Chapter 110: Chapter 110: I’ve Reached the Huajin Stage, and You’re Telling Me We’re Not Compatible?
’Have I hit a bottleneck?’
Qi Suian noticed that although the frequency of the Ashen Bandage Men had increased, the Tai Sui God’s armor value was rising much more slowly.
’Don’t tell me going from 19 to 20 armor is some kind of major threshold.’
There was no other way to explain the sudden increase in the required evolutionary energy.
’It’s not like the value of the Ashen Bandage Men has suddenly dropped. That’s not very realistic.’
[Yes. The Tai Sui God currently carries twenty-three SSS-class modules. The evolutionary energy required for upgrades has changed.]
[Furthermore, above 20 armor, the Tai Sui God’s evolution will no longer require a 1-point increase, but a 2-point increase.]
This was within Qi Suian’s expectations. ’How could it be possible to evolve with just a 1-point armor increase forever?’
As the number of SSS-class modules increased, the resources required by the Tai Sui God would also increase exponentially. At the same time, the original resources would depreciate due to the excessive demand.
The solution was also simple: either switch to a world with a higher energy level or find higher-value resources to use as fuel.
Qi Suian had been in the Mantle Sanctuary for a month now and had already reached the state of Transformation Perfection.
His own dual attributes had also smoothly reached 3 points.
During this time, he spent most of his days deducing the Dan Jin realm and researching the Blood Moon Organization’s samples. The rest of the time, he handled other matters.
Because he had reached Transformation Perfection, the force within Qi Suian’s body had also changed.
One-seventh of it was Silk Binding Force, one-seventh was String-Breaking Force, and the remaining five-sevenths was normal force.
This meant he had passed the point of no return with these three Evil Ancient Martial Techniques. He could either continue down this path or lose two-sevenths of his force.
These two-sevenths of force had become a permanent part of his total force.
The reason the Evil Dao was the Evil Dao was that it offered no path of retreat.
Qi Suian, however, didn’t really care. As long as it made him stronger, he couldn’t be bothered with concepts like good and evil.
’Whatever. There’s no rush. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’
"Zhi Nao, cooperate with me. Let’s test my Yin Snake Silk Binding Force and Ghost Cat String-Breaking Force."
As he spoke, Qi Suian began to activate his internal force. The two types of force, which made up two-sevenths of his total, activated simultaneously.
The former made the force coil around the body like a snake, while the latter was like the swift claw of a cat.
The two forces complemented each other. If someone were to be hit by both at the same time, there might not be a single wound on the outside, but their insides would be a mangled mess of flesh and blood.
It could only be said that if one was careless enough to be struck by these two forces, they would be crippled, if not killed.
Moreover, nothing would be visible on the surface. It would be completely undetectable until it was far too late.
However, there was a flaw. Since this force was derived from the Soul-Devouring Fist and the Soul-Devouring Palm, it could only be channeled through specific martial forms.
To achieve perfect control and imbue every single movement with this force, he would need to reach the Gang Jin realm.
This posed quite a challenge for Qi Suian.
The test began quickly. In just a few moves, he had beaten the Tai Sui God to pieces.
Without its Floating Cannons, it couldn’t block Qi Suian’s attacks at all.
Even with Zhi Nao controlling the Tai Sui God, the difference in attributes, combined with the two special, passive-like forces, made it incredibly effective.
’The power is certainly great enough, but the consumption is also huge.’
Qi Suian also realized the flaw in his three Evil Ancient Martial Techniques: if the battle wasn’t over quickly, his recovery couldn’t keep up.
At first glance, they seemed passive, but in reality, the force was just special. Its powerful effects came with higher consumption.
’To improve my endurance, I’ll need to reach at least the Dan Jin realm to replenish it.’
’The Evil Dao is the Evil Dao. It’s all about fighting without considering the consequences. A quick win or a quick death.’
’Then again, it might just be because I’m not a skilled fighter and tend to go all-out from the start.’
Qi Suian returned to the Tai Sui God’s interior, and the Tai Sui God began to slowly recover.
[According to the data, it is not because you are unskilled in technique or the Evil Ancient Martial Techniques. It is because your force is artificial. No matter how high its quality, it is incompatible with these three Evil Ancient Martial Techniques.]
[After all, you are not a human from the Ancient Martial World. The force you modified is ultimately not true force, merely a facsimile.]
[This is the cause of the endurance issue.]
[If you do not optimize an ancient martial art that is compatible with your own body, the problem will only grow worse.]
The AI quickly analyzed the data and presented Qi Suian with a report full of statistics.
Qi Suian took it and began to read, his expression growing more and more solemn.
’Me, my force, and the ancient martial arts... to think the three are so incompatible.’
’The incompatibility between me and ancient martial arts is understandable, since I’m a human from the Profound World.’
’But how can there be such a huge compatibility problem between me and my force? I created it myself, after all.’
Qi Suian’s expression was a little strange. The path to becoming stronger was truly difficult.
[The force in your body was created by referencing the force from the Ancient Martial World. Its effects and power are similar, but it is ultimately not your own.]
"I understand now." Qi Suian realized he had walked into a dead end.
The force he created should have been one that was suitable for *him*, not one that was merely similar to the force of the Ancient Martial World.
He had excessively pursued this force, and while he had improved himself, the force he developed was ultimately unsuitable for him.
Even though it had raised his dual attributes to 3 points.
In the beginning, the force was weak and suppressed by Qi Suian’s physique and Spirit, so there were no changes.
But by the time he reached Transformation Perfection, when it had become a channel for him to increase his attributes, its flaws began to reveal themselves.
’I still have to modify it. I may have gone down the wrong path, but at least the foundation is still in my hands.’
’As long as I can correct it, the rest won’t be a problem.’
’I might even be able to solve the breakthrough to the Dan Jin realm.’
As long as he could force his path back on track, he could continue to advance along the road of ancient martial arts.
As for not having a corresponding breakthrough method that could transmute Spirit into idealism? It didn’t matter. He was following the force-based school, not the orthodox schools of Martial Dao will or Martial Dao intuition.
It was equivalent to him abandoning all these passive skills in exchange for attribute points.
It wasn’t necessarily a bad trade.
At the same level, his force was stronger, and he could unleash even more powerful force effects.
However, he would consequently lack the Spirit-based passives or the ability to enhance his physique with Spirit that his opponents might possess, things like Sword Intent or Saber Intent.
But this was also normal, because the prerequisite for having these things was to be a human from the Ancient Martial World.
It was as if Qi Suian had thrown away something he never had in the first place.
In the Ancient Martial World, this kind of breakthrough method was considered a pseudo-breakthrough and part of the Evil Dao, seen as having no potential.
After all, their bodies could vaguely perceive certain opportunities that you couldn’t. In terms of both combat power and growth, you would be inferior.
When you fought them, it was like they could predict the future, striking your weak points with every move. How were you supposed to fight against that?
Especially when you broke through, your attributes would be lower than theirs, and you wouldn’t get the extra boosts they received from their breakthroughs.
’Honestly, I only ever intended to use Ancient Martial Techniques as a way to raise my attributes from the very beginning.’
’If I had any other way to improve, I would have abandoned ancient martial arts already.’
Qi Suian had always seen it as just a tool. The fact that he had managed to squeeze 3 attribute points out of it was already excellent in his eyes.
If any of his other projects had shown progress, he would have chosen to discard this force entirely, keeping only the dual attributes he had already gained.
Of course he could discard it. He had created it himself, after all. Improving and optimizing it would be difficult, but simply getting rid of it would be easy.
Destruction was much easier than creation.
As for coveting the power of the Sun in a Bottle, he wasn’t that arrogant yet.
Even if the Sun in a Bottle was being wasted in his hands, that wasn’t a reason for him to seek his own doom.
If he messed up, it was highly likely that even his "Death Reforged" talent wouldn’t be able to save him.
’A major overhaul is also a hassle. Besides, two-sevenths of the force has already mutated, so that will have to be modified as well.’
’It’s not like I have to start from scratch, but for the Ancient Martial Techniques... I’ll just have to use the new, optimized version of the Evil Ancient Martial Technique I create.’
"Zhi Nao, open..."
Qi Suian issued a series of commands, having the AI coordinate with him.
There was no other way to solve it.
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"The Gang Jin realm, I’ve done it!"
"The force circulates stably, and my body is like steel."
"I can now withstand some firearms, unless they’re heavy-caliber weapons or powerful munitions like missiles."
"Otherwise, with my body reinforced by Gang Jin, they would only be able to injure me at most."
A sharp glint flashed in Qin Sheng’s eyes. He felt as if the whole world had opened up before him.
’But... why do I feel this sense of grief and urgency in my heart?’
He knew that after reaching the Dan Jin realm, he had gained Martial Dao intuition, but he had never sensed anything like this before.
It was only now that he had successfully broken through to the Gang Jin realm that this feeling suddenly emerged.
He didn’t know the source of the grief for now, but he could certainly feel the urgency.
It was urging him to break through to the Jie Jin realm as quickly as possible.
And it would be best if he could break through before reaching the Mantle Sanctuary in the Extreme North State, or else the suffocating sense of crisis would overwhelm his senses.
"Could it be that there’s an enemy in the Mantle Sanctuary that can only be dealt with by someone at the Jie Jin realm?" As an Ancient Martial Artist, Qin Sheng naturally trusted his Martial Dao intuition.
’But this Jie Jin realm... it’s not that easy to break through to.’
Qin Sheng felt helpless. He had gotten this far thanks to luck and no small amount of help.
Reaching the Gang Jin realm at his age was an unprecedented achievement, one that might never be surpassed.
But now he was expected to break through to the Jie Jin realm within two months. It was simply absurd.
"Unless the Apocalypse Game is willing to help me, otherwise..." Just as the words left Qin Sheng’s mouth, he heard several notifications. The Apocalypse Game had refreshed with several mandatory quests for him.
’This... Could it be that the danger comes from a Violator?’
’Otherwise, it wouldn’t be helping me this much.’ A sharp glint flashed in Qin Sheng’s eyes.
Then everything made sense. He was a Law Enforcer, naturally opposed to Violators.
And a Violator currently occupied the Mantle Sanctuary. Therefore, no matter what, only one of them could survive.
His rapid progress was thanks in no small part to the Apocalypse Game’s help, all for the sake of eliminating the Violator.
