novelraw Chapter 11 : Chapter 11
Chapter 11 : Chapter 11
Chapter 11: The Sixth Tremor of Flowing Cloud—Forcing Qin Zhanye Back!
Li Mu raised the long staff once more.
After Flowing Cloud Three Tremors, he unleashed the fourth and fifth tremors in a manner completely different from before.
And after the fifth tremor,
even Qin Zhanye had been preparing to withdraw his force.
But then he suddenly discovered that Li Mu had swung a sixth strike.
Qin Zhanye felt his scalp go numb.
There was a sixth strike too??
He had no choice but to get serious. His aura surged upward with a roar, a faint golden glow appearing on his blade as he swung to block.
Clang!!
Qin Zhanye’s long saber was naturally astonishingly hard.
Yet when Li Mu’s Black Iron long staff collided with it, the staff actually snapped in half with a crack!
The shaft shattered, and the terrifying force of the recoil sent Li Mu flying backward.
Meanwhile, Qin Zhanye actually staggered back three steps.
The entire place fell silent.
Li Mu looked at his slightly trembling right hand. His whole right arm was numb now.
He let out an inward sigh.
It seemed he had still overestimated his body.
With Divine Weapon Art at fifty jin, combined with the Black Iron long staff’s own weight, the weapon came to a full hundred jin.
Mountain-Bearing Art had no problem allowing him to wield it, and with a powerful cultivation art added on top, its offensive power could rise to an astonishing level.
But his body could not endure it.
Qin Zhanye was even more shocked.
His cultivation was at Yellow Rank Eighth Grade, and he was on the verge of stepping into Ninth Grade!
Li Mu, meanwhile, was only a tiny First Grade Martial Artist. The gap between them was as great as heaven and earth.
And yet Li Mu had actually forced him back several steps. What kind of terrifying attack power was that?
“Good! Good!! Did you all see it clearly?!”
Qin Zhanye was ecstatic as he pointed at Minister Song and the others.
“How much did you grasp?”
Minister Song turned around excitedly and swept his gaze over the teachers.
But very few of them answered him. All of them were still immersed in that brilliant, exquisite strike from just now.
Every one of them was making empty motions with nonexistent spears and staffs in hand.
Like men possessed, they waved and flailed in all directions.
Some were even muttering to themselves under their breath.
Professor Xu stepped forward and forced a smile onto his aged face as he said to Li Mu,
“Little brother, I would like to ask you a favor.”
“Please, go ahead,” Li Mu said with a respectful bow.
“Would it be possible for you to come inside and say a few words to us?”
“You have seen it too. These people are already completely buried in it.”
“One or two remarks from you may be enough to bring about a qualitative transformation in Flowing Cloud Three Tremors.”
“It is no exaggeration to say that if Flowing Cloud Three Tremors could be popularized to the level of five tremors,
the overall strength of the lower-ranking spear-and-staff Martial Artists in our military district would undergo a qualitative leap.”
“And if it could be popularized to six tremors!”
“It might even affect the casualty rate of our military district!”
“This… this is an immense act of merit, child. I… I will absolutely apply for military merit on your behalf!”
By the end, Professor Xu’s eyes were filled with tears, and his voice was trembling slightly.
Li Mu turned and glanced at Qin Zhanye.
Qin Zhanye gave him a deep nod.
Li Mu smiled.
“Why not…”
Professor Xu’s old eyes brimmed with tears as he clasped Li Mu’s hand in his rough palm and walked at his side into the research department.
Behind them came Minister Song, leading the group of teachers who were already half-mad with obsession.
The whole group crowded into the large conference room.
Qin Zhanye did not go in.
He remained outside, waiting quietly the entire time.
All he could hear from within were bursts of crying and laughter, alternating between noise and silence.
More than three hours passed before Assistant Liu and Li Mu finally came out.
Everyone in the conference room, without exception, had fallen asleep.
Assistant Liu looked somewhat tired as well, but the light in his eyes could not be hidden.
He lowered his voice and said to Qin Zhanye,
“Wolf Guard, my apologies. Minister Song and the others overexerted themselves while practicing. Their mental energy has been exhausted, so they fell asleep.”
“In my opinion, they will need at least several more hours before they wake.”
Then he looked at Li Mu, unable to conceal the admiration in his eyes.
“Student Li Mu is truly a once-in-a-century genius in staff arts.”
Li Mu hurriedly answered with humility.
“Assistant Liu, you flatter me. Compared to the great experts who create cultivation arts, I am no more than dust.”
Li Mu understood himself very clearly.
These people praised him mostly out of personal emotion, because the difficulty of improving this cultivation art was simply too high.
This group understood the profundities within it.
But even if they revered Li Mu like a god,
it still could not change the fact that this cultivation art’s practical impact was limited.
Cultivation arts were produced by people. Li Mu’s improvements could not possibly spread across all of Huaxia.
They were limited to this military district, this batch of people, and even then it depended on how much these producers had managed to absorb.
Even if these several dozen people worked day and night without rest until they dropped dead, they could only produce a few hundred sets of Flowing Cloud Three Tremors in a month.
And if only a few hundred people could learn it per month, how many of those few hundred would actually survive because of Flowing Cloud Three Tremors?
Of course, these people could also pass along what they had understood of Flowing Cloud Five Tremors to other creators of cultivation arts.
But if it were transmitted wave after wave like that, the strength of the cultivation art would inevitably continue weakening, until it slowly returned to the level of a low-grade cultivation art.
This was also one of the major pain points of Huaxia’s cultivation arts.
It was also the main reason cultivation arts were far more valuable than Spirit Treasures and weapons.
Unless Li Mu could somehow spread improved cultivation arts throughout every military district in the country,
and ensure that they were implemented effectively, only then would it truly count as a heaven-reaching achievement.
Assistant Liu hurriedly said,
“There is no need to be so modest. Improving an already popularized cultivation art is far harder than creating a cultivation art from scratch.”
“The road of optimizing cultivation arts is long and heavy with responsibility. Even for the slightest bit of progress, we will give it everything we have!”
Li Mu could not help but feel a measure of admiration.
After exchanging a few more polite words,
Assistant Liu personally escorted Qin Zhanye and Li Mu out of the research department.
He even stood at the entrance and watched them go a long way before finally turning back.
“How do you feel?”
Qin Zhanye asked with a smile.
Li Mu dug at his ear and said, “Ah, I just feel like my ear is empty now!”
“Hahahaha! You rascal, it is only a weapon. I will compensate you for it!”
Qin Zhanye was in an excellent mood and burst into hearty laughter.
Even the adjutant at his side was surprised. Wolf Guard Qin had not laughed like this in who knew how long.
But today, he had done so more than once.
Qin Zhanye always acted with decisive efficiency. As soon as they left the research department, he took Li Mu straight to the Military Supply Department.
The Military Supply Department was divided into several sections.
The weapon section, the Spirit Treasure section, and the cultivation art section.
Li Mu chose the Spirit Treasure section first.
The Spirit Treasure section of the Military Supply Department truly opened Li Mu’s eyes. The shelves on both sides were filled with countless Mortal-Grade and High-Grade Spirit Treasures.
Some members of the Abyss Suppression Army moved through the place as if they were shopping in a market.
Many Spirit Treasures were clearly marked with prices, but all of those prices were listed in Contribution Points and Merit Points.
So-called Spirit Treasures were special treasures that possessed unusual energies and effects.
If used well, they could often turn the tide of battle. They were one of a Martial Artist’s trump cards.
Contribution Points were the currency of the entire military system, and they could be spent in exchange for supplies from the Abyss Suppression Army.
Merit Points, meanwhile, were a restriction on purchasing eligibility.
For a Spirit Treasure that required 200 Contribution Points and 10 Merit Points,
if your Merit Points were below 10, then no matter how many Contribution Points you had, you still could not buy it.
But Qin Zhanye brought Li Mu directly to the Premium Spirit Treasure section.
The Premium section had far fewer Spirit Treasures than the previous two areas.
There were not many people there, either.
And the prices of the Spirit Treasures in this section were frighteningly high.
A cost of over a thousand Contribution Points was nothing unusual, and the Merit Point requirement was almost never below 300.
“Pick whatever you like!”
Qin Zhanye waved his hand grandly.
Li Mu did not stand on ceremony and quickly began looking through them.
Very soon, a strikingly beautiful black-and-red cloak came into view.
The cloak was neither too large nor too small, and it appeared to be made of some kind of soft hide.
Against its black-and-red background was a silver ring, simple and elegant in appearance.
[Size-Shifting Cloak: Price 3400 Contribution Points. Purchasable only with 360 Merit Points or above.]
“What is this?” Li Mu asked in delight.
Qin Zhanye pulled out an instruction manual from behind the glass case.
“Size-Shifting Cloak: Warm and durable. Can freely change size. Its upper limit can continue to increase by absorbing energy from its owner’s battles and killing.”
After reading it aloud, Qin Zhanye flipped the cloak over and muttered,
“Even though it is a growth-type cloak, its effect is a little too single for a Premium Spirit Treasure. Are you sure you want this one?”
Li Mu nodded.
There was a mysterious energy flowing through the cloak, and it was very beautiful as well.
Growth-type treasures involved a certain degree of gamble.
In the early stages, they offered very little help to their owner.
Once they grew, they might surpass the value of a Premium treasure, or they might end up being worth less than one.
Besides, Li Mu’s Triumph Points could transform Spirit Treasures. To him, all Spirit Treasures had growth potential. As long as he liked it, that was enough.
Qin Zhanye did not waste words. He nodded and directly opened the glass case.
Then he made a courteous gesture.
Li Mu lifted the cloak out with both hands.
It felt soft and smooth to the touch, with strange energy flowing through it in threads that seeped into Li Mu’s body.
He draped it over his shoulders.
It fit perfectly. If he did not pull it forward, it faintly covered his shoulders and arms. And with a slight tug, it could wrap his entire body in comfort.
Li Mu instinctively flicked the cloak with his hand.
The cloak flew up behind him and instantly spread out to several meters in size.
With another wave of his hand, it shrank back to its normal size.
Qin Zhanye stared for a moment, then inwardly praised him as a truly outstanding young man.
Li Mu was tall and well-proportioned, with handsome features, and he was also a genius in the art of the staff.
Now, with the cloak flaring behind him,
Qin Zhanye seemed to glimpse the image of Li Mu in the future—a youthful war god with swift spear and fast horse, his battle-cloak snapping in the wind as he raced across the battlefields of the Abyss.
He nodded in approval.
“Come on. It is time to choose your weapon!”