in strength by a hundredfold weren’t rare for him, and several of his Bloodlines had similar effects.

His ultimate goal was always the third layer of the Nine Nether Sunset Art.

...

Time passed by another three days, and everyone became numb to Zhang Menglong’s presence. Even Qi Congyun only occasionally came over to make sure he was still alive.

By now, almost everyone in Sunset Sect knew the name Gu Xiao, with many wondering if he might become the second Lei Poguan.

But this time, Zhang Menglong stayed in the Sunset River for a whole half a month!

He opened his eyes, walking out of the water with his upper body bare. Though his muscles weren’t overly bulky, they were well-defined, as if the twenty days in the fortunate energy flow had turned his body into a refined artwork.

"Are you done?" Qi Congyun, who had been observing Zhang Menglong, leapt down from a tree trunk nearby. "You brat, why’d you come out? This chance is so precious. You haven’t even hit your body’s limit, have you?"

Zhang Menglong nodded.

"Then why don’t you try comprehending the Nine Nether Sunset Art? Its incantation is engraved at the bottom of Sunset River, accessible to all disciples regardless of rank."

"Oh, I’ve already finished learning it!"