Cloud Ascending Ladder Entry, Fate Enhancement

Cloud Ascending Ladder Entry, Fate Enhancement

Cloud Ascending Ladder Entry, Fate Enhancement

"You're saying that Lin Mo, with First Stage Perfected cultivation, fought two against one and fiercely killed two Second Level practitioners?"

In the Wang Faction's main hall, a Personal Disciple below the seats asked in astonishment.

A dark-faced man nodded solemnly, then said to the crowd, "Those two were veteran escorts from the Qianjin Escort Agency. Though they had no Breathing Technique and had long been stuck at Second Level Entry, their coordination was exceptionally practiced. Even ordinary Second Level Minor Accomplishment practitioners would have no choice but to flee in disarray if they encountered them..."

"If that is the case, Lin Mo's aptitude must be terrifying..."

"But Lin Mo's natural endowment was supposedly ordinary. It took him more than twenty days to sense qi and blood back then, yet his cultivation has advanced so quickly, and his combat strength is far from ordinary." Someone pondered deeply and concluded that it would be best not to make an enemy of him.

Though they were all practitioners of the Changhe Martial Arts School, their Wang Faction was only hostile toward the Li Faction. They merely needed to keep within proper bounds; Master Yang's disciples would not easily interfere.

In the corner, Chen Qing sat in a yellowwood chair with his head lowered, his hand clenched so tightly it had nearly turned white. Cracks had appeared in the ten-year-old yellow pearwood armrest beneath it.

"Junior Brother Chen, what do you think?" Someone suddenly turned the topic toward him. As everyone looked over, Chen Qing raised his head and forced out a faint smile.

"I think the senior brothers are right. Lin Mo belongs to the neutral faction. Fortunately, we haven't offended him before..."

In the courtyard's martial arts ground, a bare-chested youth, white vapor steaming from his body and his skin flushed red, darted across a row of wooden stakes.

At times, he lightly tapped a stake and sprang three to five meters through the air. At other times, he seemed to find something to borrow from midair, stomping down with one foot and sharply twisting and shifting his body.

A moment later, Lin Mo leapt down from the stakes. He exhaled a long stream of white vapor that curled around him, delight on his face.

"As expected, real combat is still necessary. After yesterday's battle, not only did the Great Jade Ape Breathing Technique enter the beginner stage, even the Cloud Ascending Ladder improved."

Over the past few days, Lin Mo had handed the apprentices at the Stone Wall Courtyard over to Senior Brother Xu Changfeng to teach, while he himself focused wholeheartedly on training in preparation for the prefectural city competition a month from now.

Ever since obtaining nearly ten thousand taels of silver last time, Lin Mo had never been short on Precious Medicine for cultivation.

When cultivating his Breathing Technique, he took Heart-Nourishing Pills that Head Patrolman Li had brought back from the prefectural city, each pill costing over two hundred taels of silver.

When cultivating the Cloud Ascending Ladder, he rubbed Precious Medicine onto his legs to clear his meridians and temper his skin and bones—three-year Blood-Activating Grass, four-year Rock Grass. Each of these cost dozens upon dozens of taels of silver...

His cultivation progress could be said to advance a thousand miles in a single day. Only these past few days had Lin Mo truly understood the meaning of poor scholars and rich martial artists. With Precious Medicine supporting him, his cultivation speed had increased by far more than double.

He estimated roughly that he might break through to Second Level Entry before the prefectural city competition. His chances of receiving a high evaluation would rise greatly as well.

"And that is without enhancing my fate..."

Killing Zhao Qian, that pockmarked man, and yesterday's two Second Level Entry practitioners had provided nearly two hundred points altogether. Though the latter two had done evil, they were not as dreadful as the former pair.

[Fortune: 600]

"Six hundred points of fortune... It will probably bring another earth-shattering transformation..."

Lin Mo could feel that enhancing a green fate was no longer as convenient as before. Besides, [Bee Waist Ape Back] had yet to fully complete the remolding of his natural endowment. He felt there was still more potential in it to excavate.

His other fate attributes were all stuck at the threshold of green, especially [Insightful Eye]. It had already been so useful as merely a white fate.

Once it rose to green, even Lin Mo could not begin to imagine what use it would have.

"Let's enhance [Insightful Eye] first." Lin Mo made his decision.

[Insightful Eye] was actually divided into two aspects. The first was called freezing and replaying, one of the reasons Lin Mo had learned Cultivation Methods so quickly before.

However, Lin Mo currently only had the Cloud Ascending Ladder and the Jade Shattering Flowing Water Fist. No one could personally demonstrate either Cultivation Method for him, so their learning effectiveness had been greatly reduced.

The second aspect was called slowing down. It was not slowing in the literal sense; rather, because his ocular power had greatly increased, movements and actions appeared several degrees slower before Lin Mo's eyes.

The latter was one reason for Lin Mo's current formidable combat strength. It was useful against Second Level practitioners, but it fell far short against Third Stage Practitioners.

At the level of a Half-step Martial Master like Li Erlang's Second Master, when he charged at full speed, Lin Mo could only see a clear afterimage.

[Fortune broke through its limits. Consumption: 100. Insightful Eye—Dharma Eye]

[Fortune: 500]

Almost instantly, faint green light visibly gathered above Lin Mo's head, then flowed into his eyes. For a moment, it felt as though they had been immersed in a clear spring.

He could feel a coolness welling up from the inside of his eyes, as if even the hidden injuries accumulated from prolonged use of [Insightful Eye] were slowly being healed.

Very soon, that coolness turned scorching hot, as though it intended to burn every impurity from Lin Mo's eyes.

He clenched his teeth tightly. The sensation was nothing short of torment. What flowed from the corners of his eyes was not merely impurities, but tears he could not stop from spilling as well.

One quarter-hour...

Two quarter-hours...

It took a full three quarter-hours before the burning sensation finally dissipated completely. The instant he opened his eyes, Lin Mo felt as though several new colors had appeared in the world before him.

Beyond the colors that had originally existed, there seemed to be something like thin mist drifting through the air.

It was just after dawn, yet he could actually see faint purple qi in the air...

"Purple qi comes from the east? Can this [Dharma Eye] perceive spiritual qi that ordinary people cannot detect?"

Lin Mo examined it closely. When he circulated his Breathing Technique, faint blue mist accompanied every breath he exhaled and inhaled.

What he drew in was Jade Spirit Qi mixed with blue, while what he breathed out transformed into white vapor and dispersed between heaven and earth.

He had once read miscellaneous books, which recorded that Breathing Techniques involved breathing in and out the spiritual qi of heaven and earth...

There were millions upon millions of kinds of spiritual qi: purple qi, Jade Spirit Qi... Breathing them in and out nourished the body, each with different effects.

"Although this [Dharma Eye] hasn't strengthened anything related to qi and blood, it can actually let me sense the spiritual qi between heaven and earth!"

Lin Mo marveled inwardly. Being able to see what others could not see naturally gave rise to a trace of pride.

He did not know whether it was merely an illusion, but aside from being able to maintain it for much longer now—at least one or two quarter-hours without his eyes becoming sore—

It seemed that when [Dharma Eye] was activated, this so-called spiritual qi of heaven and earth felt far more affinity toward him...

Lin Mo studied it carefully. As the Great Jade Ape Breathing Technique drew in increasingly more Jade Spirit Qi with every long exhalation and inhalation, he reached a simple conclusion.

"Could this [Dharma Eye] also help me cultivate faster?!"

He sat down cross-legged, swallowed a Qi and Blood Pill, circulated his Breathing Technique, and closed his eyes to meditate and breathe.

In only a few breaths, before even one complete Lesser Celestial Circuit had formed, threads of qi and blood began to slowly emerge from his dantian.

A moment later, after Lin Mo had completed two full Meridian Cycles of breathing, he swallowed hard, utterly stunned by this fate attribute.

"The speed at which I cultivate and nourish qi and blood has increased by at least fifty percent!"