Chapter 649: Mission (I)
In his previous life, there was a famous saying: "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." Lin Zheyu wholeheartedly agreed. Even with his powerful natural talent, which allowed him to instantly determine whether a newly devised technique was viable, he still spent more than three days conducting hundreds of thousands of tests before finally developing a technique that could be cultivated.
It was important to note that the technique was merely cultivable. Lin Zheyu had disregarded everything else, including how difficult it was to cultivate and whether it would produce any side effects. As long as he could develop a technique that could be cultivated, he could continuously refine and optimize it as his cultivation advanced, drawing upon his experience and addressing any problems that arose along the way.
Within the courtyard, Lin Zheyu floated in the void of the Primordial Chaos Pool, his eyes tightly closed. The natal shamanic pattern within his body circulated on its own, absorbing the origin energy of chaos from the Primordial Chaos Pool. Although he could not cultivate the Shamanic Dao in this world, chaos origin energy was not limited to cultivating the Shamanic Dao.
It was a form of energy even more advanced than the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, capable of subtly transforming a living being's constitution and raising the upper limit of their latent potential. This was why adult humans in ancient times had been far stronger than those of the present era even without cultivating. However, not everyone was capable of actively absorbing chaos origin energy.
Under normal circumstances, living beings could only passively undergo the transformation brought about by chaos origin energy. Without a special secret art, an ordinary cultivator would not even be able to sense its existence, much less absorb it. Earth Power was much the same. Before condensing his natal shamanic pattern, even Lin Zheyu had been unable to sense this form of origin power hidden within the earth, let alone absorb and refine it.
Suddenly, Lin Zheyu's eyes snapped open, a trace of delight flashing through them.
"I finally succeeded. That really wasn't easy. Even someone like me, with such a powerful natural talent, found it difficult to create a technique. I can hardly imagine how difficult it must be for other experts to develop a powerful technique of their own," Lin Zheyu said with a sigh.
If his natural talent had not allowed him to instantly determine whether a technique was viable, Lin Zheyu would have given up on martial cultivation long ago. Creating a technique was already this difficult, let alone forging an entirely new cultivation path that had yet to be proven viable.
[Heaven Rewards the Diligent]
[Name: Lin Zheyu]
[Origin Force: 1051]
[Skills: Heaven-Deceiving Art (Perfection), Seven Absolute Sabers (Seventh Stage: 100%), Earth Shrinking Technique (Third Stage: 100%), Primordial Golden Body (Fourth Stage: 100%), Primordial Chaos True Art (Dormancy: 0%), Eight Desolations World-Suppressing Art (First Stage: 0%)]
Lin Zheyu examined the data in his consciousness. He had yet to begin cultivating the Primordial Chaos True Art, but as long as the technique appeared within the data panel in his consciousness, everything that followed would be much easier. This was a powerful martial cultivation technique he had created by incorporating the cultivation principles of the Shamanic Dao's Profound Communion realm, a realm focused primarily on cultivating the power of the physical body.
In the early stages, cultivators used all manner of powerful heavenly treasures and earthly wonders, employing secret arts to temper and refine their bodies while enhancing their latent potential. Once they had established a sufficiently strong foundation, they could begin cultivating shamanic arts.
Using their natal shamanic pattern as the foundation, they absorbed chaos origin energy and Earth Power to continuously strengthen their physique. Upon cultivating this path to its peak, the physical body could reach an inconceivable level of power. Layer upon layer of mysterious shamanic patterns would be condensed and merged into every part of the cultivator's flesh, awakening the immense power hidden within.
The body would then begin to transform, giving rise to all manner of powerful divine abilities. At that point, a shamanic cultivator would possess strength comparable to the peak of the Nascent Soul realm!
However, Lin Zheyu had only managed to condense his natal shamanic pattern. Due to the current state of the world, unless he encountered some other opportunity, his chances of continuing to cultivate the Shamanic Dao and condensing additional shamanic patterns were exceedingly slim.
Thus, Lin Zheyu devised an alternative approach. Using his natal shamanic pattern as a catalyst, he employed a secret art to integrate its essence into his divine patterns, granting them some of the properties of shamanic patterns. He would then use these divine patterns as the foundation, allowing them to take the place of shamanic patterns and circulate a Shamanic Dao technique. It sounded simple, but putting it into practice was extraordinarily difficult.
Simply to find a way to use his natal shamanic pattern as a catalyst and integrate it into his divine patterns so that they would acquire some of the properties of shamanic patterns, Lin Zheyu had tested more than ten thousand different concepts for the technique. Without his natural talent, testing whether a technique was viable would have required cultivating it himself. The amount of time and energy that would have consumed was unimaginable.
Worse still, a flaw in the technique could inflict permanent injuries partway through cultivation or even cost the cultivator their life. Thus, it was virtually impossible for other cultivators to create such an unconventional technique. Lin Zheyu estimated that only experts who had attained inconceivable levels of power and possessed extraordinarily long lifespans might be capable of accomplishing such a feat.
"I've been in seclusion for more than three months, and now that the technique is complete, it's time to go out for a while. Cultivating the first stage of the Primordial Chaos True Art requires vast quantities of heavenly treasures and earthly wonders to temper the body, which means another enormous expense. I'm running low on spirit stones. I'll have to find a black market and sell the dharma artifacts and other items I seized from the Woo Family martial artists in exchange for more spirit stones." Lin Zheyu shook his head slightly.
Origin Force was undeniably powerful, but it could not create something out of nothing. When using Origin Force to advance a technique, Lin Zheyu still had to provide not only the necessary energy but also all the treasure herbs required for cultivation. This created a problem. Origin Force allowed him to complete decades, or even centuries, of cultivation in an extremely short period.
This meant that he also had to supply, within that same short period, all the energy, treasure herbs, and other resources that would ordinarily be consumed over decades or even centuries of cultivation. As a result, Lin Zheyu constantly felt as though he never had enough spirit stones. No matter how many spirit stones he earned or how many storage pouches he seized, he always spent everything before he had even had the chance to enjoy having them.
"Woo Yiyan and that Shackles Realm martial artist were both quite wealthy. I wonder whether their fortunes will be sufficient to cover the expenses of the Primordial Chaos True Art... Hopefully, they'll be enough to advance it by a few more stages," Lin Zheyu muttered.
Cultivation at the Profound Communion realm of the Shamanic Dao primarily involved using treasure herbs to temper and refine the physical body. The Primordial Chaos True Art, which incorporated the Shamanic Clan's cultivation methods, was no different. Cultivating each of its first three stages required the assistance of precious treasure herbs.
"Now that I think about it, I should probably thank the demon realm for invading..." Lin Zheyu said, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
As his cultivation realm and strength increased, the amount of energy Lin Zheyu consumed while cultivating with Origin Force had become astonishing. This was why he entered the node every time he used Origin Force to cultivate. The environment there seemed almost tailor-made for him.
If the demon realm had not invaded and the unique environment within the space-time nodes had not formed lakes of extraordinarily pure energy, he would now be burdened with yet another enormous expense.
After stretching his body, Lin Zheyu's figure flickered and vanished from the Primordial Chaos Pool. Upon returning to the courtyard, he beckoned lightly with his right hand. The Primordial Chaos Pool rapidly shrank before landing in his palm.
"Hm? Senior Xia Ping came to visit me?" Lin Zheyu checked the visitor records, feeling somewhat surprised.
Nearly all the martial artists in the Martial Alliance were obsessed with cultivation, and Xia Ping was fanatical even by their standards. In the past, he had once secluded himself for several decades to study the secrets hidden within the divine repositories without stepping outside even once. Thus, apart from occasionally encountering Xia Ping in the Library Pavilion, Lin Zheyu had seen him hardly at all. This was the first time Xia Ping had ever personally come to visit him.
A trace of curiosity arose in Lin Zheyu's heart. What could Senior Xia Ping want with me?
He took out his Spirit Resonance Sphere and sent Senior Xia Ping a message, informing him that he had emerged from seclusion and asking whether he was available so that Lin Zheyu could pay him a personal visit. Xia Ping did not respond, likely because he was occupied with something. Although the Spirit Resonance Sphere allowed instantaneous communication, it was perfectly normal for someone to take several years or even decades to reply.