True Solution of the Sword Dao
Chapter 158 - 152 Essence 2

Chapter 158: Chapter 152 Essence 2

Lin Fei’s eyes occasionally flashed with a hint of obscure blue as he cultivated simultaneously, his progress speeding up significantly after reaching the C-level peak. The once hazy patterns of Visualization had gradually become clearer. In terms of momentum, the so-called C-level peak was merely the first qualitative change after D-level, the first breakthrough of momentum. If he wanted to reach B-level, according to the information Lin Fei had, only another qualitative change in momentum would get him there, but currently, since the improvement was through external forces without a stable foundation, even Lin Fei, who never stopped cultivating, could only frustratingly stay at this level for an extended period. Cultivating momentum was the mainstream approach for growing stronger in this world. However, it was the Sword Dao True Solution that he truly relied on. The improvements in the final images of The First Layer allowed him to take the opportunity to charge at the C-level peak—the first qualitative change of momentum. But this didn’t mean that truly breaking through The First Layer would allow him to step into B-level; the Qi Cultivation Chapter of the Sword Dao True Solution’s The First Layer mainly focused on improving speed. By Lin Fei’s estimation, even reaching the peak of The First Layer, there would still be a substantial gap between his combat power and that of a B-level master. Fortunately, he wouldn’t, like countless other C-levels, remain cluelessly at this level, unable to advance even after hundreds of years. From C-level to B-level is a major hurdle, with a monumental disparity in strength.

The Qi Cultivation Chapter of the Sword Dao True Solution mainly emphasized the overall enhancement of one’s physical condition, with speed and strength being only two of the indicators. Undoubtedly, other foundational aspects also have their unique attributes. In other words, the Qi Cultivation Chapter isn’t meant for enhancing strength but for laying a foundation. It is quite useful for making up for weaknesses. To put it another way, even if Lin Fei made a breakthrough to the Second Layer and began to fortify his strength, it would still be just physical strength. In terms of combat power, it would mean an increased capacity for destruction, but the methods would remain unchanged. His actual combat power should see a significant increase, but it would still be far from the qualitative change of B-level. To be blunt, according to natural laws of the Inner World, moving from C-level to B-level is a vast stride, with an immense disparity in combat power. Yet, Sword Dao True Solution breaks down this large step into many smaller ones, ensuring a smooth and stable enhancement.

Lin Fei could generally guess at the key points of the so-called ultimate swordsmanship of the Royal Court. Those who are qualified to possess such Secret Tomes must possess absolutely no weaknesses in strength! Whether it is strength or speed or other aspects, only the most perfect Swordsman is qualified to inherit the true Sword Dao True Solution. That’s also the reason for the existence of the Qi Cultivation Chapter.

So what Lin Fei now needed to do was to break through the Qi Cultivation Chapter of Sword Dao True Solution and establish a solid foundation. If things go as expected, breaking through the last form of Tracing Shadow Sword Art might bring an enhancement in combat power, but it certainly wouldn’t reach B-level, at most stronger than a regular C-level peak.

Once the college entrance exams were over, it would be time for the scheduled meeting with An Caiyuan. By then, as long as he obtained a few more True Force gems, there shouldn’t be a problem with the amount of True Force needed for the Second Layer. After establishing a strong foundation, he would then enter the Dream Space to plan the seizure of the Divine Instrument True Lies. This was Lin Fei’s planned arrangement for what lay ahead. Without the True Force gems, relying on the circulation of True Force within the body to achieve the total amount of True Force needed for the Second Layer would take at least a hundred years, and Lin Fei couldn’t wait that long!

Therefore, the True Force gems were a must-have! Otherwise, limited by insufficient total True Force, he would be unable to cultivate the Second Layer, which would be troublesome. Moreover, he needed to act quickly on the Dream Vision project as he was about to start university. He had four more years in university, and in his previous life, he died in the second year after starting work. That is to say, if there were no major changes, there would be a little over five years before his death in his previous life. Of course, if the opponent wasn’t the Holy See, then resolving the crisis ahead of time wouldn’t be a problem. But what he feared was that Judgment Knight Aisaha didn’t represent himself but rather the vast Inquisition behind him. As for Aisaha’s strength, Sis couldn’t provide specific intelligence, only knowing that he was a veteran who had joined the Knight Order of Judgment for two hundred years. The actual situation required Lin Fei to test himself personally. Not just him, but even the entire Knight Order of Judgment was shrouded in mystery. No one knew how many of them there were, no one knew the average level of their strength, and in every operation they undertook, wherever they went, all heretics were annihilated without fail.

"Better wait until I break through to B-level before seeking out Aisaha," Lin Fei had an ominous premonition that if the current him sought out Aisaha, the consequences would be unthinkable. This was a subconscious warning that only emerged after one cultivated swordsmanship to a certain height.

He was currently stabilizing his Cultivation Level, and it couldn’t be rushed. At least another half a year was needed to stabilize the swiftly improved combat power. This was already quite fast.

Using his mind for triple tasks, guiding the True Force to break through the bottleneck of the Visualization’s last image, working on practice problems from his review materials, and pondering the upcoming initiatives, he still had spare mental capacity. This was the ability for high-level brain domain development that Lin Fei gained from the transformation of his new True Force. However, it seemed that the strengthening of the new True Force had reached its limit; his body could no longer continue developing further.

Of course, in Fang Jing’s eyes, Lin Fei even occasionally exchanged a few words with her.

With a half-skeptical attitude, Fang Jing picked out a physics problem she had previously asked other classmates about and remembered it on her draft paper. Turning around, she placed it on Lin Fei’s desk.

"Lin Fei, have you solved this problem?" she asked softly.

Lin Fei’s pen paused slightly as he raised his head and looked at the paper she had handed over.

"I haven’t done it."

Fang Jing breathed a sigh of relief, not knowing why she felt slightly relieved.

"But I can give it a try."

Lin Fei took the paper and quickly scanned the problem again. Countless formulas flashed through his mind, combining instantly according to their categories. In just a few seconds, the subsequent processes that rapidly arose from formula substitution were calculated one by one. Soon, the most suitable approach to the answer presented itself in his mind.

He picked up his pen and made a brief calculation on the draft, then swiftly wrote down the solution process.

"See if this is correct," Lin Fei pushed the paper back to Fang Jing. She took it with a puzzled look, only to change her expression immediately upon seeing it.

"You’ve done this problem before, haven’t you?" What Fang Jing saw was the most straightforward method of solution, also the best one.

Lin Fei smiled, acknowledging implicitly. With this pace of thinking, he was many times faster than others in just one second. And this was still with his attention divided due to simultaneous cultivation. This was the result of the transformation by the new True Force. For him, if the top three geniuses in his class had come to him, there might have been a competition, but the other students were far behind. After all, the college entrance exam was essentially a review of all high school knowledge, and there is a limit to that knowledge. The few at the forefront had mastered ninety-nine percent of the syllabus. At that level, to rank above and below, difficulty level was the only criterion that could show a difference.

"Very impressive," a voice suddenly sounded beside him.

"It’s nothing much," Lin Fei said casually. He didn’t find the problem particularly difficult, but he was unaware that it was a problem that had taken Chen Huan more than ten minutes to solve. "This problem isn’t really hard; it’s just a matter of getting stuck in a mental dead end."

Standing next to him was a tall and thin male student, who was the math class representative Chen Huan — an extreme science and technology ace. Chen Huan originally just passed by Lin Fei’s seat and happened to see Lin Fei solving that problem. With numerous problems solved under his belt, he could naturally distinguish whether Lin Fei really solved the problem by himself. Copying and writing from memory is different from truly solving a problem. Genuine problem-solving involves appropriate pauses for thought at different key points, and the draft on the side would also reveal a bit of the mental process.

"Maybe he’s just pretending," he thought to himself. Given his curiosity, Chen Huan was interested in finding out just how deep the usually quiet Lin Fei could be.

"Try this problem; let’s discuss it." He wrote down a math problem from memory on the draft paper.

Fang Jing leaned in curiously to take a look. "This problem is very simple. Look, this way..." She had just started when she realized something was wrong. Continuing to solve it that way would surely lead to an endless, unsolvable loop. She instantly knew it must be an extremely difficult problem and stopped talking right away.

Chen Huan curiously watched Lin Fei. This problem had taken him more than an hour to figure out how to solve, a high-level challenge. Considering that at this stage of review they were in the final phase, it was not hard to imagine the difficulty of this problem.

However, Lin Fei just scanned the problem and rapidly had numerous formulas and theorems flash through his mind. He tested it according to his problem-solving experience and could not solve it. This problem did not belong to any category of problems that Lin Fei had previously solved. Then there were the quick attempts filled with a large amount of calculation. One by one, possible solutions were eliminated.

Lin Fei was slightly surprised himself. Generally speaking, when dealing with the hardest problems posed by teachers, he could calculate the process in his mind within ten seconds, but now it had been more than twenty seconds, and he still had no clue.

"I need to think this through."

Chen Huan nodded his head and turned to leave. He could see from Lin Fei’s movements and emotions a familiar scent — that was the feeling of highly concentrated mental calculation. He himself was just like that.

But what he didn’t know was the unimaginable surprise in Lin Fei’s heart at that moment.

Lin Fei stared blankly at the problem in front of him. He wasn’t stunned because of the problem, but because he had suddenly thought of a way to quickly enhance his cultivation stability.

Just now, when his thoughts were blocked, he simply concentrated all his mind on conquering the problem first, and the moment he found the solution and there was a feeling of increased mental clarity that instantly spread through his entire body. This was a feeling Lin Fei was very familiar with; recently, every time he had overcome a difficulty, he had felt this way. With experience, he knew this was the feeling of developing brain regions. But differently, just now, Lin Fei clearly felt his momentum becoming a bit more stable.

"If momentum is a kind of substantial energy, it should not stabilize suddenly while I am thinking and solving problems. The effect of slow self-cultivation can’t be so abrupt; I’m certain it comes from the results of calculation and problem-solving," Lin Fei’s mind was very clear. "That is to say, momentum may not necessarily be a substantial energy; it could also be highly related to one’s own intellect. Perhaps, I can guess, is it affected by all aspects of one’s own quality? But why didn’t I feel this way when I solved difficult problems before?"

"According to theory, momentum is a great gravitational pull caused by high concentration of a person’s life energy; it’s just controlled by the powerful individual themselves. If life force can increase momentum, then can a highly powerful intellect also serve the purpose of increasing momentum?" Lin Fei boldly speculated.

However, he immediately had an epiphany. Sword Dao True Solution, Qi Cultivation Section, totals four realms and five layers, and these five layers should correspond to basic attributes. What’s known is that the first second layer corresponds to speed, strength. Initially, I thought it was the cultivation of Qi in Sword Dao True Solution that amplified the effect on momentum, but now it seems likely that it was my sheer increase in speed that caused the enhancement of momentum. With this in mind, the increase in momentum doesn’t necessarily have to come from life energy. Perhaps any quality that one possesses, when reaching a certain transformation, may increase momentum. However, it seems that this kind of increase in personal quality is not obvious because according to the difficulty of the Qi Cultivation section, it becomes harder to progress as one goes further; thus, momentum would also be stuck at one point for a long time. Also, I didn’t feel any significant change in momentum when I improved my own level in the past.

"Could it be a matter of needing a transformation? If it really is so..."

Then, could the forces contained within one’s own organization also cause changes in momentum?

Something stirred in Lin Fei’s heart. He had a feeling that this might be the true essence of momentum. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)