Chapter 453 - 282: Major Version Update
Finally, there was the newly added Effect 4: Spatial Manipulation.
This new effect was more like a key to a whole new type of power. Yu Fei stretched out his hands and, following his instincts, gave the air a stir and a twist. Intense spatial fluctuations erupted. The wall before him suddenly twisted and warped visibly. Then, the world returned to normal, but the damaged wall remained broken.
It was a difficult sensation to describe. If one were to compare space to a sheet of paper that everyone lived on, Yu Fei had just gained the ability to crumple a section of that paper into a ball. Due to its inherent tension, space could quickly smooth itself out again, but any objects within that crumpled section that had been twisted and shattered would remain broken.
The Gold-tier Space Controller talent was truly extraordinary. Its abilities were completely off the charts. Compared to Invincible Will, which was also a Gold-tier talent, its potential for development was on an entirely different level.
Yu Fei was itching to test his new powers. Forgoing any further upgrades for now, he connected with his anchor point in Celestial Rock City and teleported to the Desolate Beast Sea. He then took another step, arriving deep within the Eternal Night Forest.
The entire world, all within a single step.
As for lingering auras, his senses picked up the Fog Pine Stone beacons he had left behind, traces of past battles, fields scarred by his Infinite Sword Qi, and even his own spilled blood. This entire outer region of the Eternal Night Forest was saturated with his presence. The beacons had become a tangible network, making him virtually omnipresent here.
Yu Fei needed to find a high-level desolate beast to practice on and test his new spatial abilities.
Before long, a Rank-7 desolate beast appeared before him. It resembled a boar, with long, sharp tusks.
The moment Yu Fei appeared, the boar-like beast became extremely wary.
"You’ll do!"
Yu Fei stood with his hands clasped behind his back. With a flick of his finger, ten thousand strands of seemingly corporeal Sword Qi materialized. The brilliant light they cast reflected in the beast’s puffy, terrified eyes.
Before the Sword Qi even moved, Yu Fei suddenly appeared in front of the desolate beast. He curled his fingers into a claw, and the space around the beast crumpled like a sheet of paper. Amidst its terrified screams, however, he found his control over the space faltering. The beast’s Qi Blood was powerful enough to resist his spatial manipulation.
When he looked again, the desolate beast was on the brink of death, its life hanging by a thread.
Yu Fei commanded the Sword Qi to dismember the beast. He found that its internal organs had been crushed into a pulp, as if torn and squeezed by immense forces from multiple directions. The fragile organs had been overwhelmed. While its skin and bones were mostly intact, its death was certain.
He tossed its remains into the Decomposition Pool and, with a snap of his fingers, the Sword Qi disappeared.
Yu Fei then activated his teleportation ability and returned to the Golden Stone Gang Realm.
Yu Fei now possessed three Grandmaster-level methods of attack. His Infinite Sword Qi was at the level of a weaker Grandmaster, while his spatial manipulation seemed to have a much higher ceiling.
The Fallen God Finger was somewhat impractical. It had a long wind-up time and a short range. Its only saving graces were its low resource cost and its stealthiness.
He could also develop the [Sound of Godslaying] in the future, an ability capable of Shocking Divine Soul. That would become his fourth Grandmaster-level attack.
’Half a year ago, I had to struggle for my life against a Rank-7 desolate beast. Now, I can destroy one single-handedly. My training has really paid off.’
After calming himself down, Yu Fei checked his resources. He had 2,348 Stardust remaining and needed to decide which talent to upgrade next.
’It’s not enough! If only I’d copied one more time from Mr. Hu!’
Yu Fei sighed internally. It cost 1,000 points to upgrade a talent from Silver to Gold. This meant he could only afford to upgrade either [Infinite Sword Soul] or [Spiritual Intuition] to Gold.
’In that case... I’ll upgrade Infinite Sword Soul first.’
Upgrading Infinite Sword Soul meant an immediate boost to his combat power, whereas Spiritual Intuition would deepen the foundation of his divine soul, which could be extremely helpful for breaking through to the Grandmaster realm.
Having made his decision, he invested 1,000 Stardust to upgrade Infinite Sword Soul to Gold-tier.
In a trance, he felt the connection between himself and his Sword Qi tighten. It was as if the blades were an extension of his own will, his mind reaching out through them like countless tentacles.
A moment later, he pulled himself out of the strange sensation. Without even checking the talent’s new description, he continued with the upgrades.
He invested 500 Stardust to raise Spiritual Intuition to Silver-tier, leaving him with 848 points.
As the Spiritual Intuition talent upgraded, Yu Fei felt his divine soul grow purer. A sense of effortless freedom washed over him as hidden negative emotions dissolved, leaving his divine soul feeling pristine and clear.
’Onward!’
After a moment’s thought, Yu Fei chose to upgrade [Insight], a Purple-tier talent he had acquired early on. It still played a crucial role in combat—in some ways, an even more important one than [Fleeting Moment].
A 15-fold increase in neural reaction speed provided an overwhelming advantage in fights against low-to-mid-rank Martial Artists. But at higher levels, the divine soul became increasingly important. Grandmasters and powerful desolate beasts attacked without conscious thought, relying on their divine soul’s instantaneous reactions to adapt their moves.
Therefore, [Insight]’s predictive power was more valuable than the raw neural reaction speed from [Fleeting Moment].
A change in the divine soul could happen in the span of a single thought, whereas even the fastest neural reactions had a fundamental processing delay.
He spent 150 points. Orange-tier.
points. Red-tier!
Stardust remaining: 398.
BOOM!
Yu Fei’s mind went blank for a moment. The feedback from upgrading the [Insight] talent was far more intense than any other!
Countless tangled threads flashed before his eyes, densely interwoven, all seeming to follow a predetermined trajectory.
It felt as if he had seen it for only an instant, yet also for an eternity. By the time he came back to his senses, it was over, and he couldn’t perceive any specific change in himself.
Yu Fei shook his head. Seeing he still had some Stardust left...
...he invested 150 points to raise [Fleeting Moment] to Orange-tier, leaving him with 248.
This upgrade caused no major discomfort, just a faint, tingling sensation.
He decided not to spend the rest. ’I’ll save it for later.’
After pausing for a moment, Yu Fei checked the detailed talent descriptions.
[Infinite Sword Soul]
Quality: Gold-tier
Description: An ascension born from a miracle.
Effect: Infinite Light, Infinite Sword. Possesses its own Divine Power.
[Spiritual Intuition]
Quality: Silver-tier
Description: A miracle of the soul.
Effect 1: Base Spiritual Power increased five-fold.
Effect 2: Divine soul quality increased by one tier.
Effect 3: Grants the "Clarity" effect. Strengthens divine soul resilience and triples the base recovery rate of the divine soul.
[Insight]
Quality: Red-tier
Description: Seeing into the hearts of men is a dreadfully boring affair.
Effect 1: You can discern the goodwill or malice in the hearts of others.
Effect 2: Danger Prediction. You can sense impending harm and its source.
Effect 3: Fated Trajectory. When another’s actions begin to interfere with your destiny, you can sense whether this interference is beneficial or harmful to you and identify its source!
[Fleeting Moment]
Quality: Orange-tier
Description: An evolutionary bug.
Effect: Increases neural reaction speed 20-fold. (Note: This talent has reached the maximum for your current life stage.)
There was a lot of new information—it was his biggest "patch" yet! Yu Fei read through everything carefully.
First, he summoned a strand of Sword Qi. Compared to before, it now had a tangible quality, as if it were solid. It had inherited the properties of the Returning Ruins Realm Sword; its power was contained, not yet unleashed, but it exuded a heart-palpitating aura.
The description for Infinite Sword Soul’s effect was vague, but in practice, the power of his Sword Qi had been enhanced even further, and its attack range had increased to 200 meters. Beyond that, his connection to the Sword Qi was now so intimate that he could launch it with a mere thought, requiring no conscious effort to control.
After a moment of thought, Yu Fei appeared deep within the mine tunnels.
He summoned tens of thousands of strands of Sword Qi. With a mere thought, they began to converge and fuse.
In the blink of an eye, a massive blade of Sword Qi, several meters long, materialized before him. Wielding this colossal sword felt just as effortless; there was no sense of resistance or lag.
The giant sword moved with the agility of a fish in water, soaring through the air at his whim. In contrast, the saber energies and sword beams launched by typical Martial Artists were difficult to adjust mid-flight and could only be controlled within a very limited scope. They could never display such incredible maneuverability.
With a flick of his finger, the giant sword shot forward, instantly crossing a thousand meters and piercing a hundred meters deep into an underground mineral vein!
’Holy hell! This is completely broken!’
A look of elation flashed across Yu Fei’s face, but it was immediately replaced by a pale grimace.
He couldn’t believe any regular Grandmaster could unleash such power. This was more on the level of a Great Grandmaster!
After the Sword Qi fused, the drain on his divine soul increased nearly tenfold. He had only wielded it for a moment, but he was already feeling dizzy, his vision starting to blur.
However, Yu Fei’s divine soul was recovering at a visible rate, a benefit from the "Clarity" effect of his newly upgraded [Spiritual Intuition] talent.
’Excellent. My talents are forming a perfect, self-sustaining loop!’