Chapter 2306 — Hope Grows Dim

Could it be that I am a genius?

Once he had calmed down, however, Wei Zhao suppressed that flush of pride. Whether he was a genius or not, Wei Zhao knew perfectly well. Perhaps he had a little more natural talent than an ordinary cultivator, but he could by no means be called a genius.

In truth, in the cultivation world of today, so-called geniuses were simply those born with special constitutions who had cultivated the corresponding special techniques, and who then displayed monstrous cultivation speed and strength; such people were generally hailed as cultivation prodigies.

And yet, precisely because of that, Wei Zhao had become a genius.

Only it was all thanks to the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art and the jade pendant's space. His own constitution just happened to suit the mental techniques of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, and so he had been made into a genius.

Dimly, Wei Zhao sensed that the reason he could create martial techniques at all, and why this new technique forged by fusing two others had burst forth so smoothly at the first attempt, was probably owed to that all-purpose "martial technique."

He had cultivated one "martial technique" with no practical combat value whatsoever, yet after cultivating it he could practice all manner of other techniques at will, and could even unleash techniques of entirely different elemental attributes with ease. Wei Zhao felt this had a great deal to do with that "martial technique."

And the reason he had been able to unleash that fabricated, integrated technique was most likely that he had cultivated this strange, all-purpose "martial technique."

If he wrote out the method for unleashing the Fire Dragon Eight-Trigram Palm as a technique formula and gave it to Uncle Qing or anyone else to try, they would surely not find it so easy—even Wei Zhao himself could feel the clumsiness and the flaws in the fusion of the two. And yet, despite all that, Wei Zhao alone could unleash it with effortless success; it had to be called a miracle.

After calming down, Wei Zhao thought it over again, mentally simulating and rehearsing the earlier unleashing of the Fire Dragon Eight-Trigram Palm. It was greatly different from Tagan Long's Five Elements Eight-Trigram Palm—at the very least, the color of the true qi on his palms was not the same: his palms had been red, while Tagan Long's had been a bizarre riot of many colors... Could it not be fire-attribute true qi, then? Wei Zhao carefully recalled the sensations from his exchange with Tagan Long the day before, but could summon little impression of them. The images of the fight were still in his mind, yet the feelings of it had already blurred beyond recall.

Then was it a wood-attribute technique, or water, or perhaps metal or earth? At that thought, Wei Zhao resolved to try and unleash the Five Elements Eight-Trigram Palm by coupling the mental technique formula of the Verdant Forest Myriad Transformations with the Five Elements Eight-Trigram Palm's method of unleashing, just to see what power it held.

The moment the idea struck him, Wei Zhao grew impatient to try. He rose to his feet and, with a silent shout in his heart, employed the mental technique formula of the Verdant Forest Myriad Transformations in concert with the Five Elements Eight-Trigram Palm's method of unleashing, and released the second stance of the "Verdant Forest Eight-Trigram Palm"!

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

Four great booms burst through the air, and Wei Zhao's two palms became four, loosing a mighty power into the empty air.

"Whoosh..." What formidable force—every single palm carried the power of the second stance of the Frenzied Fire Fist! That was to say, the power of an ordinary technique's third stance! Wei Zhao stared at his own hands in astonishment and cried out in wonder.

Under normal circumstances, the single-palm might of the second stance of the Verdant Forest Myriad Transformations was in fact equivalent to the second stance of an ordinary technique. What set it apart from ordinary techniques was that ordinary techniques could only unleash one fist or one palm at a time—and even one who wielded a technique with boundless mastery could produce no more than two fists or two palms.

But the Verdant Forest Myriad Transformations could double that: one fist or palm into two fists or palms, and two fists or palms into four fists or palms!

Yet now, the Verdant Forest Myriad Transformations that Wei Zhao unleashed by way of the Five Elements Eight-Trigram Palm not only retained its former doubling power, but let him bring forth might equal to the second stance of the Frenzied Fire Fist—the equal of an ordinary technique's third stance!

In Wei Zhao's earlier estimation, the Verdant Forest Myriad Transformations had been something of a dud—a technique that increased the number of strikes with each stance, yet fell short of the Frenzied Fire Fist in power. But now, fusing the Five Elements Eight-Trigram Palm with the Verdant Forest Myriad Transformations could unleash moves of far greater might. How could Wei Zhao not be overjoyed?

What an unexpected delight! In his elation, Wei Zhao grew all the more certain that his success in fusing the Verdant Forest Myriad Transformations with the Five Elements Eight-Trigram Palm must be owed to that inexplicable, all-purpose "martial technique"!

Otherwise, one instance might be called coincidence and accident—but how could two be coincidence and accident?

Of course, to outsiders, Wei Zhao was simply a genius!

A gratified smile surfaced at the corners of Wei Zhao's mouth. It seemed his clash with Tagan Long had not been in vain. If there was anything to be gained from this trip to the Wulonghaote Mountains, it was surely the two new techniques he had created from the Five Elements Eight-Trigram Palm.

Each possessed greater attacking power than before, so the journey had not been wasted after all.

The ceaseless thinking, simulating, and unleashing of new techniques had left Wei Zhao rather tired. Glancing at the soundly sleeping Sun Jingyan, he too collapsed onto the other bed and entered the jade pendant's space to recover his strength... Within a majestic great hall, an old man in eight-trigram robes was frowning deeply as he took the pulse of a young man lying on a bed, eyes tightly shut and face ashen. This old man was the master of Old Six and Old Twelve—the Ancestor Xuanchen.

Beside him stood Old Six and Old Twelve, their faces full of shame and guilt. Though Tagan Long's injuries were not directly their doing, the boy had come to harm right under their noses, and the two of them had, however indirectly, failed to stop "Zhang Naipao." So now they trembled where they stood, not daring even to breathe too loudly before their master.

"Grave. Very troublesome!" The Ancestor Xuanchen knitted his brows and spat out those few words, and at once the hearts of Old Six and Old Twelve sank.

"Master, can he be cured?" Old Six asked hurriedly.

"I cannot say. Perhaps only by refining a Great Recovery Pill would there be any hope—but the refining of a Great Recovery Pill is terribly troublesome, and many of the ingredients are scarce. Even gathering the materials would take some time!" The Ancestor Xuanchen sighed, his expression exceedingly grim.

For all these years, that grand plan had at last become possible. The other inheritors had been arranged more or less as needed. Everything was ready—all that remained was to wait for this Tagan Long to slowly mature, to set foot upon the Heaven Rank, and then the plan could be set in motion.

And yet the hope of all these years had been shattered, just like that!?

The Ancestor Xuanchen could not accept it—could not accept it at all!

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