Chapter 54: Time Flies by

Looking at the man in black again, Rod’s gaze began to change, and that look made the man in black feel a bit embarrassed.
“What… what are you looking at?” Feeling uneasy under Rod’s gaze, the man in black asked with a wry smile.
“Nothing. Go train! When will this training ever end? Is chasing you like this really such a life-threatening exercise?” Rod paid no attention to the man’s strangeness and, after a moment, sighed before asking him. A few days ago, when he first met him, he had said his training would be life-threatening, but to this day, he still hadn’t seen any real danger. Every day was just chasing this guy through the mountains, and now he didn’t even know where he was. If there was any danger, it was just getting lost—nothing else seemed dangerous.
Hearing Rod’s words, the man in black immediately breathed a sigh of relief when Rod’s gaze shifted away. It felt like being freed from a burden; being stared at like that was truly unpleasant. It was the first time he had felt such things.
“What do you know, kid? Do you think training will make you reach the heavens in one step? You can’t even keep up with my speed at the sixth level—how can you talk about training? Going would be seeking death; it’s better not to go. When you can match my speed at the sixth level, then training will truly begin. So decide for yourself. If you don’t want your companions to return in three years only to find out you’ve just started training, then work harder!” With that, the man in black looked at Rod with a mocking smile and sneered. Though he wore a mask, Rod still felt as if he could see a ridiculously arrogant face.
With another sigh, under the man in black’s urging and sarcasm, Rod reluctantly resumed the chase. As time passed under such circumstances, a month vanished in the blink of an eye!
During this month, aside from necessary rest and meals, the two of them ran around the mountains like wild animals. Unconsciously, Rod’s speed and endurance improved dramatically, especially his agility. Now, he was even more agile than a monkey. The forests and complex terrain could no longer hinder his progress; to him, it seemed like everything was flat ground.

He is now far beyond what he used to be. Of course, it seems he isn’t even aware of all this, still focusing intently on the pursuit every day. Whenever his speed improves slightly, the man in black always manages to slip past Rod’s notice and speed up, keeping the distance between them roughly the same. Rod is secretly helpless about this.

A month has passed. The two of them resemble wildmen. The man in black is somewhat better off—he can still tidy up his appearance when he has time. As for Rod, he’s pitiful. After a month without any effort to take care of himself, he now looks no different from a wildman—with a thick beard, tattered clothes, and in a terrible state. It’s hard to imagine what he used to look like. Those who knew him before surely can’t relate him to his current self.

“Alright, continue!” Feeling his internal fighting energy recover, Rod stood up and said in a deep voice to the man in black ahead of him.

He didn’t notice much change over the month, but the most obvious thing was that his fighting energy had become far purer—not just a little. If his previous fighting energy was like a pot of plain water, it was now like a bowl of rice soup. Although the amount had decreased slightly, the concentration had increased greatly. Though the volume wasn’t as much as before, Rod was convinced its power was far greater, especially in terms of endurance, which he could feel from his own running.

Previously, when he chased the man in black at full speed, he could only hold on for two hours before feeling a shortage of fighting energy. Now it’s different—he can at least last for over three hours. In fact, during the pursuit just today, he even lasted three and a half hours! That’s nearly double the previous time. Besides his improved control over his fighting energy, the more important reason is that its purity has increased.

Moreover, there’s no doubt he’s made huge progress in agility and control over his fighting energy. Gradually, Rod also understood the man in black’s intentions. He no longer complained or resented such tedious training as before. Instead, he accepted it with satisfaction. The exhaustion he felt every day gradually made him even more fond of it.

“Good, kid, keep going!” The man in black said cheerfully after giving Rod a satisfied look.

He had witnessed Rod’s performance with his own eyes. His attitude had changed from indifference at first to admiration now—everything was the result of watching him transform step by step. Now he understood why the organization valued this young man so much, why they valued this demon race so highly, and why Number Five cared so much about this guy. He could see many things for himself.

Two figures moved swiftly through the forest, leaving behind trails of afterimages and the sound of the wind. One after the other, they raced through the woods to catch up with the traveler.

“Hehe, Collins Forest, kid, maybe it’s time you went back!” The man in black thought to himself as he glanced back at Knightrod, who was closely following behind.

During this time, Rod might not have noticed anything, but as the man in black, he had observed many things. Rod had brought him so much shock and surprise.

It was obvious that Rod had made significant progress. Just in terms of speed and the purity of his combat energy, he was far better than when they first met—there had been a huge improvement.

What was originally thought to take about half a year to achieve could now be accomplished in less than two months, which amazed him greatly. He once again witnessed an abnormally fast improvement rate.

Although Rod was still at the mid-stage of the Imperial rank, the man in black could sense that, despite that, he had already reached the level of a martial artist in the late Imperial rank in many aspects. He could even compete with someone at the early Saint rank. Coupled with his unique traits, combat skills, and techniques, he might even be on par with someone at the mid-stage Saint rank!

Feeling that Rod was closing in again, the man in black could only sigh helplessly before speeding up once more. Previously, his sixth-layer speed was enough to easily keep ahead of Rod. But now it was different—Rod’s progress in just one month made it difficult for him to maintain that lead. Although the distance seemed the same, only he knew the frustration. His sixth-layer speed was no longer sufficient, and sometimes he even had to use his seventh-layer speed, like now.

He had promised Rod that once his speed matched his sixth layer, he would start formal training. That’s why, after considering all factors, he decided to take this guy to Collins Forest for proper training.

Of course, Rod himself seems not to have realized this yet. The training over these days has gradually awakened his potential and his fighting spirit. Facing the powerful man in black, he was filled with a sense of challenge. Especially after experiencing the advantages of such pursuit, he became even more enthusiastic and stopped overthinking things. Unconsciously, he was led by the man in black toward the Corinth Forest. Days passed by, and before long, another month had gone by. During this time, Rod was able to sustain five hours of pursuit each time, forcing the man in black to use nearly 80% of his speed, which caused the latter great distress. More importantly, Rod felt that he was nearing the threshold of the later stage of the Imperial rank; it seemed that with just one more effort, he could break through this threshold and enter that stage, which filled him with excitement and anticipation. His combat energy, being depleted and replenished daily, allowed his cultivation level to improve significantly without him even realizing it. This cycle of training yielded unexpected results. As his combat energy became purer, the time required for recovery also increased. From originally being able to pursue twice a day with two periods of rest, it now meant only one pursuit and one rest per day! “Huff… Alright, kid, stop. That’s enough for today. Take a break; there’s work to do tomorrow!” One day, when they arrived at a forest, the man in black suddenly stopped running, turned around, and said panting to Rod, who was chasing behind him. Stopping abruptly almost caused Rod to crash into him. He looked at the man in black in confusion—why did he stop suddenly? “You kid, forget it. This training is over. You’ve passed. From now on, we’ll start proper training. I warn you again—the danger level is very high. You’d better be careful, or I won’t show any pity if anything goes wrong!” Rod’s progress was astonishingly fast. Now, if he didn’t use 80% of his speed, he couldn’t maintain an easy lead, but using that speed meant he couldn’t afford to be so relaxed! By this point, they had also reached their destination—the place for their cultivation. The man in black breathed a sigh of relief, glad they hadn’t wasted all this time traveling. Along the way, they had bypassed the Lance Empire and come here through a small kingdom nearby.

“Okay!” There was no excitement as expected; Rod simply nodded slightly in response to this outcome, which greatly surprised the man in black.