2026-04-23 12:31:31A few weeks later.
POW! POW! POW!
Gunnar was moving all around the chamber. He was jumping high and was hitting the fist imprints at all angles without fail.
His fists were covered with aura whenever he wanted, and the more he struck the wall, the stronger the crystal lights were flickering.
In the past, only one crystal flickered its light with every punch, but his punches now made multiple lights flicker at a time.
And the sounds his fists made were matching the noise the water jet made.
Ripples formed in the pool even though he was punching the walls dozens of feet away.
With every passing day, his strength, power, and skill was significantly improving.
He was eating more and putting in more effort than ever before.
He was shouting at the top of his lungs as he was giving it his all with every punch.
It was extremely draining, but his stamina was now incomparable to when he just started. He could keep going for nearly an hour without stopping.
By the time he finished, all the lights in the chamber were flickering.
“They are still not shining as brightly as when I entered this place,” he thought. “I’ve still got some way to go.”
A few more months passed with Gunnar training intensely.
Meanwhile, Raha had become an inner disciple of the Immortal Sword Sect.
She was obviously happy about it, but she couldn’t help but remember Gunnar and wonder how he was doing.
Did he manage to escape that chamber and get back home, or did he die?
“I didn’t even thank him properly for saving my life back then. I wish I could go to him, but…” she touched her left shoulder, “ever since I lost my arm, everything has become a lot more difficult. I was blamed for my friends’ deaths. I’ve made more enemies, and my own family has put me under surveillance. I miss the freedom I had in the past.”
Because only Raha returned and informed the deaths of her five friends, she received a lot of backlash, and her clan also had to face the brunt of it.
“I hope we meet again one day, Gunnar…” she looked southward into the distance.
Back in the secret chamber.
Gunnar was eating a pomegranate-like fruit.
It was quite sweet and crunchy. This was his favorite fruit.
He thought about Raha.
“She didn’t taste this fruit. She would have probably liked it more.”
He smiled for a second.
“I wonder how she is doing now. Did she make it back home safely? Does she still remember me?”
After eating to his fill and speedily digesting the food using his aura, Gunner came into the main hall and punched the wall with all he got.
A small dent formed on it.
His eyes widened a little.
“Finally…”
It was only a hair’s width dent, but he was happy about it, as it clearly indicated his progress toward becoming a master of martial arts, though he didn’t learn any particular martial art or technique.
Thanks to the added motivation, he was able to continue working harder and more diligently than ever.
A few more months passed.
Gunnar was much taller and sturdier now, but his physique was still lean yet muscular. His hair came all the way down to his buttocks.
“This will be my last attempt…”
He stood before the wall, took a deep breath before executing all the moves by fully covering his body with aura. Every punch rapidly drained the aura out of him, but he kept releasing it again and again.
By the time he finished the 16,000 punches on the walls in one flow, all the crystals that were only flickering so far began to glow brightly.
Gunnar was sweating and gasping, but he smiled brightly after seeing the glow of the crystals significantly increasing.
Suddenly, all the crystals were connected by lines of light through the wall, and all the crystals shot forth rays of at Gunnar.
It happened so fast that he was not able to dodge it.
“AHHH!” Gunnar howled in great pain.
A lot of energy was poured into his body, so much so that he felt like he might explode any second.
His skin was cracking, and his veins were glowing as though molten hot liquid was passing through them.
Even his eyes glowed like torches.
This continued for almost three minutes, and then the rays of light suddenly stopped.
The crystals no longer glowed.
Gunnar was still standing and gasping, but externally, he looked completely fine, except that his clothes were completely torn into pieces.
“What just happened?” Gunnar was able to look around and observe things even in the darkness.
He was now able to notice the text on the boulder, which he couldn’t see before.
He approached the boulder and read the text: Mark your fist on the wall, and the light shall shine forth and set you free.
Gunnar then went over to a corner of the wall, where there were no fist imprints. For some reason, he felt like he could do it now.
He clenched his fist tight, and it was covered with a burning hot aura that almost looked like a flame.
He threw a punch with confidence this time.
There was no aggressiveness in his movement, and his fist sunk into the wall half an inch. Energy spread from that spot to the entire chamber, and all the crystals on the walls shone at once, ever so brightly.
They were shining even brighter than when he had first entered the chamber.
Gunnar felt as if he was resonating with the energies of all those crystals.
He looked at his aural fist which radiated a similar glow like those crystals all around. “I see… so this is what freedom tastes like…”
With a smile on his face, he approached the boulder. He kowtowed and paid his respects. “I don’t know who you are, but thank you for your teachings, my ancestors.”
Gunnar then went into the weapons room and looked at all the items to see if there was anything he could take.
In the end, he only took one dagger which he had used to peel the fruits, and so he felt a personal connection to it.
Afterward, he went into the gold room.
“I wish I could take all the money, but I have no means of carrying it now. I’ll have to return to this place some other time, though I wonder if it’ll be easy. I still don’t know where exactly this place is in the seven mountains. I have to keep track of my location as I leave, so that I can return to this place again.”
Gunnar then grabbed a handful of gold coins in his left hand while holding the dagger in his right hand.
He was completely naked right now.
He had already eaten everything in the food room, and it would take a little while for the fruits and herbs to regrow.
There was nothing for him to take there, so he finally returned to the staircase room.
He didn’t step into this room not even once since that day Raha left because he was afraid he might want to leave.
Now, he climbed up the staircase without looking back.
It was time for him to go back into the world.
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145 - A Mad Lad?
“Who’s this, Brother?” Serena asked as Darius helped her get up.“He’s the one who saved me from the drumtail monkeys last night,” Darius said, surprising her very much.“What?” Serena keenly observed Gunnar.His face was strikingly handsome, with fair skin toned by the sun. Sharp eyebrows, as dark as ink, arched over a pair of deep brown eyes that appeared black until light hit them.His nose was straight and well-defined. But it was smooth hair that was blowing to the wind that caught her attention. That thick back hair, silky as midnight, with a few loose strands framing his face made Serena feel jealous.She had never seen a male with such lively hair before even though Gunnar’s hair wasn’t long now because his mother had made sure to cut his hair, probably predicting that he’d make many girls’ hearts drop otherwise.“He saved you?” Serena found it hard to believe. “What do you mean he saved you?”“I don’t know the full details, either,” Darius said. “But when I woke up this morn
144 - Flame Fox
“Get down!” Calvin shouted.“What?” Serena immediately ducked as fast as she could.A flaming arc cut through where her chest had been.It came from a malignous fox that was standing atop a boulder, flaunting its whitish red tail.“Your opponent is me!” Calvin leaped forth and cleaved the glaive through the air.The fox’s tail grew in length and size and blocked Calvin’s attack.The flames made it very difficult for him to keep pushing, and he had to jump back.“Krgh, these flames are so hot…” part of his clothes melted. “If not for my aura, I’d have been reduced to ashes.”“Why is a Flame Fox roaming at the edge of these mountains?” Serena nervously asked as she witnessed the four-foot-tall fox.It might look small, but its flames lit up the neighborhood. The fox did not seem to care to announce its position, showing its confidence.“Seeing how it’s controlling flames at will, it’s definitely a Core Beast,” Calvin said. “I’m an Early Expert, but I don’t think I can get past its defen
143 - The Breathing Techniques
Darius caught up with Gunnar. He put his polearm on his shoulder and walked next to him. “You look so young, but you are quite strong. How did you do that?”This was a question Gunnar never thought someone would ask him.“I’m not strong,” Gunnar replied.“You are being too humble,” Darius chortled. “You fought a mossback wolf that even experts won’t have an easy time against. Yet you managed to defeat it with your bare fists. What’s more, the technique you used was Stone Knuckle, wasn’t it? I have seen the fist clan members use it multiple times during competitions, but I’ve never seen it be explosive. Something about your technique or whatever it is… it’s clearly superior. What kind of a breathing technique do you use?”“I can’t tell you about it,” Gunnar said.“Haha, why not?” Darius looked at his glaive. “My clan members use the Heavy Heart breathing technique. When you hold a heavy weapon like this polearm and repeatedly swing it, it puts quite a lot of stress on not just your arm
142 - Essence Pocket
Gunnar wiped his bloody hands to the mossed back of the dead wolf.The bushes moved.Gunnar immediately turned around.To his surprise, it was Darius who broke out of the bush.“I thought you left,” Gunnar said.“I wanted to, but I couldn’t.”“Couldn’t? What does that mean?” Gunnar questioned. “You didn’t even step in to help.”“That’s because it never really looked like you needed help,” Darius said, chortling, and he walked straight toward the wolf.“Are you trying to take its core?” Gunnar asked.“How can I?” Darius flipped the wolf over with great effort, the huffed a few times. “Damn, it’s so heavy. First, we have to check if it has the core or not.”“I don’t think it has a core,” Gunnar said.“What makes you so sure about it?”“It was able to move the vines, but only barely,” Gunnar said. “I think it was only gathering essence in its body. So, be careful when cutting it.”“Alright,” Darius cut open the wolf’s belly with his polearm.Blood poured out.Darius put the weapon aside
141 - Knuckling His Way Through
Gunnar did not take his eyes off the mossback wolf.It stood taller than him, dark green moss clinging to its broad shoulders like weathered armor. Its brownish, amber eyes watched Gunnar without the slightest hint of fear.It was Gunnar.Gunnar could tell even though it wasn’t drooling.He took deep breaths, trying to stabilize his aura. He felt the need to do that after receiving the hits from the heavy-bodied wolf.“You can’t beat it,” Darius shouted from a distance. “Stop fighting and run!”The wolf growled, lowered its body, and exploded forward.Gunnar didn't retreat. “Split Step.” Aura burst beneath his right foot, and his body abruptly shifted half a stride to the left.The wolf's jaws snapped shut where his neck had been an instant earlier.Gunnar’s right foot slid some more as he got into the position and swiftly threw a punch.His knuckles landed firmly on the wolf’s face, but it moved his head away at the last moment, then pawed at him while rolling its body.Its claws str
140 - The Resolve of the Youth
The sky dew flowers were known to bloom at sunrise, and they were famous for burning fat and also improving muscle and tendon movement.These flowers were gifted in many sects to the winners of competitions because they were tremendously beneficial to those seeking to improve their lightfoot technique or their agility in general.These flowers appear to be floating in the air, but they weren’t actually floating. They were actually connected by a thin frame of wire that was not easily noticeable. So, from a distance, the flower looked like it was floating.One of the reasons Darius came to Herbberg was to find these flowers.He surely wasn’t expecting to find one so soon.Naturally, even when he saw a deep orange sky dew flower, which was the least effective among its kinds, Darius ran like a moth to a flame, completely not recognizing the moss-covered boulder that the flower seemingly floated atop of.The boulder turned into an eight-foot tall gray-skinned mossbacked wolf and pounced
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