Who Still Lives Off a Woman After Transmigrating into Coiling Dragon? Part 4

Only then did Simon, while waiting, begin carefully examining the Spatial Ring Elodi had left behind.

Entry into the Profound Mystery of Slow

"A large quantity of high-grade Magic Crystals. Even the worst are equivalent to seventh-rank Magic Crystal Cores, while most are eighth or ninth rank. This is a batch of strategic resources. This shipment is worth at least a hundred million gold coins," Simon remarked.

No wonder the Joshua Clan had gone to such lengths to swallow up this entire vein. Under the sweep of Simon's immense soul power, this mine could be excavated for at least another ten years, yielding Magic Crystal ore worth billions of gold coins.

The Rayast Continent had likewise developed Magic Crystal Cannons. The energy provided by a seventh-rank Magic Crystal could fire a shell equivalent to a seventh-rank spell. Though it was single-use, it could play a huge role in mortal wars where Saint Realm experts did not intervene.

Even a ninth-rank expert would be in grave danger if caught off guard and struck by a seventh-rank Magic Crystal Cannon, not to mention that there were also eighth- and ninth-rank Magic Crystal Cannons.

If Elodi had not encountered Simon, who had practically cheated his way through life, then over the next few decades, the Gale Empire would have seen the rise of a new clan no weaker than the current Herbert Family.

Moreover, given the talent Elodi had displayed and his patient, restrained nature, he might not have lacked the chance to step into an even higher realm in the future.

Yet all of that had vanished beneath Simon's Spirit Storm. Still, if Elodi were lucky enough to reincarnate in the Netherworld and endure until he became a god, then he might one day return to the Rayast Plane. That possibility, however, was so small it could be ignored.

Continuing to inspect Elodi's gifts, Simon found that the only other valuable item inside was a book titled Secret Chronicles of Rayast Continent.

Out of boredom, Simon began flipping through it.

The book roughly recounted the major events of the Rayast Continent over the past million years.

However, from Simon's perspective as someone who had read the original novel, there was only one event in it that truly counted as major.

As for the imperial transitions that occupied most of the book, or records of certain Saint Realm experts and Lowgods heading to the Supreme Planes, Simon considered them all ordinary.

That great event was the rise of the strongest recorded expert in Rayast Continent's history. After becoming a Midgod, he had established the Dark Divine Court, uprooting the Temple of Light that had previously held the ruling position and replacing it entirely.

That divine court had continued to the present day, and Simon had indeed seen it. In every somewhat larger city of every empire, one could find traces of it.

Simon had never investigated it deeply before and had assumed it was merely a divine court that worshipped the Darkness Element Chief Sovereign. Now, however, it seemed to worship a single individual instead.

And coincidentally, that expert's name was Rayast.

"Although there are many branches of the Dark Divine Court within the Gale Empire, they usually have very little presence. Is that because Rayast also went to a Supreme Plane? Or has he remained on the continent all this time? Even the author of this book never explained it clearly."

Simon sank into thought.

Another valuable piece of information in the book was that this plane's Plane Overseer seemed rather mysterious. Over the past million years, he had appeared only a handful of times, merely leaving behind some messages on the continent before vanishing without a trace.

"What a dereliction of duty..."

But on second thought, that was not necessarily a bad thing. At least it had prevented many Saint Realm experts from being fooled into leaving the Material Plane, only to end up as ingredients.

In the end, Simon concluded, "This continent has indeed produced many powerful experts. It's just that after becoming invincible, many of them chose to head to the Supreme Planes or the various Divine Planes in pursuit of greater strength or excitement. There should still be divine-level experts on the continent, but not many. Still, I need to remain low-key. No matter how strong someone in the Saint Realm is, they are nothing before a divine-level expert."

Putting the book back into his Spatial Ring, Simon continued maintaining his soul power at a radius of ten kilometers.

At this range, Simon could keep expenditure and recovery balanced, while also having enough distance to respond to any sudden developments.

"The waters of the Rayast Continent run deep. At least for now, the strongest empires likely have divine-level experts behind them. And it's hard to say whether the Dark Divine Court, which has little presence nowadays, lacks powerful experts backing it."

Simon pondered to himself.

"My strength is still insufficient. While the continent's situation is relatively stable, I need to improve as quickly as possible. I've already entered the Profound Mystery of Wind Element, Water Element Essence, and the Profundity of Speed. It would be best to comprehend the Profound Mystery of Slow and try to begin fusing the Profundity of Speed and the Profound Mystery of Slow."

Naturally, Simon, who was familiar with the laws of the Coiling Dragon World, knew that the earlier one began fusing Profound Mysteries, the better.

Like Linley, fusing the Profundity of Speed and the Profound Mystery of Slow into the Speed Profound Truth before breaking through to godhood was one of the best paths within the Law of Wind.

But everyone's circumstances differed. Simon had yet to enter the Profound Mystery of Slow. His available choice was to try finding the point of compatibility between the Profundity of Speed and the Profound Mystery of Wind Element. He could even seek the compatibility between Water Element Essence and the Profound Mystery of Wind Element, attempting to start their fusion. That was also a good choice for now.

Immersed in cultivation, Simon devoted himself completely to the wind.

Subconsciously, Simon still preferred studying the Law of Wind. He loved its unrestrained freedom.

"Wind has no form. Its gathering and dispersal follow the heart."

"Wind elements are everywhere. Gentle winds, violent winds, still winds—they fill this world."

"Extremely fast wind can form hurricanes and wind blades, destroying everything."

"Extremely slow wind seems nonexistent, yet it appears capable of freezing space."

"What is fast? And what is slow?"

As he pondered, Simon stood and casually demonstrated the insight in his heart.

A lifelike Elemental Green Python appeared in Simon's hand. Its savage fangs and densely packed scales looked as real as if they truly existed.

Before comprehending the Profound Mystery of Wind Element, Simon could only summon this elemental creature through magic. But now that he had comprehended it, he could manifest it with a wave of his hand, and its power was even greater.

Dispelling the elemental creature in his hand, Simon picked up the Wind-Annihilation Longsword and began swinging it after infusing it with Battle Qi.

Simon's swings appeared slow, but they were actually afterimages left behind by the longsword's rapid movements.

"So this is the Profundity of Speed? When speed reaches the extreme, even the eyes can no longer catch its trajectory. One can only sense it with spiritual power."

"But true speed should not merely be speed."

Simon shook his head, stopped swinging his longsword, and stood quietly.

He began casting the Saint Realm forbidden spell—Dimensional Blade.

Suddenly, the wind elements before Simon began fluctuating violently, and a ten-meter-long, deep cyan giant wind blade abruptly appeared.

"Dimensional Blade. This is the first time I've used it since becoming a Saint Magus. Let's see how powerful it is now."

After Simon finished silently chanting the spell, this wind blade, several times larger than an ordinary Dimensional Blade, whistled as it shot into the heavens.

Everywhere the Dimensional Blade passed, space was torn apart. Spatial fissures appeared and vanished one after another, and then the giant wind blade disappeared beyond the horizon.

This unusual Dimensional Blade had consumed more than half of Simon's Wind Element magic power, but Simon smiled happily.

"Ha ha, I was wrong. I was wrong all along. Wind may represent speed, but isn't extreme speed also a form of slowness?"

With all his focus covering the Dimensional Blade, Simon clearly sensed the flow of energy within it and the faint traces of laws. They seemed fast, yet also slow. The speed produced by the fusion of these two entirely different states, along with other unknown Profound Mysteries, was astonishingly fast, and its power could even tear through space.

Simon closed his eyes and mobilized all his concentration to deduce and comprehend.

"Fast to the extreme? Slow to the extreme? The union of fast and slow?"

Wind blades appeared around Simon once more. These blades were only palm-sized. As they flew about, some were wind blades that moved with extreme speed, while others seemed frozen in place, utterly motionless.

After a long while, the wind blades around him dissipated.

Simon opened his eyes and laughed. "I've finally entered the Profound Mystery of Slow!"

Compatibility, Eliminating Threats

"This Despair Mountain Range really is my blessed land. Strange, why is it called that? It should clearly be called the Hope Mountain Range instead, haha."

In his happiness, Simon let his thoughts wander.

But he did not know that while this was a land of hope for him, it had been a true land of despair for Elodi and his clansmen.

Having successfully entered both the Profundity of Speed and the Profound Mystery of Slow, Simon calmed himself and continued cultivating in earnest.

Countless possibilities emerged and vanished within Simon's mind. New ideas arose in their wake. After testing them, he retained the correct ones and discarded the wrong ones.

Cultivation knew neither day nor night. Simon cultivated atop the mountain peak like this for half a year.

One day, Simon opened his eyes. "My progress in the Profundity of Speed and the Profound Mystery of Slow has been quite fast since entering them. As expected, they're relatively basic Profound Mysteries of the Wind Element."

After half a year of secluded cultivation, with Simon's soul power—ten times stronger than that of Saint Magi at the same level—constantly deducing and calculating, he had gained a deeper understanding of the Profundity of Speed and the Profound Mystery of Slow.

But Simon's greatest gain was that during those half a year, he had miraculously found the point of compatibility between the Profundity of Speed and the Profound Mystery of Slow! Only half a year had passed, yet it was as if the bottlenecks that trapped others for thousands or tens of thousands of years simply did not exist for Simon.

"With this talent, I should at least be able to cultivate to the level of a Seven-Star Fiend in the future. I'll most likely reach the level of Commander. As for the legendary Paragon, I don't dare think about that for now..."

Simon marveled at his extraordinary talent.

He had already decided that he would never need to consider living off a woman again.

Although he was now over six feet tall, upright and broad-shouldered, elegant and possessed of a unique temperament, often charming noble young ladies so thoroughly that they could barely walk—

Simon remained devoted solely to cultivation. He had been that way in the past, and he would remain that way in the future.

"Who still lives off a woman after being reborn into Coiling Dragon?"

Simon felt that with the talent he had displayed, he could reach the peak entirely through his own efforts...

Afterward, Simon comprehended the Profundity of Speed and the Profound Mystery of Slow while fusing them together.

When Simon used the newly entered Speed Profound Truth, both his movement speed and attack speed indeed surged again, increasing by roughly threefold. His attack power underwent an obvious qualitative transformation.

"My speed and attack power should already allow me to stand above everyone else in the Saint Realm, right?"

Simon thought narcissistically.

But that was in line with reality. Simon had fused the Profundity of Speed and the Profound Mystery of Slow, was a Soul Mutator, and wielded energy that was ten times stronger at its foundation.

An ordinary Saint Realm peak expert would not survive even one move when Simon went all out.

Afterward, based on the fused laws, Simon also created a new ultimate technique—Sigh of the Wind.

An ultimate fast sword. With one strike, a phantom flashed past, leaving behind only a sigh.

Feeling the power contained within this ultimate technique, Simon was very satisfied.

"There's still a difference between Sigh of the Wind and the Dimensional Slash Linley comprehended after fusing the Profundity of Speed and the Profound Mystery of Slow in the original novel."

That was perfectly normal. Even with the same Profound Mysteries and the same fusion path, the ultimate techniques developed would vary from person to person.

Sigh of the Wind leaned more toward elusive, traceless speed, while each strike also carried considerable attack power.

Dimensional Slash, on the other hand, could unleash a powerful destructive force with a single sword strike, naturally carrying a small Dimensional Blade. Each had its own characteristics.

What they shared was immense speed. After all, once fused, they formed the complete higher Profound Mystery—the Speed Profound Truth—representing the most extreme speed of the Wind Element.

Overall, Simon was very satisfied with the power of Sigh of the Wind. As the degree of fusion increased, its attack power could continue to grow.

The scenery of Despair Peak was beautiful. When taking breaks from cultivation, Simon would relax appropriately. Viewing beautiful sights he had never seen before was one of his few hobbies now.

After taking in the scenery, Simon continued cultivating.

The feeling of his strength constantly improving intoxicated Simon, making it hard for him to pull himself away.

Until one day, Simon's ever-spread soul power detected a figure intruding into the area.

Opening his eyes, Simon's lips curved into a faint smile. "Lachlan, you've finally come." Then he silently shot toward the figure at Extreme Speed.

Lachlan, who had been guarding the clan all along, had received no news from this Magic Crystal mine for several months. After thinking it over repeatedly, he had decided to investigate personally. This batch of ore concerned the clan's development plan for the next century, and no mistakes could be allowed. Yet now, faced with the ruins before him and Elodi's unknown whereabouts, a chill rose in his heart.