Chapter 462: Chapter 461: Rocket-like Promotion
In another Martial World, there were three notorious forbidden skills that allowed the wielder to absorb another’s power.
The first was North Divine Skill.
The advantage of this skill was that the stronger the user’s own power, the stronger the absorption, and the absorbed internal power could automatically be converted into North Divine Qi, thus there was no worry about losing control and going berserk.
However, the disadvantage was that if the power of the person being absorbed was stronger than oneself, it would lead to a perilous situation where their dantian (energy center) could be destroyed, like a river being overwhelmed by the sea.
In fact, how powerful North Divine Skill was had never been fully demonstrated.
The complete North Divine Skill consisted of thirty-six exercise routes, while Duan Yu only learned two of them!
The second was Absorbing Star Great Method.
The principle of this martial art was different from North Divine Skill, it absorbed others’ internal power through an ’empty’ method. As long as one’s own dantian was large enough, it could absorb anyone’s internal power.
However, before cultivating, one must first learn to merge skills, to solve the issue of conflicting internal powers.
The third was Karmic Conversion Skill.
However, the appearance of Karmic Conversion Skill was far less frequent than North Divine Skill and Absorbing Star Great Method, and its characteristics were unclear, requiring its user to explore it, so Shi Xiaole was very cautious.
As he rotated his internal power, a powerful absorption force was born in the palm of Shi Xiaole’s hand.
The next moment, Zhang Jufu’s expression changed from fierce to astonished, followed by an indescribable shock and fear.
He clearly felt that his own internal power was uncontrollably leaving his dantian and pouring into Shi Xiaole’s palm. Had it been absorbed?!
What kind of demonic skill was this?
As strands of internal power entered his body, Shi Xiaole carefully sensed it, ready to cut off the connection immediately if there was any anomaly.
However, it turned out that he was overthinking.
The foreign internal power that flowed into his meridians soon became pure and flawless, smoothly integrating into Shi Xiaole’s dantian without any accidents.
"There’s no issue of conflicting internal powers, and there’s no danger of backflow overwhelming the dantian."
Shi Xiaole amplified his strength.
Massive internal power, like flood erupting from a broken dam, rushed into his body. In just a moment, Zhang Jufu’s body shrunk drastically, and in another few moments, he had turned into a decaying skeleton.
At this point, Shi Xiaole’s cultivation had astonishingly reached the first tier of the Xuanqi Realm.
Zhang Jufu was also at the first tier of Xuanqi Realm, but his internal power was far inferior to Shi Xiaole’s, so draining his internal power did not boost Shi Xiaole’s cultivation by much.
He tried to strike a wall with a palm, generating a chilling wind, but it made Shi Xiaole frown.
"The power is less than before."
At this moment, Shi Xiaole, compared to when he was at the first tier of the Xuanqi Realm, his internal power’s lethality had dropped a tier.
"Could this be the flaw of Karmic Conversion Skill? The quality of the absorbed and assimilated internal power would decrease?"
Every type of martial arts has its flaws.
Shi Xiaole had been prepared for this, and it was not exactly a disappointment. He looked at the corpse on the ground and hid it under the bed. Seeing the three women waking up one after another, he knocked them out again to avoid trouble.
He opened the door and walked out.
In the passageway, various noisy sounds converged together. Security experts patrolled from time to time, and some people, who had just finished procreation, were taken out of the cave and headed towards the Herb Collection Plains.
Under the repression of absolute power, the life of the weak was mercilessly confined, a cruel and bloody reality.
"Boy, who are you responsible for? I dare you to wander around, believe it or not I’ll break your legs!"
Not long after he started walking, at a secluded corner, a man holding a whip and dressed just like Zhang Jufu walked out. He appeared to be another overseer.
Snap!
The moment his voice fell, the man lashed his whip towards Shi Xiaole’s knee, stirring a fierce wind.
The whip tore through the afterimage, and Shi Xiaole came to the man’s side and once again activated Karmic Conversion Skill.
"Ah..."
The scream was stuck in his throat, and in no time, the man rotted and died.
This person was at the second tier of the Xuanqi Realm, and after absorbing his internal power, Shi Xiaole’s cultivation smoothly reached the fourth tier of the Xuanqi Realm.
Every overseer has an individual room, much larger in scale than common huts. Shi Xiaole had noticed the large room opposite the corner earlier, and using his Flying Skill, he entered in a flash, and securely hid the corpse.
His strength had not fully recovered, he must act low-key.
Leaving the overseer’s room, Shi Xiaole quickly captured another person to ask what was happening in Divine Transformation City.
Although he couldn’t use his spiritual power, his perceptive ability was still sharp, easily distinguishing truth from deceit.
After some investigation, Shi Xiaole gathered his thoughts.
Divine Transformation City had a significant number of masters who had reached the Dragon Gate Realm. The most well-known among them were the city lord, three vice city lords, and twelve elders.
The average cultivation level of the elders was the first tier of the Dragon Gate Realm, with the strongest one reaching the third tier of Dragon Gate Realm. The strength of the three vice city lords was considerable, all at the fifth tier of Dragon Gate Realm.
As for the city lord, he was extremely mysterious. The last time he took action was ten years ago. It was said that he killed a vice city lord who harbored rebellious designs in just ten moves. He was revered as a supreme being by countless people in Divine Transformation City and was not to be offended.
After absorbing the third overseer’s internal power, Shi Xiaole’s cultivation level reached the sixth tier of the Xuanqi Realm.
At this moment, he truly understood why so many masters in his past life wanted to obtain martial arts like North Divine Skill. Cultivation was simply too easy! There was no need for effort, and the progress made in a day could be equivalent to that of ordinary people’s months, or even years’ worth of hard work.
In each tunnel, there were twelve overseers.
The fourth one.
The fifth one.
...
With Shi Xiaole’s flying skill, he could move unhindered in the tunnel, nobody could detect him.
In a bit over half an hour, Shi Xiaole had drained the internal power of all the overseers in the tunnel, his cultivation shot up like a rocket, reaching the first tier of Spiritual-Passage Realm.
This would’ve been unthinkable in the past.
A group of patrolling experts, alongside men and women, exited the kiln cave. In the crowd at the back, Shi Xiaole, disguised in their uniform, silently followed.
In order to advance his martial abilities more quickly, he planned to visit other kiln caves.
However, the kiln caves lay tens of meters apart, so he had to make sure not to be spotted by any masters on the plains during his movements, otherwise, things could get out of hand.
After all, Elder Zhang was in the eighth tier of the Spiritual-Passage Realm, and Shi Xiaole himself was still lacking in strength.
"Every day at 7 p.m., all supervisors gather at the Herb Collection Plains to report. Now, with three 2-hour periods left until 7 p.m., I must speed up."
Taking a deep breath and using the crowd in front as a shield, Shi Xiaole pushed his Flying Skill to its limit and swept into the nearest kiln cave with a whoosh.
After draining all the Internal Power from the supervisors in the second cave, Shi Xiaole advanced from the first tier of the Spiritual-Passage Realm to the third tier.
Then there was the third cave, and the fourth...
The sky gradually grew darker.
After absorbing the Internal Power of the supervisors from six caves, a total of seventy-two people, Shi Xiaole began to feel the aura of power he used to wield.
Inside one of the rooms, a gust of wind howled and rampaged for a while before gradually subsiding.
"My practice has finally returned to the Dragon Gate Realm."
Shi Xiaole was somewhat moved.
In just over three months, he felt like he had experienced an entire cycle of rebirth. He had regressed in his practice back to the Hidden Qi Realm, and then returned to the first tier of the Dragon Gate Realm. The bitterness and pain he felt were a secret known only to him.
And all of this was caused by Zi Xiangbo and Lu Zixiong.
"Repays kindness with kindness, revenge with vengeance. You guys just wait."
Clenching his fists tightly, Shi Xiaole said to himself.
There were still many more kiln caves, but Shi Xiaole did not make a move. All his Internal Power had been converted into Vigorous Air. Absorbing more Internal Power would be pointless.
At 7 p.m., as usual, various high-ranking individuals rushed out of the kiln caves to gather on the plains.
"Any unexpected incidents today?"
As the overseer of the Herb Collection Plains, Elder Zhang stood in the front, his hands folded behind his back.
No one said a word.
This was a rule set by Elder Zhang. Without anything important to report, nobody should talk too much. In the past, there were people who broke this rule and had their teeth shattered by Elder Zhang.
Nodding, Elder Zhang subconsciously searched through the crowd for his grandson, Zhang Jufu. However, he was stunned when he couldn’t see him. What happened? Why wasn’t the boy there?
As his gaze swept carefully across the crowd, Elder Zhang’s face grew grimmer.
Not just Zhang Jufu was missing, clearly many other high-ranking individuals were also absent. He hadn’t noticed earlier because there were so many people.
"Everybody, head to cave sixteen, cave seventeen... search one by one to see where these people have all gone."
Elder Zhang roared, sensing something was wrong.
"No need to search."
A clear voice rang out.
The crowd turned to look and saw a young man in a green shirt standing on a nearby slope. He was watching them coldly.
"You?"
Elder Zhang was shocked, his old eyes deep: "What do you mean by that?"
"If you want to find the dead, I’m afraid you’ll have to go to the underworld."
Gasps.
The crowd stirred.
"You killed my grandson?"
Elder Zhang’s white beard trembled and his elderly face filled with a startling killing intent. A mere prisoner daring to be presumptuous?
"Not only am I going to kill your grandson, but I’m also going to kill you."
Shi Xiaole said coldly.
"Big talk!"
Despite his words, Elder Zhang cast out his technique of sensing Qi. The result startled him; he couldn’t see through the young man’s level of cultivation. Could it be...
"Go!"
Pushing his power to the limit, Elder Zhang didn’t hesitate to flee into the distance. With a wave of his left hand, a fireworks rocket shot into the sky and lit up the night.
"Think you can escape?"
Without even moving from the slope, Shi Xiaole sent out a flicker of blue light with a flick of his finger.
In the blink of an eye, as if ignoring the distance between them, the light brushed past Elder Zhang’s body.
Swish!
A great head soared into the sky.
In terms of the power of Vigorous Air, Shi Xiaole at that moment was indeed not on par with his past self at the first tier of the Dragon Gate Realm. However, dealing with Elder Zhang, a martial artist of the Spiritual-Passage Realm, was still a piece of cake for him.
The nearly one thousand supervisors present were first noisy, many even rushing towards Shi Xiaole. However, all their actions froze at this moment, their bodies trembling, not daring to make the slightest sound.
The overseers around and even the herb collectors were stunned by the turn of events and stopped their activities.
Shi Xiaole looked at the largest tower in the city.
Through the candlelight, he could see several figures flying towards him, giving off an incredibly strong and majestic aura.
"Who are you to dare to kill people in public? Are you looking for death?"
Within a short span of time, no less than six figures landed outside the Herb Collection Plains, each exuding an aura that reached the Dragon Gate Realm.
