Super-Multiple Rebate

With the enhancement of the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm, the memories in his sea of consciousness were stretched into extreme slowness. He Sheng was able to fully reconstruct the scene from back then and examine it in the finest detail.

At the time, the sword-bearing youth had suddenly descended from the sky, yet instead of attacking the moment he appeared, he said:

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"Just a bunch of wild-country rogue cultivators, and you dare act so arrogantly? You truly don't know the height of heaven or the depth of earth!"

Only after his words fell did he point a finger from dozens of zhang away. A streak of azure sword light then tore through the air toward Brother Piao.

Though everything had happened in an instant, the battle-hardened Brother Piao had already put up three layers of defense.

First, he brought out a shield-type artifact to guard himself.

Then he cast the Water Armor Art, condensing a pale blue suit of light armor around his body.

Finally, he took out a top-grade second-tier defensive talisman, a Golden Bell Talisman, and held it in his palm.

The moment that azure sword light came hurtling over, Brother Piao immediately sensed something was wrong. But it was too fast for him to dodge, so he activated the Golden Bell Talisman in his hand at once.

What followed was that the sword light pierced straight through Brother Piao's shield artifact in a single strike.

He Sheng repeatedly examined this point and discovered that, while the sword light was immensely powerful, it had actually dimmed considerably after piercing through Brother Piao's top-grade defensive artifact, the Rock Shield.

"In other words, the sword light's power had already diminished greatly at that point!"

Though Brother Piao was badly shaken, there was nothing wrong with his response.

After he activated the Golden Bell Talisman in advance, the top-grade second-tier defensive talisman instantly formed a golden protective radiance around him.

Logically, after the already-weakened sword light struck that golden protective radiance, its power should have been further reduced.

Yet something bizarre happened!

That azure sword light passed straight through the protective golden radiance in an instant.

A dignified mid-grade second-tier Golden Bell Talisman failed to weaken the sword light in the slightest, as though it were some counterfeit shoddy product.

And that was not all. The azure sword light immediately passed through the pale blue light armor Brother Piao had condensed around himself as well.

The Water Armor Art likewise had no effect whatsoever on the sword light, nor did it diminish even a fraction of its power.

In other words, of the three defensive measures, only the Rock Shield had worked.

What came next, naturally, was Brother Piao's heart meridians being shredded by that single streak of sword light.

"Brother Piao was by no means weak, and there was nothing wrong with how he handled it.

Yet in the end, he was killed in one strike by the sword-bearing youth. The key was that azure sword light's ability to ignore the two layers of defense provided by the Golden Bell Talisman and the Water Armor Art.

Otherwise, there was no way he could have been killed so miserably in a single blow."

As He Sheng repeatedly observed the memory, he could not help recalling a certain game mechanic from before his transmigration, arriving at a bold conclusion!

"Could it be... that azure sword light had the effect of ignoring mana-based defenses?!"

Both the Golden Bell Talisman and the Water Armor Art were defensive methods formed purely from mana. Their greatest difference from the Rock Shield was that an artifact had a physical form.

"The azure sword light genuinely pierced through the Rock Shield, even damaging this top-grade defensive artifact.

Yet the mana defenses produced by the Golden Bell Talisman and the Water Armor Art were not damaged at all. The azure sword light simply treated them as if they did not exist and passed straight through.

So... this is the only explanation that makes sense!

And the reason Brother Piao mistakenly believed the other party was a Core Formation cultivator was that he had not had time to distinguish it carefully.

He only saw that azure sword light break through all three layers of his defenses at once, assumed the other party had utterly crushed him, and thus suspected him of being a Core Formation cultivator.

Ignoring mana-based defenses...

He Sheng was deeply shocked by his own deduction. He had originally thought his Subtle Ripple Intent Realm was impressive enough, only to run into a complete mechanic monster right afterward.

"It seems cultivation in this world is even more complex and profound than I imagined."

As everyone knew, stat monsters were no match for mechanic monsters.

"It was like in Honor of Kings—no matter how strong a primitive man was, could he beat a Trisolaran?

In the end, wouldn't he still get outplayed every which way?"

So, to deal with a mechanic monster, one first had to become a mechanic monster oneself. That was common knowledge.

The question was how.

He Sheng examined his current situation and realized that only the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm might possibly advance further and become something at the core of a mechanic.

"So I still need to invest a great deal of cultivation time into the Clear Ripple Water Control Art. But the problem is, where will that time come from?"

He Sheng currently had only a little over two months of freely allocable cultivation time left. It was of practically no use to the Clear Ripple Water Control Art, which had already reached the realm of consummate mastery.

He turned his gaze to the water clock in his palm and first set his sights on the only remaining spell, the Clear Billows Moistening Art.

"This spell is likewise a high-level spell that can only be cultivated after entering Foundation Establishment. It is more like a supporting skill for spirit plant farmers, able to promote the growth of spirit plants and shorten their maturation cycle to a certain extent."

It was a good spell, but it was utterly useless for core combat strength.

A thought stirred in He Sheng's mind, and he directly reset it to zero.

[Total Cultivation Time Currently Available: Nine Months and One Day]

"This still isn't enough time, but I'll try it first."

Clinging to a sliver of hope, He Sheng focused his thoughts on the plus sign beside the Clear Ripple Water Control Art. Cultivation information appeared before his eyes.

[After nine months of arduous cultivation, your Clear Ripple Water Control Art has improved somewhat. However, you have also realized that cultivating this technique at the Mastery stage is far from easy.]

There was only that one sparse sentence—nothing else.

He Sheng did not even feel any obvious change in his Clear Ripple Water Control Art, much less anything beyond that.

[Clear Ripple Water Control Art (Mastery): 308/1000]

(Total Cultivation Time: Ten Years, Six Months, Twenty-Nine Days)

Still, according to the information displayed by the water drops in the clepsydra, the Clear Ripple Water Control Art's proficiency had risen quite noticeably.

"Counting it carefully, one month raises proficiency by roughly twenty-two points. That means I'll need about another thirty-two months to raise the Clear Ripple Water Control Art to the consummate realm of Mastery."

He Sheng looked at the increasingly streamlined clepsydra information. There was nowhere left to squeeze out any cultivation time.

"The Clear Billows Water Origin Art can't be touched. It's my cultivation method—if it regresses, it could cause my realm to fall."

After his previous breakthrough, He Sheng had also come to understand that for cultivators, the greatest source of combat power was, first and foremost, an increase in realm.

Not to mention what other problems might arise if his realm fell.

For instance, damage to the dantian's spirit sea? Mana flowing in reverse? Spasms in the meridians?

These were all injuries and even lingering aftereffects that, according to Brother Piao's memories, could result from a fallen realm. Naturally, He Sheng did not dare try it in his current circumstances.

"Then I can only roll back my formation arts!"

Among the hundred arts of immortality cultivation, the art of formations was one that could greatly enhance a cultivator's combat power.

However, the path of formations had always been profound and difficult, demanding enormous amounts of study. Those who could become formation masters were invariably people of exceptional talent who had also poured immense effort into it.

Take Brother Piao's formation mentor, Li Daoyun. When he passed away several years ago, he had still been clutching a formation plate in his hands.

"Formations may be good, and Brother Piao did invest quite a bit of time in them, but a first-rank high-grade formation master's boost to a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator's combat power is practically negligible."

In short, kill them first and extract some cultivation time. It could always be added back later anyway.

He Sheng gathered his thoughts on the minus sign behind his formation arts.

Whoosh...

The total practice time for his formation arts rapidly decreased, but He Sheng soon noticed something was wrong.

"Stop!"

At a thought from He Sheng, the rollback process halted. He looked toward the top row of water drops.

[Art]:

[First-Rank Mid-Grade Formation Master: 2000/2000]

(Total Practice Time: Six Years, Ten Months, Five Days)

He Sheng had rolled his formation arts back to just barely the point of completing first-rank mid-grade mastery. The total practice time had decreased by 747 days, yet the total available cultivation time—which had previously been zero—had increased by more than 747 days!

[Total Cultivation Time Currently Available: Four Years, One Month, Three Days]

"The generic cultivation time recovered from rolling it back has actually doubled, reaching a full 1,494 days!"

What was going on?!