Chapter 8: Forbidden Technique—Enlightenment Technique

The prices of C-Grade Strange Arts vary; top-tier C-Grade Strange Arts can reach several hundred thousand, while lesser C-Grade Strange Arts can also reach over one hundred thousand.

Ye Tian planned to just buy a few ordinary C-Grade Strange Arts; there was no need to buy ones that were too good.

If the limit of his Innate Ability potential in the future were only C-Grade, then he would certainly buy the most top-tier C-Grade Strange Arts.

But his Innate Ability potential would increase in the future; by then, he would need to practice B-grade Ability or even A-Grade Strange Art, so the C-Grade Strange Arts would be of no use.

Therefore, for him, there was no need to buy C-Grade Strange Arts that were too good.

No. 2 Underground Mall.

Ye Tian arrived here and entered a Strange Art shop. There were many Strange Art Inheritance Orbs sold here, and there were even B-grade Ability Inheritance Orbs; the variety was quite complete.

He carefully selected for a while and finally chose four types of C-Grade Strange Arts.

C-Grade Metal Ability—Sword Shadow Technique; this Strange Art can condense streaks of sword shadows and possesses quite good lethality.

C-Grade Wood Element—Wood Vine Technique; this Strange Art can form a wood vine and is capable of binding an enemy's movements.

C-Grade Fire Element Technique—Burst Art; this Strange Art can cause damage to a large area, similar to the effect of a bomb.

And there was the C-Grade Strange Art—Earth Armor Technique; this is a defensive Strange Art that can form a layer of earth-type armor on the surface of the body, greatly enhancing one's own defensive power.

"Practicing Strange Arts can increase cultivation; if I can master C-Grade Strange Arts, the speed of my cultivation increase will be very fast. It won't be long before I can become a Peak Ability Apprentice and go to challenge the Ability User realm!" Ye Tian thought to himself.

But he also knew that C-Grade Strange Arts were bound to be very difficult to practice, and he was also concurrently practicing multiple Strange Arts, which would inevitably waste a lot of time; he feared his progress would not be as good as a Talented Ability User with a single element.

"Should I specialize in one Strange Art first?"

Ye Tian was pondering this question.

However, currently, he could only practice Wood Vine Technique and Water Healing Technique; the Innate Abilities corresponding to the other types of Strange Arts had not yet been raised to C-Grade.

Consequently, he bought quite a lot of metal spirit ores in the underground mall, such as Blue Iron Ore, and also bought a type of fire-element crystal ore—Flame Crystal, as well as some Spirit Soil.

Spirit Soil is mainly used for planting spirit plants, but Ye Tian planned to use it to improve his Earth Talent Ability.

Purchasing these things would likely be enough to raise all of his Innate Abilities to C-Grade.

And after this wave of purchases, he had spent several million, and his net worth dropped significantly in an instant.

But for the sake of strength, this bit of expenditure was still worth it.

Half a month later.

"Data Panel!"

【Host: Ye Tian】

【Realm: Advanced Ability Apprentice】

【Innate Ability: Water Element C-Grade (1/100), Fire Element C-Grade (1/100), Wood Element C-Grade (67/100), Metal Element C-Grade (1/100), Earth Element C-Grade (1/100)】

【Strange Art: F-Grade Water Sprinkling Technique (Great Success), E-Grade Water Shield Technique (Small Success), E-Grade Gold Needle Technique (Great Success), Water Healing Technique (Entry Level), Wood Vine Technique (Entry Level)】

"Finally an Advanced Ability Apprentice!"

Ye Tian said excitedly.

It was just that the time was too short; he had currently only barely practiced Water Healing Technique and Wood Vine Technique to the Entry Level, and he had not yet gone to practice the other types of C-Grade Strange Arts.

But relying on his current physical strength and these Strange Arts, he could already beat up ordinary Ability Users who had just broken through.

Water Element Genius Class.

Ye Tian was now a student of the Genius Class; this was the third day since he returned from the Secret Realm.

The Water Element Genius Class had a total of twenty-one people, among whom seven were Ability Users, thirteen were Peak Ability Apprentices, and the others were Advanced Ability Apprentices.

It could be said that Ye Tian's cultivation was undoubtedly the lowest among these people.

And the strongest in the Water Element Genius Class was naturally Lin Qingya.

"Have you heard? An Advanced Ability Master from the Evil God Society has caused quite a stir in our Donghai City and even killed three Ability Masters. Now the whole city is tracking this Advanced Ability Master."

"I've heard it too; quite a few people have been bewitched by the Evil God Society."

"I got a piece of inside information: a student in our school was bewitched by the Evil God Society to practice a Forbidden Technique, and their cultivation strength skyrocketed, but their foundation was ruined! Now the school knows and is preparing to expel that student!"

Hearing the words of the other classmates, Ye Tian frowned slightly.

Evil God Society!

He was no stranger to this organization; his predecessor died because of practicing a Forbidden Technique, and that Forbidden Technique was distributed by the Evil God Society, which his predecessor had bought from some peddler for a few thousand.

That secret art was called Heaven Defying Art, claiming to be able to improve talent potential and raise F-Grade potential to E-Grade.

Then, his predecessor foolishly practiced it, and as a result, died.

Ye Tian guessed that the so-called Heaven Defying Art was likely a Forbidden Technique still in the experimental stage, deliberately distributed to let many people practice it so as to perfect it step by step.

The Evil God Society loved to do such things; it could also be said that they were a group of lunatics who could sacrifice countless people in order to create Forbidden Techniques.

Of course, if it were only this, it would not be worth Xia Country hating them so much; the key was that they believed in evil gods and were enemies of humanity, and many, many Talented Ability Users died at their hands.

Soon, the teacher arrived and started the first class of the day.

The teacher for the Genius Class was also Li Xuan, but she was not serving as the head teacher, but rather as an ordinary teacher for the Genius Class.

Before starting the class, Teacher Li Xuan announced one thing.

"Classmates, today I represent the school in announcing a notice: Li Yang, a student in the Fire Element Ordinary Class, was bewitched by the Evil God Society and practiced a Forbidden Technique of the Evil God Society—Enlightenment Technique.

I don't know if any of you have come into contact with this Forbidden Technique, but what I can tell you is that once you practice Enlightenment Technique, your future is ruined. When the Evil God Society spreads Forbidden Techniques, they won't tell you the consequences at all.

Enlightenment Technique can indeed allow you to temporarily improve your comprehension and easily practice a Strange Art to the Small Success, Great Success, or even Consummation Realm, but Enlightenment Technique consumes Innate Ability potential.

For example, student Li Yang was originally an E-Grade Fire Talent Ability user. After practicing Enlightenment Technique, the Strange Art he practiced did indeed break through, and his cultivation also rose from Intermediate Ability Apprentice to Advanced Ability Apprentice, but his Innate Ability became F-Grade, and he can no longer practice E-Grade Fire Element Technique, and he might even stay at the Advanced Ability Apprentice realm for the rest of his life.

You must never practice Enlightenment Technique for the sake of a momentary increase in strength."

At this moment, the expressions of a few classmates changed, but they quickly returned to normal.

Clearly, they had come into contact with Enlightenment Technique, or knew of this Strange Art, and had thoughts of practicing it in their hearts.

But now, they would certainly not practice it.

"Enlightenment Technique, temporarily boosts comprehension, consumes Ability Potential!!!"

Ye Tian was incredibly excited inside, but he forced himself to calm down.

He felt that this Enlightenment Technique was born for him!

Consuming Ability Potential, he wasn't worried; even if his talent dropped from C-Grade to F-Grade, he could continue to raise it back up!

Originally, he was worried that as he gained more Strange Arts in the future, he wouldn't have time to master them or cultivate them to a profound realm.

But now, he saw hope.

If he obtained the Forbidden Technique known as the Enlightenment Technique, he could absolutely cultivate those five C-rank Techniques to the Consummation Realm!

He could guarantee that not a single student in the entire First High School could achieve a C-rank Technique at the Consummation Realm.

He hadn't listened carefully to a single lecture all morning today.

As soon as school was out, he prepared to plot for the Enlightenment Technique.

Go directly to the Evil God Society? That was definitely out of the question; he dared not make contact with such an organization.

"Li Yang must have the Enlightenment Technique, but he is definitely being monitored right now; if I rashly make contact with him, I will also be targeted."

Therefore, trying to buy the Enlightenment Technique from Li Yang was definitely not going to work.

At this moment, he thought of a place.

"No. 2 Underground Mall!"

He remembered that there was a shop in the No. 2 Underground Mall that sold everything and could get anything; they only dealt in cash, required no registration, and a lot of black-market goods flowed out from there.

The key was that this shop had a deep background, which was why it never had any problems.

Thus, Ye Tian arrived at the No. 2 Underground Mall and came to the shop named Old Black Grocery Store.

"This customer, what would you like to buy?"

The owner of Old Black Grocery Store was a middle-aged man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks; seeing Ye Tian enter, he asked immediately.

Ye Tian wore a black hat, black sunglasses, and a mask over his mouth; his clothes were also very common, the kind he rarely wore.

Dressed like this, he naturally didn't want to expose his identity.

"Boss, can you buy anything here?" Ye Tian asked.

Upon hearing Ye Tian's words, Old Black squinted his eyes slightly, as if he had anticipated that what Ye Tian wanted to buy might not be a legitimate item.

However, he didn't care.

As long as there was money, he could get anything.

"As long as it's not something too rare, I can get it!" Old Black guaranteed.

Seeing that there was no one else in the shop, Ye Tian strained his throat and said in a slightly rough voice: "Can you get the Enlightenment Technique here?"

"Enlightenment Technique!"

Old Black was somewhat surprised; this was a Forbidden Technique, yet there was actually a customer who wanted to buy such a thing!

"Customer, do you know the flaws of the Enlightenment Technique? I, Old Black, don't want to scam people. I do have a way to get the Enlightenment Technique, but I must state the flaws in advance so you don't come looking for trouble later. The Enlightenment Technique can temporarily boost comprehension, but it will consume Ability Potential. Even a genius will become mediocre after cultivating the Enlightenment Technique," Old Black introduced.

"I know!" Ye Tian nodded slightly, "An elder in my family has reached a certain bottleneck in their cultivation and cannot break through, so they want to take a gamble with the Enlightenment Technique."

"So that's how it is!"

Old Black feigned understanding, but in reality, he didn't fully believe Ye Tian's words.

Regardless, the flaws had been stated, and as for the consequences, that was none of his concern.

"The Enlightenment Technique is a Forbidden Technique, and the Xia Country authorities crack down on it severely, so I have to take certain risks. Therefore, if you want to buy the Enlightenment Technique, you'll have to spend quite a bit of money," Old Black said, revealing the smile of a profiteer.

"How much?"

Ye Tian asked.

"1 million!" Old Black held up a finger and stated his price.

"Isn't that too expensive?" Ye Tian frowned, "The Evil God Society sells this kind of Enlightenment Technique at a very low price; how come it's 1 million here!"

Old Black spread his hands and said: "No choice, I have to take the risk! Besides, do you dare to contact the Evil God Society? Those are a bunch of lunatics. Furthermore, if you buy it from me, you absolutely don't have to worry about being exposed, and I will act as if you were never here."

Ye Tian pondered for a moment and still decided to buy it.

"When can you get the Enlightenment Technique?" Ye Tian asked.

Old Black smiled and said: "You have to pay a deposit first; otherwise, if I get the Enlightenment Technique and you don't buy it, who am I supposed to sell it to?"

"I'll go get the money and come back in an hour!"

Ye Tian left.

Then he went to a bank and withdrew 1 million in cash.

In this world, withdrawing money wasn't that troublesome; even withdrawing 10 million could be done very easily.

Next, he returned to Old Black Grocery Store and paid the 300,000 deposit.

Just as Ye Tian was about to leave, Old Black called him back and took a black-covered secret manual out from the cabinet.

"Customer, you are very lucky; someone just happened to sell this Enlightenment Technique, so we can trade right now."

Looking at this secret manual, Ye Tian seriously suspected that there was a pile of manuals in Old Black's cabinet.

Take a risk, my foot; this guy was clearly scamming him.

However, he still had no choice but to honestly pay the remaining 700,000 in cash and take away this Enlightenment Technique manual.

Regardless, the Enlightenment Technique was in his hands!