Chapter 219: Seeing The Future
Observing his stats, Xiang Yu was quite impressed. Most of his crucial attributes, mind, soul, spirit flame, enlightenment, and even the Transcendent Dao Body were tantalizingly close to their next breakthrough, requiring only one or two more resets to advance.
His combat techniques were finally beginning to show real promise. Lightning Strike and half of his elemental palm techniques were positioned to enter the completion stage after the next reset. The Soul Spike and Ten Seasons Sword Art were also progressing nicely, he could already envision them becoming the cornerstone of his greatest arsenal.
As always, his secondary professions didn’t disappoint. His cooking had just broken through into first grade. With the flood of insights that followed this breakthrough, he could now confidently say that he was on top of the mortal world in terms of cooking.
His appraisal skill had broken through to second grade during the day, rapidly catching up to his cooking mastery. However, this particular advancement left him somewhat puzzled. At the third level, he could already see through almost everything he could come across at his level, making it difficult to gauge what improvements this new grade would bring. Still, he wasn’t complaining about progress.
Talisman making had also achieved a breakthrough during the day, and after the system’s doubling, he finally received insights into fourth-grade talisman blueprints. Formation mastery had similarly entered the fourth grade, delivering a treasure trove of advanced formation blueprints that opened up entirely new possibilities for sect defense and offense.
Medicine’s advancement to sixth grade proved particularly enlightening. Not only did he gain fresh insights into medical conditions he’d never encountered before, but his understanding of familiar ailments deepened considerably.
What surprised him most was how medical knowledge intertwined with cultivation theory. As he gained more insights into how the body worked, he also gained understanding into the body’s response to spiritual energy which in turn boosted his understanding of cultivation.
Spirit farming was close to the halfway point, though Xiang Yu wasn’t certain he could push it over the threshold before the next reset. Well, he’d see how things developed...
The teacher profession advanced into the eighth grade, causing new insights to flood his mind. His understanding of concepts he already knew became sharper and more refined, while also gaining some insights on others that had previously bothered him.
He also gained comprehensive knowledge about teaching methodologies, student learning optimization, and educational efficiency techniques. Although he was already quite knowledgeable in education theory as a twenty-first-century man, some of the gained knowledge genuinely impressed him. The profession was proving far more valuable than he’d initially assumed.
Satisfied with his progress, Xiang Yu waved his hand dismissively, causing the system screen to vanish from view. He then allowed his consciousness to sink into his spiritual sea.
...
Inside his spiritual sea, Xiang Yu’s attention immediately focused on the soul infant, which remained diligently absorbed in its mind cultivation practice. The sight filled him with quiet satisfaction, the infant could now maintain its training around the clock without showing any signs of exhaustion or decline.
Observing the infant more closely, Xiang Yu noticed subtle changes since the recent doubling effect. The soul infant had grown slightly larger again, its features becoming more defined and mature. More importantly, their synchronization had deepened considerably
Rather than interrupt the infant’s cultivation, Xiang Yu decided to leave it undisturbed and proceeded directly to the battle simulation. Since Soul Spike had already surpassed the halfway point towards the next realm, there was no need to involve the infant in combat training. Besides, he didn’t plan on staying long, he simply wanted to test how much his strength had grown after the bloodline breakthrough.
Ever since the breakthrough, he could feel that he was many times stronger than he was before. He felt as though he was invincible. But he remained cautious about overconfidence. He needed concrete data from actual combat simulations to understand his true power level.
As always, he selected Li Yao as his sparring partner.
The moment the simulation initialized, it was on sight as always. Li Yao immediately launched into her aggressive opening assault. Usually, Xiang Yu would be forced to dodge the initial attack. But this time, it felt completely different from before.
As Li Yao charged toward him, something struck him as odd. She didn’t seem to be moving as quickly as before. No, wait, that wasn’t quite right. She was moving at the same speed; he had simply gotten much faster. He calmly extended his hand, effortlessly catching her wrist mid-attack.
With ease, he threw her over his shoulder and slammed her into the ground with tremendous force, creating a massive crater that sent shockwaves through the landscape. Xiang Yu stared at his own arms in genuine amazement. Was he really that strong now?
While he stood there marveling at his newfound strength, he suddenly saw a sword pierce clean through his back and emerge from his stomach. In the very next instant, he found himself back in the exact same position, gazing at his hands as if nothing had happened.
Reacting on pure instinct, Xiang Yu leaped into the air, executing a perfect backflip and landing gracefully behind Li Yao, who had just completed a devastating sword strike in her elemental form. His eyes widened in shock as understanding dawned. "That is..."
The sword technique she had just executed was aimed precisely where he had been standing moments before. If he had remained there, it would have pierced through his back exactly as he had witnessed beforehand.
While processing this revelation, he saw her blade slashing toward his neck, and the scene flickered again. In the next second, Li Yao rushed forward and slashed toward his neck in the exact same motion he had just observed. This time, Xiang Yu jumped over the blade, landing perfectly balanced on the flat of her sword before executing a flip. His hands grasped her head mid-motion, using the momentum to flip her along with him and smash her into the ground.
Finally, understanding flooded through Xiang Yu’s mind. "Battle instinct..." he thought in excitement.
Ever since maxing out this attribute, he hadn’t noticed any significant benefits and had begun wondering if that was all it had to offer. Apparently, he had been completely mistaken. He simply hadn’t possessed enough strength to utilize its full potential until now.
As another attack came rushing toward him, he bent smoothly to dodge it, his movements flowing like water. A brilliant smile spread across his face...
He could actually see into the future.
...
Author’s Corner
Elemental form: not to be confused with spirit form. In case you forgot...
Li Yao has five forms: Base, Elemental, Spirit, Limit Break, Absolute Limit.