Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation

The Boundless Merit Book also contained four other Divine Mantras: the Vermilion Bird Divine Light Incantation, the Black Tortoise Divine Steel Incantation, the White Tiger Divine Weapon Incantation, and the Qilin Divine Hero Incantation.

Gao Wu had no idea what these four Divine Mantras did. His experience from his previous life was completely useless—after all, back then the Boundless Merit Book had been nothing more than an ordinary ancient text.

Judging from its name, the White Tiger Divine Weapon Incantation seemed well suited for combat. He tried guiding Merit to empower the White Tiger Divine Aspect, but there was no response. The other Divine Aspects were the same.

Clearly, ten thousand Merit was still insufficient to activate a Divine Aspect. Gao Wu stopped dwelling on it and directly used all ten thousand Merit to empower the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation.

The Azure Dragon Divine Image on the Boundless Merit Book shone with spiritual light and shot straight into the depths of Gao Wu's brow.

The Azure Dragon had antlers like a deer, the head of an ox, the body of a serpent, and the tail of a fish. Its entire body was covered in azure-gold scales, while its four claws resembled phoenix talons.

The Azure Dragon twisted and danced through the air, divine and agile, its bearing mighty and flamboyant.

In his daze, Gao Wu seemed to merge with the Azure Dragon, roaming through a river of blood, coiling around towering bone-white pillars rising section by section into the sky, and flying over throbbing crimson mountains...

Only after a long while did Gao Wu open his eyes. He sat up, clenched his fists, and exerted force, feeling as though the power condensed within them was about to burst from between his fingers.

His mind was exceptionally clear as well, and endless vigor filled him inside and out. He had never felt better.

Silently reciting the mantra to summon the Boundless Merit Book, he saw that the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation had already reached the Minor Achievement realm.

Since awakening at fourteen, Gao Wu had cultivated the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation dozens of times every day. Even with the accumulation of Merit, after four years, he had only reached the third level, the Mastery realm.

It was like the Nine Dragon Forms. He had trained in them for four years before reaching the second level, the Proficient realm.

That might not sound very impressive, but the Proficient level was actually quite good. The other members of Ninth Middle School's Martial Arts Team had martial skills at about that level too.

Practice made perfect. At the Proficient realm, one could already grasp many intricate techniques and transformations, far surpassing ordinary people.

The third level, the Mastery realm, was already true professional standard.

Gao Wu felt that the third realm corresponded to an Advanced Martial Artist. The fourth realm, Minor Achievement, was enough to correspond to a Warrior who had awakened Source Power!

Ever since Martial Emperor Qin Liuhe founded the new Epoch, a hundred years had passed, and martial arts had established a complete system.

Countless practical cases had proven that awakening Source Power required a sufficiently powerful physical foundation.

Only Advanced Martial Artists possessed the basic qualifications to awaken Source Power.

Generally speaking, only the specialized martial arts departments of higher academies possessed the complete knowledge and techniques for awakening Source Power. The odds of ordinary people awakening Source Power on their own were exceedingly, exceedingly low.

Once Martial Artists opened their Source Apertures and gained Source Power, they could easily surpass the limits of the human body through that power—leaping and soaring as they pleased, even using a Source Power Field to withstand modern firearms.

At that point, they would be respectfully called Warriors.

There might not even be one Warrior among a hundred Martial Artists!

Gao Wu's goal was to enter Beizhou's top Martial Arts Academy and strive to become a Warrior.

He had no talent in other areas, but with the Boundless Merit Book, he would surely carve out a path in martial arts.

After surviving that horrific accident, Gao Wu had made a vow: to become the strongest person under heaven and wipe out all Strange Beasts and evil creatures!

To him, the experiences of his previous life had been like a long dream. This life was his true life, his very foundation!

His current middle school martial arts points were still very, very far from the threshold for guaranteed admission.

The requirements for entering the martial arts department of a first-rate university were harsh, and the competition was exceptionally fierce—far harder than the college entrance exams ordinary students faced.

Getting into a second-rate university would not be difficult, but it would almost cut off any path upward.

Fortunately, rescuing someone in this accident had earned him some Merit, allowing him to cultivate the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation to the Minor Achievement realm ahead of time.

Gao Wu first summoned the Boundless Merit Book and saw that his physique had risen by a full 1.7 points, reaching 10 points.

Every additional point represented an increase of roughly fifty percent. This meant his physique was 7.5 times stronger than that of an ordinary healthy adult.

The increase in physique had also raised his lifespan to one hundred and thirty years.

That was not exaggerated. Ordinary people who took good care of themselves could live to a hundred. Let alone him, with such a powerful physique. Going by the ratio, his lifespan should have reached seven or eight hundred years.

Clearly, one hundred and thirty years was some kind of limit.

The most direct benefit of his improved physique was that he could take a beating better. Among Martial Artists of the same level, it was almost impossible for anyone to knock him down in the ring.

Moreover, a powerful physique allowed him to endure all kinds of extreme training.

The benefits of that were simply enormous.

Even more wonderfully, the Nine Dragon Forms had unexpectedly advanced to the Mastery realm.

The Nine Dragon Forms had originally been a martial cultivation method based on imitating a dragon's form. In that daze, he had transformed into an Azure Dragon and felt the divine intent of Feilong Zaitian, which in turn elevated the Nine Dragon Forms. That was perfectly reasonable.

He had chosen the Nine Dragon Forms as his primary cultivation method in the first place because of the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation. Looking at it now, it had truly been a wise choice.

Although he had no way to conduct detailed tests, Gao Wu felt that his strength, reactions, endurance, and other aspects had all improved slightly.

Just as Gao Wu was pondering the changes brought by the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation, hurried knocking sounded from outside.

Shen Yue's impatient voice came through the door. "Old Gao, open up!"

He added, "There's good news!"

"What good news?"

Gao Wu lazily opened the door and let Shen Yue in, then flopped down onto his bed.

They knew each other too well. There was no need for politeness.

Shen Yue dragged a chair to the bedside and sat down, excitement covering his thin, sallow face. "That girl wasn't a student here. As soon as she got to the infirmary, a group of people came and took her away. From the looks of it, her family must be very well-off!"

He added with some emotion, "With a rich family like that, who knows what she couldn't get over!"

"This..." Gao Wu found it rather strange. The girl had seemed calm and rational, her emotions stable. She did not look like someone who would casually seek death.

Besides, it was inexplicable for her to specifically come all the way to No. 9 Middle School to jump into a lake.

There might have been some special reason behind it, but it had nothing to do with him, and there was no need to investigate further.

He casually asked, "How is that good news?"

"The girl has nothing to do with the school. Your brave jump into the water to save her becomes positive news, something that brings glory to the school."

Shen Yue said, "That way, the school won't stop the video from spreading. They'll even give you some rewards. They might even take the initiative to promote you! Once you're famous, you'll have more chances to appear in the martial arts league!"

Gao Wu thought about it and realized that was indeed the case. No matter why a student took their own life at school, it would be a massive scandal for the school.

Ninth Middle School was considered a second-rate school in Dongjiang City, but it was still directly under the state government and had influence in both the media and online.

They would never allow a scandal to spread unchecked.

But now, the school would instead vigorously publicize his act of saving someone. After all, it was something that made them look good.

He sighed. "You're young, but you're pretty perceptive!"

"That's basic professional quality for those of us making online short videos. I only got smarter after suffering a few losses..."

Shen Yue spoke before realizing something was wrong. Pointing at Gao Wu, he laughed and cursed, "I'm two months older than you, damn it! Who are you pretending to be older than?"

Gao Wu clasped his hands perfunctorily. "You're right. I was wrong."

"Seriously, this is your chance to get ahead."

Shen Yue cared deeply about Gao Wu's affairs and said enthusiastically, "Once I get back, I'll edit the video properly, add some passionate music and captions, and at the very least make you a little famous!"

He had been making short videos on Kuaiyin for two years. Although he had never gone viral, he had gained plenty of experience and developed his own judgment about short videos.

This time, whether in subject matter or content, Gao Wu's rescue was highly impactful. It should attract a great deal of attention. For Shen Yue, it was also a good chance to gain followers.

"You're my big brother!"

Gao Wu was deeply appreciative and declared grandly, "When I get famous, I'll treat you to an all-you-can-eat buffet!"

He did not care much about empty fame. The important thing was that the spread of short videos should bring him quite a bit of Merit. That was what he urgently needed.

"Seriously, that girl was really pretty, and her family has money too. You really got lucky this time!" Shen Yue said, his face full of envy. "A hero saving a beauty—then you can take advantage of the moment to become her boyfriend and get both the girl and the money!"

"We've long since risen above such lowly tastes. We devote ourselves wholeheartedly to serving the people—we're not that kind of person!" Gao Wu declared righteously.

"Pah!"

Shen Yue was in a hurry to edit the video. After giving Gao Wu a contemptuous look, he hurried off.