Chapter 151: The Madness Born of the Passing Days
It is just like water and ice; this is a difference in essence. No matter how much water there is, how could it possibly pierce through a block of ice?
As for ice piercing through water, just a tiny bit is more than enough to go right through!
Suppression!
Aside from the gap in amplification, the even greater disparity brought about by the quality of magical power is suppression—the suppression of low-quality magical power by high-quality magical power, exactly like ice and water!
Zhou Yi’s Heavy Mountain magical power is of the transcendent grade, while Weng Han’s fire-style magical power is of the second grade. How could the gap in quality between the two possibly be described merely by water and ice?
Therefore, even though there was a massive gap between Zhou Yi’s own volume of magical power and Weng Han’s, when the two of them clashed in battle, the outcome was still effortlessly decided!
Zhou Yi was well aware of this, which was why he felt no fear toward the changes in Weng Han’s strength. Unless Weng Han could transform into an entirely different person, no matter how much his strength could increase, just how much could it possibly grow? Surely it could never reach the point of confronting him head-on on equal terms!
After all, the gap between the two of them was not limited to magical power alone. The Heaven and Earth World Diagram and the Reliance Saber were the very foundations of Zhou Yi’s confidence!
No matter what myriad techniques you possess, I shall greet you with but a single slap!
Tell me, can you endure it?
Zhou Yi did not hold Weng Han in any regard, but Weng Han certainly did not dare to look down upon Zhou Yi. Although that palm strike previously landed on his chest had not allowed him to fully gauge Zhou Yi’s strength, it had at least made one thing clear to him!
Zhou Yi’s strength was far greater than his own!
Therefore, after swallowing the medicinal pill, taking advantage of the moment while Zhou Yi curiously observed him, Weng Han tightened his focus and continuously drove his strength upward, striving to the absolute limit to enhance his might!
At the same time, as his power surged dramatically under the effects of the pill, the fear toward Zhou Yi lingering in his heart could not help but grow alongside it!
As his own strength increased, he understood all the more profoundly what that simple, unpretentious palm strike Zhou Yi had delivered unto him truly represented!
Consequently, the higher his power climbed, the more his inner confidence diminished rather than increased. The look of terror in his pupils, once barely perceptible, gradually filled his entire vision!
"Where on earth did this monster come from?" Filled with utter dread, Weng Han continued to elevate his strength while bitterly smiling and speculating inwardly: "Could it be... that he practices the Aperture Nourishing Method rather than the Aperture Infusion Method?"
"If he truly practices the Aperture Infusion Method, having such strength would still be somewhat understandable. But if it is the Aperture Nourishing Method..."
Weng Han shook his head, casting away the thought that had suddenly popped into his mind, simply not daring to contemplate it. If Zhou Yi genuinely practiced the Aperture Infusion Method yet possessed such horrifying power, it would truly be too terrifying!
Falling silent on the spot for a moment, Weng Han suddenly felt a surge of despair. After calming down briefly and deep-in-thought reflection, he was shocked to discover that, most likely, this very thought he feared the most was precisely the truth!
Recalling the palm strike Zhou Yi had previously landed upon him—pure, forceful, irresistible, possessing all sorts of auras, the only thing it entirely lacked was vastness!
Moreover, what was even more crucial was that when Weng Han recalled that prior scene and mentally scrutinized Zhou Yi, he realized that although Zhou Yi's aura flowed seemingly boundlessly and his strength appeared unfathomable, there was always an underlying sense of imbalance!
The origin of this imbalance, as Weng Han perceived it, was just like a single sun accompanied by a sky full of stars!
This exact scenario happened to correspond precisely with the path he walked: the sun corresponded to the dantian space infused with magical power, while the boundless stars corresponded to the illusory three hundred and sixty-five apertures!
Weng Han’s heart suddenly turned cold, a trace of deathly aura abruptly surfacing on his face. Feeling utterly hopeless and devoid of any lingering spirit, he no longer possessed the energy to harbor thoughts of reducing the four individuals responsible for his current predicament to ashes.
After estimating Zhou Yi’s strength in his heart, Weng Han sank into total despair. Faced with such overwhelming might, his approach from the very beginning had been entirely wrong; when facing an expert, humbling oneself and showing submission was the ultimate truth!
Unfortunately, they had swaggered about and lorded over others in this third checkpoint for far too long. Relying on the advantages of the Aperture Infusion Method, they had grown arrogant and unbridled, to the point where they could no longer remember how long ago those days of bowing and scraping had been!
In truth, the four of them could hardly be blamed for this!
Weng Han suddenly came to a realization. The four had followed him for so long—so long that even he could no longer remember the passage of time!
Driven mad by the lack of any path forward, and trapped in the madness of lingering in this realm for so long, they had actually gone insane long ago!
Amidst his despair, Weng Han’s long-frenzied heart slowly began to settle, unexpectedly recovering a long-lost tranquility.
"Could it really be that taking shortcuts feels magnificent for a moment, but leaves the rest of your life ending in a crematorium?"
As his thoughts gradually cleared, Weng Han muttered with a bitter smile.
Back in the day, he too had been a cultivator seeking the Dao. Along this path of cultivation, he had walked step by step with extreme caution, holding reverence for all things and advancing with the utmost difficulty!
Walking on thin ice—this was the best description of his former self!
Having lived such days for too long, Weng Han eventually grew impatient. The stifling frustration slowly accumulating in his chest, coupled with the arduousness of the path ahead, finally erupted on a certain day. Having grown utterly sick of such a lifestyle, he resolutely switched paths, abandoning the Aperture Nourishing Method in favor of the Aperture Infusion Method!
Within a single day, his strength skyrocketed at the speed of a rocket!
After his power reached its peak, high-spirited and intoxicated by the unprecedented strength within his body, he tracked down everyone who had previously bullied him as well as anyone else he found displeasing to the eye, settling scores one by one. He bullied them, suppressed them, and vented every ounce of frustration he had bottled up inside for so long upon their heads!
The feeling back then could be summed up in a single word: exhilarating!
Ever since then, he had fallen in love with such a lifestyle and eventually grew accustomed to it.
His daily routine consisted of wandering around aimlessly. After all, there was no path left ahead anyway, and cultivation could no longer elevate his strength further. Besides, what was the use of increasing his strength?
Given the power he possessed at the time, within this third checkpoint, aside from a select few individuals, how many could possibly stand as his match?
And so, as time passed, he became increasingly addicted. Without knowing when, he seemed to have forgotten certain things, yet it also felt as though he had forgotten nothing at all!
He had a vague sensation of something amiss, but soon brushed it aside. As long as it felt good, why bother caring about so much?
Now, startled by Zhou Yi’s overwhelming might, as fear spread through his speculations, Weng Han’s frenzied mind gradually recovered. It was only at this moment that he finally understood what exactly he had forgotten and what he had cast away all those years ago!
It was caution! It was fear! It was reverence!
His current life was indeed exhilarating, but upon reflection, out of all the things he could remember and engrave upon his heart, not a single one came from this period. On the contrary, from that phase of walking on thin ice, he could vividly remember almost every single day, every single incident, and every single event!
His life now was indeed wonderful, but it was utterly hollow; his life back then had been extremely difficult, yet immensely fulfilling!
"I was wrong, it was all wrong!" Tears welled up in Weng Han’s eyes, yet he fought hard to suppress them. While grief gripped his heart, he suddenly drove his strength upward with even greater intensity!
No matter the cost!