Energy Shields and Shield-Breaking Techniques

The human race knew nothing about the Fox Clan's plan to attack the Lion Clan. Perhaps they did know, but had no intention of stopping it.

Nor had the humans joined in, or shown any desire to kick the Lion Clan while they were down.

After all, if you drove certain races into a corner, they were capable of anything.

The humans had already made their show of strength, so there was no need to stir up more trouble.

So while the outside world was in turmoil, the humans continued to follow their original plans.

Hundred Schools City, Yin-Yang School headquarters.

At that moment, a group of talented Yin-Yang School members were holding a meeting in the Cloudspirit Pavilion.

The meeting was attended by Yin-Yang School researchers, stewards, and the apprentices led by the researchers.

The researchers were generally older, and all looked to be at least fifty or sixty. The apprentices, on the other hand, were in their prime, only around thirty or forty.

"We just received an assignment. The Yin-Yang School is to work with the Military School and several powerful Martial Way practitioners to further develop energy shields and shield-breaking techniques."

The speaker was Zuo Pengtao, a steward of the Yin-Yang School.

There were several kinds of stewards in the Yin-Yang School. Some were responsible for maintaining relations between the Hundred Schools and the various factions of the Three Great Nations; others managed the daily lives of the Yin-Yang School's researchers. Then there were those who assigned and followed up on specific research tasks. They could be considered project managers.

Zuo Pengtao was one of the project managers.

In fact, these stewards did not conduct any research themselves. They were dedicated to serving the Yin-Yang School's researchers.

Their usual work was to handle various matters unrelated to research.

Since learning, thinking, research, and exploration were the only ways for the humans to rapidly increase their strength, stewards had come into being to take care of things, allowing the researchers to focus on their work.

After all, not everyone was passionate about thinking and research. Some people weren't interested in those things, disliked using their brains, or even found it exhausting. And some people were simply passionate about power and wealth.

Zuo Pengtao, for his part, wasn't interested in researching anything else. After being hired as a steward, he had focused on assigning research tasks and following up on them.

Now that an assignment had come down from above, he had called in several researchers under his supervision to see who was willing to take it on.

"Master Qi, you've studied energy shields in depth. Do you think this is possible?"

Master Qi was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his fifties or sixties. His full name was Qi Xingwen, and he had a six-star cultivation.

In this world, only those with six-star cultivation could be called masters.

Since the humans could only increase their cultivation through thought and research, anyone who became a six-star powerhouse had to have advanced after decades of painstaking study.

Their breadth of knowledge might not be much greater than anyone else's, but their knowledge in a particular field was far deeper than that of ordinary people. Calling them masters was no exaggeration.

Take the famous "10,000-hour rule" in the real world, for instance. It was nothing compared to what these masters had put in.

They had devoted themselves to their work for fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, or even more than a hundred thousand hours to reach their level.

When Zuo Pengtao called on him, Master Qi pondered for a moment before answering. "The reason energy shields currently require three-star cultivation is that only three-star Spiritual Qi can form a complete, adequate shield that covers the entire body.

"If we want to lower the requirements, we could weaken its defensive power. But that definitely won't work. If its defense gets any weaker, it'll be useless. It'd be like paper, ready to tear with the slightest poke. What good would that do?

"So the only option is to break the energy shield apart and protect only part of the body, using it like an ordinary shield."

As soon as Master Qi finished speaking, Master Xiang Yuhua beside him hurriedly objected. "That won't work. Maybe it would've been viable in the past, but now that the chicken and rabbit in a cage Mind-Fixing Divine Ability has appeared, an incomplete energy shield would just be feeding the enemy."

Master Xiang Yuhua studied Five Elements attacks. Although he knew little about energy-shield technology, he had heard of the recently famous Mind-Fixing Divine Ability. He immediately understood the problem.

A phenomenon that often occurred in this world was that the emergence of one Divine Ability rendered certain other Divine Abilities, or even entire categories of them, obsolete.

For example, the appearance of the chicken and rabbit in a cage Mind-Fixing Divine Ability had more or less eliminated all incomplete energy barriers and energy shields.

Another example: more than a hundred years ago, the appearance of the Combined Forces Divine Ability had weakened all the original Military School "Thirty-Six Stratagems Divine Abilities," such as Feint to the East, Attack in the West and Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell.

After the Combined Forces Divine Ability appeared, the concept of an army had mostly disappeared, so those Divine Abilities had all been adapted to better suit individuals. That was the form in which they were popular now.

Master Qi wasn't surprised by Master Xiang Yuhua's point. He had recently been researching a technique called "Three-Talents Shield: All-Around Real-Time Protection."

"Then we'll have to try a different approach. The release threshold for shields made solely by weaving Spiritual Qi can't be lowered any further. I don't have any new ideas about that for now.

"As for the other task, strengthening the defensive power of three-star energy shields, I can do that. I've just discovered a new method of weaving Spiritual Qi. It should increase the defensive strength of current energy shields by about five percent, though it'll also use more Spiritual Qi."

Zuo Pengtao finally breathed a sigh of relief. At least one of the problems could be solved. "Then I'll leave it to you, Master Qi, to improve the strength of the three-star shields."

He continued, "Does anyone else have any new ideas about energy shields?"

At this, the seven researchers present fell silent. If even Master Qi, who specialized in energy-shield technology, had no ideas, what good solutions could they come up with?

Every profession had its specialty.

They wouldn't meddle in areas outside their expertise and risk making fools of themselves.

Just then, a young woman sitting behind Master Qi stood up and leaned close to his ear. She whispered, "Teacher, do you think each person could manifest a small piece of shield, then fit the pieces together to make one large energy shield?"

The young woman who had spoken had delicate features and wore a sky-blue silk dress. She was one of Master Qi's students, named Xiang Jing.

Although Xiang Jing had spoken softly, everyone present was at least a four-star practitioner. Their senses were keen, and their hearing was sharp.

In fact, even if she had spoken as softly as a mosquito, they still would have heard every word.

Before Master Qi could reply, Master Hong, seated across from him, spoke up. "A shield assembled from separate pieces does have its advantages, but it has too many drawbacks.

"First, it can only be used on the battlefield, when forming a formation of ten thousand people.

"Actually, before the chicken and rabbit in a cage Mind-Fixing Divine Ability appeared, it would've been quite good for individual use too. But now that this Divine Ability exists, shields must cover everything, without a single gap.

"Second, there's the question of coordination. Thousands, even tens of thousands of small shields would have to be assembled into one complete energy shield. Let's not even talk about how difficult that is. If someone in the group dies, what happens to their replacement? Do they need to be trained all over again?

"Third, this kind of shield is easy to break. After it's broken, how can you quickly put together a new one? Its release speed would certainly be much slower than that of a single, complete energy shield.

"Fourth..."

Master Hong went on and on.

But the more he said, the more troubled Xiang Jing looked. Seeing this, Master Qi quickly interrupted him. "All right, Old Hong."

Master Hong noticed Xiang Jing's expression too, and immediately fell silent.

Master Qi glanced at his apprentice, who had lowered her head as if she'd done something wrong, then continued, "It's true that this method has drawbacks. But we can't deny that it's a solution for lowering the energy shield's release requirements.

"Xiang Jing, if you're interested, you can look into it. Just don't let it interfere with your regular work."

Xiang Jing answered happily, "Yes, Teacher." Then she returned to her seat.

"Other than Xiang Jing's idea, does anyone have any new thoughts?"

Master Qi looked around at the dozen or so people in the Cloudspirit Pavilion and continued, "If not, give it some thought when you get back. See if you can come up with a way to create a shield without weaving Spiritual Qi."

As soon as Master Qi finished speaking, Steward Zuo Pengtao picked up where he left off. "If you have any ideas, why not go back and give them a try? Once you've made something, setting aside whether it can be sold, the Yin-Yang School will certainly reward you."

The older masters weren't particularly moved by the mention of a reward, but the young disciples behind them lit up.

For these young disciples, advanced techniques such as weaving Spiritual Qi and optimizing shield strength were indeed difficult to solve. But they thought they had a chance at developing Divine Abilities for the one- and two-star levels.

The chicken and rabbit in a cage Mind-Fixing Divine Ability, which had just appeared, was a good example. Its principle was simple, but its effect was extraordinary.

What if they were lucky enough to come up with a highly versatile Divine Ability, just like that "Anonymous"? Wouldn't that be a windfall?

With enough Qi Luck Points, the road ahead would be much easier for them.

And even if they failed, the research process could still improve their Talent Qi. They had nothing to lose either way.

At that moment, the young disciples were all eager to get back and give it a try.

The masters up front understood their disciples' thoughts well enough. They had been young once too.

They figured that there was no harm in trying. If someone succeeded, wouldn't everyone be happy? So they wouldn't stop them; on the contrary, they were glad to see it.

Seeing this, Steward Zuo Pengtao smiled happily. "Next, we'll move on to shield-breaking techniques."

"Master Qi specializes in energy-shield defense, so he should have some insights into this."

"Master Wang specializes in attacking a single point to break through..."

"Master Liu..."