"I am still too weak. Although i use my body to overwhelm my opponents, when considering only Qi and battle skills, im lacking." Thoughts flashed in Ye Mo's mind.
"It is primarily due to my incomplete combat system. I have no battle skills covering the defense, healing or investigative aspect. It might not be necessary for clan members or people fighting in groups but for a lone force like myself, this is fundamental."
In the wild or during a fight, there's many situations that requires different methods to overcome. Without a complete combat system, there's too many weaknesses that can be exploited.
On a mountain you could get ambushed by a pack of beasts that set out to hunt, at the time you sense them it would already be too late. Without a good investigative battle skill, you can easily fall into danger and lose your life without even mentionning defense or healing.
"The second problem is that i progressed too fast. Through various means i achieved the 6th layer of the Qi gathering realm in 6 months but with my talent, it would usually take several years."
"The Wind Flow battle skill that i obtained before cultivating should have been able to last me even longer but at my level it's already starting to become insufficient. This is only a low-tier battle skill and even coupled with my natural speed, the result is barely acceptable currently."
"At the same time, i am now fighting powerful Qi Gathering realm cultivators using mid and high-tier Yellow Class battle skills and they will keep becoming stronger."
"If the level of my battle skills doesn't grow along my cultivation, i am bound to taste defeat at some point."
In this world, defeat often came followed by death.
His cultivation was advancing at a fast pace, his enemies grew stronger as well and his aspirations surpassed everything. If his battle strength wasn't progressing with the rest and he couldn't gain better battle skills to match his cultivation, his dream would remain as such.
"When i reach the 8th layer, i will have the right to pick a high-tier battle skill. Hopefully if i can cultivate in the second floor of the pagoda, i will have shown my value to the higher-ups and will gain another entry to the battle skill tower!"
For small and mid-sized clans like the Liu clan, low and mid-tier battle skills was all they could learn for most members and they were contented with it. Joining an institute was simply a luxury very few people could enjoy and high or peak-tier battle skills were simply too rare to even think about it.
However Ye Mo had great ambitions, how could he be satisfied with only this much? Even a peak-tier Yellow class battle skill would only be a temporary measure before he could get his hands on something better and his other martial arts were no different.
In his dantian, wisps of Qi were formed at an astounding pace.
Qi was the source of power and battle skills were the way to unleash it.
With a profound cultivation but low battle skills you couldn't exhibit your true strength but with powerful battle skills and a weak cultivation you couldn't bear the price to use them.
Both came in pair and none of them could be neglected.
At some point during his cultivation, Ye Mo suddenly stood up and picked tissues out of his pouch that he ripped in four and used to cover the light crystals on the walls.
The room immediately turned dim and only parts of the wall in the direct surroundings of the light crystals benefited from their brightness.
When he was done covering all four of them, Ye Mo returned to the center of the room and sat down.
Because he lacked powerful battle skills, he would use this time to further his comprehension of the only one that still had much room for improvement.
Using the darkness surrounding him, he was increasing his mastery of Shadow Walk!
Ye Mo was trying to multitask, cultivating and reaching the second phase of Shadow Walk simultaneously but it was truly hard!
It was the same as trying to write two different things with both hands at the same time, this required extreme concentration, separating your soul in two.
He could only hold it for less than a second at first before without realizing it, his mind would focus on either cultivating or Shadow Walk, casting the other aside.
Ye Mo didn't get discouraged but immediately tried again instead. He knew it would be hard to split his spirit in two but no human was born perfect, if you wanted to achieve something, you had to put the efforts to it.
He repeated this process for days and weeks, at first failing and trying again hundreds of times a day but slowly, his tries lessened as he could hold on for several seconds then even a minute!
He didn't know when was day and night in the room but after a few hours of attempts, his body would be full of perspiration and his spirit severely exhausted.
Waves of nausea assaulted him constantly and only after rest and sleep would he recover enough to try again, multitasking to the best of his abilities.
Nonetheless, splitting your mind in two wasn't something that could be mastered in the short term and after a month, Ye Mo could only hold it for a few minutes at best.
He opened his eyes when the light crystals stopped illuminating the room and the dense Qi gradually receded.
Outside, three Liu clan cultivators were sitting in front of the door waiting.
"Sigh, it's been a month since he got in, how much gold coins did he put that he is still not out?"
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"I have never seen someone staying behind closed doors for so long, has he really been cultivating all this time?"
"Hmph, you wish! He probably just put all his economies inside to stay the longest possible in the room and escape Li Qiang. He must be cowering in fear as we're talking right now."
"No matter what i only want him to leave already, i will go crazy if i have to wait for another month sitting in this place!"
Each Li clan member expressed their frustration and weariness loudly.
Because it was Li Qiang's orders, they had to wait in front of the room for a whole month. All this time wasted could have been used to further their cultivation, train battle skills or just enjoy life.
Instead they were forced to be here looking at this plain stone door for nothing.
Of course they couldn't take it out on their young master so they turned their hostility towards Ye Mo as their dislike quickly developed into hatred.
At this moment, the door suddenly started rumbling as it slide to one side, gradually revealing the interior.
"Finally, the dog leaves his nest!"
"You're done for!"
"Don't forget to warn Li Qiang once he has been apprehended."
The Li clan members were thrilled as they stood up and circulated their Qi.
Yet, the door only opened for a quarter that a silhouette flew out of the room in a flash and aimed a fist at the first one on his way.
The Li clan member targeted was so flustered he hurriedly tried to use a defensive battle skill as scales grew on his skin.
However the scales barely had the time to take form that Ye Mo's fist connected with the Li clan member's body.
The scales on his body directly broke as he was sent rolling across the hall before he stopped unconscious against another closed room a distance away.
Although Ye Mo didn't see Li Qiang post members to monitor him as he was already in the room at that time, he was sure people were waiting for him outside.
For what reason?
Because that's exactly what he would have done at his place.
Li Qiang already nourished great hatred and made his mind to kill him, but he was the young master of the Li clan and a respected cultivator.
Had he nothing better to do than wait for Ye Mo for an undetermined time? Even if that was the case he would absolutely never lower himself to such a thing so evidently he would use the various henchmen following him everywhere to carry his will.
This was the most logical and coherent decision in this situation.
Ye Mo, thinking so, rose up and when the door was open just enough to let his body slip by, he rushed out and carried a surprise attack on the nearest person standing on his way.
If there was truly no one waiting for him so be it but if it was the case he would be able to swiftly take care of one of them right from the start!
Without wasting any time, Ye Mo moved like a gale; He was not rushing towards the outside but rather climbing the stairs, aiming at the second floor as soon as he was done cultivating in the first one!
"Stop right there!" Another Li clan member that was posted in front of his room quickly used a movement related battle skill, leaving his comrade behind as he went after Ye Mo with outstanding speed.
He caught up with Ye Mo in no time as he brought the fight on the stairs, indubitably, his movement battle skill was of much better quality than his.
Ye Mo seeing this turned around and sent a wave of Cyclone Kick.
The speed of his attacks was so fast the Li clan member had no time to dodge so he created a water barrier in front of him that met the kicks and reduced both their strength and speed greatly.
Using this chance after he nullified Ye Mo's counter attack, the Li clan member's fist turned black like obsidian as he attacked his opponent with all his strength.
Ye Mo met the fist head on with a Stone Breaking Punch.
The stalemate lasted for less than a second before the Li clan member shrieked! His arm broke as he was sent tumbling on the stairs, accumulating his injuries until he fell all the way down in his own blood.
He surpassed his foe in terms of speed and he also had a defensive battle skill but in terms of attacking power, Ye Mo was still clear.
By himself, this Li clan member had no chance to stop him and the last one remaining who saw the scene unfolding without being able to arrive in time knew it as he dashed with all his strength out of the pagoda to warn the heir of his clan.
The assignment given by Li Qiang was to warn him once Ye Mo leaves the room but of course it also implied you had to stop him from going anywhere, that's why he left three 7th layer cultivators behind, but now that it clearly wasn't feasible, the last member would at least carry the original task.
When Li Qiang intervened a month ago he only saw Liu Sen flying away and Ye Mo standing there with very weak Qi fluctuations meaning his Qi was nearly exhausted.
This hint gave Li Qiang the assurance that their fight was a close call and Ye Mo could barely beat a 7th layer cultivator so three of them should be more than enough.
How could he know the latter only had very low reserves of Qi at that time?
Ye Mo didn't stop the Li clan member from warning his young master.
He and Li Qiang were of no interest to him.
After one month of cultivation, he reached the peak of the 6th layer and had no shortage of Qi anymore, his dark eyes were now set towards the second floor as he climbed unperturbed.