Purple fog quickly condensed into a life-like image of a Desolate Beast Water Dragon. It roared silently and drew an elegant arc in the air before shooting past Lo Jik's strength path blessed land and impacting against his body. Having already experienced the pain of instantly strengthening and refining his body, Lo Jik did not even grit his teeth. Instead, he was seated peacefully in his usual cultivation chamber of his simple residence within Hu Immortal Blessed Land. He entered a short duration of cultivation the moment he returned with an excuse of recovering from his injuries. It had merely been a day since he arrived. Not even five hours passed in the outside world as his foundation skyrocketed again.
This was due to the foundation of a grotto-heaven!
Lo Jik didn't touch the core beasts for his strength path cultivation and ordered Old Man Desolate to purchase a variety of desolate beast corpses. It was an extremely wasteful approach. In essence, Lo Jik was throwing away the thousands of dao marks on a desolate beast for tens of strength path dao marks. With time, he could deduce more sophisticated killer moves that increased the efficiency of his Fickle Body Strength killer move. In fact, one of the ways to do so was by upgrading the killer move to immortal level instead of simply relying on the Accumulation Gu.
Doing so, usually, required immense deductions. Lo Jik had a great advantage in this scenario. He could elevate all his usual killer moves once he refined Accumulation Immortal Gu Worm. One of the greatest strengths of this gu worm was its ability to be used in any killer move without changing its recipe. It displayed extreme level of coordination with all the gu worms in a killer move and a gu immortal merely needed to deduce where this Accumulation Gu needed to be placed in a killer move and when to activate it without changing anything else.
'Fickle Body Strength immortal killer move would instantly let me earn nearly hundreds of dao marks.' Lo Jik predicted. 'I need to quickly return to my grotto-heaven.'
He was burning through hundreds of immortal essence stones. But he would do so again in a heartbeat. He would even ruin the entirety of Immemorial Desolate Grotto-Heaven if it meant a fraction of a better chance surviving his circumstances. Immemorial Desolate Grotto-Heaven held great wealth, but what use was wealth if not used in a timely fashion?
Had he wasted time instead of immortal essence stones trying to make a better killer move, he would not have possessed enough strength path foundation to even survive the earlier beast tide.
He only made his escape look easy to fool Feng Chan Zi and lure him into a sense of security. Feng Chan Zi realized the dangers surrounding him the moment those ancient desolate beasts caught up with him. And there was no need to mention Battle Gorilla's suicide bombing. Lo Jik would not have survived that explosion had he chosen to give into his greed of acquiring a strength path ancient desolate beast and strength path immortal gu worms.
So, it was better to spend his resources and gain strength while also balancing his growth and continuously innovating better killer moves on the side. It was a necessity to prioritize his own battle strength.
What was the use of inheriting Immemorial Desolate Grotto-Heaven if Lo Jik spent his time and effort managing it instead of increasing his strength as quickly as possible?
Was he not aware of the dangers lurking around him?
He could never make such a foolish mistake!
'But things will be stable for a while.' He let out a breath of turbid air.
His body released a lot of grimy and foul-smelling substance.
This was not due to absorbing one Water Dragon corpse.
Old Man Desolate sent over several desolate beast corpses. It wasn't that Lo Jik did not want to reinforce his body using ancient desolate beasts, but purchasing their corpse was not efficient or financially sound. Despite spending hundreds of immortal stones on desolate beast corpses, Lo Jik did not waste his wealth wantonly. First of all, his killer move wouldn't be effective on ancient desolate beast corpses. Second, the corpses for ancient desolate beasts were ten times as expensive as desolate beast corpses. Lo Jik would instead spend time acquiring living ones and nurture them in his blessed land.
In the past few hours, Lo Jik obtained the strength of Water Dragon, Earthen Armored Bear, White Lightning Tiger, Ash Bat, Giant-Horned Sheep, Black Blood Wolf, Coiling Mountain Goat, Chestnut Yak, Dragonfish, and Yaksha Octopus desolate beasts!
A whopping 900 strength path dao marks!
Among these beasts, some were not known for their combat prowess but it did not matter to Lo Jik.
The true benefit of Fickle Body Strength was not the increase in strength but the additional dao marks related to body refinement. It ensured Lo Jik's body did not break down due to heightened strength.
'I now have 3900 strength path dao marks…' Lo Jik smiled. He was mostly thrilled about obtaining a Desolate Water Dragon corpse.
Once he cleaned up, Lo Jik fell into a quiet contemplation.
Several gu worms lit up as he exhaled softly.
Lo Jik's most proficient killer move had experienced slight changes with time. The base of Self Dharma killer move used to be Little Giant Emperor Gu. However, that was no longer the case since he refined a rank 5 Self Dharma gu worm. Activating this gu worm alone could fashion a sixty-meter-tall giant around Lo Jik. He could further activate Water Strength, All-Out Effort, Borrow Strength, and Accumulation Gu worm to draw out the strength of water to enforce Water Dragon's strength phantom as it would change the dharma giant and give it sharp claws, tough scales, horns, and a tail.
Due to the nature of this killer move and how Little Giant Bone Bow and Muscle Wings were refined, these two gu worms were activated at last and happened to be interchangeable. Because of their extreme compatibility with the killer move, given that Lo Jik specifically designed these gu worms for the killer move, he did not need to deactivate the entire killer move and then activate it again to bring out his wings and bow. This was a superiority only present with Self Dharma killer move and none of Lo Jik's other strength path killer moves.
At this moment, Lo Jik changed several gu worms in the killer move.
Rank 6 All-Out Effort Immortal Gu.
Lo Jik's body was already strong. He could display bestial might due to the effects of Unchained Champion Gu in his Fickle Body Strength killer move. However, Lo Jik's entire aura changed once he summoned a Desolate Water Dragon's strength phantom. An exquisite blue-scaled dragon appeared above Lo Jik's head. It coiled and flew around elegantly. Its eyes glistened with regal authority while its two long whiskers floated without any gusts of wind.
At this moment, Lo Jik's coiling and biting strength was at its peak! He could crush massive boulders or even bite through tough mountain walls without even exerting too much force.
Usually, a killer move is activated at once during the battles. Lo Jik, currently, activated the killer move slowly, savoring the resonance of his strength path dao marks with the strength path immortal gu worm. The act itself heightened his understanding of strength path.
He continued and activated another immortal gu worm.
Rank 6 Borrow Strength Immortal Gu.
This gu worm could not work alone. It needed other strength path gu worms such as Fire Strength, Wind Strength, Earth Strength, Water Strength, and others.
Lo Jik even innovated a Dream Strength Gu Worm! He could acquire the strength of the Nightmare Demonic Colt and transform his Self Dharma into a killer move with dream path effects.
But he wouldn't waste a dream path desolate beast like this… not unless he had too many of them.
Next step was activating a gu worm meant to be paired with Borrow Strength Immortal Gu.
Because of the elevated status of an immortal gu, Lo Jik earlier used tens of Water Strength Gu once he used the immortal level Self Dharma to protect against the suicide bombing.
Now?
He spent another bead of immortal essence and activated—
Rank 6 Water Strength Immortal Gu!
This immortal gu worm was used in a formation to raise abundant Air Bubble Fish in Immemorial Desolate Grotto-Heaven. Fortunately, Lo Jik had grandmaster-level attainment in water and formation paths. Along with Pool of Wisdom's help, his Craftsmen and Schemer clones deduced a formation chart that utilized water path materials to replace Water Strength Immortal Gu in that formation. Much to Old Man Desolate's utter awe, the formation was even more efficient and increased the production of Air Bubble Fish!
Lo Jik's body instantly felt the inexhaustible strength of water. He grew intimate with the strength of tides and the crushing power of water in abyss-like depths. Water was dangerous. It was one of the earliest and primal forces of nature. It could nurture billions of living beings and destroy even more lives.
Filled with the strength of water, Desolate Water Dragon's phantom moved with greater vigor. Its tale struck out with power and its sharp fangs flashed eerily.
Lo Jik could burst out with a monstrous strength just using this incomplete killer move. The force won't be worse than that Battle Gorilla. He might not have the same strength path accumulation as an ancient desolate beast, but killer moves were crystallization of one's cultivation. It often unleashed a force much greater than the components used to power it.
The use of Water Dragon's strength phantom and Water Strength Immortal Gu did not merely imply an addition of physical strength. Lo Jik's strength multiplied greatly. This much would not be achieved by using any other elemental strength gu. The fragment of dao related to water in Water Strength Immortal Gu and the dao marks for a Water Dragon's strength phantom resonated greatly. Had Lo Jik used, say, Fire Strength Immortal Gu, the entire process would have collapsed and he would have to endure a dangerous backlash!
But the strength in his body exceeded his physical endurance.
He would injure himself.
Rank 5 Self Dharma Gu.
Strength Qi poured out of Lo Jik's body like a waterfall. It instantly connected the ethereal but notable strength of water with Water Dragon's strength phantom.
However, it wasn't enough.
The earlier strength was accumulated using three immortal gu worms. How could one rank 5 gu contain such might? The effects of Self Dharma Gu were even weaker than the toughness of Lo Jik's body.
So…
Rank 5 Accumulation Gu.
Lo Jik activated the first of this gu worm. However, it still needed some time to display the toughness needed to contain the strength of water and a Desolate Water Dragon strength phantom.
Lo Jik activated another Rank 5 Accumulation Gu.
*Whoosh*
Strength qi completely filled Lo Jik's vision. Unlike before, what emerged was not a massive sixty-meter-tall giant. Instead, illuminating his surroundings like a small sun was a six-meter-long dragonman made from milky-white strength qi. It was too dense! Earlier, the translucent mortal killer move still displayed Lo Jik inside its body. Now, however, Lo Jik could not be viewed without using special methods. The glow of strength qi was overbearing. The surface of the body made from a dense strength qi was quite foggy and unclear. One could make out the thick dragon tail and two long horns, but it was far from perfect.
There were even shallow scars on the surface of the body.
'I would have needed nearly twenty Self Dharma Gu worms to create this stabilized form. I can manage this with merely two Accumulation Gu worm not only because of Accumulation Gu worm's innate ability, but also because of the human path dao marks on my body.'
As seen before. Everything was connected.
Even Lo Jik's human path dao marks played a great role in this killer move due to human path dao mark's non-conflicting nature with other paths' dao marks. The effects of the two Accumulation Gu worms rose by about 40% each!
But this wasn't enough.
Lo Jik activated the last immortal gu worm.
Rank 6 Self-Reliance Immortal Gu Worm.
The surface of the killer move stabilized entirely. The earlier veins of flowing strength qi transformed into refined scales that covered the entire of the dharma's body. His claws appeared sharp and deadly, and his tail curled elegantly. The features of the Self Dharm grew more detailed. It was as if someone meticulously carved strength qi to match Lo Jik entirely. His eyes were filled with intelligence and two bangs of hair floated like celestial ribbons. His hair grew out longer and cascaded on his back.
Immortal killer move—Self Dharma!
Lo Jik stood up and moved around. The strength qi condensed entirely at the immortal level, boasting great defense.
'Be it my strength, toughness, or regeneration, all of it broke past the limits of a desolate beast. This killer move… it's amazing!'
This immortal killer move used four immortal gu worms. However, one of the benefits of strength path was its low essence consumption. Lo Jik would have needed to expend tens of beads of green grape immortal essence to activate this powerful of a killer move for any other path. However, this killer move only required fraction of the usual essence to display such a great might!
A killer move like this would give others the capital of being… arrogant. But arrogance would have been the death of Lo Jik if he truly tried to suppress that Ancient Battle Gorilla.
Still, he wasn't quite done yet.
Lo Jik activated Rank 4 Dragon Travel Tiger Steps Gu alongside two Accumulation gu worms.
'Now, my movement speed is on par with other ancient desolate beasts.'
It wasn't as simple as using rank 4 and rank 5 gu worms to achieve this speed. The base was still the Self Dharma, which was powered by four immortal gu worms. But because of these immortal gu worms and Accumulation Gu Worm, Lo Jik could simplify the killer move to by a great extent!
He further activated Little Giant Bone Bow and Muscle Wings alongside four more Accumulation Gu Worms.
A pair of strange wings covered in these refined scales emerged from the dharma's back alongside a huge bow, the length of which matched the dharma's height!
'Offense, defense, regeneration, movement, and long-ranged attacks. This killer move covers all these aspects.'
'I did not have Water Strength Immortal Gu earlier. I could only use Accumulation Gu to catch-up, but it's not like using an immortal gu worm. Earlier, I still received damaged from that explosion. What about now?'
Lo Jik carefully felt the power of this immortal killer move.
'I could have moved freely using this killer move. Even more outstanding is the fact that the more strength path dao marks I obtain, the greater the amplification to this killer move. Unlike mortal killer moves, even the ones enhanced by Accumulation Gu, immortal killer moves don't share the same limitation of dao mark amplification.'
'Mortal killer moves can only be enhanced so much.'
'Accumulation Gu is a great innovation that can allow a mortal to bridge and surpass this gap, to catch an immortal by surprise and wound them. But it's… it's just a better gimmick that works with killer moves of every path.'
'Its true might will emerge once I successfully refine Accumulation Immortal Gu Worm. Just adding that immortal gu worm to my current killer move would not only support the use of all the mortal gu worms alone, it would even enhance the effects of immortal gu worms.'
All in all, the addition of Water Strength Immortal Gu greatly increased the upper limit of his Self Dharma immortal killer move. The more strength path dao marks he absorbs, the greater its power.
But this immortal killer move was not infallible.
There was no such thing as a perfect killer move.
'This killer move can defend against tangible attacks and qi-based attacks. So, the usual fire, earth, light, and even sword-qi attacks can be countered. But it doesn't account for non-mainstream methods like sound path. It is also defenseless against space, time, phantom, food, luck, dream, and soul paths.'
'I can add defenses to all these paths. But adding every gu worm of another path would increase the necessary gu worms to coordinate and stabilize the killer move exponentially. By the end, the result will involve hundreds of thousands of gu worms.'
'The greatest benefit of this killer move is its quickness.'
'I can activate this killer move in an instant.'
'If I approach the idea of making it a killer move that defends against every path… it's just better and more reasonable to invest time and energy deducing a gu house instead of a killer move.'
'There's another thing.'
'I've used the mortal version of this killer move too many times. Others must already be privy of its limitations.'
'Phantom, dream, and other paths of their type is still rare so the most probably methods other gu immortals will devise is from the soul path.'
'Fortunately, my soul is protected due to the effects of Fake Soul Gu. But that's not enough.'
'Hmm. They also did not get enough chances to view my immortal version of Self Dharma killer move in action. So, even if they deduce some counters, it won't affect this immortal killer move, especially when my strength path dao marks will continue rising.'
'There's… also another method that might not require me to form a gu house.'
Earlier, Lo Jik refined gu worms tailored for this killer move—Muscle Wings and Little Giant Bone Bow Gu Worms. These two gu worms fulfilled the lacking methods of flight and long-ranged attack in this killer move.
What was stopping him from doing so for all the other paths?
Other gu immortals did not boast his attainment. They also did not have hundreds of clones who could refine mortal gu worms for Lo Jik.
Sure, the number of gu worms meant to activate this killer move would rise by a hundred or two, but did he already not use killer moves like Fickle Body Strength that used nearly 300 gu worms?
'Furthermore… because they will be tailored for this killer move, all the gu worms will belong to strength path. There won't be any outrageous conflict of dao marks. Instead of adding gu worms of other paths and then needing tens of gu worms to stabilize and coordinate it with the earlier portion of the killer move, this method would reduce the necessary number of gu worms to one or two.'
This idea instantly enamored Lo Jik—especially because it was doable.
'Others will need decades to merely research the initial stage of such a killer move. Even if I don't go for a gu house, it would be extremely close to becoming one due to the utilization of such coordinating and cooperative gu worms. In fact, if I remove myself from the equation, then all these gu worms would truly need a base, which will transform into a gu house.'
Lo Jik's intuition in this matter did not emerge from nowhere. He was a formation path grandmaster and extremely close to the truth.
'The number of clones I have won't be enough for this project… but so what? I'm filthy rich! I can refine more clones!'
'If this project succeeds…'
Lo Jik could almost imagine a killer move that was resistant to all paths. Again, it did not mean immunity or invulnerability. Just resistance was enough. It would be a killer move capable of going against all the heroes of the gu world—not a compound killer move encompassing all paths but a strength path killer move resistant to all paths!
A killer move to rampage across innumerable battlefields and leave one's opponents helpless!
Strength path, after all, boasted the art of blunt force.
Power, power, power!
If power failed… then you lacked power!
'The progress would be even quicker if I become a great grandmaster in all the paths!' Lo Jik's gaze turned heated before he calmed himself and focused on his blessed lands.
He did not merely acquire Water Strength Immortal Gu and desolate beast corpses from Old Man Desolate. Lo Jik's blessed lands were managed greatly and there were already some positive results.
***
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