novelraw Chapter 116: Massive Increase in Strength
Chapter 116: Massive Increase in Strength
'Injured?'
Hei Guang felt a surge of indignation.
The purple Box he had already considered his rightful prize had slipped through his fingers due to a moment of carelessness.
To make matters worse, countless viewers were watching the humiliation live on his stream.
Swoosh!
Hei Guang vanished from his spot.
At the same time.
A long saber, curved like a crescent moon, slashed silently toward Su Yuan.
As an elite streamer who intentionally capped his character at the absolute limit of Level 9, Hei Guang rarely resorted to using weapons.
Ordinary peak Fourth-Rank experts were simply no match for him.Even unarmed, he could run rings around his opponents using nothing but his footwork.
But now, desperate to salvage his pride, Hei Guang naturally went all out.
Swish!
A silver Long Gun swept upward, effortlessly parrying the blade.
"Amitabha." An ascetic monk materialized nearby, bringing his hand down toward Su Yuan in a massive, Buddha-like palm strike.
Yet in the next moment, the silver Long Gun darted out like a swimming dragon, easily deflecting the ascetic monk's crushing palm.
Hard on its heels, Hei Guang's curved saber slashed through the air once more.
A burly, bald man wielding dual war hammers charged into the fray without hesitation, joining the brutal siege against Su Yuan.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Su Yuan's Long Gun danced like a true dragon, flawlessly intercepting the combined onslaught of three peak Fourth-Rank experts.
His ability to pull this off was, of course, not purely a result of his own raw power.
In terms of his actual combat multiplier, Su Yuan had only achieved a twelvefold enhancement, which was inferior to both Hei Guang and the ascetic monk.
However, Su Yuan had his mysterious gray mirror.
Whether it was Hei Guang, the ascetic monk, or the burly bald man, Su Yuan could foresee their every strike thanks to the gray mirror's precognition.
When one knew exactly where and when an opponent's attack would land, defending against it became a walk in the park.
Naturally, this method of perfect defense was only viable when fighting opponents of similar strength, or at least when the power gap wasn't insurmountably vast.
Hei Guang and the ascetic monk were indeed stronger than Su Yuan, but only by a narrow margin.
If he were facing experts who vastly outclassed him, such as those in the Top Three Ranks?
Even if he knew the exact timing and trajectory of a Top Three Ranks expert's attacks...
...he would still be hard-pressed to block them. Their absolute speed would simply be too overwhelming. It was entirely possible for the mind to perceive the incoming blow while the body remained too slow to react.
"Huh?"
As every single one of his savage slashes was deflected, Hei Guang's battle frenzy gradually cooled into chilling clarity.
Under his relentless, full-powered assault, Su Yuan wasn't just blocking—he was doing it with terrifying ease.
He had to remember that he wasn't fighting alone. An ascetic monk, a Native Resident expert of equal caliber, was also attacking, alongside the burly bald man who was fully committed to the siege.
Even under the pressure of a coordinated three-pronged assault, Su Yuan effortlessly held his ground.
'Thirteenfold,' Hei Guang deduced internally. 'This guy's combat multiplier must also be at thirteenfold, and it's completely geared toward absolute defense!'
Hei Guang reached a grim conclusion in his heart.
He had initially assumed Su Yuan was simply lucky—a sheer opportunist who seized the perfect moment to sneak in and snatch the purple Box while he and the ascetic monk were busy clashing.
Now, it was blatantly obvious that this wasn't the case. The man's raw strength was genuinely terrifying.
The chaotic clash naturally drew the attention of the other experts prowling the vicinity.
Everyone who had managed to survive this far was essentially at the Fourth-Rank level. Anyone at the Fifth or Sixth-Rank had been completely wiped out long ago.
"Who is that guy? He's actually holding his own against both Hei Guang and that ascetic monk?"
A nearby Fourth-Rank expert muttered in disbelief. As a famous, highly skilled streamer, Hei Guang was a known quantity to everyone present. The ascetic monk had also showcased his horrifying strength several times, proving himself to be no weaker than Hei Guang.
Even the burly bald man—the weakest of the three attackers—was a peak Fourth-Rank expert with an elevenfold combat multiplier.
Yet, against a joint siege from three absolute powerhouses, this unknown man had blocked everything without taking a single scratch?
"Look at this, my dear viewers! That expert holding off Hei Guang and the other two must have a combat multiplier of at least thirteenfold!"
A short distance away, the tall and elegant streamer Sisi was providing live commentary for her audience. "A Planetary Lifeform pulling off a thirteenfold combat multiplier... his talent in the real world must be utterly monstrous. He might even be the prime prodigy of some major cosmic faction!"
Sisi spoke with genuine awe in her voice.
Hei Guang's thirteenfold multiplier? He had grinded that out through sheer time and repetition.
He had deliberately bottlenecked himself at the absolute limit of Level 9 purely for the sake of his streaming career and content.
But this stranger? He clearly wasn't a streamer. He had no reason to intentionally handicap himself at Level 9. This meant his terrifying thirteenfold multiplier was purely the result of his own monstrous innate talent.
"Hahahaha, why don't you go join the gank, Sisi?"
"Go beat up the mega-faction prodigy, Sisi! We believe in you!"
A flurry of comments rapidly scrolled across her stream's chat.
"I think I'll pass," Sisi said, shaking her head. "Even if I joined the fray, I wouldn't be able to turn the tide. If anything, I might just force him into a life-and-death corner. It would be a nightmare if I got injured right now."
Trying to kill an expert with a thirteenfold combat multiplier? It was simply too difficult.
Even if they somehow managed to corner him, who would volunteer to tank his desperate, dying counterattack?
Taking one or two of them down with him would make the entire endeavor completely pointless.
"Is that... Brother Wu?"
Saber Devil Qin Mo had also noticed the commotion. He stared, completely dumbfounded, as he watched Su Yuan handle the deadly assault with graceful ease.
"Brother Wu was this powerful all along?"
Saber Devil Qin Mo could hardly believe his eyes. Just two months ago, when they had first met at the Moon Blossom Tower, he had assumed the man was just an ordinary Fourth-Rank expert.
But looking at him now?
Was this what an ordinary Fourth-Rank looked like?
Even a genuine peak Fourth-Rank expert would struggle to survive for more than a few breaths against a coordinated siege led by a powerhouse like Hei Guang.
Swish!
With a fierce, sweeping arc of his Long Gun, Su Yuan forced Hei Guang, the ascetic monk, and the burly man to simultaneously retreat.
"Well? Are we going to keep fighting?" Su Yuan asked, his tone perfectly placid.
From the moment he had decided to snatch the purple Box, Su Yuan had fully anticipated how the situation would unfold.
"Incredible technique, sir. I'll concede that purple Box to you," Hei Guang said with a practiced smile.
Hei Guang conceded gracefully.
With the formidable strength Su Yuan had just displayed, he was more than qualified to keep his prize.
"Amitabha."
The ascetic monk pressed his palms together in prayer, completely abandoning any lingering thoughts of contesting for the artifact.
That left only the burly bald man, whose mouth was twitching violently.
He was the weakest of the three attackers. He had willingly joined the brutal siege, and if this terrifying spearman decided to hold a grudge and settle accounts later, what could he possibly do?
With a mutual understanding reached, the battle ceased.
Hei Guang turned on his heel and headed deeper into the grand plaza.
The other observing experts firmly etched Su Yuan's face into their memories, instantly adding him to their mental list of people who absolutely must not be provoked. Following Hei Guang's lead, they quickly scattered to search the surrounding buildings.
"Brother Wu!"
Saber Devil Qin Mo jogged over, letting out a heavy sigh of awe. "I honestly thought I'd need to look out for you in these ruins, Brother Wu. I never expected you to be hiding such terrifying strength. Now I feel like I'm just dead weight."
"I just happen to excel at defense," Su Yuan replied modestly.
He shook his head slightly. The "Thirty-six Forms of Ultimate Yin" was an art deeply rooted in absolute defense. Coupled with the gray mirror granting him perfect precognition of an enemy's attacks...
...fending off a joint assault from Hei Guang's trio was actually incredibly straightforward.
Launching a counter-offensive, however, was a different story entirely. An attack would inevitably expose weaknesses in his posture. That was exactly why he had focused solely on an ironclad defense while outnumbered.
"Let's continue exploring."
After a brief chat, the two men ventured deeper into the plaza.
Initially, the sheer number of peripheral buildings had made it ideal to split up and search individually.
But now, with fewer structures remaining and every surviving competitor being a formidable Fourth-Rank expert, sticking together was the smartest play.
Rumble!
A heavy, deafening rumble echoed from the very heart of the plaza.
"What was that?"
Saber Devil Qin Mo's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
"Let's check it out," Su Yuan suggested, his expression calm.
Through the gray mirror, he already knew exactly what was causing the commotion. It was the mechanism guarding the Superior-grade Martial Arts Manual.
The ultimate prize of this purple-tier ruin was undoubtedly that legendary manual. Hidden within a sealed, secret chamber, the rumbling noise signified that the mechanism concealing the entrance had finally been triggered.
Much like the massive stone gates at the ruin's entrance, this hidden chamber would take a considerable amount of time to fully open. Rushing over immediately wouldn't grant anyone a massive advantage.
Moments later, Su Yuan and Saber Devil Qin Mo arrived before the hidden chamber's entrance.
A magnificent, two-meter-tall jade door was slowly rising from the floor.
Compared to the crude stone gates they had bypassed earlier, this jade door was breathtakingly exquisite. Such incredible craftsmanship heavily implied that the treasures sealed within were extraordinarily precious.
"A hidden passage? Based on my extensive experience exploring these ruins, whatever is sealed behind a secret door is always the jackpot!"
"No shit, genius. I've never explored a ruin in my life, and even I could figure that out."
"I wonder what's actually waiting for us back there..."
Dozens of Fourth-Rank experts had already gathered, their greedy gazes locked onto the ascending jade slab.
"Alright, chat, I think we're about to see the grand prize," Hei Guang announced to his livestream viewers from a short distance away. "Do you guys think there's a Superior-grade Martial Arts Manual inside?"
The peripheral buildings had already yielded a considerable number of Mid-Tier Martial Arts Manuals.
Since whatever lay behind this jade door was obviously vastly superior, the possibility of a true Superior-grade Martial Arts Manual was entirely realistic.
A palpable shift rippled through the crowd.
Su Yuan's arrival instantly caused a visible stir among the gathered Fourth-Rank experts.
Following his brief but terrifying display of power, Su Yuan had been unanimously elevated to the highest echelon of fighters within the ruin, standing proudly as an equal alongside the likes of Hei Guang and the ascetic monk.
"We wait," Su Yuan said.
He casually found a clear spot and sat down cross-legged.
The surrounding Fourth-Rank experts immediately scrambled back, giving him a wide berth.
'The Clear Spirit Water has arrived. I'll just go into idle mode for a bit.'
With a gentle shift of his will, Su Yuan pulled his consciousness out of the Void Shattering world.
The jade door would take at least another half hour to fully open.
However, an idling avatar... while an avatar in idle mode possessed basic self-preservation instincts, its combat capabilities were abysmally lower than when actively piloted.
If his character were to be suddenly ambushed right now, the consequences would be disastrous.
Fortunately...
...Su Yuan had already consulted his gray mirror. He knew with absolute certainty that his avatar would be perfectly safe from any ambush while he was offline.
His terrifying display of skill had etched an unshakable dread into the hearts of the onlookers. Not a single soul dared to test him now.
Back on Blue Star.
The entity backing the Ten Thousand Layer Labyrinth was the royal family of the Canglan Cosmic Human Empire. As such, the delivery of its clear-rewards was shockingly efficient. In merely a single day, the prize had been delivered straight to Blue Star.
"A Cosmic Artifact... The Clear Spirit Water."
Su Yuan gazed at the vial of Clear Spirit Water resting before him. Just being in its mere presence seemed to accelerate his cognitive functions, gently elevating his Comprehension.
'On the open market, a single drop of this liquid commands a staggering price of one billion Azure Surge Coins,' Su Yuan mused. 'This is the Empire's investment in its future tacticians. Any citizen capable of conquering the twentieth layer of the labyrinth is formally recognized as a qualified strategist.'
Su Yuan thought to himself.
Of course, one billion Azure Surge Coins was merely the retail market price. Procuring the water through the official channels of the Canglan Cosmic Human Empire was likely far more cost-effective.
Even so, treating it as a baseline reward was a display of unimaginable extravagance.
Keeping his eyes locked on the mesmerizing liquid,
Su Yuan delved deep into his mind to consult the gray mirror. Once it confirmed that consuming the substance carried absolutely zero hidden side effects...
...he uncorked the vial and tipped the precious water down his throat.
As the Clear Spirit Water slid down his throat, a crystalline, icy sensation cascaded through his veins, suffusing every fiber of his being.
The sensation was especially profound within his mind.
Su Yuan's cognitive processing speed hit unprecedented heights, skyrocketing his Comprehension to unimaginable levels. Profound conceptual bottlenecks that had plagued him for weeks suddenly unraveled, dissolving into crystal clarity.
'Ultimate Yang? Ultimate Yin?'
Every minute detail, form, and variation of the "Thirty-six Forms of Ultimate Yang" and the "Thirty-six Forms of Ultimate Yin" surged to the forefront of his consciousness.
Elevated by the miraculous properties of the Clear Spirit Water, Su Yuan began forging entirely new layers of understanding regarding the two supreme spear arts.
An indeterminate amount of time drifted by.
Su Yuan finally opened his eyes, the irises gleaming with profound depth.
"So that's how it works!"
He slowly raised his right hand, and an invisible, blistering heat instantaneously converged in his palm.
He raised his left hand, and an invisible, bone-chilling frost gathered upon his fingertips.
"The Power of Ultimate Yang... and the Power of Ultimate Yin."
Staring at the contrasting cosmic energies dancing over his skin, a deeply satisfied smile graced Su Yuan's lips.
At this very moment, he didn't even need to channel his spear arts to invoke the world's ambient Power of Ultimate Yang and Ultimate Yin. He could command the cosmic energies with his bare hands.
This casual manipulation was the ultimate external manifestation of someone who had reached a staggeringly deep level of comprehension in these respective Cosmic Powers.
It was a level of absolute mastery that even countless Starry Sky Lifeforms could only dream of achieving.
'Display the latest body data,'
Su Yuan immediately requested from the gray mirror deep within his sea of consciousness.
The enigmatic gray mirror rippled hazily before projecting the updated information.
[Life Level: Level 7 (9%)]
[Cultivation Method: Six Dimensions Cultivation Method]
[Sacred Method: Mind Brand]
[Spear Art: "Thirty-six Forms of Ultimate Yang" - Perfection]
[Spear Art: "Thirty-six Forms of Ultimate Yin" - Perfection]
[Power of Ultimate Yang: 73%]
[Power of Ultimate Yin: 73%]
[Combat Multiplier: 1734%]
'My comprehension of both the Power of Ultimate Yang and the Power of Ultimate Yin has reached 73%?'
Su Yuan beamed. When it came to the comprehension of any Cosmic Power, breaking past the 70% threshold represented a terrifying qualitative evolution.
'By hitting 70%, my raw comprehension alone allows me to freely mobilize the corresponding cosmic energies without relying on any external tools, weapons, or forms.'
Su Yuan thought triumphantly.
This was exactly why he had been able to converge both extreme polarities into his bare hands moments prior.
Previously, he would have had to execute his spear techniques to achieve even a fraction of that effect.
Naturally, if his bare hands were already this destructive, channeling those titanic energies through his spear arts would unleash a wave of power magnitudes greater.
'A 1734% combat multiplier...'
Su Yuan analyzed the stat panel. 'The strict threshold for a Top Three Ranks expert's combat multiplier is 1500%. Does that mean... I technically qualify as a Top Three Ranks expert now?'
His mind raced with the implications.
Generally speaking, a Starry Sky Lifeform could achieve a fifteenfold combat multiplier solely by using their tyrannical Will to command their physical form. In the world of Void Shattering, such individuals were universally crowned as Top Three Ranks experts.
While all Starry Sky Lifeforms were guaranteed to be Top Three Ranks experts, the reverse was not necessarily true.
A combat multiplier could be elevated through sheer, overpowering Will, but it could also be boosted through profound comprehension of a Cosmic Power.
The latter route, however, was phenomenally rare. It required a Planetary Lifeform to possess a level of comprehension that completely eclipsed that of a Starry Sky Lifeform, artificially bridging the astronomical gap in spiritual Will.
Given that Starry Sky Lifeforms fundamentally crushed Planetary Lifeforms in every conceivable metric, the very idea of a lower-tier being outperforming them in ethereal comprehension was borderline absurd.
'With a seventeenfold combat multiplier, even a newly ascended Top Three Ranks expert wouldn't be able to match me...'
Su Yuan possessed an incredibly objective and absolute understanding of his own terrifying power.
Between a standard fifteenfold enhancement and his current overwhelming multiplier, the victor in a clash was painfully obvious.
He spent a few minutes acclimating his mind to the dizzying heights of his newly evolved combat capabilities.
With a satisfied nod, Su Yuan directed his focus back.
'It's time. That jade door should be fully opened by now. Time to log back into Void Shattering.'