Mysterious Heaven Skill

"Let's try anything and see if it works! We might get lucky!"

Lei Zhan swept his hand through the air. The decisive commander who had once led the charge on the battlefield was back.

"Open the national digital Library, along with the databases of every museum! Search for everything related to internal energy and cultivation methods! Don't worry about whether it's real. As long as it's logically consistent, bundle it all up!"

The chaos in the classroom at Notting College gradually subsided.

Beside the podium, several lackeys were frantically trying to lift the foam-mouthed Luo Bu and take him to the infirmary.

"W-wait!"

Luo Bu, who had already rolled his eyes back, somehow found a last burst of strength. He clung desperately to the podium leg and roared, his face covered in blood:

"I'm not leaving... I'm staying here... Cough, cough... I want to watch that good-for-nothing Su Yun embarrass himself with my own eyes!"

"Uh? But, senior..."

The lackeys' hands slipped.

"Thud!"

Luo Bu, who had barely been clinging to life, hit the floor hard with a dull thump.

Just like that, he had only a quarter of his life left.

But driven by his determination to see his mockery through to the end, he wriggled like a tenacious caterpillar, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Su Yun.

At that moment, Su Yun sat at his desk, leisurely wiping his Sunglasses.

He was still deep in thought.

Just then, Lei Zhan's voice came through the earpiece, a little hurried:

"Su Yun, I'll keep this brief."

"We think the main reason your cultivation is so inefficient might be... that your meditation technique is too inefficient!"

Su Yun's hand paused slightly. He put the gleaming Sunglasses back on the bridge of his nose.

Lei Zhan continued:

"Earth has no energy-rich environment, so we can't test anything in practice. The Special Command has bundled up every logically consistent internal energy cultivation method from the national archives and online databases and sent them to you."

"Let's try anything and see if it works. Pick one and give it a shot!"

The next second, blue light flickered across the lenses of Su Yun's Sunglasses as streams of data cascaded down.

Transfer complete: Chinese Martial Arts Archive.7z

Su Yun looked at the compressed file on his retinas, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as his fingers tapped lightly against his knee.

"I don't think efficiency is the problem... But fine, I'll try it first. That breathing technique does feel a little awkward."

"Let's use the stones of another mountain to polish the jade of this world."

Su Yun opened the compressed file.

At first, the contents were fairly normal: traditional martial arts such as the Yijin Jing, Xisui Jing, and Golden Bell Shield.

But after scrolling down twenty or thirty pages, things started to go completely off the rails, hurtling toward the depths of absurdity like a dog off its leash.

Whoa! Now that's something! This isn't a collection of cultivation methods—it's a bookshelf from Qidian that's come to life!

Stellar Transformations

Su Yun: ?

Su Yun shook his head.

This one started at too high a level. It needed the Heavenly Diagram for guidance, and you also had to sense the stars of the universe.

It was broad daylight. Where was I supposed to find any stars?

Pass!

Flame Mantra

Su Yun: ?

Su Yun rolled his eyes.

"Evolve by devouring Heavenly Flames..."

Where was I supposed to find Heavenly Flames in this dump?

Should I use a lighter?

Or sneak a flame from the kitchen stove?

I'd end up being called Douluo the Gas Stove. What a humiliating name.

Pass!

Heaven-Devouring Demon Art

Su Yun: ?

"Devour the origin of all things to attain the Chaos Body..."

Su Yun shuddered.

This was way too brutal, and it would make the whole world his enemy.

He was here to build up civilization and help it soar, not to play the big villain and get hunted across the continent.

Besides, this thing had atrocious table manners.

Pass!

<Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation..., Yin-Yang Great Dao Scripture>

Su Yun: ?

Su Yun looked at the pink icon, and three dark lines appeared on his forehead.

Captain Lei, have you all gone crazy?

Sure, I'm almost thirty mentally, but deep down I'm still a kid!

Want me to call the police and report you for distributing porn?

Pass!

Absolutely pass!

Su Yun's fingers flew across the screen as he searched through all the flashy names for something a normal person could cultivate.

Suddenly, an especially eye-catching name appeared, surrounded by dazzling golden effects—

Sunflower Manual

Note: To master this art, you must first...

A friendly reminder from the Earth Expert Group: Although the cost is a little steep, ancient texts record that this art is extremely fast. We recommend considering it.

Su Yun instantly clamped his legs together, feeling a chill below the belt as if a cold breeze had blown past.

Get lost!!!

Which heartless bastard stuffed this thing in here?!

And you recommend considering it?!

Even if I'm stuck at level 1.0 for the rest of my life, I'm never touching those scissors!

Su Yun raged inwardly as he unhesitatingly dragged the file into the recycle bin and even clicked to permanently shred it.

Su Yun's fingers flew across the screen as he searched through all the flashy names, finally stopping at one that looked both orthodox and not too absurd.

Mysterious Heaven Skill

Hmm...

This sounded like a proper Daoist internal energy technique.

It wasn't as outrageous as the Heaven-Devouring Demon Art, nor as twisted as the Sunflower Manual.

Going by instinct, Su Yun opened the folder.

The folder unfolded, revealing two files.

File One: <Bashu Tang Sect · Mysterious Heaven Skill (Ancient Text Reconstruction)>

Su Yun glanced at the note.

Reconstructed from bamboo slips unearthed in the Sichuan region.

Note:

According to the unofficial history Strange Tales of Shu, this technique allowed for rapid progress in its early stages but could easily foster inner demons.

Case study:

A once-brilliant inner disciple of the Tang Sect suddenly went into qi deviation while cultivating and jumped into a river to end his life.

Although the sect elders saved his life with a rare secret medicine, he went completely mad after waking up.

He babbled all day, claiming to be a Divine King reborn and an Immortal Emperor returned. He ranted that this world was too low-level, that you had already sealed your fate, and that he would rebuild the order of the Divine Realm.

No one knew why, but even after the Divine King returned, he insisted on continuing to cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

But what was terrifying was that, in an effort to regain the divine power he claimed to have lost, he began frantically devouring the bloodlines of high-level beasts and even his fellow disciples, eventually becoming a monster who knew nothing but killing and plunder.

The expert group recommends: This is an unorthodox, evil technique. Cultivate with caution!

Su Yun frowned as he read, a chill running through him.

First he went mad, then tried to kill himself, and finally started devouring bloodlines?

Wasn't that a textbook villain's backstory?

Why had they even given him this thing?

Su Yun ranted inwardly, his gaze settling on the line describing the technique's qualities...

"An unending cycle of vitality, with power as vast as the sea."

Yeah, right! And this was supposed to be an unending cycle of vitality?

That wasn't vitality—it was an unending cycle of eating people! Sustaining your vitality by devouring other people's bloodlines? Weren't they afraid of being struck by lightning?

No way. Too vile. I'm not cultivating it!

He turned his attention to the second file.

File Two: <Dao Canon · Mysterious Heaven Skill (Revised Iteration)>

Source: After obtaining the original fragment, generations of Daoist masters deemed its killing intent too strong and contrary to the natural order. They spent centuries revising and iterating on it, producing this final version.