Chapter 5. Top-tier technique and a change with the Magic Sphere
Sky Fortune Martial House has only 80 years of history.
On the other hand, the Seven Profound Martial House was founded by Xiantian masters of the Grade 3 Clan - Seven Profound Valleys. They possess 600 years' worth of heritage and numerous cultivation techniques and martial skills!
Those who practice with the cultivation techniques from Sky Fortune Martial House have little hope of achieving Pulse Condensation Stage, but the same cannot be said about the Seven Profound Martial House's cultivation techniques. As long as one has a Grade 4 Martial Talent, breaking through into the Pulse Condensation Stage using Seven Profound Martial House's manuals is not difficult at all.
As for Lin Yang, he was lucky enough to get his hands on the Foundation Spear Technique manual which allowed him to master many spear moves, but although the cultivation technique that this manual contained was at low-grade human-step, it was only the weakest of low-grade human-step cultivation techniques that foot soldiers practice in the army - it was no different from the common techniques that an ordinary person would practice.
It was obviously a far cry when compared to top-tier cultivation techniques of the aristocratic families or the Seven Profound Martial House, let alone a top-tier technique from the Divine Realm like the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians.
Lin Yang knew that a proper and powerful cultivation technique is a key to becoming powerful in this world. If he practiced anything else, even if he worked his hardest and advanced in cultivation ranks, he would only build a weak foundation and damage his future prospects.
With his old technique and weak talent, Lin Yang's progress was very slow when compared to other young geniuses his age while his strength was average.
But now the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians could be his foundational cultivation technique that would allow him to rebuild his foundation and rise above the martial artists from the lower realms, having shocking progress and strength!
Lin Yang was incomparably excited and he voraciously sorted out the knowledge regarding this cultivation technique.
The Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians is a pinnacle level Body Transformation Manual in the Divine Realm. However, even though it is of the pinnacle level, it is only about Body Transformation and thus was not too valuable or rare in the Divine Realm.
According to Lin Yang's memories, the Divine Realm is a higher realm that possesses hundreds of millions of years' worth of Legacies. Physical training, martial arts, swordsmanship techniques, technical skills, arrays, all of it have been developed and honed to the extreme. It is a world reserved for the strongest of the Martial Path!
Hundreds of millions of years' worth of Legacies! Such a long span of time was a concept that was difficult to grasp for Lin Yang from Earth where the recorded civilizations of humanity only had two thousand or so years of history and accumulation.
In Lin Yang's current world the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians was a divine and invaluable foundational cultivation technique.
Additionally, there were even more soul fragments stored within the Magic Cube. Once Lin Yang is able to get his hands on some blood essence of powerhouses for the cube to absorb, he would be able to incorporate even more of them, learning various high-level techniques.
Thinking of the future where he would learn the Heretical God Force, Golden Roc Shattering the Void and other pinnacle level skills, Lin Yang's heart was incredibly excited.
As Lin Yang continued incorporating the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians, he saw that it was a complete Body Transformation manual. Everything from Strength Training, Flesh Training, Viscera Training, Altering Muscle, Bone Forging and Pulse Condensation was there.
The Body Transformation Phase is the first realm for those who walk the martial path. It involves tempering of their bodies with true essence and is separated into six stages: the 1st stage is Strength Training, 2nd is Flesh Training, 3rd is Viscera Training, 4th is Altering Muscle, 5th is Bone Forging and 6th is Pulse Condensation Stage.
In Sky Spill Continent, Physical Training Manuals were generally for one stage only, but the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians was capable of propelling one from the Strength Training Stage to the Pulse Condensation Stage.
But there was one even more thing that would shock an average person.
Within the Sky Spill Continent, Pulse Condensation marks the end of the Body Transformation Stage and afterwards one would begin to gather true essence in their dantian - first in the Houtian realm and then in the Xiantian realm. For most people the Pulse Condensation Stage is a hurdle, one that they cannot cross; they are forever stuck in the Bone Forging Stage and are unable to take another step forward in their entire life.
It is a commonly accepted knowledge that Pulse Condensation is the limit for the body transformation training for humans, but according to the 'Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians', there exists another stage beyond Pulse Condensation – Tempering Marrow.
Above the Tempering Marrow Stage, there are many others.
Eight Hidden Gates!
Nine Stars of the Dao Palace!
Regardless of Tempering Marrow or the Eight Hidden Gates, neither one of them would prevent a martial artist from entering the Houtian realm and above. This gives one a far higher degree of combat strength compared to others. The benefits are self-evident.
Thinking of all this, Lin Yang laughed. In the novel this Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians manual was Lin Ming's foundation in the lower realm and the reason behind his incredible starting strength.
A moment later Lin Yang bitterly smiled as he thought of the later stages of Body Transformation. He remembered that the body transformation cultivation in this world involved unimaginable amounts of pain. But after thinking about it for a moment, he only coldly laughed. He would deal with things as they come, and he would certainly do his best.
At this moment he was fervently excited to start practicing.
But before he began, he checked his pocket within his bosom for the Magic Cube.
He was not too surprised when he found out that the Magic Cube had disappeared. However, what surprised him was that the mysterious sphere also disappeared!
Lin Yang searched his body and felt that something strange was on his chest and forehead.
First he took off his clothes and found a strange symbol on the skin of his left chest. The symbol is exactly the same as the mysterious symbol on the surface of the Magic Cube.
It appeared that the Magic Cube had entered his body just like the Magic Sphere.
Lin Yang tried to summon the Magic Cube, but to no avail. He wasn't surprised by this either. He knew that at this moment only Mo Eversnow could control the Magic Cube, and he would likely not be able to use it himself at all with cultivation of those in the lower realms.
'Whenever Lin Ming in the novel gained access to the Magic Cube and swallowed a new soul fragment, it was actually because Mo Eversnow's divine soul within allowed it. She did this whenever he acquired the blood essence of a stronger and stronger martial artist, encouraging him to seek the blood essence of powerhouses in order to help her recover her divine soul,' Lin Yang thought.
'If I am able to obtain the blood essence of powerhouses earlier, or if I am able to make a deal with Mo Eversnow and convince her to help me grow, then I would be able to gain access to soul fragments and high-level martial skills earlier than Lin Ming did...'
After having these thoughts, Lin Yang let out a breath and then focused on checking his forehead next. He found a small hand-mirror in his room and saw that there was now a mark at the center of his forehead.
The mark was a golden circle about one-inch in diameter. It had wavy patterns beaming out of it that resembled flames. When looking at it one might think that it symbolized the sun.
Lin Yang frowned. He sent his soul force to investigate the mark, sinking his consciousness into it.
The sun mark welcomed Lin Yang's soul force, and not a moment later his vision blurred and everything fell into darkness.
…
When Lin Yang opened his eyes again, he realized that he was now standing in an empty space. As he looked around, the space seemed endless, like a night sky.
"Hello!" An enthusiastic voice of a little girl suddenly called out.
Lin Yang was startled. In front of him, a little girl appeared floating in the air, looking at him and smiling.
The girl seemed around eight or nine years old, with snowy white skin glowing with pinkness, looking extremely cute. Her shiny large black eyes emitted an innocent gaze. What was most eye-catching was that behind her back was a snow-white and pure fox tail; it was furry and fluffy, extremely cute and made one want to play with it.
The girl put her short arms behind her back and courtly introduced herself with a cute voice, "My name is Littlefox. I'm the artifact spirit of the Magic Sphere."
"Ah, the Magic Sphere?" Lin Yang quietly murmured. He realized that this special dimension should have been inside the mysterious sphere that he found alongside the Magic Cube. As for the Magic Sphere, it was what the little fox girl called it; it did not seem to be the Grandmist Spirit Bead from the novel…
"Yes, you can simply call it the Magic Sphere. Simple names are best, don't you think?" Littlefox smiled innocently as she asked, pausing for a while. She then coughed into her little fist and her smile then turned slightly mysterious as she then continued, "Since by a stroke of fate you managed to acquire the Magic Sphere, you have been selected as its potential future owner."
'A potential future owner?' Lin Yang was slightly surprised. He thought that he had already acquired some kind of treasure, but there seemed to be conditions.
Littlefox explained, "If you want to gain full control of the Magic Sphere and become my Master, then you will need to pass a series of tests left behind by my first Master who was also the creator of the Magic Sphere. Master collectively called these tests the Tower of God. It's called this because a person that is able to pass all floors and reach the peak would become a true god!"
Littlefox's large eyes glittered as she looked at Lin Yang with expectations.
Lin Yang was slightly startled. The person who would pass all tests would become a true god! This cheat item Magic Sphere, just where did it come from? Is this really something that should be in this world?
Littlefox seemed satisfied with Lin Yang's reaction. She smiled and continued: "The Tower of God consists of multiple maps, or you can call them 'floors'. On each floor there would be monsters, enemies or bosses that you need to kill, riddles that you need to solve or other obstacles that you need to overcome. Each enemy you kill will leave behind items that can help you grow stronger, and when you clear a floor while fulfilling certain conditions you will receive very very special rewards prepared by the first Master."
The mysterious smile on Littlefox's lips bloomed as she spoke of the 'special rewards'. After a while, she said as she stared straight at Lin Yang, "Aren't you curious what the special rewards are? Are you?"
As he looked at Littlefox, Lin Yang was slightly taken aback. That little magical loli was visibly itching to tell him about the special rewards and only impatiently waited for him to ask what they were.
Lin Yang lightly coughed and curiously asked, "What are the rewards?"
"Haha, it's a surprise!" Littlefox chuckled.
Lin Yang was speechless.
Littlefox continued chuckling as she held her tummy, visibly seeming to very much enjoy Lin Yang's reactions. After a while, she smiled and said, "But I can tell you that the rewards are very, very amazing! However, there's no point talking about it because to gain access to the first floor you will first need to pass the tutorial."
Littlefox quickly clapped her hands twice and the terrain transformed, turning into a huge square open battle arena.
Lin Yang found himself standing in the middle of an arena stage paved with gray-white stones. The arena was huge, seeming to be one thousand feet wide.
The sky was clear blue with cotton-like white clouds sparingly floating in the air. The surroundings were peaceful. It seemed as if it was an arena of a martial house in the mountains.
Apart from Lin Yang, on the sparse arena stage, there was only Littlefox flying in the air.
Littlefox clapped her little hands once again and a person appeared in front of Lin Yang.
That person looked exactly like Lin Yang. He had squeezed fists and seemed prepared to fight as ruthless light flashed in his eyes as he looked at Lin Yang with killing intent.
Lin Yang was startled. The simulacrum in front of him had cultivation at the Third Stage of Body Transformation! Was he supposed to fight this with his First Stage cultivation? Is this the tutorial?
Littlefox explained, "The simulacrum in front of you possesses master-level hand to hand martial arts and weapon wielding skills. To pass the tutorial floor you will need to defeat a weapon wielding simulacrum with a weapon of your choice. The higher your cultivation is, the higher the cultivation of the simulacrum, so it is purely the test of your fundamentals. Because the way that mortals and martial artists fight is different, the minimal cultivation of the enemy is set at the Early Third Stage of Body Transformation."
A light stab and a light cut is often enough to seriously wound a mortal's body during an armed fight, but martial artists use true essence to protect their bodies and to power their attacks, so the way they fight is fundamentally different.
For example, a passive block with a sword is not enough for a martial artist to block a powerful sword strike of another martial artist, while a casual counter of sliding the blade toward your enemy might not be strong enough to wound the opponent. Instead of cautiously approaching each other while trading blows like mortals do, martial artists would usually exchange powerful energy attacks, powerful blows or swift wind blades at one another, and the stronger or faster one would usually win.
In Lin Yang's perspective as a transmigrator, fights among martial artists are simply more flashy than back on Earth. If one learned sword techniques and sparred with a sword as a mortal, then they would develop bad habits as a martial artist.
For this reason Lin Yang had only practiced with a spear mostly by himself so far while Lin Yang's cultivation was still low, practicing his technique, precision and speed. In addition, it isn't like he could afford a good teacher…
Littlefox smiled and continued, "Of course, with your current strength you have no chance of defeating the simulacrum generated by the Magic Sphere. What is your weapon of choice?"
"The spear," Lin Yang answered without hesitation.
Littlefox nodded as if she already expected it. She said, "This is for you."
Two jade slips, one red and one green, appeared floating above Littlefox's hand and slowly flew toward Lin Yang.
Lin Yang's eyes flashed as he caught the two jade slips. He restrained his burning curiosity of rudely checking the jade slips and he looked at Littlefox. He said, "Thank you, Littlefox. Mmm, Miss Littlefox, my name is Lin Yang. Is there a special way that I should address you?"
He knew that Littlefox seemed to have complete control over the Magic Sphere at this moment and probably had imaginable power by herself. Since he was not yet acknowledged as the Magic Sphere's owner, Lin Yang worried that he might need to be more respectful to the artifact spirit or it might end badly for him.
"Just Littlefox is fine! Hahaha!" Littlefox giggled. She seemed to be strangely amused by Lin Yang's courteous behavior.
Lin Yang forced a smile. Since Littlefox didn't seem to care, he sent his soul force into the red jade slip first to inspect it.
He soon learned the contents of the jade slip, it was called the: Soaring Dragon Spearmanship Fundamentals!