Chapter 197 - 195: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead

Chapter 197: Chapter 195: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead

Fu Juemin’s Attributes had increased significantly after his Dragon Elephant Skill reached the Great Success stage. But since he’d immediately entered a state of "Weakness" from depleted Qi and Blood after the breakthrough, some of the effects were only now becoming apparent.

[Dragon Elephant Wisdom Seal (Great Success: Attack +15, Defense +15)]

The jump from Mastery to Great Success added an extra 6 points to both the [Attack] and [Defense] Attributes.

Some of this bonus was inevitably lost to overlap. As reflected on his status panel, Fu Juemin’s [Attack] and [Defense] Attributes were now 40 and 30 points, respectively.

His [Attack] stat suffered the most from this overlap, losing a full half of the bonus. Yet, even though his [Attack] only increased by three points, Fu Juemin could clearly feel a qualitative change in his abilities, perhaps because 40 points was some kind of bottleneck.

The [Attack] Attribute had always been linked to strength, speed, and technique. And beyond burst speed, it also manifested as "reaction time."

Whenever his [Attack] had increased before, the surge of Qi and Blood had always improved his reaction time. But it had never been as obvious as it was now. The motes of dust floating in the air, the cold draft seeping through the window crack, every flicker of the flame in the distant furnace... Whenever he circulated his Qi and Blood just a little, the world in his vision would immediately slow, almost to the point of becoming a series of still frames.

’At this level of neurological response, can I keep up with the Martial Arts of a Gratitude Sensing Realm Martial Artist?’

A profound look entered Fu Juemin’s eyes.

The Martial Arts of a Gratitude Sensing Realm Martial Artist is known as "the cicada senses the autumn wind before it blows," allowing them to anticipate the enemy’s moves.

It was just like his prior fight with Zhao Jigang; every time he tried to strike, Zhao Jigang would dodge a step ahead. Simply put, his reactions hadn’t been fast enough, and the variations in his attacks couldn’t keep up with his opponent’s evasions.

’If my reactions are fast enough, so what if my opponent "predicts" my first move? What about the second, third, or tenth? Sooner or later, I’ll land a hit.’

’It seems the last gap between me and the Gratitude Sensing Realm has finally been closed.’

In Fu Juemin’s view, achieving Great Success in either the Dragon Elephant Skill or the Pharmacist Skill was far more difficult than a Martial Artist’s promotion to the Gratitude Sensing Realm.

However, his cultivation relied mainly on allocating points, allowing him to progress in leaps and bounds unlike ordinary people. This often resulted in a situation where the true power of his two great Iron Body Strange Skills was "held back" by his fundamental Martial Dao level.

It was an issue of Martial Arts priorities. Normal people first practice the ’martial’—the techniques—and then the ’arts’—the inner power. While the two might not always advance in perfect sync, the gap would never be too large. He, however, had the ’arts’ before the ’martial.’ Every time a Cultivation Technique reached Great Success, he had to go back and catch up on the ’martial’ side of things.

Others grew the trunk before the branches; he grew lush branches and leaves first, and then had to thicken the trunk to support their weight.

With his [Attack] at 40 points, when Fu Juemin fully unleashed his Qi and Blood, the resulting Vitality was nearly a finger’s breadth thick.

With a wave of his hand, large swathes of the air before him blurred and distorted. It was hard to imagine that this was the quality of Vitality a Tongxuan Realm Martial Artist could possess.

Fu Juemin recalled Qin Suyi, the Sect Leader of the Divine Maiden Sect whom he had killed at the Eighteenth Life-or-Death Pass. She had been at the Half-step Gratitude Sensing Realm, yet even when she focused all her Vitality into a single point, she had only managed to produce a two-inch "Sword Aura."

He hadn’t even reached the end of the Tongxuan Realm yet, but in terms of the sheer abundance of his Vitality, he had already surpassed a Half-step Gratitude Sensing master by an unknown margin.

After his Dragon Elephant Skill reached Great Success, a "Dragon Elephant Wisdom Dharma Form" also manifested deep within Fu Juemin’s consciousness, radiating a serene glow.

He tested it and was surprised to find that this Dharma Form had a miraculous enhancing effect on the Six Great Seals of Dragon Elephant Wisdom.

With the Dharma Form manifested, the power of his "Covering Sea and Collapsing Mountain" and his Dragon Elephant Root Seal were both greatly enhanced. Before this, when Fu Juemin used his Seal Techniques, he had rarely been able to produce the sound of a dragon’s roar and an elephant’s cry tearing through the air.

He had once thought his own mastery of the various Seal Techniques was too shallow, and he had been especially envious of Li Tong’s special effect of a dragon’s roar with every punch. Only now did he realize that it was because his Dharma Form had not yet been formed, and his Seal Techniques lacked that deep, heavy "Buddha’s Rhyme"!

Since the name Dragon Elephant Wisdom Seal contained the word "Prajna," it naturally cultivated more than just brute strength. The amount of Buddhist Teachings it contained was likely no less than that of the Pharmacist Master Purifying Light Saber.

Once the Dharma Form was formed, even the enlightenment bottleneck for Fu Juemin’s two seals, "Infinite" and "Jiezhi," began to loosen.

HUUUH—

Fu Juemin casually raised his hand and performed a pressing motion with the Infinite Seal Technique.

Inside the warm room, an invisible current of air suddenly billowed out of nowhere, causing the window screens to dance wildly. With his palm as the epicenter, a stagnant, heavy "Sea of Infinite" formed, covering an area of several yards!

The manifestation of the "infinite" concept meant Fu Juemin’s Infinite Seal Technique had finally reached the Entry Level. Yet, he felt no joy, his brow furrowing slightly instead.

’So the true essence of the Infinite Seal Technique is to use the power of the Dharma Form to disperse Vitality, letting it stagnate in the air to form a domain, all held within one’s palm...’

’The Jiezhi Seal is the same, just that the Technique is more profound and mysterious—after dispersing, you must also know how to gather it all back.’

Having grasped the principles of the Seal Technique, Fu Juemin’s thoughts turned to a different problem: how to fuse them with his Demon Martial Arts.

He had always considered the Dragon Elephant Seal Technique to be the most suitable offensive method for his [Demon Body] state, as both pursued the ideal of "shattering all worldly techniques with overwhelming force."

But now he realized that there were different kinds of "force."

The force of the Dragon Elephant Skill, starting with "Covering Sea and Collapsing Mountain," gradually shifted away from pure physical, brute strength and toward a combination of physical power and vital Force.

There was nothing wrong with this. After all, human strength is finite, and no matter how much a mortal body is tempered, there are limits. To break through this upper limit, one naturally has to find another path—by borrowing the "Power of Heaven and Earth."

This was the main reason why, after the Tongxuan Martial Dao realm, the path of advancement began to focus on the study of things like "Vitality," "Perception," and "Heart Scene."

’But an ordinary Martial Artist’s physical body has limits. My [Demon Body] doesn’t!’

In a state of fusing Three Souls or even Four Souls, his physical brute strength could increase almost without limit—as long as his body could withstand it.

This meant that the exquisite design of the subsequent Dragon Elephant Seal Techniques had instead become a major shackle, restricting the expression of his Demon Body’s most primal, instinctual power.

’Within the realm of ordinary Martial Artists, the Great Success Dragon Elephant Skill combined with the Six Great Seals is enough to dominate. But my opponents aren’t just normal Martial Artists...’

Fu Juemin thought of Luo Zhengxiong and that horrifying, patchwork "True Dragon Body."

He suspected that even Li Tong at his peak couldn’t last a single exchange against Luo Zhengxiong.

He wanted to find Luo Zhengxiong again. Moreover, with Westerners involved, it was hard to say whether a second or third "Luo Zhengxiong" might appear in the world.

’Perhaps I should try to see if I can, based on the Six Great Seals, create my own set of Demon Martial Arts more suited to bringing out the power of my Demon Body... Even one or two secret techniques or killing moves would be enough.’

The moment this thought arose, it spread like wildfire in Fu Juemin’s mind.

He then thought of his "Five Aggregates Profound Slaughter Technique." He had already collected two Demon Souls for this Cultivation Technique, corresponding to two of the Five Poisonous Creatures.

The Five Aggregates Profound Slaughter Technique was originally just an Inner Power cultivation technique that specialized in cultivating Vitality with domineering Attributes, and it had no corresponding External Skills or techniques.

But in his hands, with the Poisonous Seeds of the Five Poisonous Creatures resonating with their corresponding Demon Souls to draw Demon Soul Force into his body, the potential of this Martial Arts had been raised infinitely.

If he could create corresponding External Skills to fully unleash the combined power of the Demon Souls and the Poisonous Evil, it might just become his strongest trump card besides his [Demon Body]...