Chapter 117: Chapter 24: Secret Technique and Suggestion
The Spirit Pill was called the "Four Spirits Jade Liquid Pill." It was refined from four types of Spirit Plants mixed with Spiritual Bee Wax. There were three pills in total, and each one possessed four effects: healing, boosting qi, Spirit-Storage, and dispelling evil. The pills resembled Jade Pearls—round, fragrant, and quite cute.
Holding one pill in the mouth and activating it with Spiritual Power would slowly heal minor injuries, accelerate the circulation of Spiritual Power, nourish the soul, and expel any malign poison from the body.
’Whether you look at the name or the effects, it sounds like a healing pill, doesn’t it?’
But it was not. In reality, this was a potent, dangerous concoction for desperate, life-or-death struggles!
Swallowing a single pill could temporarily suppress injuries, blocked Inner Qi, soul damage, or even poisoning. Even a dying person could be forced to draw one last breath, experiencing a Dying Glow for a short period. If taken while unharmed, it would increase one’s qi by thirty percent out of thin air, greatly boosting their strength.
A bottle of these Spirit Pills, if sold on the outside, might be even more valuable than a Spiritual Weapon.
"So it’s not a Cultivation Pill, but one for fighting for your life from a disadvantage... But this is good too. Worthy of being a refined pill; at the very least, this kind of complex effect isn’t something you can get from just eating Spiritual Materials directly."
It was already late at night. Su Zhou returned to his tent, using a flashlight to examine the bottle of pills and the accompanying instruction manual. "Instructions for use... This pill is delicious but must not be taken consecutively. Excessive agitation of Blood Qi will cause digestive spasms and intestinal cramps. The wording is surprisingly modern... Hmm? Delicious?"
Although he was tempted, Su Zhou knew he couldn’t possibly taste-test the Spirit Pill at such a tense moment. With a flick of his flashlight, he turned to the Secret Technique sent over by Grandmaster Han Xiaoqian.
A rare "Innate Secret Technique."
"My school obtained this technique in the past from the tomb of a certain senior. This senior was nameless, but based on the tomb’s design, we deduced he was a great master, a Martial Saint of the Military School from twelve hundred years ago. This Secret Technique was the foundation of his undefeated record on the battlefield, so he inscribed it at his place of inheritance, waiting for a successor."
Those were the words Grandmaster Han had spoken. As the man who appeared to be the eldest of the three Grandmasters spoke, his face was filled with nostalgia. "Seventy-eight years ago, everyone in my school wished to cultivate this technique, but none had the talent to even begin. Later, during the Hundred Schools’ exchange, very few were able to master it either... Although it’s an Innate Secret Technique, it’s not excessively rare. Which school or sect doesn’t have some ancient legacy? It’s just that in this era, they are impossible to cultivate and thus useless."
"But in recent years, the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi has begun to flow freely once more. And with a young hero like yourself, Grandmaster Su, I think it’s well worth a try."
An [Innate Secret Technique] was indeed very tempting. To put it another way, it was a Spiritual Skill inheritance of at least the Extraordinary Level.
Although Su Zhou already possessed the Supreme Fundamental Cultivation Method Sacred Geometry, he truly lacked any Spiritual Skills he could use directly—the Universal Three Techniques were too universal, being essentially a method for using Spiritual Qi rather than a skill in themselves.
Rigid Shot and Thousand-Mile Walk counted as two, but one required a bow and arrow, and the other was a movement bonus. Neither had much to do with general combat Spiritual Skills—in total, those were the only two skills he had.
"Let me see what this is..." Opening the Secret Manual, Su Zhou read through it seriously. Compared to modern simplified characters, the script used by the Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army was more complex, but there was nothing he couldn’t understand. Soon, he finished reading, then narrowed his eyes and nodded.
"A little interesting—it’s somewhat similar to Gathering Qi in the Body and Qi Manipulation and Sky Breaking."
The Secret Technique was named "Whole Body Mist Armor." As the name implied, it used Inner Qi to stir up a Gale, defending the entire body like a suit of armor.
Starting from the Grandmaster realm, a Martial Artist could command the air with their Inner Strength, forming an Air Shield or Qi Shield to defend against stray arrows. Among them, the best with profound Inner Qi Cultivation, like Li Daoran, could condense qi into a Spiral Air Blade that circled their body. This could be used for both offense and defense. Without even lifting a hand, he could curl into a spiral ball and charge into a crowd, clearing a bloody path through ordinary soldiers.
Of course, this usage consumed an extremely high amount of Inner Strength. Even Su Zhou, supported by the Celestial Human Cycle, probably couldn’t maintain it for more than half a minute. But that short amount of time was enough to lead a charge, carve a bloody path through a Battle Array, and secure victory.
Compared to Li Daoran’s Inner Qi spiral, the Whole Body Mist Armor was more refined and profound. It required condensing "Gale Seeds" at sixty-four points around the human body. These Gale Seeds would then automatically absorb Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, or be infused with one’s own Inner Strength, to form rapidly rotating armor plates of gale-force wind. When all sixty-four plates were condensed around the body, the "Whole Body Mist Armor" was at the Minor Achievement stage.
Further mastery simply involved increasing the number and hardness of the Gale Armor plates. At its peak, one could even condense three hundred and sixty Great Celestial Cloud Seeds and solidify the qi into a tangible substance. It was undeniably powerful.
The reason this Cultivation Method was so difficult to master was simple: the current concentration of Spiritual Qi in the world was not yet high enough for the Gale Seeds to automatically absorb Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi and form the armor. And if a Martial Artist tried to infuse them with their own Inner Strength, they couldn’t unleash even a fraction of its power before reaching the Grandmaster realm... Even if they could, it would be impossible to condense all sixty-four plates.
As for why Su Zhou was able to analyze it so thoroughly in such a short time... it wasn’t just because of the Wisdom Fruit, but also because he recognized many familiar principles.
"The Grand Master’s ’Qi Condensation and Object Manipulation Technique’ is, in essence, a branch of ’Qi Manipulation and Sky Breaking.’ It’s a Technique for controlling one’s own Spiritual Power to, in turn, control the Spiritual Power of heaven and earth."
"Martial Master Weilie’s ’Rigid Shooting Technique’ is also related to ’Qi Manipulation and Sky Breaking’ in essence. It’s about first controlling Spiritual Power and condensing it onto an arrow. This requires some of the skill from ’Gathering Qi in the Body,’ only the ’body’ in question is not my own, but the body of the arrow itself."
"Even the Qinggong, ’Thousand-Mile Walk,’ gifted by Grandmaster Li Daoran, is actually about using Spiritual Power to create an energy-saving ’spring’ structure in the lower body. And this spring structure doesn’t require much force to be applied; it can spontaneously generate more forward momentum. It’s also composed of two basic techniques, so I can understand it easily."
Su Zhou’s expression was grim as he stared at the Secret Manual in his hands. "Yara was absolutely right! The Basic Three Techniques... Master one principle, and a thousand will become clear! This ’Whole Body Mist Armor,’ to put it plainly, is just about controlling my own Spiritual Power to form semi-automatic Spiritual Power structures at various points on my body. When needed, I can activate them with Spiritual Power, and they will draw in the Spiritual Power from the surrounding atmosphere, condensing into a rapidly spinning vortex of Gale Armor to deflect attacks."
"And this kind of semi-automatic Spiritual Power structure, to use terms I’m familiar with, is a type of [Passive Skill] or [Solidification Spell]. This is also the foundation of the Extraordinary Tier—the ability to have several powerful, permanent Extraordinary effects on your body that can even trigger automatically when needed to defend against sneak attacks. Take this Gale Armor, for example. If I master it, even if I’m ambushed with a high-powered sniper rifle, it could deflect the bullet, or at the very least, mitigate most of the impact. It’s a whole level above an Inner Power Shield, which requires you to consciously activate and control it."
’With a technique like this, forget arrows—what bullets would I have to fear?’
That being said, Su Zhou still felt that cultivating the Gale Armor would be difficult. Unlike Rigid Shot and Thousand-Mile Walk, which he could start using proficiently after a few days of practice, "condensing the Gale Seeds is a slow, grinding process... But I don’t need to reach Minor Achievement immediately. I just need to condense a few plates at vital points like my ears and temples. That shouldn’t take too much time."
Deciding to start at once, Su Zhou immediately turned off his flashlight and prepared to close his eyes and begin his Cultivation of the technique.
"I say, Su Zhou," but just then, Yara poked its head out from his hair. It said quietly, "We should be able to return to Earth now."
