By the banks of Luoshui Lake.
East Courtyard.
As the first light of dawn broke.
Jiang Ning had already risen from his bed.
[Name]: Jiang Ning
[Source Energy]: 112
[Skills]:
Literacy (Second Breakthrough 1043/3000) (Traits: Photographic Memory, Enhanced Senses)
Five Animals Fist (Perfection 787/1000)
Firewood Chopping Blade Technique+ (Third Breakthrough 4000/4000) (Traits: Versatility, Swift as the Wind, Divine Blade Control)
Inner Alchemy Cultivation Technique (Proficient 1061/2000)
Surging Wave Blade Technique (Mastery 48/1000)
Indestructible Vajra Body (Proficient 0/2000)
Water Affinity (First Breakthrough 187/2000) (Trait: Underwater Breathing)
"112 Source Energy points?"
Looking at the changes on his panel, Jiang Ning grinned.
Amazing!!!
In just one day, he had gained over 30 Source Energy points.
As expected of a full fifty-year-old Blood Lotus. The effect was worth it!!
Yesterday alone was equivalent to a month of his usual accumulation.
Then.
Jiang Ning stood by the bed and clenched his fist again.
His blood and energy flowed within him.
"Moreover, after refining the Blood Lotus's medicinal energy yesterday, my blood and energy increased by about three hundred strands, boosting my total blood and energy by more than half a percent."
"This is almost equivalent to a day and a half of my full-force martial training."
"The effect is worth it!!"
"As expected of a medicinal herb worth eight hundred taels."
Jiang Ning marveled silently.
Although consuming the eight-hundred-tael Blood Lotus seemed to only equate to a day and a half of training, making it seem inefficient compared to slowly absorbing Blood Energy Pills, this wasn't the right way to look at it.
Time was the most precious resource.
Especially for him.
The next moment.
Boom
He threw a punch into the air in front of him.
The air exploded with a clear, audible roar.
"And my strength has increased again."
"Probably between twelve hundred and thirteen hundred jin."
"With such strength, even an ordinary perfected Skin Refinement martial artist would be far inferior to me."
At this thought, Jiang Ning couldn't help but feel a surge of satisfaction.
An ordinary martial artist at the initial stage of Skin Refinement only had about eight hundred jin of strength.
Even at the perfected stage, they only reached a thousand jin.
Yet he, still at the initial stage of Skin Refinement with skin as hard as stone, already possessed between twelve hundred and thirteen hundred jin of strength.
This was four to five hundred jin more than martial artists at the same level.
In a fight, this difference would be like an adult beating a child.
Even those at the perfected stage of Skin Refinement, like Feng Tou, Jiang Li's former superior, or Cao Bin, the constable, only had a thousand jin of strength.
He was two to three times stronger than them, making it a sure victory.
Not to mention, he had also mastered the Surging Wave Blade Technique at the mastery level, allowing him to easily stack three layers of force for explosive power.
With his force application techniques, a single strike from him could unleash at least seven to eight thousand jin of force.
Stacking three layers of force, that would be over twenty thousand jin per strike.
At this thought, Jiang Ning gained a clear understanding of his current strength.
If he were to strike now, he could effortlessly unleash over twenty thousand jin of force continuously.
Strike after strike, with an unending blade momentum, he had entered a realm beyond human limits.
In his previous life, no one could have imagined that a human body could unleash such terrifying force.
After all, the world-famous boxing champion of his previous life could only unleash sixteen hundred jin of force in a single punch.
Yet Jiang Ning, without even going all out, could unleash over ten times the limit of human strength.
This level of force surpassed the explosive power of a speeding car.
At this moment, Jiang Ning truly understood how exaggerated his current strength was.
If he were to return to his previous life with this strength, while he might not be able to rival a superhero, he could certainly be called a superhuman.
Then.
Jiang Ning thought back to Tian Buyi in the lake yesterday.
Even with the resistance of water, each of his four strikes, enhanced by the overlay of four layers of force, had unleashed nearly thirty thousand jin of force. Yet, Tian Buyi had withstood all four strikes without sustaining significant injuries.
If Tian Buyi hadn't already been injured, Jiang Ning doubted that the impact of those four strikes would have done much damage to his internal organs.
Let alone killing him.
At this thought, Jiang Ning couldn't help but feel a sense of longing.
"If an eighth-rank martial artist like Tian Buyi is this powerful, then what about the legendary Martial Saints? Could they move mountains and drain seas?"
"That's not martial arts anymore. That's straight-up fantasy!"
"If one could go even further, could they pluck stars and grasp the moon?"
"No wonder that Martial Saint could live for a thousand years without reaching the end of their lifespan."
"They're practically no different from the gods and immortals of myth."
After washing up, Jiang Ning stepped into the courtyard.
The cool breeze from the lake dispelled the heat in his heart.
Then, he glanced at his panel again.
[Source Energy]: 112
[Skills]: Firewood Chopping Blade Technique+ (Third Breakthrough 4000/4000) (Traits: Versatility, Swift as the Wind, Divine Blade Control)
With his Source Energy surpassing 100 points, a familiar plus sign appeared next to the Firewood Chopping Blade Technique.
This indicated that his Firewood Chopping Blade Technique could break through again, reaching the fourth breakthrough.
This aligned perfectly with his previous speculation. The last breakthrough of the Firewood Chopping Blade Technique required fifty Source Energy points.
So this time, it would require one hundred Source Energy points.
This made perfect sense.
However, he hesitated.
With his current efficiency, accumulating one hundred Source Energy points wasn't easy.
It would take over a month.
Was it worth investing so much into the Firewood Chopping Blade Technique, which didn't seem to offer significant improvements?
He pondered this question.
After a dozen breaths.
His gaze turned resolute.
"It's not about whether it's worth it, but whether it's necessary," Jiang Ning thought to himself.
In his current view, converting resources into personal strength was the top priority.
Hoarding resources like a squirrel made no sense.
Having made his decision.
He focused his mind.
In an instant.
The Source Energy points on the panel began to drain rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, only a fraction remained.
[Source Energy]: 12
Jiang Ning closed his eyes, digesting the sudden flood of insights in his mind.
These insights were all related to the Firewood Chopping Blade Technique.
Strike after strike, countless blade images formed in his mind.
As he watched these images, he seemed to enter a mystical state, with countless flashes of inspiration and realizations flooding his mind.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly, yet it also felt like a mere instant.
Countless blade images converged in his mind, ultimately forming a single strike a strike as fast as lightning and as powerful as thunder.
The next moment.
Jiang Ning opened his eyes.
He leaped forward, crossing several meters in an instant to reach the wooden table where his long blade rested.
Swish
As he drew the blade, a clear, resonant hum echoed.
He then tapped his toes lightly, and his body shot out of the room like a gust of wind.
At this moment.
His mind was filled with countless insights, all centered around that lightning-fast, thunderous strike.
He was desperate to unleash this strike.
Jiang Ning knew that only by executing this strike could he truly master it.
Stepping into the courtyard, the cool morning breeze from Luoshui Lake dispelled much of the heat in his heart.
He closed his eyes again.
Replacing the scene in his mind.
After a few breaths.
He opened his eyes abruptly.
In the dim light of dawn, his eyes seemed to emit two bright beams of light.
He swung the blade.
In that instant.
All sound ceased.
Jiang Ning felt as if everything around him had slowed down.
Time seemed to stretch by more than ten times.
Everything moved so slowly.
Two falling leaves within three feet of him drifted lazily.
The grass clippings stirred by the lake breeze also moved sluggishly, as if frozen in place.
At this moment, the blade in his hand also seemed to move incredibly slowly.
It leisurely cut through the air, slicing a falling leaf in half.
Hum
As the blade reached the end of its arc, it abruptly stopped mid-air.
The blade, having borne the full force of Jiang Ning's strike, vibrated with a resonant hum.
Sss
On the ground, a clear blade mark nearly four feet long appeared.
Along the path, weeds were cleanly severed, as if cut by an invisible blade.
As the blade's momentum faded.
The miraculous scene in Jiang Ning's eyes returned to normal.
The falling leaves continued to drift, and the grass clippings were once again stirred by the breeze from Luoshui Lake.
The rustling of leaves filled his ears once more.
Jiang Ning snapped out of his daze, his eyes filled with shock.
"Blade Momentum?"
"This is Blade Momentum!!"
He became certain.
"I've mastered Blade Momentum!!!" He was overjoyed.
His eyes sparkled with delight.
The breakthrough of the Firewood Chopping Blade Technique had brought him far more surprise than he had anticipated.
He had never expected to master Blade Momentum.
From what Jiang Ning knew, even those at the seventh rank of martial arts might not have preliminary grasped Momentum.
Yet he, only at the ninth rank, had already mastered one form of Momentum Blade Momentum.
Momentum was an incredibly profound and mystical force.
Under the influence of Blade Momentum, evasion was impossible; one could only withstand it head-on.
Then, he looked at his panel again.
[Skills]: Firewood Chopping Blade Technique (Fourth Breakthrough 5000/5000) (Traits: Versatility, Swift as the Wind, Divine Blade Control, Unity of Man and Blade)
[Unity of Man and Blade]: Possesses an innate, unparalleled compatibility with blades. Any unfamiliar blade will feel perfectly natural in hand.
Looking at this new trait, Jiang Ning thought to himself.
"No wonder I didn't feel any changes. It's this effect!"
"Unity of Man and Blade the effect sounds average at first glance!"
"But it's not useless!"
"At the very least, I won't need to familiarize myself with new blades to achieve optimal performance."
Then he glanced at the blade in his hand.
The edge was visibly chipped and rolled.
Clearly, after several battles, the blade could no longer withstand his strength.
Especially after his fight with Tian Buyi in the water yesterday.
The four strikes, each unleashing terrifying force, had placed immense strain on the blade.
The edge had rolled as a result.
"It's time to get a new blade!"
"This hundred-fold forged iron blade can no longer handle my current strength!"
"If I keep using it like this, it might not be long before it breaks."
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