Ling Xiao was deeply moved.
The goal he’d struggled for his entire life had been achieved in just half a month, making him feel like he was dreaming.
It seemed real combat was indeed crucial for improving strength.
He’d previously used a gang qi pill but got stuck at ninety-nine percent, unable to break through, yet after a day of fighting and sparring with experts, he’d broken through so easily.
It took less than an hour.
No!
It should be said that Ling Feng’s father, Ling Shisan, played a pivotal role!
If not for Ling Shisan’s terrifying aura pressuring him, he wouldn’t have unleashed his full potential under such immense danger.
It was precisely Ling Shisan’s oppression and threats that gave Ling Xiao a fierce urgency to improve his strength.
Combined with other factors, it all came together naturally.
In a way, he really ought to thank Ling Shisan.
Now that he’d broken through to the Fourth Layer Martial Vein, paired with Bull Demon Technique: Meteor Demon Fist, which was nearly a top-tier martial technique, and Soaring Cloud Steps: Dragon Transformation.
Even if a Fifth Layer Martial Vein Ling Shisan wanted to kill him, it wouldn’t be so easy.
He now had the means to protect himself.
But the template needed a slight update, before, he was a Third Layer Martial Vein warrior without gang qi.
Yet he’d revealed his strength during the tournament, continuing with that template would be too fake.
So he revised it, now his template was peak Third Layer Martial Vein, with gang qi over ninety percent in the third martial vein.
This level of strength even had a title—Peak Martial Student!
In other words, within the “martial student” category, he was close to the strongest, typically, reaching peak Third Layer Martial Vein and converting over ninety percent of the third vein into gang qi earned this honour.
After breaking through to the Fourth Layer Martial Vein, Ling Xiao didn’t stop cultivating.
Breaking through was one thing.
But stabilising it was another.
Not to mention, there was still much to do to enhance his combat ability.
All martial techniques, regardless of how many layers or stages they were divided into, could ultimately be categorized into five phases.
The first phase was minor success, meaning you could unleash thirty percent of the technique’s power.
The second phase was proficiency, unleashing sixty percent of its power.
The third phase was major success, unleashing ninety percent of its power.
The fourth phase was perfection, also called full mastery, perfectly unleashing the technique’s full power.
The fifth phase was transcendence, also known as divine mastery, where the technique had no flaws, was utterly perfect, and its power could increase two to five times, extremely terrifying.
Currently, Ling Xiao only had the basic martial technique Barbarian Bull Strength at transcendence, the rest were at most major success, still far from perfection, let alone transcendence.
He planned to first elevate Bull Demon Technique: Meteor Demon Fist to transcendence, that way, at least this move’s power could increase several times, making his combat strength even more astonishing.
However, martial technique stages from minor success to perfection could be achieved through hard work, but transcendence was profoundly elusive, heavily tied to a person’s comprehension.
To reach transcendence, beyond effort, it required opportunity and insight.
Of course, for Ling Xiao, this wasn’t an issue at all.
With the Mountain River Martial Soul, even if his comprehension was lacking, he could perfectly reach transcendence through its analysis and simulation abilities.
It just required time.
That night, he tirelessly practiced Bull Demon Technique: Meteor Demon Fist, focusing on raising its stage.
After all, this move was currently his strongest offensive technique.
Though Bull Demon Technique: Hundred Steps Demon Sword was also powerful, it wasn’t suited for sustained combat, better used for ambushes or as a trump card.
At dawn, Ling Xiao slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
Though Bull Demon Technique: Meteor Demon Fist hadn’t reached transcendence, it had advanced from major success to perfection, and its power had increased significantly.
That was enough.
After some thought, he spent another two hours raising Bull Demon Technique: Hundred Steps Demon Sword to perfection as well.
Perfection was relatively easy to achieve, especially with the figures in the Mountain River Diagram constantly demonstrating, making it simple to learn.
As his trump card, making this move stronger wouldn’t hurt.
Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his head, feeling a bit tired, it seemed he needed a rest.
But before resting, he wanted to check what special changes the Mountain River Martial Soul had undergone after his breakthrough to the Fourth Layer Martial Vein.
“Analysis and simulation, production and creation, plus a strength template, these were the original abilities, and after the breakthrough, a new ability emerged—Martial Will!”
Ling Xiao had previously thought analysis and simulation were separate abilities, but now he realised he’d been mistaken, they were one ability, without analysis, simulation couldn’t happen, and analysis without simulation was pointless.
Production and creation were also one ability, though currently at a low level, so creation wasn’t possible yet, only production.
As for the strength template, it could only alter his apparent strength to hide his true power for now, but as its level increased, the effects might change.
This newly emerged ability surprised Ling Xiao even more.
He’d heard of Martial Will, an intangible, mysterious state, swordsmen had sword intent, blade users had blade intent.
Other martial artists had their own distinct Martial Wills.
According to the Mountain River Diagram’s explanation, Martial Will was a rudimentary form of a martial soul, when the will could take shape, it would become a martial soul.
Yet in nearly ten thousand years, while some had elevated Martial Will to transcendence, few were ever heard to have condensed it into a martial soul.
Martial Will, like martial techniques, had five stages: minor success, proficiency, major success, perfection, and transcendence, ultimately forming a martial soul.
In Ling Xiao’s view, his current strength wasn’t enough to wield the Mountain River Martial Soul in combat, so this Martial Will ability had appeared.
It was likely the Mountain River Martial Soul’s way of letting him adapt to fighting with Martial Will, then once it reached transcendence, he could directly use the Mountain River Martial Soul in battle.
He’d planned to rest, but seeing this new Martial Will, Ling Xiao lost all desire to sleep.
Generally speaking, Martial Will offered two major benefits in combat.
One was suppression through will, intimidating opponents.
The other was enhancing martial techniques.
The stronger the Martial Will, the greater the enhancement.
Ling Xiao’s Martial Will had a unique advantage, it wasn’t fixed to one type, drawn from the Mountain River Martial Soul, which encompassed all things, his Martial Will naturally did too.
When he used a sword, it became sword intent!
With a blade, it was blade intent!
With a spear, it was spear intent!
It could switch seamlessly without any hindrance.
This was all information he’d received from the Mountain River Martial Soul, absolutely reliable.
Since he hadn’t yet obtained a top-tier martial technique, Ling Xiao hadn’t decided what weapon he’d specialise in.
Typically, though a martial artist could learn various techniques, it was best to master one specialty.
But that could wait until he acquired a top-tier martial technique, deciding now wouldn’t mean much anyway.
Fortunately, his Martial Will could switch freely, which wouldn’t impede his future cultivation, so raising it now would still be beneficial.
