Star Gate

Chapter 975: Embracing the New Age (I)

By now, everyone knew that internal force was the result of opening the dao meridians. When the dao meridians were open, they connected to the Hao Cosmos. The energy emanating from the dao universe bloomed within the body, nurturing it. That came to be known as internal force!

This was a process of enlightening the heart and mind. Knowing the hows and whys made for better cultivation. Previous martial masters hadn’t understood the theory within. Many premier martial masters didn’t either, all anyone knew was that internal force could nurture the body.

As for how or why... how would they know? Hadn’t internal force functioned like that ever since the ancient times?

“Clearing one acupoint of a supernatural lock produces internal force,” Yuan Shuo continued. “That propels the cultivator into Slayer! Slayer of Tens can be further divided into four minor levels to facilitate a sense of progression. The initial training process might be too arduous and drag too long otherwise.

“Slayer of Tens will be known by the initial, mid, late, and peak minor stages. Each stage will be defined by nine acupoints. Clearing 36 acupoints will complete a minor circulation and produce internal force. Activating the circulation loop will project the internal force outside of the body. That is a hallmark of Sunderer of Hundreds!

“At present, we can view the 36 locks as an elementary circulation. It’s the lowest number we’ve found that will complete a cycle. Clearing one acupoint in all of them is enough to establish a basic circulation. That will officially put one among the ranks of Sunderers!”

The group nodded their agreement.

“These 36 locks aren’t fixed in composition,” Yuan Shuo elaborated. “The exact ones can be adjusted based on the method that the cultivator is using, but that is a topic for another day. For now, we’ll use the Breakthrough Incantation as the foundation. This is the most stable method as it is modified from the Five Styles.”

Smooth and steady, keeping to the middle of the road was the first step. If someone wanted a unique path unlike any other... they could create it themselves!

There were so many supernatural locks; the group was just in the beginning stages. They hadn’t delved further into their research, and neither was there enough time.

“Clearing 36 acupoints of the 36 locks is the first step and makes one a Sunderer!” Yuan Shuo continued his explanation. “Sunderers are also divided into the initial, mid, late, and peak minor stages. The same rules apply. Each stage is defined by nine acupoints and clearing 72 puts one in peak Sunderer!”

Heads bobbed up and down again.

“In the past, we comprehended the aura at the Sunderer level. But right now, that is too difficult to grasp. Therefore, we’ll set aside the aura for now and continue in a foolproof way. Dominator will begin at the 73rd acupoint...

“At this stage, it’s no longer nine acupoints per level, but 36. That’s one circulation per minor level. Dominators need to complete 108 acupoints to reach mid Dominator, 144 acupoints for late Dominator, and 180 to be a peak Dominator.” Yuan Shuo smiled. “At this point, one will have cleared half of the 360 acupoints.

“Although we won’t have the strength of eighteen element Arcanus, I expect that we’ll be strong enough. Martial masters at this level should be much stronger than current Dominators.

“It used to be that Summoner of Spirit comes after Dominator, but that is no longer applicable. The spirit does not need to be summoned as cultivators are still strengthening their body at this level...”

It was Li Hao who frowned faintly. “Peak Dominator will require 180 acupoints... The next stage can’t have requirements like these...”

Yuan Shuo looked at the young man. Although Li Hao was Yuan Shuo’s disciple, he was also the pioneer and proponent of this new martial dao. The young man had worked tirelessly the past couple of days, forgoing sleep in a bid to shore up all inconsistencies. If he had a dissenting opinion, Yuan Shuo must take heed.

“Do you mean...”

“Is teacher prepared to have everyone continue excavating circulatory systems in the next stage, 36 acupoints at a time?”

“Precisely.” Yuan Shuo nodded. “This is the easiest and most straightforward way...”

“It doesn’t work like that!” Li Hao shook his head. “Teacher, that approach won’t work after Dominator. A dao meridian has been more than halfway opened at this stage. If we continue in this vein, the dao meridian will spontaneously collapse.

“The rest of the acupoints won’t be able to keep the dao meridian sealed after half of the aucpoints have been cleared. The meridian will spontaneously break and inflict the force of 36 broken locks at the same time on the cultivator. Is there anyone who can endure that kind of stress? Teacher would be taking this course of action for granted if we proceed in this manner.”

“They’ll collapse?” Yuan Shuo raised a quizzical brow. “But I’ve tried it, the human model still operates when I continue in this fashion...”

He wouldn’t set forth such a risky course of action. That would be the death of a cultivator!

“The model isn’t a real person at the end of the day,” Li Hao shook his head. “It’s based off me—I can endure the strain, but that doesn’t mean others can.

“I had Senior Zhang weaken the model by one half and continued clearing acupoints. I found that if we continue in this vein after 180 acupoints, the 36 dao meridians collapse during the attempt to build another circulatory system. This is because these cultivators don’t have an aura, so they have nothing to keep the meridians in check with!”

“So this is the outcome... then...” Yuan Shuo took a deep breath.

“So we need a new plan of attack after Dominator,” Li Hao smiled. “We need to clear the remaining five acupoints of each meridian before moving on to the next. That will release the power within meridians by meridian!”

“Won’t that disrupt the circulation?” Yuan Shuo looked at his student with puzzlement.

“It won’t. I was experimenting yesterday—teacher didn’t see it because you were preoccupied, but everyone else did. There’s not much of an issue with my idea...”

Yuan Shuo looked at the rest, they nodded back at him. The hell? Why didn’t any of you see fit to tell me? I wasted a night’s effort!

Everyone was bleary-eyed from the intensity of their research efforts and their minds moved sluggishly. Who would think to remind someone else to watch Li Hao’s experiments?

A migraine was settling into the young man’s mind, but he managed to find his footing again. “Dominators should be able to walk through the air and fight in the sky! Those above Dominator can fight ten thousand at a time, shatter mountains, and cleave apart seas! That cultivation level... should be called Mountain and Sea!”

“They can break apart mountains and seas with a single move!” Yuan Shuo grinned radiantly. “I have the ability to topple mountains and sever the seas. What does everyone think?”

Soaring emotion gripped the crowd’s hearts. To topple mountains and sever the seas! Martial masters could indeed accomplish these feats at that level. That made one a true legend, a walking god upon the land!

“I can shatter mountains and seas,” murmured Sky Sword. “I can pluck the stars and capture the sun and moon. Martial masters are gods at this level!”

“That’s right!” Li Hao nodded. “There are nine levels to Mountain and Sea—one level corresponds to one dao meridian. Only five acupoints need to be cleared for each level. Since there are nine levels, that means nine meridians need to be opened.

“Although unattributed locks are weaker, a nine element Arcanus can absolutely stand against an Apex. They’ll also be able to fight seven or eight element Arcanus—their physical bodies will be stronger than their opponents! They might even be able to battle or kill peak ninth rank cultivators of New Martial...

“Such is the Mountain and Sea level! The peak of this level is all nine meridians being open. That leaves one half of the meridians to be explored. Cultivators will absolutely be stronger than seven elements at this stage!”

There were nine levels to the Mountain and Sea level!

A soft murmur rose from the crowd as they repeated Li Hao’s words to themselves. Excitement brewed as they grasped the connotations of having the power to shatter mountains and seas!

Indeed, based on Li Hao’s categorization, that was the level that everyone was already at.

“So we are... of the Mountain and Sea level?” Sky Sword murmured.

“Indeed,” Li Hao nodded. “Whether we’re seven element or eight element Arcanus, my thoughts are that unattributed dao meridians should be grouped according to the standards of our time. Attributed meridians, such as the ones we utilize, should be grouped according to the core origin standards of New Martial!

“That means to say that supernatural character cultivators should be able to withstand their New Martial peers and not lower their levels by one grade.” Li Hao was unspeakably solemn. “We are not weaker than anyone! Martial cultivators of our level can be one grade weaker than their opponents, but we cannot be.

“We will be known as the Mountain and Sea level even when we reach nine element Arcanus. But our level of strength makes it possible for us to triumph over those even stronger!”

“So does this mean that the Mountain and Sea level encompasses the New Martial cultivation levels below Apex?” asked the rest of the group. “That us nine element Arcanus are one step stronger than our New Martial peers? Our nine element Arcanus should be stronger than their half step Apexes in their time, right?”

Li Hao nodded!

Off to the side, the Black Armor was speechless at their childishness. Was there a point to lowering themselves by a grade to compete with Apex and below?

Based off Li Hao’s organization, the ninth level of Mountain and Sea in this age was indeed stronger than some New Martial ninth rank cultivators. Cultivators with attributed powers such as Li Hao and his group would be stronger than peak ninth rank.

But in this age, nine element Arcanus could defeat Apexes, alright? Even seven elements could manage the deed! Li Hao was downgrading himself by a level in this comparison, what was the point in that?

The crowd was incredibly excited by the new system; they didn’t care about the basis of comparison. So long as Li Hao thought it was correct, then it was correct.

Based on the previous cultivation system, the unattributed meridians of the four limbs weren’t included in the assessment of one’s strength. Those didn’t offer any increase in strength, so one would only be a five element Arcanus if they broke all of the locks of the five organs and limbs. If there were any partially snapped locks, however, that made it difficult for an accurate gauge of strength.

Our ninth level of Mountain and Sea could fight your Apexes! We can do that even if the core origin dao is still present! We can fight beyond our cultivation level!

Although the cultivation levels and systems were different, they still delighted in this kind of comparison.

It felt so good!