Changes in the Battle Diagram

"Ram Strikes the Fence: When facing an attack from the side or above, raise a palm to deflect it. With the other palm, strike upward from below, seeking an opening to attack the vital point. Its momentum is inexhaustible."

"Decrease Brings Trust: Raise and separate the palms, opening the enemy's guard. Lift the foot and kick, striking the center."

"Thunder Shocks a Hundred Miles: Move the steps and palm together, drawing the enemy's force downward and deflecting it. Then, borrow the momentum to strike their head; their five apertures will be in peril."

These ten moves were extensions and expansions of the Dragon-Subduing Divine Palm. Though their power was greater than before, the moves had become more complex, and linking them together had become more difficult.

Practitioners could choose to train either the eighteen forms or the twenty-eight forms according to their own circumstances.

This deduction had also brought an unexpected gain.

After finishing the Book of Changes, the visualization diagram unexpectedly underwent new changes.

The figures of the red-robed Daoist and the white-robed demonic general had completely solidified upon the Dao-Demon Battle Diagram.

Their true names also appeared on the diagram. Everything was as Chen Wu had expected: the red-robed Daoist was named "Zhe Shan Jun," while the white-robed demonic general was called "Buddha-Swallowing Child."

The instant their bodies fully materialized, the two began fighting.

Unlike those comrades of his whose speed had been slowed to 0.05x, the Daoist and the demon seemed like living people. They traded blows within the diagram, fighting to their hearts' content.

Watching the two men within the visualization diagram fight until true fire rose between them, Chen Wu shook his head helplessly. The struggle between Dao and demon continued even after changing worlds.

What began as an exchange of spear and sword evolved into a head-on clash of Daoist arts and demonic techniques. Looking as though neither would rest until the other was dead, they battled amid blazing sparks, splitting earth, and flying clouds.

After watching for a while, Chen Wu realized that although the Daoist held the advantage, he could not defeat the demonic general in a short time. He chose to withdraw from his sea of consciousness.

However, Chen Wu could not help letting out a startled sound. "Huh?"

It turned out that some of the Daoist arts and demonic techniques used during the battle had been recorded by the visualization diagram and passed on to Chen Wu.

"Does this count as the snipe and clam fighting while the fisherman reaps the profit?"

Chen Wu checked and found that only a handful of the Daoist arts could be used with his current Spirit Refining cultivation.

They were all support techniques similar to Mysterious Gate Calming Heaven.

As for the martial arts used by the demon, they were even more beyond reach for someone like him, who had yet to enter the ranks.

Still, the changes in the Dao-Demon Battle Diagram and the transmission of techniques afterward both proved the truth of the Contemplative Visualization Method's claim of "turning illusion into reality, refining falsehood into truth."

Seeing that the Book of Changes had affected the visualization diagram, Chen Wu wondered whether he could start from that angle.

Thus, he downloaded a whole collection of classics, including the Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi, to see whether they could achieve the same effect.

The result could not exactly be called fruitless, but it might as well have been a waste of effort.

He swiped the phone screen so hard it nearly sparked, yet the battle diagram in his sea of consciousness did not make the slightest movement.

Seeing this, Chen Wu decided to honestly wait for the next Body Tempering period while improving his proficiency with the Dragon-Subduing Divine Palm.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was two days before the start of the new semester.

Chen Wu had just completed the new school year's information registration online through his phone when his older sister, Gu Yuyue, finished her turtle-breathing state and awakened.

A faint cracking sound came from the bedroom. It was the sound of a technique being destroyed from within.

Chen Wu hurriedly pushed open the door. There, around his sister's body, a huge golden bell faintly appeared. The bell's patterns were simple yet beautifully arranged, endlessly circulating. She had already reached the fifth stage of the Golden Bell Shield.

The fifth stage of the Golden Bell Shield, Gathered Force Rebound. This stage specialized in rebounding force. Even if one was struck by blunt weapons such as iron hammers or clubs, a practitioner who had mastered it would suffer no injury to the internal organs. The greater the attack from a blunt weapon, the stronger the rebounding force; it could even snap the opponent's weapon apart by force.

After the two arts fused, the realm of the Golden Bell Shield naturally rose along with her Qi Refining realm, reaching a height second only to Qi Refining.

Moreover, Chen Wu could clearly sense that, bolstered by the feedback from her Body Tempering achievements, his sister's cultivation had increased once more and reached the middle stage of the sixth rank.

Even the path of Spirit Refining, which she had previously never had the chance to touch, had now reached the level of a first glimpse of the gate.

His sister's path of cultivating all three disciplines had officially begun.

After displaying its initial might, Gu Yuyue withdrew her Golden Bell force. Her divine essence was hidden within, and her eyes shone brightly.

"Oh my, Xiao Wu, sorry. Your sister accidentally reached the fifth stage this time."

Having succeeded in Body Tempering, his sister was clearly in an excellent mood. Imitating Chen Wu's earlier manner, she teased him and showed off.

However, Chen Wu had no choice but to spoil the mood. "Sis, it's already been eight days since you entered the turtle-breathing state."

At first, Gu Yuyue did not think much of it. Her smile was filled with tenderness. "Yes, Xiao Wu. You've really worked hard these past few days."

Seeing that his sister still had not caught on, Chen Wu had to remind her further. "Sis, you've been in turtle breathing all this time, right?"

Gu Yuyue nodded. "Yes."

Chen Wu said quietly, "Then haven't you noticed anything strange about the air?"

"The smell?"

Gu Yuyue sniffed, then suddenly realized something. Her pretty face instantly flushed crimson, and she forced out a sentence. "Hehe... hehe... Xiao Wu, what could possibly be wrong? Really. I'm going to take a shower first. Afterward, we'll go out and have a big meal to celebrate."

Before her words had even settled, she turned into a swift blur, quickly grabbed a change of clothes from the cabinet, and rushed into the bathroom without pausing for even a moment.

Chen Wu wore a smile. It was rare to see his usually elegant sister in such an awkward state.

Unfortunately, for safety's sake, he still could not take out his phone to record it.

"Xiao Wu, you must be starving, right? Come on, let's eat."

After waiting for over an hour, the freshly washed Gu Yuyue changed into a light blue long dress and took Chen Wu out. They chose a hand-grabbed Tuoyang mutton restaurant and feasted heartily.

After eating and drinking their fill, she took Chen Wu to the Arms Foundry Bureau to collect the already completed Windmoon Severer and Silver Evil, personally forged by a master of Forge Master Mountain.

In truth, the saber and halberd had been completed three days earlier. However, since the order had been placed under his sister's name, Chen Wu could not collect them himself, which was why they had been delayed.

After Gu Yuyue gave her name and completed the full process of facial and fingerprint verification, the two weapons that had taken a month to forge finally arrived in Chen Wu's hands.

In addition, Forge Master Mountain had thoughtfully included a spatial ring for storing the two weapons.

Though it was not particularly important to Chen Wu, who possessed his own exclusive pocket space.

During this time, as the Dao-Demon Battle Diagram in his sea of consciousness progressed, the pocket space had expanded considerably as well.

It had grown from one cubic meter to three cubic meters.

Chen Wu directly stored Windmoon Severer and Silver Evil inside the pocket space, keeping the ring outside as a disguise.

After finishing all this, Chen Wu quietly waited for the new semester to arrive.

The two days passed in the blink of an eye. With summer vacation over, the new school year officially began.