Chapter 190: Chapter 141 Cultivation Breakthrough
*Yan Longhao Transformation! Shape-Shifted!*
*Yan Longhao Transformation*
*Realm: Mystic Barrier Third Layer Peak*
*Root Bone: Above Average*
*Talent: Superior*
*Learned: Nine Dragons Union (great achievement), Spear-shedding Technique (great achievement), Acupoint-Striking Hand (Minor Achievement), Ancient Elephant Fist (Minor Achievement), Mandarin Duck Leg Technique (great achievement), Catching Hand (great achievement), ...*
Chen Ku immediately felt not only Yan Longhao’s entire cultivation realm transfer to him but also all of Yan Longhao’s Martial Arts abilities, fortifying him.
Spear-shedding Technique? This is actually a Unique Skill comparable to Nine Dragons Union? A Martial Art of Ultimate Skill Level?
He experienced a "spear technique" that appeared out of nowhere in his mind. It was profoundly mysterious, divided into six forms, each corresponding to the Six Harmonies directions. The moves were ancient yet executed as if lifting great weight with ease, each designed to subdue the enemy, each strike lethal.
The Ancient Elephant Sect is truly formidable. I don’t even know what position Yan Longhao holds within it, yet he has mastered three Martial Arts of Ultimate Skill Level.
Chen Ku could not help but compare it to Medicine King Hall. Medicine King Hall was one of the giants in Baojiao County and was supported by the Owner from the Prefecture City. The Hall possessed a total of six Ultimate Skills, the most among Baojiao County’s three giants. However, judging from Yan Longhao, the Ancient Elephant Sect might possess even more Ultimate Skills. So far, he knew of ’Nine Dragons Union,’ ’Acupoint-Striking Hand,’ and ’Spear-shedding Technique’—three of them. Yan Longhao himself had practiced these three. And of these three, apart from Acupoint-Striking Hand which was at Minor Achievement, the other two had reached great achievement.
Previously, Chen Ku had never seen anyone in Medicine King Hall capable of practicing multiple Ultimate Skills. One reason was certainly the rules of Medicine King Hall, where the various courtyards were separate and not subordinate to each other. The second was that an individual’s Martial Arts talent is limited. In a small place like Baojiao County, if an ordinary person with above-average talent dedicated sixty years to studying an Ultimate Skill, they could probably only touch the threshold of great achievement. His master, Shang Yunfang, was a case in point. But Yan Longhao looked to be only in his forties or fifties, yet at such a bone age, he had managed to cultivate two Martial Arts to great achievement in one go.
Chen Ku noted Yan Longhao’s Talent was Superior, and he couldn’t help but marvel. With such Talent, it’s no wonder. Superior Talent naturally meant one learned Martial Arts faster and had a stronger ability to master them than someone with above-average talent.
He mentally rehearsed the forms of this Spear-shedding Technique.
Spear-shedding Technique: shed the spear to use the fist; fist and spear are one and the same path, domineering and fierce—much like Nine Dragons Union. If Nine Dragons Union is the Ancient Elephant Sect’s Inner Strength, then Spear-shedding Technique must be the Ancient Elephant Sect’s ’spear technique forms.’
Chen Ku felt the advantages of this Ultimate Skill Level spear technique that had reached great achievement:
Shedding the spear to use the fist. When one has a spear, one can employ spear techniques; without a spear, this spear technique becomes a fist technique. Spear and fist are inseparable. This is indeed more convenient than the ’Furious Ape Mighty Staff.’
He had experienced several awkward situations where he needed to carry a staff to perform Stick Technique. However, weapons also had their advantages. At least, unless the human body was trained to an extreme level, it was impossible for mere flesh and blood to clash directly with weapons forged from refined steel. Barehanded, even with a Divine Fist, it was often difficult to withstand the sharp edge of a Divine Weapon.
As Chen Ku mentally practiced the Six Harmonies Technique of the Spear-shedding Technique, he couldn’t help but feel that the variations in two particular forms could be adapted for his Furious Ape Mighty Staff.
As the saying goes, ’A year for the saber, a month for the staff, but a lifetime for the spear.’ Compared to the wide, sweeping movements of Bladesmanship and Stick Technique, spear techniques are more intricate and complex. The Furious Ape Mighty Staff primarily relies on power; when executed, it mostly uses overwhelming force to subdue all skills. Its Stick Technique finesse is considerably inferior to this Spear-shedding Technique.
Chen Ku drew inferences, and bolstered by the experience of a spear technique at great achievement, he immediately felt that certain critical points in the application of force and qi in the first four forms of the Furious Ape Mighty Staff were imperceptibly softened and overcome.
After all, spear technique is spear technique, and Stick Technique is Stick Technique. It’s impossible to make a direct substitution and elevate my Stick Technique to the great achievement stage immediately. However, two Stick Technique forms could now be considered entry-level thanks to this, and one form has even reached Minor Achievement.
This was the benefit Chen Ku gained from absorbing various Martial Arts. Stones from other hills could be used to polish jade. With the help of the Transformation Diagram, Chen Ku could directly absorb these experiences without needing years of dedicated cultivation.
He thought: When I have absorbed more experience from the eighteen types of Martial Arts weapons in the future, perhaps I can condense a Martial Art of my own from the strengths of each?
Just like the Ten Strongest Martial Artists in Feng Yun, who could meld ten Martial Paths—saber, spear, sword, halberd, staff, fist, palm, leg, claw, and finger—into one, creating Martial Arts like the Black Tortoise True Scripture.
It had to be said, Chen Ku possessed such conditions and potential.
He tucked this thought away. Then he continued to explore Yan Longhao’s other Martial Arts. True to his Superior Talent, apart from those three Ultimate Skills, most of the other Superior Martial Arts he knew had also reached great achievement. This instantly enriched Chen Ku’s Martial Arts foundation once more.
After briefly assimilating Yan Longhao’s Martial Arts, he began to earnestly experience Yan Longhao’s ’Mystic Barrier Third Layer Peak’ cultivation realm.
The Mystic Barrier Third Layer consisted of: the Life Gate, the Death Gate, and the Mystic Gate. Breaking through each gate could unlock untapped Divine Power and potential from the brain, even Life Force.
At that moment, Chen Ku was experiencing Yan Longhao’s realm of the Mystic Barrier Third Layer.
Performing Spiritual Introspection, he could completely feel the vigorous Life Force of his current realm. This Life Force was so potent it even gave Chen Ku the sensation that it could turn white hair black and restore an old man of sixty to his prime...
This is the Life Force transmitted from the ’Death Gate’ after experiencing a brush with death to be reborn.
Chen Ku fully experienced this Vital Energy from the Second Layer’s Death Gate.
The ’Mystic Barrier Chapter’ of Medicine King Hall’s Qigong states that after the Death Gate is opened, a person will feel as if they have died once, like withered wood reviving in spring, thereby erupting with new life vitality from deep within the brain.
And then there’s the ’mental reaction speed’ brought by this Third Layer Mystic Gate realm...
Chen Ku felt that his current state allowed him to react ten times faster than usual. This speed referred to the speed of his thoughts.
Some elderly people have slow thoughts; when someone says something, they often need a long time to understand. This is actually due to depleted spiritual power; their minds can no longer turn quickly.
The reason Yan Longhao had been able to dodge the arrow aimed straight at his glabella that day was that, despite being a man in his forties or fifties, his mind actually processed thoughts faster than Chen Ku, a youth in his teens. Furthermore, this, combined with his Mystic Barrier Peak physique and vitality, allowed him to translate thoughts into muscle reactions in real time.
So, opening the Mystic Gate is actually like unlocking the treasure of the ’nervous system’?
No, it shouldn’t be that simple. After all, Master said that ordinary people only gain this much within the Mystic Gate, but those with exceptional Spiritual Endowment can access more Mental Secret Technique from the brain... That likely involves more than just the nervous system; it probably touches upon deeper levels of the brain’s functions.
Evidently, although Yan Longhao possessed Superior talent, he did not have Spiritual Endowment, so Chen Ku could not perceive anything related to this from the transformation.
At this point, Chen Ku felt he could continue to accumulate more in the Mystic Barrier’s third gate, the "Mystic Gate." But the second gate, the "Death Gate"... He vaguely felt an urge to try and see if he could tentatively use Yan Longhao’s realm experience to advance his own cultivation.
Death Gate.
Currently, experiencing Yan Longhao’s transformation, Chen Ku performed Spiritual Introspection on his own brain. His brain was now equivalent to Yan Longhao’s at the peak of the Mystic Barrier Third Layer; he could freely explore the current state of the Death Gate.
The structure of the human brain is the same. At least, Yan Longhao’s brain is no different from mine. I now completely know the location of the Death Gate within my brain, am completely clear on how the Death Gate is opened, and fully understand all the secrets of this Death Gate realm. Chen Ku took a deep breath.
Before attempting to break through the Death Gate, the thought of whether to seek out his two masters flashed through his mind... But then he reconsidered.
During the breakthrough process, he would likely need to frequently switch to Yan Longhao’s transformation to compare realms. It would be like an open-book exam, copying the answers to break through the barrier... If he sought his two masters as protectors, it would certainly be safer, but the secret of the Transformation Diagram would definitely be exposed.
Preserving the security of the Transformation Diagram was more important. Besides, he felt that having Yan Longhao’s Death Gate location as a reference already made him eighty to ninety percent safer than any other Martial Practitioner attempting to break through the Death Gate. If he was still too timid to try even with this advantage, then he would truly be too cowardly.
After some deliberation, Chen Ku still chose to attempt the breakthrough. However, before starting his secluded cultivation, he informed his family, telling them that if he hadn’t woken up after two days, they should go to Medicine King Hall and request leave for him. This was a lesson learned from his previous four-day seclusion.
After getting his Second Uncle’s approval, Hu Zi and his mother carefully kept watch outside the room.
Chen Ku then began to circulate his Inner Qi according to the Medicine King Hall’s Mystic Barrier cultivation method, matching it with the Death Gate’s location in Yan Longhao’s mind by switching back and forth, bit by bit, guiding the flow of energy...
Finally, he moved his Inner Qi, equivalent to that of a Third Realm master, to the point just past the Life Gate and before the Death Gate.
This is the place!
Chen Ku shouted in his mind:
Open!
BOOM!
A loud sound once again erupted from his room, as if a thunderbolt had exploded within Chen Ku’s brain, the concussion causing the air to hum and spread outwards. Chen Ku himself was jolted awake by this immense sound.
"Second Uncle?"
But as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Hu Zi push the door open from outside and ask, "Is there anything else Hu Zi can help with?"
Chen Ku was momentarily stunned. Then his sister-in-law also curiously pushed open the door from outside and said, "Brother, you’re awake?"
"How long has it been?" Chen Ku asked subconsciously, "How long did I sleep this time?"
"Sleep?" Hu Zi and his mother exchanged a glance. Then Hu Zi said curiously, "It seems like only two to four hours."
"Two to four hours?" Chen Ku was incredulous. That’s just the time it took for my Inner Qi to circulate through my meridians! So, that means I didn’t sleep for four days this time? I woke up the instant I stepped into the Death Gate?
At this moment, he felt the Vital Energy emanating from the second ’gateway’ in his mind, a sensation akin to ’all things reviving,’ ’withered wood meeting spring,’ and ’Vital Energy being regenerated.’
There was no doubt. Chen Ku had successfully broken through to the Death Gate.