Chapter 2361 — A Failed Martial Technique

After all, Wei Zhao's own strength was what it was—only mid-Earth rank. If he wanted to wipe out Old Master Zhao, he would have to raise his power a bit more first.

Speaking of strength, Wei Zhao had been stuck at mid-Earth rank for some time now. From the Hidden World Families Summit until now, his power had long since stabilized and accumulated its gains—especially through those several all-out battles against the Fifth Protector, the First Protector, Tagan Long, and the Third Master. Wei Zhao had already touched the barrier of peak mid-Earth rank strength, but he was still just a little short.

It was like the last straw that breaks the camel's back—without that straw, the camel would not fall.

He hoped that before joining the trial, he could spend another stretch of time cultivating while holding Wang Xinyan, pushing his strength up to peak mid-Earth rank.

The moment the thought surfaced, Wei Zhao felt it was a little sordid. Cultivating while holding a girl in his arms—however you put it, there was something not quite right about it. Did he want to cultivate more, or did he want to hold Wang Xinyan more?

Shaking his head, he set the thought aside for the moment. Wei Zhao picked up the support-and-recovery martial technique he had copied down in the Hidden Han Family—Spring Rain from Heaven—opened it, and began carefully studying the mental formulas and oral mnemonics within.

Wei Zhao's memory had always been good. The ten sections of oral mnemonic were not long—it took only a short while to commit them.

Once he had memorized them, Wei Zhao set down the copied martial technique and began preparing to trigger the first form, Spring Rain from Heaven. As for the first form, triggering it was actually no difficulty at all for Wei Zhao—except that this was a martial technique that could only be triggered by someone possessing both water- and wood-attribute constitutions at once!

It seemed this martial technique was not something just anyone could cultivate. If a sect could train so many deathsworn who possessed both water- and wood-attribute constitutions, then that sect's scale truly could not be underestimated...

One could imagine how magnificent and mighty those sects must have been in the true ancient era—to say that real experts were as numerous as clouds would not be an exaggeration! In this age when Heaven-rank experts were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns, when all of them together did not exceed three digits, there had once been a time, perhaps, when Heaven-rank was as common as dogs, and above Heaven-rank, the legendary Heaven-Dao experts were the true powerhouses!

But as time passed, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth in the natural world grew thinner and thinner. Never mind Heaven-rank—even Mystic-rank and Earth-rank were experts only families of the Hidden World Family level could possess.

After his sighs, Wei Zhao began attempting the trigger. Of course, he was actually still somewhat uneasy, because this martial technique stipulated a constitution: wood attribute, water attribute!

If he went by the fact that he could trigger Frenzied Fire Fist and the Myriad Transformations of Forest and Wood, and could also refine the jade-pendant space—those three things—then the constitutions he possessed should be metal, wood, and fire. Yet this martial technique's requirement added water attribute. Did his body also contain a water-attribute constitution?

Even Wei Zhao himself found it hard to believe! Dual-constitution alchemists were already very few; triple-constitution artificers were basically nonexistent. Four constitutions—what sort of concept was that?

Still, Wei Zhao did not give up on that account. Following Spring Rain from Heaven's mental formulas and oral mnemonics, he began circulating them within his body. The mnemonic circulated quite normally—he just did not know whether he could ultimately succeed in triggering it.

"First form, Spring Rain from Heaven!" Following the triggering method described in the martial technique, Wei Zhao released the first form of Spring Rain from Heaven...

But the very next moment, Wei Zhao's face turned ashen!

It had not succeeded. The trigger had failed!

Wei Zhao stared at his own hands in disbelief. Clearly, in that instant just now, he had already felt the power generated by the mental formulas and oral mnemonics about to be triggered through his palms—yet that "about to" came to an abrupt halt!

Impossible—how could this be? At the moment of triggering, Wei Zhao had been certain he could succeed. After all, the martial technique's mental formulas had already transformed the true qi in his body into the technique's power and pushed it to the meridians of his palms. It was on the verge of being released, and yet the trigger had failed!

At that thought, Wei Zhao once again circulated Spring Rain from Heaven's mental formulas and attempted the trigger a second time. The result was still failure. This outcome left Wei Zhao—who had until now been invincible and had sailed smoothly and easily along the path of triggering martial techniques—somewhat pale in the face!

Before, with the universal martial technique in hand, Wei Zhao had basically come to believe that no matter what martial technique it was, once it reached his hands he could successfully trigger it. Especially after he had fused the Myriad Transformations of Forest and Wood with the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Palm, and Frenzied Fire Fist with the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Palm, into two new martial techniques—Wei Zhao felt all the more that he could trigger any martial technique at all.

But the current situation dealt Wei Zhao a severe blow. Spring Rain from Heaven could not be triggered! And this was a martial technique of important use to Wei Zhao—being unable to trigger it had driven his frustration to a certain pitch!

Could it be that his body truly had no water-attribute nature, and that the universal martial technique also operated according to the attributes within the body—if the body had that attribute, the technique could be successfully triggered; if the body lacked it, it could not be triggered?

The moment the idea arose, Wei Zhao knew his guess was probably nine parts out of ten correct!

Sighing, Wei Zhao turned and left the room, no longer continuing to study the Spring Rain from Heaven technique. Wei Zhao knew that his mental formulas and oral mnemonics were already circulating with complete fluency—the failure to trigger could only be due to some other reason.

"Arrow-Brand Bro, you're out!" Shen Yushu saw Wei Zhao come out of the room and bounced up from the sofa in a single motion. "You still haven't told Little Shu any fun stories even now!"

Earlier, Wei Zhao had shut himself in his room the moment he got home. Ever since returning from the Ulonghot Mountains, one could say Wei Zhao had not spoken a word to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, which had left Shen Yushu a little unhappy.

"Little Shu, Wei Zhao has proper business—he's researching martial techniques. Where would he find time to tell you stories?" Gu Mengyao pulled Little Shu back to the sofa, then said to Wei Zhao, "Wei Zhao, don't mind her. Go on with your work."

"It's fine. I happen to have some free time right now, so I'll tell you about the trip to the Ulonghot Mountains." Wei Zhao smiled, then sat down on the sofa beside Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu and said, "But I offended quite a few people on this trip. After I've told you, don't go telling anyone else."

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