Chapter 53: Chapter 50: Martial Body Failure, Shapeshifting Skill Success (Request to Continue Reading)_1
The Wu Family’s failure in cooking the Mutated Nine-section Heart Meat cheered the Liu family.
Good news quickly followed. Two days later, word came out from the Liu family that they had successfully cooked the Mutated Nine-section Heart Meat. They were preparing for suitable candidates to eat it, attempting to breach the realm of the Martial Marquis.
In the ranks of the feudal lords, there is no shortage of people who have broken through the limits five times and are overflowing with Qi-blood. What they lack is the Eighteen Bone-penetrating Methods.
Unfortunately, after more than ten days, the news leaked. The expert from the Liu family had failed in his attempt to become a Martial Marquis. His bones exploded, backlash occurred, and he was killed when his meridians were entirely severed.
The news that many limit-breaking warriors were disheartened soon followed.
Cultivating martial arts is as difficult as ascending to heaven, with dangers lurking every step. A slight negligence can cause one to fall midway.
This is the case even amongst the direct descendants of feudal lords, who have such excellent conditions; needless to say, for ordinary martial artists.
The upheaval over the Mutated Heart Meat ended with both feudal lords achieving nothing.
Especially for the Liu family, they even lost a master.
Every day, aside from Lu Yan’s duties of patrolling the streets as a Red-clad Guard, he dedicates himself entirely to cultivation.
His possession of thirty-five thousand silvers, naturally, should not be wasted.
He let the Green Bamboo Gang and Fierce Tiger Gang disperse every day to purchase Dried Martial Food from the Linglan Chamber of Commerce. He still sticks to consuming two to three jin per day, using it for cultivation.
Before reaching the transcendent level with his Antelope Kick, Lu Yan doesn’t need the aid of martial food; ordinary meat suffices. Therefore, he uses the energy from the martial food to improve his Iron Sand Palm.
Eventually, after more than a month, when he improved his Antelope Kick to reach the transcendent level, the Iron Sand Palm had already achieved ’Unity of Man and Martial Arts’.
Once again he completed the cultivation of a martial body, and once again received a gift from heaven and earth.
However, this time, the range of enhancement was quite small.
The capacity of Qi-blood and the strength of the body had only increased by around 10%.
Lu Yan had anticipated this. Given his powerful foundation, the fact that cultivating a third-rate martial art could improve him by 10% is already quite good.
For instance, if an ordinary person’s Qi-blood capacity and physical strength index are ten.
Then, after integrating the four martial bodies, Lu Yan’s index had reached an astonishing 40 - four times that of a regular person.
After increasing it by 10%, about 4 points were added to the index which is not insignificant, almost equalling to half of the typical index.
His Qi-blood total capacity, on the other hand, was amplified by almost 20%, becoming denser and bringing him a step closer to overflowing Qi-blood. This also saved a lot of time and martial food.
He then started to use the energy from the martial food to improve the Antelope Kick.
Time flew by as he accumulated Qi-blood while practicing martial arts for over a month.
The Antelope Kick successfully reached the Unity of Man and Martial Arts level. He cultivated the Acquired Martial Body for the sixth time, but this time, the improvement was even less.
The capacity of Qi-blood and the body’s strength increased by only about 5%.
The total amount of Qi-blood only increased by 10%, with just barely more than the Qi-blood capacity being improved. He was half-step closer to an overflow of Qi-blood.
Lu Yan knew that the effect of cultivating into a martial body with third-rate martial arts would get smaller and smaller as he advanced. Towards the end, he speculated there would be no effect at all.
This guess was quickly confirmed.
After one more month, nearly four months since returning from Qingyang City, the Savage Tiger Fist also reached Unity of Man and Martial Arts.
This time, there were no anomalies. There wasn’t a grant from heaven and earth, nor was there a feeling of cultivating a martial body.
All was silent.
The third-rate martial arts had lost their effect entirely.
It seems that only second-rate or first-rate martial arts would be effective when cultivated into a martial body.
However, achieving Unity of Man and Martial Arts in three third-rate martial arts consecutively triggered a fusion, resulting in a new second-rate martial art.
Like the Gale Hand, it possesses the characteristics of all three third-rate martial arts but has more power.
Lu Yan named it the Antelope Hand.
"For a second-rate martial art achieved by combining three ’Unity of Man and Martial Arts’, why is there no reaction?"
Lu Yan was initially full of anticipation, hoping that the three second-rate martial arts, each achieved through Unity of Man and Martial Arts, could blend into a first-rate martial art.
But there was no movement from the three second-rate Martial Arts Avatars at all.
"Is it either that the second-rate martial arts cannot merge into a first-rate martial art, or that I still need more second-rate martial arts? Or is there a specific condition that needs to be met?"
Lu Yan guessed.
If more second-rate martial arts were needed, it was understandable.
After all, the value of first-rate martial arts far exceeded that of second-rate ones. One type of first-rate martial art could lay the foundation for a Martial Marquis-level feudal lord.
Considering the prices, on the market, the price of a second-rate martial art was approximately three times that of a third-rate martial art, but the price of a first-rate martial art was far more than three times that of a second-rate martial art.
Of course, the fusion quantity couldn’t be compared purely based on the price, but it could be used as a reference. The specific details had to be figured out step by step later on.
As for the Shape-shifting Technique, after nearly four months of comprehension, he had finally made a breakthrough and condensed a Martial Art Avatar.
However, what frustrated Lu Yan was that the energy needed to enhance the Shape-shifting Technique was alarmingly high; it was three times that of other second-rate martial arts.
For other second-rate martial arts, at the primary stage, if one didn’t cultivate Qi-blood and allowed all the energy from the Martial Food to be absorbed by the Dao Book, one pound of fresh Martial Food could enhance progress by 10%.
But for the Shape-shifting Technique at the same stage, one pound of fresh martial food only increased the progress by a little over 3%.
If Qi-blood was being cultivated at the same time, the rate of progress would be halved.
Even though Lu Yan ate two pounds of dried Martial Food daily, it took him more than ten days to achieve a state of slight achievement.
When he applied the Shape-shifting Technique, his facial muscles trembled slightly, allowing him to change his appearance slightly without external intervention.
However, the transformation wasn’t complete. Someone who knew him well could still recognize him if they paid careful attention.
It wasn’t enough. If he wanted to completely change his appearance, he would have to cultivate this technique more deeply.
But after the Shape-shifting Technique achieved a slight accomplishment, the progress slowed down even more.
Having experienced the exhilarating speed of progress while practicing third-rate martial arts, the snail-like pace of the Shape-shifting Technique, made Lu Yan uncomfortable.
He couldn’t help but start missing Dao Food.
Dao Food was quite refreshing. After eating the Dao Book, the avatar would directly enter a state of enlightenment, and the rate of progress was like riding a rocket.
However, Lu Yan had no immediate plans to venture into the forbidden area again.
Despite his significant improvements since his last trip there, achieving unity between man and martial arts for Vajra Body and Antelope Kick which greatly increased his survival capability, he still didn’t have any confidence when facing a Martial Marquis.
Furthermore, he had plenty of silver at hand. He could easily buy Martial Food slowly, cultivate at his own pace. There was no rush.
At most, he just had to spend more time. After all, he was still young.
In order to survive in such turbulences, stability and caution were sometimes more critical than martial prowess.
However, while he couldn’t get more Dao Food, he could try to get more Martial Food.
Lu Yan thought of Zhou Zhengkong.
The Zhou Clan was renowned for their martial chefs.
Despite the ongoing prejudice against Zhou Zhengkong’s line, Zhou Zhengkong was a five-time Limit Breaking warrior and an officer, so it shouldn’t be hard for him to get some Martial Food and dried Martial Food.
After finishing his daily activities, Lu Yan returned home, told his parents he had something to do, and set off for Qingyang City.
After getting away from populated places, Lu Yan moved at full speed. With a slight bend in his legs, he propelled himself forward like a spring. His leap reached about six meters high and he landed around ten meters away.
At the moment of touching the ground, his legs flexed slightly, the muscles trembled slightly, rapidly compressing and vibrating to dissipate the impact.
Only a slight sound was heard upon landing, a great improvement from before.
In the past, if he jumped high and then fell, he would definitely leave two small holes on the ground.
This was naturally thanks to the Antelope Kick.
During the practice of the Antelope Kick, the muscles in the legs could be constantly tempered, making them elastic and resembling the legs of an antelope.
Especially after levelling up and unblocking many subsidiary channels, Qi-blood penetrated the muscles and bones from the subsidiary channels, persistently improving the strength and elasticity of the muscles and bones.
After merging with the Antelope Hand, the effect was even better. As long as he practiced and circulated the Qi-blood through the subsidiary channels, this tempering process would continue.
Although it was still far inferior to the agility of that female martial artist, Lu Yan’s travel speed had significantly improved.
The journey of one hundred and eighty miles took him just three hours.
Of course, Lu Yan had rested twice during the journey. Otherwise, with his Qi-blood and stamina, he wouldn’t have been able to sustain it for that long.
Seeing Zhou Zhengkong again in the Management Mansion, Lu Yan had arrived.
