Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

Chen Li turned off the properties panel.

The night had grown deep.

His wives and concubines were likely already asleep, so he simply decided to stay here for another night.

He got up, pushed open the heavy stone door, and walked out of the narrow meditation room.

A box of food was placed at the door.

While in seclusion, Chen Li usually did not abstain from eating and drinking, except for the time during Foundation Establishment when he frequently used Fasting Pills. Other than that, seclusion was merely for concentration and asceticism, to avoid being disturbed by worldly desires or women, and his routine included meditating and cycling spiritual energy, occasionally practicing swordsmanship or talisman drawing to adjust his mood.

Sometimes, when he was truly bored, he would even venture out for a stroll.

If he didn’t achieve a breakthrough, he didn’t force it.

What he valued was to follow his heart.

Steady and unhurried.

Prideless and imperturbable.

Of course, under normal circumstances, his breakthroughs tended to go smoothly.

For typical barriers, it would take as little as five or six days, or at most half a month, to naturally achieve a breakthrough.

For minor realm advancements, like from the third to the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment, it would take slightly longer, but he only spent a month.

As for the situation where ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators go into closed-door cultivation and laboriously cultivate for half a year or a year, exhausting body and mind, looking unkempt, and still end up gaining nothing, he had never experienced it.

Chen Li returned to his cushion, opened the food box.

Inside were two vegetables and one meat dish, along with a bowl of top-quality Spirit Rice.

The portions were all generous.

Especially the meat, a whole large bowl of it.

From the spiritual energy floating above it, one could tell this was Second Order Demon Beast meat. When he first came to Red Pillar City, this level of Demon Beast meat was hard to come by. Now, with demon beast calamities occurring in the borderlands, such meat has become more and more common in the market!

Yet, Third Order Demon Beast meat was still elusive.

The meat had long since cooled.

It was several times tougher than vulcanized rubber.

But under Chen Li’s beast-like teeth, it was easily bitten and ground.

Accompanied by the joy of having made a breakthrough, a simple meal became delectable for Chen Li. Like the wind sweeping through the leaves, all the food was eaten cleanly without a trace left behind.

He quickly tidied up the bowls and chopsticks, placing them back into the food box.

With nothing else to attend to, Chen Li took out the jade slip for the Second Order Level Five skill "Sky-Shaking Skill" and began to check it.

"This skill..."

He felt a sense of déjà vu as soon as he looked at it:

"Seems a bit like Earth-Shocking Skill, as if they share the same origin..."

One shakes the sky, the other the earth.

The names matched.

Not only that, but Chen Li found similarities in the handprints, incantations, and spiritual power routes.

Only, compared to the Earth-Shocking Skill of Second Order Level One, the Sky-Shaking Skill of Second Order Level Five was more complex and ingeniously conceived, like an upgraded version.

Suddenly, Chen Li’s heart skipped a beat.

"Isn’t this a live textbook?"

He grew somewhat excited.

Over the past few months.

Besides cultivating, he had always tried to research how to upgrade the Traction Skill in his spare time.

But unfortunately, it was a struggle every step of the way.

Apart from creating several odd failures, there was virtually no progress to speak of.

The Traction Skill was very special.

It was akin to a domain of telekinesis.

Among the skills in Chen Li’s arsenal, none were similar or even related.

Without material or direction,

It was like building a chariot behind closed doors.

Under such conditions, to upgrade and modify it was as hard as ascending to the heavens.

What was wonderful about this skill was that it vividly showed Chen Li what an upgraded skill looked like, providing him with valuable experience and ideas for upgrading the Traction Skill in the future.

At this moment, inspiration burst forth in Chen Li’s mind.

In an instant, several experimental design schemes emerged, waiting for him to test.

The progress made merely from studying this skill surpassed all of his previous endeavors.

He was already itching to study the Traction Skill.

But fortunately, reason triumphed over impulse.

His current understanding of the Sky-Shaking Skill was only superficial; he couldn’t even cast it, let alone analyze or comprehend it.

"A whetted axe does not delay the work of chopping wood."

Everything could wait until the Sky-Shaking Skill reached Max Level.

Moreover,

At this stage, this skill was of far greater importance to him than the Traction Skill.

Chen Li took a deep breath, dispelled the distractions in his mind, and began to earnestly study the Sky-Shaking Skill.

Having mastered the Earth-Shocking Skill as his foundation,

Mastering the Sky-Shaking Skill was not difficult for Chen Li.

In fact, he found it even simpler than the Second Order fourth-level Void Flight Escape Skill.

...

Before dawn.

Chen Li’s mouth moved silently as he quickly formed hand seals.

Soon a connection formed between heaven and earth, and mana surged forth.

He pointed with his hand.

"Boom"

A loud noise.

The rock wall in front of him suddenly shattered, blowing a hole four to five meters in diameter, dust billowing.

"I didn’t expect it to have this form of attack..." thought Chen Li.

Unlike the Earth-Shocking Skill’s area attack,

The Sky-Shaking Skill focused a shock point out of thin air at the target and inflicted single-point destruction.

The former dispersed while the latter focused.

With equal energy, the latter’s attack power was clearly much stronger.

Chen Li felt the auction house’s introduction of this skill had been somewhat conservative—it almost reached the standard of a typical Second Order Level 6 spell in terms of single-target destructive power.

With limited mana, this skill maximized destruction without wasting even an ounce of excess mana.

"Such an ingenious structure, such a brilliant concept!" Chen Li couldn’t help but admire internally.

Compared to this skill,

His upgraded Flash Skill 3.0, which was quite successful, appeared crude and poorly made.

"The main task now is to level up this skill as soon as possible."

A Second Order Level 5 spell, once Max Level, could compete with a Second Order Level 9 spell.

In the case of the "Sky-Shaking Skill," Chen Li estimated that its Max Level destructive power could even approach that of Golden Core Level spells.

This sort of powerful spell could potentially kill an early-stage Golden Core cultivator in one strike if they lacked good defensive measures.

At this moment, the dust and rubble from the destruction began to spread in his direction.

Chen Li simply left the underground quiet room and walked slowly outside to the courtyard.

The morning light was pale.

The east was already faintly tinged with a hint of red glow.

The thin mist, hugging the ground, flowed like water among the flowers and plants.

Chen Li paced the courtyard while his mind wandered.

"If I truly faced an early Golden Core cultivator..."

He paused mid-step, frowning in thought.

Without affecting his combat ability, he could currently control up to four illusions simultaneously. Together with his real body, he realized that if he prepared in advance and set up a trap, he might stand a fighting chance against an early Golden Core cultivator.

Still, that would require many conditions.

Moreover, such a battle would likely be extremely perilous and unpredictable in terms of life or death.

However, this also showed to some extent that the gap in power between himself and a Golden Core cultivator was no longer unattainably vast!

"In the future, I won’t have to live in such trepidation."

With that thought,

Chen Li let out a long sigh.

It felt as though he had expelled all the repression in his heart.

His body and mind felt extraordinarily relaxed.

As the regional center of the wastelands, Red Pillar City had plenty of Golden Cores. It was extremely common to come across one while walking around. Compared to living in the Returning True Sect, life here made one unable to relax completely.