"Danger!"
Li Fuchen’s sixth sense told him that if he couldn’t block this blade, he would definitely suffer a serious injury.
With the Scarlet Flame Mystic Technique revolved to its extremity, a torrent of scarlet fire qi rushed into the black iron sword. The sword lit up like it was ready for forging, it then thrusted at the black light.
Swish swish!
As the sabre met with the sword, two streaks of slash marks appeared the on ground, on either sides of Li Fuchen.
Li Fuchen was repelled and flew backwards. He landed after taking a few charred steps on the ground.
"Such power in that blade." Li Fuchen coughed.
The opposition’s sabre force was too overwhelming. After being split into two by his sword intent, it could still leave two slashes on the ground. He could not imagine the consequences if his thrust wasn’t accurate.
"Sword intent is indeed formidable!" Yan Qingwu's eyes lit up.
What she executed earlier was a 2 star secret technique, the Sun Assemble Hand. This secret technique allowed the user to gather more qi on the palm and transfer it into the curved sabre.
That was the first time she had used the Sun Assemble Hand, so she didn’t have full control of it. If not, that earlier blade would have an even more concentrated force.
"Live well. I shall take your life next time." Sheathing the curved sabre, Yan Qingwu activated her light body technique and vanished into one of the tunnels.
Pfff!
Throwing up a mouthful of blood, Li Fuchen could feel his inner body’s injury piling up.
"I wonder what type of secret technique this Mystical Dragon Secret Technique is?"
Li Fuchen was curious about the Mystical Dragon Secret Technique that was contained in the jade buddha.
The secret technique displayed by the maiden earlier helped increased her attack power by a few folds. Had it not been because it wasn’t concentrated enough, he would have fallen to that blade.
If he could master a secret technique, his combat strength would increase significantly and he would have yet another trump card.
The study of the jade buddha wasn’t important now. He needed to recuperate from his injuries first.
Consuming a recuperating pill, Li Fuchen sat cross legged and began revolving the Scarlet Flame Mystic Technique.
With his qi circulated, Li Fuchen’s inner body injuries gradually got better.
***
Two hours later…
His condition recovered back to around 80%.
Taking a deep breath, Li Fuchen took out the jade buddha.
From its appearance, the jade buddha didn’t seem to have any peculiar traits. But once qi was inserted in, Li Fuchen could see it. Within the jade buddha was a small complex looking dot.
"Is this an acupoint route?" Li Fuchen raised a brow.
Within this small dot, multiple specks were lit up, with a thin strand connecting all of them.
"This should be the cultivation method for the first rank of the Mystical Dragon Secret Technique."
Li Fuchen following the instructions and began to clear up each acupoint with his qi. With the last acupoint unblocked, a simple acupoint route appeared in his body.
Pouring qi into the acupoint route, Li Fuchen discovered that this simple acupoint route had the effects of compressing one’s qi.
Boom!
With his qi bursting, Li Fuchen slashed at the surface of the ground not far from his position.
Crackle!
The shards of rocks flew around and on the surface of the ground, appeared a slash mark that was ten feet long and a few inches wide.
"My qi burst strength is at least 20% stronger now. How fearsome."
Just the first rank and it is already increasing his burst ability by 20%. If it was at the third rank, wouldn’t it at least increase the burst ability by 50%.
Most importantly, the maiden’s secret technique only allowed for more qi burst on the palm. But the Mystical Dragon Secret Technique increased qi burst on one's entire body.
"The Zheng veteran mentioned that throughout the entire Zheng Clan, only he was able to cultivate the Mystical Dragon Secret Technique to the first rank. But why does it seem so easy for me?"
After cultivating the first rank of the Mystical Dragon Secret Technique, Li Fuchen became doubtful instead.
How would Li Fuchen have known that secret techniques were much easier to cultivate than other martial arts of the same tier. The Mystical Dragon Secret Technique had a higher demand for one's control of qi. If one did not have a fine control of one's own qi, then it was impossible to cultivate even the first rank.
It was precisely because of Li Fuchen’s strong soul spirit, that his qi control is much more superior than any other average martial artist.
Which was why he was able to complete the first rank in just one step.
Had it been anyone else, they would have to slowly train their control of qi.
Completing the first rank, Li Fuchen began delve into the second rank.
The second rank had a comparatively higher difficulty than the first rank. It involved up to a hundred plus acupoints. Looking at the overall image, the acupoint route formed a dragon shape.
From this point on, it wasn’t enough to just rely on one's qi control, the practitioner would also need enough perception too. With so many acupoints involved, as long as one of the segments wasn’t smooth, it would affect the entire qi compression effect.
Even if it was Li Fuchen, he too required multiple attempts to analyze it.
A week passed by…
Li Fuchen finally caught hold of the most important point.
"The priority of the Mystical Dragon Secret Technique is to complete the whole flow in one go. There cannot be any hindrance in between. Which is why the acupoint routes are fast and seamless. It isn’t all about trying to compress one's qi to the limits and cause the routes to go haywire."
With the crucial point understood, his pace of cultivation instantly became faster.
Two weeks later, Li Fuchen finally achieved the second rank of the Mystical Dragon Secret Technique.
Compared to the first rank, the second rank of the Mystical Dragon Secret Technique boosted his qi burst by 50%.
Li Fuchen estimated that even if he progressed from the sixth level of the Origin Realm to the seventh level of the Origin Realm, he qi burst would have been about same.
In other words, once the second rank of Mystical Dragon Secret Technique was activated, Li Fuchen’s combat strength would be on par with a seventh level Origin Realm martial artist, instead of a sixth level Origin Realm martial artist.
"Secret techniques are too terrifying. The difference between cultivating and not cultivating a secret technique is too drastic!"
Li Fuchen was overwhelmed with emotions.
In order to improve his current ability, he could either cultivate a stronger cultivation technique, sword art, or advance in his cultivation level. Who would have thought that this Mystical Dragon Secret Technique could allow his overall ability to increase by 50%.
"It’s a blessing that I took on this mission. If not, it would have been impossible to obtain this secret technique."
Li Fuchen was glad for his chance encounter.
In the Azure Water Sect, inner sect disciples could only redeem secret techniques under special circumstances. And it was at best a 1 star secret technique.
(TL note: From now the Cang Lan Sect will be the Azure Water Sect)
The sect would only allow you to redeem a 2 star secret technique if they required assistance from you.
***
"She should have left right?"
Li Fuchen didn’t plan on leaving Mount Soaring Snow yet. He still intended on soaking in that thousand year milk stone pool.
(TL note: Mount Feixue = Mount Soaring Snow)
Back at the pool again, Li Fuchen didn’t jump in immediately like last time. He threw a piece of rock in first.
After a few moments of seeing that there was no reaction, Li Fuchen then removed his clothes and entered the pool.
With each day passing, Li Fuchen realized that his progress wasn’t as fast as his first time soaking in the pool
31,000 kg… 32,000 kg…
33,000 kg… 35,000 kg…
A few days later, Li Fuchen’s physical strength was now at 35,000 kg.
"I’m almost at the limit, the qi and blood in my body is beginning to turn heterogeneous. I need to purify it before soaking again."
Li Fuchen felt that the energy in his body was very scattered. Plenty of the milk stone’s effects were hidden within the flesh and bones, that weren’t converted into his own energy yet.
"I should return first and come back again when I have the chance."
The overflowing feeling wasn’t comfortable. Out of the 35,000 kg of physical strength, 3000 kg of it wasn’t true strength, but energy from the milk stone fluid. Just like after an ordinary person finished eating some supplements and felt overpowered. It was a strength that didn’t belong to yourself and would dissipate after a period of time.
Leaving the karst cave and descending Mount Soaring Snow, Li Fuchen headed towards Close Fiend City.
Changes:
(TL note: Close Fiend City = Ling Sha City. It also can mean a city that is close to the Heaven Fiend region)
(TL note: Heaven Fiend Sect = Tian Sha Sect)