Chapter 144: Chapter 101: Activating Qi Blood Level Talent
His Qi Blood had also reached the Mid Stage of the Iron Skin Realm.
Upon reaching Perfection, Jiang Che also successfully activated a host of Talent Skills.
Among them, Cloud-Stacking Fist unlocked the Talent: Stacking Force.
[Stacking Force: Passive Skill, conditional trigger.]
[Description: Consecutive attacks against the same target will continuously increase damage dealt, up to a maximum of 200%. The effect will disappear once you cease your assault.]
Jiang Che had tested it; the effect could be triggered with either his fists or his saber.
The window for the "cease assault" condition was about one minute.
In other words, if he didn’t strike his target for a full minute, he would have to start building up the effect all over again.
To stack the effect up to 200%, he needed to land about twenty consecutive blows.
Jiang Che was quite pleased with this Skill.
After all, this Skill could be stacked with the double-damage critical hit from Break Extreme.
That meant a grand total of four times the damage!
As for Flying Swallow Step, reaching Perfection once again activated [Divine Movement].
Since he already had this Talent, the new activation simply enhanced the previous effect.
A Qinggong technique from the Qi Blood Realm provided a much more significant boost.
Divine Movement’s bonus acceleration jumped directly from 25% to 75%.
This brought Jiang Che’s speed to a whole new level.
He reckoned that now, not even a Force Integration Artist would necessarily be able to catch him.
Then came Prison-Suppressing Saber and Flowing Light Saber. Upon reaching Perfection, both activated [Saber Momentum].
[Saber Momentum: Passive Skill, conditional trigger.]
[Description: When you grip your saber, your opponents will be intimidated by your presence, rendering them unable to fight at their full potential.]
To test its specific effects, Jiang Che had tried out his saber on some Horse Bandits.
Anyone below the Iron Skin Realm, upon seeing Jiang Che grip his saber, was instantly scared stiff, unable to move a muscle.
Those at the Early and Mid Stages of the Iron Skin Realm could still move, but their actions were sluggish, and their attacks were limp.
Those at the Late Iron Skin Realm and its Peak fared much better, but they still hesitated when attacking, exposing more flaws in their defense.
As for the Force Integration level, he hadn’t tested it against a person, only against that tiger-like Black Beast.
The effect was minuscule. There was only a barely perceptible hesitation in its initial attack.
Even so, Jiang Che was very satisfied.
In a battle between masters, a momentary hesitation could create a massive advantage.
It was safe to say that Saber Momentum would always put him in a position to strike first.
As for Shadow Tracing Step, it activated a new Talent: [Invisibility].
[Invisibility: Passive Skill, conditional trigger.]
[Description: While standing motionless in shadows, your presence will be greatly suppressed, making others likely to overlook you. Moving will negate this effect.]
Looking at this Talent, Jiang Che was inexplicably reminded of the impression Shadow Owl gave off.
Combined with Omen and Divine Movement, he felt his ability to stay alive had improved yet again.
Finally, upon reaching Perfection, Eight Sufferings Vajra Zen activated [Fury].
[Fury: Passive Skill, conditional trigger.]
[Description: When consecutively attacked by the same target, you will continuously accumulate rage. The more rage you have, the greater your strength, up to a 200% increase. The effect disappears once the opponent ceases their assault.]
This Skill was practically a mirror image of [Stacking Force].
The only difference was that attacking was replaced with taking damage.
The more blows he took, the higher his attack power became.
Similarly, Jiang Che determined that if he wasn’t hit for a minute, the stacked effect would disappear.
Jiang Che calculated that with all his Passive Talents stacked, his theoretical maximum output was roughly nine times the force of a normal strike.
And his normal strike was already on par with someone at the Peak of the Iron Skin Realm.
To multiply that by nine...
Jiang Che wasn’t even sure exactly how strong he was anymore.
He felt that if he were to face Cao Tieliu again now, he could probably defeat him with ease.
However, if his opponent were a Force Integration Artist, he still didn’t know how well he would fare.
As for the Five Poison Technique, he was limited by a lack of materials and couldn’t practice it for long. Thus, it remained at the Minor Achievement Stage, its effects less potent than simply cutting someone down with his saber.
Since there were no more Cultivation Techniques for him to practice at the moment and his Qi Blood was progressing slowly, he had no idea when he might reach the Peak.
Therefore, Jiang Che decided to seek out some new Martial Arts to master.
Of course, he was the only one who could train in such a manner.
Most people would, at most, focus on a main Cultivation Technique and a single Qinggong.
Being too greedy meant not only that one couldn’t master any single technique to its limit...
...but even if one did, there wasn’t much point.
Jiang Che had discovered this himself.
He had now mastered two Saber Techniques to Perfection.
But in a real fight, he could only use one Saber Technique at a time.
Learning more Saber Techniques would only deepen his understanding of them; it wouldn’t stack his combat power.
Unless one planned on becoming a scholar of saber techniques for research...
...it was actually sufficient to master a single technique to its absolute limit.
Of course, what Jiang Che wanted wasn’t the Saber Technique itself, but the Talent activated upon reaching Perfection.
That was the true source of his power.
After sheathing his saber and changing his clothes, Jiang Che headed to the Martial Arts Hall as usual.
Some time ago, Jiang Ling had also successfully achieved Sensing for her Qi Blood and entered the Bull Skin Realm.
She had done much better than he had at the start.
Upon arriving at the Martial Arts Hall, Jiang Che suddenly realized that it seemed less crowded than before.
He found Luo Kun frowning over something that looked like a ledger.
"Fewer and fewer..."
he muttered under his breath.
"Master!"
Jiang Che greeted him with a respectful bow.
Seeing Jiang Che arrive, Luo Kun put down the ledger, his face instantly breaking into a smile.
After a few moments of small talk, Luo Kun said abruptly,
"By the way, if you don’t have anything urgent, try not to leave the city for a while."
"Is it because of the Horse Bandits?" Jiang Che asked.
Ever since the Horse Bandits had occupied the farmlands and defeated the County Soldiers six months ago, they had repeated the tactic, capturing several more Earth Castles that guarded the agricultural lands.
However, the Zhao Family later stepped up to organize the Piracy Eradication Alliance, uniting the other four major Noble Families, as well as the majority of the city’s influential gentry, merchants, Gangs, and Martial Arts Halls.
They collaborated with the Government Office to jointly resist the Horse Bandits.
Only then did the situation begin to improve.
However, as the instigator of the Piracy Eradication Alliance, the Zhao Family seized the opportunity to enrich itself, annexing many businesses within the city.
They were now at the height of their power, having become the number one Noble Family in Lin Yuan City.
Although many were dissatisfied, with the external threat of the Horse Bandits, they could only swallow their resentment and endure.
Luo Kun nodded. "I’ve heard rumors recently that the Horse Bandits are planning something big."
"I understand."
Then, Luo Kun brought over a neatly wrapped, oil-paper package.
"Here’s this month’s twenty pounds of Exotic Beast Meat. Take it."
Jiang Che accepted it with a smile. "Thank you, Master!"
After chatting a bit more about Jiang Ling’s training progress, Jiang Che took his leave.
Luo Kun picked up the ledger again and sighed.
Over the past six months, the situation in the city had steadily worsened.
Because he was unwilling to join the Piracy Eradication Alliance and be ordered around at the Zhao Family’s whim...
...the Zhao Family had used various schemes to swallow up many of Luo Kun’s businesses.
Furthermore, due to the city’s ongoing economic decline, more of his shops had gone out of business.
On top of that, because of the food shortage in the city, there wasn’t enough grain to feed the Exotic Beasts.
The production of Middle-Grade Exotic Beast Meat from his operations was also impacted, causing a sharp decline in output.
To maintain Jiang Che’s monthly supply of twenty pounds of Middle-Grade Exotic Beast Meat...
...he had no choice but to reduce both his own and Gong Yulei’s shares to just five pounds.
These days, Gong Yulei rarely came to the Martial Arts Hall.
After their previous sparring match, Gong Yulei had realized the huge gap between himself and Jiang Che. For a while, he had lost his arrogance and trained diligently at the Martial Arts Hall.
Luo Kun had been very happy about that.
But with the rise of the Piracy Eradication Alliance, the Fish Dragon Gang joined its ranks.
Gong Yulei seized the opportunity to align himself with the Zhao Family, and his old arrogance returned.
With the Zhao Family’s patronage, he naturally looked down on the meager portion of Exotic Beast Meat the Martial Arts Hall could provide.
Despite his own friction with the Zhao Family, Luo Kun didn’t forcibly interfere with his disciple’s choice.
He only advised him to be careful not to make himself a target and to learn to conceal his true strength.
Gong Yulei had agreed on the surface but clearly didn’t take the advice to heart.
Luo Kun felt utterly helpless about it.
He could only hope Gong Yulei wouldn’t get himself killed.
...
After returning home, Jiang Che put away the Exotic Beast Meat, then fished out a Silver Mask from under his bed.
It was the token for Xuanji Tower that Shao Jianbo had given him.
He had never returned it, but now it would come in handy.
After placing the mask and some gold bars into a bag, Jiang Che headed out.
He planned to visit Xuanji Tower to see if he could buy any Secret Manuals.
