"That guy just now... probably doesn't really like me."
After leaving the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, Ye Li strolled along slowly, mulling over the matter.
He might pride himself on being suave and dashing, but that girl wasn't bad-looking either.
Thanks to everyone in this martial world having powerful genes, there was an enormous gap between the upper and lower limits of men's and women's looks.
Any pretty girl in this world could easily crush the celebrities from his previous life.
They could even go toe-to-toe with anime beauties, easily winning the adoration of a whole crowd of simps.
And with her looks, that girl was at the very top even in this world. Clearly, she couldn't like him just because of his appearance.
There was no love without a reason in this world. Ye Li pondered why her attitude had changed.
The only thing about him that was worth taking a second look at, apart from his looks, was his traits.
Thinking of the subtle changes in her attitude and the way she addressed him, Ye Li furrowed his brows and used Zheng's wisdom to reach an accurate conclusion:
"That girl really was captivated by my looks!"
"Too bad I'm Xiao Yan, but she can't be my Ya Fei. Thirty taels of silver isn't nearly enough to buy the heroine's role!"
Perhaps the effects of the Dragon Tiger Pill hadn't completely worn off, or perhaps he'd been corrupted by Heaven's Will.
Either way, Ye Li was still lost in his dazzling repression, thinking with his little head and making a complete mess of things.
After all, it was one thing to joke online about some weirdo. In real life, who could bring themselves to reject a weirdo like Ye Li?
Before long, he stopped dwelling on it and hurried home with his cultivation supplies.
Over the next two days, Ye Li saw the core disciples being tormented by the Dragon Tiger Pills until they were in agony and ecstasy.
The Dragon Tiger Pill's effects were incredibly potent. He had no idea what ingredients had been mixed into it.
Anyway, as soon as they swallowed the pills, they all acted as if their brains had been hijacked, falling into an extreme state of dazzling repression.
As for him, though it was incredibly difficult...
He still kept his underwear dry!!!
Aside from cultivation, the ten shops he managed on Yunjin Street stayed peaceful over those few days.
The occasional troublemakers were easily dealt with by ordinary disciples who stepped in. They didn't bother him, so Ye Li could focus entirely on cultivating.
Body Tempering early stage (130/1833)
"Azure Dragon Force (1950/100)"
Body Tempering early stage (178/1832)
"Azure Dragon Force (1982/100)"
Three short days passed. In the dead of night, Ye Li's figure moved ceaselessly as he practiced Azure Dragon Force.
From the early hours onward, the urge to practice martial arts had driven Ye Li to cultivate with all his might.
It was as if he'd entered a state of flow, oblivious to everything around him and wholly immersed in the technique.
At every moment, streams of information poured into his mind alongside [World-Shocking Wisdom], allowing him to understand how to take Azure Dragon Force to the next step.
The longer Ye Li immersed himself in this technique, the more clearly he sensed the flaws in the original Azure Dragon Force.
The original version could only activate 550 muscles, and that was its shortcoming.
After the experience for Azure Dragon Force had been pushed past 1,000 points, Ye Li could use the technique to activate all the muscles and tendons in his body.
As he practiced, the blood and muscles within him surged together, making his entire body seem to boil.
Even so, 1,000 points still wasn't the technique's limit.
Each time he pushed it forward, World-Shocking Wisdom still poured memories into his mind like the waters of a great river, guiding him in correcting the technique's flaws.
This change gave Ye Li a sudden realization: traits divided the cultivation of a technique into three stages!
Before 100 experience points, [World-Shocking Wisdom] guided him in how to practice the technique.
Before 1,000 experience points, the trait modified the technique's underlying code, turning it into a technique suited to human cultivation!
After 1,000 experience points, it modified the technique into one best suited to Ye Li's own cultivation!
Once Azure Dragon Force passed 1,000 points, it became a technique that belonged exclusively to Ye Li.
It was a unique technique designed specifically for his physique, bones, muscles, and blood.
Every time he used the technique, he could feel his muscles becoming like steel wires, correcting his bones—the framework of his body—and shaping him into the most perfect form.
Put simply, it was elevating [Ye Li] into [Perfect Ye Li]!
Standing in the courtyard, he had completely forgotten the passage of time. He cast aside everything else and poured his entire being into cultivation.
"Azure Dragon Force (1982/100)"...1984/100...1994/100...1999/100
Three hours passed. Ye Li repeatedly practiced the latest version of Azure Dragon Force, pushing its experience bar to just shy of twenty times its limit.
At that moment, countless memories whirled through Ye Li's mind, as if he were building up to one final push!
When he completed the last set of Azure Dragon Force, its experience bar finally reached twenty times its limit!
In an instant, it was as if some kind of qualitative transformation had taken place.
The countless pieces of information about the Azure Dragon Force technique began to intertwine.
Then [World-Shocking Wisdom] seized them in one go and refined them into a pure concept in an instant!
Ye Li felt the blood throughout his body boiling. His skin radiated intense heat, and the sweat that seeped out instantly became white vapor and drifted away.
"Whew~"
As scalding streams of heat flowed out through his facial features, he seemed to exhale clouds and mist.
Ye Li felt as if he'd been reborn, his body having undergone a complete overhaul!
Standing quietly in place, Ye Li savored the sensations he'd just experienced. Only after a long while did he open his eyes.
But what he saw left him stunned:
Name: Ye Li
Realm: Body Tempering early stage (183/1500)
Techniques:
"Azure Dragon Force · Perfect" +1
"Nine Chapters Fist Manual (3/500)"
Traits: [Dazzling · World-Shocking Wisdom]
Description:
"Your cultivation of Azure Dragon Force has achieved a perfect fit. The experience required for your realm's upper limit is reduced by 331."
"Perfecting a technique unlocks a specialized trait enhancement +1."
"This..." Ye Li looked at what the panel displayed, visibly moved.
He hadn't expected that perfecting a technique would have such an effect.
And he could even gain a trait?
Maybe he'd simply been ignorant, but in all his life, Ye Li had never heard of anyone being able to gain a trait.
Every person's traits were unique, yet Ye Li could trigger a trait by cultivating a technique to perfection.
That alone made it no wonder his trait had a quality never described before: Dazzling.
Still in shock, he focused his gaze on the Azure Dragon Force marked with a question mark on the panel.
When he directed his will toward it, three options glowing green appeared before Ye Li.
[Green · Brute Strength]: Body strength increased by 40%
[Green · Thick Armor]: Body defense increased by 25%
[Green · Swiftness]: When concentrating, speed increased by 15%
The three traits were straightforward, representing strength, defense, and speed.
There were countless known green traits, with all kinds of different types.
Luck, physique, talent, concepts, professions...
Traits covered nearly every aspect of life. It was just that, since Ye Li had joined a gang, the traits he encountered had all leaned toward martial combat.
And among all these countless traits, the ones he'd awakened happened to be the three related to combat: strength, defense, and physique.
So, based on the description, Ye Li guessed that he'd awakened those traits because Azure Dragon Force strengthened the body.
Put another way, if he later perfected a technique with a different effect—
For example, if he perfected that apricot-yellow-dressed girl's Solid Essence and Lock Yuan Technique, which she'd secretly been in love with him for—
Could he awaken a related trait of the "virility-enhancing" type?