Chapter 347: Chapter 139: New Martial Arts (Additional Chapter for 20,800 Monthly Votes)
Upon leaving the great hall, Shen Changqing first returned to his residence and left Tiankui there before heading to the Demon Slaying Hall. Tiankui’s current size was not small; it was fine to have him follow outside. If he were to follow him every day inside the Demon-Subduing Division, it would be too eye-catching.
It took some time. When he emerged from the Demon Slaying Hall, a Pure Spirit Jade Pendant was already on his person. The old one had been given to Ji Tianlu, so he had to acquire a new one to carry. Otherwise, if some Demon Evil perished by his hand without the Pure Spirit Jade Pendant to record its aura, it would have been too great a loss.
After these matters were handled, Shen Changqing made his way to the Scripture Pavilion.
The thirty levels of the Great Sun Golden Body had already reached a bottleneck, and it was not cost-effective to enhance it any further. Looking at the current situation, the improvement of Outer Techniques was still the most cost-effective approach. Therefore, to further temper his Flesh and physical vitality, it was necessary to acquire new Martial Arts.
The Scripture Pavilion’s gatekeeper was still a Grandmaster-level Martial Artist. This showed that even though the Mountain-Breaking City Demon Suppression Division appeared to have suffered significant losses in the previous battle, the guarding force at some critical locations remained fairly substantial.
He presented his Identity Token. Respectfully watched by the gatekeeping elder, Shen Changqing entered the Scripture Pavilion.
He glanced around and directly made his way upstairs. The Scripture Pavilion of the Mountain-Breaking City Demon Suppression Division had a total of four levels. These corresponded to the four Realms of Martial Artists: Body Tempering, Pulse Condensation, Innate, and the final, Grandmaster.
To integrate Martial Arts, one naturally wouldn’t seek weak Martial Arts for integration. Thus, Shen Changqing went straight to the fourth level.
This space was much smaller in comparison to the three levels below, and the bookshelves were sparse. Scattered Martial Arts were placed on each shelf, not densely packed like those in the Capital Demon Suppression Division. Just from this, one could see the depth of resources in Mountain-Breaking City. Compared to the Capital City, it was not a slight difference but a significant gap.
Arriving in front of a bookshelf, Shen Changqing casually took a Martial Arts tome and saw the words on it: Gang Essence Divine Fiend!
He flipped to the first page, where there was a brief introduction about the Martial Art.
Gang Essence Divine Fiend: Heaven and Earth possess five fiends. Searching for these five fiends to temper the body, one can cultivate the Gang Essence Divine Fiend that is utmost firm and yang, resulting in immunity to all poisons and resistance to fire and water. It is considered a top-notch Outer Technique!
"Gang Essence Divine Fiend, not bad indeed!"
Seeing the introduction, he nodded slightly. Putting other aspects aside, the sole characteristic of being utmost firm and yang was already highly compatible with the Great Sun Golden Body. If Gang Essence Divine Fiend could be integrated with the Great Sun Golden Body, perhaps this characteristic could be pushed to an extreme.
Without hesitation, Shen Changqing immediately flipped through the rest of the content, starting to read and memorize it. The book was not thick, but the contents recorded inside were profound and complex. Fortunately, he was now a Grandmaster at the peak of the Spiritual System, with memory far stronger than it had been before. No matter how abstruse and difficult to comprehend the content of Gang Essence Divine Fiend was, he could still memorize it after glancing through it once or twice.
A little under ten minutes later, when the last page of Gang Essence Divine Fiend was turned, Shen Changqing put the Martial Art back on the shelf. He then calmed his mind to look at the panel in the depths of his consciousness.
Name: Shen Changqing
Force: Great Qin’s Demon Suppression Division
Identity: Martial Hall Elder
True Intent: Hundred Battles True Intent (Seventy Percent)
Martial Arts: Great Sun Golden Body (Thirtieth Level, can be enhanced), Great Sun Scripture (Twenty-Seventh Level, can be enhanced), Chiyang Divine Palm (Third Level), Seven Stars Stepping on Air Step (First Level), Gang Essence Divine Fiend (Uninitiated, can be enhanced)
Slaughter Value: 873
Divine Skills: 0
"Hm?"
Upon seeing Gang Essence Divine Fiend on the panel, Shen Changqing’s brows furrowed, for he did not find the words "can be integrated" on it.
Gang Essence Divine Fiend can’t be integrated with Great Sun Golden Body?
This turn of events was completely beyond Shen Changqing’s expectations. He had thought that as long as he found an Outer Technique, he could integrate the Great Sun Golden Body into a higher-rank Martial Art. However, now on the panel, neither Gang Essence Divine Fiend nor Great Sun Golden Body showed the words "can be integrated." This made things complicated.
With a sullen expression, Shen Changqing’s attention swept back and forth over the panel, fearing he might have overlooked something.
Nothing. There was nothing.
After confirming there truly was no option to integrate on the panel, his spirit sank.
Why can’t Gang Essence Divine Fiend be integrated with Great Sun Golden Body? Could it be that Martial Arts at the level of Great Sun Golden Body have reached the upper limit for integration by the panel? Or is it that Gang Essence Divine Fiend isn’t actually considered an Outer Technique, but rather a technique leaning towards Inner Strength, hence it can’t be integrated with Great Sun Golden Body?
Shen Changqing’s thoughts raced, trying to figure out why the two Martial Arts couldn’t be integrated.
Quickly, he picked up another Martial Arts tome.
Golden Path Scripture!
The name didn’t reveal much, but when he turned to the first page, Shen Changqing truly understood what kind of Martial Art this was. From the simple introduction, the Golden Path Scripture was a fairly strong Inner Strength Martial Art. Upon Great Achievement, one’s True Qi transformed into sharp golden True Qi, unrivaled in its fierceness. But in comparison to the Great Sun Scripture, it still fell half a step short.
He glanced at it twice. He put the Golden Path Scripture back, then picked up another Martial Arts tome to browse through. Shen Changqing was looking for Outer Techniques, not so-called Inner Strength.
It didn’t matter if it was True Qi or True Yuan; the Dantian could only hold one type. If two different types of True Qi or True Yuan existed together, there would only be two outcomes: they would conflict, eventually causing the Dantian to explode, or one would devour the other. Neither outcome was what he wanted to see.
He picked up several Martial Arts tomes, but they all turned out to be Inner Strength Martial Arts.
Not long afterwards, Shen Changqing finally found what he was looking for.
Five Thunder Body Casting Technique!
To begin practicing this Martial Arts technique, one needed to attract heavenly lightning. If one could withstand it, then the power of the heavenly lightning could be used to temper the body. Upon Great Achievement, the Flesh would embody the power of heavenly lightning, making it something ordinary people could not withstand.
What a genius! Shen Changqing couldn’t help but exclaim upon seeing the introduction of the Five Thunder Body Casting Technique. A true genius! Who in their right mind would actively seek to be struck by lightning? It must be understood that heavenly lightning is extremely powerful. Even a Grandmaster-level Martial Artist could perish instantly from a lightning strike. If they were lucky and attracted a weaker bolt, it might be a different story, but this was completely a gamble on probability.
He couldn’t help but doubt whether anyone had ever managed to achieve Great Achievement in this Five Thunder Body Casting Technique. No, that’s not right. The question should be whether anyone would actually attempt to practice it. After all, there likely weren’t many who would risk their lives on a probability. If it were just once, it might be manageable. But the Five Thunder Body Casting Technique required the power of heavenly lightning for every advancement. If one were unlucky and attracted powerful heavenly lightning at any time, that would be the end.
However, such a Martial Art, if truly cultivated to the Great Achievement Realm, would definitely be a formidable existence. Heavenly lightning is inherently powerful. If a Martial Artist could harness such a mighty force to forge their Flesh, their body would become tremendously strong. Compared to the Gang Essence Divine Fiend, the Five Thunder Body Casting Technique is the true utmost firm and yang Martial Art. To be honest, even the Tathagata Golden Body before fusion might not have been much stronger than the Five Thunder Body Casting Technique. Of course, the Great Sun Golden Body after fusion would be a notch stronger than the Five Thunder Body Casting Technique.
Immediately after, Shen Changqing began to read the contents of the Five Thunder Body Casting Technique in earnest. The more he read, the more astonished he became. The creator of this Martial Art had some truly incomparable ideas and approaches in certain respects. Moreover, the fact that the Five Thunder Body Casting Technique was included in the Demon-Subduing Division also indirectly indicated that someone had truly managed to cultivate it to the Great Achievement Realm. Otherwise, the Demon-Subduing Division wouldn’t have included a Martial Art that, despite its reputation as a Grandmaster Martial Art, had no chance of success.
Because of the Five Thunder Body Casting Technique’s profoundness, Shen Changqing didn’t read quickly this time; as he read, he was silently verifying some things.
An hour passed. Only then did he finish reading the Five Thunder Body Casting Technique thoroughly.
He closed the Martial Arts tome. Shen Changqing solemnly placed it back in its original location before settling his mind and looking at his panel.
Name: Shen Changqing
Force: Great Qin’s Demon Suppression Division
Identity: Martial Hall Elder
True Intent: Hundred Battles True Intent (Seventy Percent)
Martial Arts: Great Sun Golden Body (Thirtieth Level, can be upgraded), Great Sun Scripture (Twenty-Seventh Level, can be upgraded), Chiyang Divine Palm (Third Level), Seven Stars Stepping on Air Step (First Level), Gang Essence Divine Fiend (Uninitiated, can be upgraded, can be fused), Five Thunder Body Casting Technique (Uninitiated, can be upgraded, can be fused)
Slaughter Value: 873
Divine Skills: 0
The Great Sun Golden Body remained unchanged. But, the words ’can be fused’ appeared simultaneously behind both Gang Essence Divine Fiend and Five Thunder Body Casting Technique.
Seeing this, Shen Changqing’s eyes flickered. Both Martial Arts have the ’can be fused’ option, which means they both fall within the category of Outer Techniques. However, the Great Sun Golden Body doesn’t have the fusion option. This suggests two possibilities. One is that the Great Sun Golden Body has truly reached its limit and can no longer be fused through the panel. The other is that the rank of the Great Sun Golden Body is too high, and Gang Essence Divine Fiend and Five Thunder Body Casting Technique can’t be fused with it for the time being.
Between the two possibilities, the latter seemed exceedingly slim. Nevertheless, at this point, Shen Changqing understood that he didn’t have much choice. If fusion truly wasn’t possible, then he would simply focus on improving the Great Sun Golden Body later. But this was predicated on first trying to fuse Gang Essence Divine Fiend and Five Thunder Body Casting Technique to see what happened.
Having made his decision, he did not leave the Scripture Pavilion but instead settled his mind right there and focused on the two Martial Arts.
Fusion!
With a thought, the Slaughter Value was instantly reduced. Suddenly, the two Martial Arts began to fuse, and a flood of unfamiliar memories surged from the depths of Shen Changqing’s mind.