Cloud-Stepping Technique!
After Wei Jinlin left, Lu Ming was still somewhat shaken.
He could not help recalling how Wei Jinlin had leapt up from level ground, soaring like a bird more than ten zhang into the air before drifting away.
Worthy of being a first-rate lightness skill—the Cloud-Stepping Technique was simply too powerful.
Compared to it, Grass Gliding seemed far plainer.
Lu Ming immediately decided to switch to practicing the Cloud-Stepping Technique. He still had two hours of cultivation time today, as well as tomorrow and the day after. All of it would go toward practicing the Cloud-Stepping Technique.
First, he would prepare with all his strength for the Li Family Bank arena battle three days from now.
"Draw in the anus and bind the breath through the Three Passes; the dantian fire warms the pill beneath the soles. Set your foot as though treading cotton fluff; raise your leg as though tugging a kite string. Borrow your own strength in midair, then tread another heaven beyond the clouds..."
Once mastered, the Cloud-Stepping Technique was extraordinarily formidable, but cultivating it was no easy task.
Lu Ming carefully recalled Wei Jinlin's explanation from earlier, silently recited the mnemonic, assumed the first stance, the Cloud-Accumulating Stance, and slowly began feeling his way through the practice.
In the courtyard, the youth sometimes leapt up, sometimes maintained a posture without moving an inch, frowning as he sensed the changes within himself.
Only after a long while did he finally complete a full run-through of the technique.
[Evolving Leg Dao Divine Ability (94/100)...]
Lu Ming was still savoring the feeling of having practiced the Cloud-Stepping Technique, checking for gaps and filling in what was lacking, when a message suddenly came from the Divine Ability Panel.
At once, he was overjoyed.
He remembered that after finishing his final round of Grass Gliding, his Leg Dao experience had only risen to 90.
Now, after practicing the Cloud-Stepping Technique just once, it had actually jumped straight to 94—an increase of a full 4 points in a single attempt.
The Divine Ability Panel's bonus from multiple techniques counted as long as one had gotten started. If one had not gotten started, the bonus would only apply while practicing.
He had already gotten started with Grass Gliding, so even if he did not practice it, every time he evolved a Leg Dao Divine Ability, he would still receive the 1 point of experience it provided.
Setting aside that 1 point of bonus experience, the Cloud-Stepping Technique itself had given him a full 3 points of experience.
Previously, when evolving an Acupoint Divine Ability, the finger technique from the Bone-Unraveling Technique had only provided 1 extra point of experience.
The finger technique of the Bone-Unraveling Technique was probably barely a third-rate martial art. In other words, third-rate martial arts could only provide 1 point of experience bonus, while first-rate martial arts could provide 3 points.
The higher the grade of the martial art, the more extra experience it could provide!
It seemed that from now on, he needed to gather high-grade martial arts whenever possible. Amid his excitement, Lu Ming secretly made up his mind.
Of course, low-grade martial arts could also provide him with extra experience. As long as he got started with them, they would count even without further practice. So he intended to take them all.
He merely needed to distinguish them more carefully while gathering them. Only martial arts of the same type with different underlying concepts could grant extra experience.
Then Lu Ming suddenly realized that if he practiced the Cloud-Stepping Technique two more times, he could evolve his first Leg Dao Divine Ability.
At once, he was fired up beyond measure and immediately continued cultivating.
[Evolving Leg Dao Divine Ability (98/100)...] [Evolving Leg Dao Divine Ability (102/100)...] [Evolution complete!] [Obtained Leg Dao Divine Ability: Godly Movement.] [Godly Movement]: All movement in the mortal world carries inertial force; when the body stops, it disperses. The inertial force of Godly Movement does not disperse. [Leg Dao Divine Ability]: Godly Movement (Initial Completion).
Godly Movement!
Seeing the effect of this divine ability, Lu Ming's eyes widened in disbelief. Could it really be as he imagined?
Unable to hold himself back, he sensed an additional force within his body. It should have been the power of the Godly Movement Divine Ability. With a thought, he activated it. Godly Movement!
At once, he felt the divine ability's power bolster him, and he began running around the courtyard.
He could clearly feel an inexplicable force within his body growing stronger as he ran.
He ran several laps along the courtyard wall, then tried stopping abruptly.
That force immediately stopped growing, yet it did not disperse. Carrying that energy within him, Lu Ming felt as though his body were about to move forward beyond his control.
The skin all over his body tightened, and only by using the force of Skin-Refining Force could he resist that driving power.
Then he continued running forward, circling several more times. The inexplicable force in his body grew accordingly, and at a certain moment, he stopped again.
This time, even with all his strength, he found it difficult to resist that force. His body moved forward of its own accord, slowly walking ahead.
As that force strengthened, even though his entire body resisted, he could not help breaking into a run.
That force would never weaken, so it would only grow stronger and stronger!
If he withdrew all resistance now, he suspected he would be sent flying outright.
Lu Ming was both startled and delighted. With a thought, he withdrew the power of Godly Movement.
The next instant, that inexplicable force vanished at once. Lu Ming fell backward with a bang, crashing to the ground.
The power of Godly Movement had dissipated, but he had not withdrawn his resisting force in time, throwing his body off balance.
Clutching the back of his head, which throbbed faintly, he rose with a pained grimace, but inwardly he was beside himself with joy.
After testing it, he found that the Godly Movement Divine Ability truly was what he had guessed.
The inertial force mentioned in the divine ability's effect was somewhat similar to the inertia he had learned about in his previous life, but it was also different.
In his previous life, inertia referred to an object's inherent property and had nothing to do with motion.
But the inertial force of Godly Movement specifically referred to the force that made an object surge forward uncontrollably when it suddenly stopped while moving.
When ordinary people stopped or slowed down, their inertial force would weaken or vanish. Yet after he used Godly Movement, his inertial force would absolutely never weaken; it would even gradually increase.
That meant he would run faster and faster, faster and faster!
As long as he had enough time to accelerate, he could run at the speed of light. This divine ability truly deserved the name Godly Movement.
Of course, that did not mean his body could endure such speed.
After just running more than a dozen laps around the courtyard, he already felt somewhat unable to bear it.
Once the inertial force grew beyond what his body could withstand, his life would also be in danger.
No matter what, this was an extremely powerful divine ability. At a critical moment, it might even save his life.
Lu Ming was quite satisfied with this first Leg Dao Divine Ability.
He suddenly raised his head and glanced at the half-bright, half-dark clouds overhead, thinking, Perhaps one day, I really will step smoothly into the clouds.
"Borrow your own strength in midair, then tread another heaven beyond the clouds!" Lu Ming softly chanted the Cloud-Stepping Technique's mnemonic. His heart was light and free as he began cultivating once more!
[Evolving Leg Dao Divine Ability (6/1000)...] [Evolving Leg Dao Divine Ability (10/1000)...] [Evolving Leg Dao Divine Ability (14/1000)...] [Evolving...]
Three days later.
[Evolving Leg Dao Divine Ability (328/1000)...]
In the large courtyard, Lu Ming had risen early and practiced for an hour. Seeing that in merely three days, his Leg Dao Divine Ability experience had already surpassed three hundred, he secretly reveled in it.
At this pace, in another six days, he would be able to evolve the next Leg Dao Divine Ability.
He could hardly resist the urge to continue cultivating and grind out all of today's experience.
But daylight had already fully broken. Today was the day of the arena battle, so he could only suppress the thought.
After changing into a white training outfit, he left the large courtyard.
By then, everyone had gone to the Martial Arts Arena. He strode swiftly through the empty Military Service Bureau and soon exited its gates. Outside stood a bridge.
A ray of sunlight shone down. Standing atop the stone bridge, he narrowed his eyes slightly and looked ahead.
On the main street beside the Red River, carriages and horses streamed past in an endless flow. Flags fluttered from teahouses and taverns on both sides, and rows upon rows of blue-gray roof tiles lay packed together like fish scales. An ancient county town washed over him in full force.
Lu Ming stepped on a cracked stone stair of the bridge. The Black Leak Point upon it scattered faintly, then slowly gathered again.
Like a wisp of gray wind, Lu Ming stepped into the vivid, ink-splashed world of markets and wandering martial artists ahead.
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