PtM 16 - Chapter 15: Restructuring

Chapter 3/3 this week!

In other news, yesterday I did something I shouldn't have - I went on Amazon and sifted through reviews. I am both happy and regretful about the experience. On the one hand, Painting the Mists is highly rated, but on the other, it seems that negative reviews have a tendency of filtering to the top, drowning out the good ones. That's the case on both Amazon.com and Audible.com. 

I don't want to provide links, as this would potentially trip Amazon's algorithms, but could you guys do me a solid and go through reviews and upvote the flattering ones, assuming they are consistent with how you feel? The idea would be to drown out the negativity with positivity. Feel free to leave reviews of your own as well, if you have time. And if you're lacking in it, the priority would be upvoting reviews for Books 1-5, in that order, since after that I've scared away most people who don't enjoy the series.

Thanks for your time, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

--

The introduction of cultivation to the myriad worlds in Cha Ming’s inner universe sparked a revolution in the way it operated. These changes, in turn, had a profound effect on Cha Ming and his training. He became a bottomless pit, as normal nourishing foods no longer cut it, to the point that he was forced to take up runic alchemy just to supply himself with sufficient divine replenishment pills.

Even with divine replenishment pills, Cha Ming felt like he was on the verge of starvation, to the point that many worlds in his inner universe were on the verge of collapsing. He was forced to stop his training temporarily and watch as the chain reactions on each of his mortal planes ran their course.

When he was finally able to resume training, his performance in each trial had worsened substantially. His body ached much like his soul had during the entrance trial.

That wasn’t to say that the change was detrimental; the energy density of each of his worlds was increasing quickly. Each mortal plane became more stable but also began to repel each other. The balancing of these forces and the gradual reconstruction and strengthening of each plane and planar boundary was what took up so much of his strength, so there was no helping it.

For a month, he could only train a few hours a day. The month after, this increased to six hours day. On the third month, he was able to train twelve hours a day.

That when he noticed a second, much more frightening development, one that far outstripped a simple increase in energy density: the time differential between his inner world and the outer world was decreasing.

After three months, ten thousand years passed for every year in the Heartforge Realm.

After four months, the last of his weakness faded, and one thousand years now passed for every year in the Heartforge Realm.

This trend continued until the rate differential stabilized at two hundred years for every one at the end of the sixth month. But if the ratio of time in the mortal, transcendent, and immortal planes was any indication, 100:1 was likely the true end limit.

A half year was at lot of time when training under ten-fold time acceleration, but it was barely enough for Cha Ming’s divinity stores to recover to their original amount. The difference was that he now felt his divinity was lacking, and that he had a long way to go until he reached a bottleneck in his body cultivation, the same one stopping him from breaking through to the peak of muscle empowering.

“Well done!” a booming voice said as Cha Ming exited the indigo body tempering trial. Cha Ming, startled by Godking Heavenbind’s sudden appearance, nearly stumbled to the ground. “Very well done!”

“I’m not sure what you mean, Godking Heavenbind,” Cha Ming said. “I failed the trial yet again, so I don’t believe there’s anything to congratulate me on.”

“You know exactly what I mean,” the Godking said, poking his thick finger into Cha Ming’s chest. The man could crush him with little effort, but it pushed him back like an adult’s finger might a child. “You’re a natural! What an overbearing inner world. What overbearing divinity! I wouldn’t be surprised if you had double the divine reserves of anyone at the same level.”

Cha Ming’s eyes flickered to the side at the others who were recovering between trials. He did not like having his secrets revealed. “Are you even supposed to be here, Godking? And how are you looking in on my trials without my permission?”

“Did I say I was?” Godking Heavenbind asked.

“You implied it,” Cha Ming said.

“Fine, fine. You’re right!” Godking Heavenbind said. “Don’t worry about those runts. It was my mistake, so I wiped their memories. No big deal. And now we’re talking in an isolated field, so there’s no need to worry about anything leaking out.”

Cha Ming looked around and noticed something was different. It greatly resembled something else he’d seen. “Is this some kind of law projection?”

The Godking chuckled. “What do I look like, an immortal? It’s nothing complicated like a law projection. I just… pushed everything out of this region and claimed it as my own. It’s not my sovereign territory, at least temporarily. Now what was I saying? Oh, right. You. Have. Potential. Have I ever told you that before?”

“Many times,” Cha Ming said. “In fact, not a month goes by without you saying it.”

“And this time I mean it,” Godking Heavenbind said. “That’s why I’ve decided to offer you a discount. Out of all those who’ve entered the Heartforge realm, you’re the third person I’ve offered one to. Not only will I cut down my initial consultation fee down to five thousand points, every additional hour will only cost you three thousand points. That’s a hell of a bargain!”

Cha Ming expression darkened. “Not interested. Get out of my hair.”

There was a momentary flash of anger in the Godking’s eye. “You can’t just tell a Godking to get out of your hair,” he said darkly. “Especially not a bald one.”

Cha Ming winced. He’d forgotten about the trainer’s waxed head. “It was my poor choice of words, Godking Heavenbind, but my answer remains the same.”

“A pity,” Godking Heavenbind said. “There aren’t a lot of trainers that can give pointers on something esoteric like your Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations technique. And then there’s your Runebound Art, which you’re forcefully trying to modify in a way that doesn’t forever cripple your cultivation...”

Cha Ming frowned. “Go on.”

“There’s also the fact that the Savage Deity Battle Art is too powerful for most gods to handle, forget demigods” the Godking said. “You might have accidentally hopped onto the first stage of that technique, but it’s slowed to a crawl, hasn’t it? You’re basically working with a half-finished martial art!”

Cha Ming sighed. “I’m not made of points, Godking Heavenbind. All the other gods charge 500 points an hour, and even then, I’m reluctant to take them up on it.”

The Godking shrugged. “If you’re missing points, it’s not a problem. I’ll tell you what.” He held up three fingers. “Three months. I will give you some brief pointers, and you will follow my advice. You will break through at least one of the body trial obelisks in that time. Guaranteed. Andyou will be confident that it was my advice that got you there.

“If I am indeed correct, we will proceed with a full consultation for my proposed fee of 5,000 points. We’ll begin regular sessions, and I guarantee that you will more than make up the expense by further increasing your performance.”

Cha Ming hesitated. Thus far, the Godking’s pointers had been spot on. And besides, he had a letter in his storage ring for this man from Sun Wukong. It was a blatant hint for him to go ahead and trust this guy. He just didn’t like the way he did business.

“Two thousand points,” Cha Ming said. “Assuming this tip of yours shows the growth you promised. The initial consultation will be three hours long, and I’ll pay five thousand.”

“Done!” Godking Heavenbind said. He then pressed his hand on the floor, and the world around them transformed. Cha Ming discovered that he was inside one of the trial grounds. But he hadn’t touched a trial obelisk at all. “Show me what you can do.”

Cha Ming did just that. The five elements descended to temper his body like they usually did, and he shifted his form to that of a flame blood salamander. The trial switched to earth, metal, water, and wood much faster than normal, and finally heavenly winds, destructive lightning, and the creation and destruction grind wheel.

“No, no, NO!” Godking Heavenbind said. “Stop it. Stop it all. Never do that again.”

“Stop what?” Cha Ming asked.

The Godking sighed and put together his five fingers. His expression was very solemn. “Tell me, Clear Sky. Why did you transform into an elephant? Why did you transform into a mouse? I can think of any conceivable reason to do so.”

Cha Ming shrugged. “It doesn’t affect my performance too badly, and ever since I started shifting between forms, my rate of improvement increased.”

“A good point, my ill-conceived student,” the Godking said. “Transformation is important. In fact, it’s the core of your cultivation art, which can allow you to take on any form, any size, any weight, any element. In fact, any number, and eventually, you can change your very nature and how the world fits around you.

“But you must never forget the core of the Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations technique, and the core of your cultivation technique. Tell me, Clear Sky: Do you cultivate lightning demonic energy? Have you ever even come into contact with the Earthbreaker Elephant bloodline? Can you circulate your qi properly in these forms, or are you just having fun?”

Realization dawned on Cha Ming. “I see. You’re saying that since I cultivate the five elements, I should focus on my elemental forms. Animalistic forms and demon forms can be practiced, but ultimately, they are just a distraction, since in the end I will adopt a human form.”

“That’s right!” Godking Heavenbind said. “You’ll find that maintaining a human-shaped elemental form will be easiest. When training, it’s fine to give yourself limitations. In fact, I encourage it! But only within reason. If you transform for the sake of practicing, you’ll just develop bad habits that will take years to correct.” He scratched his chin and thought for a moment. “Your wind and lightning forms are derivative forms. It’s useful to keep practicing them. Also… you need to be aware of the limitations of each of your techniques.

“That is why your first homework is as follows: for the next three months, retake all previous trials starting with the first. Cycle between your original body and elemental forms in various situations and note how you feel and how fast your divine energy is depleted. You. Will. Fail. Every. Trial.”

“Fail?” Cha Ming said, confused. “Why would I bother failing?”

“To know your limits, obviously,” Godking Heavenbind said. “Wouldn’t it be a shame if you were using your fire transformation in a strange environment then yourself getting sucked dry by some strange heat-sink that popped out of nowhere? Or if you were in water form and happened upon a few plant lifeforms that could suck you dry in a matter of seconds? Wouldn’t you want to know how many seconds you had before you dropped dead? I know I would.”

“I’ve got it,” Cha Ming said. “Only by knowing the limits of each of my elemental form in various situations can I know which actions to take. And the reason you want me to start at the beginning is because these environments are more forgiving and will let me sense things more clearly. Once I start making less mistakes and can perfectly navigate these trials, I’ll have a better idea of how to navigate the later trials.”

“Exactly!” Godking Heavenbind said. “What do you think of my advice? Practical?”

Cha Ming nodded slowly. “I think I can get behind this. Assuming things work out well and I manage to complete the next trial in the next three months… I’m willing to give you a shot.”

“You won’t regret it,” Godking Heavenbind said. The world lurched again, and Cha Ming found himself in front of the first body tempering obelisk. When he looked for Godking Heavenbind, he spotted him two trials ahead with Petros Sullivan.

The Godking took him into his inner world for a scheduled lesson. Even the skeptical and very poor Petros had long since been convinced of the Godking’s skill.

***

The process described by Godking Heavenbind was painfully tedious, and if not for his slow improvement otherwise, Cha Ming would never think to try it. Alas, he was on a deadline – his soul was slowly decaying, and he needed strength to obtain a soul extinguishing spirit needle. Retaking trials from the first one might be embarrassing, but it was a small price to pay if he would improve as quickly as the Godking said he would.

Familiar flames greeted him as the trial began, and simply sat there and waited as they licked across his defenseless body. Since the process was slow, he began to actively gather this burning energy into his body to accelerate its destruction.

Five minutes later, he was flung out of the trial, badly burned but recovering despite his low vitality. He returned to the Clear Sky World and healed up with the aid of divine replenishing pills before entering the trial once again.

This time, he did not use his unaltered body and adopted fire form. It was mostly intangible of his five elemental forms. Yet unlike lightning or wind form, he could still grab a hold of solid items and strike at enemies with deadly force.

When fire-aligned, his body couldn’t be harmed by weak fire. Instead, the fire healed him, if only slightly. Cha Ming wondered how he’d managed to overlook such an obvious thing and realized that it was because he was too used to his human form and not comfortable with his elemental forms. He’d done a few exercises here and there but had never really pushed himself or engaged in any sort of active training or combat with them.

Cha Ming did not remain in fire form but immediately adopted wood form. His skin grew taunt and wrinkled and his muscles thinned out as he withered under the heat. Wood form was the form with the best regenerative abilities, but even then, he wasn’t able to out-regenerate these weak flames as they destroyed his modified flesh.

He remained in wood form until the trial grounds expelled him at his five percent limit. He couldn’t quantify what he’d gained by exposing himself to his elemental weakness, but the seed had been planted in his mind.

He spent the next long while cycling through his other elemental forms and exposed them to fire. His earth form was resistant enough that cycling the weak fire energy through his tough body would not destroy it in the eighth of an hour he had. Conversely, his metal form was extremely susceptible to fire and had trouble maintaining its sharp and shifting shape even seconds into the trial. His water form, though strong against fire, was not completely impervious to it.

The true surprise came when he adopted his defenseless wind form. His body scattered, making it seem like he would disperse in a matter of seconds. By reflex, however, he discovered that his form could compress and expand quite a bit, and this compression and expansion could be used to reduce the instability in his being.

Wind form was not actually very susceptible to damage from fire. Neither was lightning form, for that matter. But uncontrolled both forms were extremely dangerous, so practicing them was extremely important.

Cha Ming did not move on to the next trial, but instead took on fire form to pass the first portion of the trial then reverted to his original body. Like before, he lowered his defenses and actively damaged his body using these forces.

He cycled through each element again and determined his earth form could survive indefinitely in the earth trial, his metal form was mostly unaffected by it, and his water form was greatly susceptible. His fire form was also quite weak to the earth portion of the trial, but his wood form was greatly resilient. Everything was a cycle. Everything was balanced.

It took a lot of time, but Cha Ming cycled through every elemental combination to contrast and compare. And when he got to the final three trials, he discovered that wind form was most susceptible to heavenly wind and destructive lightning. The first caused him to grow rampantly, while destructive lightning could also strike through his intangible form and directly attack his inner world.

Lightning form wasn’t easily attacked by either wind or lightning, but Cha Ming believed that might have more to do with him being his own worst enemy. Lightning was inherently unstable, and maintaining it required him to constantly burn through his divinity.

Cha Ming spent an entire month familiarizing himself the first three stages of each trial. The tempering trial allowed him to pinpoint his elemental weaknesses and formulate coping strategies for each one, while the strength trials allowed him to discover the difference in energy mobilization for each form.

The combat trial was not too useful at first. After all, his copy could cycle through each of the elements as well and counter him. But when Cha Ming gained experience in using his elemental forms in combat, he quickly discovered that all forms could wield the Savage Deity War Staff to devastating effect.

In the end, Cha Ming managed to clear the indigo body tempering trial and the indigo strength trial. He could not yet clear the indigo battle trial, but it was only a matter of time. He managed to somewhat recover in the leader boards and claim 3,149th place, with a total score of 17.

After claiming the 25,000-point rewards for both trial clears and earning a few more points in the monthly battle trials, Cha Ming’s point total increased to 86,160. Enough to spend on a consult, he decided.

***

“First things first,” Godking Heavenbind said as they entered his personal training space. “We need to go over what your goals are. What do you want to accomplish in these trials, Clear Sky? What do you want to accomplish in the Heartforge Realm?”

Cha Ming went silent as he realized that, while had thought about the trials, he hadn’t really given any thought to the Heartforge Realm as a whole.

In fact, he hadn’t really thought much about anything, because thinking was dangerous for someone in his state. He’d let training consume him as his unthinking mind ruminated. “What is the Heartforge Realm?” he finally asked Godking Heavenbind.

“It’s a training ground, obviously,” Godking Heavenbind said. “It trains heroes and villains and helps hammer out who they really are. It then gives them the tools and the pressure they need to bring out their full potential before they finally get thrown back into the real world.

“I suppose I should rephrase that,” Cha Ming said. “According to what I understand, the Heartforge Realm is built to encourages growth through trials and rewards. The rewards come in many forms, like techniques, personal training, and other resources. But there seems to be an emphasis on making everyone as powerful as they can be for any cultivation realm.”

“That’s not exactly an answer,” the Godking said.

“No, it begs the question,” Cha Ming said. “Why does Patriarch Heartforge need us to get stronger? That’s the first question. The second question is what comes next. Because if you want strong cultivators you don’t just raise them in a greenhouse. That means there must be missions or a competition coming up, something that will hone us in more than just theory. And whatever that is must be useful to the Heartforge Realm and whatever its aims and goals are.”

The Godking chuckled. “I’m not really allowed to say much, Clear Sky. But I can tell you that the Heartforge Trials are split into three parts. This is the first part, the introduction. The peaceful start. The second part is the longest, and the third part is shortest.”

“I can’t answer your question unless I know what these next two phases are,” Cha Ming said.

“But you can at least answer the following question,” Godking Heavenbind said. “Does it matter what the next phase is? Will it influence your outlook? Will it change what you will do after you leave the Heartforge realm? If the answer is no, then it really simplifies things, doesn’t it?”

It was a reductionist way to look at things, but Cha Ming could appreciate making difficult problems simpler. “If we’re all here in a situation which we’re all getting stronger, I can only assume that the environment we will be fighting in next is dangerous,” Cha Ming said. “And since the Heartforge Realm is divided into the Jade and Ochre Mountains, I believe that we’ll be competing against one another in some fashion that will put our morals to the test. Like a Heart Forge, if you will.

“If I look at things your way, getting stronger can only help me. Both absolutely and relative to my cultivation level. This would also continue to help me after we leave, especially since a lot of people I really don’t like will be getting the same opportunities and return to the Inkwell Plane.  This is all assuming Patriarch Heartforge isn’t rearing us like cattle to consume us and further his cultivation, of course.”

“That assumption is correct,” the Godking confirmed. “Note that your teacher has been through the Heartforge Realm’s gauntlet, and he sent you here in the first place.”

“You never really mentioned my teacher before,” Cha Ming said.

“It wasn’t relevant,” Godking Heavenbind said. “Also, I don’t like him, despite having trained him.”

“You trained him?” Cha Ming exclaimed.

“Yep,” Godking Heavenbind said. “Let me tell you, Clear Sky – it’s the worst thing I ever did. I got into so much trouble for it. Even now I can only hide here because of all those resentful old monsters still bear a grudge.”

Cha Ming was suddenly grateful that he hadn’t passed on the letter addressed to him. He decided it would be best to continue holding onto it. “He can be a bit of a handful,” Cha Ming admitted. “Going back to the question, aside from absolute and relative strength, I need to fix my soul.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Godking Heavenbind asked. “Spirit doctor? Spirit anchor plus natural healing?”

“I plan on practicing the Divine Law Spirit Stitching Scripture,” Cha Ming said.

Godking Heavenbind took in a sharp breath. “Ambitious, aren’t you?”

“I take after my teacher,” Cha Ming said. “Go big or go home.”

“I like the attitude,” Godking Heavenbind said. “But we need to refine your goals a little bit, since they’re still too general. If you could choose one, excelling at singular combat or excelling at group combat, which would you choose?”

“Group combat,” Cha Ming said without any hesitation. “Too many wars, and I figure I can always run if I run into someone too strong for me to handle.”

“Flexibility or focused strength?”

“Flexibility.”

“If you had to choose between power relative to others in the same rank or absolute power, which would it be?”

“Are they mutually exclusive?” Cha Ming asked.

“Not completely,” the Godking admitted. “But increasing your relative power in your cultivation realm will cost you time and energy and delay your cultivation.”

“Then I’ll chose relative power,” Cha Ming said without hesitation.

“Why?” Godking Heavenbind asked.

“Three reasons,” Cha Ming said. “First, because this is the best opportunity I’ll ever have in my life to firm up my foundation. Second, I have a feeling that fixing my foundation will become more difficult the higher my cultivation gets.”

“Two very good reasons,” the Godking said. “What’s the third?”

“The third relates to the design of the Heartforge Realm,” Cha Ming said. “There must be a reason all these trials emphasize the relative strength within one’s cultivation realm. The body trials, the law trials, and the soul trials all facilitate and reward relative strength. The monthly battle trials are the same.

“The points we obtain are mostly useful in increasing our relative strength, whether through techniques, divine abilities, cultivation methods, or tools. Time acceleration treasures are cheap and available at the beginning, when the most emphasis is placed on performing well in the trials. The fact that the crafting trials are so expensive leads me to believe that they will be useful in the future, but are not worth wasting time and energy on in the beginning when points are scarce.”

Godking Heavenbind nodded. “That’s very solid reasoning. More than I expected from a student of Sun Wukong.” He did not confirm or deny Cha Ming’s guesses. “And since you’ve decided a way forward, I’ve also decided on your training program. But first – tell me how it felt to focus on human-shaped elemental forms?” Cha Ming explained his findings and growing comfort with using them. “That’s the first step. The easiest, most straightforward step. Finding your weaknesses and strengths and applying them directly. But it’s not enough, is it?”

Cha Ming shook his head. “My combat strength still hasn’t caught up to my tempering and strength control. Moreover, I’m still greatly lacking compared to others in my cultivation realm.”

“I can help you with all these things,” Godking Heavenbind said. “As long as you give me two things: grit and points.”

“Points?” Cha Ming said. “For your consultations, I presume?”

“You’ll find my consultations and the techniques I offer relatively cheap,” Godking Heavenbind said. “Whether its divine energy transmission techniques and body structuring techniques, but they won’t be too expensive. The real expense will be supplements.”

“Supplements?” Cha Ming asked. “I practically live off divinity replenishing pills.”

“Divinity is just a small component,” the Godking said. “What you need most is actually time. Not recovery time, but time to sense each form in the different training environments. Only by doing this will you be able to accelerate the tempering of your body and your ability to mobilize your strength. Both processes are time intensive and very painful.

“Unfortunately, you don’t have enough time even in these sixty years, even with the absurdly high time acceleration rate inside your realm treasure. That’s why you need to spend points – a lot of points, and as soon as possible – on medicines that will increase the sensitivity of your body and the mutation speed of your internal world. This will naturally be very painful and require great endurance on your part and perseverance. The further along you are, the more these supplements will cost you.”

The Godking quickly wrote up a list of techniques that Cha Ming could obtain in the library. Most could be found on the fourth through sixth floors. He then wrote down a list of medications that could be obtained from the Rewards Hall. Cha Ming noted that they were shell-marking class treasures that he couldn’t make himself.

Cha Ming cringed when he saw how many points were required for a single portion of each medicine. The first six months alone would cost him 20,000 points. Including his consultation fees, that would leave him with a little under 47,000 points.

Godking Heavenbind must have sensed his skepticism because he quickly reassured Cha Ming. “Don’t worry. If you follow my program, I guarantee you that you’ll pass all three purple trials in the next few years and stand a pretty good chance at completing at least one of the eight level trials.”

“How big are those rewards?” Cha Ming asked.

“Two hundred and fifty thousand for clearing a violet trial, and 2.5 million for a violet-gold trial,” Godking Heavenbind said. “If you somehow manage to clear the last trial, the Heartforge Trail in each branch, that’s 25 million points.” Cha Ming took in a sharp breath. In theory, he didn’t have to go to the Tribulant Yin Realm if he managed to pass a violet gold trial. He could just buy the life extinguishing needle directly. “But your biggest money earner will quickly become the monthly battle trials. Once you start clearing more waves, the points will roll in.”

The last of Cha Ming’s reservations melted away, and he paid attention to Godking Heavenbind’s instructions. They all involved doing sub-optimal things in all the trials, which was the opposite of what he’d been doing.

“You can’t just practice being at your best and at an advantage,” the Godking explained. “By performing at your worst, you’ll greatly temper and refine each of your elemental forms. This will translate into great gains in shaping your inner universe and the structure of your body. Your divine energy stores will increase drastically, as will your energy conductivity.”

Everything so far made sense. Worst case, he could pull out, because everything the Godking was suggesting could be tested, whether it was the medicine or the training regimen.

“Now that the drudgery is out of the way, we can focus on what will increase your combat strength the fastest: improving your martial arts.” His aura turned savage as he began executing his own version of the Savage Deity Battle Art. Like Cha Ming and Sun Wukong, he wielded a heavy staff.

“The original Savage Deity was a powerful but violent figure that went insane sometime long ago and had to be put down. It’s best not to teach this art to people with no morals, because it can really get out of hand.” Like Sun Wukong, were his unspoken words. “You’ve already learned the basics, but you haven’t learned the art’s techniques. That’s given you a foundation, but in the end, you’re only swinging around your staff a little more viciously than others that also aren’t using combat techniques or battle arts.

“The first and most vital skill of the Savage Deity Battle Art is Savage Deity Rush!” He ran forward, and this time, it was with explosive momentum. His speed was an order of magnitude higher than before, allowing him to shatter a golem that he otherwise couldn’t damage thanks to his raw speed.

“The second technique, Savage Deity Crush!” Godking Heavenbind said. He stopped rushing around and directly struck a golem. Cha Ming heard multiple echoes as the staff crashed its metal frame, somehow pulverizing it from multiple angles simultaneously.

“When both principles are combined, one can execute Savage Deity Execution,” The Godking blurred to a third golem using his greatly increased speed. He began to overlay much lighter blows than when he’d used Savage Deity Crush, but Cha Ming noticed that every strike layered a continuous crushing force on the golem. Each rapid and fluid strike built up this crushing force until finally, the golem could no longer bear it and collapsed upon itself.

“That… is the true Savage Deity Battle Art!” the Godking said. “When you’ve mastered all three abilities, honed your Savage Deity Aura, and learned to infuse your aura in every movement and every strike, you’ll have mastered the first stage of the Savage Deity Battle Art.”

Cha Ming’s heart was pounding wildly. The power of this technique was surreal. No. Not surreal. “Impossible,” Cha Ming said. “Such a large increase in speed is impossible a body like mine to manage, even if it was many times stronger. The same applies to the aftershock from Savage Deity Crush. Your body might be able to take the recoil but mine can’t.”

The Godking coughed uncomfortably. “I may have exaggerated a little and shown you the technique when executed at the fifth step. For a demigod’s body, the limit is the first step, and before you’ve entered the shell marking realm, it will be a double-edged sword.

“Savage Deity Rush will allow you to burst out at double your initial speed! Savage Deity Crush will allow you to strike with triple your strength! Savage Deity Execution will combine the best of both worlds and allow you to strike at a target continuously, applying layers of crushing energy bound to their body via your Savage Deity Aura!”

Cha Ming sucked in a cold breath. “What a powerful battle art.” Even with just Savage Deity Rush and Savage Deity Crush, he would be able to increase his combat ability several fold. Adding in Savage Deity Execution, something he recognized as perfect for slaying gods and demons, it was difficult to say how strong he would eventually become in hand-to-hand combat.”

“It’s a very powerful battle art,” Godking Heavenbind said. “But like I said, it will damage your body as you are now, which is why tempering is so important, and increasing your absolute cultivation a priority.”

“So that’s the training plan?” Cha Ming asked. “Body tempering and training these three techniques?”

“That’s two of three parts,” Godking Heavenbind said. “You’ve got a third problem, which is also related to advancing to the peak of the muscle empowering realm. You’ve practiced the Runebound Clan’s Runebound Arts and even integrated them into your cultivation technique. But as I’m sure you’ve realized, the Runebound Arts aren’t very suitable for you.

“I don’t say this to discourage you. There’s simply a fundamental difference in your blood and body composition. Your bindings might have many similarities to the Runebound Clan’s high priest markings, but they are still different.

“This is because your body is not demonic. It isn’t earth aligned, and you do not have the Runebound Clan’s bloodline. Your body isn’t even human anymore, Clear Sky – you are a being composed of the five elements and divinity. Since you have already staked your cultivation on the Runebound Arts, you need to complete this path to continue advancing. But doing so as originally intended is impossible.

“That is why while you train in these other aspects, you’ll also need to modify and reconcile the first four techniques of the Runebound Arts to suit your own nature. Only then will you be able to create a new technique that will replace the original Runebound Transformation.”

“I got it,” Cha Ming said. “You mean for me to use the five elements and Seventy-Two Transformations as a template. Since the essence of the technique is transformation, I can replace it with another transformative ability.”

“Just so,” Godking Heavenbind said. “But fair warning –  this is the step that I have the least amount of confidence in. I can guide you, but for this sort of thing, you can only rely on yourself.”

Cha Ming nodded. “Not a problem. I’ve always been good at creating new things.” He’d invented runic alchemy on his own, and the same applied to alchemical talismans. What was reworking an ancient martial art in the grand scheme of things? The Runebound Clan might be perfect and glow with a sacred light, but it was only perfect for the Runebound Clan. For a human, it was unsuitable.

“Any questions?” Godking Heavenbind asked.

“Lots of them,” Cha Ming said. Since he was paying for a consultation, he was determined to get his money’s worth.