Chapter 1774 — A Strange Martial Art
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
The content of the mental technique and its method of circulating qi were wondrously similar to the Xuanyuan Yulong Art! But it was only a set of qi-training formulas, with no concrete techniques at all. Wei Zhao was greatly baffled. Without techniques, with only mental formulas, what sort of martial art was this?
Could it be that cultivating this martial art's mental formulas would let him unleash techniques? However Wei Zhao thought about it, it seemed unlikely—utterly unrealistic. This was merely a method of circulating qi, with not a word about fighting enemies. He began to suspect he had been deceived.
But judging by what had come before, the Xuanyuan Yulong Art was such a formidable cultivation method—how could there be any deception here? With no other option, Wei Zhao could only go on questioning Jiao Yazi: "Old Jiao, what's the story with this martial art? Why is there only a passage of cultivation mental formulas and no concrete techniques?"
"I just told you—haste defeats its own purpose. My memories concerning martial arts haven't fully recovered yet. How would I know what's going on?" Jiao Yazi said helplessly. "The original plan was that when you opened the second stone gate, you would at most be at the Profound rank. So the martial art was meant as a fallback, in case you broke through to the Earth rank before opening the third gate—that's why it was placed at the very back of the box. As for my memories, they've only just begun to return, and aren't fully restored. Asking me now, I have no way to explain."
"..." Wei Zhao was left speechless by Jiao Yazi's explanation. It was all his own fault for not cultivating inside the jade pendant's space—otherwise, five years ago he could have entered the second stone gate and obtained the mental formulas and martial art of the Xuanyuan Yulong Art's second layer. And by now, Jiao Yazi's memories would probably have fully recovered as well.
But since Jiao Yazi did not know, Wei Zhao could only feel his own way forward. He would try cultivating it first, and if that truly failed, wait until the old man's memories returned. What unsettled him was that last remark of Jiao Yazi's: a fallback in case he broke through to the Earth rank!
Could it be that because he had wasted five years, this martial art was merely a mental technique to lay the foundation before learning the true martial art? And that the real martial art would only be obtained after opening the third stone gate?
At the thought of this possibility, Wei Zhao's heart went cold. His inference was all too plausible!
Had he entered the jade pendant's space earlier, five years ago, Wei Zhao would most likely have been at the Profound rank at best. A mental technique laying the groundwork for Earth-rank martial arts would have been a fine thing then, and once the third stone gate was opened, he could have cultivated the martial art without hindrance.
But he had lost five years, and everything had fallen out of alignment. His strength now exceeded expectations, already reaching the early Earth rank, while the mental technique could no longer keep pace with his cultivation speed!