Future Plans

Hiss...

Only when his thoughts returned to reality did Yang Ning realize that he was lying sprawled atop a grass carp over two meters long, his entire body still floating in the water.

Not only could he no longer feel his arms, he could no longer feel half his waist either—he could not even feel his legs!

My spine isn't broken, is it?! Yang Ning recalled the impact he had taken when he jumped from the waterfall. Though he was a cultivator, he had only been cultivating for a short time. How could he withstand the impact of a waterfall with a drop of over a thousand meters?

Wait, I can breathe underwater? Yang Ning had always been someone who could find joy amid hardship. He quickly discovered that, despite not having gills, he could breathe freely beneath the water.

Moreover, he could control the grass carp beneath him—not through words, but through a strange sensation, almost like a mental link.

However, the grass carp's thoughts were simple. All he could sense were a handful of emotions: tiredness, hunger, and the like.

Was this the ability the Dragon Pearl had given him?

Get off at the bend ahead, thank you! Yang Ning spotted a shallow bay ahead. The sand and stones beneath the water were fine, thick aquatic plants grew there, and if he crouched within them, no one would be able to see him.

This was just the place to recover from his injuries.

With a flick of its tail, the grass carp reached the spot in a dozen seconds. Then it rolled sideways and flung Yang Ning off its back.

Fortunately, they were in the water. If this had happened on land, he would probably have added injury upon injury.

Where are we? Yang Ning asked.

He had blacked out, but Deep Blue had not. She had been monitoring the surroundings the entire time.

"336 kilometers downstream from the waterfall."

"Not bad!" Yang Ning nodded. This place was good. He had not drifted into a human settlement, and it was still some distance from the center of Qin Mountain.

Finding a comfortable nest of aquatic grass, Yang Ning crouched down and attempted to repair his body.

He used the bioelectric control method. Though he could not sense his waist, abdomen, or thighs, the ability he had gained from the Dragon Pearl allowed him to sense the bioelectricity in those areas. Combined with the cell-level control granted by the Spirit Realm, he directly controlled the bioelectric currents, stimulating nerve cells to move his muscles and bones back into place.

He quickly confirmed it: his spine really had been broken. Back on Earth, he would indeed have been paralyzed.

But this was a world of cultivation. After adjusting his spine back into position, he first swallowed a Grain Abstinence Pill to absorb its medicinal power. Then he used bioelectricity to stimulate the growth of bone cells near his spine. In less than half an hour, the previously fractured area had healed!

He also had to thank his age. He was at the stage where his body was still growing, and his cells and bones regenerated at a tremendous rate.

Once his spine was reset, feeling returned to his entire lower body. Only then did Yang Ning breathe a sigh of relief and begin repairing his arms.

Tuo Buchuan had twisted his left arm into a pretzel, but only the muscles were damaged. His bones had been twisted around, yet thankfully they had not broken.

Gritting his teeth, he first reset the bones. The muscle damage was a minor issue afterward.

He did not even need bioelectricity. After practicing his fist techniques twice, Blood Qi coursed through his entire body, and before long, the dead cells were carried out through his internal circulation.

That was why Yang Ning had been wary of Tuo Buchuan, yet did not hate him much. The injuries Tuo Buchuan had caused looked severe, but they were easy to handle.

Back on Earth, it would have been about the same as nicking his thumb with a small knife.

Lin Tianheng, on the other hand, had delayed his absorption of Primordial Chaos Qi and might have prevented him from giving birth to an Innate Divine Ability. That was the hatred of one who blocked his path!

After that whole round of repairs, Yang Ning felt his body's energy had been drained in great quantities. He was starving, his stomach growling with hunger.

Bring me some fish. The big ones!

At his command, the fish swimming nearby came over on their own.

Grass carp, common carp, and crucian carp were one thing, but there was even Teacher Pufferfish.

"This ability is really useful!" Looking at the enormous fish before him, each over two meters long and some even three to five meters long, Yang Ning was somewhat astonished. No wonder dragons had such huge appetites yet never starved to death. At a single command, fish lined up and delivered themselves into their mouths. Even if their bodies died and rotted in the mud, leaving only a mouth behind, they could probably still survive, right?

Seeing how obedient the fish were, even the remnants of his conscience could not bear to eat them.

Still, he did not have much conscience left, and his body did not allow him to be picky. He could only select several large grass carp and let the others leave first.

Placing his hand on a grass carp, he first controlled the water to move away and created an empty space. Then lightning flashed. Before long, the grass carp was cooked.

"It feels like I've gained superpowers." Yang Ning savored the feeling just now. Controlling wind, clouds, lightning, electricity, and water felt as instinctive as breathing. It only consumed physical strength, and not much at that.

No wonder the Dragon Pearl was so precious. While others were still painstakingly using Blood Qi, he was already wielding lightning. He had leaped across several eras in one stroke!

Did a cultivator's Golden Core have the same effect?

Moreover, Yang Ning discovered that this was not merely an increase in combat power.

He had considered tempering his body with lightning, but he would have had to wait until he built a generator himself. But now that he could control lightning directly, lightning body tempering could be put on the agenda immediately!

Then there was metallurgy.

Yang Ning worked with technology, and technology could not do without component manufacturing. Yet the casting equipment in the Artifact Forging Room was far too primitive, and Yang Ning had no desire to hand more advanced equipment over to them.

Now things were different. With control over lightning, he had the ability to conduct electric metallurgy. In the future, he could pinch out any component he wanted with his own hands.

Nor did Yang Ning forget that electricity was part of Electromagnetic Force, one of the four fundamental forces. Among those four forces, Electromagnetic Force, the strong force, and the weak force had already been unified. Under certain conditions, they could transform into one another. Only gravity remained.

If he could unify all four fundamental forces, he did not know whether he would become immortal by then, but at the very least, becoming a god of physics would be in the bag!

"These dragons possess Lightning Power, yet they only know how to use it to punish people. That really won't do! If I ever get the chance to meet dragons, I'll teach them how lightning is truly meant to be used! Heh heh!"

After eating and drinking his fill, he canceled his water-controlling technique. The surrounding river water immediately spread back in and covered Yang Ning.

The icy river water washed over him, and the previously excited Yang Ning gradually calmed down.

Thankfully, his mentality had always been steady. He had remained calm even after something as enormous as transmigrating. It was only a Supreme Dao Art—nothing to get worked up over!

Control lightning, control water, control air... I can't use these abilities openly yet. At least not until I learn the corresponding techniques. Yang Ning did not know whether what Tuo Buchuan had said was true, or whether book attendants truly had their development restricted, but being cautious could never be wrong.

I also need to tell Ning Rong that the things I teach her cannot be passed on to anyone else! Yang Ning thought of Ning Rong, who might expose him.

But his reputation as a genius was already widespread. Would it not be strange if he suddenly became ordinary?

How could he reasonably display his talent while ensuring that others did not become wary of him?

Yang Ning thought of a method often used by famous generals and capable ministers of old: smearing one's own name.

For example, Wang Jian was greedy for wealth, Xiao He was greedy for land, and Shi Shouxin was lustful.

That was well worth learning from!

After all, one opponent was a genius who did nothing all day except bury himself in cultivation, his cultivation level rising higher by the day.

The other opponent was also a genius, but he spent every day drinking, making merry, chasing flowers, and chasing women.

If you were Lin Tianheng, which one would you tolerate more?

"No!" Yang Ning shook his head. Lustfulness was out. He had little interest in beauty, and lust was poison to longevity.

Unless he had an emperor-grade dual cultivation technique, or some sort of system where having more children brought greater fortune, this option was not worth considering.

Then... artifact forging?

That could work. Technological research required artifact forging in the first place, and Taiheng Sect trained its non-official disciples in things like artifact forging and pill refinement. It was a two-way rush toward each other.

As long as he did not touch those Dao Arts intended for attack and focused solely on artifact forging, those above would naturally have no reason to be wary of him.

In any case, he did not need Taiheng Sect's offensive Dao Arts. He had the Azure Emperor Shakes the World Fist, already one of the finest offensive Dao Arts.

As long as his strength was sufficient, it was not impossible that he could someday seize Taiheng Sect's cultivation methods instead.

"Right, I'll put cultivation aside for the next few days and focus on meditation!" Yang Ning remembered that once Tuo Buchuan's death was discovered, disciples like them might be summoned before Lin Tianheng for a confrontation.

He did not know whether they could read minds or perform Soul Searching. Even if they could not, charm techniques, microexpression analysis, and heartbeat monitoring should not be difficult for Qi Refinement cultivators. To them, whether someone was lying would be as clear as looking at a blazing fire!

I need a stronger cultivation of the mind to face all of this!