After waiting for a while, Zhao Ping'an noticed that the deduction progress was increasing at the same rate as before: about 1% every thirty seconds, exactly the same as the previous two times.
As for the [Deduction Points] it consumed, after about a month of training, his Body Cultivation had already reached the seventh level of the Martial Venerable Realm. The total amount of [Deduction Points] had increased once more, so the deduction only used up 60% of his total [Deduction Points].
While the art was being deduced, Zhao Ping'an didn't even stop for breakfast. He flashed away from Wu'an Mountain and began experimenting with different ways to attack using True Essence, and the effects they produced, in a small valley more than ten miles away.
The wall's foundations had only just been tamped down, and construction of the base was about to begin.
Although the exposed part of the wall stood two zhang high, the sections buried underground would bring its total height to more than three zhang. Its cross-section resembled a right trapezoid, making it sturdy and durable, so construction was expected to take about three months.
After the wall was finished, Zhao Ping'an decided to renovate the gate as well, gradually turning Wu'an Mountain into a sturdy fortress.
It wasn't until lunchtime that Zhao Ping'an returned to Wu'an Mountain, thoroughly satisfied.
The deduction of the Primordial Chaos Art had long since been completed. The new Profound Grade Art was called the Four Symbols Gathering Essence Art.
[Four Symbols Gathering Essence Art (Profound Grade Art): 0/1500 (Not Yet Initiated, Simplified) Absorb Heavenly Qi continuously for thirty minutes to gain 1 point of Training Progress]
It was the first time he'd seen an art or martial skill whose training difficulty had only tripled.
But that didn't mean the Four Symbols Gathering Essence Art was weak. Quite the opposite—it was downright monstrous.
When ordinary Martial Venerable Realm experts condensed True Essence through an art, its properties would be transformed according to the art they practiced.
These included the most common five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—as well as rarer properties such as ice, lightning, wind, light, and darkness.
Ninety-nine percent of Martial Venerables possessed True Essence of only one property. Only those who practiced special arts might possess multiple properties of True Essence, but those arts were geometrically more difficult to cultivate.
Of course, their power far surpassed that of other arts at the same level.
Zhao Ping'an's Four Symbols Gathering Essence Art belonged to the kind of art whose difficulty and effects were both heaven-defying.
It possessed four properties: earth, fire, water, and wind.
They represented the four most fundamental substances between heaven and earth.
Earth was the vessel for all things, water the source of life, fire the continuation of life, and wind the circulation of the world.
The four properties complemented and contained one another, yet could also destroy everything.
After lunch, Zhao Ping'an did something rare: he skipped his nap and began trying to cultivate the Four Symbols Gathering Essence Art.
The Game Panel had changed the requirements for this cultivation compared to before. It no longer required him to sit quietly and absorb Heavenly Qi, so he wanted to test his guess. If it worked, then...
After an unknown amount of time, Zhao Ping'an stood by his bedroom window, watching the guards, workers, and herb farmers bustling about in the dusk. His expression was calm, but the corners of his mouth kept rising.
After testing it, he had confirmed his guess, and he was in an exceptionally good mood.
"The Four Symbols Gathering Essence Art—the word 'gathering' isn't just for show. It really is incredible..."
Feeling the Heavenly Qi around him continuously surge into his body, Zhao Ping'an murmured, full of admiration.
He had conducted experiment after experiment. Whether he sat quietly, ran at full speed to practice his Lightness Skill, or repeatedly slammed into an iron pillar to train his Body Cultivation, the Four Symbols Gathering Essence Art drew in the surrounding Heavenly Qi without pause.
His body was like a colossal whirlpool, one that no amount of Heavenly Qi could fill. Even after his dantian, sea of qi, all one hundred and eight major acupoints, and the Twelve Regular Meridians were filled with True Essence, Heavenly Qi still poured into him. It simply stopped transforming into True Essence and vanished the instant it entered his body.
Zhao Ping'an guessed that all of this had something to do with the Game Panel, and that the Heavenly Qi was most likely being converted into [Deduction Points].
He had no idea how efficiently it was being converted. Several hours had passed, but the deduction progress on the panel hadn't budged, so he could only observe for a few more days before drawing any conclusions.
Perhaps it was all just his imagination. Maybe the excess Heavenly Qi had simply returned to the world.
What made Zhao Ping'an happy now was the Four Symbols Gathering Essence Art's training progress. Aside from the hours he spent sleeping, he would be cultivating every other moment. At two points of Training Progress per hour, and nearly twenty hours a day, he could gain about forty points daily. He could raise his cultivation by one level in roughly twenty-five days.
If anyone found out about this monstrous training speed, he would become an anomaly in the entire world. Countless top experts would probably want to capture him and study him.
"Looks like I'll have to cultivate a martial art that hides my strength, too."
As soon as the thought came to him, Zhao Ping'an hurried to the study and began rummaging through the boxes of martial arts manuals he'd plundered from the Sun Family.
No, not this one. Not this one either...
He went through one book after another, searching through more than a hundred before he finally found a Second-rate Martial Art that could conceal his strength. It was called the Turtle Breath Technique.
Once mastered, he could activate it with all his strength and enter a state of suspended animation, making every aspect of himself extremely faint.
After reading the Turtle Breath Technique carefully, the Game Panel immediately displayed its method of cultivation.
[Turtle Breath Technique (Second-rate Martial Art): 0/300 (Not Yet Initiated, Simplified) Hold your breath for one minute to gain 1 point of Training Progress]
Holding his breath was child's play for Zhao Ping'an now.
When he broke through to the Innate Realm, he had been able to enter a fetal-breathing state and go an hour without breathing.
Now that he had reached the Martial Venerable Realm, he could maintain that state for several times longer and hold his breath for hours. The countless pores on the surface of his skin could take the place of his nose and mouth in supplying oxygen to his body.
But this was only enough to keep him alive. After any strenuous exercise, he still had to breathe.
That very night, Zhao Ping'an mastered the Turtle Breath Technique. In just a few more days, he had perfected it.
He also confirmed where the vanished Heavenly Qi was going: it was indeed being converted into [Deduction Points]. It could increase his total by about 1% per day. Combined with the large amounts of Demonic Beast meat he ate, he could gain 4% to 5% of his [Deduction Points] in a single day—a truly breakneck pace.
His martial arts also began to advance in a burst. First, he spent 5% of his [Deduction Points] to advance the Turtle Breath Technique into the First-rate Martial Art, the Breath Concealing Art.
[Breath Concealing Art (First-rate Martial Art): 0/500 (Not Yet Initiated, Simplified) Hold your breath for one minute to gain 1 point of Training Progress]
Not long after, the three Yellow-grade Martial Arts—the Purple Light Ghostly Eyes, Five Thunders Sky Severing Palm, and Phantom Flying Dagger—also successively reached perfection.
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