Lightning-Fast Surge, Treasure Technique at Perfection!

"This should be a martial skill that combines movement techniques and defense. The description says this martial skill has three major thresholds. Once cultivated to a profound level, it can dissolve flesh and skin, making reality and illusion impossible to discern. Combined with strange footwork, it can offset and evade most attacks while also increasing one's speed."

Yu Qianqian carefully watched Ye Li's expression as she gave an awkward laugh.

"This is absolutely a superior work among Second-Tier Martial Skills. Most Third-Tier Martial Skills probably aren't even as exquisite as it."

"If you could learn it... Well, sorry. No matter how exquisite it is, it's so incomplete that even a Martial Immortal probably couldn't learn it."

"B-but I really did choose it carefully for you... Could you stop looking at me like that? I'm truly sorry. I'm willing to reimburse part of your losses..."

Yu Qianqian lowered her head in shame, covering her face with both hands. She only felt too ashamed to face the handsome young man before her.

"Classmate Yu, apologies require a dogeza. Don't you even know such common sense?"

Ye Li suppressed the joy in his heart, resting one hand against his chin as he spoke casually.

Hearing this, Yu Qianqian's eyes widened. Her pretty face immediately turned deathly pale as she stammered,

"R-really?"

"Of course not. What are you thinking?" Ye Li waved his hand.

Then, with a teasing smile in his voice, he said, "But if you want to apologize that way, I wouldn't object."

"..."

Yu Qianqian crossed her hands before her body and lightly bit her lip, then dropped to her knees with a thud.

Her hands pressed down, and her full chest was squeezed and distorted against the floor.

It was an exceptionally standard dogeza posture.

If there had been more people on the third floor, this would definitely have drawn plenty of stares.

[Forcing a young girl in the bloom of youth to kneel before you, Malice Points +100!]

"You're taking this too far, aren't you?" Ye Li looked at her in surprise.

"I was joking. I didn't actually mean for you to kneel."

"But seeing how standard your kneeling posture is, I forgive you."

"Making Classmate Ye waste one hundred thousand for nothing, this sort of apology is only proper." Yu Qianqian climbed up from the floor and said somewhat ashamedly,

"You're the first person I've met who trusted me so much, yet I still failed to help you with anything. I'm really sorry..."

Ye Li said rather helplessly,

"At the end of the day, I chose to buy it myself. And I never said I couldn't understand it."

"R-really? It's already so incomplete..."

"Really. If anything, I owe you a favor."

"Classmate Ye Li..." A touched expression appeared on Yu Qianqian's face.

In her view, no matter who looked at that incomplete volume of the Heavenly Dipper Void-Treading Technique, they would be unable to understand or learn it.

What he was saying now was clearly just him putting on a brave front to spare her feelings.

"I understand."

Yu Qianqian pursed her lips and said earnestly, "Classmate Ye Li, whether you can understand it or not, if I get my hands on any precious martial skills in the future, I'll definitely bring them out to share with you!"

Hearing this, Ye Li merely waved his hand casually. "Got it. Go get busy."

Only then did Yu Qianqian smile and nod before turning to leave.

Once no one was around, Ye Li turned his attention back to the panel.

Yu Qianqian's panic was not without reason. After all, this incomplete volume was practically a fill-in-the-blanks exercise. No matter how cheap it was, it could not be cultivated.

But he had tremendous persistence and hard work as his foundation, along with a little help from his Golden Finger.

He should be able to do things ordinary people could not.

[Current Malice Points: 3100]

Fortunately, he had not gone all in while in the cultivation room and forcibly broken through to the second tier. Otherwise, he would only be able to stare helplessly now.

Ye Li let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief, then began a new round of point allocation.

To be safe, he would first try five hundred points.

Based on experience, that was roughly equivalent to two and a half years of his own arduous cultivation.

Five hundred Malice Points rapidly poured into the panel, and the numbers after the Heavenly Dipper Void-Treading Technique began to change.

[Ding! 500 Malice Points consumed!]

[Beginning enhancement of the Second-Tier Martial Skill—Heavenly Dipper Void-Treading Step!]

[Detected a lack of Cloud Mist Essence and a complete mental cultivation chant. Cultivation speed reduced by 70%.]

[Consume 2000 Malice Points to attempt deducing the complete martial skill and remove the Negative Buff?]

Too expensive. He could not afford to deduce it.

And it was only an attempt at deduction... What the hell did he know about martial skill theory? If it failed to deduce it, would the system compensate him?

"No." Ye Li chose to forcefully add points without the slightest hesitation.

[Your speed rivals that of a seventy-year-old grandmother running a full marathon. Begin charging the threshold at full force!]

[Cultivating...!]

[Cultivation complete. Martial skill successfully initiated!]

[Heavenly Dipper Void-Treading Step: Initiated (60%)]

[Byproduct: Two and a half years of arduous cultivation devoted to studying martial skills have made your mind increasingly resilient. Blood and qi strength has slightly increased!]

So it really slapped me with some Negative Buffs. A seventy percent reduction in speed—ridiculous...

And wouldn't a seventy-year-old grandmother running a marathon die? Was this really okay?

Ye Li's gaze swept over the panel as he complained inwardly.

But none of that was important.

What mattered was that it really worked!

Even if it was a fill-in-the-blanks exercise from a book he had never read, even without the corresponding cultivation resources, he could still forcibly increase his martial skill progress!

As he had said before, adding points was precisely why he could become king.

"Taking her by force..."

Ye Li murmured softly, raising one hand and circulating a little of the true qi within his body according to the corresponding route.

Whoosh!

A faint white mist drifted from his palm. His already somewhat pale skin became even fairer, carrying a vague sense of ethereal translucence!

If he used this palm to receive an attack, the damage it suffered would be reduced by several degrees compared to other parts of his body.

Simply put, it provided a certain degree of damage reduction.

This was the treasure of Second-Tier Martial Skills!

Ye Li's heart stirred.

When Yu Qianqian had said earlier that "most Third-Tier Martial Skills probably aren't as exquisite as it," he had thought she was merely trying to save face. But now, it seemed there was indeed some truth to it.

"It consumes quite a lot. As expected, it has to be used with a Breathing Technique."

Ye Li sighed. Simply dissolving the flesh and skin on one hand had consumed quite a bit of his true qi.

Without a Breathing Technique to replenish true qi in real time during battle, even someone at the First-Tier Peak would not be able to sustain it for long.

And after spending five hundred Malice Points, he had only barely entered the beginner stage...

In the past, that would have been enough to raise a Second-Tier Martial Skill to mastery!

Unfortunately, Ye Li had no good solution for the time being.

Setting aside the fact that he did not know where to obtain this so-called Cloud Mist Essence, the loss of time and money alone would be enough to make him choke on a bitter cup.

The martial arts examination was imminent. He did not have much time left.

"Very good. Go all in!"

Having confirmed the results, Ye Li immediately began manipulating the panel, pouring everything into this martial skill.

[Detected designated target. Beginning continuous enhancement of the Heavenly Dipper Void-Treading Technique!]

[Current Negative Buff: Cultivation speed reduced by 70%.]

[Cultivating...!]

[Ding! As your understanding of this martial skill deepens, you recall similar skills and Cultivation Methods from literary works in your previous life and incorporate them into your cultivation...]

[Buff obtained: Cultivation speed increased by 30%!]

[The grandmother you transformed into puts on Zulijian Senior Shoes and begins sprinting wildly down the track known as the Heavenly Dipper Void-Treading Technique!]

[Accelerated cultivation in progress...!]

[Cultivation complete!]

[This consumed 2400 Malice Points, equivalent to roughly twelve years of arduous cultivation!]

[Heavenly Dipper Void-Treading Technique has been raised to perfection!]

[Byproduct: More than a decade of single-minded arduous cultivation has granted you a terrifying degree of understanding of this martial skill. You have mastered the technique of Dissolving Strength. Blood and qi strength has slightly increased!]

Ye Li exhaled a breath of white mist. The blood and qi throughout his body grew ever more vigorous, like a great cauldron at a rolling boil. His whole person glowed with vitality, his tendons and bones rang in unison, and his spine was like a great dragon!

He was only one last step away from the so-called second-tier realm!