Chapter 402: Chapter 34: Inner Core Skill, Six Breakthroughs
For over a year, Wang Sheng had been cultivating, and the pure spiritual energy gained from his spirit world was quickly depleted.
He originally thought that with so much pure spiritual energy, the realm should have been the first to break through, but the reality was not so.
“Realm—
Refining Qi into God. Cloud Smoke: 96%
Cultivation Technique—
Inner Core Skill (Refining Qi into God): Breakthrough +6 (1%)
Ba Duan Jin: Breakthrough +6 (1%)—Blood Qi Furnace: 10%, “Seed in Gestation: 30%”
Five Elements Fist: Breakthrough +4 (93%)—Five Internal Organs Containing God. Awakening Five: 95%
Yijin Scripture: Breakthrough +4 (98%)—Golden Body: 20%”
Lifeless Vacuum Sensing Chapter: Breakthrough +3 (97%)—Spirit World: 98%
Life—
Planting Skill: Breakthrough +6 (63%) Forging: Breakthrough +1 (1%)
Refining: Breakthrough +3 (75%) Reading: Breakthrough +2 (95%)…
Martial Techniques—
Baji Fist: Breakthrough +4 (25%) Plum Flower Step: Breakthrough +4 (10%)
Six Harmonies Spear: Breakthrough +4 (2%)…
Knowledge—
Universe: Breakthrough +4 (15%) Mechanical Techniques: 8 (95%)
Herb Recognition: Breakthrough +3 (68%)…
Divine Skills—
Summoning Wind and Rain: Breakthrough +1 (30%) Heavenly Thunder: Breakthrough +1 (23%)
Enhancement Talisman: 6 (77%) Sword Transformation Technique: 7 (18%)”
In fact, throughout this year, there hadn’t been much progress in various martial techniques or even knowledge-based skills since Wang Sheng’s main focus had been on his spirit world and cultivation techniques.
The daily accumulation of pure spiritual power wasn’t much, and for Wang Sheng it could be said to be like casting a cup of water on a cartload of burning wood—his strength was too formidable, and the slight increase in spiritual power couldn’t provide him with an effective boost.
But the persistent trickle added up day by day, collecting a considerable amount of pure spiritual power over time, which greatly helped with his cultivation.
As a result, the realm linked with spiritual power, such as the Lifeless Vacuum Sensing Chapter, had made great progress, almost to the point of a breakthrough, an advancement.
Among them, Inner Core Skill was the foundation method he cultivated in conjunction with the harvesting method.
This cultivation method was also a combination of various Inner Core Skill cultivation techniques in Wang Sheng’s memory. Although it was called a cultivation technique, it was actually more like a method guiding him on his path.
Other cultivation techniques had powerful entries appear when breaking through three times, such as the Blood Qi entry of Ba Duan Jin, the Five Internal Organs Containing God of the Five Elements Fist, and so on.
But the Inner Core Skill didn’t have any. The only special aspect was the breakthrough once, which gradually led him towards a different path from Qi Blood Martial Arts.
And the subsequent three breakthroughs didn’t yield any remarkable effects either.
Now, the Inner Core Skill, which he started cultivating at the same time as Ba Duan Jin, had also successfully broken through six times.
“What effect will the Inner Core Skill have after breaking through six times?”
Unlike other skills, the Inner Core Skill was his most valued ability. Although he did not have to force it, if there was any powerful ability, naturally it would be better.
“For a skill categorized under cultivation techniques, the only thing to do is to try and cultivate it.”
Cultivating the Inner Core Skill was already a daily necessity for Wang Sheng, who did not hesitate and directly began to attempt cultivation.
After a while, Wang Sheng completed a full cycle of Inner Core Skill cultivation.
“Each level increase would speed up the cultivation process. This time was the same—the cultivation speed increased again, and the path became even clearer.”
This result was an expected outcome. The level increase of cultivation technique skills would do just that.
“But what comes next is the key point. Even though no new entries appeared, the effects are actually better than if they had!”
The Inner Core Skill had broken through six times and finally gained a new special effect.
“Enhancement Talisman: 6 (77%)”— “Enhancement Talisman: 6 (77.5%)”
During this period, Wang Sheng had put all his focus on cultivating his technique, hence the Divine Ability Martial Techniques had not progressed at all and fell into stagnation.
However, just after cultivating the Inner Core Skill a moment ago, these Divine Skills and martial techniques had all made progress.
The most significant of these was the lowest-level Divine Skill, “Enhancement Talisman.”
After one cycle of the Inner Core Skill, it had directly increased by 0.5% progress.
This was the special effect of the Inner Core Skill breaking through six times, which Wang Sheng named “The Way and The Law.”
Each time, while cultivating the Inner Core Skill, the martial techniques and Divine Skills would also make certain progress, and even without direct cultivation, the progress bars of these martial techniques and Divine Skills would grow.
The path of cultivation and the method of protection, both are indispensable on the path of cultivation.
This time, the Inner Core Skill linked the two, allowing for joint progress.
“It’s truly a fundamental method, not showing off, but when it does, it’s a game-changer!”
“The Way and The Law” might not seem like much on the surface, and it might not have increased Wang Sheng’s power by much, but in reality, the effect was incredibly astonishing.
“Why has there been so little progress in Wang Sheng’s martial techniques and Divine Skills for over a year, or even longer, except for the self-progressing ‘Sleeve Universe’?”
Time is finite, and each day offers only so much of it. Wang Sheng must divide it among all his skills. If he were to spread it evenly, it would only lead to mediocrity.
Yes, mediocrity, not balance.
If he spent the same amount of time on everything, he wouldn’t even be close to perfecting his Spirit World, let alone dealing with the Heavenly Father.
Moreover, as the skill levels increase for Breaking through, the difficulty of each enhancement grows, demanding more time.
Both Cultivation Techniques and martial skills are important, but prioritization is key.
Thus, Wang Sheng focused most of his energy on Cultivation Technique-related skills.
Skills in the realm of Cultivation Techniques could derive Divine Skills, and improving them could also increase combat power.
This didn’t mean, however, that Wang Sheng disregarded the enhancement of martial techniques and Divine Skills.
The combination of Divine Skills derived from Cultivation Techniques with martial techniques and Divine Skills was his most potent offensive strategy. For example, the “Shocking World Dragon Spear” that inflicted heavy damage on the Heavenly Father several times was a fusion of the Blood Qi Divine Ability and the Six Harmonies Spear.
However, due to time constraints, Wang Sheng’s martial skills hadn’t seen significant progress in quite a while.
If this continued, the gap between Cultivation Techniques and martial skills and Divine Skills would widen even further, possibly leading to incompatibility.
Normally, Wang Sheng wouldn’t allow this to happen. The moment a gap formed, he would make use of time to cultivate, not necessarily to become much stronger but at least to be sufficient within the corresponding realm. However, this naturally required a considerable amount of time.
But this time, breaking the limits of Inner Core Skill six times gave him a tremendous surprise.
[Cultivating Inner Core Skill simultaneously augments martial techniques and Divine Skills.]
This indicated not merely the advancement of martial skills but, more importantly, the freeing up of time to do other things.
“Surprises always come so unexpectedly, huh!”
“Let’s see how the enhancement speed is.”
Wang Sheng entered cultivation once more, this time for an entire day, to test the overall effect of the Inner Core Skill.
“Not too shabby. Although the speed isn’t extremely astonishing, it’s still able to keep pace with my own cultivation progress.”
The higher the level of martial techniques and Divine Skills, the less they gain from each session of cultivating Inner Core Skill.
“It’s good enough. Besides, the effects are likely to improve later on.”
In any case, Wang Sheng was very satisfied with his current state of Inner Core Skill. It didn’t overtly boost combat power, but its effects were profoundly powerful.
“And after more sessions of cultivation, I’ve found that breaking the limits of Inner Core Skill makes it more convenient to integrate my powers. The combination of the Five Internal Gods and the Spirit World should become even closer. I’ll see if I can solve some problems.”
Theoretically, the emergence of the Five Internal Gods and the Spirit World was influenced to a certain extent by Inner Core Skill, as the foundational method.
The existence of Inner Core Skill had caused the derivative terms of Wang Sheng’s other Cultivation Techniques to lean more towards the path of Inner Core Skill.
Therefore, with this limit-breaking of Inner Core Skill, Wang Sheng’s understanding of both his Five Internal Gods and Spirit World deepened.
“Both terms are on the verge of a breakthrough. So let me push them the final step.”
Both terms were nearing completion. Wang Sheng planned to attempt crossing that final barrier.
“The Spirit World, with the presence of the Five Internal Gods, possesses the most basic Five Elements, so it can mimic many things to a high degree. Although all of the Five Internal Gods are awakened, they aren’t yet perfected, which means they haven’t achieved mutual generation and inhibition, so there are still many flaws.”
“What I need to do is remedy these flaws as much as possible. Eventually, the Spirit World will perfectly simulate the external world, including its deeper aspects.”
“And the first step is to refine the mutual generation and inhibition of the Five Elements in the Spirit World while also advancing the progress of the Five Internal Organs Containing God.”
Ordinarily, Wang Sheng, despite being proactive, would mainly rely on incrementally filling the progress bar for the Five Elements Mutual Generation and Inhibition to be achieved.
But the breakthrough in Inner Core Skill now offered him the potential to actively drive this process.
“But for now… let’s have everyone temporarily exit!”
Next, actions concerning the very essence of the Spirit World would take place, which were unsuitable for outsiders to witness. Hence, Wang Sheng decided to kick everyone out.
“I wonder how they will react?”
Wang Sheng chuckled, knowing how much martial artists now relied on the Spirit World.
However, he still had to say what needed to be said.
So it wasn’t long before those within the Spirit World heard a familiar voice for the first time in over a year.
[The Spirit World will shortly undergo temporary shutdown. Please exit on your own. Otherwise, you will be forcibly ejected after one stick of incense. Once the shutdown concludes, you can log in at the same location.]
Martial Artists within the Spirit World were quite surprised. What had happened?
Unfortunately, no one answered them.
The vast majority exited directly, while a few were forcibly kicked out by Wang Sheng.
He required Pure Spiritual Energy, and that was still the case now, but this was insignificant compared to the advancement of the Five Internal Gods and the Spirit World.
People leaving the Spirit World felt lost.
They had grown accustomed to cultivating inside it and were now somewhat dependent on it because it was just too convenient.
“Why shut it down all of a sudden? My tasks aren’t done yet. What if it never reopens?” Some were quite worried.
“Didn’t the mysterious voice say we could enter again? Just wait!”
Innumerable people discussed the closure of the Spirit World, but only Zhu Xiao found Wang Sheng and asked, “What are you planning to do?”
“I’m just going to perfect the Spirit World!”
(The storyline of the Spirit World is nearing its end, soon to move into the next volume.)