His increased strength gave Yechen some confidence and rekindled his fighting spirit.
"Keep it up, Uchiha Ye Chen! Make everyone who looked down on you tremble...!"
With his fighting spirit burning, he naturally couldn't keep resting. Yechen stood up and felt the chakra in his body, which had more than doubled-the energy value displayed on his system panel.
Yechen secretly rejoiced. Surely I can master the Three Body Technique now!
Following the memories in his mind, he mobilized his chakra while beginning to form hand seals at a snail's pace. "Ram..."
But the moment he formed the first seal, the chakra in his body surged into motion. A figure suddenly materialized beside him, looking exactly like him, right down to its expression.
"This..." Yechen was stunned. He clearly remembered that the Clone Technique required three hand seals, yet he had completed it with just one.
That was something only ninjas who had thoroughly mastered the Three Body Technique could accomplish.
Previously, even with all three seals, he had only produced limp clones that barely resembled humans. What was going on? Was it because he had become a Genin?
Yechen focused, and a skill bar appeared before his eyes, displaying: Level 1 Clone Technique (10%).
After looking at the latest skill panel, Yechen had a guess. The level and the percentage following it probably represented proficiency. If so, things would be much simpler from now on.
With that thought, Yechen wasted no more time and continued practicing the Clone Technique.
Just as expected, he succeeded again.
The progress bar displayed: Level 1 Clone Technique, 20%.
"Ten percent proficiency per attempt? That's ridiculously powerful."
He checked his energy value again. It had dropped by ten points. In other words, practicing the Clone Technique once consumed roughly five points of chakra.
Yechen took a deep breath to calm his excitement. What he needed to do now was train hard and bring all three basic techniques to a high level. That would at least give him some ability to protect himself in the future.
Another cloud of chakra smoke dissipated, and the progress bar reached 30%.
Yechen kept practicing. He wanted to grow stronger as quickly as possible.
He also had to be cautious and avoid casually revealing his strength in front of others. He had made up his mind to keep a low profile from now on. Ideally, he would go back to being that dead-last loser.
If he slipped up and revealed that his strength had suddenly increased overnight, he would definitely attract the attention of Konoha's Anbu.
The Shinobi World had no shortage of mind-reading and mind-bewitching ninjutsu, so he absolutely couldn't casually reveal his sudden increase in strength.
Although the chances of the Anbu noticing him were very small, there was nothing wrong with being careful.
"Keep going."
Cloud after cloud of smoke rose, and the Clone Technique finally reached level 2.
The level 2 Clone Technique could create two clones, but its chakra consumption had also increased considerably, rising from five points to seven.
More clones meant greater consumption, which was perfectly reasonable. But Yechen discovered that the proficiency gain had changed too. Previously, each attempt gave him 10%; now it gave him 8%. Wouldn't progress get slower and slower as he advanced?
Even so, Yechen didn't give up and continued training. Before long, when he formed the seals again, he suddenly felt that his body was completely empty of chakra. Only then did he realize he had exhausted it.
Drawing on his memories, Yechen sat cross-legged and turned his attention inward. Using his will, he extracted the energy produced by his cells and mixed it with his spiritual energy. After a process of conversion, it became chakra. This was the Chakra Refinement Method he practiced.
Just as he was about to refine chakra, a sudden flash of inspiration appeared in his mind, followed by a series of obscure, incomprehensible characters.
"Primordial Heaven-Devouring Art."
"Heaven and earth arise alongside me, and all things are one with me. Bearing the bloodline of Yan and Huang, follow the laws of heaven and earth, gather the spiritual energy of mountains and rivers, draw upon the essence of human culture, and channel the radiance of the stars to strengthen oneself and attain the Great Dao of heaven and earth."
"Pierce illusions, trace origins, devour heaven, absorb earth, refine oneself, merge with the Dao, create worlds, attain immortality, return to oneness, transcend all constraints."
As he sensed this cultivation art, Yechen was utterly dumbfounded. What was going on now? None of this had appeared before, so why was it all coming at once?
Yechen had a bold suspicion. His transmigration was probably connected to this cultivation art. But why hadn't it appeared earlier? Could it be related to my breakthrough?
He put everything else aside. With a better cultivation method available, why wouldn't he practice it?
The Chakra Refinement Method produced energy by combining one's own cellular energy with spiritual consciousness. This method was far too restrictive, and the amount of chakra it could produce was very limited.
A person's body only had so many cells. Overexploiting them would leave the body severely weakened. That was why, in the later stages of the Shinobi World, its supreme powerhouses either had Tailed Beasts inside them to supply energy or possessed mutated cells. There was also another option: upgrading chakra through Senjutsu.
Other ninjas didn't dare recklessly use extremely powerful ninjutsu. A single major technique could drain all their chakra if they weren't careful.
Cultivating the Primordial Chaos Devouring Heaven Technique was different. Its energy fundamentally came from absorbing the energy of heaven and earth—the most primal Primordial Origin Energy.
It incorporated that energy into the body, improved the body, and ultimately led to unity between heaven and man. The two methods were worlds apart.
Once he understood this, Yechen naturally chose this cultivation art.
He focused his mind and began cultivating according to the art's instructions.
First layer, Eye of Illusion-Piercing-perceiving energy to comprehend the profound.
See through the world's false appearances, discern the true nature of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and perceive the faint projections of Primordial Origin Energy.
As Yechen devoted himself to comprehending it, the Eye of Illusion-Piercing gradually took shape. Using the ancestral aperture between his brows as a guide, he visualized primordial chaos to achieve the effects of the Eye of Illusion-Piercing.
Initially, it allowed him to look within himself and perceive the outside world. He could clearly sense the flow of spiritual energy between heaven and earth, and even the colors of its different sources.
Reaching this point meant Yechen had gained basic mastery of the first layer, the Eye of Illusion-Piercing.
Ten minutes later, Yechen opened his eyes. His energy had returned to its maximum, and even the system panel now had an additional cultivation art field.
"This art is amazing. My chakra recovered in just ten minutes."
Remembering how it had previously taken two hours to recover, Yechen curled his lip and immediately put the Chakra Refinement Method out of his mind. He would never practice it again.
With that thought, Yechen rallied his spirits and resumed practicing the Clone Technique.
To his delight, the level 2 Clone Technique, which had previously required eight energy points, now needed only three. Creating a single clone actually cost just one energy point.
He was ecstatic. He hadn't expected absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to have such an effect.
This would allow him to make much more progress during each training session.
Time passed little by little. After raising the Clone Technique to level 3, Yechen could no longer hold out. He collapsed into bed and fell asleep.
Before long, soft snores filled the room.
At some point, a figure appeared outside the window.
His scarlet eyes shone strikingly in the darkness. He was an Uchiha ninja with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
He had been ordered to watch Yechen for some time. Although he was surprised to see Yechen reach Genin, he was still somewhat disappointed. What the clan truly valued was whether its members had awakened the Sharingan.
Without the Sharingan, even a Jonin was nothing but trash in the eyes of the Uchiha.
After half a month of observation, Yechen still hadn't awakened the Sharingan. The Jonin shook his head and left. He probably wouldn't bother watching this boy again.
As for Yechen's cultivation art, he had only reached the beginner stage, and outsiders couldn't see the Eye of Illusion-Piercing. Thus, the ninja merely considered him talented at cultivation, which wasn't of much use. That was how the Uchiha thought.
Without the Sharingan, he was trash!