Chapter 115: Chapter 92: Overlapping Waves Form
Crystal Card after Crystal Card was placed on the scanning area. With a soft hum and the lighting of a progress bar, the vast energy stored within the cards flowed through secure conduits, where it was compressed and converted into a pure data stream before being deposited into Li Wen’s virtual account.
The process lasted for a full ten minutes.
When the light from the final Crystal Card dimmed, a message popped up on the tablet, confirming the transfer was complete.
Li Wen took a deep breath and opened his account homepage.
Personal Information Panel:
Name: Li Wen (ID: 202507170800)
Level: V4 (Core Layer, A-Class Contract Seed)
Kindling Points Balance: 6,179,930
Core Cultivation Points Balance: 55,000,000
Privileges: Bluestone Branch Hall A-Class Core Seed Contract (Details >>)
"Phew..." Staring at the glaring yet reassuring number—6,179,930—in the Kindling Points column, Li Wen heaved a long sigh of relief. The sense of urgency that had been gnawing at him ever since he started planning his resource consumption finally eased, if only slightly.
Over six million. It was a number that would make an ordinary person’s jaw drop.
But only Li Wen knew how precarious this figure truly was.
To maintain absolute focus and the high-intensity deductive support of his Primordial Spirit while pushing for a higher realm in his blade techniques, a daily bottle of a Level 3 Spiritual Recovery Potion was a mandatory expense.
Thanks to the 30% discount granted by his V4 privileges, the cost of one bottle was a terrifying 140,000 Kindling Points. This expense alone amounted to a staggering 4,200,000 a month.
The six-million-plus points he had now, assuming he was frugal and made no other major purchases of high-energy resources or equipment, would only be enough to support him training at full capacity for a little over a month.
’For now, a Level 2 Qi and Blood Potion is enough for my physical body’s improvement. Otherwise...’
He didn’t dare to dwell on the cost of using Level 3 potions for both. That would be a true bottomless pit. At this moment, the promise of triple the resource support from an S-Class contract became intensely tangible, a goal he yearned for with all his being.
’The second mock exam is in half a month. Top three! I have to place in the top three!’ The pressure for resources was an invisible whip, lashing his nerves. His desire to grow stronger had never felt so acute.
After finishing the point transfer and suppressing his distracting thoughts, Li Wen felt his stomach rumbling. He habitually headed toward the campus cafeteria.
Although his A-Class contract privileges allowed him to order high-energy nutritional meals from the Kindling Mall—dishes that cost hundreds of points and were brimming with energy—the habits he’d formed over many years were deeply ingrained.
For him, the familiar chatter of people, the scent of cooking, and the simple food of the cafeteria were a source of relaxation and grounding.
After dinner, Li Wen returned to Hongyi Building, back to his personal Sky City for his ascent—the private Martial Arts Room on the top floor.
After a short rest to let his hearty meal convert into energy, he lay down in the silver virtual pod that connected to the vast virtual world.
VMMMM—the familiar sensation of weightlessness faded as his consciousness landed once more in a brilliant, virtual ocean of stars. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a quiet, scholarly space within the majestic [World of Cultivation Technique Inheritance].
’One hundred percent mastery of the Shadow-Stealing Form, and I’ve stepped into the initial stage of the Blade Power Realm. It’s time.’ Li Wen’s eyes burned with intensity as he walked directly toward the core pillar of light in the blade technique section of the [Skill Inheritance Zone].
With practiced ease, he summoned the projection of the virtual mentor, a figure with a cold, stern demeanor and a gaze as sharp as a blade.
"Inheritor, of the five forms in the first volume of the Flowing Rainbow Shocking Magpie Chapter, you have fully mastered the essence of the Shadow-Stealing Form and entered the Power Realm. Do you wish to begin comprehending the remaining four forms?" The virtual mentor’s voice was as placid as ever, yet it carried a note of respect for the powerful.
Li Wen nodded, and with a flicker of his will, the virtual mentor began to move without another word.
The first form: Heaven-Dropping Form.
The long blade in the mentor’s hand seemed to channel the power of the entire sky. He slashed, unleashing not a single beam of light, but a sweeping curtain of iridescent light. It was like a celestial waterfall flowing in reverse, immense in its power and covering a vast area, making it ideal for group battles or sealing off a space.
’The Shadow-Stealing Form is the pinnacle of speed, while this one is the pinnacle of breadth. It’s powerful, but not what I need right now.’ Li Wen instantly made his judgment. Group combat wasn’t his focus, and a form like this would undoubtedly consume an enormous amount of energy.
The second form: Guan Yue Form.
The mentor’s movements became as solemn and immovable as a mountain. The light from his blade was no longer a diffuse rainbow but had condensed into a thick, intensely focused, golden-red pillar of light—like a divine drill capable of boring through mountains! It was heavy, pure, and incomparably ferocious—the ultimate expression of fortification-breaching and armor-piercing power.
’This form is the pinnacle of solid, heavy power. Its ability to break through defenses is unmatched, but it places extremely high demands on both the strength attribute and explosive force...’ Sensing its terrifying piercing power, Li Wen subconsciously compared it to his own style, which favored speed and sharpness, and he hesitated.
The third form: Defensive Form.
The mentor’s figure became ethereal and elusive, his blade movements circular and seamless. The seven-colored streams of light no longer radiated outward but instead spun and interwove at high speed with him at the center, instantly forming a massive, inward-spiraling vortex of glazed, rainbow-hued light.
’This form emphasizes defense; it’s an absolute defensive skill. It finds defense in motion, creating a seemingly impenetrable guard, a world of its own... But what I need right now is offense.’ Li Wen craved an explosive technique, something that could decide a battle in a single blow.
The fourth form: Overlapping Waves Form.
The moment the virtual mentor assumed the opening stance, Li Wen’s jade-like Primordial Spirit resonated intensely! A sensation of power, suppressed to its absolute limit before erupting violently, swept through him!
The muscles across the mentor’s body instantly bulged and knotted, his qi and blood surging like a furious river. He took one step forward, his long blade slashing not in a straight line, but in a mysterious, vibrating arc! For a split second, time itself seemed to warp!
One, two, three... A full seven condensed phantoms of blade light, each a different color, didn’t appear in sequence. Instead, within the space of a single millisecond, they impossibly materialized and stacked upon one another along the blade’s trajectory!
These were no mere afterimages. Each "wave" of a different color contained its own distinct yet perfectly integrated and terrifying force!
Some contained pure concussive force, some added a rotational, tearing power, and others caused explosive disintegration... The moment they appeared, they achieved perfect synchronization at a specific resonant frequency!
BOOM—!
The instant the seventh and final phantom, a dark purple blade light, completed the stack, the entire virtual training space seemed to shudder violently.
The seven layers of force fused completely and erupted.
The attack was no longer a line, but a boiling, surging, and furiously cascading wave of iridescent, overlapping power.
Its terrifying might was like a heavenly river bursting its dikes, like a thousand-mile mountain range toppling into ruin.
The waterfall of energy, so dense it was almost tangible, crashed down with irresistible force. The thick, special-alloy pillar ahead—a test target capable of withstanding an ordinary attack from the mid-stage of the Power Realm—was struck. In that instant of contact, it was as if it had been hit by countless giant hammers simultaneously.
It let out a thunderous groan, unable to bear the load. It wasn’t sliced apart. Instead, the ferocious power battered and compressed it, shattering it inch by inch until it was nothing but fine dust. As the dust cloud and iridescent light dissipated, all that remained was a massive, deep crater.
Absolute, violent suppression. The ultimate expression of domineering power. It could shatter cities and break armor; anything in its path would be swept aside.
"This is it!" Li Wen’s breathing quickened, and an unprecedented glint of brilliance shone in his eyes.
The desire for the Martial Dao of the blade, deep within his Primordial Spirit, was thoroughly ignited.
His jade-like Primordial Spirit spun at high speed, capturing and analyzing every detail of that fleeting moment: every transformation of force, the profound mystery of its stacking and resonant frequency.
This was exactly what he needed right now.
His Shadow-Stealing Form had already reached the apex of speed, enough to handle the swift attacks and evasive maneuvers of most opponents at his level.
But against enemies protected by heavy armor, sturdy shields, thick defenses, or powerful Energy Fields, relying solely on high-speed slashes would be far less effective. He might not even be able to break through their defenses at all.
The appearance of the Overlapping Waves Form perfectly compensated for this shortcoming.
With its overwhelming, ferocious power and unstoppable, explosive impact, it formed the crucial "sledgehammer" of his fighting style.
One for speed, one for power. One for finesse, one for weight. Two peaks standing side by side! This was the complementary combination that would allow his combat prowess to take a qualitative leap.
"Please teach me the Flowing Rainbow Shocking Magpie Chapter: Overlapping Waves Form!" Li Wen declared without hesitation, his tone resolute.
To break into the provincial top three, he needed a stronger, more comprehensive set of skills. And the "seven layers of the Overlapping Waves" was the sledgehammer he needed to smash open the gates to that goal.
Under the virtual mentor’s meticulous, personal instruction, which guided the resonance of the world’s energy, Li Wen’s mind became completely immersed in the ferocious yet precise world of the Overlapping Waves Form’s seven-layered power exertion.
His will, forged in the initial stage of the Blade Power Realm, was the key he used to try and unlock the gate to this ultimate technique of power expression.
The deductive support abilities of his jade-like Primordial Spirit were pushed to their limit, endlessly simulating and analyzing the principles behind the power-stacking and resonant explosion that defied all common sense.
Cultivation was not accomplished overnight.
Even with a top-tier inheritance and the aid of his Primordial Spirit, the difficulty of the Overlapping Waves Form far surpassed that of the Shadow-Stealing Form.
Every time he tried to mobilize his power to simulate that stacking rhythm, his qi and blood would surge violently, and his meridians felt as if they were being torn apart by a great force. Worse, he found it nearly impossible to precisely control the fusion of seven different types of force in a single instant.
Time slipped by, marked by repeated failures and repeated analyses by his jade-like Primordial Spirit.
When his training time in the virtual space was about to end, Li Wen was exhausted, but his eyes were sharper than ever.
He had finally taken a concrete first step in understanding the Overlapping Waves Form:
[Skills: Blade Technique · Power Realm (20%), Five Luminaries Celestial Rainbow Skill · Flowing Rainbow Five Forms (Shadow-Stealing Form 100%, Overlapping Waves Form 1%)]
Although the starting point was extremely low, this breakthrough from 0 to 1% was the first arduous step up the towering mountain that was the "seven layers of the Overlapping Waves."
Li Wen exited the virtual world. His physical body felt an intense sense of depletion from overexerting his Spiritual Power, but his mind was filled with the image of that ferocious, iridescent, overlapping wave.
Since only the practice of his basic technique remained for the evening, Li Wen didn’t take another Starlight Concentration Liquid, instead just downing a Level 1 spiritual potion.
Before signing his contract, he would have pinched every one of his two thousand points until they screamed. Now... he was downing a two-thousand-point Level 1 spiritual potion as if it were a common beverage.
...
The ferocious Overlapping Waves Form he had just gotten his first glimpse of in the virtual world—that destructive power of its overlapping waves—had been seared into his mind. Even after a short rest in the real world, he was eager to try and channel even a fraction of its power.
However, haste makes waste.
Li Wen knew the importance of his foundation well. He suppressed the impatience in his heart, settled into his stance, and began his daily, unfailing practice of his basic Cultivation Technique—the Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill.
