High-Martial World: System Arrives 30 Years Late-Chapter 174 - 158: Giant Memories, a Cultivation Technique Beyond Human Martial Arts
Perhaps it’s feasible!
Su Mu’s gaze burned as he looked at the golden blood pool before him. Two or three days surely wouldn’t be enough, but he’d do his best. Starting is always the hardest; achieving entry with the Fixed Star Body Refinement Technique here is already a great fortune.
Immediately, he took a deep breath to calm his excitement.
"Actually, I still have some blood cores on hand."
"Some might not be enough..."
The voice abruptly stopped, and Tantai Yan blinked several times. A pile of blood cores, as large as a small mountain, appeared out of thin air beside her.
"Is this enough?"
Tantai Yan glanced at the blood cores, then at Su Mu’s face, which couldn’t hide his astonishment. Wasn’t there over a thousand here?
Did Su Mu spend all those missing days solely focused on hunting Fierce Beasts?
At this moment, she did not know that a thousand blood cores were only a part of what Su Mu had in his ring, about one-fifth of the total.
Not receiving an immediate answer, Su Mu thought the blood cores weren’t enough and quickly added another sentence. But just as he spoke, he noticed Tantai Yan’s shocked expression out of the corner of his eye, and immediately changed his tune.
"This is just a part... I have quite a few Space Rings from the Alien Race, and they contain a lot of blood cores."
Upon hearing this, Tantai Yan suddenly realized, with a look of admiration and gratitude in her eyes. Su Mu had ventured alone into the Alien Race’s base camp and captured quite a few of them. The Aliens must have collected many blood cores to open the Relic Tower, and now they all belonged to Su Mu.
"What should we do?"
"The blood core itself is the condensed essence of a Fierce Beast’s Qi and Blood... Perhaps grind the blood core into powder for dilution?" Tantai Yan spoke quietly, her voice somewhat uncertain.
"Okay, since there are plenty of blood cores, let’s give it a try first." Su Mu said with a smile.
"Alright!"
Su Mu took out the Fifth Level Small Shield from his Space Ring to use as a hammer. Seeing this, Tantai Yan immediately took out her Large Shield and patted it.
"Smash it on top of this."
Seeing the shield, Su Mu was momentarily stunned, his expression a bit peculiar, but Tantai Yan’s face was full of anticipation.
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing."
Clang, clang, clang.
Su Mu raised and lowered the shield, turning ten blood cores into powder. As the blood core powder was sprinkled into the blood, Tantai Yan leaned in with curiosity and nervousness.
Sizzle.
The scalding hot golden blood immediately dissolved the blood core powder, constantly making hissing sounds, and in an instant, the golden blood had swallowed the red completely; the Giant’s Blood was overwhelmingly dominant.
"How about... another ten?"
Su Mu nodded, agreeing with this.
After another ten blood core powders were added, the gold and red mingled to form a vortex, but the gold still held absolute dominance.
"Another ten."
When fifty blood core powders were added, the gold turned subdued, and the blood in the vessel began a deep fusion, eventually becoming an exceptionally bright red blood tinged with gold.
"Let me try!"
Su Mu lifted the vessel and took a sip. The blood was scalding hot like magma as it entered his mouth, and in an instant, the pure Qi and Blood exploded within him. Without uttering a word, Su Mu immediately entered a cultivation state.
In the state of introspection, the sea of blood roared and churned.
The five Qi Blood Bridges spanning it stood immovable like Heaven-Supporting Jade Pillars, and his Five Viscera began to operate frantically. With the Five Viscera, the five bridges began to run at high speed.
Thud, thud, thud.
The heart in Su Mu’s chest beat like a war drum, though far from reaching the Giant’s heartbeat’s momentum, it resonated throughout his body, and Tantai Yan beside him could hear it clearly, the beating sound echoing in the cave and lingering.
Following this, the sound of surging waves responded.
This startled Tantai Yan, her eyes widening in surprise, then contracting sharply when the sound of waves reached its peak.
Faintly, a golden Giant was taking form behind Su Mu.
"Martial Arts Golden Body... This is something only Grandmaster-level Martial Artists can grasp, and a Martial Arts Golden Body Phenomenon appeared while Su Mu was cultivating."
Tantai Yan trembled slightly from excitement and shock. Having a Martial Arts Golden Body Phenomenon during cultivation meant that Su Mu was already approaching the Grandmaster level in some aspects.
Was it Qi and Blood or Sword Momentum?
"It should be... the Sword Momentum?"
Unaware, Su Mu, with his eyes tightly closed, was oblivious to the fact that the volume of the "Fixed Star Body Refining Technique" in his Space Ring was slightly trembling, seemingly resonating with the heart in the Bronze Basin.
In the state of introspection, Qi and Blood surged within Su Mu, and he could also sense a peculiar Spiritual Power, or rather, an indomitable will.
This will, as Tantai Yan predicted, posed no threat to him and presented itself as scattered memory fragments in Su Mu’s mind.
"Perhaps the inscriptions on the Bronze Basin and heart remove the danger of Spiritual Power... Was this intentionally done by someone?"
The memory fragments formed a barren battlefield, with the ground gently trembling in the scene, bones scattered everywhere. But not ordinary bones covered the battlefield, all were the bones of Giants...
In an instant, Su Mu, in cultivation, shivered violently—even such mighty Giants could be slaughtered?!
Who were the enemies of the Giants?
Not long after, Su Mu lightly exhaled, eyes brimming with ecstasy.
"The diluted blood has about ten times the effect of the Spirit Marrow!"
"Ten times the Spirit Marrow?!" Tantai Yan exclaimed, evidently shocked beyond her expectations.
"That’s right."
Even Su Mu was quite taken aback, but that was the truth—a small sip had instantly allowed him to condense more than thirty drops of Condensed Blood.
"How much time has passed?"
"Less than half an hour... about twenty minutes or so?"
"Twenty minutes?!"
Su Mu looked shocked, in twenty minutes he had condensed more than thirty drops of blood. It seems he underestimated the effect of this blood; it’s likely far more than just ten times the Spirit Marrow.
Initially, when he refined Spirit Marrow in the Gravity Cultivation Room, it took about seven minutes to condense one drop of blood. Later, as the Breathing Technique and the reconstruction of the Five Viscera and Qi Blood Bridge progressed, his condensation speed continuously increased.
But breaking through the one-minute barrier directly was truly astounding!
At this moment, Su Mu attributed everything to the diluted blood before him, but he underestimated the terrifying enhancement in his cultivation efficiency after mastering the Breathing Technique.
Now, even without cultivating or using any external force, he could accumulate more than thirty drops of condensed blood daily, whereas it initially took Su Mu at least three hours to condense a single drop!
"Let me have a sip!"
"Don’t drink too much."
Tantai Yan was very expectant, immediately taking a small sip from the vessel beside Su Mu. Su Mu was slightly startled, but since Tantai Yan didn’t think much about it, why should he care about such small details?
During Tantai Yan’s digestion process, Su Mu did not continue cultivating; he took out the half-piece of "Fixed Star Body Refining Technique" and started pondering it, all the while keeping an eye on Tantai Yan’s cultivation progress.
Initially, Tantai Yan trembled all over, and only felt better after twenty minutes; what she drank was about a third of Su Mu’s amount, but it took her more than an hour to digest fully.
"It’s painful, the process is tormenting... but I still want more!"
"Did you encounter any memory fragments during your cultivation?"
"Memory fragments?" Tantai Yan shook her head.
Perhaps Tantai Yan drank less than he did, and the memory fragments relate to the amount of blood refined each time?
"Continue."
"Alright."
With experience from before, this time Su Mu directly took a large gulp, which startled Tantai Yan, turning her face pale. Even the small sip before made her feel like she was about to burst like an overfilled balloon.
But Su Mu was unperturbed and nowhere near his limit!
"Such powerful Qi and blood; could it be that Su Mu’s greatest strength is not the Sword Momentum... but rather his Qi and blood?"
After confirming Su Mu could withstand it, Tantai Yan also took a small sip and went into cultivation.
With a gulp of fresh blood, this time Su Mu began to attempt the first cultivation move in the Fixed Star Body Refining Technique. The cultivation moves of the Fixed Star Body Refining Technique are far more complex and mysterious compared to the Qi Blood Cultivation Technique.
After several failures, borrowing the Nameless Meditation Technique’s insight, Su Mu finally managed to pose himself in an incomparably awkward posture.
"Eh, it’s not as difficult as imagined!"
No time for extended musings, the moment the first move succeeded, Su Mu felt an electric current surge through his body, coursing unprecedentedly through every limb and vein.
Every inch of flesh and every cell felt indescribably gratified, an experience he never had since cultivating the Qi Blood Cultivation Technique!
"It’s effective; this blood can indeed be used for cultivating the Fixed Star Body Refining Technique, and the results are excellent!"
Just then, strange memory fragments resurfaced in his mind, and even more bizarre events unfolded.
Su Mu found himself in the midst of a battlefield, transformed into one of the Giants.
...
Su Mu and Tantai Yan had yet to show up, while the remaining human martial artists, after hunting Fierce Beasts for Blood Cores, together opened the southern side tower that the alien race couldn’t open.
"I didn’t expect to have another opportunity to enter the Relic Tower this time!" Everyone was extremely excited.
Of course, they wouldn’t forget that they owed this chance to the presence of Su Mu on their side.
Everyone entered the Relic Tower in batches, leaving people behind to guard the alien captives.
"Inside the Relic Tower, there’s a small Blood Pool. I persisted for twenty minutes, and it felt like the bottleneck at the Fifth Level Peak loosened. Originally, I thought it would take me half a year to break through, but now I feel it won’t take half a month."
"Well, you’re really lucky. The Blood Pool’s temperature was too high for me, and I only lasted twenty-five minutes. My Qi and blood only increased by about five hundred calories."
"Bragging again, huh?"
"But I wonder where the blood in the Blood Pool comes from. I vaguely heard a ’thump,’ and then some new blood appeared in it."
"That’s right, I heard that sound too."
Among them, Lin Ying gained the most, completing a minor blood change in the Blood Pool, significantly increasing the purity of his Qi blood.
"With the increased Qi blood purity, my strength should increase by about twenty percent. I wonder if Su Mu and Tantai Yan are doing well?"
Lin Ying knew that the achievements of Su Mu and Tantai Yan were likely even more astounding because they entered the main hall beyond the Bronze Gate, whereas they opened merely the southern side tower!
In the meantime, the alien race watched the human martial artists entering and exiting the Relic Tower repeatedly, enhancing their strength through the Relic Tower. Every time they emerged, their vital spirits were revitalized, making the aliens envious.
Within just a few days, the strength of the human martial artists had a notable improvement, with many even breaking through their boundaries right in the Land of Ruins.
Time flew by, and soon three days had passed.
The Land of Ruins space rumbled, and soon a Space Gate opened. Yet, no one hurried to leave, as they were all waiting for those two figures deeper within.
Only when the Space Gate showed signs of closing did Lin Ying speak solemnly.
"Let’s go... I trust Su Mu and Tantai Yan; they will be fine."
"Indeed, Su Mu’s strength is formidable. No one in the Qi Blood Secret Realm can match him!"
...
Inside the cave, Su Mu’s eyes opened wide with ecstatic joy, ignoring the cave’s slight tremors, which he merely attributed to the throbbing of the heart.
"The Fixed Star Body Refining Technique is likely the cultivation method of the Relic Giants!"
"Using the memory fragments, I can temporarily transform into a Giant, thus speeding up the Fixed Star Body Refining Technique’s cultivation... Now, I’ve fully achieved mastery over the first cultivation move!"
Su Mu took a deep breath, striking the first pose, then activated the Fixed Star Body Refining Technique.
Along with the technique’s operation, Su Mu transitioned through several postures, with each cultivation move featuring numerous variations, something the Qi Blood Cultivation Technique did not possess in depth.
Soon, the electric shock sensation enveloped him once more, resuming in full force; the more intense the reaction during cultivation, the more apparent and effective the results were!
"Just one cultivation move had such an effect."
"The Fixed Star Body Refining Technique’s effect is probably dozens of times that of the Qi Blood Cultivation Technique. In foundational cultivation techniques, the martial arts of the Relic Giants are stronger than those of human martial artists!"
"Once I get the technique down, if I incorporate it back into the Breathing Technique, then the improvement in the Breathing Technique’s cultivation efficiency will be horrifying, by multiples!"
Thinking this made Su Mu’s breathing extremely rapid, his heart filled with fiery fervor.
