Life Game In Other World
Chapter 737: The Remains of a B-Rank Martial Artist, The First ’Martial Technique’ Acquired (Two-in-One Mega - , Monthly Ticket Request)

Chapter 737: Chapter 737: The Remains of a B-Rank Martial Artist, The First ’Martial Technique’ Acquired (Two-in-One Mega Chapter, Monthly Ticket Request)

Kang—

He Ao blocked the wide sword that was slashing towards him with his own. He squatted down, channeling the powerful force into the ground beneath his feet.

The seemingly indestructible stone floor instantly cracked all over.

At the same time, a violent force splattered from the corpse in front of He Ao, grazing past his body like numerous fine blades, bringing with it a sharp pain and stirring up a fierce gale.

He Ao’s body did not budge, but Feiya, who stood beside him, was blown away, slamming into a pillar not far away.

However, such an impact was nothing for a C-level; she immediately got up and shouted to He Ao, "I might be able to affect the movement of his weapon!"

Then she closed her eyes.

"Be careful! Don’t act recklessly!"

He Ao immediately shouted back. He was still unclear about the monster’s abilities.

At that moment, the corpse’s wide sword indeed hesitated briefly, as if Feiya’s ability had taken effect.

Just as her ability was working, the smoke in the corpse’s eyes flickered.

Feiya, not far away, suddenly stiffened, spat out blood, and fainted.

······

That was too quick a delivery.

He Ao glanced at Feiya’s body. Her energy circuit was fine, her soul was intact, and she seemed to have suffered no serious injuries—she had merely fainted.

It was likely some form of spiritual attack. Such an attack wouldn’t kill a C-level, but it could render them unconscious.

It was uncertain whether this spiritual attack’s ability came from contamination or the martial artist’s own power.

But at that moment, He Ao didn’t have the luxury of pondering this, as all of the corpse’s attention was now focused on him.

The reason the corpse only knocked Feiya unconscious was simply to prevent her from interfering with its actions. It stared intensely at He Ao, pushing down with its wide sword as if it perceived a formidable threat in He Ao.

And He Ao was watching it right back.

The force that had scraped past him like blades, He Ao was familiar with it—it was ’Qi.’

Completely uncontrolled, wildly unleashed ’Qi.’

Through his Divine Sense, he could see the energy within the corpse’s body was chaotic and patternless, with even the energy nexus points shimmering with unstable light.

Clearly, the being that had ’awoken’ this corpse was clueless about the methods of Martial Arts, yet the corpse’s body still contained a substantial amount of ’Qi.’

The only ’skill’ the corpse could use with ’Qi’ was probably to release it recklessly for area attacks.

The corpse was strong, and judging solely by the combat power bursting from its body, its physical qualities might have exceeded three thousand. Before its death, it was likely an extremely powerful Martial Artist.

The good news was that Divine Sense came with the soul, and since the entity that awakened the ’corpse’ did not understand Martial Arts, this corpse most likely could not use ’Divine Sense,’ the most powerful auxiliary ability of Martial Arts.

Thus, much of its power was essentially missing, leaving behind only a strong husk.

However, this was He Ao’s first time fighting against a genuinely powerful Martial Arts Expert.

He gripped the hilt of the bone sword with both hands, activated his Super Memory, and burst out with power, slowly standing up and pushing back the wide sword in front of him, "Come on!"

The corpse immediately withdrew its sword and stepped back halfway, dissolving He Ao’s push while spinning its sword downwards, switching from a cleave to a flick, bringing a huge wide sword with a whistling wind sweeping towards He Ao’s chest.

He Ao immediately angled his sword downward, deflecting the flick, and continued by skewing it off its intended trajectory.

Then the corpse raised its sword again, continuing the motion to slash across at He Ao’s chest. He Ao lifted his sword and thrust upward, exerting tremendous force to parry the incoming wide sword.

These maneuvers seemed complex, but they were completed in an instant. During this brief clash, his body did not retreat a single inch, while the corpse took a half step back because of its diminished force.

But this did not prove that the corpse was weaker than He Ao.

In terms of overall strength, even with Super Memory activated, the power He Ao could exert was still weaker than that of the corpse.

However, he hadn’t used his Fist Technique boost.

When he killed Wester, he had already tested that after advancing to B-level with Super Memory, using Fist Technique indeed provided strong power, increasing his power to over six thousand, but it also pushed his body to the limit, draining it with every second.

That was essentially his desperate trump card. If he used it now, it would damage his body, and he might not be able to get through the fourth or even the possible fifth layer afterward.

Moreover, it was his first time combatting the power left by a Martial Arts Expert. Maintaining power that seemed evenly matched was beneficial for observing the ’predecessor’s’ tactics and skills, to see if there was anything he could ’learn.’

At this time, the corpse seemed to have noticed that He Ao’s power was weaker than its own. It quickly withdrew its sword, stepped back, then spun around with the sword over its shoulder. The huge wide sword twirled above its head on his back.

He Ao immediately advanced, thrusting his sword forward, attempting to interrupt the momentum of the spinning sword, but in that instant, the corpse abruptly turned, swinging the sword which had been raised behind its back. In the blink of an eye, it was flung forward, striking down onto the bone sword in He Ao’s hand.

The enormous force caused He Ao’s wrist to go numb and the bone sword to be knocked out of his grasp.

Then without hesitation, He Ao leaped sharply towards the direction where the bone sword flew off.

At that moment, the corpse’s wide sword, having changed from a cleave to a chop, with the wind howling, chopped down, landing where He Ao had just been, splattering debris everywhere.

He Ao rolled to land beside a still-intact pillar, glanced at the bone sword that had landed far away and stuck into the ground, and gently raised his hand.

Retrieve objects from the air!

The bone sword appeared in his hand instantly.

Feiya, who was behind him preparing to use her ability, blinked at this scene.

And He Ao’s attention was focused on the corpse in front of him.

If he had reacted just a bit slower just now, he could have been cut in two.

The corpse in front of him had lost its intelligence, and the skills it used in combat were probably just instinctual.

Yet even relying on instinct alone, the strength it could exert was still formidable.

He Ao watched the energy flow within the corpse’s body, and he could clearly feel that these chaotic energies actually followed a pattern at times.

When the corpse had used that fatal slashing attack just moments before, He Ao could distinctly sense the energy flowing in some regular pattern.

This regular flow significantly amplified the corpse’s attacks.

The method of this flow had some similarity to the energy flow in He Ao’s fist technique, but it wasn’t exactly the same.

Most importantly, because this flow had become an instinctual part of the body without any additional skill augmentation, it allowed He Ao the opportunity to glimpse the essence of this energy flow.

He Ao’s contemplation happened in a very brief moment, and during this time, the corpse had charged at him again.

This time, the corpse dragged its sword forward and suddenly swung it towards He Ao, with a surging power aiming for his face.

If this strike hit, it could directly shatter He Ao’s skull.

He Ao rolled with the momentum to dodge the blow, and at the same time, placed his hand on his chest, his Divine Sense instantly immersing into the jade pendant.

A surging, contaminated roar entered his mind, and at the same time, the energy flow within the corpse’s body presented itself unobscured in his ’vision’.

So that’s how it is.

At that moment, the broadsword the corpse had swung had already struck the huge column behind He Ao, nearly two meters in diameter, splitting it into pieces, and with a thunderous noise, it suddenly collapsed.

The corpse did not pause its motion, bursting through the splintering dust and debris, carrying a howling wind as it slashed towards He Ao.

This time, it did not use the dragging sword method to gather strength but instead employed the fastest sword swinging technique it had. It seemed to realize that He Ao’s speed was not lacking, and if it took its time to gather strength, He Ao would have the chance to evade.

Meanwhile, He Ao released his grip on the jade pendant and tucked it into the innermost part of his clothes, bracing himself to parry the incoming sword with his own.

The corpse abruptly swung again, slashing towards He Ao.

He Ao positioned his sword horizontally in front of him and once again blocked the corpse’s slash.

At the same time, in his mind, he repeatedly recalled the energy flow from the corpse’s previous swings, comparing these patterns with the energy flow of his own fist technique, integrating them into his energy operation.

This seemed to be a special method of enhancing heavy strikes.

Amidst his thoughts, He Ao suddenly thrust his sword forward, fiercely swinging it at the corpse’s neck.

The corpse seemed not to expect He Ao to contend with it in a contest of heavy strikes; it too swung its sword back in preparation, gathering strength to strike at He Ao’s blade.

In that instant, He Ao directed his Divine Sense into the skin on his chest and into the jade pendant.

The effect of this immersion wasn’t as good as holding it by hand, but at that moment, He Ao only needed a simple ’view’ to confirm his speculation.

At that instant, from a higher perspective, He Ao clearly saw the direction of the energy flowing inside the corpse’s body.

At the same time, the violent contamination flooding into his mind affected his movement, and his bone sword shook after the clash and was knocked away, embedding itself into a nearby column.

However, the broadsword in the corpse’s hand was also deflected, exposing its vast chest.

He Ao lifted his right foot and turned with a leap.

The corpse thought he was going to sweep horizontally to the right and immediately raised its hand, ready to block the strike.

In that moment, He Ao switched feet in mid-air and tried to channel the energy circuit for heavy strikes within his body, his left foot kicking forward, striking squarely on the corpse’s chest.

The chest, having no block, was directly sent flying.

Then He Ao lifted his hand,

Retrieve objects from the air!

The bone sword instantly appeared in his hand, then he wheeled the sword around, holding it behind his back, the blade creating streaks of white sword flowers, rushing towards the flying corpse like a stream of light and shadow, thrusting forth with his sword.

The corpse subconsciously attempted to block with its own sword, but the huge broadsword, like a child’s toy, was easily deflected by the bone sword.

A screaming wind brushed past He Ao’s back, as it tried to use a mental attack on him, but its assault fell on He Ao’s thick soul, barely causing a ripple.

The sharp tip of the sword pierced through the corpse’s body in an instant, piercing the last convergence point of its energy.

This strike seemed light as a feather, but it was actually a heavy hit, only concealed by some movement techniques He Ao used, making it appear like a mere gentle thrust.

With the sounds akin to bones fracturing, the corpse stiffened, the energy disappearing from within, the grey mist in its eyes dissipated, revealing desolate and pale eyes.

This time, he did not use his fist technique but instead combined the corpse’s heavy strike ability with the energy operation of his own fist technique, ’replicating’ the corpse’s amplification of the heavy strike.

"Dust to dust, earth to earth."

He Ao pulled out the bone sword, allowing the corpse to fall to the ground.

This corpse, in life, must have been one of the heroes stationed here, fighting until the last moment, only to be turned into this kind of ’living dead’ after death and used by its own enemies.

He reached out, closing the corpse’s eyelids.

He wondered if it was an illusion, but he saw a hint of relief in the corpse’s smile at the corner of its mouth.

At the same time, He Ao’s Divine Sense immersed into the internal body of the corpse, swiftly moving inside it.

Unlike the novice feeling he had when his Divine Sense moved inside bodies like Jia Xi and others, inside this corpse’s body, it felt as fluid as a fish in water, exceptionally nimble.

Indeed.

He Ao recalled the content of the eighth page in the little book; the illustration on this page showed what seemed to be the Divine Sense descending from the mind, traveling to the arms, then to the chest, and back to the mind again.

After swiftly wandering through the corpse’s upper body, He Ao contemplated for a moment, then promptly directed his Divine Sense into the corpse’s legs, where the movement of his Divine Sense was still relaxed.

He Ao’s brow furrowed slightly, then he let out a wry smile,

It seemed his guess was correct.

After the eighth page in the little book, where the ninth should have been, the illustrations did not depict using Divine Sense to move through the lower body. Instead, it seemed to suggest gathering the Divine Sense at points below the navel, in the chest, and the brain.

That is to say, the little book had no content on using Divine Sense to travel through the lower body.

When He Ao first saw these two pages, he vaguely felt something was amiss. After all, his previous cultivation had always involved simultaneous training of limbs and torso; it was improbable that only the upper body was included without the lower half.

Now, it seems that a page is missing here.

That is to say, what should have been on the ninth page was actually the tenth, and the genuine ninth page, which guides Divine Sense throughout the lower body, is missing.

It was because of this suspicion that he had not yet started training his Divine Sense.

Of course, another important reason was that before he obtained the jade pendant, his Divine Sense was always in short supply, lacking sufficient resources for cultivation.

However, now that he had truly confirmed a page was missing, he felt somewhat relieved.

At least, the eighth page might not have significant problems, and he could attempt cultivation when his Divine Sense was sufficient.

After circulating his Divine Sense through the corpse, He Ao began to retract it, but as it passed through the chest of the remains, his movement suddenly paused.

Etched on the chest of the corpse were a few "characters" by Divine Sense.

These were neither the script of the First District nor the Second District.

They were Denis script, marked with the symbol of ’destroy after reading.’

In an instant, He Ao understood the meaning of these words,

[Fifth layer... escape... outside... be careful... Array...]

This was not a complete sentence but a combination of several words.

And right after He Ao read these words, they destroyed themselves in an instant.

This was a message etched inside the body using Divine Sense; judging by the brevity of the words, they might have been the last message conveyed by the corpse before him.

These were words only someone who also utilized Divine Sense could read, perhaps the last warning left by this warrior before dying, hoping to alert any comrades who might come to rescue.

Unfortunately, this warning arrived hundreds of years too late.

This warrior who died in the Underground Palace perhaps never knew, no reinforcements would ever arrive here.

For the outside world, too, had been destroyed.

He Ao withdrew his hand, stood up, and stared at the corpse before him.

"Is it over?"

Just then, a confused voice came from the side.

He Ao looked up and saw Feiya, covered in debris, shakily standing up from the ground. She steadied her forehead, trembling as she straightened her glasses, glancing at He Ao and then at the corpse on the ground. Her gaze became vacant for a moment, "Was I out for long?"

"Less than a minute."

He Ao responded casually.

Feiya: (⊙ˍ⊙)?

"In one minute, you, you took down this guy?"

She pointed at He Ao and then at the corpse on the ground, then somewhat groggily waved her hand, "Wait a moment, I might not have woken up yet. Where exactly was I lying down?"

"It wasn’t that hard," He Ao explained offhandedly, "He was strong in the first half, I was strong in the second half, and then he lost."

Feiya stared blankly at He Ao, silent for a long while, seemingly finally realizing she wasn’t dreaming. After what seemed like a momentary yet eternal silence,

"Now if you say you’re B-level, I really wouldn’t doubt it at all."

"Strictly speaking,"

He Ao began to speak.

"Just a bit stronger than the average C-level; I know,"

Feiya interjected before he could finish.

He Ao gave a wry smile.

At this moment, Feiya looked towards the already-opened passage, "Shall we continue downwards?"

The guard at the third level was already B-level, and the situation on the fourth level was likely even more dangerous.

He Ao didn’t immediately respond but walked to the deepest part of the hall and stood before the passage.

The silent passage was like a gaping maw of a wild beast, filled with terrifying pressure.

At the very entrance of the passage was a sign that seemingly indicated ’danger.’

Beside it was something that appeared to request the donning of some protective gear.

He turned to look at the hall behind him; this hall might have been a ’quarantine facility’ where operators had to don protective gear before entering the next layer.

By this point, he had some suspicions in his mind.

He stepped forward, crossing the threshold of the passage.

A faint, distorted murmur arose in his mind.

The fourth layer had some contamination.

As He Ao went deeper, the murmuring in his mind grew stronger.

He Ao turned back, leaving the passageway, and returned to the hall. He looked at Feiya and shook his head slightly, "There’s severe contamination below; you probably can’t go down."

As a Transcendent from the main world who had hardly experienced contamination, He Ao couldn’t guarantee that Feiya wouldn’t lose her mind if she went down.

If he took her down as a person, she might turn into a monster by the time they came back.

"Then I..."

Feiya was momentarily stunned before she turned to look at He Ao.

"Can you wait for me in the refuge room we just left? If the problem is resolved, I’ll come back for you."

He Ao sheathed his bone sword, gazing at Feiya,

Feiya looked up at He Ao and, after a brief pause, she nodded gently, "Okay."

Feiya was not really thoughtless; she could clearly discern the current situation. With the level of strength she had shown, if she were to accompany He Ao as his partner, she would definitely hold him back.

For He Ao, Feiya’s abilities were very important.

Since the Underground Palace and Newland City-State were close to each other, the spatial influence must not be one-way, meaning that the space on the side of the Underground Palace was also unstable.

And Feiya’s ability to ’open doors’ could assure that in the case of an accident, they could both return safely to the main world.

Therefore, if conditions permitted, he would prioritize ensuring Feiya’s safety.

After weighing the options, Feiya hiding in the safety chamber on the third floor was the best choice.

Having made their decision, they no longer hesitated. He Ao quickly led Feiya towards the refuge room.

During this process, He Ao began revising the crushing blow technique he had learned from the corpses.

This skill would allow him to burst forth with an additional 10% of his strength when executing a heavy blow.

Though the increase might seem small, the strain on his body was minimal, enabling him to use it repeatedly.

Most importantly, the skill wasn’t one He Ao had directly ’copied’ from the husks, but rather, after extracting the advantages of the energy circulation from the husks’ skills, he had integrated it into his own Fist Technique.

That meant, even after using his Fist Technique to amplify his strength by 90%, his heavy blow would still maintain a 10% increase, which amounted to 190% of 10%, or effectively about a 19% increase of his original strength.

Given the already large base of his physical condition, such an increase was somewhat abnormal.

However, this couldn’t be considered an ’improvement’ to the Fist Technique, because this special energy flow only enhanced the strength of certain special attack moves.

Strictly speaking, should it be classed as a ’Martial Technique’ within Fist Technique?

’Martial Technique’ based on Fist Technique fundamentals, effect: a 10% increase in strength during a heavy blow.

If one could say that the Fist Technique methods He Ao previously summarized were ’internal arts’, then this Martial Technique would be ’external arts’, a special move to be used in real combat.

Perhaps it warranted a name, Force Shatters Mountains?

While contemplating, the two reached the outside of the refuge room. Feiya glanced at the monster He Ao had just killed with some confusion, "Will this thing turn into a Transcendent item?"

In the understanding of Transcendents in the main world, a Transcendent’s abilities do not vanish upon death but instead become Transcendent items.

This is in fact a vague understanding of the extraction of the Talent Sequences.

"No,"

He Ao shook his head. He glanced at the creature on the ground, "This monster’s power comes from contamination; in a sense, it has received a special Grace. When it dies, its power will be reclaimed by the source of contamination. It’s not a true Transcendent. Most monsters inside the Underground Palace are like this,

"Those Ram Demons we saw earlier are a bit more special, seeming to be a combination of machinery and contamination. However, they also won’t turn into Transcendent items. The Ram Demons that died in front of the gate showed no Transcendent traits, differing from the exotic beasts in the relics."

In fact, he had a way to utilize the remnants of these monsters’ energy. The monsters he killed could be directly absorbed by the Sacrifice pendant.

But after consuming Wester, the pendant was full and could no longer take in the corpses of these monsters.

Having said that, He Ao did not wait for Feiya to respond. He quickly and carefully inspected the interior of the room and, ensuring there were no issues, he left the room.

Feiya only watched him deeply from behind.

"I hope we can meet safely again."

When everything was over, Feiya pulled down the gate bolt and looked up at He Ao outside the gate.

After their brief time together, she finally understood why, according to the information she had received, so many people from the Research Institute were fond of this young man.

Setting aside the fact that they came from different camps, he was a person with considerable personal charm.

"I hope so,"

He Ao nodded lightly.

And in that moment, he briefly activated Super Memory and placed a mark on Feiya.

The gate closed swiftly, and He Ao quickly returned to the hall, picking up a black broadsword from the ground and advancing step by step toward the corridor ahead.

In the deep, silent depths of the corridor, it seemed to thrum with groans from ancient times.

He Ao took a deep breath and slowly proceeded down the corridor.

The corridor itself was not long, with dark stone steps unfurling from the entrance down to the very bottom.

As He Ao descended the staircase, at almost regular intervals, he encountered torn gates in his path, and he passed through their remnants in silence.

In the pitch-black space, the passage of time was imperceptible, and after an unknown duration, a tightly shut gate appeared before him.

He raised his flashlight, and its feeble glow highlighted the bas-relief on this gate.

It was an inverted triangle with an embedded eye that was closed.

He Ao had seen this emblem before in the Copy World, also on a door, but that time the eye within the inverted triangle was open.

An open eye points to the Grim Reaper, while a closed one to another group.

"’Truth watches over all its followers, yet the followers shall never see that eye.’"

This was the Eye of Truth, the emblem belonging to Wizards.

Click—

The tightly shut gate opened slowly, the murmuring by his ear turning into loud surging, as if welcoming the ’visitor’ who ventured here for the first time in hundreds of years.