Chapter 20 Training Base

  "Wow, Li Meng is so powerful!" As soon as Li Meng returned to the yard, the little kid looked at him with a face of worship, but before Li Meng could get excited, the bear child continued: "Let's compare and see who's more powerful!"

  "......" Li Mang's lips curled up, and he said in a low voice: "You're even more formidable!"

  No matter what the little kid said, Li Meng didn't argue with him. Although the little kid seemed normal now, once a fight broke out, things might quickly get out of control. The little kid shouted for a while and then left his yard, feeling bored, while Li Meng walked away in the opposite direction.

  The Yan Huang Academy has a library, where there are numerous books of all kinds, including famous historical materials and various other things. When he was bored, Li Mang would often go there to kill time.

  Li Meng came to the ancient mythology book area, intentionally or unintentionally, and found treasures such as "Journey to the West" and "Investiture of the Gods". Among them, he found his goal for this trip - "Shan Hai Jing".

  The original "Shan Hai Jing" has not been preserved, and the current versions of "Shan Hai Jing" are actually revised editions that have undergone several modifications during the Western Han, Warring States, Ming and Qing dynasties, and even in modern times. It can be seen that the Shan Hai Jing currently circulating is quite different from the original.

  However, as long as there is some content, Li Meng feels that he should be careful, which to a certain extent is still beneficial for his understanding of the Shan Hai Jing world and avoids any details that he may miss.

  After taking down the "Shan Hai Jing", Li Mang thought for a moment and took out the "Soushen Ji" and "Huangdi Neijing" next to it, not for anything else, but to cover people's ears and eyes.

  "Shan Hai Jing, Sou Shen Ji, Huang Di Nei Jing?" The librarian was a silver-haired old man who had reached the age of using a walking stick, but his spirit was still very good. Seeing the books taken out by Li Mang, he couldn't help but shake his head and smile, then said faintly: "These are just popular versions in the mortal world, many important contents have actually been sealed, without any practical use."

  "...Sealed away? Does that mean we, the Yan Huang, don't have an origin either?" Li Mang exclaimed, originally thinking it was lost, never expecting there to be another story within.

  "Heh heh, the original content was sealed by Emperor Yan and Huang, you think we have it?" The old man asked with a hint of a smile.

  "Uh... can I borrow it?" Li Mang's heart skipped a beat, if he could get the original, its significance to him was self-evident.

  "Impossible!" The old man closed his eyes and replied succinctly, putting the documents that Li Mang had filled out back in the drawer before lying down on the recliner and rocking gently.

  "... Li Mang's mouth twitched, but he could do nothing about it. Before leaving, however, he couldn't help asking: "When can I see these materials?"

  "Fifty years of cultivation!" The old man said without opening his eyes.

  "Fifty years?!" Li Mang muttered to himself, shaking his head and leaving. According to Yang Fan's words, he currently had a cultivation of only around ten years or so, still far from fifty years. As far as he knew, there were not many people in the Yan Huang Academy who had cultivated for over fifty years, and the higher one's cultivation, the harder it was to break through.

  During the day, Li Meng spent his time reading "Shan Hai Jing" in the courtyard except for going to work. At night, he quietly entered the space of Shan Hai Jing and explored the first mountain, Yao Mountain, while also making preparations for exploring the second mountain by crafting a bamboo raft.

  Because he was worried that someone would suddenly come looking for him outside, the time he spent in the world of Shan Hai Jing every day was extremely limited, only three hours. Very little, but enough, eating mountain delicacies and wild game, cutting down Xiang Fei bamboo, everything went smoothly.

  But what made Li Meng anxious was that the wild flavor was still delicious, but its effect was gradually weakening. Even if he caught a small soft-shelled turtle to make soup during this period, it only increased some limited power. He knew that in order to have a bigger breakthrough, he must break through the second hall of Tangting Mountain and eat higher-level ingredients.

  It's been three days in the blink of an eye.

  "Li Meng, from today on, you are an official member of Yan Huang. You can go out on missions, have vacations every month, your salary will be doubled, and you can browse the materials in the library's negative first floor. You can even take leave to go home!" Yang Fan read out the notice he had just received in a serious tone in the ninth courtyard.

  Li Mang didn't say a word, only grinning foolishly. From today on, he would be greatly different, especially with a certain degree of freedom, which was extremely important to him. After all, exploring the Shan Hai Jing would require purchasing many things, and he couldn't do that without leaving.

  "Hey, wake up! Follow me!" Yang Fan patted Li Meng's shoulder and walked towards the side room.

  Li Meng also realized something, his expression slightly excited. He had not forgotten what Yang Fan said three days ago, if he could pass the audit smoothly, Yang Fan would arrange some cultivation that could accelerate his improvement, which was also what Li Meng currently lacked, after all, Li Meng's strength came from using the rare treasure to wash his marrow, and he could defeat Xiao Tu, but couldn't beat opponents of the same level.

  The Yan Huang Grand Courtyard is located in the forest on the outskirts of Beijing, a military restricted area. From the outside, it's just a larger-scale connected courtyard, but in fact, the Yan Huang Grand Courtyard has a Kun within. Underneath the courtyard, there is an extremely large underground training base, which Li Mang had never been authorized to enter before, and this is his first time entering.

  There is an elevator entrance on this side, completely sealed and made of thick alloy steel plate. If you want to force it open, it will take some time.

  "The training base is located underground, each group has an entrance, and everyone must use their ID card and facial recognition to pass through when entering. This is your ID card." Yang Fan handed over a magnetic card while putting his own on the sensor port, but the elevators still didn't open with a "beep" sound.

  Yang Fan immediately stood in front of the induction port, facing the induction equipment head-on.

  "Drip!"

  "Hum...hum..." The elevator doors finally slowly opened.

  "You'd better press it once too, otherwise not only will the elevator stop moving, but it'll also automatically sound an alarm!" Yang Fan kindly reminded.

  "Ah!" Li Mang also let out a similar "whoosh" as he followed suit and stepped into the elevator.

  The elevator slowly descended, stopping only after more than ten meters, and in sight was a steel base with a honeycomb structure, with hundreds to thousands of rooms of various sizes arranged in an impressive manner.

  The training equipment on the base is extremely numerous and all are specially made, even some that Li Mang has never seen before, making his eyes dazzled.

  The base is very large, but there are extremely few people. The sparse dozens of people occasionally heard the sound of shouting. After all, this training base is not suitable for use by all members of Yan Huang, and more than half of the members are cultivating in the outside world, so the base appears desolate.

  "Only ancient martial artists who cultivate their bodies and some of the abnormals come to the base for training, so there aren't many people. From now on, as long as you have time, you can train here, but remember to practice more and talk less. If you encounter trouble, endure it if you can, otherwise, encountering a madman here will be very troublesome!" Yang Fan reminded.

  "I remember!" Li Mang nodded heavily.

  "Abilities are either innate or awakened by stimulation, but after awakening, they can also be improved through training. You have a physical ability, which is not outstanding, but it's extremely valuable in this era because the Yan Huang Empire prohibits all extraordinary individuals from displaying their supernatural powers in the secular world. However, your own strength can be quietly exerted, which is something that other ability holders cannot do."

  Pausing for a moment, Yang Fan said with a smile: "You know, even the Dragon and Phoenix groups have all adopted ancient martial artists!"

  Long Team and Feng Team, led by Li Mang, are two independent small groups within the Yan Huang Institute, with a total of only twenty people, fixed at ten per team. They are solely responsible for protecting high-ranking national officials, especially the safety of the old president at all times, and do not need to participate in other tasks.

  Li Mengling's mind stirred, and he asked: "Yang, are you telling me to cultivate ancient martial arts?"

  "Not bad, in fact, Strength-type Espers are only suitable for practicing ancient martial arts. If you can combine your moves with your own strength, you'll become even more powerful!" Yang Fan praised.

  As they spoke, the two arrived at Training Room 44. Yang Fan suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Li Mang, saying: "Before we go in, I'll ask you one more time - are you afraid of hardship? Cultivating martial arts is extremely arduous; it's not something that can be achieved by just fighting and sitting around. What Jin Yong wrote about is all deceitful!"

  "Let me try!" Li Mang didn't boast, he had no idea what kind of hardships he would face, and it was too early to say that he wasn't afraid of suffering.

  "Good, I hope you can keep it up!" Yang Fan nodded in satisfaction. He liked Li Mang's straightforwardness and adherence to principles. Otherwise, he wouldn't have recruited Li Mang into Yan Huang in the first place!

  ……

  PS: Sorry for the late update as I modified the following plot. Shamelessly asking for recommendation and likes.