No Shortcuts

Bai Muye closed his eyes and lay quietly in the familiar Nutrient Pod.

After surviving more than nine hundred life-and-death battles, the thing that had kept him company the most—aside from the Thunder Staff—was probably this Nutrient Pod.

"That was a close one. If Nan Qi's father had insisted on avenging his son, you might never have made it back here to soak in the Nutrient Pod..."

After enjoying a hearty meal, Xiao Si rolled lazily over in the Consciousness Sea.

"Say that had happened. How would you have handled it?" Bai Muye asked tentatively.

"There would've been nothing I could do," Xiao Si replied bluntly. "You have to rely on yourself in real-world battles. You have to understand, I'm still just a seed. You can't expect too much from one..."

"While I'm recovering, show me Nan Qi's memories." Bai Muye didn't know whether Xiao Si was telling the truth, but he didn't press the issue.

After all, Xiao Si was right. In the end, he had to rely on himself!

Xiao Si sent over Nan Qi's memories, and Bai Muye browsed through them. Nan Qi really did have excellent cultivation talent. He'd reached Universe Rank Fifth Order in just a few hundred years and had comprehended a Five-Fold Domain.

"But his father sure knows how to have kids..." Bai Muye sighed.

Nan Qi's father had married seventeen wives, and Nan Qi had 138 siblings. From the memories, it seemed all of them had to undergo grueling training—and thirty-two of his siblings had already died in life-and-death battles.

Only after going through the memories did Bai Muye understand why Nan Qi's Force Amplitude had been so low. He'd been carrying a number of hidden injuries, all sustained during the brutal training.

The Nutrient Pod wasn't omnipotent. Some injuries that had accumulated over a long time couldn't be fully healed, even with Nutrient Solution.

A few days later, Bastian let Bai Muye out of the Nutrient Pod.

"Master, my opponents in each upcoming life-and-death battle will be stronger than the last. I need more time to train in the Virtual Universe..."

Bai Muye made his request in a low voice.

Bastian looked up at him and weighed the cost of time in the Virtual Universe against the appearance fees Bai Muye could earn by winning. At last, he nodded and tossed him a Consciousness Sensor. "I'll give you a month. You'd better not disappoint me!"

Taking the Consciousness Sensor, Bai Muye returned to his Training Room.

"Is the memory purification done?"

"Done ages ago. Ready whenever you are," Xiao Si said lazily.

"Let's do it."

A stream of pure cultivation memories flooded his consciousness, and Bai Muye began to fuse with them.

More than a month later, Bai Muye opened his eyes. Layer upon layer of Light Domain spread out beside him.

He stood and grabbed the low-grade Thunder Staff nearby. Then he suddenly thrust it forward. Apart from the missing spearhead, his stance was identical to Nan Qi's spear technique.

Whoosh!

A sonic boom rang through the air.

"There's still quite a difference between a staff and a spear..."

He shook his head slightly. Knowing Bastian, there was no chance he'd give him a Tier Three Origin Force spear.

Though spear and staff techniques were entirely different, some moves overlapped, such as chopping and sweeping.

Nan Qi's spear technique had been extremely refined. As Bai Muye fused with the memories, he incorporated some of its techniques into his staff work, adding more variation.

He connected to the Virtual Universe and entered the Martial Arena.

"Too bad I can't look up any information. I still have no idea what era this is..."

The thought crossed his mind, but this anonymous account had restricted permissions. There was no way to use the Virtual Universe to search for information.

After setting an opponent, he tried to fuse the Light Domain into his Wind-Thunder Domain, but ran into difficulties.

Fusing two domains was relatively simple, but adding the Light Domain was much harder.

Even with his opponent constantly demonstrating the techniques, by the time his Virtual Universe access ran out, he'd only managed to incorporate a trace of the Light Domain.

Even that little bit made the combined domains much more powerful than before. And there was an unexpected bonus: the process had inspired him, pushing both his Lightning Domain and Wind Domain a step further, to the Fifth Level.

That gave him three Fifth-Level Domains, making his next life-and-death battle a little easier.

There was no need to report breakthroughs in strength to the Giant Axe Arena in advance. Its records of the competitors only reflected their condition at the time of their previous life-and-death battle.

It was entirely possible to make a breakthrough between two battles. After all, life-and-death combat was one of the best ways to bring out a cultivator's potential.

This happened quite often. A competitor might improve their Force Amplitude, or advance in cultivation. The most impressive cases were those who gained an insight and crossed the threshold of a law. Against opponents of the same rank, they could utterly overwhelm them.

And that was the biggest draw of life-and-death battles, attracting one participant after another!

A year and two months later, his next life-and-death battle arrived.

This time, his opponent was a Universe Rank Fifth Order fighter with a Water Domain at the fourth level. He'd won more than seven hundred battles in a row and wielded a greatsword.

The battlefield was on an ordinary planet with a harsh environment, though nothing particularly difficult for someone at Universe Rank.

When Bai Muye revealed his Fifth-Level Lightning Domain, his opponent knew the odds were against him. He abandoned defense and launched a desperate assault, only to have his head smashed by a single staff strike.

As usual, his opponent's memories offered no "surprises." The only gains were a fourth-level Water Domain and the experience of hundreds of life-and-death battles.

This time, Bai Muye hadn't been injured, which made Bastian quite pleased. He gave him another month of training time in the Virtual Universe.

During that month, Bai Muye first tried to fuse the Water Domain into his existing Wind-Thunder Domain. This proved even harder than incorporating the Light Domain.

"Xiao Si, does fusing more domains get harder the more you add?"

He couldn't figure it out in the Virtual Universe, so he logged out and asked in his consciousness.

"Of course it does." At some point, Xiao Si had stopped bothering to correct him when he used that name. "Wind, Thunder, and Light aren't too bad. They're difficult to fuse, but they belong to the same Upper Law and are somewhat connected. But trying to incorporate domains of the Five Elements is naturally much harder..."

"Is there a shortcut?"

"No." Xiao Si immediately crushed his hopes. "It's just a matter of patiently working at it, bit by bit. You're at Universe Rank. Your lifespan is ten eras, so take your time. You'll get there eventually..."

"Easy for you to say." Bai Muye rolled his eyes. "You're not the one fighting life-and-death battles. Every time, it's a fight to the death. I'm trying to get stronger. What if I run into a tough opponent next time and die? Then it'll all be over..."

"..." Xiao Si was at a loss for words. After a long pause, it finally said, "I understand, but this really isn't something you can do overnight. I suggest you set the Water Domain aside for now and focus on incorporating the Light Domain. Then try to comprehend a law. If you can cross the threshold of any law, your strength will naturally make a huge leap..."

It was sound advice, and Bai Muye took it to heart. He spent the time that followed continuing to fuse the Light Domain.

By the time his Virtual Universe access ran out, he'd managed to fuse about half of the Light Domain, making his domains even more powerful.

As he repeatedly fused and tested them, he gained new insights into the Lightning Domain and Wind Domain. Both domains seemed to advance another step.

"It'd be great if I could enter the Virtual Universe without any limits..."

Without opponents in the Virtual Universe to guide him, he continued experimenting in the real world. He grew more and more adept at controlling his fused domains.

After his previous life-and-death battle, the Giant Axe Arena updated his records.

"Supervisor, Luoluobai Muye has 924 wins. He's getting close to a thousand," an employee in a black uniform said, pointing at the screen in a spacious hall. "These are the opponents the system selected. We need to choose one..."

The supervisor in a silver uniform glanced at the screen. One of the masked women caught her attention, and after scanning the other screens, she gave her instructions. "Choose her. She also has a Fifth-Level Lightning Domain. Luoluobai Muye is a warrior, while this Xia is a Psychic. She's also on a 932-win streak. A battle between them should draw a bigger audience... Once the time is set, make this a priority for promotion..."