033. The Future Is So Bright, It’s Blinding!

After understanding this logic, Lu Wu began to ponder a question: what was the difference between the path of evolution or cultivation plan offered by the Book of Knowledge and the cultivation undertaken by ordinary cultivators? Before Lu Wu could fully grasp this question, Yi Ya was already conversing across the distance with the Young Peng King:

"Young Peng King, where is Tian Bugui?"

The Young Peng King waved his hand, and a tiger demon carried out the struggling Tian Bugui.

"And Kong Cheng?"

Kong Cheng, bound with golden ropes, was pushed forward. As a white peacock, Kong Cheng's face was now green; anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was a green peacock. At eighth stage of Qi Gathering, captured and defeated instantly by a peer in the midst of a great army, Kong Cheng was furious, staring at Lu Wu, eyes unwavering.

Yi Ya spoke, "Best two out of three. The loser’s hostage dies, the winner retrieves their own. Young Peng King, you wouldn’t break your word, would you?"

The Young Peng King replied, "I swear upon my Dao heart."

Yi Ya considered for a moment. "Agreed!"

As the two swore their oaths, Lu Wu finally understood the question he had been pondering. The cultivation plan provided by the Book of Knowledge was far superior to the path followed by ordinary cultivators.

Take, for example, the "Map of Ten Thousand Beasts." The map itself does not require the condensation of nine soul totems to advance to the next stage of Qi Gathering. For a Foundation Stage cultivator, unless they possessed the same extraordinary fortune as Lu Wu, how could they possibly comprehend nine beast paths and condense their totems?

The actual requirement of the Map of Ten Thousand Beasts is to create a soul martial skill based on a beast path at each realm, and then one can advance further. Even with this simple requirement, successful practitioners of the map are exceedingly rare.

A soul martial skill is, in fact, a simple thing. For example, mastering the wingbeat speed of a bee constitutes a soul martial skill. Or mastering the earth-burrowing of an earthworm—another soul martial skill. Only when countless such traits are combined does one truly grasp a beast path.

The gap between these approaches is immense, beyond description.

If soul cultivation is thus elevated, what about the physical cultivation through the Map of Ten Thousand Beasts? Or the cultivation of origin?

At that moment, the Young Ape King and Chu Xu, seeing their respective leaders had finished speaking, looked to each other, ready for battle.

Lu Wu continued to contemplate the path of evolution.

"This ape demon cultivates the body mainly through strengthening."

"But the Book of Knowledge is different."

The method it offers is to evolve into a different creature altogether.

That is a fundamental difference.

For instance, how long would a cat need to cultivate its body to achieve the strength, speed, size, and agility of a tiger? Yet the plan provided by the Book of Knowledge likely allows a cat to truly become a tiger.

Such physical evolution is a transcendence at the level of genes.

"I wonder if the path of physical evolution could lead to becoming a true dragon—or even something more terrifying."

Thinking of this, Lu Wu suddenly realized something odd about his own evolution path.

His soul cultivation, though guided and promoted by the Book of Knowledge, actually abided by the law of conservation of energy.

During Foundation Stage, the amount of blood absorbed was minimal, but now at Qi Gathering, the required blood is vast. A single mimetic transformation now requires more blood than the total amount absorbed during the entire Foundation Stage. With such massive energy extraction, why was the path of physical evolution and origin still focused on evolving into a fly or gathering spiritual energy to break through to Qi Gathering?

Unless...

Lu Wu recalled games he’d played in his previous life. When enough experience was accumulated to level up, many games required a manual upgrade click. But with enough stored experience points, one could click through several levels in succession.

Suddenly, Lu Wu realized: now was not the time to cultivate physical body or origin.

"If my soul cultivation reaches a high realm, a single blood extraction might directly advance the body and origin by several major realms!"

The idea was simple. Each realm was like a reservoir—the amount of water poured in determined the realm. The path of evolution was like three water pipes. Each evolution allowed a chance to widen the pipe.

At first, widening required just a bit of cement; later, it might require a ton, ten thousand tons, or a hundred million tons.

If one widened all three pipes together, efficiency was one. If only one pipe was widened, the efficiency was three.

The interval between each blood extraction was the same.

While this wasn’t obvious early on, after ten thousand evolutions, cultivating all three paths simultaneously would result in only three thousand three hundred evolutions per path, whereas focusing solely on soul cultivation would yield ten thousand evolutions. The amount of cement gained with each evolution would multiply exponentially.

Thus, the efficiency, already tripled, would be multiplied countless times more.

By then, although two pipes would be as thin as reeds, one pipe would have explosive flow—pouring out an ocean in a single second!

When that stage was reached, a single upgrade’s cement could make the other two pipes broader than a riverbed.

Cultivating the other two paths at that point would be countless times faster than simultaneous cultivation from the start.

"Unless I absolutely must advance the body or origin, I will never cultivate those two paths lightly!"

Having understood this, Lu Wu suddenly felt his future was dazzlingly bright.

Suppressing his excitement, Lu Wu looked toward the arena.

At that moment, the Young Ape King bore seven wounds left by the Immortal Sword, breathing heavily.

Chu Xu, sword sheathed on her back, walked forward.

Suddenly, the Young Ape King erupted, muscles in his legs swelling to more than twice their size, stomping through the corner of the arena. The rushing air shrieked as he appeared before Chu Xu in an instant.

Chu Xu formed a hand seal resembling an orchid: "Little Celestial Cycle."

A sweep of peach-pink true essence, flawless in its defense, sent the Young Ape King flying even faster than he arrived.

The demons in the audience were stunned: "How is this possible? This female disciple from the Palace of Grand Void actually used a fourth secret technique!"

"We knew she mastered the Immortal Sword and the Grand Void Dao Scripture, but how has she cultivated the Feathered Transformation Little Celestial Cycle and Spirit Transformation technique to such profound levels?"

"By rights, a Qi Gathering cultivator shouldn’t have the time or energy to master so many secret arts. Is she not of the younger generation, but an old monster in disguise?"

The Young Peng King took out a spiritual pearl, gazed through it, and after a moment of silence, announced, "She is seventeen years old."

It was precisely because Chu Xu was seventeen that she hadn’t been selected for the Grand Void team.

If she had been born three years earlier, her strength might not lose to Yi Ya now.

The Young Ape King knew his chances of victory were slim, but was still ready for a desperate struggle: "If you were at the ninth stage of Qi Gathering, with your mastery of four secret arts, I would turn and leave without contesting this battle."

"But you are only at the eighth stage."

"Unfortunately, my realm isn’t high enough to activate the true body of the ape demon, otherwise..."

The Young Ape King grabbed his own tail and yanked hard.

The ape’s tail was torn off alive!

Lu Wu was astonished.

"Are you trying to evolve into Super Saiyan One?"

The Young Ape King did not transform into Super Saiyan One, but after tearing off his tail, his body began to swell, blood energy surging, giving the illusion of a wild dragon.

Lu Wu scrutinized the stump where the tail had been torn off. Was it so casually detached? Did this fellow have a gecko’s tail regeneration skill?

The Young Ape King howled in agony, roaring as the wind from his mouth spiraled across the arena.

Yi Ya, widely knowledgeable, immediately saw the truth: "That tail is a seal, similar to the silent meditation technique."

"The Young Ape King’s clan has no tails; the tail itself is a cultivation achievement."

Lu Wu understood.

The tail was the Young Ape King’s seal, usually keeping his power at about eighty percent. When the day came to remove the tail, the energy stored through years of sealing could erupt all at once, achieving a state surpassing one hundred percent.

It was indeed akin to the silent meditation technique.

Chu Xu said, "I knew you weren’t limited to this level, but my Little Celestial Cycle is not so simple either."

Chu Xu flipped her right hand in the orchid seal, fingertips pointing skyward.

The orchid seal transformed into a Bodhisattva seal, the Feathered Transformation Little Celestial Cycle around her expanded threefold, the peach-pink currents grew several times denser.

Below the stage, the Young Peng King was shocked: "What! Her Feathered Transformation Little Celestial Cycle has reached the minor achievement stage? How is this possible—can a Qi Gathering cultivator achieve this?"

"How could a Qi Gathering cultivator have two secret arts perfected and two at minor achievement? Is she special, with more than twelve hours in a day? Even with talent, isn’t this too outrageous?"

"Does a Qi Gathering cultivator’s comprehension of Dao principles allow them to cultivate four secret arts simultaneously?"

The Young Flood Dragon King shook his head: "Brother Ape will lose; he cannot break through the defense, and will only be beaten. Too many wounds and blood loss—he can’t hold out."

"This Chu Xu’s talent is truly terrifying, to have cultivated Feathered Transformation Little Celestial Cycle to such a level."

Meanwhile, Yi Ya couldn’t help but sigh: "Unsurpassed, truly a master. In just three days, she brought Junior Sister’s Feathered Transformation Little Celestial Cycle to minor achievement! Unbelievable—her ability to teach disciples is even greater than the master!"

Hearing this, the disciples were stupefied.

"Three days? Minor achievement in Feathered Transformation Little Celestial Cycle? How is that possible!"

"Is this something a human can do?"

"This is not just surpassing the palace master, it’s outright crushing the palace master’s teaching ability!"

Yi Ya turned back: "What do you mean? As the master’s disciple, I’m not weak either."

A disciple replied, "Senior Brother, you’ve trained with the palace master for six years—Junior Sister Chu Xu has only trained with the master for three days!"

"Now that you mention it..." Yi Ya scratched his head. "The master is just too strong, truly perverse."

"Unmatched in teaching disciples!"