Chapter Four: The Foundational Three Methods of Cultivation

This year, a peculiar student arrived at the Nine Treasures Glaze Academy.

While the other children attended their lessons, he, relying on exceptional theoretical knowledge and a few minor outside aids, was granted permission to roam freely during school hours.

This was something every child envied.

Yet, to their utter astonishment, this strange peer did not use the time to play or cultivate his soul power level.

Instead, he performed bizarre exercises around the academy’s playground.

Besides common movements like running, push-ups, and sit-ups, he executed some particularly odd gestures.

For instance, he would squat and hop forward like a frog while clutching his head, walk comically using his hands as feet, perform incomprehensible body art in place, and even pull himself up and down tree trunks.

The most laughable of all was his attempt to walk barefoot along a perfectly straight tree trunk!

Not just children, but even some adults within the sect, upon hearing these accounts, unanimously deemed the boy insane—a madness born from the frustration of inadequate talent.

Indeed, this peculiar child was Ning Wuqing. Since completing the foundational theories and preliminary research of the “Ninefold King of Hell Gate” four months ago, he had been an enigma.

About two months prior, Ning Wuqing was assigned to the Nine Treasures Glaze Sect’s “Elementary Education Institution,” a small primary soul master academy within the mountain gate.

In less than two months, his reputation had spread among his peers—marked not by admiration, but disdain.

Some called him a “madman,” others said he was “ill,” and rumors even claimed he was possessed by an evil soul master.

Without exception, none wished to approach him or understand why he behaved this way or what purpose it served.

Possessing the soul of an adult, Ning Wuqing paid no mind to these judgments and declined to waste breath explaining. People cannot grasp strange phenomena they have never witnessed in a short time.

Instead of squandering time on such trivialities, he chose to take further steps toward “defying fate.”

When he truly entered the gate, learned scholars would debate on his behalf.

Previously mentioned, the “Ninefold King of Hell Gate” soul skill was conceived based on two perilous techniques: the “Eight Gates Tactics” and the “Ring Explosion.”

This meant that before he could formally tread the path he created, he had to strengthen his body enough to “open this door” himself.

Hence, three preliminary cultivation methods for the Ninefold King of Hell Gate came into being:

“Human-Soul Fusion Method,” “Soul Power Control Method,” and “First Edition Physical Training Method.”

The objectives of these three methods were crystal clear.

Currently, all three were nascent creations by Ning Wuqing, still in the experimental phase, unified in their purpose to serve him personally and the subsequent Ring Explosion technique.

This also meant that before these manuals were finalized, they were tailored exclusively for Ning Wuqing.

At present, he was cultivating the latter two: improving his physical fitness and refining his soul power control through scientific means.

The “Human-Soul Fusion Method” awaited initiation until his physical condition and soul power mastery reached a certain threshold.

As for the “First Edition Physical Training Method,” Ning Wuqing incorporated training techniques from his previous life alongside self-devised exercises.

Most notably, he practiced bionic stances such as “Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg” and “White Crane Spreads Wings.” Interspersed within his intensive workouts, these movements facilitated rapid circulation of soul power throughout his limbs and bones.

They prepared his body in advance to adapt to itself.

Regarding the “Soul Power Control Method,” Ning Wuqing borrowed from the “water-walking and tree-climbing” techniques found in Naruto, manipulating soul power to float on his body surface to perform seemingly impossible actions.

However, soul power differs from chakra. It is a form of energy that can solidify. Therefore, this method could only be used initially, employing mature climbing and water-walking techniques.

Later, it would require replacement to fit the cultivation environment of the Douluo Continent.

After all, gaseous soul power can be utterly overwhelmed by liquid and solid soul powers, even soul cores.

Moreover, denser soul power itself potentially strengthens the physical body and martial soul, making it more suitable for the later-stage Ring Explosion development of the Ninefold King of Hell Gate.

...

“466, 467, 468...”

Beneath the shade just off the academy’s track, Ning Wuqing was doing sit-ups.

His gaze was resolute as he watched children playing on the playground after class, feeling no envy.

Even as his body neared collapse, he gritted his teeth to push beyond limits until utterly immobile.

Training is a process of harming the body so it can repair and strengthen itself.

Moderate exercise brings comfort, but excessive strain leaves only torment.

Yet Ning Wuqing understood: he lacked a favorable background, did not possess a remarkable martial soul, nor did he have the high innate soul power to effortlessly defy fate.

Therefore, this was his only path—he had to take it to escape his predetermined destiny.

“500!”

After five hundred sit-ups, unable to continue, Ning Wuqing successfully surpassed his previous limit of 492.

He lay back weakly on the grass, breath ragged, mouth wide open, desperately clinging to his wavering consciousness.

Finally regaining some strength, he used the soul conduit device on his left wrist to retrieve a compressed meatball, about twice the size of a baby’s fist.

He placed it in his mouth, chewed roughly twice, and swallowed.

Only then did his condition improve somewhat.

The meatball was made from ordinary ten-year-old bovine soul beast meat.

Though the taste was mediocre, it was his essential supplement after extreme exercise.

Mixed within were herbs promoting blood circulation and arterial vitality, enabling rapid bodily repair in a short time.

At least preventing him from collapsing too exhausted to return home.

Ning Wuqing now underwent extreme training at least four times daily—this had become his routine.

“Are you not tired?”

Lying on the grass, Ning Wuqing, too weak to turn, showed a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

The voice was too young, revealing its owner to be another child like himself—the first to voluntarily approach the strange boy.

“Hey, young master is asking you something. Are you mute?”

Well, now Ning Wuqing knew who had come.

Ning Tian, the newly appointed young sect master of the Nine Treasures Glaze Sect two months ago.

A boy who was always followed by a foul-mouthed little red dragon woman.

Ning Wuqing wanted to retort to Wu Feng—couldn’t he see how exhausted he was? But he currently lacked the strength to speak.