"So, are you saying Chun Ma not only survived the Nether Rivers but also wore 140 kgs of weight to go up and down the mountains, coming first?"
"That's correct."
The white-masked man replied as he stood straight and firm.
In front of him were a group of old men, sitting on thrones, their demeanour regal and elegant—as if they weren't the bloodthirsty elders of the Demonic Cult at all!
"Can you promise it with your life on the line?"
A bald old man with a white goatee said, expressionless.
The white-devil masked man fell to his knees, terror in his eyes:
"Yes, I can promise with my eyes."
"Does the red-devil know?"
"Yes," White-devil replied.
"How many already know?"
The white-devil froze for a moment. "Too many, I am sorry, master."
"The cult leader has eyes everywhere. Since you know, then he will know too. There is no point in recruiting him any longer." The goatee elder shook his head with pity.
"Are we going to allow the cult leader's faction to grow stronger and stronger? If that guy joins him, then the next cult leader will already be decided."
"Damn it, we can't let them step over our heads any longer."
The goatee elder raised his hand, and the other elder stopped talking:
"We will talk about this to the heaven behind us and see what he thinks about it. If we can't have it, then we might as well destroy it." His eyes were bloodshot, and a terrifying aura emerged from him.
Just sitting there, the table in front of him started to shatter, with countless sharp cuts to it.
'Is this the external manifestation of the will?'
Even standing there, White-devil felt like he was in a realm of thousands of swords, all their tips pointing at him. He felt like he could be shredded at any time.
"Hmph, go."
"T-Thank you."
White-devil hurriedly left, his hand trembling, hidden beneath his sleeves.
Countless intricacies were happening inside the Demonic Cult, and a hidden storm was brewing silently!
While Chun Ma was completely unknown to it.
At this moment, he was exploring his Martial Space, a deep, dark void where seemingly nothing existed.
"I have come to this place before, but there was nothing, so I didn't find it important. Now that I have reached my bottleneck, maybe I can find a solution here."
Thinking of this, Chun Ma explored the place.
But except for an endless abyss, there was nothing.
"Let's try using martial arts?" Chun Ma thought with a frown.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought of this, but it was just that he hadn't learned any martial arts until now, only one, which was technically one, but wasn't at the same time.
It just taught one to open the meridians and the acupoints to be strengthened.
So, Chun Ma tried to use simple punches for now.
He punched ten times, a hundred times, again and again, until he grew tired.
Just then, he noticed a shadow in the corner of his eye. Chun Ma turned around:
"Huh?"
There was a shadow in front of him, with a faint figure similar to him, but the corner of its mouth was curved.
"Are you mocking me?" Chun Ma pointed at himself.
The shadow didn't speak as it sped toward him and punched him.
Chun Ma returned the fist for a fist.
Bang!
The two collided, and the air compressed around them.
"This is…" Chun Ma looked at his own hand, which was slightly bruised. Their strength almost equally matched:
"Interesting, you are really interesting."
The two fought against each other and were equally matched for a moment.
But Chun Ma, at the right moment, feinted his attack and ducked before hurtling a punch right to its chin, knocking the shadow out!
It was a fast jab, and the momentum was maintained. The shadow was knocked through the air and landed motionlessly.
"That's it?"
Chun Ma tilted his head, only for two more shadows to appear in front of him, equal in strength to him and with experience comparable to his!
"I see what this Martial Space is doing," he cracked his fist with a grin. "It is forcing me to have the experience to always breakthrough and learn more every time, and the difficulty will only rise."
The two shadows and Chun Ma quickly fought the battle. It was a short two-minute exchange before Chun Ma took advantage of the flaws and beat them quite easily.
Then four shadows spawned in place, fighting against Chun Ma.
This time as well, Chun Ma emerged victorious, beating the four shadows.
And these shadows only increased by double every time. This cycle continued each time.
When Chun Ma faced thirty-two shadows, even he felt the pressure mount on him.
Fists and kicks were flying through the air at every inch, leaving zero space for Chun Ma to even have the ability to counterattack.
Chun Ma defended hard, but even then, defeating four hands with two hands was already difficult. Imagine multiplying that by 32!
The result was as expected: his body was bruised and battered, with not a single place free of injury.
His golden hair fluttered in the wind, his boundless blue eyes looked at the remaining twenty shadows as he took a deep breath.
"Haha, come on, fight me."
Every cell in his body was screaming in pain, but at the same time, there was an unmistakable, unquenchable thirst for fire in his eyes.
With every punch and kick, a way forward appeared in his mind. This visualization felt like it was leading him to the truth of it all.
So, Chun Ma fought again and again but never backed down. Instead of retreating, he was advancing like a madman, risking his life for it all!
"I… I am so close to it…"
Chun Ma wanted to grab that string that just slithered away from him, which would reveal the answer to his question, but reaching it felt impossible.
He defeated all the shadows, and sixty-four more appeared!
But Chun Ma collapsed on the ground, exhausted to the brim!