He wanted to curse out in frustration, but with Gao Zhen in mind, he forcibly restrained himself.

’Is this system playing with me...’ he couldn’t help but think bitterly.

Once again glancing at the progress percentage, he sighed to himself.

"Now, from just where should I get the remaining five per cent?" he muttered under his breath with confusion apparent in his eyes.

Unlike before, he could no longer think of any other things that he hadn’t explored or checked the status of.

’Just what am I missing here...’ he thought while resting his hands on his waist, frustration evident in his eyes.

Letting out a sigh, he glanced towards Gao Zhen’s direction and then at the stone tablet that was standing tall in front of her.

The countdown was still running, indicating that only a few minutes had passed.

"...I’ll think about it after dealing with those monsters," he softly said before taking out his sword.

Sitting idle would only make him overthink, so he started practising sword moves just for the sake of keeping himself busy. Since his swordsmanship was already at the Expert Stage, such practice sessions rarely brought any noticeable changes in the progress bar.

While thinking about this, he opened his Cultivation Arsenal for a quick look.

====== Cultivation Arsenal ======

#Weapon Techniques

1) Expert Swordsmanship [Progress: 500 -> 689 / 10,000,000]

#Original Techniques

1) Dance of Death [Upgradable]

#Cultivation Techniques

1) Crimson Fire Arts [Comprehension: 79% -> 88%]

2) Myriad Fire Swords [Comprehension: 33%]

3) Bursting Fire Steps [Comprehension: 92% -> 95%]

#Special Physiques

1) True Demon Physique (Dormant) [Acquired: 1 / 9]

#System Items

NIL

============ END ===========

The last two years had brought progress in his swordsmanship and comprehension percentages. However, the section that benefited the most was the Original Techniques one.

Specifically, the Dance of Death. It had progressed significantly through constant use and experimentation by Yi Chen while battling the Glacial soldiers on a regular basis.

======= Dance of Death =======

Tier: 3

Rank: Low -> Mid -> High

Proficiency: 228,534 / 1,000,000

[UPGRADE: LOCKED]

Conditions Not Met

============================

In this time period, he was successfully able to upgrade it twice and turn it into a Tier 3 High rank technique, just like the Myriad Fire Swords.

However, unlike the Myriad Fire Swords, which was a martial technique that consumed an enormous amount of Qi, the Dance of Death didn’t.

In fact, even though it was a high rank technique, the amount of Qi it consumed was comparable to that of Bursting Fire Steps, which was just a Tier 3 Low rank technique.

He had concluded that the reason was that it was a technique he had created himself, unlike the other techniques he possessed.

SLASH!

STRIKE!

SWISH!

Yi Chen continued on with his strikes, one after the other, even though it barely increased his swordsmanship proficiency by tiny decimal increments.

In this period, he had realised that he could no longer raise his proficiency simply by striking in the air or by slaying enemies with his swords.

The little more than a hundred points increase which he saw in his swordsmanship over the last two years came not from slaying the Glacial soldiers thoughtlessly.

He only got them while experimenting with the Dance of Death and raising its proficiency. He especially gained a significant chunk of points when upgrading the technique.

This experience helped him realise that if he wanted to reach the swordsmanship stage that lay above the Expert stage, then there was only one way for him to achieve that.

Create original techniques, just like he had done with Dance of Death.

However, despite several such attempts in this period, no such epiphany struck him and therefore his inventory of original techniques still had only one technique.

Huff...Huff...Huff...

Lost in his training, Yi Chen didn’t realise how much time had passed.

It was only when he became so thirsty that he couldn’t go on any longer without water that he stopped to drink.

While at it, his gaze naturally turned towards the stone tablet to check the countdown.

00:17:34

His brows subtly raised as he gulped down the water.

"I trained for that long?" he muttered to himself while glancing at his robe. It was all covered in sweat now.

Seeing this, he couldn’t help but chuckle while shaking his head.

’It’s not like I’m very exhausted anyway...’ he thought while thinking of the incoming wave of the Glacial soldiers, ’...even if I were, with Madam Gao’s help I would still be able to manage.’

With those thoughts, he decided to freshen up and change into a new pair of robes lest he catch a cold.

When there were only ten minutes left, he shook Gao Zhen out of her almost trance state and told her to get ready for the battle.

Her eyes showed a hint of confusion for a second before regaining their brightness as she immediately nodded in acknowledgement, "Yes."

When the countdown ended, the ground shook for a moment, and in its aftermath, more than ten thousand Glacial soldiers had surrounded them.

Seeing this, Gao Zhen’s palms shone with black, and the next instant, she lifted them up to her chest level.

Five hundred Ice soldiers that looked just the same as her enemies rose from the icy ground that very instant and charged towards the surrounding horde.

The next instant, she too charged straight in their direction. Her God-Slaying Sword appeared in her hand. However, unlike earlier, it was now covered in a thick layer of black ice.

SLASH!

The sword that earlier needed to be swung several times to deal damage to these Glacial soldiers cut right through them like they weren’t made of ice but flesh.

One after the other, the number of Glacial soldiers began to dwindle.

With her strength alone, Gao Zhen had taken down more than three thousand of them in two hours’ time.

However, by now her five hundred-strong Ice soldiers had all perished.

Seeing the obvious improvement in the usage of Abyssal Blackglacial Arts, Yi Chen nodded to himself before stepping in.

She had done what she could. It was now his turn to slay the remaining bugs.