143 Carving the second channel.

"Wait. I shouldn't leave just yet."

As Yao Jun made his way towards the opening, he suddenly stopped walking, muttering to himself. Looking at the strength of the Demonic beasts that he had seen so far, he realized that he was still far too weak. He had to take any chance he could get to increase his strength.

"Since this area is rather peaceful, I should take this chance."

Yao Jun turned around and returned to the side of the small lake. He made three rounds around the area around the lake, making sure that there were no Demonic beasts hiding away. After making sure that there were no Demonic beasts in the area, he sat down next to the lake and crossed his legs.

He calmed his breathing, only leaving half of his consciousness to keep guard on any movement in the surrounding area. With his breathing calming down, the Qi in the surrounding area was slowly pulled toward him. He had it enter his body and circulate through his body, filling up every inch of his body.

Absorbing Zhuyin had once again greatly improved the strength and toughness of his body. After all, the dragon was a Demonic beast famous for its strong body. Since his body had strengthened and he needed more strength, Yao Jun decided to continue with the next step in the Crumbling The Nine Heavens technique, carving the second channel.

Yao Jun lost track of time as he continued his rhythmical breathing and filled every inch of his body with Qi. Once there was no longer any room for Qi within his body, it was time to extract Qi from his God Gate and use it to carve a new channel where it could reside.

Yao Jun was not certain if he could still interact with the ancient tree located at the center of his Demon God's Gate, but he was pleasently surprised when he saw a stream of black Qi get pulled out from his Demon God's Gate. Since he had only put half his consciousness outside his body, and only to keep an eye on enemy movement, he did not notice orbs of black Qi appear in the air around him, sinking into his body and joining up with the black Qi from his own gate.

The first channel was carved in his left arm, so Yao Jun decided to carve the second channel in his right arm. The black Qi he had gathered up left his body and hovered above his right hand. Yao Jun had a solemn expression as he lowered the black Qi, causing it to dig into his right hand causing blood to gush out.

Yao Jun had already experienced this pain once before, and he personally felt that he had already grown accustomed to pain, but he still had to grit his teeth to not let out a scream as he carved the new channel. The stream of black Qi carved its way up his right arm and into his chest, entering his Demon God's Gate after what felt like an eternity.

When the channel was finally completed, Yao Jun let out a deep breath. He took out some medicine from his interspatial ring and used it to heal the wound on his right hand. He calmed his breathing and started absorbing the surrounding Qi again, filling up the new channel.

While he was filling up the new channel, he also sank his mind into it so that he could learn the new technique that was stored within it. He once more saw the past memories of Sword Empyrean Heng Jiang, seeing how he came up with the technique.

This time he saw a scene where Heng Jiang lost a dear friend he had made while traveling, the friend taking his last breaths within Heng Jiang's arms. To drown out his sorrow, Heng Jiang started furiously training, barely resting or eating as he slowly devised a new technique.

The technique he came up with in the end was the complete opposite of the first technique, One Sword To Free The Heart. It was a sideways slash that utilized the person's sword intent and Qi to send a strike directly towards the opponent's soul. If they were unprepared, that single strike would be enough to kill them. Heng Jiang simply gave it the name, One Slash To Free The Soul.

When the channel had been completely filled up with Qi so dense that it almost became a liquid, Yao Jun finally opened his eyes again. The area around him was dark, so it seemed like it was currently night. As for how many days he spent doing this, he did not know.

Yao Jun noticed that his body was rather sweaty and dirty, so he stripped down and jumped into the small lake next to him. The water was icy cold, but even that felt pleasant to Yao Jun right now. He quickly cleaned himself and then jumped out of the lake.

Deep crimson flames sprouted from his body and dried off the remaining water. When Yao Jun absorbed a new Demonic beast, he learned how it used its element, so he already knew how to control his new fire element. He could even control it to create shapes, or change how hot the fire was.

Yao Jun put on a new pair of pants, keeping his upper body bare for the moment. He quickly grabbed something to eat from his interspatial ring and then started making his way towards the opening that would take him out of the mountain.

He had acquired a new Demonic beast, he had carved a new channel for the Crumbling The Nine Heavens technique, so it was time to continue on. His Demon God's Gate was still resonating with something at the depths of this hidden realm, and he also had to look for Demonic beasts that he could absorb into his Demon God's Gate.

When Yao Jun crawled out from the opening and left the mountain, a cold breeze hit his face. The air was slightly colder than it was when Yao Jun first entered the hidden realm, so he could not help but wonder if this place maybe had the same season cycle as the outside world.

"Now then, over there is it?"

Yao Jun followed the resonating feeling from his Demon God's Gate, turning his head towards the side. When he looked at the direction where the Demon God's Gate told him to go, he could not help but tilt his head slightly in confusion. The resonating was still coming from the depths of the hidden realm, but why had it moved slightly to the side?

If he followed the previous directions by the resonating feeling, he would have to pass through this massive forest and venture into unknown territory. But following this new direction would take him through the frozen wasteland he had seen before he entered the forest.

Was the thing that his Demon God's Gate resonating with something living, like when it resonated with the dragon that was frozen in the lake? Or was his Demon God's Gate trying to lead him through a path where he would encounter the least danger? Yao Jun could not figure out an answer to these questions, but since the resonating was telling him to go to the frozen wasteland, that would be where he would go.