Damon's Ascension-Chapter 111: War In Xiangyang 12

After all, the rules were clear: Skills acquired from Essence Instances couldn’t be improved through personal growth or by imbuing them with Worldly Essence. Even his Silver Eclipse Skill, despite having a discrepancy between its Grade and Stage, couldn’t be upgraded. The only option to get a better Silver Eclipse Skill was to "refresh" it, by paying a hefty amount of Worldly Essence to roll for a new, random Divine Skill.

The same applied here.

Not to mention that feeling the Internal Force within him, Damon understood that this energy did have many of the mystical properties it was alleged to have in mythology, but it had some also taken away from it.

In myth, one cultivated martial arts using their body’s vital energy gained from eating - and even sometimes from killing or fiddling with corpses - then turned that energy into a condensed form that is mixed with all energy that makes up your existence, your Qi.

In turn, the energy you drummed up from your ’excess’ Qi then empowered your body, making you stronger, faster and sometimes smarter, depending on the nature of your practiced martial arts.

Internal Force had various effects from extending life, empowering the body’s foundations, strengthening attacks or weapons, forming defensive barriers, speeding up healing or be actively consumed for regeneration, and could even be imbued into others to heal, imprison or control them.

However, one had to remember that all Essence Instances were created by the Universe Will and all powers or mystical weapons brought to life within had to follow its rules. In this case, the mythology of ’growing the body foundation’ for both martial arts and likely even immortal arts had been directly removed.

According to the laws of the Universe, only using Worldly Essence to raise your stats can achieve that.

Internal Force, especially the kind Damon possessed, didn’t increase his stats in any direct way. Instead, as adapted and sanctioned by the Universe Will, it maximized the output of his existing stats, weaponizing them to their fullest potential.

For one, the reason he jumped right to the peak entry stage of the Empty Soul Palm was not just due to comprehension brought on by increased Mentality, but also because his body’s stats were high.

Instead of extracting Qi through eating to increase his power, Damon’s Internal Force system functioned by him having to increase his stats, which were then converted into Internal Force.

So rather than say Damon needed to cultivate through the stages by increasing his Internal Force, it would be more apt to say that he needed to comprehend to the highest level and once it was time to receive his rewards for the Instance, he would receive the Skill at the Grade and Stage at which he had mastered it.

For example, if he completed all objectives as he was right now, his reward would be the Empty Soul Palm at the peak entry level’s equivalent, and he would never need to practice nor be able to practice outside.

When he raised his stats, his Internal Force would increase accordingly, so it would never fade out nor become obsolete, being an eternally useful power system.

The key was that he was able to first of all get a good internal martial art and second of all, to comprehend it to a suitable level.

In light of that, Damon felt he needed to slow down and try to use the time to comprehend as much as he could, which was his intention as he returned to the Crane Ridge Villa with his trio.

Alas, the world doesn’t always follow our whims. Before, he had set in motion some actions that could not be stopped, and now, they were about to bear fruit.

............

Elsewhere, deep within the inner sanctum of the Azure Sword Pavilion’s local branch, the sharp ring of clashing blades came to an abrupt halt as a robed elder received a whisper from a trembling disciple.

The elder, known as Pavilion Master Zhou Weiming, was a thin man with iron-gray eyebrows and a sword aura that clung to him like frost.

He read the scroll once, twice and then crushed it with a flick of Internal Force.

"A barbarian... reaching the Entry Stage of the Empty Soul Palm in a single night?" Zhou Weiming’s voice was calm, but his eyes burned with cold fire.

Another elder, Elder Lin of the Azure Sword Pavilion, frowned. "It took our own Zen convert six months. And even then, he could not form true intent strikes."

"The last man to comprehend the Empty Soul Palm at this speed..." Weiming muttered darkly.

"...was the Ever Victorious Buddha." Elder Lin finished. freewёbnoνel.com

Silence reigned.

Zhou Weiming turned toward the open courtyard where disciples were practicing.

"Summon Elder Fan and Elder Yu. Increase surveillance on the Zen Sect pavilion. If that foreigner shows any signs of approaching the martial master realm, we act."

............

In the Heaven Dew Sect’s elegant hall, filled with perfumed incense and translucent screens, Matriarch Yu Qiyue gently put down her brush mid-calligraphy. Her attendants knelt instantly, but her smile remained poised.

"The wind has changed." She murmured, accepting a scroll from her personal maid.

She read it in full, then whispered one name. "Damon Arnan."

A nearby inner sect elder frowned, "The one who received the Empty Soul Palm scroll with no test?"

Matriarch Yu’s fingers lightly tapped the paper. "The very same. Apparently he has mastered its first stage with no guidance. This is not aptitude. This is providence."

She turned, her silk robes brushing over the marble floor. "If he continues, he could reach mastery within weeks. Shall I remind you what happened the last time the Zen Sect produced a Martial Grandmaster?"

Her voice hardened like frozen rain. "The ’Ever Victorious Buddha’ shattered every sect’s strongest move with open palms. He turned our Heaven Mist Net into wind-blown petals."

The elder bowed low. "Shall we prepare... offers? Recruitment?"

Matriarch Yu’s smile faded. "No. The Zen Sect does not share. We must sever the root before it grows."

............

Meanwhile, in the training yard of Iron Banner Hall, the air boomed with the sounds of metal clanging against stone. Rows of shirtless disciples were battering iron stakes with weighted hammers under the guidance of Master Lei Gang, the Hall’s local commander.

A scout dashed into the compound and fell to one knee. "Master! Urgent news from the square!"

The burly man with skin like bronze wiped his forehead, then grabbed the parchment. He squinted at it, then laughed.

"A foreigner joined the monks and unlocked Internal Force in one night?"

His laughter faded into a harsh silence. "...Empty Soul Palm?"

"Yes, Master." The disciple lowered his head.

Lei Gang’s jaw tightened. "That cursed technique should’ve died with the old bastard. Is the Zen Sect trying to revive its legacy?"

He crushed the scroll into a ball of ash and barked out orders. "Send word to the southern outpost! If that scholar shows up anywhere near our mission zones, we break his legs and throw him into the river!"

"Master, wouldn’t that start a conflict with the Zen Sect?" another disciple asked cautiously.

Lei Gang looked down with steel eyes. "Let them start it. Their last genius ended the same way he began, sitting alone under a tree until death."

............

At a ruined shrine tucked into the side of a fog-covered mountain path, two Ghost Valley School elders stood before a lantern altar.

One held a black-tasseled jade tablet, its surface inscribed with pulsing spirit sigils.

"He has touched the thread." The female elder murmured, her face veiled and her voice hushed.

"Is it truly the Empty Soul Palm?" The other elder asked, a bearded man dressed in tattered scholar robes with poison vials tucked into his sleeves.

"Yes. And he reached the threshold faster than anyone since... him." The Female Elder’s face became solemn.

"Then what shall we do?" The fellow asked with worry.

The woman turned to her fellow elder and smiled faintly behind the veil. "Nothing. Let the fools panic. We will watch."

"Until?" The male elder pressed impatiently.

"Until he strikes the second thread." She whispered maliciously.

............

Later that evening, beneath a flickering lantern in the Liu family estate, Second Young Master Liu Yuren stared at a report with darkening eyes.

Across from him, his elder brother Liu Zhongshan was seated in full formal robes, face like stone.

"You let him refuse you." Liu Zhongshan said coldly.

Liu Yuren didn’t flinch. "I underestimated him. He’s not just a martial talent. He’s strategic, and worse, principled."

Liu Zhongshan snorted. "Then you should’ve broken him early, because now he’s gained a foundation! If he reaches Grandmaster... our family will never again control this county!"

"...He’s already at peak Entry Stage, making him practically a half-step Martial Warrior." Liu Yuren admitted reluctantly.

His brother paused, then became serious. "Call an elder council. We’ll decide whether to smother the flame or feed it."

Liu Yuren didn’t respond immediately, his gaze lingering on the faint sketch of Damon’s silhouette.

"Whether we do or don’t, this man... will alter Jing Province’s fate." He said softly.