Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent

Chapter 316: Foreshadowing

Chapter 316: Foreshadowing

Back in Tianyuan, Li Pin had already learned that before the arrival of the Astral God, every Martial Saint was like an earth immortal and was incredibly rare. The realm had been so rare that it was hard for even one Martial Saint to appear every hundred years.

Nevertheless, despite the rarity of Martial Saints in that era, they were almost always present across the ages.

Perhaps, in the combined histories of Tianyuan's dozens of nations, Martial Saints could be counted on one hand. But globally, there were definitely dozens recorded.

Even if only eight to ten legacies remain today, they were still passed down. The Great Moon's most glorious period was two hundred years ago when its fleet nearly covered every corner of the globe.

Even the Royal Empire, before it had undergone a revolution to become one of the Six Extremities, sought every way possible to become a Great Moon's province back then. It was during that era that the Great Moon collected vast wealth from around the world, including complete and incomplete Martial Saint legacies from before the Astral God era.

With a single command from Li Pin, the people of Dragonfist Sect quickly sprang into action.

The Dragonfist Sect was backed by the Heavenly Martial Alliance. While the Heavenly Martial Alliance was a loosely managed organization, its influence on Great Moon was incredibly significant.

Moreover, with Shi Shihu becoming a Quasi-Martial God, his status had risen. This made it so that obtaining a few Martial Saint legacies that were theoretically no longer valuable was naturally not a difficult task.

Therefore, in less than a month, two more complete Martial Saint legacies and three incomplete ones were laid before Li Pin in addition to the Black Tortoise True Art.

At that moment, Li Pin began studying these martial arts while focusing on integrating and optimizing them into his own martial system.

Thus, after another month, the final cornerstone of the Martial God system—martial arts—was finally completed.

***

In the same training courtyard, Li Pin stood on his tiptoes. Occasionally, streaks of electricity would flash around him. Whenever the streaks of electricity struck the ground, they left behind scorched marks.

At first glance, it might seem as though Li Pin was really on his tiptoes. However, he actually wasn't. Rather, he was slightly floating a few centimeters above the ground, with his toes hanging downwards, giving the appearance of him standing on tiptoes.

Moments later, the intermittent sparks of electricity withdrew inside him, disappearing completely.

His body, which had been slightly floating, descended until his feet touched the ground.

"Refine the Lifeform Force Field into a Celestial Magnetic Field, then enhance the personal magnetic field further. With this, the martial art technique is perfected."

This martial art would replace his original cultivation techniques—Xuan Pin Gate and Great Sun Infinite Radiance Technique—and become his primary focus for cultivation.

It would even become the main cultivation technique for countless future Martial God practitioners.

Any new martial art requires a name. This one originates from the Stars Overlord Secret Art and utilizes the Celestial Magnetic Field during cultivation... and since the path I've pioneered is called the Martial God path....

Li Pin pondered for a moment and quickly had an idea. "I'll call it the Celestial Martial God Manual."

Would people mistake the "celestial" part as connected to the Astral Cultivation system?

He only dwelled on it for a moment before deciding it wasn’t worth overthinking. The key to a name was that it should be simple, easy to remember, and straight to the point.

Celestial bodies, Martial God—this name fit perfectly.

With a fully developed martial art, the strength of his magnetic field would surely increase rapidly from here on.

"Three days ago, I created a fist technique based on the Celestial Martial God Manual's magnetic field, specifically for tempering the body. That, too, needs a name..."

A fist technique derived from the Celestial Martial God Manual and specifically used to temper the body through the Celestial Magnetic Field....

"Let's call it the Celestial Body-Tempering Fist then."

Li Pin took down the fist technique's name as well.

Having sorted everything out, he took a moment to sense the newly refined Innate Qi-Refining Technique. @@novelbin@@

"Recently, the Innate Qi-Refining Technique has barely been of any help to me. After all, reaching the peak of the Foundation Building phase only raised my primordial qi value to 70 points, while now it has already reached 115 points.

"However, I hadn't realized that this technique itself is designed to progress step by step. At the higher-level Golden Core stage, its principles are strikingly similar to those of the Lifeform Force Field."

The Golden Core represented a state of unity and perfection. It was a state that was similar to the human fetal phase, lingering between life and death.

The Lifeform Force Field required the transition from death to life. It was a pity that he had put too little effort into the Innate Qi-Nurturing Technique, causing him to only realize this point when he referred back to the Golden Core chapter after he had succeeded in condensing a Lifeform Force Field.

However, it wasn’t too late. During this time, he studied the Black Tortoise True Art along with five other major ancient Martial Saints’ legacies, refining and expanding the Golden Core chapter. Through these studies, he even caught faint glimpses of a realm beyond the Golden Core.

What was the core ideology of the Martial Saint realm? It was to use infinite mental spirit to drive finite qi and blood, thereby unleashing infinite power.

Before the Astral God era, many generations of Martial Saints used to lament, saying, "human strength has limits, and there are things beyond our reach."

However, which of them wasn't an unrivaled genius? These were individuals who achieved the title of Martial Saint long before the Astral God era!

Although they acknowledged the limits of human strength, their determination to surpass themselves never wavered. Thus, they proposed the theory: "Human strength is finite, but the spirit is infinite," emphasizing the cultivation and exploration of mental spirit.

This exploration and tempering of the mental spirit couldn't be simply described as training. It involved elevating the mental and spiritual state to release and utilize more mental spirit power.

From there, they comprehended the leisure of "accepting the inevitable with peace of mind," and the naturalness of "the greatest square has no corners, the greatest vessel takes time to complete, the loudest sound is barely heard, and the greatest form is formless."

From there, they comprehended the idea of "With utmost sincerity, one can foresee. When a nation is about to prosper, there will definitely be auspicious signs; when it is about to fall, there will definitely be omens. Therefore, utmost sincerity would allow one to foresee like God can."

Li Pin mumbled to himself, "Everyone has a conscience, and everyone understands rational principles in their hearts. Therefore, everyone can become saints."

These spiritual insights pointed directly to the greater Dao of the world and even the universe. However, this Dao existed on a spiritual plane, profound and enigmatic—a gateway to countless mysteries.

"The essence of the Innate Qi-Nurturing Technique has never been about martial arts. It has always been about cultivating one's body, mind, and ultimately the inner spirit!

"The three stages of Qi-Nurturing, Foundation Building, and the Golden Core each embody the profound truths of heaven and earth."

The first step, Qi-Nurturing, referred to nurturing the primordial qi. The second step, Foundation Building, referred to using the primordial qi to replenish oneself until the physical body reached a state of perfection.

After the physical body was perfected, one would enter the third phase—Golden Core!

This was the state of spiritual perfection. At this point, the body and spirit would be fully transformed, allowing the pursuit of a higher realm—perfection of the spirit.

When the spirit achieved perfection, the practitioner would reach the highest theoretical realm, where heart and Dao become one. The heart would be the universe, and the universe would be the heart.

"The bodies of Astral Cultivators are strong enough that, in theory, their mental spirits should also grow through nurturing. However, before reaching the Core Formation stage, their mental spirits would be no different from those of ordinary martial artists, far inferior to Martial Saints.

"Only after understanding the principle of Core Formation does the body's perfection lead to a slight increase in mental spirit. But because it's passive, the growth is slow. Only Top-tier Astral Cultivators... or Master Astral Cultivators who have gotten to the mental spirit level, would place emphasis on their cultivation to attain perfection in their mental spirit.

"In the Innate Qi-Nurturing Technique, the stages of Qi-Nurturing and Foundation Building belong to the first phase. Even if the body has reached perfection, their mental spirit would only be considered robust and they wouldn't be considered to be truly cultivating their mental spirit. It's only at the Golden Core stage that cultivation to reach perfection in the mental spirit would be targeted.

As for when the mental spirit reached a stage of perfection....

A memory of a manual he had accidentally acquired while collecting Core Formation techniques during his time on Blue Planet flashed through Li Pin's mind.

The Sitting in Oblivion Scripture[1].

This was the legacy of Truelord Pure Yang, from 1,300 years ago. Sitting in oblivion.

To forget about the physical body and the mental spirit, then to peek into the light of the spirit. And later extend to all sorts of unbelievable mysteries.

It allowed one to foretell the future, avoid calamity, and capture the will of heaven.

"A martial technique for the inner spirit."

Li Pin felt that he was fortunate. Not only had he come across good opportunities on Blue Planet, but they were significant ones. Some seemingly insignificant information might hold the key for him to break through his limitations.

Sitting in Oblivion Scripture... leading to the perfection of the spirit.

Upon attaining spiritual perfection, he would reach the theorized realm where humans were comparable to sages.

"I am currently cultivating my mental spirit, relying on the combination of the Innate Qi-Nurturing Technique's Golden Core chapter, the Black Tortoise True Art, and the Heavenly Scripture of Primal Chaos. This martial art can be referred to as the Innate Primal Chaos Technique and one can embark on this cultivation after perfecting their physical body.

As expected, the number of top-notch martial arts dwindled as the level escalated.

Martial arts that aided in perfection of the physical body were easy to come by, but those for perfecting the spirit were only found in a handful of ancient Martial Saint legacies.

Amongst the six Martial Saint techniques he had obtained, only the Black Tortoise True Art and Heavenly Scripture of Primal Chaos talked about this.

As for Sitting In Oblivion, he had yet to find anything like it on Gaia.

Li Pin focused and sensed his current state.

[Qi and Blood: 115.04], [Mental Spirit: 59.11], [Magnetic Field: 3.64]

These were the only three statistics that truly mattered. The remaining statistics, such as primordial qi level, were becoming increasingly irrelevant, and he no longer bothered to remember them.

As for techniques like the Stars Overlord Secret Art, Blood-Seething Secret Art, Celestial Martial God Manual, or the Celestial Body-Tempering Fist... they were no longer of much significance.

The Celestial Martial God Manual and the Celestial Body-Tempering Fist were his own creations, and he represented the highest realm of cultivation. In the future, there would be only optimization or innovation of the techniques—no further advancement.

As for the Stars Overlord, as he came up with the Celestial Martial God Manual, it would only be a matter of time before he completely grasped the Celestial Magnetic Field.

At the very least, this would be the case before he reached the Celestial Breaker benchmark which was like a tribulation phase for immortality cultivation.

As for whether he could break through the shackles of his Natal Planet by then and use his own magnetic field to dominate the Celestial Magnetic Field... he'd only be able to find out upon reaching that stage.

Rather than working on mastering the Stars Overlord Secret Art, he might as well just set a countdown to when it would be ready.

"For magnetic field enhancement, I have the Celestial Martial God Manual, for the elevation of my qi and blood, I have the Celestial Body-Tempering Fist, for my mental spirit increase, I have the Innate Primal Chaos Technique...."

He had all the necessary martial arts. He no longer had to fumble and study each aspect carefully like he did in the past.

Li Pin could already foresee that, moving forward, his strength would undoubtedly experience explosive growth.

1. The literal translation should be as sitting and forgetting, but it seems that this is often translated as Sitting in Oblivion, so this is used instead in case some readers do want to approach Google-sensei to find out more. ☜