A red sun leaped above the Sand Sea, its rosy light tinting the tents beside the lake a pale gold.
The tent flap remained closed. Ye Jingtang sat upright and cross-legged inside, silently reviewing last night's battle and the insights he had gained.
Ye Jingtang had gained a tremendous amount from that fight. Describing it as "surfacing for the first time and seeing the true sky" would not have been an exaggeration.
He had genuinely believed that the Dragon-Mingling Diagram was the only path to the pinnacle, but now he had discovered that, whatever the school of martial arts, the ultimate result was the same if one pursued it to the end.
For example, if She Long's Twin Buddha Arms were painstakingly developed to their utmost limit, they would become Golden Scales and Jade Bones; Liu Qiansheng's Wind-Listening Palm and Qiu Tianhe's Tianhe Blade could be considered the most basic versions of the Bright Deity Diagram.
Shui'er had never practiced the Flame-Rebirth Diagram before, yet she could gradually dispel any poison she suffered. That was probably because she had entered the realm of "Essence Refining into Qi."
The martial arts of these schools were scattered and fragmentary, like simply structured, weak "low-grade cultivation methods" intended only for beginners-divine abilities in loose pieces.
The Nine Dragon-Mingling Diagrams, by contrast, were a consummate work that gathered all the world's body-tempering methods and polished them to perfection.
The "Qi Refining into Spirit" that Lü Taiqing had comprehended himself certainly lacked the flawless power of the Dragon-Mingling Diagram. Like the Nine Arts, it contained many weaknesses and openings.
But Lü Taiqing had worked out his own path step by careful step. However imperfect it might be, he knew its strengths and weaknesses inside out, and in actual combat he could fully exploit its strengths,