Chapter 4590 — A Pity, What a Waste
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
If it could hold its own against the Five-Element Killing Qi for so long without giving an inch, then so long as he could make it his own, Wei Zhao was certain this was a heaven-defying martial art no less formidable than the Five-Element Killing Qi—a powerful trump card that would serve him greatly in days to come.
This time, however, no matter how he rehearsed and groped after it, he could never seize the crux of it. The deep-purple lightning arcs were plainly a technique of the thunder attribute, and Wei Zhao himself possessed no thunder attribute at all. He could not summon it as it was; he could only strive to fathom its essence and then simulate it with a fire-attribute martial art.
The notion was not wrong—all martial arts under heaven connect at the root, and Wei Zhao had attempted such things before. But this was different. Once mastered, these deep-purple lightning arcs would without question be a top-tier martial art, and to fathom its secrets across the gulf of a different attribute—how could that be anything but bitter hard?
All the more so since his recent success with the Five-Element Killing Qi had rested not only on his gift of possessing all five elements complete, but also on the better part of a year spent wrestling with the Five-Element Killing Qi day in and day out—his understanding of it was profound, which was why he had ascended into its halls so swiftly. The giant electric eel's deep-purple lightning arcs, by contrast, he had never even laid eyes on before. What understanding could he possibly claim?
Wei Zhao understood the logic well enough, yet the chance was too rare to surrender so lightly. Top-tier heaven-defying martial arts—the more the better, surely. This village would not keep its shop once he passed through; a top-tier sea beast of the giant electric eel's caliber was something Wei Zhao might never encounter again in his whole life.
Even with no thread to grasp, Wei Zhao persevered in his groping and rehearsing. If a hundred attempts failed, then two hundred; if two hundred failed, then five hundred. So long as he held on without relenting, surely results would come in time.
Wei Zhao's perseverance was beyond reproach—however utterly lost he was, he could keep going. Yet when he had tried some six hundred times, or perhaps seven hundred, the memory fragment projected in his mind suddenly shattered with a bang. His whole consciousness seemed torn asunder on the spot; the agony was unbearable, and he spat out a great mouthful of blood.
His face stark white, Wei Zhao took a long while to barely recover his breath. Matters had reached a point where they could go no further—the memory fragment was broken, and no amount of perseverance would avail him now. He could only accept reality. After striving so long, he had in the end failed to comprehend a complete martial art from the giant electric eel, and the outcome left Wei Zhao somewhat disheartened.
Yet he did not truly sink into despondency. After all, he had already successfully mastered the Five-Element Killing Qi, and with that one heaven-defying martial art as his foundation, this venture could well be counted a bountiful harvest. Failing to fathom the giant electric eel's lightning art was no small regret, but when one pushes everything to the uttermost limit, fate's allotment is bound to run dry early. Wei Zhao was not a man of insatiable greed.
Besides, with the Five-Element Killing Qi alone, his combat power had already risen several times over. He was a cultivator of the Perfect Breakthrough, the strongest of the Nascent Soul stage. At the peak of the early Nascent Soul realm he had already been confident of contending with cultivators at Nascent Soul Great Perfection; and now that he commanded a heaven-defying martial art like the Five-Element Killing Qi, even should he encounter a Xuan Sheng stage expert, he was not without the means to give battle!