Practicing Two Arts at Once

After reciting the cultivation formula once, Zhang Hankuang worried Ye Wudao might not remember it, so he began reciting it a second time.

By then, Ye Wudao had already added the art to his system panel and was getting ready to motivate the Infinite Art!

"Infinite Art, even though you're new here, you should learn from your senior, the Northern Dark Divine Art."

The moment the thought appeared in his mind, a notification popped up on the system panel.

[Your art Infinite Art was motivated by your words. It awakened a will to strive without end and began cultivating automatically. Art proficiency +10/minute, realm experience +1/minute.]

Seeing the notification, Ye Wudao's lips curled slightly. He gave it another nudge. "By rights, your level is a little higher than the Northern Dark Divine Art's. You can't fall behind!"

[Your art Infinite Art was motivated by you. It learned from shame and strove to be brave, cultivating diligently. Art proficiency +20/minute, realm experience +2/minute.]

[Your art Northern Dark Divine Art sensed a powerful rival and redoubled its efforts. Art proficiency +160/minute, realm experience +16/minute.]

Ye Wudao hadn't been surprised by the first notification.

In his experience, arts and martial skills could withstand two rounds of motivation early on.

What he hadn't expected was for the Northern Dark Divine Art to be spurred into cultivating more efficiently by the sudden appearance of the Infinite Art.

Seeing those two notifications, he was already grinning from ear to ear.

[Host: Ye Wudao]

[Realm: Body Tempering Beginner (2600/10000)]

[Arts: Primordial Art, Northern Dark Divine Art (Minor Accomplishment) (24000/100000), Infinite Art (Not Yet Initiated) (120/1000)]

[Martial Skills: Eight Extremes Fist (Minor Accomplishment) (900/100000), Mountain Crushing Fist (Beginner) (600/100000)]

Looking at his arts and martial skills diligently cultivating on the system panel, Ye Wudao felt wonderfully at ease.

Like the Northern Dark Divine Art, the Infinite Art needed 1,000 proficiency to advance from the uninitiated stage.

In other words, the two arts weren't all that far apart in level.

What surprised him most was that while he'd been sleeping, the Eight Extremes Fist had reached minor accomplishment, and the Mountain Crushing Fist had reached the beginner stage.

He scrolled back through the system's history and found two notifications about his martial skills advancing.

[Your martial skill Eight Extremes Fist reached minor accomplishment. In high spirits, you grew more valiant with every fight. Art proficiency +40/minute.]

[Your martial skill Mountain Crushing Fist reached the beginner stage. In high spirits, you grew more valiant with every fight. Art proficiency +40/minute.]

"Wudao, have you memorized it?"

Just then, Zhang Hankuang's voice came to him.

Ye Wudao quickly closed the system panel and nodded earnestly. "I have! I'll try cultivating it."

With that, he kept his current posture and closed his eyes.

He didn't actually need to cultivate. He was only putting on an act.

Even with cheats, he couldn't make them too obvious!

As he sat with his eyes closed, he felt a hand rest on his wrist.

He didn't need to guess. Elder Qin was checking his cultivation.

He could clearly feel two warm currents flowing through different meridians in his body.

One was stronger, the other weaker.

The meridians they flowed through overlapped in places, but whenever they reached the same spot, the two currents seemed almost sentient: they took turns passing through, one after the other, never crowding together.

Qin Tianlong sensed the flow of true qi inside Ye Wudao. After a while, he withdrew his hand, unable to believe what he'd felt.

He stared at Ye Wudao in a daze. "Are you controlling the two streams of true qi yourself, or are the arts running automatically?"

"They're running on their own," Ye Wudao replied quietly. "I'm not controlling them."

"There's a strange force keeping the two streams of true qi from clashing at all."

Qin Tianlong's mouth twitched slightly. He really had seen it all now.

He could clearly sense two streams of true qi inside Ye Wudao, one strong and one weak.

But the two streams didn't collide. Instead, they were both tempering Ye Wudao's body at the same time.

In other words, although Ye Wudao was cultivating two arts simultaneously, the two arts couldn't possibly conflict.

There were people in the Martial Dao World who cultivated two arts, but they alternated between them. They never let both arts circulate through their bodies at once.

If two completely different streams of true qi collided, the meridians would be severed in mild cases, and in severe cases, the cultivator would lose his life.

That had been common knowledge in the Martial Dao World for years. Today, Ye Wudao had shattered it.

As an Xiantian Realm expert, Qin Tianlong stood at the very top of Haicheng City's pyramid.

In terms of knowledge and experience, he even surpassed some Grandmaster Realm experts. After all, he had age on his side.

Yet Ye Wudao had truly opened his eyes today.

An art cultivating automatically, comprehending the "Primordial State," cultivating two arts at once—none of those were things an ordinary person could do.

He looked at Ye Wudao and said softly, "Given your current condition, you'll probably reach the minor accomplishment stage of Body Tempering in another seven or eight hours."

"To be honest, I've seen something extraordinary today."

"Going from an ordinary person to a Body Tempering beginner took you just over four hours. Going from Body Tempering beginner to minor accomplishment took only a dozen hours or so. It's simply unheard of."

Ye Wudao looked at Qin Tianlong in surprise. His Great Master really did know his stuff.

Based on the current cultivation rates of his two arts, he was gaining about 18 realm experience points per minute.

He needed another 7,400 realm experience points to reach minor accomplishment in Body Tempering.

A rough calculation put that at about seven hours.

That was assuming the Infinite Art didn't advance during that time.

But the Infinite Art would advance in an hour, so he should reach minor accomplishment in Body Tempering even sooner.

Still, Qin Tianlong had worked out how long it would take just by sensing the strength of the true qi inside him. That was impressive.

Hearing Qin Tianlong, Hu Lianfeng cried out in disbelief, "What? He'll reach minor accomplishment in Body Tempering in another seven or eight hours?"

"Even a rocket couldn't move that fast!"

Zhang Hankuang was just as incredulous.

He considered himself fairly talented in the Martial Path. He'd reached Houtian Peak in his forties, just one step away from the Xiantian Realm.

His master had once told him that among today's martial artists, his talent was one in a hundred.

But when he compared himself to Ye Wudao, he realized he was a complete joke!

One in a hundred?

He wasn't fit to hold a candle to Ye Wudao.

He still remembered that it had taken him seven days to reach the beginner stage of Body Tempering, and three months to reach minor accomplishment.

And Ye Wudao?

He'd reach minor accomplishment in a single day!

By that measure, Ye Wudao's talent in the Martial Path was at least a hundred times greater than his!

He'd even mocked Ye Wudao for starting martial arts at eighteen, thinking it was a little late.

Now he saw how narrow his perspective had been!

He would never understand the world of geniuses!

One day of Ye Wudao's cultivation was worth half a year of his. What right had he ever had to mock Ye Wudao?

Qin Tianlong glanced at Hu Lianfeng and smiled. "If I, an Xiantian Realm expert, can't even judge the progress of someone in the Body Tempering Realm, then I might as well have wasted my life."

With that, he lay back down on his bed and said softly to Hu Lianfeng and Zhang Hankuang, "For now, teach him everything you can."

"Teach him martial skills during the day. At night, we'll keep going to the Rift World as usual."

"Don't teach him any new arts for the time being. I estimate that cultivating two at once is his limit. Once he's mastered both arts, we'll see if he can merge in a new one."

"Once you've finished teaching him, I'll take over."

"By the time he recovers from his injuries, he'll probably have reached the Body Tempering Great Accomplishment Realm. Then we can take him to the Rift World to hunt monsters."

He looked at Ye Wudao and said softly, "In the world of martial arts, might makes right."

"A high cultivation level doesn't necessarily mean you're strong!"

"True power is forged through bloodshed."

Ye Wudao nodded. "Understood, Great Master!"

Suddenly, his stomach growled. Somewhat awkwardly, he looked at his three masters and asked quietly, "Masters, it's pretty late. Is there anything to eat in the prison?"

Hu Lianfeng smiled faintly. "Don't worry. Cell No. 1 never runs short of food."

With that, he walked over to the door and pressed a button. Soon, a guard came to ask what they needed.

Not long after, a small three-tiered cart was wheeled over by a guard.

Just like in the afternoon, it was all meat.

Hu Lianfeng pushed the cart over to Ye Wudao's bed and said softly, "Eat up! It's all yours!"

Hearing that, Ye Wudao immediately wolfed it down.