Darkness still covered the forest. Most of the living beings here were still in deep sleep. Only a few small nocturnal beasts by the lakeshore noticed the abnormal churning surface of the water in the center of the swamp lake. They let out low roars of unease, creating a bit of noise. But that was all.
A dim red light flickered faintly beneath the surface of the lake. But after a few seconds, both light waves and water waves returned to tranquility.
"This is barely enough."
Luo Nan shrugged his shoulders a bit awkwardly. His soul body, which could sufficiently interfere with the material world, felt no different from his fleshly body when he moved. And because of this, he was able to fully feel the blazing aura spreading from behind him.
Ten centimeters above the shoulder of his soul body, about the same height as his ears, was a pair of thick and ugly ape arms. They were slightly bent and extended, but the back end was empty. No body could be seen. It was as if the arms had appeared out of thin air.
The two ape arms were over two meters in length. They exceeded the height of most people, and their muscles were robust. Perhaps people would believe that they were two human silhouettes in the darkness.
The flowing lava on the ape arms hardened slightly in the lake water, looking like warped scales. In comparison, the flames were restrained, fusing together with the messy fur patterns on the body. It was eye-catching, but it really went against the aesthetics of ordinary people.
"Come, move!"
The ape arms made a few fist clenching movements following Luo Nan's thoughts. Aside from the control of the fleshly body, it also included releasing energy, interfering, and so on. The bottom of the lake became muddy for a time. Mud flowed everywhere. The underwater life forms that inhabited here, such as carps, eels, shrimps, and even alligators, swam around and drilled holes. Occasionally, some would bump into the ape, but the latent energy would turn the world dark. They were battered and exhausted.
Looking at the situation of releasing energy, the Mushed Mouth Ape's strength had crossed over to the other world. Roughly twenty to thirty percent of its strength had been consumed. However, the Lava Bombardment, which shook and warped the mental and material planes, was still effective.
In this way, Luo Nan could borrow Luo Nan's mental sensing ability to replace his eyes and ears. This pair of enormous ape arms could display considerable combat power. Considering continuous combat, Luo Nan would be able to endure for one to two minutes, considering the enormous consumption from tearing open the spatial passageway.
This was the most feasible plan that Luo Nan could find. It was the point of balance that Luo Nan had found between the cloud world and the normal world.
As for how long he could endure if he truly unleashed his full strength, he still needed to continue experimenting.
Unfortunately, it would not be possible this morning.
The chase and treatment in the cloud world had seriously consumed Luo Nan's free time. He wanted to continue researching the problem of the Mushed Mouth Ape with all his might, but for the sake of preventing Qin Yikun and the others, who were in charge of security work, from sensing that something was amiss, he could only restrain his mind and retract his giant ape arms.
On the other side of the Cloud World, the Mushed Mouth Ape, who had been reduced to a test subject, wasn't cut in two. It had only fallen into the "fog" formed by the cross-border passage and was so distorted that it could not be seen. Only when Luo Nan sent the ape arm back did this enormous vicious beast materialize from incorporeal, returning to the cloudy world.
"From now on, you will be Yuan Yi." Luo Nan casually gave the Mushed Mouth Ape captive a name, and he temporarily set aside Cloud Peak. His soul body leaped out of the surface of the lake, and he rushed back to Ocean Sky Cloud City. He strove to cut into his normal routine.
When the soul returned to the hotel, it was already 4 o 'clock in the morning, and it was time for morning classes. Luo Nan was destined to not need to sleep … … This kind of lifestyle wasn't very healthy, but he had to get used to it.
Luo Nan hid in his bed and adjusted his breathing for a bit. Then he began his morning classes. He began with Daoyin. His movements were slow and relaxed, but he constantly touched the limits of what his fleshly body could bear. A thin layer of sweat formed on his body after a quarter of an hour, and he gradually entered an optimal state.
Luo Nan entered a very rare state of relaxation. His body was tough and relaxed, and he went with the flow. It was as if he could easily complete any difficult movement. This method of combining Daoyin and yoga was the most suitable for restoring his physical strength and energy.
The initial results were pretty good. Luo Nan seemed to be half asleep and half awake. He was already half in a meditative state. But he didn't know when it started, but his mind suddenly stirred restlessly. The scenes that happened in the Cloud World, especially the scene of him being chased by the five Mushed Mouth Apes, continuously leaped back and forth in his mind.
Only through this method did Luo Nan truly understand what sort of state it was to be surrounded by perils. He was already very nervous when he personally experienced it, but when he truly recalled it, he discovered that the dangers that could consign him to eternal damnation were far greater than what he had perceived back then.
It was hard for Luo Nan's mind to calm down at this point. He also knew that this sort of situation was most likely due to the effects of fire poison on his soul body. His injuries had yet to heal. His current situation wasn't too good. It must be known that the mind was in a mess, and the mind was in a mess, and the mind was in a mess. The circulation of the blood energy in his entire body would be affected, forming a vicious cycle that would injure his foundation.
"The most important thing is still to compose my mind. Gym Master Xiu once said that it's hard to be calm in the midst of stillness. I should seek to be in motion … … I still have a place to start. "
Luo Nan's mind changed, and he no longer forcefully restrained himself. A strand of thoughts of divinity naturally followed one of the most profound trajectories in recent times. It revolved and transformed. In the blink of an eye, a transparent bead of water condensed in front of his forehead out of thin air.
Luo Nan's method of achieving stillness within motion was the Dripping Sword.
The amount of effort Luo Nan put into the Dripping Sword over the past ten days or so wasn't any less than what he put into the Cloud World. After all, this was the most effective method for him to consume soul strength.
Of course, just now, the Demon Summoning that forcefully dragged the Mushed Mouthed Ape into the real world had successfully replaced the Dripping Sword's "pouring milk" mode in terms of consumption and speed of consumption. In the future, he probably wouldn't have to worry about the "diseases of wealth" such as the imbalance of his body and soul.
And on the other hand, the value of the Dripping Sword was far from being able to be encompassed by the term 'pouring milk'. It was an extremely mature and perfect method. Whether it was to face an enemy or to cultivate, it could give rise to countless transformations. It was extremely malleable. Moreover, it involved the structural changes of the neurons in the outside world, their functions, and the interference effects of the soul body. It looked simple at first glance, but it was boundlessly profound when examined in detail.
Luo Nan wouldn't slack off in his practice of the Dripping Sword no matter what.
Luo Nan discovered as soon as he got his hands on the Demon Summoning, that the process of creating and controlling the Dripping Sword was like turning a large flame to a small flame when cooking. Some minute changes in the control of the flame were contained within.
As the water droplets appeared one after another before his eyes, the Condensation Ring's structure that had condensed out of thin air was like a mirror. It reflected the various minute flaws that flowed through his mind.
The injuries caused by the combined attack of the Mushed Mouth Ape had some areas that weren't recovered properly. But after the Condensation Ring and a few auxiliary structures were molded and combined, several hidden injuries that had nearly been missed were discovered. They were slowly drained and recuperated. Luo Nan continued to improve.
Luo Nan thought of the words that Gym Master Xiu had once said, "One is civil, one is martial. Tension and relaxation have their own paths."
That was probably it.
Luo Nan gazed at the dozen or so water droplets arranged in a row, and he suddenly slapped his forehead. He activated the recording function of the HexaEar to record the entire process of cultivation.
He did this because he needed to be completely focused when forming the Dripping Sword. Sometimes, he clearly knew that a flaw had appeared, but it was hard to keep track of it. With the recording, he could review the process in time. It was beneficial for him to adjust his progress. Complete concentration, repeated practice, video review, and guidance from a famous teacher. Luo Nan practically possessed all of these requirements needed for precise practice. Naturally, his progress was godly.
Luo Nan tested it out, and the recording function was turned on. Only now did he truly begin to practice.
His training method was like an assembly line. First, he concentrated his energy on creating the core structure, the Condensation Ring. He created the maximum number of Condensation Rings within a preset amount of time, ranging from a hundred to several hundred. Then, he began to add auxiliary structures to each Condensation Ring to form the complete Dripping Sword. Finally, he counted the number of complete Dripping Swords that remained.
The requirements for this process were quite high. The exquisiteness of the Condensation Ring determined whether or not it could persist to the end. The various auxiliary structures, including the coordination between them, all had a direct effect on the lifespan of the Dripping Sword.
Luo Nan was already familiar with the process, but due to the influence of his soul body's injuries, as well as the fact that he had to convert between civil and martial fire, there were many flaws in the beginning. Fifteen minutes passed, and only a hundred and twenty-two complete Dripping Swords remained.
"Tsk, I've regressed!"
The recording this time had practically no value at all.
Though Luo Nan was dissatisfied, he didn't delete the relevant recording. After all, in a combat environment, he might not always be full of spirit and energy, and his condition would be at its peak.
A hundred and twenty-two Dripping Swords would be a hundred and twenty-two. He could consider going a bit higher for today's match.
A hundred and twenty-two Dripping Swords flew out from a crack in the window under Luo Nan's mental control in the next moment. They soared straight up, quickly breaking through the city's traffic layer. They continued to climb until they entered the chaotic airflow of the upper troposphere.
His sensing radius exceeded 20 kilometers, allowing his Dripping Swords to continue climbing, all the way until they entered the stratosphere. But that sort of environment would lose the meaning of training.
Therefore, these hundred or so Dripping Swords stopped in the troposphere. They were like a school of fish swimming against the waves, spiraling and swimming. They needed to resist the low temperatures and violent airflow of high altitude. Sometimes, they also needed to depend on Luo Nan's mood. They swam up and down, accepting the test of life and death.
Luo Nan could verify the firmness and stability of the Dripping Sword's structure through this method. Only a Dripping Sword that passed this test was a qualified Dripping Sword.
Luo Nan was already familiar with this. He could control the hundred or so 'fish' as he washed and dressed at the same time. He was thankful for the hotel's allocated laundry facilities: His clothes, which were soaked with sweat last night, were now as clean as new.
Luo Nan opened the door and left after dressing himself neatly. The door to the room next to him opened at nearly the same time. Qin Yikun also put on his training clothes and came out to say good morning:
"Mr. Luo, let's go together."
"Together. How about the green oxygen running track of Acumen College?"
"No problem."
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
