In my twilight years of cultivating, I became a Supreme Daoist of the Longevity Path

Chapter 26: 023: The Difference between Martial and Dao!

(Need 3k monthly tickets)_1 Chapter 26: 023: The Difference between Martial and Dao!

(Need 3k monthly tickets)_1 The power manifested by the Finger Flicking Skill had startled Chen Dengming.

He quickly moved closer to inspect the aftermath.

The rock wall seemed to have been hit by a powerful bullet, carving a hole around two inches deep.

Given the hardness of this rock wall, even a crossbow would struggle to shoot an arrow this deep.

Moreover, the hole bore spiral patterns created by the Qi, showcasing that the power was very concentrated, the destructive capability was considerable.

...

“If I were to perform the Finger Flicking Skill with my Innate True Qi, I’d barely make a slight dent in this wall.

The power of my Qi is less by at least ten-fold…”

Chen Dengming was taken aback.

The power of Spiritual Energy indeed exceeded that of Innate True Qi by far.

The Finger Flicking Skill was just one technique in his martial art system that primarily focused on pressure point attacks and not on heavy damage.

But now when performed using Spiritual Energy, it could cause a person’s brain to explode.

Was this the strength of a cultivator?

He had just broken through to the first level of Qi Cultivation.

Chen Dengming was feeling an unusual excitement, looking forward to becoming stronger in the future.

But, after pondering for a while, he frowned.

Performing the Finger Flicking Skill just once consumed about ten percent of his body’s Spiritual Energy.

This energy consumption…

seemed a bit too much.

Or perhaps, he still had too little Spiritual Energy inside him.

Using ten percent of his Spiritual Energy just to flick a finger, how was he supposed to bring out his forty-meter-long sword?

If he were to perform the Finger Flicking Skill using Innate True Qi, he could do it hundreds of times without even breaking a sweat, because the energy recovery speed of Innate True Qi was very fast and its potency was sufficient.

However, now, when performing martial arts with Spiritual Energy, not only was the consumption higher, the recovery of Spiritual Energy was almost negligible…

“Did I just gather too much energy?”

“Or is it that the ‘Three Elements Gathering Spirit Skill’ is too weak, when it comes to the speed of energy recovery compared to the martial art techniques I’ve learned…

“I need to do more research!”

Upon encountering this new power, Chen Dengming brimmed with enthusiasm and took out the tier one Daoist technique he had acquired during the Ascension Meeting.

He planned to conduct a comprehensive research from martial arts to Daoist techniques.

Investigating the differences between the two, adopting the essence and discarding the useless, and integrating to devise a new ‘Cultivator Combat Scheme’ best suited to himself.

…

While Chen Dengming was researching his new combat approach,

Luo Bing of the Luo Family was in a rotten mood, and the servants attending her felt nervous and cautious.

At this time, Xi’er, her favorite and most trusted personal maid, tiptoed into the room.

She glanced at the figure lying on the redwood recliner and nervously reported, “Miss, this time…

it failed again…”

“Hmm…

I see…”

Luo Bing’s voice was cool, sounding like the sands pouring into the pot, seemingly unconcerned, but her troubled brow gave her away.

She lazily half laid and half sat on the recliner, casting a glance at Xi’er with her fluid, black eyes, and huffed.

“How much material have been wasted already?”

Xi’er stuck her little tongue out, pretending to be scared, and said, “In the last three months, we have collected fifteen sets of materials, thirteen have been wasted, we only have two sets left.”

Luo Bing’s beautiful eyebrows knotted.

She gracefully rose and walked towards the door.

Her wonderful curves stirred the hearts of onlookers.

She glanced at the numerous dead insects scattered outside and asked, “How are the results of the bounty hunt?”

Xi’er showed an angry expression, “We still haven’t found that commoner surnamed Chen.

Recently, there was some audacious loose cultivator who dared to claim that he understands Gu Skills.

I thought he really did.

But when he appeared, he only knew some insect dispelling techniques.

I severely punished a few of them.

Now, no one dares to fake it.”

Luo Bing indifferently said, “Have you heard that this commoner is being hunted by a Loose Cultivator?”

Xi’er nodded, “Miss, do you think that this commoner might already be dead?

He either died in the wilderness, or was secretly killed by that loose cultivator named Qian Yuan.”

Luo Bing shook her head, “It’s possible that he died in the wilderness.

But if that Loose Cultivator had killed this commoner, he wouldn’t keep it a secret.

He would’ve declared it loudly by now.”

“Then…”

Xi’er’s big eyes looked tentatively at Luo Bing while sighing inwardly.

She felt her ladyship was somewhat infatuated with Gu Skills or perhaps her competitive streak had kicked in, refusing to quit until the Golden Silkworm Gu was refined.

But this Gu was indeed very difficult to refine.

According to Luo Bing, the commoner who had given her the Gu Skill might have been able to assist her.

Hence, after making unsuccessful attempts to find him through people sent on the pretense of buying materials, she had offered a bounty in the area where the Loose Cultivators gathered.

However, due to concerns about her reputation and status, she didn’t make it explicit that she was looking for a commoner, adopting instead an approach that invited willing parties.

The catch was that the commoner ended up in trouble and escaped from the Loose Cultivators’ gathering place, thereby all but disappearing, rendering the bounty futile.@@novelbin@@

“Add a reward to the bounty.

Whoever can help me refine the Golden Silkworm Gu will be rewarded with a hundred pieces of low-grade spirit crystals, and given the privilege to stay in the Luo Family Mountain city for a hundred days.”

Luo Bing waved her hand, sounding nonchalant.

The reason she was so stubborn about refining the Gu, was because she had recognized its value.

While Gu Dao was a minor pathway in cultivation, it was also due to its obscurity that Gu Skills were little known, making them hard to defend against during battles.

She speculated that the commoner was able to instantly kill a cultivator by relying on Gu poison.

However, ordinary Gu worms and Gu poisons were useless to her, only the Golden Silkworm Gu had some effect.

Yet, the Golden Silkworm Gu was exceptionally hard to refine.

As per her inquiries, none of the Daoist comrades from the Ascension Meeting had yet managed to refine the Golden Silkworm Gu, as if there was some kind of secret in Gu refining that they were yet to comprehend.

Or perhaps, they hadn’t delved deep enough into Gu refining techniques.

…

“Qingqiu Mad Dragon——”

A fierce, surging blade Qi, at least a meter in length, rolled forward explosively.

A thunderous blast echoed, followed directly by the splitting of a massive rock on the cliff opposite by the fierce, surging blade Qi, creating a deep trench in the ground.

The cleaved rock collapsed on both sides.

“Huff huff——”

Chen Dengming was panting heavily, looking at the cleaved rock; the cut was as smooth as a mirror, demonstrating the brutality and sharpness of the blade.

In terms of damage potential, this blade Qi unleashed through spiritual energy was at least ten times stronger than the one he used to display with his Innate True Qi.

Had the blade Qi been launched by Innate True Qi, its length would have sufficed, but the Qi would only have slitted a deep trench in the rock; directly cleaving a meter-high rock was impossible.

Today, although the blade Qi was shorter, it had become much stronger.

He might still be able to break through a cultivator’s defensive talismans and charms barrier, like the golden bell qi shield.

However, this blade also consumed too much spiritual energy.

One chop generated a mere meter-long blade Qi, consuming about 70% of the spiritual energy within Chen Dengming’s body.

At most, he could only release one chop.

If he tried to extend the Qi blade, he wouldn’t be able to release even one.

“No wonder…

after becoming a cultivator, everyone only uses Daoism, and hardly anyone uses spiritual energy to drive martial arts.

One reason is that people largely stopped practicing martial arts due to some environmental factors and the lack of sophisticated techniques.

Another reason is that it consumes too much energy…”

“Daoism and martial arts are two entirely different paths of combat.

Daoism uses the spiritual energy within the body as a medium to leverage nature’s spiritual energy, and uses a fraction of the power to output ten times the damage.

The mantra is the password to mobilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Martial arts solely tap into one’s own abilities to output damage.

While there are techniques like ‘using four taels to move a thousand catties’, they are still no match for the straightforward use of nature’s spiritual energy in Daoism…”

Chen Dengming took out a book and started flipping through it.

Four major characters were written on the cover.

It wasn’t The Art of War by Sun Tzu, but “Big Fireball Skill”.

This was the simplest, first tier Daoism.

But its destructive power was not to be underestimated.

Chen Dengming used a rather clumsy method to start cultivating the spiritual energy and creating the sign.

As his fingers formed the sign, his spiritual energy seemed to intertwine with the many energies outside his body like a thread.

With his hand gesture changes, numerous spiritual energies around his body were controlled like threads.

His spiritual energy thread leveraged them.

Gradually, a mass of spiritual energy, comparable to the total amount of his inner spiritual energy, tangled together outside his body.

The air seemed to become manic.

An oppressive spiritual might accompanied the red spiritual energy that was condensing at high speed outside his body.

“Swish!”

At Chen Dengming’s low growl, a massive fireball emerged out of thin air.

With a flick of his fingers, the fireball shot out abruptly.

Like flying a kite, he could feel his spiritual energy, acting like the kite’s string, pulling the fireball, barely able to change its flight trajectory a bit.

But as the fireball moved further away, his control weakened.

Within half a breath of time, the fireball had traveled to a distance of ten meters and cut off contact with the spiritual energy in his body completely.

It then violently collided with a large tree farther away.

“Boom” came the deafening sound.

The large tree was directly blasted open by the fireball, and the burnt charcoal and sparks scattered in all directions with a heatwave rushing over and tugging at one’s hair.

Chen Dengming quickly dodged away.

…

A few moments later, he approached the burnt tree to examine it.

Upon inspection, he found that the part of the tree trunk that had been hit by the fireball was completely charred.

Touching it lightly would make it crumble.

It had carbonized.

The force of explosion shattered half of this large tree that required two people to hug it fully.

The damage was significant.

If we disregard the damage caused by the high temperature, the power of this explosion was somewhat less than the blade Qi he had just released.

However, if we take into account the damage caused by the high temperature, there was little difference between the two.

But…

this basic, first-tier Big Fireball Skill had only consumed about 10% of his inner spiritual energy, and the primary depletion was of the external spiritual energy controlled by him.

Daoism is like a special plan that arranges the fire spiritual energy in a specific combination.

And the mantra is the key to igniting this combination.

The spiritual energy within his body, then, is the hand turning the key.

His only regret was that currently, with this first-tier Daoism, he could not instantly summon it.

Even including the mantra and application, it takes about a breath and a half of time.

Such a long time, if he were fighting himself, with one using martial arts and the other Daoism, the self using Daoism would have already been struck down, and there’d be no need for the Blood Centipede Gu to take action.

Chen Dengming read the new message that had just appeared on the panel.

“Daoism: ‘Big Fireball Skill’ (Beginner 1/100)”

The word ‘beginner’ looked somewhat irritating.

“Train, continue training, after 100 attempts you’ve mastered it.

If I do it 10,000 times, I don’t believe I won’t be able to perform instantly…”

…

…