Chapter 238: Copy Your Homework, Beat Your Kid
Outside the rock wall.
Lin Qi glanced at the storage box placed in the corner. With a single reach of his hand, a surge of internal force grabbed the storage box, and he carefully took it out from the space.
“As expected, it is the inheritance metal plate.”
After Lin Qi took out the metal plate, he cut his palm and pressed it onto the silver-black metal plate. The mysterious runes on the metal plate lit up, and streams of information poured into his mind.
Only after more than ten seconds did Lin Qi finish reading all the information, and his eyes were full of shock and ecstasy.
“No wonder that Isaac wanted to hire assassins from the Red Moon Merchant Guild to kill me. Just this inheritance metal plate alone is something he could never give up.” Lin Qi looked at the silver-black metal plate in his hand and could not help feeling a little emotional.
If he were in Isaac’s position, he would probably make the same decision as Isaac. No matter the cost, he would have to seize this inheritance metal plate.
Not for anything else, but because this inheritance metal plate was too important, to a degree even more important than that severed arm.
And the reason that severed arm was so valuable was because a player had accidentally damaged the transparent container, causing a crack to appear. Although the crack was extremely tiny, it was no longer able to completely block the mental shock from that severed arm.
If the transparent container had remained perfectly sealed, the value of that severed arm would not be great. Or rather, to martial artists at their level, it would have no value at all and could only be treated as a display item.
Because the information recorded on the inheritance metal plate stated very clearly that the existence of that severed arm had already exceeded one million years. Even the star civilization that created the inheritance metal plate had tried all kinds of methods but could not inflict the slightest damage on that severed arm. It was extremely difficult to conduct any research on it, let alone with the current technology level of the City of Light Chasing.
However, the star civilization that possessed this severed arm did not gain nothing after who knows how many years of research.
That result was three inheritance metal plates.
More precisely, it was a complete set of secret techniques called the star energy construct. This was a secret technique created by imitating that severed arm. By absorbing a vast amount of star energy and cultivating it to the extreme, one could theoretically allow their body to temporarily exert one ten-thousandth of that severed arm’s physical level.
The complete star energy construct secret method was divided into a body strengthening secret technique, a mental secret technique, and an energy secret technique. Only by mastering all three and merging them into one could one be considered to have learned the star energy construct, allowing their life level to undergo a qualitative change.
A secret technique that could change one’s life level was terrifying even to imagine.
Because this already completely surpassed the genetic level. It was no longer as simple as a human turning into a monster, but more like the difference between a 2D creature and a 3D creature.
If such a secret technique were to spread, it would absolutely shock all the major cities, and even the domain city would likely spare no cost to snatch it. After all, the difference between humans and monsters lay only in the strength of their physical bodies, but this secret technique created a difference in life level. The two were not even on the same dimension.
And within the complete star energy construct secret method, the most important part was this inheritance metal plate that held the energy secret technique.
This inheritance metal plate was different from the other two. As the core of the entire secret method, it did not require the inheritor to touch the inheritance metal plate. The holder only needed to use the inheritor’s blood to touch the inheritance metal plate, then touch the inheritor, and the inheritor could directly obtain the inheritance of the energy secret technique.
Moreover, how much of the energy secret technique inheritance the inheritor received depended entirely on the one holding the inheritance metal plate.
The entire energy secret technique had five levels. The body strengthening secret technique and the mental secret technique merely served as auxiliary methods for cultivating the energy secret technique. The higher one cultivated in the body strengthening secret technique and the mental secret technique, the better the auxiliary effect they provided.
This meant that even without the body strengthening secret technique and the mental secret technique, ordinary people who obtained this inheritance metal plate of the energy secret technique would still have a chance of mastering the energy secret technique. This was also why the body strengthening secret technique and the mental secret technique were not given the same restrictions as the energy secret technique.
Previously, when players occupied the White Feather Gang stronghold, with a large number of martial artist players stationed there, and even the vice leader of the city guard was repelled, it had been almost impossible for Isaac, as a single martial artist, to take the inheritance metal plate of the energy secret technique from the stronghold.
Yet if Isaac wanted to make a comeback, the energy secret technique was absolutely indispensable.
Although he had only skimmed through the energy secret technique, Lin Qi could already be certain that it was heaven-defying. It was a secret technique that absorbed energy and then burned that energy to greatly increase the body’s potential.
However, the difficulty of absorbing energy from the outside world was too great, and storing it within oneself was even more difficult. One wrong step and you would die on the spot. Learning it was exceedingly hard.
But the difficulty of learning the energy burning portion of this secret technique was not high, and this energy burning helped martial artists break through bottlenecks. As long as it was controlled well, the improvement it offered martial artists would be no less than outright cheating.
Of course, if one used this energy burning secret technique without having learned how to absorb and store energy, what would be burned was one’s own life force. Without replenishment, every use would shorten one’s lifespan, and irreversibly so. It was essentially overdrawing life to break through bottlenecks.
Yet even so, Lin Qi was certain that many, many people would be willing to do this. And as long as Isaac mastered the inheritance metal plate of the energy secret technique, he would have no trouble growing his faction strong in the future.
“I must find a way to get rid of that Isaac.” Lin Qi looked at the silver-black metal plate in his hand, his eagerness to kill Isaac growing stronger. “Otherwise, the secret that I have mastered the energy secret technique will be exposed sooner or later, and may even become the source of my doom.”
At present, those who knew the secret of the energy secret technique should only be the senior officials of the White Feather Gang. And now, aside from Isaac, the others had all been dealt with by the garrison. In other words, the only person who still knew the secret was Isaac.
If Isaac still clung to the ambition of rebuilding his faction, he would definitely guard the secret with his life. But there was no guarantee that such ambition would last. He might very well trade it away for resources and profit.
When that time came, Lin Qi’s situation would be dangerous.
After all, he now carried a precious treasure, and he was far from invincible in the Wushan Region. As long as Isaac revealed this secret to a faction like Smiling Skull, and if Smiling Skull believed it, what awaited him would likely be a catastrophic disaster.
To resolve this problem, there was only one path: kill Isaac before he leaked the secret.
However, for him to kill Isaac now was not an easy task.
Isaac was staying in the Mountain of the Dead. Smiling Skull’s strength left the major cities of the Wushan Region helpless, and only the domain city could suppress them somewhat. Lin Qi’s current strength was merely comparable to that of a vice city lord. If he entered the Mountain of the Dead alone to assassinate Isaac…
Setting aside whether he could successfully kill Isaac under the nose of Smiling Skull, he did not even know where in the Mountain of the Dead Smiling Skull was based.
He had to understand that the planet he lived on had been utterly transformed after the Great Disaster. The entire planet had become several times larger than before, though no one knew exactly how much larger, not even the Martial Artist Association. The areas where mobile cities could operate were only a few, and most places could not be set foot in.
According to the records of the Martial Artist Association, the Wushan Region alone spanned several million square kilometers and contained dozens of cities. Based on the map data given by the Martial Artist Association, the Mountain of the Dead was roughly one third the size of the entire Wushan Region and was also a nest of monsters.
Trying to find Smiling Skull’s stronghold in such a place was truly like searching for a needle in the ocean. This was one of the reasons why the domain city had been unable to deal with Smiling Skull.
After Lin Qi pondered for quite a while, he finally shook his head and temporarily set aside the idea of killing Isaac.
Killing Isaac was something that had to be done eventually, but for now, neither he nor the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had the strength and conditions required to kill Isaac. Under such circumstances, instead of worrying about Isaac leaking the secret, it was better to first improve his own strength and that of the martial arts hall.
“It seems I must push forward with the branch hall plan.” Lin Qi opened the two martial arts hall branches awarded by the system. These two branches could immediately transform a stadium-sized house into an existing advanced martial arts hall.
An advanced martial arts hall came with ten primary training rooms and three primary gravity rooms.
As long as there were branch halls, even if the current Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was destroyed, it would not affect him much. He could still bring players into this world.
For safety considerations, the place where the branch hall was established should be as hidden as possible, preferably like Smiling Skull, where only Smiling Skull’s people knew the location of the stronghold and no one else did.
Once Isaac exposed the matter of the energy secret technique, Lin Qi could hide in the branch hall and develop slowly, staying concealed until he became invincible in the Wushan Region before emerging.
Lin Qi then walked into the space within the rock wall and used his mental domain to search for any good items left behind by the White Feather Gang. As for the players’ investigation results, he did not count on them.
Now that they knew dying could strengthen their spirit, they would probably stop reporting any findings to him and instead seize every chance to die again.
And since he now understood the situation within the space, the only dangerous thing there was that severed arm. Fang Zhen and the others had already explored every inch of this place without incident, so naturally he had no concerns.
“Why was the White Feather Gang researching these things?” Through his spiritual perception, Lin Qi looked at the research data left by the White Feather Gang among various instruments and felt very puzzled.
According to the paper research data and results on the table, the White Feather Gang had used extensive experiments on lord monster remains to screen out people more suited to cultivating the energy secret technique.
Those selected had more than a fifty percent chance of learning part of the first level of the energy secret technique, meaning they could burn energy and greatly enhance their own potential.
For others who tried to learn the energy secret technique, the mortality rate was as high as 99%.
Because they possessed this technology, the number of people in the White Feather Gang who learned the energy secret technique increased sharply. They no longer had to pass on the technique one by one and wait for those who survived. They only needed to first screen a wave of people from the vast vagrant population. This would not casually expose the energy secret technique and would greatly improve efficiency.
However, this approach truly left Lin Qi baffled.
The silver-black inheritance metal plate clearly stated that the mental secret technique and the body strengthening secret technique were excellent auxiliary cultivation methods. Anyone who learned both had a high chance of mastering the complete energy secret technique. As for learning only the energy burning, it was practically not difficult at all.
Moreover, after learning the mental secret technique and the body strengthening secret technique, they would gain more precise control over energy burning. It was hard to see what meaning there was in the White Feather Gang conducting such research.
If they really wanted people to master energy burning, they only needed to have them learn the mental secret technique and the body strengthening secret technique. Although those two secret techniques were somewhat difficult, they were far safer to learn than the energy secret technique. Those below martial artist level could be saved with a Type 1 Healing Potion. As long as there were enough Type 1 Healing Potions, practically everyone below martial artist level could learn the mental secret technique and the body strengthening secret technique.
Martial artists would only need Type II Healing Potions. There was no need for such troublesome screening that wasted the flesh and blood of lord monsters.
“Wait, could it be that Isaac never obtained the metal plate of the mental secret technique?” Lin Qi froze as he looked at the results the White Feather Gang had spent years researching.
He had obtained the mental secret technique metal plate from the vice gang leader of the White Feather Gang. He had originally thought the White Feather Gang had long known about the existence of the mental secret technique metal plate and had used it many times, and that it had only ended up on the vice gang leader by chance, which had benefited him.
But now it seemed that the vice gang leader had secretly kept the mental secret technique to himself, and Isaac knew nothing about it. Otherwise, with the incomplete body strengthening secret technique left in the metal space under Crimson Moon Mountain, along with the mental secret technique metal plate, Isaac could have created a large number of experts as long as he had enough healing potions, without wasting so many lord monster remains on experiments.
With so much lord monster flesh and blood wasted, who knew how many bottles of Type 1 Energy Potions and Type 2 Energy Potions could have been purchased instead.
Thinking of this, Lin Qi could not help but laugh.
Isaac had schemed so hard, only to be ruined by his own vice gang leader. He had wasted so many years on this research. If Isaac knew the truth, he would probably die of sheer rage.
“However, this research result and development model are actually pretty good. It can be used to directly pick out a group of people with talent to learn the energy secret technique, rapidly strengthen them, and we do not have to worry about it spreading too widely and leaking out easily.” After carefully reading these reports, Lin Qi’s eyes also lit up.
The complete set of star energy construct secret techniques was too sensitive and not suitable for untrusted people to fully learn. But if they only learned part of the energy burning, it would be a very good way to quickly create experts.
Especially for producing bone forging realm experts, it would be ridiculously easy.
The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was currently in dire need of bone forging realm experts. If he could cultivate a group of bone forging realm experts in a short period of time, he could let players go after resources without worry, no longer afraid of being unable to hold those resources.
Moreover, compared with Isaac, he had four huge advantages: the mental secret technique, the beginner meditation room, that severed arm, and the qi and blood watermelon from the martial arts hall roulette rewards.
Cultivating the mental secret technique could reduce the difficulty of learning the energy secret technique. The beginner meditation room could increase mental activity and further lower the learning difficulty.
As for the mental shock from that severed arm, although its lethality was terrifying, as long as people stayed at a safe distance and spent a long time enduring that mental shock, it could subtly increase their spiritual strength. There was no need to play as ruthlessly as the players did, using complete fragmentation of their own spirit to temper it. That might bring significant improvement, but if done too often, it would turn people into idiots.
After all, being shattered by an external force and the self-explosive tempering of the stellar explosion meditation technique were two completely different things. Self-detonation of one’s spirit tempered it while also strengthening one’s will. Being shattered by an external force did not improve one’s will at all.
The spirit was the soldiers; the will was the general. If the general was not capable enough yet was forced to command too many soldiers, the result would only be counterproductive.
The truly correct approach should be to cultivate the mental secret technique and meditation technique within a safe range. In this way, not only would spiritual strength increase quickly, but the will would also stabilize and improve, leaving no hidden dangers.
Among his four great advantages, the qi and blood watermelon was practically a divine weapon. The qi and blood watermelon itself was a massive amount of energy infused into the body, which could rapidly boost life force and greatly enhance qi and blood in a short time. If one ate a qi and blood watermelon and then burned energy to enhance potential, their improvement speed would be absolutely explosive.
And now that he had the energy secret technique, players could also learn the complete star energy construct. Once players mastered the full star energy construct, their combat power would definitely rise to another level. They should even be able to venture into the Mountain of the Dead where even the domain city dared not tread.
“However, leaving this severed arm here is not a long-term solution. I wonder if I can take it back and use it as a mental cultivation room first.” Lin Qi extended his spiritual probing to within ten meters of the severed arm and could not help wanting to try and see if he could take away this divine tool for cultivating the spirit.
(The chapter ends here.)
