Chapter 276: The Players’ New Transcendent Form
Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, lounge.
After Li Ranxing drank the berserk potion, the energy in his body, which had already surged, swelled again, his entire figure expanding by a size. The skin all over his body turned red, and his veins bulged like earthworms.
“Form construction… force stabilization… mecha manifest!”
After more than ten seconds of this, a gigantic mecha phantom over ten meters tall appeared around the seated Li Ranxing. Its terrifying aura could be clearly felt even by those outside the lounge, as if a giant beast were roaring.
For a moment, the players and martial arts hall disciples in the martial arts hall training ground could not help but turn their heads to look.
“It has been days already. Has Captain Li still not given up?”
On the second floor, Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at the terrifying pressure leaking from Li Ranxing’s lounge and shook his head.
Ever since Li Ranxing had seen Fang Zhen use force manifestation to shape a golden lion, he had become obsessed with force manifestation, always thinking of using it to manifest a real mecha and become a man who could pilot a mecha barehanded.
He had tried it himself, but quickly discovered this method was far too difficult to realize.
If it were only about using force manifestation to form a mecha, that would be simple. Even now he could manage that. But wanting to control it like a real mecha, making it move freely, demanded an energy reserve and command of internal force that not even an advanced martial artist, let alone a bone forging realm martial artist, could achieve.
You could say that spending time to manifest a mecha like this was less practical than directly using high martial arts descend technology to make a mecha.
As for him, he had followed the official instructions to change class into an advanced profession in the bone forging realm and was only half a step away. He might even have succeeded today. Yet Li Ranxing’s talent was far stronger than his, and he had long since been charging toward the bone forging realm. If these days had been spent on improving his cultivation method, who knew how much he could have improved, but instead he had wasted all his time on force manifestation.
But just as Yi Ye Fu Yun was lamenting that Li Ranxing was wasting time, the pressure from Li Ranxing’s lounge suddenly dropped sharply. Immediately after, everyone in the martial arts hall training ground felt the energy in the air rapidly converging toward Li Ranxing’s lounge, gathering faster and faster, directly forming an energy storm like a typhoon. The apprentices and players in the hall felt a wave of discomfort and could not cultivate at all.
“What is going on? Did he mess it up?”
Yi Ye Fu Yun and the others stared blankly at the surging energy within the hall.
The energy gathering inside Li Ranxing’s lounge was terrifying to the extreme. The converging energy even became visible to the naked eye, forming a mist.
Even when Luo Wu Shang had broken through to the bone forging realm, there had not been such a horrifying concentration of energy at one point.
Right after that, a loud boom came from Li Ranxing’s lounge. The entire lounge turned to dust, and several nearby lounges vanished with it. The power of the explosion was practically comparable to a heavy ion bomb.
This scene left the disciples who had only recently joined Obsidian Martial Arts Hall stunned.
Cultivation going wrong was commonplace for martial artists: injured organs, bleeding all over, broken bones, all utterly normal.
But someone cultivating until they directly exploded like Li Ranxing was something they had never seen before. It even made some of these martial arts hall disciples wonder whether Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s cultivation method was legitimate.
At this moment it was not only the players and martial arts hall disciples in the training ground who were alarmed; the players and disciples in other parts of the hall were also startled by the blast and could not help rushing out to check.
They saw that in the completely destroyed lounge area on the second floor, a massive figure over seven or eight meters tall had appeared at some unknown moment. Although the figure was shrouded in dust and could not be seen clearly, everyone could feel the terrifying energy and life force radiating from it.
“Captain Li?”
Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at the huge figure as the dust dispersed and was completely shocked.
Although Li Ranxing’s appearance was the same as before, his height had reached more than eight meters. His whole body bulged with muscle, with only a faint layer of energy covering the surface of his body. He looked like a humanoid titan.
But compared to the change in Li Ranxing’s appearance, the feeling he gave others was even more startling.
If Li Ranxing in transformation before had been like a fierce beast, now he felt like a mechanical tyrannosaurus. Every step he took made the earth seem to tremble.
“Captain Li, what is going on with you?”
Fang Zhen stepped out of a lounge at the side and looked at the towering Li Ranxing, nearly three stories tall, and could not help but ask curiously.
Li Ranxing now, merely standing there, exuded such oppressive force that even at a distance of dozens of meters Fang Zhen felt it hard to breathe. This was something he had not experienced even in the face of a blood condensation realm leader.
“This… I do not know either.” The giant Li Ranxing shook his head. “I was just in the lounge trying to increase my own energy and internal force to stabilize the mecha phantom, but once the berserk potion’s effects wore off, that overly huge energy and internal force were completely beyond my control. Then, somehow, it all rushed back into my body and turned into this…”
“Your own excessively strong energy and internal force were beyond your control, and then your body automatically absorbed them?” Fang Zhen looked at the titan-like Li Ranxing and asked curiously, “How do you feel now?”
“I feel very good. I even feel that with one step I could stomp out a meteor crater.” Li Ranxing briefly sensed the state of his body and answered honestly. “But my control over my body and my reactions have dropped a lot. Right now I am afraid I can hardly use any super-tier martial skills.”
“One step to stomp out a meteor crater? Can you let me see your panel data?” Fang Zhen was surprised. He felt Li Ranxing was not lying; after all, people at their level would not misjudge their own bodies so badly.
Li Ranxing then opened his system panel for Fang Zhen to see.
“Damn! These stats are totally hacked!”
Fang Zhen could not help shouting when he saw Li Ranxing’s panel.
“Old Zhen, you are exaggerating. Is it really that crazy?” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at the exclaiming Fang Zhen, feeling he was making a fuss. No matter how strong, there had to be a limit.
The other players present also nodded, thinking Fang Zhen was overreacting.
“See for yourselves.” Fang Zhen, facing the contemptuous looks of the others, displayed Li Ranxing’s panel for them. “You tell me if I am exaggerating.”
When Fang Zhen brought up Li Ranxing’s panel, all the players present were stunned.
“Monster!”
“This has to be hacked!”
The players, including Yi Ye Fu Yun, all cried out when they saw Li Ranxing’s panel.
Under normal circumstances for an extraordinary lifeform, the strength standard for beginner level bone forging realm was only fifteen tons. Because Li Ranxing followed the strength system path, after his promotion to the bone forging realm, his normal strength reached 13 tons, and if he activated transcendent state, his strength could soar to 30 tons.
But now Li Ranxing’s strength had reached 50 tons. Such power could crush any bone forging realm. Calling him a humanoid high-level lord was no exaggeration.
“Captain Li, how did you achieve this state? Can you tell us in detail?” After reading the data, Yi Ye Fu Yun could not help asking Li Ranxing.
Although after becoming so huge Li Ranxing’s reaction speed and control had worsened, his panel was simply invincible. Even Luo Wu Shang in transcendent state was far inferior.
If they could master this transformation method, then once they went to the mountain of the dead, they could one-punch any small fry. They might even take on that blood condensation realm leader head-on.
Li Ranxing did not hold back. He directly explained the whole process of how he had become like this, making everyone’s eyes light up.
“Although I have not yet been promoted to the bone forging realm, if I use a berserk potion to operate that simulated mecha martial skill set, I should have a chance to succeed.” Yi Ye Fu Yun, after hearing this, could not help wanting to give it a try.
Although his dream of piloting a mecha in the high martial arts world could not be realized, becoming a mecha giant himself was also extremely satisfying. After all, who could refuse stats like that panel.
At this moment it was not only Yi Ye Fu Yun who thought this way. Many of the players present had the same thought.
For a time, the number of players rushing to redeem berserk potions surged. Even Luo Wu Shang, who had been focused on creating new martial skills, could not help trying it.
“Gigantification of the body can greatly increase strength, but it sacrifices reaction and speed. That is not suitable for someone who uses a sword like me.” Luo Wu Shang studied the information given by Li Ranxing and analyzed calmly. “But if I can compress the energy from gigantification into a single strike, I should be able to create a sword stronger than heavenly severance.”
With that thought, Luo Wu Shang also downed a berserk potion and began attempting gigantification.
After the players had been swept up in a gigantification cultivation craze for half a day, Lin Qi, who was cultivating in the newly renovated intermediate gravity chamber, suddenly heard a system notification in his mind.
System: congratulations, host. A player has created an extraordinary martial skill.
“This kind of gigantification in transcendent state counts as an extraordinary martial skill?” Lin Qi looked at the system prompt that had just appeared, somewhat stunned.
When Li Ranxing gigantified, he had known almost immediately.
But he could only treat it as a special case. After all, not everyone was so lucky that when they lost control of their externalized energy and internal force, it could backflow into their body without killing them. More importantly, the gigantified Li Ranxing had lasted less than three minutes before dying, or rather before his cells naturally disintegrated.
He did not know the exact principle, but it seemed that after gigantification, the transcendent state had become irreversible. It did not fade due to lack of energy; instead, it burned itself out completely.
Lin Qi had no interest at all in this kind of gigantification transcendent state. Once used, it was a dead end. Only players could afford to experiment with it.
He had not expected that Li Ranxing, who kept trying to reproduce gigantification, would actually develop a complete gigantification transcendent state that the system recognized as an extraordinary martial skill. It was truly surprising.
If every player who had learned transcendent state could also master this skill, it would be a qualitative leap for Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. After all, the gigantified Li Ranxing’s physical strength had reached the level of initial stage blood coagulation realm. And that was just the panel; his actual power was even greater.
It was equivalent to having blood condensation realm stats for three minutes. Calling Li Ranxing a real blood condensation realm martial artist at that time was not wrong.
If every bone forging realm player could learn it, they would not need many. With just twenty of them, then in the Mist Mountain Region, aside from the domain city, no faction would be able to field that many blood condensation realm masters. Obsidian Martial Arts Hall could then walk sideways across the Mist Mountain Region.
While Lin Qi was lost in his fantasies, his smart watch suddenly rang.
“What is it?” Lin Qi looked at the caller, Qin Mu, and asked curiously.
“Hall master, a group of experts has come to the hall. They say they are from the domain city and want to see you,” Qin Mu said. “Will you meet them?”
“People from the domain city want to see me?” Lin Qi said in surprise. “Is it because of the Earth Star Pharmaceuticals matter?”
Ever since Fansen had sent word to cancel the cooperation, Lin Qi had known that the Earth Star Pharmaceuticals situation had been exposed. But the domain city had always ignored disputes among the major powers within its territory. Just as when he provoked Earth Star Pharmaceuticals: if they wanted to retaliate, the domain city would not do much, since conflicts between factions were too common in this world.
At most, the domain city would bar Earth Star Pharmaceuticals’ blood condensation realm masters from entering the Mist Mountain Region. As for anything else, they probably would not interfere. This was also why he had dared to kill Bert.
Of course, sometimes the domain city turned a blind eye to outside forces as long as they did not attack the city. The domain city usually could not be bothered to intervene, just like when the Red Moon Merchant Guild retaliated against the Holy Blood Mercenary Group by directly sending several blood condensation realm masters against them.
So the sudden arrival of people from the domain city took him by surprise.
“Have them go to the reception room.” Lin Qi thought for a moment and decided to meet them.
Although he did not know what the people from the domain city wanted, understanding their stance would be quite helpful for his coming clash with Earth Star Pharmaceuticals. After all, he was not invincible yet; he only had the strength to face blood condensation realm masters.
“Yes.” Qin Mu then hung up.
Less than ten minutes later, Qin Mu led three people into the VIP reception room on the third floor.
The three from the domain city were two women and one man, all very young. The oldest, a Half-Scale Race man, looked under forty. Among the two women, one was the woman whose photos and videos players had posted on the official forum, named Precia. The other was a Winged Tribe woman with three pairs of golden wings, looking just past thirty, yet clearly the leader of the three.
“Hello, Hall Master Lin. I am Xie Feina, currently the vice leader of the Mist Mountain Domain City delegation entering Wushan Prison this time.” The woman with three pairs of golden wings spoke with a pleasant smile.
“The vice leader of the domain city delegation?” Lin Qi looked at Xie Feina, then at the Half-Scale Race man and Precia standing behind her, and nodded. “May I ask what brings you here, Your Excellency Xie Feina?”
Though Xie Feina herself was only at the bone forging realm, the Half-Scale Race man behind her was a genuine blood condensation realm intermediate level master, which showed Xie Feina’s status in the domain city was anything but ordinary.
“I heard that Junior Fansen canceled his cooperation with Hall Master Lin, so I came specifically to seek cooperation with you. At that time, we can enter the lower level of the prison together for exploration, and you can help me resolve a problem.” Xie Feina smiled. “Of course, this cooperation will not have Obsidian Martial Arts Hall helping for nothing. I can stop Earth Star Pharmaceuticals’ blood condensation realm masters from making a move against Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.”
“Stopping blood condensation realm masters from attacking? That is indeed a good term. What problem do you need us to resolve?” Lin Qi was intrigued.
For Obsidian Martial Arts Hall now, the greatest danger came from Earth Star Pharmaceuticals’ blood condensation realm masters. As long as they did not take action, Earth Star Pharmaceuticals could not do much to him.
“Hall Master Lin is straightforward.” Xie Feina paused, then said, “Then I will be direct as well. I only need Hall Master Lin to help me deal with one still-living prisoner in the lower level.”
