Chapter 742: Martial Arts Taking Shape

“During the entire process, nearly fifteen percent of the power was lost in transmission.”

Xu Wuyi looked at the curves and nodded thoughtfully. He truly hadn’t realized this problem before. Every time he thrust his spear, he only focused on whether the Power of Order could smoothly reach the spear tip. As for how much was lost along the way, he had never carefully calculated it.

Ye Guanlan continued, “This fifteen percent loss isn’t because your control isn’t precise enough, but because the transmission path itself is not optimized.

“It’s like water flowing through a winding riverbed. No matter how you control it, a portion of the energy will always be consumed at the bends.”

He pulled up another set of data and pointed to a much smoother curve on it. “This is a redesigned transmission path based on your Heart Phase Traits. Theoretically, it can reduce the loss to under five percent. In other words, with the same Power of Heart Image, you can exert a much stronger effect than before.”

Xu Wuyi looked at the curve, a wondrous feeling welling up in his heart. The same power, a stronger effect. This was the value of the research institute.

Over the next few days, he followed Ye Guanlan’s plan and began adjusting the transmission path of his Power of Order. This process was harder than imagined. He had grown accustomed to his previous transmission method; every time he thrust his spear, the Power of Order would instinctively flow along that familiar path. Changing this instinct required extensive practice and repeated adjustments.

But Xu Wuyi was not impatient. Every morning, he practiced repeatedly in the Cultivation Room. In the afternoon, he let Ye Guanlan’s team test the data and analyze the problems, and in the evening, he continued making adjustments.

Five days passed like this.

On the evening of the fifth day, Ye Guanlan looked at the latest test data with a smile on his face. “It’s done,” he said. “The loss rate has dropped to four point three percent. It’s even better than we expected.”

Xu Wuyi stood in the center of the Cultivation Room, gripping the Liaoyuan Long Spear, feeling the changes brought by his previous thrust. With the same Power of Heart Image, the thrust was much more solid than before. It was hard to describe the feeling. It was as if his originally somewhat loose power had now been completely twisted into a single strand—more concentrated, and far sharper.

“Try its actual combat effect.” Ye Guanlan pointed at a dummy in the corner of the Cultivation Room. “Stab it with ‘Breaking Skill’.”

Xu Wuyi raised his long spear and stepped forward.

The moment the spear tip pierced into the dummy’s chest, the Power of Order surged out wildly along the optimized path, condensing into an invisible barrier inside the dummy’s body. That barrier was sturdier and tighter than before, and its effect of sealing Spiritual Power was also far more thorough.

He withdrew his spear, stepped back, and closed his eyes to sense it. In the space around the dummy, all spiritual fluctuations had disappeared. Not just the dummy’s own Spiritual Power, but even the faint residual fluctuations in the air were completely isolated by the barrier.

“The effect is at least thirty percent stronger than before,” Xu Wuyi stated truthfully, opening his eyes.

Ye Guanlan nodded, not surprised by this result. “The utilization efficiency of your Power of Heart Image has increased, so the improvement in its effect is only natural. Next, you can spend a few days completely solidifying this new transmission path, making it become your instinct.”

Xu Wuyi nodded, firmly memorizing his insights from the past few days.

The refinement of his Spear Technique had reached a conclusion, but the research institute’s work had just begun.

The next day, Ye Guanlan brought a new plan to the small courtyard.

“The Spear Technique problem is solved.” He sat down on the sofa and handed the datapad in his hand to Xu Wuyi. “Next, it’s time to deal with those little tricks.”

Xu Wuyi took the datapad and quickly skimmed its contents. Those little tricks referred to the methods he had researched in the Red River to interfere with his enemies’ perception—methods that would cause their cognition to deviate, making them unable to dodge despite clearly seeing the spear, and granting the Spear Technique itself a “guaranteed hit” effect. These things were very useful in actual combat, but previously, his usage of them hadn’t been stable enough. When he was in good condition, they exerted decent effects, but when his condition was poor, they would work intermittently.

Ye Guanlan pointed to the analysis results on the datapad and began to explain in detail.

“The problem with these little tricks is that every time you use them, you need to temporarily mobilize your Power of Heart Image to interfere with the enemy’s perception. This process itself requires time and can be affected by various factors.

“Our idea is to solidify these tricks and make them a part of your Spear Technique. Rather than temporarily thinking about them every time you use them, these effects will naturally be incorporated the moment you thrust your spear.”

Listening to this, Xu Wuyi nodded thoughtfully. He understood what Ye Guanlan meant. Just like optimizing the transmission path earlier, he would turn these tricks into an instinct as well. He wouldn’t need to deliberately think about them or temporarily mobilize them; as long as he thrust his spear, those effects would naturally appear.

“How do we do that specifically?” he asked.

Ye Guanlan pulled up a detailed training plan. “We’ve designed a new force-exertion method based on your Heart Phase Traits. The core of this method is to simultaneously execute two different operations the moment the Power of Order surges out.”

Pointing at a diagram on the plan, he continued explaining, “A portion of the Power of Order will flow along the optimized path to condense into the attack effect you need. The other portion of the Power of Order will disperse, forming an invisible interference field around the target.”