NOVEL NEXT Chapter 272: Five Qi Chaoyuan, Five Elements True Qi!
Meng Chuan's thoughts shifted, and the wriggling of his body surface continued to shrink.
The bones and muscles made creaking sounds, and his entire figure slimmed down to a well-proportioned height of 1.89 meters.
Along with his aura retracting, the surging gray air currents around him also concealed themselves.
He exhaled softly, feeling the surging power within him perfectly suppressed.
Not overly ostentatious to draw attention, yet retaining the potential to explode at any moment.
Meng Chuan lowered his head to inspect himself, nodding with satisfaction.
This state is just right, allowing him to blend into daily life yet unleash all his combat power in an instant.
"This is not bad... although it's not as satisfying as knotted muscles, true power shouldn't just be on the surface."
The more skilled a martial artist is, the more casual they appear when not making a move.
Just like Principal Yang, who, when confronting the Celestial Demon, appeared like a divine general from the Celestial Court, completely different from his usual self.
This is the true essence of "a heavy sword without edge, great craft without work," and Meng Chuan still has a considerable way to go before reaching that realm.
Coming back to his senses, Meng Chuan suppressed the urge to go out and let off some steam.
His body was still undergoing a secondary development, needing some proper rest and recovery.
Now having some free time, he glanced at the panel to check the newly acquired core trait, "Five Qi Chaoyuan."
[Five Qi Chaoyuan (First Tier Core)]
"The spiritual breath returns to one place, and the mystical realm blooms with immortal light."
Effect 1: Foundation of the five organs, slightly increasing the conversion efficiency of the five elemental essences (Heart Fire, Liver Wood, Spleen Earth, Lung Metal, Kidney Water);
Effect 2: With the mutual generation of the five elements, any Five Elements Fist or fundamental technique in your body won't conflict (for low-level True Skills and below);
Effect 3: With the mutual restraint of the five elements, slightly enhance the power of Five Elements Fist in a natural environment;
Effect 4: With the rotation of the five elements, form an internal cycle of the five elemental essences, slightly increasing the recovery speed of consumed five elements True Qi during combat;
Effect 5: Wisdom of Chaoyuan, slightly increase the comprehension of general fist skills and some Five Elements Fist skills;
Effect 6: Beginning of Chaoyuan, Xingyi Five Elements traits belong under the banner of Five Qi Chaoyuan, potentially increasing the proficiency of the Five Elements Qiankun Technique.
After seriously studying it, Meng Chuan came to a realization.
"No wonder Five Qi Chaoyuan has no specific level distinction. This 'First Tier Core' can be upgraded through Effect 6, to the Second Tier, or even Third or Fourth Tier and so on. I just don't know its upper limit yet."
The remaining five major effects all provide "slight" or "some" improvements or are applicable only to low-level True Skills and below.
This is the function of the first tier, though its effects are already quite powerful.
But if Five Qi Chaoyuan were to rise to the second tier, all its effects would further improve or even evolve.
Meng Chuan's gaze lingered on Effect 6, and in a mystic sense, he understood.
All the cultivation techniques he had learned would become traits upon breaking limits, appearing in his collection bar.
No matter how hard Meng Chuan worked, there would be no improvement in proficiency.
But the Five Elements Qiankun Technique broke this limitation.
Meng Chuan looked intently, and the "core technique" category flashed with an unusual light.
[Five Elements Qiankun Technique: Once Limit Breaking (1%) pending Second Limit Breaking]
[Second Limit Breaking Core Trait: Five Qi Chaoyuan (Second Tier Core)]
He realized that if this technique wanted a second limit breaking, its procedure would be entirely different from general martial arts.
Looking towards the trait bar, with a flicker of his mind, "Heavy Strike (Basic)" flew into "Five Qi Chaoyuan."
Simultaneously, above the small characters of Five Qi Chaoyuan's effects, a five-color disc emerged.
The disc extended and partitioned from its center point, and "Heavy Strike" was embedded in the red part with a surge of thoughts.
The disc moved slowly, with the red area faintly glowing.
Meng Chuan sensed that as "Heavy Strike" merged into Five Qi Chaoyuan, the proficiency of the Five Elements Qiankun Technique gradually increased until it reached (10%) before halting.
Meanwhile, he felt it, flexing his arm slightly.
[Heavy Strike] hadn't been fused or disappeared; its effects were still present in him, just in a different place.
Next, Meng Chuan realized he needed to continue investing other five elements traits to fill the disc to advance this core trait.
"Low-level five elements traits should all increase proficiency by 10%."
He decided to test it, and Meng Chuan continued to fill the Five Elements Disc with the low-level traits of Wood's Bone Penetration, Water's Moisture Breath, Earth's Combined Strength, Metal's Sharpness, and Sharp Stone Grinding.
In an instant, along with the rapid improvement of [Five Elements Qiankun Technique] proficiency,
Meng Chuan sat cross-legged on the spot, silently digesting the soaring martial theories in his mind.
Because his cultivation realm had already surpassed the martial artist level.
He pondered quietly while contemplating its differences as a core technique from [Tao Heart Demon Seed: Fundamental Chapter].
"The biggest difference lies in [Five Elements Qiankun Technique] not having corresponding cultivation level advancement channels, nor the heart method for practicing Qi Blood."
Feeling the proficiency increase bit by bit, Meng Chuan fully understood.
If others might have a chance to learn the Tao Heart Demon Seed technique, then the panel-modified Five Elements Qiankun Technique is a [exclusive True Skill] that only he can study, comprehend, and continue to advance.
Recalling how he daydreamed about relying on the limit breaking of this technique to gain the Great Chu Golden Tiger Medal.
Now it seemed out of the question...
First, setting aside whether practicing this technique required the [Five Qi Chaoyuan] trait as a prerequisite.
Its subsequent progress allowed only himself to "luxuriously" fill it with numerous five elements traits to advance...
Unknowingly, more than half an hour passed.
Meng Chuan looked at the panel:
[Five Elements Qiankun Technique: One Limit Breaking (1%) → (60%)]
Indeed, as he guessed, a total of six low-level traits increased his proficiency by 60%.
Intermediate and even high-level traits would certainly have a better effect, but he had no other [Five Elements Traits].
Meng Chuan tried dragging his super trait, "One Proof forever Program" over...
The disc flickered briefly, and a line of tiny text appeared in Meng Chuan's mind.
[Please select a Five Elements trait.]
Unrelenting, he moved traits like "Nirvana Rainbow Transformation" and "Chaotic Heaven" around too.
Just like with "One Proof forever Program," each time there was a small text prompting him.
"Hmm... I understand now."
The panel defines the range for the Five Elements traits from either the Five Elements Fist Skill or subsequent cultivation in Five Elements True Skill, acquired through Limit Breaking.
With this realization, Meng Chuan quickly planned his cultivation path ahead.
Going forward, while maintaining Qi Blood cultivation, he can first learn third-rate low-level fist skills to grind up the level of the Five Elements Qiankun Technique.
He already sensed the uniqueness of this technique, though it cannot like "Tao Heart Demon Seed" diversify the six major acupuncture points to cultivate Qi Blood.
Its listing as a core technique has fundamentally changed it.
It's more like [Five Qi Chaoyuan], with this core trait's enhancement methods being concretized.
But one cannot say the technique itself is entirely useless; as proficiency progresses, the Five Elements Qiankun Technique greatly enhances one's combat ability.
Meng Chuan's heart spirit stirred slightly, as rainbow-like Five Elements True Qi emerged from his palm like blazing flames.
It sizzled as it covered the entire forearm and spread toward the upper arm somewhat.
As proficiency increased, the spring in his body spawned a large amount of Five Elements True Qi.
In terms of the quantity and quality of True Qi, Five Elements True Qi completely crushed [First Layer: 1%] of Tao Heart Demon Seed True Qi.
As the heart spirit retreated, Five Elements True Qi receded like a tide.
Then emerged a layer of profound black light floating in the palm.
When the two intersected, Tao Heart Demon Seed was completely overwhelmed.
"But in the future, this might not be the case. If I grind through all second and third-rate Five Elements fist skills,
as the number of Limit Breaks increases, the difficulty will certainly rise accordingly, then Tao Heart Demon Seed may have a chance to catch up."
Even after breaking through as a Martial Arts Family member, first-rate fist skills are not so easy to learn.
Meng Chuan estimated based on himself that he still had to measure by years.
By then, when even first-rate Five Elements fist skills are mastered, he will only have two paths left: self-creation or mastering True Skill Five Elements Fist.
Both paths are difficult to tread, far beyond the capability of a one-limit Martial Arts Family member to solve.
But Meng Chuan remained unfazed, not only was his martial reasoning constantly improving, but also among subsequent Limit Breaking fist skills, there are traits that enhance related comprehension.
Moreover, the comprehension boost from [Wisdom of Chaoyuan] will also increase as the Five Qi Chaoyuan trait advances.
By then, grinding those first-rate fist skills or True Skills wouldn't be like mastering second or third-rate fist skills blindly, would it?
Meng Chuan is inherently very optimistic.
After researching new traits and techniques, he looked towards his [Horizontal Training Skill] section, deep in thought.
"Not mentioning fist skill traits, other than the Five Elements core, is there a [Miscellaneous core]?
In my Hard Skills traits, there must be a core trait similar to it."
Gold, wood, water, fire, earth, the Five Elements...
Skin, flesh, tendons, bones, internal organs...
Meng Chuan had a feeling, within the Horizontal Training skill, there must be a [core technique] like the Five Elements Qiankun Technique.
Breaking limits afterward can acquire [core traits] of grand categories, commanding subordinate small category traits.
"Core... The core technique of Hard Skills, isn't it the [True Hard Skills] within the training techniques?"
Now he understood completely, Meng Chuan already had a thought to find the overall body technique covering the body within True Hard Skills.
Most obvious are Qi Nourishing Armor and Cyan Netherworld Lock Dragon, these two Daoist hard skills.
Both hard skills have the same foundation, equally belonging to Wudang, differing from Shaolin and other hard skills, containing the Daoist thought of "self-cultivation and nurture."
The former tempers flesh, the latter trains bones.
Meng Chuan speculates, above them, there must be True Hard Skills encompassing both, commanding flesh and bones.
"Looks like I'll have to visit Wudang sometime in the future..."
His master had long told him, the path of a Martial Arts Family largely aligns with Martial Artists, divided into two major directions: internal and external.
Internally practice core techniques and True Qi skills, externally practice fist skills and hard skills.
Hard skills, due to martial arts with special Qi Blood characteristics and their inherent difficulty, are rarely practiced by expert Martial Arts Family members.
But this doesn't mean it's useless, True Hard Skills post-Martial Arts Family, Teacher Dong Yue had long demonstrated to him.
Using the physical body to confront True Martial, when the fist's edge reaches, everything falls silent, even able to counter-shock the opponent's True Qi.
Once fully mastered, forge the [Indestructible Body], becoming the peak combat force of internal and external mastery.
Even without considering Limit Breaking to acquire traits, Meng Chuan will continue to persist in cultivation.
...
Early the next morning.
Considering the body still needs rest and cannot train, Meng Chuan took the time to visit the Martial Arts Association.
To change his Martial Artist identity, and register a title incidentally.