After getting some form of assurance from Hai Yun, Zhao Wei felt that his plans were soon going to be easily accomplished.
It went smoother than he expected.
Zhao Wei had expected Hai Yun to act as a typical master and throw a fit about how greedy and delusional he was.
Before even meeting Hai Yun, Zhao Wei had already calculated the warnings that his master was going to spit.
Was the process of amassing knowledge of different fields considered a flaw in one's journey of cultivation?
Was the process of wanting to know whatever kind of knowledge one could get a sin?
Zhao Wei understood that a master of many is a master of none but he didn't care.
He had the opportunity.
He had the capacity and potential to integrate the already established paths of cultivation.
Alchemy? Array? Puppet Mechanisms? Talisman and Inscriptions? Blacksmithing?
Zhao Wei was determined to familiarize himself with the various Daos that he was going to come across.
After all, knowledge is power and Zhao Wei trusted his wisdom to bring that knowledge to impossible heights.
If Hai Yun had turned him down with nonsense, Zhao Wei would have used other channels and means to meet those old men.
Hai Yun was just a suitable convenience.
As Zhao Wei walked back to his courtyard, he suddenly felt his eyes sting. A pain that he could easily ignore assaulted his eyes.
"Hmm, could it be what I am thinking?" Zhao Wei thought aloud as he resisted the urge to gouge out his eyeballs and look at the crux of the matter.
"The signs have already begun to showcase themselves."
Zhao Wei increased his speed and before long, he arrived at his residence.
Standing at the center of his courtyard, Zhao Wei decided to hone his weapon arts.
Zhao Wei noticed that the pain inside his eyes was no longer of concern.
He couldn't predict when the change and evolution were going to happen but he had a feeling that it won't be long.
Closing his eyes, Zhao Wei entered a special state of serenity and extreme concentration.
The metal elements present in the atmosphere began to coalesce in his right hand as they gradually formed a weapon that looked like a Scythe.
The scythe was crudely formed and about 2 meters in height.
Scythe techniques were in the minority and it was very rare to find them in the library.
But that didn't deter Zhao Wei from drawing references from other weapon techniques to modify and upgrade the [Hell Shadow Death Scythe].
"The basics of all weapon arts are about using one's sense of balance." Zhao Wei mumbled to himself before he slowly began to swing the scythe.
His moves were first unmotivated, slow, and predictable.
From swinging, slicing, hooking, thrusting, blocking, and parrying, Zhao Wei demonstrated his strong foundation and as time went by, he began picking up pace.
Zhao Wei understood that the strength of a martial arts technique had nothing to do with its quantity of movements. His style was brief and didn't have high-sounding variations like most techniques.
Initially, he was slow but that changed immediately.
His wrist strength was inconceivable as he swiftly swung the scythe through utilizing its long curved blade that exuded terrifying sharpness.
Through the accelerated combination of his foundational moves, Zhao Wei became unpredictable like water, as fast as lightning, and destructive like an agitated apocalyptic beast.
Gales of furious winds came to be as a result of his intense, blurry hand movements.
At times, Zhao Wei would use the metal scythe like the nunchaku, furious and relentless, and sometimes like a spear, piercing and domineering.
Control and balance - with those two concepts taken into consideration and exercised to the zenith, Zhao Wei was like a fish in water.
He smiled happily. He enjoyed becoming one with the scythe and what he lacked was just an army of worthy enemies.
The scythe represented Death, once swung lives will be reaped. There were no compromises there.
During the intense training session, Zhao Wei may have been wielding the scythe but he was also using the forms of other weapons as they shared the same essence at their very core.
His perfectly sculpted muscles relaxed and contracted hypnotically whenever he made a move. Clouds of steam escaped his pores as he worked his physique to the maximum.
The scene was truly exquisitely beautiful.
It was only late in the evening that Zhao Wei broke free from his maniacal trance. And it was due to his stomach protesting for some justice.
Zhao Wei was as hungry as a ravenous wolf.
Despite being hungry, Zhao Wei chose to take a bath first before wolfing down massive amounts of delicious monster meat.
"I didn't realize that after training my cultivation base would increase to the Peak of the Consolidated Realm." Zhao Wei spoke unenthusiastically as he lay on an inclined bamboo chair outside.
"Some of the inner strength inside the Dantian has already begun being slowly converted to strands of True Force."
He was mildly surprised but didn't get excited about it.
It was already nighttime. The night wind was cold and freezing but it seemed to hit a wall whenever it tried to bite through Zhao Wei's skin.
The sky was moonless but it didn't lack infinite clusters of multicolored stars that twinkled excitedly.
Zhao Wei admired the beauty of the stars in silence. He was low-key the scion of the celestial bodies.
Every piece of information about the stars above the endless sky was perceived by his mind. It was natural and effortless.
"Lifespan. My current lifespan is like a star that's about to die, one moment shining brilliantly and the next moment - boom - a supernova." Zhao Wei chuckled as he lazily closed his eyes.
"After reading thousands of books and expanding my repertoire of knowledge, it is now that I have a better understanding of the Law of Equivalent Exchange."
[Stellar Nova: The One] was just like the stars he was referring to. It gave him nigh invincible powers but at a greater cost.
Up to this moment, Zhao Wei had yet to find a solid solution for his quagmire.
He had never stopped searching for answers, searching for possible solutions.
What he needed was something absolute - something that could counter the dreadful drawbacks of [Stellar Nova: The One].
Such a lifesaving trump card shouldn't be left unusable for long.
The more trump cards he had the better his chances of survival in almost any kind of situation.
"If only there was a Well of Mimir in this universe, I would have gladly sacrificed something to get the answers I want immediately." Zhao Wei sighed internally.
"The year is nearly reaching its end and soon, I will be fifteen…" The next words that escaped his mouth were almost incoherent as he slowly drifted off to sleep.
In his dream, Zhao Wei dreamt of eating the sun and eating the cheesy chunks of the moon.
What a weird dream!
***
//OnearmedImmortal//
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