The Stone-Shattering Art was a general-purpose skill derived from an innate ability of a certain kind of Stone Demon.
The user needed to mobilize his own demon power to form a specific vibration, then circulate it in a special pattern, coordinated by his mind, to resonate with the spiritual energy outside and produce an effect that shattered rock.
It sounded complicated, and learning it was indeed even harder. It took Su Changsheng nearly three full days to reach the beginner level in this demon art.
"Too hard!"
"Never mind anything else. Just sensing the spiritual energy outside and making it resonate held me up for two whole days. This Yao Body's aptitude is abysmal. Its sensitivity to external spiritual energy is almost nonexistent."
Looking at the shattered practice slab in front of him, Su Changsheng let out a long, quiet sigh.
The Turtle-Breathing Method had been easy to learn but difficult to master, so he had picked up the basics readily. Coupled with his decent progress in demon art runes, that had made him overly optimistic about his aptitude.
But now, the Stone-Shattering Art had taught him how to be a demon! If reaching the beginner level in the most ordinary demon art was this difficult, his aptitude truly gave cause for concern.
"What snake half-demon? This is a block of wood that's come to life."
Su Changsheng smiled bitterly, trying to find a little joy amid the hardship.
At the beginner level, the Stone-Shattering Art was unstable, sometimes working and sometimes not. Occasionally, it even caused fluctuations in his demon power that resulted in severe backlash.
It seriously hampered his digging progress.
With no other choice, he put aside all his plans and tasks and devoted himself wholeheartedly to practicing the Stone-Shattering Art.
Cultivate, cultivate, cultivate!
If talent fell short, effort would have to make up the difference.
At first, his movements when activating the demon art were stiff, and his mobilization of demon power was halting and disjointed. He seemed to be following a textbook, rigidly going through every prescribed motion.
But as he practiced again and again, continually reviewing his failures and persevering, everything under his control-the circulation of demon power, the movements used to activate the art, and so on-became smooth and natural.
He moved like a hare breaking free, spirit and form united, every motion rich with rhythm.
Rumble!
A faint tremor sounded. Countless cracks instantly spread across the rock face behind the stone house, followed by great chunks of rock breaking loose.
There was roughly one or two cubic meters of it.
"It worked!"
"This is already the limit of what I can achieve."
Su Changsheng drew a deep breath. Waves of exhaustion washed through his entire body, and his mind felt drained.
His hands were already bright red and bleeding heavily. Many of the fine snake scales on his arms had shattered, exposing the crimson flesh beneath.
This was the result of repeatedly activating the Stone-Shattering Art over a long period. The impact of the demon art, the vibrations rebounding from the wall, and the violent infusion of spiritual energy had severely injured his hands.
At that moment,
Even the muscles throughout his body ached relentlessly. His once glossy green snake scales had turned dull and gray, leaving him looking utterly overworked.
Enduring the heaviness, exhaustion, and spasms coursing through his body, Su Changsheng took out a little blood food, paired it with a small blood clot that had frozen rock-hard, and carefully began eating.
Blood clots were formed from coagulated blood. They generally served as materials for making runes, but certain low-level demons also occasionally ate them to stave off hunger.
Every time Su Changsheng bought blood food, some blood seeped out. Over time, he had accumulated quite a few clots. Unwilling to throw them away, he simply ate them alongside his blood food.
The taste was pungent, but at least they filled his stomach.
As a child in his previous life, his family had been very poor. The fat pig they raised for a whole year would be slaughtered as the year's end approached. Its meat and organs would all be sold, leaving only a pig's tail and basin after basin of foul-smelling pig's blood.
They could not bear to throw the blood away either, so they added some to their dishes during the New Year. Those days had been hard, but in Su Changsheng's memories, his parents always saved the tastiest part-the pig's tail-for him. That had made those days the happiest, too.
"Ah!"
Su Changsheng suddenly heaved a deep sigh. Looking back on his previous life, everything seemed like passing clouds and drifting smoke. He could barely remember his once comfortable life anymore, yet the hardships of his childhood remained etched deep in his heart.
Perhaps the happiest days had been those when his father smoked, his mother cooked a meal with pig's blood, and he gnawed on a pig's tail.
"Blood clots contain quite a bit of salt, so they can replenish a little of what my body needs. But I'd still be better off finding salt stone. Without an adequate supply of salt, even with demon power supporting it, this Yao Body tires easily."
"Unfortunately... I've never heard of salt stone being sold anywhere in the Black Mountain Demon Stockade."
Salt was important, but the demons living in the Black Mountain Demon Stockade generally did not eat it.
For one thing, there was no supply. The salt stone that occasionally arrived from other Yao Strongholds was outrageously expensive, far beyond what they could afford, and most of it went to the stockade's central district.
For another, fresh blood food contained some salt. Even without additional salt, they could just about get by; they merely tired very easily after strenuous activity.
Su Changsheng had no way to obtain salt stone, and even if he did, he could not afford it. For now, he could only grit his teeth and endure the muscle spasms, constant cramps, and other pain caused by a lack of salt.
Endure it a little longer, and it would pass.
Compared with hunger and freezing cold, what did any of this amount to?
After quite a while, once his body had recovered a little, Su Changsheng let out a long breath and touched his scales. They were completely soaked.
He gave himself a quick wipe, then looked at his status panel.
Player: Su Changsheng Race: Green Snake Half-Demon Lifespan: 11/30 Realm: second-level half-demon 350/500 Cultivation method: Green Snake Breathing, proficient 50/2500 Demon arts: Stone-Shattering Art, beginner 33/100; Turtle Breath Art, practiced... Innate ability: snake saliva ice, practiced 37/500 Survival points: 48
"At this point, there's nothing more I can practice in the Stone-Shattering Art. I've gone over everything within my control countless times, yet its experience has only risen to 33."
His aptitude gave Su Changsheng another headache. He had pushed everything he could do to the utmost, yet still could not find the way forward.
What now restricted the Stone-Shattering Art's advancement was the Yao Body's sensitivity to external spiritual energy, the purity of its demonic energy, and similar issues.
These fell within the realm of natural talent. They were not things hard work alone could overcome.
"I have 48 survival points now. If I gain another 19, I can push the Stone-Shattering Art to the Skilled Level. Then my digging efficiency will improve enormously. The beginner-level Stone-Shattering Art won't even compare."
"But getting that many survival points in such a short time..."
Su Changsheng turned his attention to the demon art rune: the Purification Talisman. He had not yet found time to study how to make this rune. Now, to obtain enough survival points, he could only start with it.
As it happened, he also needed to find time to process that piece of Wraith Beast Blood Food, lest a long night bring too many dreams. He still needed a few days before advancing to a level three half-demon anyway, so it would not delay much.
It would just be a little cold. He would endure it.
Su Changsheng still had some confidence in his talent for demon art runes. He simply set his digging aside for the time being. Apart from the time reserved for breathing cultivation and rune-making, he devoted himself entirely to studying the Purification Talisman.
By then,
The sky outside had grown darker still.
Snow continued to fall, and the white-haired blizzard began howling again.
Time trickled past.
Perhaps the Black Tiger Yao was not yet ready to reemerge, or perhaps all the Wraith Beasts had already been slain. Whatever the reason, the Half-Demon Grounds had actually grown quiet over the past few days.
Without disturbances from outside, Su Changsheng's days were full yet uneventful.
Cultivating, making talismans, studying the Purification Talisman, occasionally recalling the past and imagining the future.
Just like that, another two days slipped by, bringing him to the fifth day of the month.
Hum!
A peculiar fluctuation of spiritual energy, mingled with demon power, suddenly emanated from the stone house before quickly dissipating.
"It worked!"
"The difficulty of this Purification Talisman really is beyond any ordinary demon art rune. It took two whole days."
Looking at the brightly shining rune in his hand, Su Changsheng's face glowed with delight.
He had successfully mastered the Purification Talisman rune!
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