The Heavenly Master's Combat Style

Pure Light washed over him.

The mysteries of spirituality and Spirit Fusion rapidly unfolded before Gu Jinlai.

In that instant, it felt as though he had devoted ten or eight years of meticulous study to the Great Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method.

And that was without pause, day and night.

After ten seconds, the information carried by the deep violet light sphere shifted.

Great Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method: First Refinement Entry → Second Refinement Minor Accomplishment.

"Good heavens, no wonder the Path of the Celestial Master is said to be easy at first and hard later—it directly boosted me by one Refinement."

Gu Jinlai sensed carefully.

Each Refinement increase in the Great Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method drew more spirituality from the soul and raised the Spirit Fusion rate. The jump from the First to the Second Refinement brought a notably significant enhancement.

His Spirit Fusion rate was extremely high. With his spiritual intensity elevated, even if the duration lasted less than a single incense stick's burn, he could still quickly complete his first Treasure Armor forging.

Moreover, his Spiritual Awareness was exceptionally pure, placing a low "burden" on his divine sense. Now, leveraging his realm advantage, his flexibility had also grown.

Just like a giant—slow in movement, but if it stood a hundred meters tall and took several seconds per step, it could still leave ordinary men in the dust.

"In other words, Spiritual Awareness may not necessarily be incapable of guiding others to refine True Qi like divine sense can—it just requires a very high realm."

Gu Jinlai made a rough estimate.

Once he cultivated the Great Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method to the Seventh Level and manifested his Nascent Soul, he would surely achieve the effect of divine sense from the Spirit Refinement stage.

Every technique of the Celestial Master Dao was easy at first and hard later.

A Celestial Master who cultivated a Nascent Soul was honored as a Celestial Lord. Even during the most glorious period of the Celestial Masters a century ago, the number of Celestial Lords did not match the current count of Nascent Soul True Monarchs in the Great Qian Dynasty—a testament to the difficulty of the Celestial Master Dao.

"One step at a time."

Gu Jinlai steadied his mind and turned his attention to the Treasure Armor.

His first armor forging was unfamiliar, and out of caution, he spent five days completing the initial Spirit Fusion of this piece of armor.

He could continue to tap into the potential of this armor—that is, the High Carbon Steel—but the cost-effectiveness of further time investment would drop sharply.

At this moment, in the courtyard, Gu Jinlai wore his newly forged battle armor.

Before him, Nian Buwang held a single sword, attacking relentlessly.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

The clash of sword edge and steel echoed continuously through the yard.

Several times, Nian Buwang erupted with True Qi, but it only managed to push Gu Jinlai back, making him feel his blood and qi surge.

And this was without him circulating True Qi for defense.

If he had shielded himself with True Qi, he could almost completely ignore over ninety percent of Nian Buwang's attacks.

"That's enough."

Gu Jinlai said.

"Ancestor, this armor's weight hasn't even reached heavy armor standards, yet its defense rivals a High-grade Treasure Armor. A body-tempering martial artist wearing it would be hard to injure at the Qi Refining Realm. If we increase it to fifty kilograms, or a hundred, it could withstand Sword Gang below the level of a treasured sword."

Gu Chaoyang spoke with some excitement.

A High-grade Treasure Armor!

Even though, being a steel armor type, it affected flexibility and couldn't compare in price to inner-lining Treasure Armors, its value could still definitely sell for sixty thousand taels.

If used in charging into battle, ten warriors wearing this armor, forming a formation with Condensed Gang, could break through a siege of ten thousand troops.

"Not bad."

Gu Jinlai replied.

His estimate was similar to Gu Chaoyang's.

Fifty to sixty thousand.

In truth, if this were an inner-lining High-grade Treasure Armor, its price would definitely exceed three hundred thousand.

He did know how to forge inner-lining Treasure Armors.

Stab-proof vests, nano-armor.

Nano-armor required an infinitely long time for Spirit Fusion, so setting that aside, take stab-proof vests for example: they didn't hinder flexibility, yet against blades, spears, swords, and halberds, they offered defense no less than a Lower Grade Treasure Armor.

But such equipment required high-cost Kevlar Composite Fiber, complex craftsmanship, and a long Spirit Fusion time. To quickly accumulate enough funds to complete the training of the Gu family's thousand elite soldiers, Gu Jinlai naturally set this aside first.

What he wanted was cost-effectiveness.

With an armor like this, by speeding up his process, he could completely forge one in three days.

Due to its low material cost, over a month, these armors could bring him a profit of five hundred thousand taels, and six million taels in a year.

What an astonishing number!?

It was almost equivalent to the annual tax revenue of Star Prefecture cities like Changjun City, Lingxiao City, and Luori City.

"Go purchase more refining materials. Also, don't slack off on your cultivation. In three months, whoever improves their cultivation the fastest will receive a suit of armor as a reward."

Gu Jinlai instructed.

Gu Chaoyang, Nian Buwang, and the others had just witnessed the formidable defense of that armor. Hearing Gu Jinlai's words, their spirits soared.

"We will not disappoint the ancestor."

"Go on."

Gu Jinlai said, then donned the armor and headed to the rear courtyard training ground.

He instructed Su Nanxing to guard the courtyard gate, then took his position at the center of the training ground.

"Next up is the issue of a Celestial Master's combat power."

Gu Jinlai had been pondering this over the past few days while reviewing the Great Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method. A Divine Transformation True Person's Yin Spirit could wield a flying sword to kill enemies—why couldn't a Celestial Master do the same?

Was Spiritual Awareness too "heavy"?

If so, was there a way to allow a Celestial Master to control objects to fight like a Divine Transformation True Person?

There had to be a way; it was just that the Celestial Master Lineage had only encountered its great upheaval a hundred years ago, and no one had thought of it yet.

If others couldn't figure it out, then he, Gu Jinlai...

As a modern person who had experienced the era of information explosion, his, Gu Jinlai's, mind would surely be able to devise a solution.

"Qinglian."

Gu Jinlai pointed the way.

The path of combat for a Celestial Master.

The next moment, Pure Light surged, and information related to Celestial Master spirituality, divine refinement thoughts, Divine Transformation object control, and refining tools and taming beasts flashed through Gu Jinlai's mind like lightning.

Suddenly!

He caught something!

The next moment, he restrained all his strength, allowing this forty-kilogram suit of armor to press down on his body.

At the same time, his Spiritual Awareness dispersed, and under this sudden insight, it entered a state of Spirit Fusion with the armor in less than a second.

It was nearly one hundred percent Spirit Fusion.

In this state, he once again sensed the armor's life.

It was like a child who had just been born or awakened from slumber, eagerly trying to communicate with him.

"Flesh and blood are frail and bitter; unify spirit and nature; merge with the machine as one..."

Through Spirit Fusion, Gu Jinlai completely merged himself with the armor.

"You're already a mature suit of armor. You should learn to stand up on your own and protect your master, instead of pressing your hundred-odd jin weight onto him. Look at the neighboring Divine Transformation flying sword—it only needs a Yin Spirit to lead the way, and it can run ten li away to help its master break formations and kill enemies..."

Gu Jinlai transmitted his Spiritual Awareness.

He felt his mind merge with the armor. He was a life, and the armor was also a life.

A person never felt that controlling their own hundred-plus-jin "object" of a body to hop and jump was heavy.

At this moment, he almost couldn't feel the armor's weight either.

Restraining his strength, without moving his True Qi, the eighty-jin armor on his body felt as light as nothing.

"Buzz!"

The Pure Light dissipated.

The next moment, the Spirit Fusion rate between Gu Jinlai and the armor dropped sharply.

He immediately recovered from that state of oneness, once again feeling the burden the armor placed on his body.

But...

He felt a force sharing this burden with him.

Spiritual Awareness!

It was Spiritual Awareness!

Spiritual Awareness, like a Yin Spirit controlling an object, was manipulating the armor, making it not only an extension of his limbs but also greatly reducing its weight.

"Indeed, a Yin Spirit can wield a sword, and Spiritual Awareness can also control objects. A Yin Spirit wielding a sword is swift as lightning and ever-changing, but Spiritual Awareness controlling objects doesn't need many Mysterious Powers—it only has one function! Use Spirit Fusion to awaken the armor, letting the armor's own 'spirit' bear its own weight, thereby... making it lighter!"

Gu Jinlai maintained this state, his mind overclocking, seeing through everything: "This lightness is only relative to the one performing Spirit Fusion. In reality, the weight still exists. Thus, wielding a thousand-jin greatsword as if it were a ten-jin sword to break the sound barrier—the difference in damage is like heaven and earth."

In less than a minute, he stopped.

His Spiritual Awareness was mostly spent.

This state consumed a great deal of Spiritual Awareness.

He had only just become a Celestial Master; his Spiritual Awareness was too weak.

The Great Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method wasn't a skill. Raising it to the second refinement only improved his Spirit Fusion efficiency, success rate, and extraction rate. To strengthen his Spiritual Awareness, he still needed time to accumulate.

His gaze fell upon the tiny figure of the consciousness entity within the Spiritual World.

There, a new orb of light floated forth.

Spiritual Outburst: Novice.

Its color was a pale blue.

Gu Jinlai stared at this orb of light. "The pale blue isn't a problem. What matters is that a skill has formed. With this skill, the Celestial Master now has a combat style of his own."

He looked down at the precious armor on his body.

First, set a small goal.

"Su Nanxing, have Gu Chaoyang forge a battle armor weighing a thousand jin and a war sword weighing a thousand jin."