Chapter Ninety-Four: [Fusion Technique]
Chapter Ninety-Four: [Combination Technique]
At the ten o'clock direction, ten miles away from the Shanglin Garden, lies Villa District No. 17. The architecture here is reminiscent of an ancient fortress, with red roofs and white walls, accompanied by a windmill. Nearby stretches a green lawn and a small forest. Behind the woods sits a secluded artificial lake, sparkling like a jewel in the sunlight, its surface shimmering and bright.
Xia Zheng arrived alone in the forest, utilizing his spiritual power to construct a barrier that separated the woods from the villa district. The reality formed by his spiritual power could persist indefinitely, so long as he continued to supply spiritual energy—but only his own spirit could achieve such an effect.
After lunch, Xia Zheng did not rest further. Instead, he entered the woods to continue his cultivation. He had already rested sufficiently in the car; compared to his earlier trials in the snowy mountains, sleeping in the business vehicle was incomparably comfortable, making it easy for him to fall asleep. Yet for Menghu and Nalan Sheng, their adaptability and physical condition were not as robust, so sleep remained elusive. At this moment, both were catching up on rest, as were most of the others, except for the shadow guards who took turns keeping watch.
Seated cross-legged on the grassy ground, ten jade beads hovered before Xia Zheng. He decided to first practice infusing spiritual energy beads to restore his state. At his best, he could infuse a bead in less than half a minute; now, as his actions grew more proficient, the time was further reduced to an average of twenty seconds—almost the limit.
He continued to infuse and extract spiritual energy, and though the overall quantity was steadily decreasing, he could sustain himself for several hours. After storing the ten newly recharged beads in his pouch, Xia Zheng turned to perfecting the five skills he had mastered.
His command of Divine Thunder and Divine Eye was already high, requiring little more improvement. Divine Sense was nearly perfected. Water Shield and Flame Armor were similarly refined, but Xia Zheng recognized that his offensive skills were too few; most of his attacks relied on the special “normal attack” attribute of his spiritual power.
He therefore sought out two offensive techniques from the Watercloud Formula and Poison Flame Art to enrich his arsenal. Relying solely on spiritual “normal attacks” might suffice against ordinary foes, but against opponents in the main competition—especially formidable ones like Lyon—it would not be effective.
The "Dripping Water Sword" from the Watercloud Formula was a formidable skill. It harnessed the transformation between water and ice elements. Each drop of water could be frozen into a blade, or swiftly melted back into liquid. It could strike en masse, or combine into a massive sword, both flexible and firm. In its most advanced stage, it could even manipulate the moisture within an opponent’s body, transforming it into myriad swords that pierce them invisibly and lethally.
However, achieving this ultimate step required three conditions: first, one’s own combat power must not be weaker than the opponent’s; second, there must be sufficient spiritual energy to sustain it; third, the opponent must be in an injured state—the worse the wounds, the better. Otherwise, the technique would not work.
The other skill, derived from the Poison Flame Art, was called "Blazing Flame Arrow." After three seconds of preparation, it could unleash a powerful fire-element arrow, piercing every target in a straight line over a hundred meters. Those struck would not only suffer the arrow’s attack, but also endure the lingering damage of fire poison.
“With these two techniques, my attacks will become more threatening, no longer just the kind that tickle,” Xia Zheng mused. In his battles with Albert and Xu Rongyi, he had realized his shortcomings. Attacks born of imagination could be varied, but lacking deep understanding, their effects were often mediocre.
By cultivating established skills, benefitting from the accumulated experience of predecessors, he could compensate for these weaknesses, making skill attacks far more potent than ordinary imaginative strikes.
After memorizing the methods and essentials of both techniques, Xia Zheng walked to the artificial lake, gazing at the sparkling water as he pondered.
“Practicing the Dripping Water Sword here shouldn’t cause much damage. Still, I’ll keep the power suppressed to the minimum. Once I succeed, I can raise its intensity later,” Xia Zheng resolved to change his training approach, adopting a style akin to a game.
First, he separated a strand of divine consciousness from his mind, only one percent of his usual strength. Using his special imaginative attribute, he transformed it into a water-element drop, which he manipulated to float above the lake.
He then used his imagination to gradually shift the drop from water to ice element, elongating and fixing it into the shape of a flying sword about ten centimeters long, similar to his custom hidden weapons.
The sword, powered by ice element, radiated cold as it circled the lake with nimble grace—after all, it was an extension of Xia Zheng’s own consciousness, making it highly responsive.
Aiming at a fish raised in the lake, the sword flashed as a streak of cold light, instantly plunging into the water and emerging again, its tip skewering the fish. It returned to Xia Zheng, then swiftly melted back into a water drop and vanished, leaving the fish in his palm.
The fish, still confused, wriggled as if still in the lake. Xia Zheng examined its wound—small—and used his spiritual power to staunch the bleeding before releasing it back into the water.
Next, Xia Zheng released several dozen strands of divine consciousness, each transformed into a sword of ice. Under his control, these swords formed a simple array, enabling mass attacks. Since their power was low, the damage was minimal, and most practice took place within the lake. After driving the fish to the opposite side, he could safely test his swords.
“Let’s see if they can combine into one,” Xia Zheng began the next stage of Dripping Water Sword cultivation—sword fusion.
To merge these sword bodies instantaneously into a single blade required immense spiritual control and patience, because—
As Xia Zheng manipulated the ice swords to collide and melt into water droplets, the droplets merged to form a larger one. Once all had fused, he converted them back to ice, manifesting a long sword.
“Nearly half a minute—far too long for battle. In that time, an opponent could kill me ten times over,” Xia Zheng sighed, then dissolved the sword back into water drops, this time letting them disperse as mist.
“Hm?” As he observed, a spark of insight flashed in his mind. Ice swords are solid; water drops are liquid. Directly melting a solid is nearly impossible; they must become liquid first to fuse, but the process is too slow. What if the swords vaporized directly, turning into ice mist that instantly merged, then condensed back into a sword?
Xia Zheng believed this idea was worth pursuing. To vaporize the ice swords instantly would require absorbing a massive amount of heat—so he could create intense heat in an instant. For most other power users, this would be unrealistic, but Xia Zheng possessed precisely this potential.
Moreover, his other skill—Blazing Flame Arrow—was a fire technique capable of generating tremendous heat during attack, providing exactly the energy needed for ice sword vaporization.
“If I unleash Blazing Flame Arrow and simultaneously vaporize the ice swords, then use the mist to merge them into a single blade for an attack, wouldn’t that catch the opponent off guard? What appears to be a fire attack turns into an ice strike—a true surprise! These two skills, combined, would wield both water and fire powers. This is worth trying.”
Thus, Xia Zheng began working toward this goal. He carefully controlled the power of his moves; though it felt stifling, it also subtly increased his mastery over spiritual energy.