Li Gang looked at the arrows in his hands.
"The arrows are very sharp, and are capable of killing even Rank 3. There is a qualitative leap from Rank 3 to Rank 4. Rank 4 warriors can use their Heavenly Core and are much stronger compared to Rank 3."
Rank 4s were like elephants, and Rank 3s like humans. That was a huge difference in strength. Without any special means, it was impossible to fight a Rank 4. Not to mention, if Rank 3s had special means, then Rank 4s had even more.
Li Gang was still satisfied with this. He knew he couldn't get everything. The disguise technique was something he needed most after a Speed-type technique. After all, no matter how strong the opponent, a successful sneak attack could kill even a Rank 5. Their bodies might have heightened defenses, but there were weak points — like the neck — and a strike there could cause their death even if a Rank 1 Warrior's sneak attack succeeded. There were also various poisons. Li Gang could safely say that, when it came to poison, even Li Hua wasn't close to him. He had read many books and was even capable of making poisons that could kill Rank 6 warriors. It's just that the materials required to make them had to be available.
Li Gang collected his thoughts and started looking at the secret scrolls.
Thundering Dragon Strike: a thunder-type attacking Secret Technique with varying effects. It could be used with the palm, the fist, or even a finger; the internal method of channeling spiritual essence had to be the same. Although it had high flexibility, its attack power itself wasn't great. It could at most seriously injure a Rank 2 warrior without defense. (Grade 2)
Knife Dance: the most basic knife technique that almost every knife user had gone through. It couldn't be used directly in a fight, but it served as insight to create your own knife techniques or to understand some mysteries of the blade. (Basic Technique, No Grade)
Crimson Lotus Palm: a fire-type attacking Secret Technique. It had considerable attack power, capable of heavily injuring a completely defenseless Rank 3 warrior. (Grade 2)
Wind Rider Sprint: by utilizing the wind, one could run very fast — up to double normal speed. (Grade 2)
Wind-Thunder Eagle Eye: inspired by the Wind-Thunder Eagle's perception. It allowed one to see as far as fifty miles ahead, similar to the perception of an average Rank 7 warrior. (Grade 4)
Li Gang immediately planned to focus on Thundering Dragon Strike and Wind Rider Sprint — one for flexibility and the other for speed. He estimated Wind Rider Sprint could help one reach a speed of 400 meters per second. But because of the limitation of his cultivation, and the fact that he probably couldn't harness even 50% of its abilities, he expected to reach around 50–55 meters per second, with various benefits like changing direction mid-stride and so on.
Grade 4 Wind-Thunder Eagle Eye would take too long to cultivate, and even though it had great potential, he probably couldn't harness more than 10% of its ability. Even then, because of the limitation of his own eyes, he could at most see one mile further.
But these speculations might change, because he had no idea how much not having a Spiritual Imprint would affect things.
The Great Forest
In the depths of the Great Forest, a waterfall known as the "Jade Dragon Fall" flowed from the towering cliffs above. The water entered and formed a crystal-clear pool below; its spray created mist in the air. Surrounding the waterfall, ancient trees stood tall, their crooked branches reaching toward the heavens. Here, amidst the beautiful scenery of nature, a young man was practicing hard. From time to time he moved horizontally, sometimes vertically, sometimes diagonally; sometimes he jumped from one branch to another.
A few hours later, Li Gang finished practicing Wind Rider Sprint. He had a general understanding of learning Wind Rider Sprint without a Spiritual Imprint.
With a Spiritual Imprint, one was able to harness up to 50% of a skill's abilities if the skill was compatible. If the skill didn't belong to the Spiritual Imprint attribute, then, depending on the compatibility between the Secret Technique's attribute and the Spiritual Imprint, the effective level might change.
Though these percentages were only average conditions. With sufficient hard work and proper understanding of a technique, one might be able to harness even 80% of its ability without a compatible Spiritual Imprint — but that required overwhelming comprehension talent. This was also why a warrior's combat power mostly depended on Secret Techniques. Spiritual Imprint was generally a warrior's secret weapon.
In common places like Mountain View Village and Tranquil Vale Village, the ability of the Spiritual Imprint was revealed. But in the big sects, beyond revealing the name of a Spiritual Imprint, the ability was often not disclosed. Sometimes the Spiritual Imprint itself was not revealed. But during decisive battles, every secret tended to be exposed.
"Without a Spiritual Imprint, I should be able to harness at least 50% of Wind Rider Sprint within this month with my understanding," Li Gang thought. "This is probably because I already have a lot of understanding about wind from my previous life. People in this world treat Wind as a spiritual attribute. Though I don't believe there's no one in the world who actually knows the true secrets of the Wind attribute. It seems they want to hide that information. Or maybe Azure Mountain is too remote to know those secrets."
The power of a Secret Technique mainly depended on two factors: the user's understanding of the corresponding attribute, and the compatibility of that attribute with the Spiritual Imprint.
Li Gang immediately realized his advantage as a traverser. He smiled.
"It seems I have to ask Mother for a Space-attribute Secret Technique. If possible, I can even try searching for a Time-attribute Secret Technique."
Although there might be many people whose understanding of space was near complete, for beginners no one should have as much understanding as him. As a traverser, he had this advantage.
However, he needed to verify whether he could truly use such techniques because physics was not properly applicable in this world. In fact, one couldn't say physics applied consistently — sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. It might be due to Spiritual Essence coming into the picture, which changed the situation entirely. He had seen that Wind in this world was a bit strange. It didn't follow the usual law of mass. He had once contained a quantity of Wind and weighed it. Its weight fluctuated oddly. This might be due to Spiritual Essence within the Wind, causing varying upward forces and rendering the weighing machine useless. This wasn't just with Wind — even Water. In this world, any fluid's existence seemed to fluctuate. If you used a normal container, water would eventually disappear. So, they used special containers that attracted water attributes to contain the liquids.
There was another case: this world was not a planet but a plane. It was said that a boundary surrounded the plane that acted as a barrier isolating the world. But, surprisingly, every twelve hours a light appeared and disappeared, creating day and night. There was no known source for the light; it seemed to appear everywhere, whether in an enclosed room or even within a human body. Nothing was absolute; even this had many exceptions.
The one good thing was that this light was mild and didn't possess excessive heat like on Earth. People had adapted, so Li Gang didn't feel any heat at all. No one knew why it happened — perhaps the strong old monsters knew. Li Gang had always pondered these things. Even though the laws of physics seemed to apply in many cases, ironically they did not apply consistently. He always blamed Spiritual Essence, since it was the only variable he did not understand.
Three months later
14th July, Year 42014 of the Elemental Era
Li Gang was panting heavily, both hands on his knees. He had been practicing twelve hours every day. He didn't practice blindly; he kept thinking about the behavior of various attributes while practicing techniques.
He had already grasped all of those techniques to certain levels!
Thundering Dragon Strike: 56%Knife Dance: CompletedCrimson Lotus Palm: 59%Wind Rider Sprint: 44%Wind-Thunder Eagle Eye: 49%
Li Gang thought of his progress and felt disappointed. If anyone else knew about this, they would call him crazy. In fact, Li Gang's worry was justified. What he wanted most were Thundering Dragon Strike, Wind-Thunder Eagle Eye, and Wind Rider Sprint, but the progress of the latter two was too slow compared to the others. So he had to switch to practicing the techniques most suitable for him.
"There can be many possibilities. First, the Wind attribute of this world may be somewhat different from what I know. It is also possible that utilizing elements of this world is hindering me. Thundering Dragon Strike and Crimson Lotus Palm don't utilize external attributes but use the body's Spiritual Essence as the base for the technique. Only Wind-Thunder Eagle Eye and Wind Rider Sprint use external attributes. Wind Rider Sprint uses more external attribute than the Eye technique, which may be why the Eye made more progress. It is possible both are the causes. It is also possible none of them are the reasons!"
Suddenly he felt something. He activated Wind Rider Sprint and jumped to his left. The spot where he had been standing was blasted. Li Gang's expression turned serious. He looked at the opponent who had arrived, and fear enveloped him as the tremendous murderous intent pressed down on him.
"As I expected, you truly are special," Wang Xueyao said with an innocent smile. But the smile gave Li Gang chills.
Her murderous aura had completely locked him.
'I can't move. Is this what it means to be afraid of death? I thought I controlled my emotion, but now when I truly am in danger, I am afraid.' Li Gang was shaking; his hands couldn't move, he couldn't speak. He couldn't think of anything in such a life-and-death situation. He now realized how foolish he had been to think he could handle the Monarch Inheritance on his own. He knew he had been suppressing his emotions, but he had thought he could control them. He was utterly wrong. He realized his shortcoming. His back was drenched with sweat.
'No — if I don't think of something, I will die. Move, move,' Li Gang screamed inside. But his body didn't respond. He was still staring at her, his eyes full of fear.