Chapter 107: Changing Circumstances
Chapter 107: Changing Circumstances
Yaoguang was unaware of the anomalies occurring on Yujing Mountain. He continued cultivating within the Yuhuang Mountain's villa. While utilizing medicinal pills and powders to temper the strength of his psychic will constantly, he also processed the resources obtained from his trip to the Crimson Star Empire, fueling the growth of his Martial Dao branch.The progress pushed him directly from the previous 1% to 24%. The numerical change was not massive. However, it allowed Yaoguang to truly understand the choices and resolutions involved in selecting targets on the path of Martial Dao.
From the information gathered by the ancient tree, he learned that aside from God-Fiend Body Refinement, the paths of cultivation could be divided into Qi Refinement, Psyche Refinement, and Dao Enlightenment.
However, based on the books provided by the World-Saving Society and those found in the Liao family’s library, Yaoguang discovered that the Artifact Sect made no mention of a "Dao Enlightenment" cultivation system. Conversely, they had extremely detailed classifications for Qi Refinement and Psyche Refinement.
The world where the Artifact Sect resided was recorded in books as the Great Cangwu World. The Artifact-Nurturing World was merely one of the stars adorning the periphery of Cangwu.
Within Cangwu, cultivators were divided into four major categories: body cultivators, sword cultivators, spell cultivators, and psyche cultivators. After countless years of refinement, these four paths of cultivation had been specialized to an incomparable degree.
Taking body cultivators as an example, the path was divided into various specialties, including attack, defense, endurance, perception, interception, anti-air, and assault. Sword cultivation was the same, featuring differences in defense breaking, raids, invisibility, combat, fire coverage, long-range bombardment, and investigation.
Starting from the ninth realm of God-Fiend Body Refinement, the Star Transformation Realm, a cultivator reached their first major bottleneck. Many people remained stuck in this realm for their entire lives. Consequently, within the 24% progress information, combat and cultivation data each occupied half of the content.
"The characteristics of body cultivators lie in stability, long endurance, and low consumption. The advantages of sword cultivators are concentrated in high speed, long-range attacks, and strong assault capabilities. Spell cultivators possess high damage and a wide area of effect. Different tactics are required when facing different opponents..." Yaoguang constantly digested the information he gained and eventually realized something.
Whether it was body cultivation or sword cultivation, divine abilities and spells had already been pushed to their limits as eras evolved. Spells and divine abilities that were originally powerful enough to destroy cities and ponds had been continuously simplified, allowing low-level practitioners to master them.
The characteristic brought about by this change was a stark increase in lethality. Some Seventh-Heavenly-Realm spell cultivators could even master spells meant for great cultivators who had forged their Dao Foundation. With a single spell, a large number of Ninth-Heavenly-Realm body cultivators would be killed instantly.
However, mastering powerful spells beyond one's level meant having to deal with an unbearable and massive consumption of energy. It was possible that after releasing a single spell, a spell cultivator’s true essence would be completely exhausted, allowing even a Fourth-Heavenly-Realm body cultivator to easily take their life.
The paths taken by practitioners had become extreme.
The primary reason for this phenomenon was that the various cultivation systems, after countless years of development and perfection, had become extremely vast and complex. Even after dedicating their whole life to it, practitioners found it difficult enough to reach the peak of a single spell branch within a specialized field, let alone reach the end of an entire system.
For example, a destruction-path spell cultivator of the Seventh Heavenly Realm might master a Foundation-Building-Realm spell. After mastering it, the cultivator would have to continue intensive research on this single spell, studying how to increase its power, range, and area of effect. Furthermore, they had to consider lowering true origin consumption, increasing casting speed, and ensuring the spell’s accuracy.[1]
There were many factors to consider, including the influence of five-elemental qi on the spell, the interference of the horizon's curvature on precision, aerodynamics, resistance principles, balance, and more.
Besides these, how different refined artifacts and astra would amplify or weaken the spell also mattered. They even had to consider how an opponent's spell would affect their own, and how to maximize the spell's power during a general engagement.[2]
There was simply too much to learn. As a result, many spell cultivators mastered only one spell in their entire lives. Sword cultivators were the same, spending their whole lives tempering only a single flying sword.
The body cultivation route corresponding to Yaoguang’s God-Fiend Body Refinement was no different. Body techniques to enhance defense, killing moves to boost explosive power, and the Flawless True Body all required continuous research.
Learning this triggered the fear of being dominated by intensive studies in Yaoguang.
"It truly is complicated. The mental power of a martial artist is called psychic will, which focuses on deterrence through 'momentum.' It has a short range but carries decent killing power. The mental power of a qi cultivator is called psychic consciousness, which has a moderate range and focuses on control, such as manipulating flying swords or shaping true essence into techniques. Meanwhile, the mental power of those on the path of psyche refinement is called psychic thought, which has a vast range and focuses on investigation and perception." Yaoguang summarized the newly added information.
"A high-tier psyche cultivator has a psychic thought investigation range exceeding a hundred kilometers. Those who have built an immortal foundation can reach as far as ten thousand kilometers."
Ten thousand kilometers. What kind of power is that?! With a single sweep of psychic thought, more than half the world would fall within my perception! Yaoguang let out a long sigh. If not for the fact that I haven't grown the Psyche Dao branch yet, I'd want to cultivate both.
Fortunately, although the 24% progress of the ninth tier did not mention the realms beyond the ninth realm of God-Fiend Body Refinement, it did mention some of the supernatural wonders.
It seemed that martial artists above the Ninth Heavenly Realm could integrate with the stellar force field, borrowing the power of the stars to strengthen themselves. Even a direct nuclear blast would not be able to harm them in the slightest.
With that, I'll finally be able guarantee my own safety.
Yaoguang sighed with emotion. He wished he could step into that level immediately. However, he also knew that he could not rush things. This was the first major watershed in the lives of all cultivators. The gap was even greater than the transition from a grandmaster to a martial paragon. Breaking through would certainly not be easy. He had to build a solid foundation step by step before he could sprint toward that realm.
As he was thinking, he caught a scent. Soon after, Ai Li brought over the medicinal ingredients she had brewed.
"Young master, I have re-matched and brewed the herbs according to your instructions. However, the taste will be quite terrible."
"Mhmm." Yaoguang nodded. He had asked Ai Li to change the combination of herbs because, among the materials obtained from Griffin Garden, there was a primary ingredient for the Soul Forging Pill. This was a pill recipe he had obtained when his Martial Dao reached the sixth tier. It provided significant help in strengthening the mind, as well as condensing psychic will, psychic consciousness, and psychic thought.
Previously, he had lacked the requirements, but now that the conditions allowed it, he naturally had to give it a try.
As he consumed the medicinal soup brewed according to the Soul Forging Pill recipe, he quickly entered a meditative state. But after just a moment, his expression changed.
He resolutely manipulated his internal organs and vomited out all the medicinal herbs he had consumed.
"Young Master?" Ai Li, who was standing nearby, let out a startled cry. Her face was filled with terror.
"It's not your fault." Yaoguang waved his hand, signaling Ai Li to take away the brewed medicine. "I was too naive."
He recalled the description of the Soul Forging Pill in his mind. It required an alchemist to refine it. He had originally thought that if he followed the herb requirements of the recipe and brewed them, he could achieve at least ten or twenty percent of the actual pill's effect, even if he couldn't match a true Soul Forging Pill. That alone would have drastically saved him cultivation time.
The result, however, was that he nearly poisoned himself.
"Alchemy," Yaoguang muttered with some regret.
The help that resources provided to cultivation was immediate and profound. In the Great Cangwu World, the largest factions maintained their absolute dominance through the monopoly of resources. Among these resources, pills were of paramount importance. Especially during the early stages of cultivation, as long as the supply of pills kept up, one's cultivation progress could truly soar like an eagle.
"The ancient tree has not grown new branches until now. Perhaps it is because a martial paragon, a psychic-will martial paragon, and a unified martial paragon all belong to the same major realm. Once I reach the heavenly being tier, a new branch should grow. And the profession represented by that branch will be related to my experiences during this period..." Yaoguang muttered.
Yaoguang originally wanted to develop a new profession similar to Sword Cultivator or spell cultivator. If nothing else, they were simply cool. Wasn't riding a sword through the sky and roaming across the nine heavens far more elegant and handsome than the Martial Dao?
But considering that the Martial Dao had already been pushed to the ninth tier, choosing to become a Sword Cultivator now felt somewhat foolish. Moreover, once a profession was selected, it didn't mean his strength would increase instantly.
Yaoguang believed the correct path would be to develop the Alchemy profession as soon as possible. He had been stuck at the psychic will step for several months. To possess the body of a heavenly being, he would need to use the heaven-and-earth furnace for tempering for at least a year or two. And beyond the heavenly being's body, there would be further stages of refinement and advancement.
If he followed the path step-by-step, he might not reach the peak of the ninth tier even in eight or ten years. Others might be overjoyed to reach the peak of the ninth realm of God-Fiend Body Refinement in a decade, but Yaoguang did not want to endure for so long. Since he knew a method to speed things up significantly, why wouldn't he try it?
I must continue to practice alchemy, if for no other reason than to unlock the Alchemy sub-profession. Yaoguang made up this mind.
To succeed, sharpening his tools was the first step. Medicinal pills were the best tools for taking shortcuts in cultivation.
While lost in thought, Yaoguang immersed himself in his cultivation once again, feeling his evolution and growth bit by bit. He became so engrossed in the process that he could not extricate himself.
***
A few days later, Kong Fang hurried over with a piece of news. "Something huge has happened. The Snowdragon Empire and the Rebirth Society have gone into an all-out war."
His expression was solemn. "At the start, the Snowdragon Empire launched a Havoc missile carrying nine nuclear bombs, leveling the Rebirth Society’s base. Almost within the same hour, the Rebirth Society’s counterattack arrived. They used hypnosis to control the high-level officials of the Snowdragon Empire, causing the World-Ender and Judge systems to disintegrate. During the disintegration process, over a hundred nuclear bombs were detonated within the Snowdragon Empire’s own territory, forcing them to shut down all active nuclear bombs..."
"An all-out war between the Snowdragon Empire and the Rebirth Society?" Yaoguang was stunned.
He would have believed it if the Crimson Star Empire and the Rebirth Society had gone to war, but the Snowdragon Empire... they had driven the Rebirth Society out long ago. The Rebirth Society rarely operated in the Western Continent occupied by the Snowdragon Empire. Why had the Snowdragon Empire suddenly started fighting them?
"We are currently investigating. However, as early as three days ago, scouts detected intense energy fluctuations at Yujing Mountain. Before that, the Snowdragon Empire had issued an announcement stating they would conduct a high-energy weapons test. This kind of news is released several times almost every year, so aside from a few specialized agencies, it didn't attract much attention. Now, after a detailed investigation, those energy reactions were identified as the release of nuclear weapons..."
"Yujing Mountain is the very front line of the confrontation between the Snowdragon and Crimson Star Empires! Releasing nuclear weapons there? Does the Snowdragon Empire want to start a world war with the Crimson Star Empire?" Yaoguang’s expression turned strange.
"If they really wanted to fight, they would have done so during the era of upheaval; they wouldn't have waited until now." Kong Fang shook his head. "I connected with the intelligence channels of the World-Saving Society. The conclusion they reached is that internal problems arose within the Snowdragon Empire. In fact, it seems irreconcilable conflicts have arisen between their internal factions, one of which pushed for peace and the other which pushed for war. Eventually, there was a split within the Snowdragon Empire, and the two factions started fighting each other. The Crimson Star Empire is more than happy to see this situation. Therefore, aside from increasing their alert status, they did not launch a nuclear counterattack."
"It appears this unprecedented upheaval, unseen in a hundred years, has reached its most critical turning point." Yaoguang’s mood also grew slightly solemn. "Investigate further."
Kong Fang nodded and quickly retreated. After Kong Fang left, Yaoguang allowed himself to merge into the energy of the earth veins. He used this force to temper his body, feeling his physical strength grow day by day.
"The body of a heavenly being," he murmured. "It is so damn slow!"
Even under the tempering of the energy of the earth veins of the mountains and rivers, it would still take at least a year to forge his body into that of a heavenly being, unless he made another breakthrough in his realm and pushed the God-Fiend Body Refinement from its current 24% at the ninth tier to a brand-new domain comparable to building the Dao Foundation.
1. True origin is a profound transformation and condensation of a martial artist's internal energy. It is then used as energy for many techniques for cultivators above a certain realm. ☜
2. Astra is a supernatural weapon/tool. It originates from Hinduism and Buddhism. ☜