Dawn of a New Era-Chapter 497 - 471: The Fourth Optimization – Great Terror

Chapter 497: Chapter 471: The Fourth Optimization – Great Terror

After dinner.

Chen Shouyi didn’t feel like practicing martial arts, lazily half-lying on the bed, flipping through a Martial Arts Book.

However, his mind was elsewhere, occasionally looking up at the mechanical clock on the wall.

The Shell Lady completely treated Chen Shouyi’s body like a playground, constantly climbing up and down, occasionally burrowing into his clothes, wriggling around like a little mouse, having a great time.

At this moment, the corner of Chen Shouyi’s mouth twitched slightly. He quickly reached out and stopped the Shell Lady, who was trying to burrow into his underwear, pinched her leg, and pulled her out, saying, "You can’t burrow here!"

"Why not?" asked the Shell Lady with a bewildered look.

"No reason!" Chen Shouyi looked at the shameless Shell Lady, replying in irritation.

How could she burrow into this place!

"Oh!" The Shell Lady responded in disappointment, then resumed amusing herself.

Time ticked away, second by second...

He checked the time again, suddenly feeling invigorated.

Quickly, he opened the attribute panel:

"Energy Value: 27.01"

"Finally... it’s time!" He exhaled deeply, having waited for this moment for over half a year.

Without hesitation, he chose the Horizontal Training Thirty-Six Styles to optimize.

The familiar dream overtook him again, and he fell asleep the moment he closed his eyes.

As the Shell Lady crawled around inside Chen Shouyi’s clothes, she noticed the change and curiously crawled out, blinking in surprise at the giant with closed eyes. Then her eyes darted around, and she stomped on the giant’s chest a few times.

The giant didn’t respond.

She moved to the giant’s ear and shouted loudly:

"Good giant! Good giant! Wake up..."

The giant still showed no reaction.

Her eyes lit up, and she tiptoed towards her target.

...

In the dream, Chen Shouyi repeatedly practiced the Horizontal Training Thirty-Six Styles, each run-through bringing subtle changes in the movements.

Here, the concept of time didn’t exist.

He tirelessly performed the practice over and over.

Perhaps it lasted for days, or maybe even months.

The quantitative change gradually led to a qualitative transformation; the original Horizontal Training Thirty-Six Styles began to look completely different.

At the final stage of the dream, he suddenly felt a sense of fear, a fear of the impending death, as if all his cells were struggling in this fear, on the brink of death...

...

He awoke with a start, opening his eyes.

Breathing heavily, his eyes still filled with a trace of terror.

His body drenched in sweat.

"How can there be such a perverted cultivation technique that through artificially generating destruction signals, forces the body to evolve and transform autonomously? This is simply... the Demonic Path!" With lingering fears, he thought this optimization was truly terrifying.

This time, the cultivation method had changed significantly, completely abandoning the parts of the Horizontal Training, or it had been modified beyond recognition, but the level of abnormality and pain far surpassed any of the previous kinds.

Practicing this cultivation technique once was like experiencing death once.

Engrossed in his thoughts, Chen Shouyi didn’t even notice the wet Shell Lady cautiously slipping out of his underwear, quickly crawling off his body, then pretending nothing happened as she opened a picture book and began reading it loudly.

...

Chen Shouyi lay for a while, then got up from the bed and walked to the window.

Staring into the pitch-black night outside, faint gunshots could be heard.

The post-war Hedong hadn’t become entirely peaceful.

Since the mutation, Hedong hadn’t had a single peaceful day.

Invading species, wandering Barbarians, occasionally rampaging Natural Spirits... every day, civilians were injured or killed.

But these simple tasks didn’t require the intervention of a legendary power like him.

His mind gradually calmed down.

"Let’s try it out first!"

He went to the bathroom and washed his face.

After returning, he took off his clothes and began attempting to practice this unrecognizable fourth-optimization version.

With a deep breath, he focused his mind greatly, turning his will into countless tendrils that integrated into every corner of his body. At the same time, he started to perform the new version of the Horizontal Training Thirty-Six Styles.

He had just finished the first style.

A faint unease started to rise in his heart.

Chen Shouyi turned a deaf ear, continuing to practice.

The second style!

The third style!

...

The tenth style!

The fear in his heart grew stronger, as if facing the great collision of heaven and earth, the destruction of stars, that kind of helplessness, where he might dissipate at any moment. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

If not for his highly focused will and utter selflessness, he probably wouldn’t have been able to continue.

The twelfth style!

His skin’s goosebumps stood up, his body began to tremble uncontrollably, sweat gushing out like fountains, accumulating into a large puddle on the smooth floor, and his mind showed signs of instability.

The fifteenth style!

Fear had materialized, a deathly aura emanated from him, and panic uncontrollably rose within him.

His mind trembled, forcing him out of cultivation.

"Huff..."

"Huff..."

He leaned on his knees, his breathing like a bellows.

At this moment, his whole body’s muscles spasmed involuntarily, and his body trembled lightly.

"This is several times more terrifying than facing the Divine Power of a True God directly!"

When he broke free from the fear, he found himself somewhat exhausted, not just his body, but also his mind, and he felt a faint hunger.

"The physical exertion is so severe!" His expression flickered slightly.

Originally, practicing the Horizontal Training Thirty-Six Styles barely consumed his stamina, and even without eating Divine Flesh, he could continuously practice four or fifty times, with just this level of exhaustion.

Yet this time, he couldn’t even complete one cycle.

"Continue!"

Gritting his teeth, Chen Shouyi resolved in his heart!

He took a piece of Demigod Flesh from space, tore and devoured it with gusto.

Once his mind recovered, he began to cultivate again.

This time, with mental preparation, the situation improved significantly, and he was shocked awake by fear by the eighteenth style.

...

Chen Shouyi rested for a while and continued cultivating.

Time passed slowly, and by dawn, Chen Shouyi still hadn’t completed one full cycle.

After reaching the eighteenth style, each step forward became extremely difficult.

The best time, he reached the twenty-third style; the worst, he didn’t even make it to the seventeenth.

Chen Shouyi stopped in exhaustion.

Holding his dizzy head, he walked to the bathroom, his peripheral vision swept over the mirror, and his steps paused unconsciously.

The reflection in the mirror looked exceptionally haggard, eyes bloodshot, even his cheeks appeared leaner, as if recovering from a major illness.

"This cultivation method consumes way too much!" he thought to himself, "Without the support of Demigod Flesh, ordinary food wouldn’t sustain such cultivation."

He checked the attribute panel.

His expression froze slightly.

His physical attributes hadn’t changed.

But his will had increased by 0.2.

"Unexpectedly, this technique has a stronger effect on enhancing will!"

Chen Shouyi thought to himself,

The next moment,

his feet left the ground, and he floated up, far faster than his previous snail’s pace.

Now he could compare with... a fly.

...

ps: Sorry, I don’t eat shit.