Chapter 37: Chapter 35 Deduction and Promotion_1
Gu Chen sat cross-legged on the bed, and as his thoughts moved, a panel appeared before his eyes.
Name: Gu Chen
Martial Arts: Iron Shirt Technique (perfection), Thirteen Grand Protectors' Horizontal Skill (perfection), Red Flame Palm (perfection), Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist (major achievement), Seal Meridian Finger, Phantom Traceless Step, Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship Skills
Internal Strength: Pure Yang Technique
Cultivation Age: 104 years
Stage: Initial phase of Meridian Opening Stage
Merit Points: 89
Among these, three low-grade martial arts including the Iron Shirt Technique had reached perfection, while the Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist had reached major achievement. The remaining three techniques had just been acquired today, and could not even be considered rudimentary.
After some contemplation, Gu Chen did not choose to directly enhance his martial arts but decided to first improve his cultivation. While martial arts were very important, cultivation was fundamental to a martial artist. Even if one's martial arts realm were high, without the corresponding cultivation to bolster it, one could not exhibit its full power.
Of course, likewise, if one's cultivation was sufficiently high but lacking appropriate martial arts, one might only be able to exert forty to fifty percent of one's full potential.
However, a good martial art could allow one's full potential to be exerted to 120 percent, or even higher.
Therefore, both cultivation stage and martial arts were complementary and extremely important to a martial artist.
Boom!
With another thought from Gu Chen, twenty merit points immediately vanished, transforming into corresponding internal strength cultivation which emerged within his body.
Now, the strength of Gu Chen's physical body had increased many times over compared to when he began and was fully capable of enduring the conversion of twenty years of cultivation to strengthen himself.
Like thunderous roars, the sounds resonated in Gu Chen's ears as his internal strength cultivation of 124 years circulated within him. In one fell swoop, he opened six meridians, the torrential internal strength raging through the newly accessed channels.
The seventh meridian was just a bit shy of being opened.
By now, he had opened twenty-two meridians in the Meridian Opening Stage, and his cultivation had finally advanced from the initial to the middle phase of the Meridian Opening Stage.
As the meridians within his body were opened, Gu Chen's physical strength also increased significantly, but a sense of fullness reemerged distinctly.
If a martial artist's body were compared to a container, then internal strength would be the water. The reason Gu Chen experienced this was primarily that he had too much "water" within him, which had filled the container of his body.
Therefore, to continue advancing his cultivation, it was necessary to increase the capacity of the container and make it more durable, to accommodate more internal strength.
If the physical body's strength was insufficient, then excess internal strength would not be an asset but a burden, capable of bursting his body.
Thus, following that, with another thought from Gu Chen, he raised the Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist to perfection.
Crackling!
Successive bursts of loud popping sounds came from all over his body, as if setting off firecrackers. His tendons underwent transformation, stretching and becoming more resilient; his bones vibrated slightly as they collided and expelled various impurities.
At this moment, Gu Chen felt like he was being electrocuted, with an intense itching sensation coming from all the joints in his body, akin to excruciating torture.
Gu Chen clenched his teeth and silently endured this extreme discomfort. After two quarters of an hour, the transformation finally ended.
During this period, his physical strength continued to increase. Once the transformation was complete, Gu Chen gently clenched his fist to feel the change. Martial artists had a strong control over their own bodies; without being intimately familiar with every part of their body, it was impossible to break through the Body Refining Stage and the Blood Refining Stage.
Having the Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist reach perfection added a full 10,000 jin of strength to Gu Chen!
Including his previous strength, Gu Chen now possessed a colossal force of twenty thousand jins, even without internal energy, relying only on his flesh and blood.
Of course, strength was just the most direct manifestation. Reaching perfection in Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist would enhance all aspects of the body, significantly increasing physical and endurance capabilities.
Gu Chen was overjoyed; he hadn't expected that achieving perfection in Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist would bring such a significant improvement. Of course, the main reason for this was that Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist was a Body Refining technique. If it were another martial art like Red Flame Palm, even reaching perfection wouldn't enhance the body's strength at all.
As he perfected Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist, the sensation of fullness in his body that Gu Chen had previously felt immediately disappeared.
Despite the huge increase in strength, it also cost a considerable amount of effort points.
To perfect Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist, Gu Chen had spent sixteen effort points, which was twice the amount when it reached major achievement!
This revelation alarmed Gu Chen. If a mid-grade martial art was already so demanding, he truly doubted whether all the effort points he had obtained this time would suffice to improve a high-grade martial art even just once.
Subsequently, Gu Chen accessed his panel to review the relevant information.
Name: Gu Chen
Martial Arts: Iron Shirt Technique (perfection, can deduce), Thirteen Grand Protectors' Horizontal Skill (perfection, can deduce), Red Flame Palm (perfection), Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist (perfection, can deduce), Seal Meridian Finger, Phantom Traceless Step, Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship Skills
Internal Technique: Pure Yang Technique
Cultivation: 124 years
Realm: Middle phase of the Channel-Opening Stage
Effort Points: 53
Merely two enhancements had already cost almost half of the effort points, once more making Gu Chen aware of the insufficiency of effort points.
At the same time, it made Gu Chen realize the importance of demons and ghosts. To others, demons and ghosts were a source of dread, but to Gu Chen, they were stepping stones, the more the better.
"It seems necessary to intensify the slaying of demons and ghosts," Gu Chen resolved in his heart. He would definitely take on more assignments at the Jing Tian Department in the future, to slay more demons and ghosts for his enhancement.
At this moment, Gu Chen suddenly noticed that behind the three martial arts, Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist, Iron Shirt Technique, and Thirteen Grand Protectors' Horizontal Skill, three extra words had appeared.
"Can deduce?" Gu Chen was somewhat astonished, and a conjecture emerged in his mind.
"To know if it is or isn't, I just need to try deducing!"
As soon as Gu Chen's thought moved, a large amount of martial knowledge appeared in his mind. This was all about the three martial art techniques, Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist, Iron Shirt Technique, and Thirteen Grand Protectors' Horizontal Skill.
Right after, this martial knowledge continuously blended and refined, discarding the dross and keeping the essence. Soon, a substantial amount of brand-new martial knowledge emerged.
"Is this a new martial art?"
Gu Chen absorbed this spontaneously appearing martial knowledge in his mind. As Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist was the highest grade among them, a mid-grade martial art, the new technique was based predominantly on Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist, integrating the strengths of Iron Shirt Technique and Thirteen Grand Protectors' Horizontal Skill, thereby deducing a completely new martial art.
This new martial art was named "Dragon's Chant Tiger's Roar Horizontal Training"!
"A high-grade martial art?!"
After absorbing this entirely new martial knowledge, Gu Chen was greatly shocked. Although he had never seen what a high-grade martial art looked like, the new martial art that had appeared in his mind was far more profound and complex than Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist by countless magnitudes. It obviously transcended the category of mid-grade martial arts.
Gu Chen also had not anticipated that the panel possessed such a function. Apart from increasing cultivation and enhancing the realm of martial arts, it could also deduce new martial arts.