"With my current physical fitness, if I take the Thousand-Year Willow Heart, there should be a chance of becoming a War God directly."
Shen Mu's current physical fitness put his strength at a little over 14,000 kilograms. In just one month, it had increased by 3,000 kilograms.
Such a tremendous improvement had mainly relied on the latent medicinal effects of Dragon Blood. After all, Shen Mu had only trained in the Ancient Civilization Gravity Chamber for one hour in February.
Whoosh!
Under Shen Mu's control, a golden throwing knife easily pierced the crystal shell. A clear green liquid slowly flowed out, floating in midair under the control of his mental power.
Then Shen Mu opened his mouth and inhaled. The few dozen milliliters of essence liquid were drawn straight into his mouth.
A cool current immediately spread from his mouth and seeped into his internal organs, dispersing throughout his limbs and bones in the blink of an eye.
At that moment, countless cells throughout Shen Mu's body were awakened, greedily devouring the energy of the Thousand-Year Willow Heart as they transformed.
During the process, Shen Mu's entire body trembled faintly. A comfort born from genetic instinct filled him completely, utterly different from the agony he had endured when using Dragon Blood.
Dragon Blood's only effect was enhancing physical fitness, while Essence of Flora not only enhanced physical fitness but also increased cellular vitality.
As his physical fitness surged, the mental power within Shen Mu's mental world also rose wildly.
Half an hour later, on the first floor of the villa, Shen Mu stood before a strength-testing machine.
Boom!
His fist slammed out, making the machine's target hum loudly. Shen Mu's current strength data appeared on the display: 58174KG!
"Fifty-eight thousand kilograms. Advanced General-Level. Not bad!"
With a thought from Shen Mu, a streak of golden light shot from his throwing knife pouch and struck the strength-testing target directly.
"Beep. Strength value: 235,000 kilograms. Excellent intermediate War God-Level!"
The threshold for an advanced War God was 256,000 kilograms. Over the next period of time, he would only need a little training and to further draw out the hidden medicinal effects of the Thousand-Year Willow Heart to easily surpass that standard.
In fact, if Shen Mu wished, he could take the Ten-Thousand-Year Willow Heart right now and directly surge to the peak War God-Level as a Mentalist.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Willow Heart could increase physical fitness by three to five times, but it could not be used to break through to the Planet-Level as a Mentalist.
Even among the many Essence of Flora Hong had collected, this effect ranked among the very best.
"Before September 29, my main task is only to train my spearmanship and movement technique."
Shen Mu was fairly confident that before the No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruins opened, he could raise both his spearmanship and movement technique to the Perfect level.
According to Chu Qiang, although Shen Mu's Combat Technique and movement realm were ordinary, his improvement speed was extremely fast, ranking among the very best in the entire training camp.
As for the Artistic Conception Level beyond that, only three people in the whole training camp, including Chu Qiang, had reached it.
If Shen Mu were given two or three years, he might have a chance to break through to the Artistic Conception Level.
But the problem was that Shen Mu basically had no time left. It was now February 28, 2058, less than two years before the Golden Horned Beast incident.
Moreover, Shen Mu's Azure Dragon Avatar was still an Oceanic Beast. In at most one year, he would have to face the newly born Golden Horned Beast.
Even a newly born Golden Horned Beast, with its tenfold genes and innate secret technique, "Enhancement," possessed base strength twenty times that of an ordinary first-stage Planet-Level creature, equivalent to an ordinary fifth-stage Planet-Level monster.
"I have to break through to the Planet-Level within a year, then have the Azure Dragon Avatar enter a base city as a tamed beast!"
Shen Mu did not possess a Primal Nucleus like Luo Feng. Even if Luo Feng's avatar died, he could revive through the Primal Nucleus. If Shen Mu's Azure Dragon Avatar died, he might truly be gone for good.
Far away, beneath the sea, endless undercurrents surged.
An Azure Dragon more than a hundred meters long was hunting a massive whale-type monster. Wherever he passed, countless oceanic giant beasts cowered on the seafloor, trembling in fear!
"Roar!"
Vast mental power seemed to shake the entire ocean as eleven streaks of azure light instantly pierced a Sky-Rending Beast that had just entered the King level and was fleeing.
"Wail!"
The enormous Sky-Rending Beast let out a mournful cry. Its huge body began to fall limply toward the seabed as the powerful fluctuations of its genetic energy started to dissipate.
"My consciousness amplitude has finally risen to eleven times!"
"The Celestial Atlas is still far too ineffective. If I can obtain the Yun Mo Star Secret Method from the No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruins, my consciousness amplitude should improve much faster."
If Shen Mu remembered correctly, even with Luo Feng's talent, after practicing the Celestial Atlas for half a year, his consciousness amplitude had only risen from six times to seven times.
Then Luo Feng had been trapped in the No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruins for one year and three months. After practicing the Yun Mo Star Secret Method, his consciousness amplitude had directly risen from seven times to sixteen times!
However, his Azure Dragon Avatar should possess much greater Mentalist talent than Luo Feng. Without any training, he had already possessed tenfold consciousness amplitude through instinct alone.
Even without the Yun Mo Star Secret Method, Shen Mu was confident that within at most one year, he could raise his consciousness amplitude to fourteen times, matching the Fourth Speaker, Ister.
The next morning, March 1, Shen Mu returned to his secluded training routine. On odd-numbered days, he hunted monsters; on even-numbered days, he trained at the training camp.
However, from that day onward, Shen Mu's daily challenge targets became Beginner Lord-Level Monsters.
Being a Mentalist had another advantage: when fighting monsters, he did not need to worry about ambushes or stamina depletion, and could fight with everything he had.
Of course, relying only on spearmanship and movement technique, Shen Mu still could not defeat monsters one realm above him. Once he could no longer withstand a Lord-Level Monster's attacks, he chose to run. Even while fleeing, he could train his movement technique.
If he still could not escape, Shen Mu would use his mental power to kill them instantly.
On even-numbered days, Shen Mu no longer sparred with the many students. As last month's number one on the Black Dragon Rankings, Shen Mu could use the Trial Tower and gravity chamber for six hours every day.
Only at night would Shen Mu choose a student of similar strength to spar with and verify the progress he had made that day.
The first three realms of spearmanship and movement technique were actually all techniques. They did require talent, but not to an absurd degree.
Even ordinary Warlord-level martial artists, through accumulated time and battle training, mostly possessed second-realm Combat Techniques and movement techniques.
In the blink of an eye, two months passed. Inside the virtual Trial Tower.
The moment Shen Mu's figure appeared on a barren wilderness, a mechanical electronic voice sounded.
"Third floor, Phase A trial. Student Shen Mu, your objective is to kill 100 beginner General-level Golden Vultures within thirty minutes! Good luck!"
A vast black mass of flying monsters immediately appeared in the sky above the wilderness.
Golden Vultures were a relatively troublesome type of flying monster. Martial artists faced great danger against flying monsters. Once they were snatched into the air, the only outcome was death.
"These past few days, I've failed every time because I ran out of stamina. I have to clear it today!"
Shen Mu stared at the flock of flying beasts, cold light glinting in his eyes.
"Caw!"
A hundred Golden Vultures swooped down from the sky like a golden cloud, their sharp claws reflecting a dark, chilling gleam!
"Perfect timing!"
A dark spear in Shen Mu's palm flowed with a faint cold light. His figure became like an illusion as his Perfect-level movement technique was displayed to its fullest.
Screech!
Spear Aura flashed. With the 2.4-fold force eruption of the second level of Destroyer, his spear directly pierced through a Golden Vulture the instant they clashed, killing it on the spot.
Then the spear swept sideways, knocking several pouncing Golden Vultures away. His ghostlike figure darted rapidly through the encirclement of flying beasts.
So-called Perfect-level movement technique meant using every object in the surrounding environment to dodge, shift, and maneuver, moving as though one had become one with the environment.
At this realm of movement technique, Shen Mu could use both the environment and the Golden Vultures' attacks to cleverly change direction and evade while moving at high speed, greatly reducing inertia's impact on his body's agility.
During these past two months of monster hunting, Shen Mu had provoked Beginner Lord-Level Monsters every time. He had basically been suppressed, so he had spent more time training his movement technique than his spearmanship.
Therefore, his movement technique had advanced ahead of his spearmanship, reaching the third realm, the Perfect level, sooner.
It was precisely with his Perfect-level movement technique and the second-level force technique of "Destroyer" that Shen Mu could clear the second floor of the Trial Tower as a martial artist.
One... ten... thirty... Golden Vultures fell one after another onto the ground, and the entire wilderness was stained red with blood.
But throughout the process, Shen Mu's stamina continued to drain. He simply could not sustain a full-force 2.4-fold eruption for long.
"Pant... pant..."
Shen Mu gasped heavily. The massive stamina expenditure had already prevented him from moving freely amid the Golden Vultures' encirclement, and countless wounds of varying sizes covered his body.
"Control the spear. Make it part of my body!"
Shen Mu took a deep breath and kept himself absolutely rational, struggling to hold on beneath the Golden Vultures' siege.
A moment later, Shen Mu was once again torn apart alive by the fewer than ten Golden Vultures remaining after he ran out of stamina!
At the entrance of the Trial Tower, Shen Mu's figure appeared again.
"Continue!"
Shen Mu had six hours of Trial Tower access every day. Each attempt took around twenty minutes on average, enough for him to fight more than fifteen times.
The next instant, Shen Mu was transported to the third floor once more.
"Third floor, Phase A trial..."
As the cold mechanical voice ended, the Golden Vulture flock appeared.
Holding his spear, Shen Mu charged in once again, feeling the changes within himself and his spear as he pursued that realm where man and spear became one.
Twenty-one minutes and twelve seconds later, Shen Mu, exhausted once more, was surrounded, killed, and torn apart by the Golden Vultures.
Outside the Trial Tower, Shen Mu's figure reappeared. His second attempt had failed.
The moment he emerged, Shen Mu did not waste even a second. He immediately stepped into the Trial Tower and began his third attempt.
The third time, the fourth time... until more than two hours later.
After failing his sixth attempt, Shen Mu's figure reappeared at the Trial Tower entrance.
More than two continuous hours of intense fighting and extreme mental tension had pushed Shen Mu's mental activity to its limit.
If this had been the real world, Shen Mu's eyes would probably have been bloodshot.
"Yes, that feeling!" Shen Mu's voice was hoarse, but his expression was excited, his eyes seeming to shine.
Recalling the final few seconds of that battle, Shen Mu felt as though the spear had become part of his body.
In that state, Shen Mu's body, already at its limit, had somehow killed two more Golden Vultures.
"Continue!"
Shen Mu's figure appeared once more in the wilderness of the Trial Tower's third floor.
"Caw!"
"Caw!"
Piercing vulture cries echoed as Shen Mu charged into the encirclement of over a hundred flying beasts once again.
Clang!
The spear trembled and swept out. Shen Mu once again experienced that state, the spear seeming to become his third hand.
Spear Aura flickered. Thrusting, stabbing, lifting, deflecting, and countless other moves became more flexible, everything incomparably natural.
Like a person instinctively reaching out, raising an arm, or bending a finger, the spear's movements seemed to have completely merged into his instincts.
His ghostlike figure and illusory Spear Aura ravaged the flock of flying beasts, like a dancer moving gracefully through a dance.
Amid one shrill avian cry after another, Golden Vultures fell onto the wilderness beneath the sharp Spear Aura.
More than seven minutes later.
"Caw!"
With the final, even more piercing cry of a Golden Vulture, only Shen Mu remained standing in the wilderness, leaning on his spear as his chest rose and fell violently.
Broken avian limbs lay scattered across the ground, dyeing the entire wilderness red. The air was filled with a pungent stench of blood.
"Time used: seven minutes and eighteen seconds. All 100 Golden Vultures eliminated. Third floor, Grade A trial passed!"
The mechanical electronic voice sounded, and Shen Mu's figure vanished from the Trial Tower.
"Two more runs, and I'll completely stabilize my spearmanship at this realm!"
At this point, Shen Mu's movement technique and spearmanship had respectively entered the third realm's Consummate and Perfect levels.
His next objective was to explore the even higher Artistic Conception Level!
P.S. Please vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. I'm begging on my knees.
A nearly four-thousand-word chapter during the free period—my sincerity is absolutely overflowing. Brothers, please support me!
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