Chapter 235: The Path of Spell-Casting, A Brand New Soul Skill

"Such thick Primordial Qi; his strength has grown even greater!"

On the spectator stand of the martial arts arena where Li Fei and Cao Yiqing were dueling, a young man watched the two fighting below with a solemn expression.

The young man was named Meng Xinyuan, ranked second on the Martial Master combat power leaderboard.

He had always been suppressed by Cao Yiqing; he could only manage second place on the leaderboard during the Martial Artist stage, and it remained the same after reaching the Martial Master stage, so he had always viewed Cao Yiqing as his greatest rival.

When he heard that Cao Yiqing was going to spar with Li Fei, he immediately rushed over to watch.

The Primordial Qi that Meng Xinyuan cultivated was the Gui Water Primordial Qi, which was the thickest and most enduring, but seeing Cao Yiqing use his Primordial Qi to manifest over a hundred flaming flying needles, he suddenly felt that even in terms of thickness, Cao Yiqing was not much weaker than him!

He simply could not imagine how Cao Yiqing had cultivated it.

"Brother Meng, who do you think will win this match?"

A companion beside him suddenly asked.

Meng Xinyuan looked at the arena: "Cao Yiqing's flaming flying needles are incredibly overbearing; their power is no worse than bullets, and they carry the special effect of high-temperature damage. Furthermore, it is an area-of-effect attack. Even with his danger-sensing ability, Li Fei cannot dodge them completely, and relying solely on 'Tyrant Body' won't hold out for long. If it continues like this, I think Li Fei will definitely lose."

The terrifying combat power displayed by Cao Yiqing made him feel somewhat desperate; he did not believe that Li Fei, who had only just broken through to the Qi Transformation stage, could defeat Cao Yiqing.

At this moment, Li Fei had fallen completely into a passive state, having been hit by over twenty flaming flying needles in succession; his outer robe was completely burned away, leaving only the level-three protective suit underneath.

Even the level-three protective suit had multiple holes, revealing the charred skin beneath.

After Cao Yiqing unleashed another burst, he estimated that Li Fei should be nearing his limit.

The Bing Fire True Qi was masculine and overbearing; once it attached itself, it was very difficult to clear away. Having been hit by so many flaming flying needles, even with 'Tyrant Body' to absorb the damage, the meridians and implants within Li Fei's body should have suffered damage.

As the injuries accumulated, the supernatural abilities and Primordial Qi that Li Fei could channel would become increasingly weak.

And the condition Li Fei displayed was indeed exactly that.

After confirming his guess, Cao Yiqing attacked Li Fei at close range again. The iron rod in his hand collided with Li Fei's steel saber, easily breaking Li Fei's stance, and the other iron rod immediately jabbed toward Li Fei's chest.

Slap!

The iron rod struck Li Fei's chest heavily.

Just as Cao Yiqing thought the outcome was decided, not only was Li Fei not knocked down by this blow, but a massive counter-shock force erupted from his chest, knocking his iron rod away!

"What?"

Cao Yiqing was startled.

Because the iron rod was unexpectedly knocked away, his defenses were wide open, leaving him with a flaw.

Swish—

A flash of the blade passed; Cao Yiqing retreated rapidly, but a saber mark was still carved into his chest, and his level-three protective suit was slashed open!

He looked in surprise at Li Fei, who was pursuing him, unable to understand why the other party looked completely fine.

"The defensive power of 'Tyrant Body' is actually this strong?!"

Cao Yiqing's Primordial Qi was also limited. After the continuous burst just now, he could no longer unleash such power as before and could only engage Li Fei in close-quarters combat, occasionally firing a few flaming flying needles.

But such attacks posed no threat to Li Fei, who possessed danger-sensing ability. He even occasionally set 'traps' on purpose, tanking Cao Yiqing's attacks head-on, then using 'Tyrant Body' to reflect the iron rod back, thereby forcing Cao Yiqing to reveal a flaw, which he would then counterattack.

After several dozen moves, five more saber marks appeared on Cao Yiqing's body!

The Bing Fire True Qi was difficult to clear, and the Geng Metal True Qi was the same, so the wounds on Cao Yiqing's body bled incessantly.

"How could it be like this?"

Meng Xinyuan on the spectator stand showed a look of astonishment, "How could his defensive power be so strong?"

The defensive power Li Fei displayed completely overturned Meng Xinyuan's understanding.

He knew that the 【Steel Armor】 implant Li Fei used was of a very high grade, second-grade superior, but this defensive power was simply too unreasonable!

If even Cao Yiqing's explosive power and the extremely masculine Bing Fire True Qi couldn't break his defense, who else in the Martial Master stage could be Li Fei's opponent?

On the arena, the number of saber wounds on Cao Yiqing's body increased, and he ultimately chose to concede voluntarily.

There was no need to end up severely injured for the sake of a spar, delaying his subsequent cultivation.

Cultivation was a long-term matter; being inferior for a moment did not mean being inferior for a lifetime.

Therefore, Cao Yiqing very magnanimously cupped his hands to Li Fei:

"Junior Brother Li is truly formidable; Cao admits defeat."

Li Fei also cupped his hands to the other party in return:

"You flatter me."

In the end, he had still used the Ten Thousand Blood Bead in this spar.

Although he did not use a Blood Soul Skill, he had utilized the Ten Thousand Blood Bead to absorb the damage.

After defeating Cao Yiqing, Li Fei's arena points increased by 5, but his ranking did not change.

Although 5 points were deducted from Cao Yiqing, he still remained number one on the leaderboard.

It seemed as if there were no changes, but the impact brought about by this battle between the two was enormous!

Soon, the news that Cao Yiqing had lost to Li Fei in the arena spread throughout the Martial University.

That evening, several staff members carried three metal boxes to the door of Li Fei's dormitory.

"Student Li Fei, these are the items required for your customized service; please sign for them."

The staff member said to Li Fei.

"Has it finally arrived?"

Li Fei looked at the three metal boxes on the ground with some excitement.

A week ago, he had submitted enough credits and money to successfully redeem three types of spell-system implants, including 【Phantom Leaf】.

These three types of implants were all very rare spell-type implants. No faction in the entire Feng Province raised the relevant exotic beasts, so the Martial University had gone outside the province through special channels to obtain these three implants for Li Fei.

Although Li Fei only used one 【Phantom Leaf】, he could hand the remaining two implants to the people at the Qingyuan City Management Company in the future to cultivate his own spell-casting experts.

Li Fei opened the three metal boxes in front of the staff members, and waves of cold air emerged from the boxes, causing the surrounding temperature to drop by several degrees instantly.

The vast majority of implants required refrigeration before activation; the implants in these three metal boxes were exactly like that.

"The refrigerant in these boxes can last for about three days. If the implants are not activated after three days, new refrigerant must be added."

The staff member reminded him.

"Many thanks."

Li Fei nodded.

Although refrigerant was not easy to buy outside, he could obtain it through Shangguan Xiao, so he didn't need to worry.

After carefully inspecting the three types of implants and confirming there were no issues, Li Fei signed the delivery note and then moved all three metal boxes into his room.

Afterward, he took out three medicine bottles and a packet of medicinal powder from his storage locker; these were the medicines he had prepared in advance for absorbing 【Phantom Leaf】.

Li Fei planned to absorb 【Phantom Leaf】 that very night and officially step onto the path of spell-casting!

Previously, he had obtained information about the major factions in the pugilistic world from Lu Mengyang, which highlighted the most powerful figures in the world, known as 'One Supreme, Three Evils, Five True Lords, and Seven Martial Saints.'

Among them, the rankings of the three great evils, the five true lords, and the seven martial saints were not in any particular order; there was no one who was definitively superior to another.

Only the 'Supreme' ranked at the very top was the world's number one in the true sense!

And in the intelligence provided by Lu Mengyang, it was mentioned that this 'Supreme' was also the only person in the world to have simultaneously cultivated both the Martial Dao and the path of spell-casting to the peak.

He was both a Martial Saint and a True Lord!

No one knew how the other party had achieved it.

After seeing this intelligence at the time, Li Fei became even more determined to cultivate both the Martial Dao and the path of spell-casting!

Martial Dao implants mainly caused damage to the human body, while spell-type implants caused damage to the human spirit.

If one's aptitude was insufficient yet they forcibly absorbed a spell-type implant, they could end up becoming a lunatic or a fool!

Li Fei had the Ten Thousand Blood Bead, and when he did his aptitude test previously, his endurance in the 'Spirit' attribute was also of the highest grade, so he was not worried that he would be unable to absorb 【Phantom Leaf】.

He took a verdant green leaf out of the metal box; the leaf veins inside were clearly visible and blood-red, resembling thin blood vessels.

This was 【Phantom Leaf】, taken from an exotic beast that was similar to both an animal and a plant; this leaf was the essence of the entire exotic beast.

Li Fei used a wooden box to pack the green leaf, brought the necessary medicines, and then walked out of the room, leaving the Martial University.

Afterward, he wandered outside for over an hour, and after confirming that no one was following him, he walked into a residential compound and entered an empty room.

This room was a stronghold previously set up by the Tiger Saber Gang in the Datong Prefecture City, and now it naturally belonged to Li Fei.

He planned to absorb 【Phantom Leaf】 here tonight.

Taking the leaf out of the wooden box, Li Fei took out an elixir and swallowed it together with the leaf.

Not long after swallowing it, Li Fei felt a sense of floating as if he were an immortal.

He 'looked' at the Ten Thousand Blood Bead within his body and discovered that his Blood Soul had decreased by more than 1 point.

Closing his eyes to enjoy this floating feeling for a while, Li Fei then swallowed two more types of elixirs one after another.

A moment later, he felt as if something was drilling into his brain.

It was a bit painful and a bit itchy.

According to the description in the cultivation method Zhao Yi had given him, at this moment, it should feel like a knife was desperately drilling into his mind, causing excruciating pain!

However, because of the Ten Thousand Blood Bead, Li Fei felt it was ordinary and passed this most difficult hurdle quite easily.

A moment later, Li Fei felt the 【Steel Armor】 implant in his body begin to stir restlessly.

This was because a new implant had entered his body, and it was not an implant that could harmonize well with 【Steel Armor】.

This was a problem that one would inevitably encounter when cultivating both the Martial Dao and the path of spell-casting.

Relying on his super-strong control over 【Steel Armor】, Li Fei forcibly suppressed this restlessness, not allowing 【Steel Armor】 and 【Phantom Leaf】 to clash.

However, this was only the initial stage, and the conflict between the two was not yet obvious; later, as 【Phantom Leaf】 became increasingly powerful, this conflict would also continuously escalate.

By then, Li Fei would have to rely on medicine to resolve this conflict.

Fortunately, this kind of conflict only manifested when the implants were growing rapidly or breaking through realms; in daily life or during combat, Li Fei did not need to worry about this problem.

Ten-plus minutes later, a leaf-shaped mark appeared on Li Fei's forehead, emerald green in color.

"It's done."

He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled slightly.

From this moment on, he had officially entered the Embryo-Nurturing stage of sorcery!

The mark on his forehead would soon dissipate automatically, leaving no traces for others to notice.

After completing the absorption of the 【Illusion Leaf】, Li Fei took the Dream-Like Token out from his bosom.

This True One magic treasure, the supreme treasure of the Nightmare Sect, could not only be used to break through to the "True One" realm, but also to assist in early-stage cultivation.

Li Fei took a packet of medicinal powder from his storage locker, then evenly sprinkled the black powder onto the Dream-Like Token.

These powders, along with the three types of elixirs he had just consumed, were all things he had asked Shangguan Xiao to help him purchase.

Soon, the black powder began to melt automatically, and wisps of white smoke rose from the Dream-Like Token.

After all the black powder on the token had melted, Li Fei grabbed the still-hot Dream-Like Token and pressed it against the spot on his forehead where the green leaf mark had appeared.

This black powder was called "Spirit-Awakening Powder," a type of medicine used to replenish energy for sorcery-type implants; within the internal implants of the Dream-Like Token, there were several that required "Spirit-Awakening Powder" for maintenance.

Zhao Yi had written in the provided cultivation method that one could sprinkle the "Spirit-Awakening Powder" directly onto the Dream-Like Token, and while the token was absorbing the "Spirit-Awakening Powder," press the token against one's forehead to use the Dream-Like Token to stimulate the 【Illusion Leaf】 within the body to accelerate its growth.

One drawback of this method was that the Dream-Like Token would place a tremendous burden on a person's spirit, as if they were continuously suffering from some kind of sorcery attack.

Therefore, this auxiliary cultivation method could only be used occasionally and not frequently.

But Li Fei did not care; he even hoped that the burden caused by the Dream-Like Token would be as great as possible!

The 【Illusion Leaf】 implant attached inside his brain became restless, and Li Fei took the opportunity to consume an elixir to replenish nutrients for the 【Illusion Leaf】.

Under the stimulation of the Dream-Like Token, the speed at which the 【Illusion Leaf】 absorbed and digested would increase several times over!

Throughout this process, Li Fei had been observing the changes in the Ten Thousand Blood Bead.

The blood souls were constantly decreasing slowly, while the energy value was increasing rapidly.

It had been more than two months since the Ten Thousand Blood Bead had leveled up to level 12.

As the level grew higher, the Ten Thousand Blood Bead's demand for energy became greater and greater, and Li Fei had also discovered a characteristic:

The higher the quality of the energy from the damage, the more energy the Ten Thousand Blood Bead could absorb.

The so-called energy quality was the difference between Innate One Qi and force; if both took away one blood soul from Li Fei, the force could bring more energy than Innate One Qi.

The Dream-Like Token was a True One magic treasure, and its energy quality was even higher than the high-tier force of a Dao Foundation stage powerhouse!

After more than two months of accumulation, the Ten Thousand Blood Bead's energy value had reached 93%, and not long after being damaged by the Dream-Like Token, the energy value rose to 94%.

Li Fei's eyes lit up, feeling that he might be able to successfully level up tonight.

After the Dream-Like Token in his hand had completely digested the "Spirit-Awakening Powder," it no longer produced stimulation for the 【Illusion Leaf】, so Li Fei sprinkled another portion of "Spirit-Awakening Powder" onto the token and repeated the previous operation.

Just like that, he used the Dream-Like Token time and again to inflict damage upon himself, thereby allowing the Ten Thousand Blood Bead to absorb high-quality energy, and the energy value rose rapidly!

At a certain moment, the Ten Thousand Blood Bead inside Li Fei's body underwent a change:

【Level: 13, 1%

Blood Souls: 211

Blood Soul Skills: Blood Rage, Blood Fiend, Blood Might, Blood Spring

Transformation Skill: Blood Demon】

The Ten Thousand Blood Bead had finally leveled up again.

With this upgrade, the number of blood souls increased by 24 at once, bringing Li Fei's total blood soul count to 211.

Not only that, when his total blood soul count exceeded 200, the Ten Thousand Blood Bead unlocked a new soul skill again—

【Blood Spring】!

(End of chapter)