The next afternoon, Ye Wudao was roused by a system notification in his mind.
Hearing the notification, he knew the Northern Dark Infinite Art had reached perfection.
Of all his techniques and martial skills, only the Northern Dark Infinite Art and the Overlord Spear had yet to reach perfection.
The Overlord Spear was an Xiantian martial skill, and perfecting it required ten times the proficiency of an Houtian martial skill.
It would take at least a hundred days to perfect. It wasn't something he could do in a short while.
He had only advanced to Xiantian Entry Level yesterday, and needed one million realm experience points to advance to Xiantian Minor Accomplishment.
Based on his current cultivation speed of 80 realm experience points per minute, it would take him at least eight days to reach perfection.
So, if the system notification had sounded now, there was only one possibility: the Northern Dark Infinite Art had reached perfection.
Sure enough, when he opened the system panel, the Northern Dark Infinite Art had reached perfection. The familiar [+] appeared beside the technique once more.
"Fuse!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Wudao chose to fuse them.
Just like last time, the essential principles of the two arts began merging into a new art.
A flood of information exploded in his mind.
But this time, he didn't feel that painful pressure.
The information fused completely in a single second!
[Your Northern Dark Infinite Art and Sea-Gathering Art have fused. Please name the new art!]
Seeing the system panel's prompt, Ye Wudao murmured, "I'll call it the Ten Thousand Fusion Art!"
At first, he'd wanted to name the new art the Northern Dark Infinite Sea-Gathering Art.
But when he thought about how many more arts he'd have to fuse later, he gave up on the idea.
As more and more arts fused, the name would only grow longer. Eventually, even he wouldn't be able to remember it.
It was better to keep things simple and call it the Ten Thousand Fusion Art. The name was clear and straightforward, and he was the only one who could use it anyway.
From then on, whenever he saw that name, he'd know it was a new art formed by fusing many others.
[Name confirmed. New art Ten Thousand Fusion Art added to the system.]
[The host has created a new art. Reward: 30,000 proficiency points in the Ten Thousand Fusion Art!]
[Your Ten Thousand Fusion Art has reached the entry level. Feeling exhilarated, you redouble your efforts. Art proficiency +800/minute, realm experience +80/minute!]
Seeing these three system notifications, Ye Wudao already had a good idea of what had happened.
Once the arts fused, the new art's cultivation efficiency was the sum of the two original arts' efficiencies.
The Northern Dark Infinite Art had previously cultivated at 640 proficiency points per minute, while the Sea-Gathering Art added another 160 points per minute.
Together, the two arts came to exactly 800 proficiency points per minute.
On top of that, the art could be inspired once more.
He didn't use words to spur the new art on. Instead, he began cultivating it right away, figuring he might as well familiarize himself with it.
After the art completed one cycle, another system notification appeared.
[The host diligently cultivates the Ten Thousand Fusion Art. The Ten Thousand Fusion Art is encouraged. Art proficiency +1,600/minute, realm experience +160/minute.]
After ten cycles, the familiar system notification appeared again.
[The host cultivates the Ten Thousand Fusion Art. The Ten Thousand Fusion Art is inspired and accelerates its cultivation!]
[The art is incomplete and cannot further improve its cultivation efficiency. Please complete the art.]
Sure enough, it was exactly as he'd guessed.
Once fused, the new art combined the cultivation efficiencies of the two original arts, then received another boost that doubled its cultivation efficiency.
However, this time the new art started with 30,000 proficiency points. Compared to the Northern Dark Infinite Art's initial 10,000, it had only gained 20,000.
With 30,000 starting proficiency points, the Ten Thousand Fusion Art had just enough to reach the entry level.
He remembered that the Northern Dark Divine Art and the Infinite Art had each required 1,000 starting proficiency points to reach the entry level, while the Northern Dark Infinite Art had required 10,000—ten times as much.
But this time, the increase was only threefold.
He carefully studied the art and quickly confirmed one thing: this new art hadn't introduced a new realm.
The new Ten Thousand Fusion Art was still about "True Qi Liquefaction." It simply made the process more efficient and explained its essential principles in greater detail.
"So every tenfold increase in proficiency brings a new realm?"
Ye Wudao murmured to himself. Comparing the starting proficiency of the different martial skill ranks with that of the two arts he'd fused, he'd already spotted this pattern.
He pulled out from beneath the bedding the two new arts Great Master Qin Tianlong had exchanged for him: the Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin Art and the One Qi Transforming Profound Art.
Both arts could be cultivated up to Grandmaster Minor Accomplishment.
Looking at the two manuals, Ye Wudao furrowed his brow.
If he kept fusing new arts at the current rate, each one would add 20,000 starting proficiency points. Even if he fused both new arts, he'd only reach 70,000.
That was still 30,000 short of 100,000 starting proficiency points.
In other words, even after fusing these two arts, a new realm still wouldn't appear.
He looked toward Great Master Qin Tianlong, who was meditating on the bed, and asked quietly, "Great Master, do you have a moment?"
After a while, Qin Tianlong opened his eyes and looked at Ye Wudao. "What is it?"
Ye Wudao pursed his lips and said gravely, "I don't have enough arts. I need two more that can be cultivated up to the Grandmaster Realm before I can fuse them into an art with a new realm."
Qin Tianlong thought for a moment before replying, "There are arts available, but we'd have to collect them."
"Right now, there are only a little over ten arts on Blue Star that can be cultivated up to Grandmaster Minor Accomplishment."
"The Demon Slayer Guard has only collected three. Some arts are in the hands of the great sects, while others are at the Martial Arts Academy."
"I'll see if I can get someone to bring a few more in for you, but it might take a while."
"Have you fused your Sea-Gathering Art already?"
Ye Wudao nodded. "I just fused them, but no new martial realm appeared."
"So I suspect I need to fuse more arts before a new realm will emerge."
Just then, Hu Lianfeng, who'd been lying on the bed the whole time, suddenly sat up. Looking at Ye Wudao, he said softly, "Actually, I have an art here. And it can be cultivated beyond the Grandmaster Realm!"
At that, the whole of Cell No. 1 fell silent.
After a while, Qin Tianlong looked at Hu Lianfeng and asked quietly, "You mean the Free and Unfettered Art?"
Hu Lianfeng nodded.
Seeing this, Zhang Hankuang shouted, "You old schemer, Hu! You had something this good and didn't bring it out?"
Hu Lianfeng rolled his eyes and snorted. "This is the inherited art of the Carefree Sect. Why should I hand it over to you?"
"If Wudao didn't need more arts, I wouldn't have said a word!"
Zhang Hankuang curled his lip. "The Carefree Sect was wiped out decades ago. Back then, the Martial Dao World was full of rumors that the Free and Unfettered Art could take you beyond the Grandmaster Realm. And yet the Carefree Sect didn't even have a single Xiantian expert."
"Meanwhile, the Northern Dark Sect, which split off from the Carefree Sect, produced two Xiantian experts thanks to the Northern Dark Divine Art."
"If you ask me, that's a classic case of a man's innocence being his ruin, while a treasure brings disaster. Without the Free and Unfettered Art, the Carefree Sect might not have been wiped out."
"But after the Carefree Sect was wiped out, the Free and Unfettered Art was lost. I never expected it to be in the hands of you, a registered disciple!"
Hu Lianfeng pursed his lips and said gravely, "My master was the Carefree Sect's Dharma Transmission Elder. He knew the Free and Unfettered Art would bring calamity upon the sect."
"So he didn't pass it on to my senior brothers. Instead, he taught it to me, his registered disciple."
"But this art really is strange. Once you reach the Houtian Peak, you can't advance any further."
"Otherwise, how could the Carefree Sect have been wiped out?"
"My master once suspected that the version of the Free and Unfettered Art that's been passed down was abridged, but he didn't know which parts had been removed."
He looked at Ye Wudao and said softly, "I don't know if this art will be any use to you. The rumors about the Free and Unfettered Art are impossible to verify."
"But if you want to learn it, you'll have to take on the Carefree Sect's blood feud. Think it through!"
Then he paused and sighed. "Sigh! It's been decades. The Free and Unfettered Art is no use to me anyway. I might as well pass it on to you."
"If you can cultivate it successfully, I'll have done right by my master's spirit in heaven."
"Wudao, come closer. I'll whisper it in your ear!"
Before you continue