Over the course of the year, through personal cultivation alone, You Chen's spirit power advanced significantly, rising from level 54 to level 57. His physical body also underwent a transformative leap, thanks to the Divine Elephant's Prison-Suppressing Strength technique.
Though the system-provided version of the technique was incomplete, limited to enhancing physical strength without any accompanying supernatural abilities or techniques, its foundational impact was still astonishing. Even though it couldn't manifest the strength of an actual divine elephant—perhaps not even one-billionth of it—this rudimentary form was enough to elevate You Chen's physical cultivation to the level of a Titled Douluo.
Despite not fully mastering even the beginner stage of the technique after a year, You Chen had managed to nurture the "divine elephant" manifestation in just under one-third of the 8.4 billion particles of his body. This development alone raised his physical strength to the Spirit Sage level when in his primary identity. His body, now toughened to the point of developing a keratin-like layer on his skin, displayed a substantial boost in defensive capabilities. In terms of defense alone, his physical resilience was now on par with his previously strongest attributes: reaction speed and agility.
However, to maintain balance among the three foundational aspects of cultivation—spirit power, physical strength, and mental fortitude—he decided to halt further physical development until his spirit power advanced to the next tier. With his primary identity's body at the Spirit Sage level and his alternate identity's body at the Spirit Emperor level, he deemed his current strength more than sufficient. If Tang San knew the "opponent" he'd face in a couple of years was a physical monster like this, he'd likely succumb to despair right away.
Among the techniques You Chen had gained from the system, Soul-Deterring Art and Aura-Concealing Art were next on his priority list. You Chen's innate talent in spiritual cultivation was extraordinary. Even while devoting only part of his attention, he managed to advance Soul-Deterring Art from the minor achievement stage to the major achievement stage within a year. At the minor achievement stage, the art functioned like a 2,000-year spirit ability, though in You Chen's hands, it was closer to a 3,000-year ability. However, at the major achievement stage, its effectiveness soared, reaching the level of a 10,000-year spirit ability.
If further enhanced through his Super Focused state, its power could double, making it a formidable spiritual technique that would remain relevant even for Titled Douluo. That said, while achieving the major achievement stage within a year was quick, the time required to reach perfection was unpredictable. Previously, his spiritual strength suggested it might take a decade to reach the technique's final stage. But now, given his recent progress, that estimate had shrunk to roughly five years. The improvement was due to his resumption of cultivating the Multi-Focused Soul Refinement Art, which had elevated his mental strength to the Five-Heart Stage. His spiritual energy had effectively doubled, nearing the peak of the Spirit Abyss Stage.
Meanwhile, his progress with Aura-Concealing Art was equally smooth, bolstered by his refined spirit power control, which had reached the major achievement stage. At the minor achievement stage, the art allowed him to perfectly conceal his spirit power under normal conditions. The major achievement stage, which he had experienced during Super Focused, enabled him to fully conceal his spirit rings while in a Martial Soul Possession state. This explained why, as "You Xing," no one had ever witnessed his spirit rings while he fought in his possessed state.
Now, with the major achievement stage firmly mastered, You Chen could simulate the effects of the perfection stage in Super Focused mode. At the perfection stage, Aura-Concealing Art went beyond mere concealment, allowing him to use spirit abilities without revealing his spirit rings. He also discovered a hidden feature of the technique: the ability to simulate and alter the color of his spirit rings. The principle behind this was similar to suppressing spirit power levels, though instead of suppression, it involved skillfully redirecting the energy of the spirit rings to create a color alteration effect.
Another noteworthy system technique was the Cloud Movement Fist. The art involved using energy to manipulate water and condense it into cloud formations. In this context, "energy" also represented wind as an elemental aspect. During his practice, You Chen naturally derived a more suitable variation tailored to his abilities: Wind Movement Fist. When used together, the two techniques combined to create a more advanced style: Wind and Cloud Movement.
Over the year, You Chen evaluated the system-provided techniques and categorized them by value: Ordinary: Techniques with minimal practical use, ranging from trash to mildly insightful. For instance, Five Qi Killing Art was relegated to this tier. Useful: Techniques with practical applications after some training and accumulation, such as Cloud Movement Fist and Grass Flight. Strong: Techniques that could serve as core abilities, akin to essential "endgame gear" in online games. Soul-Deterring Art fell into this category. Godly: Techniques that broke through conventional limits or provided unrivaled advantages, akin to game-breaking artifacts. Aura-Concealing Art and Divine Elephant's Prison-Suppressing Strength belonged to this tier.
Wind Movement Fist barely reached the Strong tier, while Wind and Cloud Movement, despite its energy cost and imperfect compatibility with his attributes, qualified as a high-tier skill worth further development. With his deepening understanding of Martial Soul's core energy, You Chen saw potential for future refinements. Techniques like Wind Blade Wings and Hurricane Stream might soon be retired from his arsenal.
As for where You Chen spent most of his time? First, a significant portion was devoted to research on spirit ring absorption and methods for increasing their lifespan. The materials he had requested from Wan Shou had long since arrived. With a year to analyze and verify them, You Chen made substantial progress. Determining the optimal lifespan for a spirit ring was akin to deriving a complex formula. It required considering four primary variables: spiritual strength, physical constitution, spirit power level, and lifespan range. While the first two variables were fixed, and the fourth could be deduced from existing data, the third variable required more experimental validation.
For his own application, You Chen sought even greater precision. Implementing the results would eventually require practical testing on himself. The second focus of his research was the methods for increasing a spirit ring's lifespan. With his theoretical foundation and rich practical knowledge, he was confident this line of study would soon yield fruitful results.
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