In an instant, a dazzling blaze of blue-white light erupted, illuminating the entire dim equipment area.
High-speed particles violently annihilated and recombined. Atomic bonds were forcibly torn apart and reshaped, and within the chaotic high-energy field, an entirely new atomic structure rapidly condensed into being.
Ivan held his breath, both hands gripping the control sticks tightly. At the instant the particle collision reached its most stable point, he precisely adjusted the optical prism, locking firmly onto the equilibrium threshold for atomic recombination.
Several minutes later, the intense light slowly faded.
At the collider's core, a blue crystal the size of a fingernail, shaped like a perfect triangular prism, hovered quietly.
A blue glow, both gentle and piercing, flowed throughout it. No radiation leaked from its surface, and its atomic structure had achieved the utmost stability.
An entirely new element had been successfully synthesized!
"It finally worked!"
Ivan and the five scientists were incredibly excited. After so many failures, they had finally succeeded.
Ivan eagerly took off his goggles, carefully picked up the triangular crystal with specially made tweezers, and excitedly installed it in the Arc Reactor for testing.
"The new element's stability is at 100%! No neutron leakage, no radioactive contamination, and an energy density more than three times that of the palladium core! It's perfectly compatible with the Arc Reactor and can completely replace palladium. The reactor's peak power output has risen across the board!"
Watching the flawless data flicker across the computer screen, Ivan turned to Wenwu and spoke excitedly.
Although he hated the Stark Family to his core, at this moment, he had to admire that old man Howard's intelligence. He had actually worked out this revolutionary new element back in the seventies.
"Good. With this new element, the power of our weapons will increase significantly as well."
Wenwu looked at the faintly glowing crystal and nodded in satisfaction.
Next came synthesizing the new element in large quantities, though producing it was extremely expensive.
"Ivan, how is the optimization of that intelligent system coming along? Can it accurately intercept missiles and launch them?"
Wenwu suddenly asked in a low voice.
Ivan bit down on his toothpick. "My lord, it's already been optimized. There won't be any problems. Even if the sky were filled with missiles right now, it could shoot every one of them down with precision!"
"Good. I have a feeling your intelligent system is about to be put to the test!"
Wenwu spoke in a low voice.
"I'm looking forward to it!"
Ivan smiled. He had absolute confidence in his intelligent system!
Only after seriously studying and building the Arc Reactor had he realized just how much of a genius he was!
Not long afterward, Wenwu left the equipment area and returned to his main hall, preparing to continue cultivating.
Over the next few days, Wenwu remained in secluded cultivation, paying no attention to outside affairs.
At this moment, an invisible pressure enveloped his main hall.
Wenwu sat cross-legged, pale golden "Chi" swirling around him, so dense it had nearly become tangible.
Over the past three months, he had continually cultivated using the synthesized origin substance, and his "Chi" had already reached its limit.
He had then turned to his tai chi cultivation method, comprehending the meaning of tai chi, thinking that perhaps he really could comprehend "spirit and intent" as people did in wuxia novels and transform his "Chi"!
Today, he had finally comprehended it!
At this moment, his mind was clearer than ever before.
Amid that ultimate perfection, the tai chi moves in his mind shattered, replaced by the realm of "spirit" that belonged to "wuji."
"Tai chi is born of wuji... presence is the form of the fist; absence is its spirit..."
A flash of inspiration cleaved through the chaos, and Wenwu finally understood.
He understood the tai chi realm of "using intent rather than force."
His breathing gradually fell into step with the rhythm of the world around him. His mind sank completely into stillness, reaching the true meaning of tai chi: "relax the body, empty the mind, let Chi flow smoothly, and comprehend the natural world." He entered a state of unity between heaven and man.
At this moment, he could sense the "Chi" of the natural world and perceive the pulse of life throughout heaven and earth!
Break!
Wenwu gave a soft, soundless shout in his mind.
Crack!
It was as though some shackle binding his soul had shattered.
After stagnating for several seconds, Wenwu's aura surged at a terrifying speed, smashing straight through the barrier of his limits and entering a profound and mysterious new realm!
The "Chi" within him rapidly transformed and sublimated!
At the same time, his mind was also sublimating. His soul seemed to have left his body, allowing him to clearly perceive every movement within dozens of yards.
At that very instant, a vast, unparalleled tai chi field erupted with his body at its center!
Boom!
A gale sprang up out of nowhere inside the meditation chamber.
Wenwu hovered in midair. Guided by the Dao of tai chi, the ten rings on his arms flew out and danced around him, undergoing an earth-shattering qualitative transformation.
The ten rings, which had previously emitted only blue-gold energy, now turned a brilliant, dazzling pure gold!
Like ten suns, the ten rings slowly revolved around him, each radiating a suffocating pressure of energy.
After an unknown amount of time, the extraordinary phenomena around Wenwu subsided, and he slowly opened his eyes.
He gently raised his right hand, and one of the golden rings obediently circled his fingertips like a well-behaved pet.
He could clearly feel that, under the guidance of the Dao of tai chi, his resonance with the ten rings had deepened considerably. Their explosive energy output was now twice as strong as before!
It was no longer merely violent destruction, either, but a harmonious power that responded like an extension of his own body, continuous and endlessly renewing.
"Through nonaction, nothing is left undone... yin and yang support each other; hold to the center and preserve stillness..."
Feeling the surging yet restrained power within him, Wenwu's lips curved into a satisfied smile.
Does this count as entering the Dao through martial arts?
Wenwu wondered to himself.
He had merely cultivated using the realms from the wuxia novels of his previous life as a reference. He had never expected to actually break through his limits!
Of course, this was also because his predecessor, Xu Wenwu, had laid a powerful foundation over a thousand years. That was why he had broken through his limits so easily!
Now his "Chi" had transformed and sublimated, greatly increasing in quality. His mind had also transformed, and his mental power could manifest in reality, covering a radius of a hundred meters!
At the same time, his perception could detect the Chi of life in the world, making him exceptionally sensitive to life!
Even without using his mental power, he could sense the life auras of the soldiers outside the main hall!
"I should give this 'Chi' of mine a name!"
"True Chi? True essence? The Force... magical power?"
Wenwu thought it over but could not come up with a name that sounded good. In the end, since this "Chi" existed within all living things and had now transformed to possess tremendous spirituality, he decided he might as well call it "spiritual power"!
Afterward, Wenwu had someone bring him a container of origin substance. He drank it down in large gulps and began refining it.
His spiritual power rapidly absorbed it and grew!
Finally, his spiritual power reached saturation, surging through his dantian and meridians like mighty rivers.
With every surge, his physique, meridians, and internal organs were tempered and strengthened!
"What realm does this make me? Should I just classify it according to wuxia novels?"
That was what Wenwu thought. His current realm was very similar to the Innate Grandmasters in wuxia novels, so he would call it "Innate Grandmaster"!
Another day passed, and Wenwu's spiritual power fully stabilized.
Although his physique had not sublimated alongside his spiritual power, nourished by it, his body had improved far faster over these past two days than before!
"I wonder how Dr. Sterns's enhancement serum is coming along?"
Wenwu muttered to himself. Dr. Sterns had drawn inspiration from Dr. Connors's chimeric genes. With his abilities, he should be close to finishing it!
Although he now had the Advanced Human Enhancement Technique as well as sublimated spiritual power, even if he used Dr. Burstein's Human Enhancement Technique, his ultimate combat strength would only be middling. He would not even match Spider-Man, much less those "cheaters" like Thor, Hulk, and Magneto!
That was why he really wanted a perfect physique now.
He was not asking for invincible strength at this point. Something like Spider-Man's would suffice.
If he could gain Spider-Sense, then combined with the ten rings he now controlled perfectly, his combat strength would surely rise to an entirely different level, placing him among Earth's top fighters!
Just as Wenwu was about to go find Dr. Sterns, a subordinate came to report that Dr. Sterns wanted to see him!
Something stirred in Wenwu's mind, and he immediately strode off to see him.