Chapter 15 : Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Blackwater High School Can’t Keep You
Iron-Cleaving Form.
It was worthy of being called a High-Grade Technique.
Strictly speaking, it was not an offensive move.
Rather, it was more like a passive method for applying True Qi.
Through a special method, it could pour a massive amount of True Qi into a weapon and inflict enormous damage.
The reason it could be called high-grade
was precisely because it could directly strengthen the intensity of True Qi through compression.
It was similar to a charged heavy strike, except it could compress and strengthen True Qi without wasting any of it.
Iron-Cleaving Form had only one weakness.
After charging, the attack speed became slower, and during the charging process, the user could not attack either.
It was truly powerful.
And it was truly slow as well.
That made it hard to land.
Iron-Cleaving Form was generally cultivated more often by saber and sword users, while spear users who chose Iron-Cleaving Form were extremely rare.
That was because their attacks were not especially fast to begin with. If they became even slower, they would simply be asking to get beaten.
But Li Mu was not afraid of that.
In the future, he would have the divine ability of the Immobilization Art.
At worst, he could just pin someone in place first and then smash them.
However, the Immobilization Art required 200 Victory Points to unlock.
Li Mu only had 70 right now.
And under the enhancement of the No-Grade Celestial Immortal Art, Li Mu had gained a new understanding of Iron-Cleaving Form.
He could pour even more True Qi into it, and he could preserve it for a longer time as well, so he could charge energy in advance
and unleash a devastating first strike!
But after comprehending Iron-Cleaving Form, Li Mu suddenly felt the energy inside his body begin to surge.
His eyelids twitched violently.
The No-Grade Celestial Immortal Art had actually begun operating on its own.
It seemed that comprehending two High-Grade Techniques in succession had provided the No-Grade Celestial Immortal Art with abundant nourishment.
Upon his Yellow Rank Life Meridian, a terrifying energy crashed directly into the bottleneck between Yellow Rank, First Grade and Second Grade.
BOOM!
It was as if thunder had exploded inside Li Mu’s body, and the node of Yellow Rank, Second Grade suddenly lit up on his Life Meridian.
He had broken through!!
Li Mu was overjoyed.
Immediately afterward, his Dantian underwent an astonishing transformation, growing broader and broader, while his meridians became increasingly tough and resilient.
The constantly surging energy was frantically remolding his body!
When martial artists cultivated, their Inner Cultivation determined their direction.
Some Inner Cultivation methods leaned toward strengthening the physical body, some focused on enhancing techniques and weapons, some leaned toward elemental attributes, and some leaned toward defense. Each had its own differences.
Li Mu discovered that the Celestial Immortal Art tempered the body more strongly than basic Inner Cultivation did.
But the difference was limited.
Aside from deepening his understanding of techniques, making his Dantian vaster and denser, and making his meridians broader and tougher, this effect was honestly rather ordinary...
It seemed he really did have to raise its grade as soon as possible. Only when it reached the Great Celestial Immortal Art would it barely be good enough.
After breaking through, Li Mu was in an excellent mood.
He glanced at the system’s divine abilities.
At the moment, the ones he could unlock were Fiery Golden Eyes, the Water-Avoiding Art, and the Fire-Avoiding Art.
Fiery Golden Eyes cost 50 points, while the Water-Avoiding Art and Fire-Avoiding Art both astonishingly required 5000 points.
So Li Mu immediately bought Fiery Golden Eyes.
The moment Fiery Golden Eyes was unlocked, a dark look crossed Li Mu’s face.
【Fiery Golden Eyes: When activated, it allows the user to see through the path of True Qi movement within the meridians. It consumes an enormous amount of True Qi.】
Li Mu: ???
These are Fiery Golden Eyes?
Are these the ones forged by the Samadhi True Fire in the alchemy furnace?
Was this not just the Hyuga Clan’s “Byakugan”?
What kind of cut-rate counterfeit Great Sage was this?!
Gold, silver, copper, iron, tin.
They might as well have called it Fiery Tin Eyes!
However, Fiery Golden Eyes clearly also required Victory Points to upgrade.
Below it were branching paths similar to a skill tree.
Divine Weapon Art and Mountain-Bearing Art did not have this kind of skill tree.
Those two could be quantified.
Divine Weapon Art increased pound by pound.
Mountain-Bearing Art rose ox by ox.
But since Fiery Golden Eyes had no quantifiable description, a skill tree appeared instead.
Li Mu casually looked through several unlockable branches.
They were respectively 【Slightly Reduce the Amount of True Qi Consumed】
【Vaguely See Through Weak Points in an Opponent’s Defense】
【Slightly Increase Resistance to Visual Illusions】
【Enhance Night Vision Slightly】
...
And not one of these branches was cheap. Even the least expensive ones cost dozens of points.
The farther down he looked, the more expensive they became.
Li Mu only had 20 Victory Points left in hand.
So he simply put them all into Divine Weapon Art.
【Consumed 20 Victory Points. “Divine Weapon Art” successfully strengthened.】
【Divine Weapon Art: Grants weight to a weapon. Current weight: 70 jin.】
Li Mu nodded inwardly.
Previously, with the strength of one tiger and three oxen, wielding seventy jin had already been effortless.
Now that he had reached Second Grade, his physical body had grown stronger as well.
With his physique plus the Mountain-Bearing Art, swinging a weight of two or three hundred jin was perfectly normal!
It was a pity that he did not have enough Victory Points!
If he could raise it to three hundred jin, then even without using True Qi, if that thing smashed into someone, they would still end up bruised black and blue, would they not?
After letting out a long breath of turbid air, Li Mu opened his eyes.
Only to discover that every classmate in the entire carriage was staring at him in shock.
Just a few minutes earlier, the energy around Li Mu had suddenly surged explosively, and a dazzling white light had flared from him as though it were about to pierce through the entire carriage.
He had very clearly broken through.
He had broken through while sitting on the train?
And with two days still left before the First Abyss Battle, he had just broken through this casually?
“Good grief, you really are blessed by the exam gods...”
The students all stared at one another with wide eyes, then crowded around Li Mu once again.
Li Mu stood up and smiled as he brushed off his clothes.
“Everyone, sit down, sit down. There is no need to kneel and kowtow. A little gift from each of you will do.”
Although they had only spent a single day together, Li Mu had already gotten along well with everyone.
So he joked with them.
“Big brother, do you really have to break through this easily?”
“You are making me feel like I can do it too!” Xiao Lingtong complained.
“I had been stuck for a long time. I just happened to find the right opportunity,” Li Mu said casually.
“Then that means... you are Second Grade now?”
a female classmate asked in astonishment.
When Li Mu nodded, strange expressions appeared on everyone’s faces once more, as though they had all thought of the same thing.
“What is wrong with all of you?” Li Mu asked in confusion.
Every classmate had a trace of helplessness on their face as they looked toward the doors of the two neighboring carriages.
Watching from both sides were not just people from Blackwater High School, but students from at least three other schools as well.
The commotion from Li Mu’s breakthrough just now had not been small, and all of them had seen it.
Xiao Lingtong also let out a somewhat helpless sigh.
“Congratulations. When the other schools come to poach you, remember to demand a few more benefits for yourself.”
After Xiao Lingtong said that, the students all silently returned to their seats.
Only then did Li Mu understand what they meant.
With the First Abyss Battle fast approaching, a student who could step into Second Grade while still in senior year was a core contender for the rankings.
One had to know that many so-called geniuses with A- and B-Rank talents simply could not keep up in terms of innate aptitude.
Even with the support of all kinds of resources and potions, they were still only First Grade by senior year.
And at a school like Blackwater, even late-stage First Grade students were pitifully rare.
Not to mention a Second Grade student.
This was not something worth celebrating.
Because they could not keep him.
Any school that came to recruit him could provide Li Mu with personal resources.
And the higher a school’s ranking, the greater its influence. In the future, that would also give him a better chance of entering a good university through the college entrance examination.
So Li Mu would definitely be poached away within these two days.
Li Mu did not bother explaining himself to everyone.
Because there was no need.
The carriage continued onward in that heavy atmosphere.
In the other two carriages, news that Li Mu had broken through to Second Grade had already spread completely.
Very soon, the train arrived at the station.
Li Mu followed the flow of people back into Blackwater High School.
The moment he entered through the school gates, he could smell waves of food drifting through the air.
Across the vast school plaza, long rows of desks had been lined up in winding formation.
On top of the desks were fruits, pastries, hot pot, stewed meat, drinks, and alcohol—everything one could possibly want.
Quite a few second-year upperclassmen were helping arrange the scene.
Xiao Lingtong explained to Li Mu, “This is a banquet our school is holding specifically to reward us freshmen who’ve just come back from military training.”
“The principal said that since we definitely couldn’t have eaten well down in the Abyss, when we came back at night, we should be properly replenished.”
“They’re going to hold it for three straight days.”
“Our school may be lacking a bit in resources, but honestly, the school spirit here is quite good.”
From the way Xiao Lingtong spoke, it was clear that he hoped Li Mu would stay.
He simply did not say it out loud. Li Mu had every right to pursue better resources, and some things only needed to be hinted at.
Still, after Xiao Lingtong finished speaking, he let out another helpless sigh.