Chapter 376 – Divine Weapon, Astral Fire, One Look from Him and I’m Dead

“What on earth is this?”

Lu Yuan, covering his nose, asked Old Liu what was in the bowl, his face full of suspicion, wondering if Old Liu was plotting to poison him in order to claim his title as the world’s number one.

Liu Daoyuan rolled his eyes and said, “Drink it or leave it,” not bothering to spare him another glance.

Liu Si, carrying the bowl of medicinal soup, whispered to Lu Yuan that it was a special concoction Liu Daoyuan had prepared for him, meant to enrich his blood and replenish his body’s vital energy.

The ingredients in this prescription were highly valuable, with some being impossible to buy even with money. Old Liu had gone out himself to “ask” and “borrow” them from others.

“Alright,” Lu Yuan said, reluctantly taking a sip.

As he felt the medicinal energy transform into nearly imperceptible warm currents within his body, merging with the blood pill in his chest, he couldn’t help but marvel at Old Liu’s effort. The effect was like giving a cold remedy to a cancer patient.

But since it was Old Liu’s heartfelt gesture, he gulped down the entire bowl of medicinal soup in one go, then closed his eyes and leaned back on the chaise lounge, performing internal visualization.

[Name: Lu Yuan]

[Age: 17]

[Strength Points: 35 (Limit Break 2)]

[Agility Points: 35 (Limit Break 2)]

[Constitution Points: 35 (Limit Break 2)]

[Intelligence Points: 37 (Limit Break 2)]

In his battle with Roya, he had consumed 3 attribute points to temporarily increase his intelligence, now reaching 37.

According to the strength-to-mental power conversion, his current strength was roughly at the sixth-stage, middle-stage in his normal state.

As Yuwen Tong had mentioned, unlocking the “gathering of three flowers at the apex” secret technique in his divine form had forcibly elevated his life energy to an uncontrollable level, consuming a significant portion of his life essence, or longevity.

Although there was no change in the attribute panel’s numbers, Lu Yuan’s body truly bore a significant void.

For instance, his hair had turned white, and the blood pill in his chest had shrunk to half of its original size.

This was even after using the highly pure “longevity resources” provided by Yuwen Tong and the continuous supplementation of the Phoenix essence within the blood pill.

“Maybe things aren’t as bad as I initially thought…”

Lu Yuan recalled that when he first realized he was on the verge of disintegration, he didn’t have a strong will to survive.

It might have been because there was still an undigested essence of the Phoenix’s life force within his body.

He thought that if that “crash” state had continued, he might not necessarily have died. The Phoenix’s life essence within him might have served as a hidden second health bar, granting him a second chance at life, much like a Phoenix undergoing nirvana, rising anew from the ashes.

“Is it like a revival coin1?”

Lu Yuan looked at the seal with the eye pattern left in his mind by Yuwen Tong, thinking that if necessary, he could still activate [the gathering of three flowers at the apex] once more.

However, this opportunity would probably only come once.

“The main problem is my four basic attributes are still too low. I can’t withstand the extreme depth of life potential excavation brought by both the [deity] state and [the gathering of three flowers at the apex], otherwise I wouldn’t lose control over my body…”

So, the key to solving the problem was attribute points.

Lu Yuan checked his current attribute points and skill points, with 2 points remaining for each.

This was due to the series of battles and his [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] profession leveling up to lv11.

“A drop in the bucket. If only I could go to Embers Mountain again…”

Lu Yuan sighed inwardly.

Unfortunately, at this stage, he was still in a “pseudo-death dormancy” state and couldn’t return to Embers Mountain.

Lu Yuan pondered for a moment and decided that he could only try to earn attribute points from a few sub-profession panels.

For instance, his [Spear Bearer (Extraordinary)] profession had been neglected and could improve by paying a visit to the Mosa Sect.

The [Scholar of the Mysterious Department (Extraordinary)] profession could also use some focus-doing more [chaos divination] should quickly level up his professional level.

And then there was [Master of Arms]…

“Being in dormancy isn’t so bad. I can take this time to thoroughly organize my various strength systems…”

Lu Yuan recalled seeking assistance from the crow deity Lamashtu after encountering the daughter of the nightmare and the dream about the Styx sweeping through the starry sky that she had shown him.

He hadn’t yet delved deeply into what it all meant.

“Could this be the key to dealing with the daughter of the nightmare?”

Lu Yuan pondered as he browsed through his various professional panels.

He decided to allocate his remaining two skill points to unlock the advanced skills from the [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] panel, leveling up both [Grandmaster’s Domain] and [Grandmaster’s Qi], which were already at lv5.

lv5 [Grandmaster’s Domain] – lv1 [Domain Divine Weapon]!

lv5 [Grandmaster’s Qi] – lv1 [Grandmaster’s Astral Fire]!

“Domain Divine Weapon! Grandmaster’s Astral Fire!”

Lu Yuan’s eyes lit up at the sight of these newly unlocked skills. Wasting no time, he activated [Grandmaster Meditation Battle] and entered his Consciousness Space.

The scene remained almost unchanged-a spacious martial practice field paved with blue stones. He casually chose an imaginary enemy.

It was Liu Daoyuan.

“Alright, Old Liu…”

Lu Yuan called out to Liu Daoyuan, who was standing some distance away, hands behind his back and gazing at him expressionlessly. “Let me show you the true prowess of a Grandmaster.”

He decided to test [Domain Divine Weapon] first.

Lu Yuan attempted to activate the skill.

From the core of his mental power, the size of a candied fruit, an immense amount of mental power gushed out.

In an instant, he felt countless golden light spots silently materializing around him.

These golden light spots quickly converged, forming a “golden light-emitting”… dagger!

The golden, shimmering dagger could only be perceived by mental power.

To the naked eye, it was just a faint, transparent twist.

“So that’s what [Domain Divine Weapon] means…”

Lu Yuan’s eyes filled with intense awe.

“A weapon forged by divine thought, hence named Domain Divine Weapon!”

Initially, [Grandmaster’s Domain] was primarily for defense and control. After advancing, it had now transformed into a powerful offensive method.

“A technique specifically targeting the opponent’s mental will!”

Lu Yuan wanted to test the sharpness of this [Domain Divine Weapon], and with a thought, the golden dagger formed by his mental power disappeared instantly.

Faster than light, faster than electricity.

The speed of thought.

“Bam!”

Almost at the same moment Lu Yuan’s thought moved, the head of the nearby imaginary enemy, Liu Daoyuan, exploded, spilling various electronic components, brain matter, and blood all over the ground.

“My bad, my bad…”

Lu Yuan felt a pang of guilt and quickly replaced the imaginary enemy.

He tested [Divine Weapon] from a second-stage enemy up through the ninth stage.

He found that with his current sixth-stage mental power strength, he could almost instantly kill an opponent of the same level with a single strike.

A seventh-stage opponent would only require two hits.

For those at the eighth stage, an unexpected hit would cause severe headaches, nausea, and convulsions.

Even against ninth-stage opponents, while the effect was reduced, it was still noticeable.

The key discovery was…

“This skill is only at lv1?!”

Lu Yuan was astonished, looking at the [Divine Weapon] swirling around him like streams of golden light, coming and going at his command, with eyes full of amazement.

“It’s just like the flying swords in novels!

No, it’s even more domineering than flying swords!”

In this kind of attack that directly targets mental power, any form of energy protective force field or even the body of a super divine level mecha was virtually useless.

There was simply no way to guard against it.

“A truly god-like skill that allows me to mow down enemies of the same rank and even challenge higher-ranked foes! I no longer need to punch anyone. One look is enough to take them down…”

Lu Yuan was thrilled.

It’s rare to uncover such a “super powerful trump card” within ordinary professional skills, and this was by far the most surprising one he’d found.

“However, if the opponent has an exceptionally strong mental will or possesses corresponding mental defenses, the effectiveness of [Divine Weapon] would be significantly reduced…”

Lu Yuan thought of the scenes where Yuwen Tong had taken action.

Whether it was the star diagram seal she left in his mind or her ability to instantly immobilize two ninth-stage powerhouses from the Distant Star Federation, it was likely all related to mental power.

“Yuwen Tong’s mental attacks likely originate from her star diagram…”

Lu Yuan pondered, “If I think about it this way, there are probably many people in the extraterrestrial universe who possess similar attack methods as well.

I might be able to run rampant on this planet, taking advantage of my [Divine Weapon]…”

With this thought, the excitement in Lu Yuan’s heart was amply diminished.

“After all, it’s just an ordinary professional skill, albeit a powerful one…”

Dismissing the [Divine Weapon], Lu Yuan proceeded to test the effect of [Astral Fire].

Upon skill activation, platinum Qi gushed out from countless pores and then converged into a blazing, intense white fire.

This flame flowed and danced in Lu Yuan’s palm without any heat.

But when Lu Yuan flicked a spark onto the ground…

“Boom!”

A large crater immediately appeared on the ground, its edges showing signs of being scorched by fire.

“Ultra-high concentration of Qi, with significantly enhanced lethality and destructive power…”

Lu Yuan concluded.

Testing further, he found that with the enhancement of [Astral Fire], he could barely tear apart the body of a sky level mecha with his bare hands.

“It’s much weaker than the power of the azure flame, but [Astral Fire] can strengthen as my constitution points increase, which bodes well for the future…”

Lu Yuan was quite satisfied with the advanced skills from both [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] professional panels.

This also heightened his anticipation for the advanced skills of [Grandmaster Dharma Form].

Once [Grandmaster Dharma Form] unlocked its advanced skills, the second core of his [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] professional panel should also emerge.

“I’ve already experienced the power of the Three Flowers.

The next stage…

What sort of profound and incredible power will the Five Energies bring?”

With thoughts racing through his mind, Lu Yuan exited his Consciousness Space.

Opening his eyes, he realized that Old Liu was no longer beside him. At some point, he had moved to the martial practice field and seemed to be guiding his recently accepted female disciple in crane style martial arts.

Seeing Lu Yuan stand up from the recliner, Old Liu’s instructive voice immediately stopped. He threw a brief “Keep practicing” to the two in front of him, then turned to call Lu Yuan-“Time to eat”-before walking towards the edge of the martial practice field.

“Coming, coming…”

Lu Yuan responded lazily.

During this period, Lu Yuan came to Linghexuan to “recuperate.” Although Old Liu complained every day, he was genuinely happy.

With Lu Yuan around, Old Liu always managed to eat two extra bowls at every meal.

Old Liu treated Lu Yuan like a precious grandchild who rarely came home.

Lu Yuan, moving slowly, followed Old Liu out of the martial practice field. Meanwhile, a pair of big curious eyes were fixed on his departing figure.

“Aunt Zhuang.”

The young girl who had just finished her special training couldn’t help but ask Zhuang Xiujie, who was standing beside her, while watching Lu Yuan’s back.

“Is he the Little Senior Brother you all keep talking about, the one from crane style?”

“Mm-hmm,” Zhuang Xiujie nodded.

The girl muttered, “So how strong is he, really? Everyone says he’s the greatest in the ancient martial arts world, but to me… this Little Senior Brother doesn’t seem that impressive.”

Zhuang Xiujie gave the girl a cold glance and said indifferently, “Don’t you have Brain Divinity? Make him your target and give it a try?”

“Fine, I’ll try…”

The girl muttered defiantly, then squinted her eyes, which began to sparkle with an unusual light.

Half a breath later.

The girl stumbled as if struck by lightning and fell heavily to the ground.

Her face turned pale, filled with shock and terror.

“How was it?”

Zhuang Xiujie asked coolly, looking at her.

The girl sat on the ground, staring blankly in the direction Lu Yuan had gone. Her lips kept trembling.

After a long while.

She managed to stutter out a sentence.

“Just… just one look from Little Senior Brother… and I died.”

Footnote:

1. Revival Coin(复活币): In many Chinese games, a ‘revival coin’ (复活币) is an item that allows a character to be revived or brought back to life after being defeated. It’s similar to a ‘continue’ or ‘extra life’ in Western games, giving the player another chance to keep playing without starting over.