The Rule-Breaker of the Doomsday Game

"At the Inner Strength stage, stance training is obsolete. It’s replaced by the Breathing and Exhaling Technique."

"Through the frequency of one’s breathing, Ming Jin is regulated and made to permeate the internal organs, blood, and meridians."

"This process is called internal training. It strengthens the body from the inside, allowing it to withstand greater and more powerful force."

"It also allows your fighting style to incorporate your internal organs and blood, making your techniques more powerful."

"Moreover, as Ming Jin permeates the internal organs, it also transforms, changing from its original outer strength into Inner Strength."

"It goes from being sharp and overt to being hidden and profound."

Qi Suian felt the changes in the force within his body.

’My organs, blood, and other internal aspects don’t need internal training. Instead, I need to use my organs to transform Ming Jin into Inner Strength.’

’This is a process that moves from the outside in. Even with the three Evil Dao Ancient Martial Techniques, it would take ten months.’

"But in my case, it won’t take that long," Qi Suian muttered, feeling the stinging pain in his internal organs and blood vessels.

This pain was nothing to him.

What truly bothered him was the issue of time.

’As for fighting styles, it seems I can just train the most advanced one directly.’

Qi Suian’s gaze fell on the fighting style within the "Soul-Devouring and Spirit-Eating Evil Skill," but he quickly gave up on it.

’Too much trouble. Eye-pokes and groin kicks are more my style.’

What were called "fighting styles" were really just techniques built upon nourishment and training methods. As for future concepts like "martial intent," he suspected they were mutations related to the Spirit attribute.

He just had no proof.

This wasn’t something Qi Suian needed to worry about now. He’d think about it after he captured a real Danjin Grandmaster.

Besides, he was only using Ancient Martial Techniques as a way to improve his attributes, not because he actually intended to become some Ancient Martial Artist.

If it was useful, he’d use it. If not, he’d switch it out or just use it as fodder for his next upgrade.

He was a pragmatist, not some martial arts fanatic or a psycho who’d dedicate his life to the Martial Dao.

’But just because I’m not using it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t learn it. Last-minute cramming is never a good idea.’

Qi Suian checked his schedule and quickly allocated half an hour to study the fighting styles of the three Evil Dao Ancient Martial Techniques.

[Survivor settlement discovered. Location logged.]

The AI suddenly displayed the notification.

While Qi Suian was completing his breakthrough from Ming Jin Perfection to Inner Strength, the AI had been controlling the Tai Sui God, hunting everywhere and relocating to new safe zones.

The two of them worked independently, without interfering with each other.

"Go scout it out. See if it’s an Ancient Martial Family. If it is, pause the hunt for Desolate Beasts and use them as fuel instead," Qi Suian said without hesitation.

Desolate Beasts provided a lot of evolution energy as fuel, but there was one problem.

Desolate Beasts were hard to find.

Ancient Martial Artists and natives with the Power of the Limit were rare, but the overall gains from them were still quite substantial.

[Confirmed. It is an Ancient Martial Family, and they possess a small number of natives with the Power of the Limit.]

A flicker of joy crossed Qi Suian’s face when he heard this.

"Excellent fuel. Make your move. Don’t use the Floating Cannons this time. Just grab them and burn them."

Last time, with the Yanyi Cao Clan, he had only used the Floating Cannons for large-scale slaughter to ensure nothing went wrong while he was securing his opportunity.

Otherwise, he would have chosen to capture them and use them as fuel.

Now, whenever he saw anyone Extraordinary, his eyes turned red with greed. He wished he could shove them all into the Melting Furnace as fuel.

The more the Tai Sui God evolved, the more evolution energy it required.

[As you command.]

After replying, the AI immediately rushed to the settlement. Its name was unimportant; what mattered was that the AI attacked at once.

The Ghost Energy Storm formed by the Floating Cannons dealt a fatal blow to the entire settlement.

Qi Suian didn’t ask why the AI had used the Floating Cannons when he had told it not to.

He knew two phrases: "strike first to gain the upper hand" and "fish in troubled waters."

With just that one attack, the entire settlement immediately descended into chaos.

Under the AI’s control, the Tai Sui God moved with lightning speed, snatching a disciple from the Ancient Martial Family. The man was still struggling, but the Tai Sui God had him by a vital point.

It snapped his neck on the spot and tossed him into the Melting Furnace.

"First, second, third..." Qi Suian counted softly.

Equipped with the Wind Master aviation system, the Tai Sui God was naturally fast. When it moved, even a Danjin Grandmaster couldn’t see it clearly.

"Violator! How dare you!!!"

A furious roar erupted, as loud as a great bell.

The one who arrived was an incomparably burly man. He looked like a very troublesome character at a glance.

So, the Tai Sui God immediately retrieved a sniper rifle from its Subspace Pocket.

Seeing this, the burly man’s face froze. ’Why aren’t you playing by the rules?’

’You’re clearly using an Ancient Martial Technique fighting style, so you should be an Ancient Martial Artist. I can understand you wearing armor, but pulling out a gun? That’s a complete violation of martial ethics!’

With the AI’s control, combined with the reconnaissance network, there was no need to aim.

A gunshot rang out, and the sniper rifle was returned to the Subspace Pocket.

A bloody hole appeared directly in the burly man’s head. His expression was frozen in a look of "holy shit" as he collapsed, dead.

The Tai Sui God didn’t let it go to waste, snatching up the corpse and tossing it into the Melting Furnace.

’A Huajin-level. Should burn for a bit more.’

Although Qi Suian hadn’t reached the Huajin stage himself, his eye for detail was sharp, so he naturally saw that this opponent was different.

Perhaps because of that gunshot, the survivors and natives had a sudden realization.

The violator before them was so ferocious in close combat; they’d have to be crazy to fight him head-on. They had to use firearms.

No matter how tough the opponent’s hide was, could it really block a gun?

They were actually right. With the Tai Sui God’s laughably low armor value, it certainly couldn’t block firearms.

But while they wanted to use guns, the AI wouldn’t allow it.

The Floating Cannons appeared, and anyone who dared to reach for a weapon was obliterated by Dark Energy Beams, leaving not even a complete corpse behind.

"Damn it, the violator wants our bodies!" a survivor keenly observed. "Run!"

Since they couldn’t win and the head of the family was dead, they had lost their backbone. It was every man for himself.

For a moment, chaos erupted.

No one even thought of resisting.

Who would want to bet on whether they’d be the next to die?

But it was too late to run. In front of the Wind Master aviation system, not a single survivor could get very far.

Every last one was captured and turned into fuel.

"It’s a lot less than I hoped. Seems this was just a minor Ancient Martial Family, nothing compared to the Cao Family," Qi Suian muttered.

This Ancient Martial Family had fewer than a hundred people in total. Their strongest was only an Ancient Martial Artist who had just entered the Huajin stage—the same unlucky bastard who’d been headshot by the sniper rifle.

After that, it was time to loot.

As for the natives who didn’t possess the Power of the Limit, Qi Suian didn’t touch them.

Their fuel value was too low; burning them wouldn’t yield much evolution energy, so Qi Suian couldn’t be bothered.

After some rummaging, Qi Suian found the secret manual of this Ancient Martial Family.

"Xin Yi Fist?"

"This Ancient Martial Technique... is actually a Spirit-type?"

Qi Suian’s eyes widened as he flipped through it.

’There’s this kind of Ancient Martial Technique?’

This martial art only went up to the Huajin stage, but it took an unconventional path. It used "heart-intent" as its method of nourishment and training, forgoing the usual path of external training, internal training, and unification.

It was like they skipped the first three stages and directly practiced a low-spec version of the Danjin stage.

And... hadn’t that led them down the wrong path?

The original principle of "Xin Yi Fist" was to use the heart as the master and intent as the guide, allowing anyone with great perseverance to master it.

It was supposed to free one from the constraints of talent and resources, allowing one to attain the Martial Dao through sheer willpower.

The problem was, the thing had ended up going against its own philosophy.

Not only did it require extremely high talent, but it also demanded vast resources to nourish the mind and spirit.

The former raised the entry barrier, while the latter were resources that even a Danjin Grandmaster would need—things that were priceless and unavailable on the market.

It was simply not something their small Ancient Martial Family could ever hope to practice successfully.

There was another problem. Even if you succeeded, your physical body wouldn’t improve much. Instead, you’d be weighed down by your own powerful "heart-intent."

The natural result would be a weak body and a heavy spirit, full of worries. You’d break down from overexertion and just wait to die.

"A bit... devious..." Qi Suian commented after finishing the "Xin Yi Fist" manual.

’This must count as a fortuitous encounter for me. Otherwise, how could they have been so unlucky as to run into me?’

This very devious "Xin Yi Fist" was, conversely, of considerable value to Qi Suian.

It could help him research the Danjin stage without needing a live Danjin Grandmaster.

Qi Suian already had some understanding of Ancient Martial Artists.

Ming Jin is external training, Inner Strength is internal training, and Huajin is the unification and coordination of the internal and external. These were all about laying the foundation.

The subsequent Danjin stage required the unification of body and mind, where one’s Inner Strength became whole, like a Dan.

The difficulty lay in the "mind" part of "unification of body and mind."

This was akin to the body and mind becoming completely one, which was extremely difficult.

More importantly, one needed a goal and a driving force to move forward—something that made you so stubborn it bordered on a mental illness. This was the so-called "Martial Dao will."

After succeeding in both, one would gain a "Martial Dao intuition" that allowed them to anticipate an enemy’s moves and sense danger in advance. They might even develop a sense for special, fated opportunities.

At this stage, things had already started to become idealistic and metaphysical.

But while it sounded impressive, in reality, they still wouldn’t dare to face thermal weapons head-on. A large-caliber firearm could still take their lives.

After all, the Ancient Martial Techniques of the Ancient Martial World didn’t seem to be that high-level. Forget about burning mountains or boiling seas; they’d have a hard time even tanking a sniper rifle.

Qi Suian guessed it was because the apocalypse game didn’t dare pull natives from overly high-level worlds to be survivors.

Otherwise, if it brought in a group of powerhouses who could control time, master space, and create new worlds with a wave of their hands, the apocalypse game itself would probably be dismantled.

The apocalypse game wasn’t even a match for the corpse of the Profound God, which just went to show that it wasn’t that high-level itself.

It could only bully humans like Qi Suian who came from low-level worlds. It definitely wouldn’t dare provoke natives from those powerful worlds.