The Battle-Qi Manual

Lei Mo had run into this very problem. His strength was far beyond that of an ordinary Saint Realm expert.

But creating a battle-qi technique that could be cultivated to the Saint Realm was no easy task. If it were, Saint Realm experts wouldn't be so rare.

The most important thing for reaching the Saint Realm was comprehending the "momentum" of heaven and earth. If someone couldn't gain insight into momentum, their battle qi would stop growing once it reached Level Nine.

So the most important thing when creating battle qi that could be cultivated to the Saint Realm was whether it could help practitioners comprehend momentum more easily.

If it could, then it was Saint Realm battle qi. If it couldn't, then even the most ingenious battle qi would only reach the peak of Level Nine.

In the kingdom's several thousand years of history, there had been only three Saint Realm experts, including Lei Mo. There was no need to rush. Besides, Lei Mo wasn't satisfied with battle qi having only one attribute.

So Rachel could only cultivate a water-attribute battle-qi technique for Level Nine experts for now, and switch to another one later.

Standing in the Duke Mansion's small garden, which covered several acres, Lei Mo held a Rune Cube in his hand and sent it flying up and down between his fingers.

Lei Mo's mind was spinning through calculations at lightning speed, arranging and combining all sorts of possibilities and impossibilities.

"Giving battle qi an attribute isn't hard at all. The hard part is making it attribute-less. As long as energy is involved, there'll be an attribute!"

How could battle qi not need energy? Without energy, it would have no killing power. What would be the point of cultivating it? That was a paradox.

"Since I can't remove battle qi's attributes, I can only add more. That way, there'll be more choices later!"

Lei Mo kept thinking. Having ruled out removing battle qi's attributes, all that remained was adding more.

"But I only know seven Runes right now, and there are only four attributes. I don't know how to inscribe the Rune for the Law of Destruction, either."

"Besides, the Law of Destruction is far too difficult. I can't see Franklin, much less comprehend the Runes on his body."

"These four Runes can be used to create battle qi. What could I use to add all four attributes to it?"

Lei Mo sank into deep thought. If he used a Rune Matrix—in other words, a magic array—how could he combine them? Was he supposed to burn the Runes onto his body?

"Hm? Why not?" He couldn't carve them into his flesh, but he could get tattoos. Maybe they'd work.

If that was possible, Lei Mo wouldn't be limited to the seven elemental Laws—or even to Laws and Edicts!

Lei Mo knew that both Franklin and his split bodies bore some Runes whose functions were unknown.

Their functions might be unknown, but they were no less complex and mysterious. The only question was whether they could be comprehended.

With so many Rune Souls, surely some of them had comprehended these Runes!

He could have the Rune Souls draw all the Runes they'd comprehended, then sift through them and run tests. He was sure to find some different ones. But that was for later.

Lately, Lei Mo had been focused on a strange Rune on Franklin's body. It wasn't connected to any other Rune and sat alone in a corner.

It didn't look very complex, yet it seemed almost like a complete Rune. Why could he tell it was complete?

It was an inexplicable feeling, with no concrete reason—just like how Lei Mo could sense that the Runes for the Laws' Profound Mysteries were incomplete.

Lei Mo had gained no insight into this Rune, so he drew its shape and asked Franklin to search for a soul that had comprehended it.

Perhaps it had only appeared after Franklin became a god. Lei Mo still hadn't found a soul that had comprehended it.

"I'm getting ahead of myself!" Lei Mo pulled his thoughts back to creating the battle-qi manual. His soul had never stopped working through the possibilities.

How could he create battle qi containing all seven elements? That was already his greatest ambition. He didn't dare hope for battle qi of the Edicts.

For now, Lei Mo's idea was to pick the simplest Profound Mystery from each of the seven elements, find the simplest corresponding Rune fragments, and combine them into a new Rune or a tattoo.

Finding the elemental Runes for the seven elements was simple enough, but finding the simplest fragments was extremely difficult.

Each element's basic Rune was incomplete to begin with, and tangled up with countless Rune branches. How could he tell which fragment was the simplest?

Even if he found the simplest Rune fragment for each of the seven elements, how would he combine them?

Combining them wouldn't be the end of it. He'd still have to activate them. This was practically Hell-level difficulty.

The Laws' Profound Mysteries manifesting as Runes was already astonishing enough. To take them apart and put them back together—how impossibly difficult!

It wasn't completely hopeless, though. People with Soul Mutations could fuse different Laws' Profound Mysteries, which showed that Runes could be combined too.

Forget it. There was no point making things hard for himself.

He should lower the difficulty instead. How about water-and-fire battle qi? Or water-and-light, fire-and-light, or water-and-earth battle qi? That last one sounded awful.

He thought about this and that until his head felt three times too big. In the end, he couldn't make any of them work.

He'd better just focus on modifying Rachel's battle qi. That, at least, he was confident he could do.

The Frost Battle-Qi Manual had been contributed by a female Level Nine expert. Supposedly, she'd created it after watching a frost dragon fight and gaining some insights.

It was probably just a far-fetched claim. This was merely a battle-qi manual that could build up battle qi to Level Eight.

It did even less to help with the Water Profound Mystery. Ice was also a water attribute, and it seemed to have some connection to the Profound Mystery of Ice's Sharpness.

But this battle qi's attributes were very gentle. Cultivating it felt like soaking in a hot spring.

At most, the battle qi had a slight cooling effect. It had nothing to do with sharpness at all. Lei Mo hadn't planned to pursue sharpness anyway. It seemed to be an intermediate Profound Mystery, unsuitable as a stepping stone.

The simpler the Laws contained in battle qi at the peak of cultivation, the easier it would be to comprehend a complete Profound Mystery and become a god. The other Profound Mysteries could wait until afterward.

The transformation of the soul after becoming a god would be enough to improve one's talent for the corresponding Laws.

Lei Mo spent his days living a shamelessly sweet life with Rachel while working out the battle-qi manual. Seven or eight days passed, and today was the duke's investiture ceremony.

The kingdom's largest public square, Tagore Square, had been hurriedly fitted with a platform a hundred meters high. The platform itself was several hundred square meters in size.

Fortunately, this was a supernatural world. Otherwise, who knew how many commoners would have been worked to death? Standing on the platform, Lei Mo was thinking about that.

Tagore Keaton and John Keaton, neither of whom had appeared for hundreds of years, both stood on the platform.

John Keaton personally presided over the ceremony. The items used in it were extravagantly luxurious, but to Lei Mo and the others, they were nothing special.

Hundreds of thousands of people crowded into Tagore Square. Every time John Keaton announced one of Lei Mo's achievements, cheers rose from the crowd. Would everyone's voices be hoarse by the end?

"Now, let us welcome the great founding monarch of the Keaton Kingdom, the Saint Realm expert—His Excellency Tagore Keaton—to personally confer the title of duke upon His Excellency Franklin!"

John Keaton made his final announcement.

Tagore slowly rose into the air, raising high a scepter made of an unknown metal, a meter and a half long.

A bull's skull was embossed on it, along with two black Totem Pillars. Finally, the human common tongue was carved into it: "Duke Franklin."

"I hereby proclaim His Excellency Franklin a duke of the Keaton Kingdom, forever! Rejoice, my subjects! The glory of Duke Franklin is with you!"

As he spoke, he slowly handed the scepter to Lei Mo with both hands. Lei Mo accepted it with both hands, gripped its middle in his right hand, and raised it high.

Then Lei Mo rose into the air and flew three laps around the square, displaying his nobility and glory.

It wasn't that Lei Mo was putting on airs. It was just the standard procedure arranged by the master of ceremonies!