When such thoughts flashed across Wang Chong's mind, he heard the impassive mechanical voice in his mind once more:
[Those who help themselves are helped by the heavens. Only those who control their own destiny are favored by destiny. In the normal world, you have already died and the Stone of Destiny had only managed to vie for a year of life for you. Only by gathering a sufficient amount of Destiny Energy can you extend your lifespan to stand against the bindings of the world and accomplish your mission!]
Along with the voice, lights and shadows flashed across Wang Chong's sight and he suddenly saw his own soul. It was a fragmented soul formed into an entire whole by thousands of fragments
There was a unique energy between these fragments that bound them together like threads. It appeared as though the fragments were healing under the effects of the unique energy…
"So that's the case…"
Looking at his soul, Wang Chong felt bitterness in his heart. He suddenly realized that he had truly died once, and these fragments of his soul served as the best evidence.
It was no wonder that the voice said that he only had a year to live.
[Warning: The first World Constraint will come within the first month. Remaining days: 9.]
[Warning: The World Constraint will damage your body and soul, as well as shave off your lifespan until your death. Every time you successfully ward off the World Constraint, your body would be strengthened! At the same time, your lifespan will be extended by a small sum.]
[Warning: The first World Constraint would require 20 Destiny Points to be ward off. You currently possess 50 Destiny Points!]
…
A series of warnings echoed in his brain. Along with the impassive mechanical voice, Wang Chong managed to get hold of more information.
Scanning through the information in his mind, Wang Chong fell into deep thought while sitting on his bed.
It seemed like reversing space-time wasn't as easy a task as he thought.
Even though the mysterious 'Stone of Destiny' possessed incredible space-time abilities, reversing space-time still expended a great amount of its strength.
Wang Chong had to rely on himself for the rest.
Changing the destiny of a world turned out to be much difficult that he had thought. To this world, he was a foreigner, an 'enemy' of the world.
Furthermore, other than facing the 'enemies' of destiny, he also had to deal with the enemy called 'world'. If he failed, he would be damned!
This was what the information had been trying to convey to him.
On this 'path', there was nowhere for him to retreat to!
——This was the price mentioned by the Stone of Destiny!
Fortunately, the Stone of Destiny had also pointed out a path for him. Every time he managed to overcome the World Constraint, or rather, the punishment of the world, his body would be strengthened.
Perhaps when he grew sufficiently strong, he would be able to neglect the World Constraint altogether.
——This was his only hope!
"Even though I have no idea in what form the World Constraint would come in, if I only require 20 Destiny Energy to ward it off, then I should possess a sufficient amount. Just that, I wonder if there's anything I can do with the remaining 30 Destiny Energy.
Weng! The moment he thought of this, the sight before him changed once again.
Within the endless darkness, the Stone of Destiny had disappeared without a trace. Instead, 5 bundles of light appeared before Wang Chong.
"Heart, Body, Breath, Art, and State!"
Looking at these five glowing bundles of light, Wang Chong immediately understood the meaning behind them.
'The Five Great Paths of Martial Arts: Heart, Body, Breath, Art, and State', these five light bundles represented the five important elements of martial arts.
'Heart' represented 'faith'.
'Body' represented one's 'body tempering technique'.
'Breath' represented the Origin Energy which was omnipresent.
'Art' represented the offensive 'movements' and 'techniques'.
'State' represented the 'luck', 'temperament', and 'overall state of the situation'!
…
In the path of martial arts, one needed an unmovable will, a powerful physical body, overwhelming Origin Energy, a profound cultivation technique, as well as luck from the heavens.
'Heroes find themselves aided by the heavens when the time comes, but constrained when the time goes.' This point couldn't appear any clearer to Wang Chong at this moment.
"So the Destiny Power is also related to the Five Great Paths of Martial Arts? That means these five light bundles represent five different rewards!"
Wang Chong suddenly came to a realization.
Of the five bundles, the three highest levels, 'Breath', 'Art', and 'State', were gray. Clearly, they were still in a sealed state.
Only the two light bundles representing 'Heart' and 'Body' were lit.
Currently, 'faith' was useless to Wang Chong; only body tempering techniques were of true importance to Wang Chong. Thus, Wang Chong directed a portion of his consciousness into the second bundle of light.
Weng!
In a moment, the light shone brilliantly. An entirely different picture appeared before Wang Chong:
[Destiny Exchange: Root Bone]
[Destiny Exchange: Blood Reformation! Alters a martial artist's talent (Sealed)]
…
"Blood Reformation? There's actually such a thing?"
Seeing the second option, Wang Chong was astounded. Even so, his right hand moved to press on the [Root Bone] option without any hesitation.
[Root Bone: Panther 1-dan]
[Destiny Energy: 25 Points]
…
"This is it!"
Looking at the option, Wang Chong burst into laughter.
Even though he chose to cultivate the 'Dragon Bone Art', it required one to reach the pinnacle of the art before one could display the full extent of its abilities and evolve one's bones to the same level of a dragon's.
Before he mastered the Dragon Bone Art, his Root Bone was still at a null state, not even comparable to the weakest Panther Bone.
However, if he were to able to reach the level of a Panther Bone through the assistance of the Stone of Destiny, even if it was just the most basic 1-dan, it would be extremely useful to him. More importantly, it would reduce the time required to master the Dragon Bone Art.
To the current him, this was, without a doubt, the most useful and helpful reward he could get.
Weng!
Wang Chong tapped on the option, choosing to proceed with the exchange. In a moment, a vibrant light started to spill outward from the bundle of light. Soon, a warm energy started flowing through Wang Chong as though a tide, cleansing his body layer by layer.
Wang Chong shut his eyes and allowed the warm energy permeate his flesh, blood, and bones. Kachacha, a series of cracking sounds emanated from the depths of his bones. It was as though Wang Chong's bones had been injected with steaming hot metallic fluid, heightening their strength. In a short period of time, his body swiftly grew stronger.
"Such an immense power. To think that it could alter a martial artist's bones within such a short period of time!"
Wang Chong stretched his arms. He felt as though his entire body wielded unlimited strength. He could sense that his strength had grown by a significant amount.
To think that Destiny Energy could allow him to bypass the long amount of training time required for one to achieve the 'Panther Bones' realm. This was inconceivable to Wang Chong!
The warm energy continued to flow into him, and when the final bit of energy disappeared into his body, Wang Chong realized that his cultivation realm had increased as well, reaching the halfway mark between Origin Energy Tier 4 and Tier 5.
In terms of his bone strength, he was in no way inferior to those Origin Energy Tier 9 or Panther Bones martial artists!
He hadn't broken through Origin Energy Tier 5 yet, but his strength wasn't something a normal Tier 5 martial artists could match up to.
"I still have 5 Destiny Energy points remaining, but I doubt that I would be able to exchange anything with it."
Wang Chong's mood was good after having his fighting prowess scaled up by an entire level. Since he wasn't able to do anything with the remaining Destiny Energy, he decided to just leave it be for the time being.
As for the other twenty Destiny Energy, he had to keep it to deal with the 'world's punishment', which he still didn't know what form it would come in.
"Un? Armor? Destiny Struggler!"
Right after he exchanged his points for the 'Panther Bones', a change suddenly occurred with the second light bundle. An ancient and elegant crimson-red chainmail appeared in Wang Chong's view.
The moment Wang Chong saw it, he intuitively knew its name, 'Destiny Struggler'!
This was the name of the armor.
"80 Destiny Energy, this isn't something I can afford now!"
Seeing the amount of points required for him to exchange for the crimson-red armor, Wang Chong could only shake his head in disappointment. He only had 5 Destiny Energy remaining; he was still a far way off from meeting the amount required to purchase this 'Destiny Struggler'.
Retracting his consciousness from the 'body tempering technique' rewards, Wang Chong turned his attention to the first light bundle beside the Destiny Stone, floating in the endless darkness.
'Heart' represented 'faith', and as the saying does, 'a plan to attack minds is far superior to a plan to attack a fortress'. 'Heart' did not strengthen a person's physique or boost a martial artist's strength. Even so, it still formed one of the bases of the Five Great Paths of Martial Arts.
Within the Five Great Paths, Heart, Body, Breath, Art, and State, the state of Heart was the most unique. It was in a half-sealed state.
Wang Chong diverted his consciousness into the half-sealed light bundle and saw some words he did not expect to see:
[Sense of Mission!]
These three words were gray and devoid of light. Other than these words, there was nothing else.
"I get it."
Seeing the three words, Wang Chong was silent for a moment before retreating from his consciousness.
When all of it was over, Wang Chong sat on the edge of his bed with both of his hands supporting his forehead. He was silently absorbing what had just happened.
The appearance of the Stone of Destiny was something he never expected. There were For example, where did the Destiny Stone come from? What was the purpose of its existence? How did helping him benefit it?
Furthermore, the impassive mechanical voice, as well as its method of appearance, seemed extremely bizarre to Wang Chong. It felt like it wasn't something that should have appeared in this world, but in another time-space continuum where 'artificial intelligence' existed.
Wang Chong could only guess that perhaps it was due to the fact that his soul came from an entirely different space-time, the Stone of Destiny decided to take on a form which was more familiar to him to interact with him.
But regardless of the reason, there were a few points which Wang Chong was sure of:
Firstly, all actions that go against the natural flow of destiny would be hindered and restrained by the world. Thus, this matter was extremely risky, as well as beneficial, to him.
For one, he had managed to achieve Panther Bones.
Secondly, if he wanted to avoid the world's rejection and constraint, he needed a large amount of Destiny Energy, and Destiny Energy could only be derived from changing destiny and saving the world.
However, even though the Destiny Stone hadn't said anything about the matter, Wang Chong could imagine that the greater the change he introduced to this world, the greater the world would reject him.
In other words, he needed to obtain more Destiny Energy to survive in this world.
"If one wanted the crown, one had to bear its weight! Regardless of whether I only have a single year left in this world or not, as long as I am able to fulfill my wish and change the destiny of this world, I don't care about the consequences!"
Wang Chong took in a deep breath, clenched his fist, and fell silent.