Explosive Stone-Shattering Art

Demon art: Purification Talisman Rune, beginner 1/100

"It worked!"

Su Changsheng's heart filled with delight.

The Purification Talisman Rune was more than ten times as difficult as the Concealment Rune. Even with his extensive experience in crafting Skilled Level runes, he had spent two full days and failed hundreds of times before barely managing a success.

"No wonder nobody bothers with such an important rune. It's too difficult. Far too difficult."

Su Changsheng silently clicked his tongue.

At the beginner tier, its success rate was barely one percent. Crafting a rune like this was no longer a matter of deft hands and experience. It was nothing but a blind gamble, entirely dependent on luck!

"I wonder if one Purification Talisman Rune can completely erase the sinister energy from the Wraith Eye blood food. If it isn't enough..."

If it proved insufficient, Su Changsheng still had no intention of making more Purification Talismans for now. With a success rate of barely one percent at the beginner tier, the expenditure was simply more than he could bear.

He was too poor. Better to be frugal.

Still, he had achieved his goal this time. Once today's survival settlement came through, his accumulated survival points should be enough to advance the Stone-Shattering Art to Skilled Level.

At that moment...

There was still some time before midnight. Su Changsheng rested briefly, settled his emotions, then threw himself back into cultivation.

He worked hard every waking moment.

He was drawing closer and closer to becoming a level three half-demon, and he refused to waste any time.

In fact, had the weather not been so cold that it slowed his cultivation and threatened to send him into hibernation, he would have preferred to wait until he became a level three half-demon before digging his burrow.

Time slipped by.

The moment midnight passed, the settlement arrived.

Survival points +20

Evaluation: Good

-Weighing gains and losses, planning wisely. You excel at weighing your own gains and losses, neither rushing nor hesitating. Throughout your various cultivation endeavors, you always find the approach best suited and most beneficial to your current survival.

-Giving up some things to gain others, persevering to the end. You possess a commendable quality: you understand what to keep and what to relinquish, making long-term plans rather than focusing on immediate benefits. With great perseverance, you consistently accomplish what others cannot. This is less a matter of innate talent than persistence. These qualities will aid your survival.

Survival points: 73

"I actually received another evaluation! Good. I finally have enough survival points."

Su Changsheng was somewhat surprised. He had never expected that successfully learning the Purification Talisman Rune would trigger a survival evaluation.

Of course, it could also have been his cheat's assessment of his recent behavior, with various factors combining to produce this result.

Counting the twenty survival points he had just earned and the five guaranteed points from the past two days, he now had a full seventy-three points-more than enough to advance the Stone-Shattering Art.

"In that case, let's advance it!"

With a thought from Su Changsheng, the survival points instantly flowed into the Stone-Shattering Art.

Stone-Shattering Art: beginner → practiced!

Countless insights flooded his mind: techniques for its use, patterns of demon power, amplification through the integration of blood and vitality...

Gradually, driven by his Yao Body's instincts, all the demon power within him began circulating in an exceedingly strange pattern. His snake scales also started trembling faintly, coupling with the spiritual energy outside, while even his blood and vitality surged in a matching rhythm.

Countless vortices of spiritual energy swirled around him.

At a certain moment, inspiration struck. Su Changsheng instinctively clenched his right fist and punched into empty air while still over a meter away from the rock wall behind his house.

The next second...

Boom!

The air buckled and blasted forward, plunging into the rock. A large section of the wall instantly cracked, fissures spreading deeper and deeper. Within moments, the tunnel, originally about two meters in diameter, had extended another ten-odd centimeters inward.

"So powerful!"

"I can actually unleash it through empty air!"

Su Changsheng's eyes widened.

The Skilled Level Stone-Shattering Art was far more powerful than he had imagined. Not only could he unleash it without making contact, it also shattered the rock into much smaller pieces.

Previously, the beginner-tier Stone-Shattering Art had done nothing of the sort. It had merely left crisscrossing, irregular cracks of varying sizes across the rock wall.

Some of the stones still had to be dug out by Su Changsheng by hand.

"It's a completely contactless skill, and its attack power is astonishing. If a punch like that landed on a demon..."

He sucked in another breath of cold air. He realized that the seemingly ordinary Stone-Shattering Art had become his strongest trump card.

A long while later...

Su Changsheng suppressed his delight and tested it many more times in succession. Only when his demon power began running low did he finally stop, thoroughly satisfied.

He had discovered many more new characteristics and uses for the Stone-Shattering Art.

At his current level as a second-level half-demon, he could use the Skilled Level Stone-Shattering Art ten times intermittently. After that, his demon power would be depleted, requiring breathing exercises to recover.

Moreover, he needed to let his Yao Body rest briefly after every use. Otherwise, with demon power surging within and spiritual energy churning outside, repeated use of the Stone-Shattering Art would put more strain on his current body than it could withstand.

At best, his skin would split and his flesh burst. At worst, his bones would shatter and all five internal organs would burn.

"The interval between uses is roughly three minutes. Resting for more than three minutes is enough for my Yao Body to use the Stone-Shattering Art again."

"Three minutes... Looks like I'll need to time things carefully when fighting enemies. Ideally, I should find some other demonic skills to complement it and fill the gap between attacks."

Su Changsheng committed this firmly to memory.

A three-minute interval was neither particularly long nor particularly short. He could easily weave in other demonic skills, such as attacking enemies with demon art runes.

Furthermore, the Skilled Level Stone-Shattering Art made him realize that many seemingly ordinary demonic skills might multiply in power upon reaching Skilled Level, becoming every bit as formidable as the corresponding innate abilities of the demon race from which those skills originated!

"The Stone-Shattering Art is now a contactless skill. Its range is only one meter, but other demons probably wouldn't be able to withstand a sudden sneak attack. And I can use it with a weapon, too..."

Su Changsheng considered his options.

A contactless skill was one that could be unleashed through empty air without touching an enemy. Since it could be released without contact, it could naturally also be channeled through a weapon.

Su Changsheng had tested this with the spiked club he held. When the Stone-Shattering Art was channeled through it, its power increased by thirty percent compared with an empty-air release. The consequence was that the club was instantly ruined.

After all, it was stone too-a natural victim!

A genuine weapon-destroying skill.

Of course, its greatest power still came from driving his fist directly into an enemy's body.

Taking the rock wall as an example again...

Released through empty air, it shattered a section of rock two meters in diameter to a depth of roughly ten to fifteen centimeters. The closer he was when releasing it, the greater its power.

Released through a weapon, it reached a depth of around twenty centimeters, depending mainly on the weapon's quality. Su Changsheng was rather poor, so he had only tested it with his spiked club.

Finally, releasing it through a direct punch produced a depth of twenty-five centimeters. Compared with an empty-air release, its power increased by well over half.

"Twenty-five centimeters. Even if demons have powerful bodies that ordinary rock can't compare to, a blow like that would probably still set their organs boiling and send blood pouring from all seven orifices!"

"Stone demons... What a terrifying race. No wonder the lower-rung residents of the Yao Stronghold fear them. Their innate ability really is absurd."

There were stone demons within the Yao Stronghold as well. Every one of them possessed boundless strength, thick hides, and tough flesh. Few demons were willing to provoke such creatures.

If they had not been rather dim-witted, they would have stood at the finish line of many other demons' lives from the moment they were born.

And this was merely the Skilled Level Stone-Shattering Art. What about the proficient level above it, or even higher tiers?

Survival points truly could turn the rotten into the miraculous!