Chapter 252.1: Lu Changsheng Creates the Extreme Martial Dao and Shocks His Master by Unleashing Two Bursts of Hidden Force! (I)

This man was young and healthy, and he only just died. His body still carries a faint thread of attachment to life. It really is quite suitable as a vessel for me.

Lu Changsheng's consciousness had entered and taken over the body of the twenty-year-old martial fighter, Lu Yuan, who had just passed away after fighting in a Martial Dao tournament.

This was similar to the concept of possession in the Immortal Dao, where a person's soul or consciousness takes over another person's body. However, even as an Earthly Saint, Lu Changsheng himself had never possessed such an ability. It was the formation inside the Secret World Pavilion that had allowed him to take over Lu Yuan's body.

As Lu Changsheng carefully examined his new body, he realized it could not have been more different than his own body. His true body as a Martial Saint contained incredible, earth-shaking power, but this new flesh did not allow him to unleash that kind of power.

Lu Changsheng searched through the memories left in Lu Yuan's mind. The real Lu Yuan was a junior in university. As for martial arts, that was only something he practiced on the side. The so-called martial artists are people who've picked up a few tricks for generating force, who have more fighting experience than the average person. At most, they can handle several ordinary people at once. That's about it.

The martial artists of this world are known as martial fighters. They practice striking techniques and temper their bodies, but no matter how hard they train, they can never transcend the limitations of their mortal flesh. Their martial arts are divided into five realms: Visible Force, Hidden Force, Transformation Force, Core Force, and Fortification Force...

Even though there were five separate realms, they amounted to very little in Lu Changsheng's eyes. Even a martial artist who reached the top of the Fortification Force Realm could still be killed by a bullet. Since firearms and artillery had become widespread, more than one Fortification Force master had died under gunfire. As a result, martial arts had gradually lost their former importance and were now practiced mostly for health, fitness, and body sculpting.

Lu Changsheng continued sorting through the general knowledge contained in Lu Yuan's memories.

This world has martial arts, but no real Martial Dao. According to the Secret World Pavilion, the highest energy-level reaction detected in this secret world is around the Dao Foundation level, equivalent to Foundation Establishment. But the Fortification Force Realm in this world cannot possibly be at that level...

He then compared what he had learned about this world's martial arts with the cultivation system he knew.

What these people call Force is far weaker than the blood qi of a Body Tempering Realm martial artist in the Sacred Earth. If this world can produce energy reactions at the Dao Foundation level, then the source must be firearms!

Modern weapons here have developed to the point where guns and artillery can unleash destructive power far beyond anything a martial artist can achieve. However, whether because of the Laws of this world or limitations involving certain chemical elements, it has never developed nuclear weapons...

Faced with guns and artillery, martial artists of this world had been reduced to mere performers. Even the Martial Dao tournaments were little different from singing or dancing competitions. They were merely commercial spectacles designed to attract attention and online traffic, not contests that determined the standing of genuine martial arts experts.

That was precisely why Lu Yuan's death during the first round of a Martial Dao tournament had caused such a sensation. Someone dying in what the public regarded as a sporting spectacle was bound to spark controversy.

Lu Changsheng recalled what he had read in the Secret World Manual.

According to the manual, condensing the Martial Dao in a low-energy secret world is both simple and difficult. I have to develop this world's Martial Dao in a way that follows the rules in the manual and raise its power into a transcendent level. The higher I can push that transcendent level, the stronger the Martial Dao I condense will become, and the better the Martial Dao fragments I obtain.[1]

His goal quickly became clear.

In order to achieve the best possible result, I need to raise the Martial Dao all the way to the Dao Foundation level. And based on the rules, I can only raise the Martial Dao based on its existing martial practices.

Countless thoughts continued streaming through Lu Changsheng's mind as he tried to figure out the rules and boundaries of this world.

At Lu Yuan's level, Visible Force, he'd only picked up a few techniques to generate force and could coordinate the strength of his own body. Hidden Force, however, allows a martial artist to generate force through the body and release it through an attack. Only after reaching the Hidden Force Realm would someone truly be recognized within martial arts circles and become qualified to open a school and accept disciples.

Lu Changsheng then went through Lu Yuan's memories of his training. Lu Yuan had studied at the Crane Martial Arts Center. The master of the center was a great Hidden Force martial artist, and the center taught a form of Force known as Spiral Force. By the standards of this world, it was quite powerful.

Unfortunately, Lu Yuan had never mastered it. He had never managed to produce even a single burst of Spiral Force. He simply had no idea how. But Lu Changsheng had taken over Lu Yuan's body now. He was Lu Yuan, and what Lu Yuan could never manage was effortless for him.

Lu Changsheng suddenly pressed a hand against his chest. Force... There is already a trace of Force inside me... The Meridian-Severing Force.

The Meridian-Severing Force severed the meridian connected to Lu Yuan's heart; it was what had killed him. Ordinary medical equipment could not detect the true cause of the damage, so the doctors could only diagnose it as a myocardial infarction. Lu Changsheng, however, could clearly sense the foreign Force lingering within his body.

Even though there was only a trace left, it was enough for Lu Changsheng. With his Perception, once he had experienced something as simple as Meridian-Severing Force, he could deduce how it worked.

Lu Changsheng closed his eyes and carefully studied the remaining trace of Force, comparing its characteristics with Lu Yuan's memories of the attack that had struck him. Once he had grasped the principles behind it, he began reconstructing the technique in his mind.

Two hours later, Lu Changsheng opened his eyes and threw a punch. His heart gave a sudden, violent pound, then a powerful Force erupted from within his body and rushed down his arm before bursting outward through his fist.

Crack!

The air cracked sharply beneath the blow.

A smile spread across Lu Changsheng's face. Meridian-Severing Force!

By the standards of this world's martial arts community, anyone capable of releasing even any type of Hidden Force was unquestionably a Hidden Force martial artist. And after just two hours, Lu Changsheng had undeniably become one—at least according to this world's way of measuring time.

However, releasing that strike had left him drained. A wave of weakness was rolling through his whole body, and for a moment, he felt like he might faint.

This body has only just been injured, and the heart has not recovered yet. Using Meridian-Severing Force in this condition places too much strain on it. I need to rest.

Lu Changsheng lay back down on the bed and allowed his body to recover, but there was another problem he could not ignore. They're probably all convinced I'm dead out there. Best not to let this drag on. Lu Yuan's already caught up in enough controversy without me making it worse...

Lu Changsheng thought about the situation and decided he needed to return from the dead first. So, he slowly climbed out of bed and walked to the door of the operating room.

Click.

The door of the operating room swung open.

Reporters packed the corridor alongside doctors and nurses, while security guards struggled to maintain order. The hospital had been in the middle of formally announcing Lu Yuan's death when the dead man suddenly walked out on his own two legs.

For several seconds, everyone simply stared. Countless camera lenses also pointed in his direction.

"Ahhh!"

"Lu Yuan isn't dead!"

"Director, didn't your hospital just announce that Lu Yuan had died?"

The crowd erupted into chaos. The doctors who had personally tried to resuscitate Lu Yuan were the most stunned of all. They were certain the man had died, and yet there he was, alive and breathing right in front of them.

The reporters, on the other hand, could hardly contain themselves. This story had just gotten much, much bigger!

1. The transcendent level here is related to the "path of transcendence.This is the literal path/journey a martial artist has to walk to break past ordinary human limits and start actually generating real, cultivation-grade power. So in essence, Lu Changsheng is saying here that he has to help the martial fighters in this world reach that level in order to condense the Martial Dao and obtain its fragments. ☜