Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent

Chapter 198: Cultivate

Li Pin cultivated a set of fist techniques in the training room. After he was done, he carefully sensed the circulation of his qi and blood as well as the tempering effects on his internal organs.

Eventually, he reached a conclusion.

"My body has really reached its limit."

While honing his body further wasn’t without effect, it was negligible. If he precisely tracked the progress, the improvement would only be discernible after the fifth or sixth decimal place. In other words, it would take him tens of thousands of days to see an improvement of one point in his qi and blood level.

What did that mean? It meant that even ten years of training would only bolster his qi and blood level by 0.1 points. And that was based on the current rate of improvement he's sensing. If his qi and blood increased any further, the rate of improvement would weaken even more. Those ten years would become twenty, thirty, forty, or even fifty years.

This is the human body’s cultivation limit. From here on, I'd need to rely on items like the Essence-Gathering Pearl for further enhancement to push the body to its maximum potential. Li Pin contemplated.

Everyone’s maximum potential was different. Some people’s qi and blood level could reach forty-five or forty-six, while others could attain forty-eight or forty-nine.

Li Pin quietly sensed his current state.

He first practiced the Eight Enormities True Fire Force. Next, he cultivated the Xuan Pin Gate, followed by the Five Elements Body-Refining Art, the Great Sun True Radiance Technique, and others, one after another.

He then proceeded to integrate, deduce, and optimize each technique. However, unlike in the past, his focus shifted from maximizing physical conditioning to enhancing compatibility with his martial arts techniques.

Different martial arts techniques naturally had different requirements when it came to the body. For instance, a grandmaster practicing iron body technique couldn't realistically wield a style characterized by soft, elusive strikes.

Golden Crow, Kunpeng, Lunar Youying...

Li Pin's mind raced with thoughts.

Shouldn’t my next lethal move be based on Taowu and Qiongqi's ferocity? Or on Xiangliu's unpredictable nature? But... Taowu and Qiongqi’s ferocity and ruthlessness, as well as Xiangliu’s nine variations in a single strike, have all been pushed to their limits.

No matter how ruthless and ferocious, the most a technique could do was tear the target to pieces.

As for the one strike nine variations....

To evolve it further into eighteen or thirty-six variations, I’d have to increase my speed exponentially. This kind of speed demanded extreme explosiveness, which would have already deviated from the original intention of using the nine variations to fight against many with few.

Li Pin sensed the flow of his qi and blood once again.

At this moment, a thought occurred to him. He immediately became intrigued.

In theory, evolving the nine variations into eighteen or thirty-six variations demands extremely high speed. But what if... instead of him speeding up, his opponent slowed down?

He suddenly recalled the times he fought against the Beastfolks, when it felt as if time had slowed down. Under the Beastfolks' terrifying pressure, a result of their qi and blood levels exceeding a hundred, his Martial Will was pushed to the limit, and his mind operated at its peak.

When his thoughts accelerated, the speed of the Beastfolk Fighter and the Crimson-Tooth Tiger slowed down in contrast.

In that state, he could precisely discern every subtle change in his opponent's strength and attack trajectory.

If he were to execute the one strike nine variations in that state, even if he didn't evolve the attacks into eighteen or thirty-six, the nine strikes would no longer be focused on confusing or scattering the enemy. They would instead all be ruthless, precise, and lethal attacks.

"However, that state... It's only triggered when my Martial Will is pushed to the extreme. It only happens when I'm facing opponents with qi and blood levels exceeding a hundred, where even a moment of distraction could mean death if I take a hit..."

In other words, that state was essentially the Martial Will.

Li Pin pondered for a moment before quickly furrowing his brows. At this point, he finally realized how elusive the concept of "Martial Will" truly was.

A martial artist could never fully grasp it. Even if they could use it, they could never wield it perfectly.

It was like... everyone could drive, but they didn't understand the subtle differences between cars. Most of the time, this wouldn't affect a driver, but if the car had a problem, recklessly driving it home could lead to lifelong regret.

"The Martial Saints have long been aware of this issue. That's why they've divided Martial Saints into four stages. I am at the foundational stage right now, a Martial Saint with a condensed Martial Will.

"Advancing from this, there is the stage where one imitates the starlight body of Top-Tier Astral Cultivators, refining force to permeate every corner of the body. Then there's the stage of 'self-deception' to achieve Theory-Practice Unity, enabling one to consistently maintain their peak form.

“Lastly, there's the stage of utilizing external forces to push their Mental Spirit and qi and blood to their absolute limits."

Beyond the foundational stage, these four stages didn't necessarily follow a linear progression. A Martial Saint might push their mental spirit and qi and blood to their limits without grasping the essence of “Theory-Practice Unity.”

Conversely, they might effortlessly enter a state of "Theory-Practice Unity" but struggle to circulate force throughout their entire body.

The issue Li Pin was facing was actually the same problem all Martial Saints encountered regarding "Theory-Practice Unity." The solution they devised was "self-deception."

For Li Pin, this meant imagining even the most insignificant martial artist as a fearsome beast, akin to an Orc Fighter. The immense pressure created by these imagined threats would force him into a state of "Theory-Practice Unity," pushing his Martial Will to its absolute limit.

After pondering this, Li Pin couldn't help but muse, "Isn't this just paranoia?"

The thought of martial arts training leading to mental illness was absurd to him. As a rational individual, he couldn't bring himself to do such a thing.

I've heard that humans experience overwhelming terror in the face of life and death. In that split second, their minds are stimulated to near-light speeds, and every scene from their life flashes by in an instant, living a lifetime in a moment.

I've also heard that different life forms perceive time differently. The lifespan of a mayfly might be less than a day, and that day is their entire life. In contrast, the planet we stand on takes a year to revolve around the sun. As for the sun itself, it takes 200 million years to complete one orbit around the galaxy. The difference in time perception between beings is as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.

The galaxy watches the sun, the sun watches the stars, the stars watch us, and we watch the mayfly.

So, when I face these powerful life forms and feel as if time is distorted and confused, it's partly because of the lethal life-threatening pressure that drives my thoughts to their limit. Meanwhile... it's also because these powerful life forms view me as how I view a mayfly; we're simply on different scales of time.

Li Pin closed his eyes. In his mind, sparks began to fly. He continually sorted and integrated this system, combining it with his own state.

Gradually, the Xiangliu in his spiritual world began to change.

Its once-massive body suddenly expanded, growing to a hundred meters, a thousand meters, ten thousand meters....

In an instant, it had stretched across millions of miles.

As it expanded, its nine heads underwent continuous transformation, eventually merging into one, and the entire entity ascended.

It grew and grew until it reached an unimaginable size.

Finally, at one point, the world around it changed.

The scale of time gradually blurred on its body.

Night fell when it closed its eyes; day broke when it opened them.

A single slumber brought about profound changes to the world. Upon awakening, the world had transformed beyond recognition.

As Li Pin observed this towering figure, his spiritual perception subtly shifted.

Through the astral equipment he wore, this perception seemingly extended to himself. It even triggered the spontaneous activation of the Foundation Building Chapter of his Innate Qi-Refining Technique.

As a result, his qi and blood level, which would normally take decades to increase by a mere 0.1, began to rise imperceptibly. Moreover, the rate of this increase was surprisingly rapid.

Even compared to the peak speed he had achieved before reaching his physical limits, the current rate was not far off.

Li Pin didn’t know how much time passed until...

Ding-dong!

A soft, soothing sound pulled Li Pin out of the peculiar state of cultivation he had entered. Li Pin’s eyes were unfocused, as if he had experienced countless years.

It took him a full ten minutes to fully snap out of it. When the gentle sound echoed once more, he finally gathered himself.

After spending several seconds recalling, he remembered that someone was calling him.

He had instructed earlier not to disturb his cultivation unless it was something important...

What happened?

He slowly regained his composure and stood up. Yet, as soon as he stood up, he felt an inexplicable sense of weakness.

It was as if he had just expended immense amounts of primordial qi performing the Great Sun Infinite Secret Art.

Li Pin immediately reached into a nearby drawer and took out a Pill of Rebirth, swallowing it. "What’s happening...?"

As he consciously activated his stomach's peristalsis and enhanced his heart's blood circulation, he quickly distributed the dense primordial qi contained within the pill throughout his body.

This process took about ten minutes, and he finally managed to shake off some of the weakness he felt after finishing his cultivation.

Just then, the sound of the bell outside the training room rang out again.

It seemed that something truly important had happened.

Li Pin stood up and opened the door to the training room.

To his surprise, Qin Rouran, Li Yunyao, and Lin Xiaolu were there, along with Su Feiyu, Su Mai, Tuo Bafeng, and the others.

When they saw Li Pin opening the door, everyone simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Su Mai's expression quickly turned grave as he noticed Li Pin's pale complexion. "You..."

He quickly connected the dots. "Is it the backlash of using secret arts twice in the two battles from the day before?"

Su Feiyu quickly added, "I'm first to fight. When the time comes, I'll challenge you first!"

"No need. It's just some minor depletion of primordial qi. I have already taken a Pill of Rebirth. I'll recover quickly," Li Pin said, glancing at everyone."Why are you all here? Did something happen?"

Su Mai, Tuo Bafeng and the others exchanged glances.

After a moment, Su Mai asked, "You don't know?"

"Should I?"

"The competition is just an hour away,” Su Mai said, peering down at his watch. "To be exact, there are only fifty-six minutes left."

Li Pin was taken aback.

He quickly picked up his phone and checked the time, only to discover that an entire day had passed!

In other words...

I started cultivating at eight last night. So, I’ve been cultivating for a full twelve hours?!

But that couldn’t be.... It only felt like an hour had passed!