Chapter 183 - Elixir Sky Tower
Inside the Elixir Sky Tower…
Yaan sat within the chamber located at the peak of the tower. This was the only room within the tower, the lower portion of the tower was simply part of the formation used to amplify the spiritual pressure and gravity in the upper chamber.
If he used his illusion dao comprehension to assist him, resisting this pressure would be too easy for Yaan. However, there was no reason for him to do something like that; Yaan was using this pressure to draw out the power contained within the heart fire elixir, he needed to struggle under the pressure, using his body and cultivation to resist!
At this point, it was clear that Yaan’s dao comprehension was far beyond his cultivation level. For others at Rank 4, dao comprehension was merely a supplement to their abilities, but Yaan’s dao comprehension granted him a level of strength far beyond his cultivation base.
This was a very strange situation to be in.
Most cultivators would try to improve their dao comprehension so that they could showcase their abilities to their full potential, but Yaan needed to create new techniques which were suitable for his immortal stage dao comprehension!
This was quite a nice problem to have though, Yaan was not complaining about this.
Yaan recognised his deficiencies, though rather than deficiencies, he saw these things as areas with the potential for rapid improvement.
His dao comprehension was at the immortal stage, this was naturally an immortal level ability. He had very little practise in using this ability, whilst his techniques were lagging behind. As for his cultivation, this was obviously even further behind, but that was why he was cultivating in the Elixir Sky Tower presently.
Yaan did not waste his time within the cultivation chamber. His body would process the elixir’s power no matter what form of exercise he used to exert himself, but it was more efficient to multi-task, practising his techniques within the tower.
Beginning with the basics, Yaan started to show the Agile Sword Art. This was the sword art that he had known for the longest, it had a big influence over his combat style since he had trained and practised this technique for so long now.
However, Yaan’s understanding of this sword art was incomplete. With his intelligence and his understanding of sword arts, he could probably deduce the later stages by now, but that was not the best use of his time.
At this point, even when Yaan used the ‘Agile Sword Art’ in battle, he was not truly using this sword art in its pure form, but a variant art that he had adapted over time to suit his own style of battle. This variant art was incomplete, it contained aspects of the Agile Sword Art, aspects of various other sword arts that Yaan had practised over the years, as well as his own adaptations to bring everything together.
This was essentially how most sword arts were developed. Every cultivator who practised sword arts would begin by studying the techniques of their predecessors, but eventually, they would make alterations to these techniques to suit their own needs. Over time, their art would transform further and further, adding in other bits and pieces that they picked up from elsewhere, until the art became something completely unrecognisable compared to what it once was.
Yaan’s Agile Illusion Art was a bit like this, but it was also different. He had created two stages in the Agile Illusion Art thus far, each of which was a single step, a single move. This sort of sword art was not a complete comprehensive battle art, but a series of moves developed throughout the creator’s life.
Sword arts could be split into two categories. Arts such as the Agile Sword Art, which included a full comprehensive battle system to be applied to all general combat situations, were called ‘general sword arts’. Those like the Agile Illusion Art, where each stage was defined by a single, powerful move, were called ‘specific sword arts’.
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Yaan already had his own specific sword art, and now, he was in the process of developing his own general sword art. General sword arts were not as flashy and shocking compared to specific sword arts, but they were no less important. In fact, they were probably even more important!
Yaan slowly phased from using the Agile Sword Art, into using his own variation sword art. He focussed mainly on the footwork for now, moving across the ground like a spring breeze, rapidly but gently.
At first, he avoided using his dao of illusions ability altogether, but eventually, he began to incorporate this dao manipulation into his movements. He did not use this dao manipulation to resist the pressure in the chamber, but utilised the dao of illusions to increase the mystery behind each of his movements.
Before long, Yaan was dripping with sweat and panting for breath. Both the gravity and spiritual pressure here were too much for a 4-Star body temperer to handle, even Yaan with his Vital Qi Core realm cultivation struggled to move about agilely like this. After just a few minutes, his body felt like it was on fire…
As the burning sensation filled his muscles, a second burning feeling poured in from his blood vessels. Yaan’s eyes lit up and he quickly began moving once again, keeping half of his focus pointed inwards, watching his internal condition.
The deeper his exhaustion grew, the more burning vitality was extracted from the heart fire elixir. This feeling of vitality was particularly strong within his heart, in fact, Yaan was sure that his heart would benefit greatly from using this elixir!
He continued to train, practising his sword arts with increasing difficulty. When his body began to tremble due to muscular exhaustion, and moving became difficult, Yaan urged his psyche power to assist his ongoing training, until he finally hit the floor and could no longer move. As he felt his consciousness blurring and the elixir’s flaming vitality stormed into his body to rapidly recover his exhaustion, Yaan’s eye lids began to droop…
Then in the next instant, his eyes shot open and he calmly got to his feet.
“Hmm…so illusions can also be used like this.” Yaan muttered to himself, feeling a bit surprised by his finding.
Even when he was on the verge of passing out due to exhaustion, he could create the illusion of alertness within himself, allowing him to return to near peak condition in an instant!
However there was no such thing as infinite energy in this world, this power came at a price.
“The truth is, my body is still completely exhausted. This is similar to how psyche power can be used to force the body to go on, even when it’s about to break down…the illusion does not recover my energy, it simply allows me to ignore the exhaustion temporarily. Eventually, I will need to rest, and if I continue to push myself whilst in this state, the accumulated exhaustion will be many times worse in the end…”
Thinking this, Yaan’s eyes shone with a joyous light.
It might sound bad, pushing on until his exhaustion reached unprecedented levels, but this was exactly what he needed right now! Elixirs only exhibited an effect when the body was in a state of exhaustion. When the body was more exhausted, the effect of the elixir also became greater.
If Yaan could push himself beyond the normal mortal limit, he might be able to extract more power from the heart fire elixir than anyone else had ever done before!
Of course, if an immortal had ever trained using this elixir, they could likely achieve the same thing. But why would an immortal train using a mortal elixir in the first place?
Yaan was stepping into unknown territory, but that only caused the blazing flame within his expectant gaze to burn even brighter.
He continued to push himself further within the Elixir Sky Tower, exhausting his body beyond its limits. Both his mind and body were completely worn down at this point, but the ripples of illusion around him permitted Yaan to train as if he was in near-peak condition.
Despite his desire to go on, he was careful not to push himself too far this time, because he knew that overexerting himself too excessively would lead to him falling into a deep sleep, perhaps for multiple months. Because of this, Yaan stopped as soon as he started feeling waves of dizziness assaulting him. At this point, he immediately lay down to recuperate.
Yaan was also being cautious for another reason.
The mysterious golden elixir!
Back in the 4th trial realm, the old man who called himself ‘Old Thief’ forced Yaan to consume a strange golden elixir. The effect of this elixir seemed to be quite mild, but it lasted for a shocking period of time, whilst its range of regenerative effects was truly astounding. Even though none of the effects of this elixir appeared to be overly intense, it was actually able to assist Yaan with the restoration of his dantian back then…this was the only external resource that had ever helped his dantian to recover!
Even now, more than three years later, the golden elixir’s power lingered within Yaan’s body. Generally speaking, consuming multiple elixirs together was considered wasteful and reckless, because the resultant effect could be unpredictable.
Well, Yaan had no idea how much longer this golden elixir would remain within him, so he could only brave the danger and hope for the best. The heart fire elixir, despite being the Rising Sun Tribe’s most powerful elixir, was nothing extreme for Yaan, he considered it to be a good test to see if there were any interactions with the golden elixir.
Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any negative interaction…in fact, even though it was subtle, Yaan felt certain that the golden elixir was actually amplifying the efficacy of the heart fire elixir!
This discovery, along with his realised ability of using the dao of illusions to further his elixir cultivation, gave Yaan hope for the future of his cultivation.
It wasn’t often that he felt that his future was bright, but Yaan would not allow himself to grow complacent. Whenever things started going well for him, he was reminded of the various mysteries surrounding his very life, immediately quenching his optimism.
Since his future road of cultivation seemed to be clear, he would not slow down and relax. Instead, he would charge forwards at full speed, taking advantage of this brief period of respite, building up his strength to deal with whatever difficulties might lie in the future.