Chapter 158: Instant Shadow Step

As Yan Buji's Martial Dao deepened, the Heavenly Heart Four Symbols Secret and acquired Gang Qi also began to be learned.

Although not yet at great accomplishment, Dao martial technique also needs to be honed in actual combat; this cannot be rushed.

Most importantly, it's still that Instant Shadow Step; currently Yan Buji still needs to consolidate his Martial Dao realm, and it's not suitable to study the Blazing Fire Anger Technique.

Instant Shadow Step, however, can directly give him improvement; the priority is clear at a glance.

"Ten li in an instant, a thousand strikes in an instant? This Instant Shadow Step is said to be a footwork, yet it also has lethal capability; judging by its description, a thousand strikes in an instant should not be something I can cultivate at this stage."

Yan Buji thought for a moment; the Instant Shadow Step's speed can increase a martial artist's speed by several to dozens of times in a short period, depending entirely on whether one's body and True Essence can withstand it.

Therefore, to reach the level of ten li in an instant, looking at it now, even if Yan Buji exerts his full strength, at most he can only manage half of that, five li.

But don't underestimate those five li; Yan Buji has an imitation of the Jade Bone of the Bright Body, plus acquired Gang Qi protecting his body, and the Blood Heaven Ascension Degree's support of qi and blood nourishes his fleshly strength, making him also capable of resisting and striking.

Just this, he hasn't even reached the most basic ten li in an instant of the Instant Shadow Step yet.

So it's not that Yan Buji is weak; on the contrary, this Instant Shadow Step is somewhat beyond his current realm's strength.

But the problem still exists; after all, he finds this Dao martial technique hard to understand, so one can imagine how high its training difficulty is.

"What does it mean for True Essence to be like gas, drifting unpredictably; power penetrating all directions, leaving no trace?"

Could it be that one must transform True Essence into a form similar to internal qi in order to cultivate it?

Yan Buji studied it carefully for a few days and found that it might indeed be just as he thought.

The key is that this text also doesn't mention how to turn True Essence into True Qi; could it be done by stimulating with internal qi?

That would probably be courting death.

Yan Buji rubbed his head and suddenly thought of the Golden Foil Pattern.

"Eh, no, is the Golden Foil Pattern useful for Dao martial technique? It should be! The Golden Foil Pattern requires magical power to activate and rapidly consumes spiritual sense, but with my current spiritual sense strength I should be able to sustain it for a while. The key is that it enhances intelligence; even if it only works on spells..... it might also work on Dao martial technique."

After all, in Yan Buji's view, aren't spells and Dao martial technique essentially the manifestation of the skills and power used by cultivators?

Essentially, there is no difference between the two; they are likely interchangeable.

Yan Buji gave it a try; the instant he activated the Golden Foil Pattern, he immediately felt his mind sharpen, and then he hurriedly began studying the Instant Shadow Step.

Indeed, after thinking through the Instant Shadow Step's cultivation method, Yan Buji immediately realized its fundamental requirement: it is True Essence similar to a gas!

His True Essence consists of red, black, and white speckled droplets that faintly reveal a Buddhist nature; this is because his Blood Heaven Ascension Degree possesses multiple attributes.

Previously his cultivation was meager, his True Essence was like gas, but now it's different; one can already see the droplet shape with the naked eye.

But now he must transform each of those True Essence droplets into True Qi, changing only the form without losing power; without the Golden Foil Pattern, he would probably need to comprehend it for a period of time.

"This Golden Foil Pattern is truly heaven-defying!" Yan Buji exclaimed.

After some thought, Yan Buji suddenly realized that back then, Yang Qing and Yang Lan of Zhi Sheng Dian had sent people to investigate the Blood Flow Sect Patriarch's seclusion site; perhaps they also knew of the Golden Foil Pattern's existence?

Perhaps they came to know later; even if they had previously taken the Blood Flow Sect Patriarch's relic, they still realized there was the existence of the Golden Foil Pattern.....

"Then that means these two people must still have another pattern on their bodies?!" Yan Buji's pupils contracted.

Otherwise, how would they know about the Golden Foil Pattern? It's impossible that there are other treasures in that secret chamber, right?

Even if there were, since they had gone there beforehand and didn't take it, it shows they previously had no knowledge of this thing at all.

But later they might have obtained another pattern; according to their relationship with the Blood Flow Sect Sect Master, they learned of this, speculated that the Blood Flow Sect Patriarch might also hold a pattern, and thus followed the Blood Flow Sect people to search for the secret chamber at that time!

"No wonder they, after obtaining the relic, still sent people to return once; if not for receiving news that the Kan Dao Martial World planned to besiege Zhi Sheng Dian, they should have come themselves." Yan Buji's face turned grim.

Good, good, good; at the time I didn't think of it because Ye Zhilong gave me too much pressure, plus being injured and plotting to seize the Supreme Sage Primordial Origin Classic really left no room to consider this, a single oversight amidst many precautions!

"Now that I've realized it, it's not too late; after I settle matters here, I'll return to Kan Dao once to find out where those two went!" Yan Buji gave a cold laugh.

Although it's highly unlikely to find them, for the sake of this mysterious pattern, making the trip is worthwhile.

Also not in a hurry, Yan Buji cast aside distractions and began to focus on cultivating the Instant Shadow Step.

After placing True Essence into the Crimson Palace, aided by the functions of the five viscera and six bowels, passing yang to yin.....

Yan Buji calmed down, gradually crushing True Essence into True Qi.

True Qi resides in the Crimson Palace; through the Crimson Palace it is sent to all parts of the body.

In an instant, Yan Buji rose, opened his eyes, and turned sharply!

Whoosh!

One saw Yan Buji vanish like a ghost, only to return to his original spot after one second!

"So fast! In that instant I circled the room ten full times!" Yan Buji was overjoyed.

It seems the Instant Shadow Step has also been entered.

The concept of Instant Shadow Step is not hard to grasp; originally it relies on releasing True Qi in advance, completing the replacement in an instant through the connection between oneself and the dissipated True Qi.

Although this replacement process involves great profundity and cannot be explained in a sentence or two, simply put, it is Yan Buji leaving a True Qi imprint at various points ahead, then relying on the connection of that imprint to forcibly shift himself over!

The lingering True Qi imprint does not disappear quickly; instead it carries an extremely strong pulling force, moving Yan Buji's body past via exquisite footwork, so as long as Yan Buji releases the imprint fast enough, theoretically.....

Could one possibly achieve such terrifying speed of instantaneous teleportation?

"A thousand strikes in an instant should also work on this principle: by leaving up to a thousand True Qi imprints on an enemy in an instant and then launching an attack, one can indeed achieve tremendous destructive power."

But the enemy shouldn't be completely unaware after being left with one's imprint; you can't demand that their reaction also be slow, right?

The key is, if the opponent has any means to transfer or erase imprints, then this instant thousand strikes actually has little substance.

Because no matter what, Yan Buji also needs to leave the imprint before he can activate it, rather than just thinking to activate it; in battles between cultivators, the chance of the opponent engaging in close combat with you is extremely slim, unless they are at the Lianqi Phase and lack magical power, forcing them to fight hand-to-hand.

Furthermore, as Yan Buji said, even if he could truly practice releasing the True Qi imprint hundreds or thousands of times in an instant, he would still need sufficient True Essence and a terribly strong body to withstand the pressure from such speed.

Thus, Instant Shadow Step is not truly unbeatable; it also has quite obvious weaknesses.

Yan Buji casually threw out a True Qi imprint and examined it carefully.

"It's quite easy to erase or cover; a surprise attack still works. For fleeing, as long as the opponent doesn't use formations, their strength isn't too much greater than mine, and combined with lightning flash, one can avoid being restricted." Yan Buji gave an objective evaluation.