What surprised them the most was Li Chonglou's speed. In that very instant, neither of them had time to react. They only saw a sudden flash of darkness before their eyes, and the person was gone!
If Li Chonglou hadn't sensed something was wrong and stopped himself, they might not have even realized he had vanished from sight.
Facing the two men, who were both fearful and enraged, Li Chonglou could only explain, "I won't run. I just thought of another way to resist the pulling force and wanted to test it out. Don't worry."
The two looked at him with skepticism and warned, "We don't care what your reason is, but this kind of thing cannot happen again! Otherwise, we have the right to execute you on the spot!"
To appease their emotions, Li Chonglou pretended to be submissive and nodded repeatedly, thus buying himself temporary freedom once more.
The two exchanged glances and breathed a sigh of relief. In truth, their willingness to be so lenient had a crucial reason. In their eyes, Li Chonglou's actions were an attempt to forcibly adapt to the pulling force and escape, which had backfired.
In other words, Li Chonglou was not yet fully adapted to Tie Lin's pulling force, and his sneak attack had injured Pang Zheng. The two were confident that if anything else happened, they could subdue him immediately.
Thus, the three continued on their journey. However, three minutes later, Li Chonglou's figure suddenly flashed again, this time greatly startling the two.
But this time, Li Chonglou didn't go as far as before. He only broke through half a meter before stopping again, with a slight trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth.
"Damn it! You trying to die, kid?"
The two were furious. They had just agreed not to mess around, and now he was pulling these stunts. Their murderous intent was instantly ignited.
However, when they noticed the blood at the corner of Li Chonglou's mouth, their hearts relaxed once more.
"This... the quirks of a martial artist are hard to change. I hope you can forgive me. I promise I won't escape."
Li Chonglou apologized with a hint of weakness and sincerity, which somewhat lessened the anger on their faces.
Seizing the opportunity, he continued, "I heard this beast's nest isn't easy to stay in, so I want to improve my strength as much as possible before going in. Besides, even if I wanted to escape, with the two of you here, I couldn't get far, could I?"
The two exchanged a look. His words were irrefutable. More importantly, before they set out, they had learned from the Yi Long team that Li Chonglou was a speed-type fighter, so his incredible speed was not entirely unexpected.
After a moment of contemplation, the two ultimately acquiesced to Li Chonglou's behavior. However, they laid down a rule: he could not move more than three meters away from them.
Li Chonglou gladly accepted, as he had just discovered that he didn't need to break through too far. A distance of just two meters was enough to test the impact force suitable for him.
And so, an unusual scene unfolded during the rest of their journey.
The two men flanked Li Chonglou, one in front and one behind, while Li Chonglou's figure would occasionally dart forward and then stop.
This peculiar method of travel did not slow the three down; instead, they moved faster and faster.
This continued for half an hour.
In the final dash, Li Chonglou finally felt a slight warmth in two acupoints within his body. This time, he was not injured.
"Success!"
Li Chonglou rejoiced inwardly but, to avoid arousing suspicion, maintained a calm demeanor, occasionally displaying a look of helplessness.
The man walking ahead suddenly spoke, "Kid, I advise you to stop this. Conserve your strength and rest a bit. We're only halfway to our destination."
Li Chonglou shook his head and said, "It's fine. I know my limits."
"To be honest, kid, neither of us is particularly fond of Pang Zheng either, and your sacred beast is crucial for this mission. If possible, we don't want you to die in there."
The man behind voiced his thoughts. Li Chonglou raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
"Thank you. But I still want to try, as it concerns my own life."
Seeing this, the two could only sigh and stop bothering Li Chonglou. After this exchange, the atmosphere between the three became much more amiable.
Following this, Li Chonglou truly began to hone the connection between the two acupoints. According to the notebook given by the elder, stimulating these acupoints required simultaneous activation in both, and only through these two could the refining effect be achieved.
While this might sound simple, its actual execution was extremely difficult. It demanded that Li Chonglou possess a mastery of his internal energy, with no slight deviations.
Moreover, even the slightest disparity could easily lead to one acupoint strengthening while the other weakened.
It was akin to having two bottles of water; for any effect to occur, their levels must first be equal. If one side rose prematurely, the other would have to catch up.
In essence, only by simultaneously controlling and impacting both acupoints could a connection be instantly established and further strengthened.
However, if immense time and effort were spent merely to maintain balance, the opportunity to establish a connection would significantly diminish once both acupoints reached a certain intensity.
It was crucial to remember that the effect of acupoint refinement would only grow stronger, never weaker. This meant that if Li Chonglou could not equalize the two acupoints after they had both reached a certain strength, he would have to abandon them.
This was precisely why the elder had told Li Chonglou not to rush. After all, the number of acupoints discovered by Mai Qian was limited, and abandoning two would mean reducing his potential ceiling, a trade-off that was not worth it.
Fortunately, this was something Li Chonglou could manage quite well, as his control over his internal energy had long since reached that level. Therefore, even knowing the risks, he continued to attempt and improve.
Success, success, failure, adjustment, success...
After numerous attempts, Li Chonglou found that his success rate in establishing acupoint connections had reached eighty percent.
However, he was not satisfied.
"Perhaps it's due to lack of practice, and my control over internal energy is not as precise?"
Li Chonglou frowned.
For him, each failure was equivalent to diminishing his potential ceiling. While for others, any improvement was the best outcome.
But Li Chonglou was different.