Three days later...
Jian Long sat alone in the room, surrounded by dozens of books. The place was in complete disarray; books lay scattered across the floor, piled atop the table and bed, while several remained open to different pages, silent witnesses to countless hours of relentless study.
He flipped through the pages of one of them with weary eyes, his right hand pressed against his temple in a futile attempt to ease the headache brought on by these incredibly dense texts.
In the end, he let out a frustrated sigh and tossed the book aside.
Running both hands through his hair, he vigorously massaged his scalp before collapsing onto his back on the floor, his gaze fixed on the ceiling.
"Ah..."
"The Refinement Path is far more profound than Zhou Quan made it seem."
He released a long breath, trying to expel the exhaustion that had accumulated over the past three days of nonstop training and study.
Then he lowered his hands to cover his face as he silently reflected.
Everything Zhou Quan had explained to him a few days ago had been nothing more than the surface of the Refinement Path.
The deeper he delved into these books, the more he realized just how vast the Refinement Path truly was, and that everything he had learned so far was merely the first step on a road whose end was nowhere in sight.
He raised one hand toward the ceiling as he lay on the floor, as though trying to grasp something beyond his reach, while silently organizing his thoughts.
"I've successfully refined Lightning Speed Gu ,This Gu allows me to dash at the speed of lightning for a distance of one hundred meters in a single burst. Thanks to the amplification granted by one of the Ten Extreme Physiques, that range has increased to three hundred meters ,But..."
He frowned.
"Using this Gu is far more difficult than I expected ,Its speed is so overwhelming that an ordinary human mind simply cannot keep up with it. Once the dash begins, it is nearly impossible to stop midway or launch an attack while moving ,As a result, its combat value is extremely limited. At most, it is useful for traveling or escaping."
He let out a quiet sigh.
"It's true that Instant Perception Gu allows me to perceive my surroundings quickly enough to force myself to stop before reaching the end of the dash, but doing so is still incredibly difficult. Perhaps, after enough training, I'll eventually be able to use it effectively in combat...But even that won't be enough."
He slowly clenched his outstretched hand.
"The real problem is that Lightning Speed Gu forces me to move in a straight line,In a real battle, speed alone is not enough ,I have to be able to change direction at any moment ,What I need now... is a way to control the trajectory of my dash."
"The same problem applies to Blue Bird Gu ,It's a powerful Gu... but I wish I could use it the same way I once used Metal Spear Gu."
He recalled the battle in which he had continuously accumulated metallic spears in the air, allowing dozens of them to hover around him before unleashing them all at once.
"If I could do the same with Blue Bird Gu, I would possess an incredibly powerful killer move ,But there's one problem..."
His thoughts drifted back to the lessons Zhou Quan had given him over the past few days.
One of the concepts Zhou Quan had repeatedly emphasized was the Decay Factor of materials.
What exactly did that mean?
Every material in this world possessed its own Decay Factor—the amount of time required for it to break down from its current Path into its most fundamental components before eventually dissipating into the world.
Take the Lightning Path and the Fire Path, for example.
Among all Paths, they possessed the fastest Decay Factors.
A bolt of lightning, once released, existed for only about a second before its Path structure collapsed and it dispersed into the surrounding world.
In contrast, the Earth Path and the Metal Path possessed some of the slowest Decay Factors.
Rocks and metals could endure for years even centuries...Before they gradually weathered, broke apart, and finally returned to their fundamental components.
That was the Decay Factor.
Jian Long fell into deep thought once more.
"Because Metal Spear Gu belongs to the Metal Path, the metallic spears it creates possess an extremely slow Decay Factor. They can remain in existence for a long time, allowing me to accumulate them one after another before unleashing them all at once."
"But the same cannot be said for Blue Bird Gu."
"The lightning birds it creates survive for only a few seconds before their Path structure collapses and they dissipate into the world."
"That makes accumulating them impossible."
He frowned slightly.
"If I want to solve this problem... then I need a way to store the lightning after it has been released, then unleash all of it in a single burst."
"I already know that methods for storing lightning exist and lightning bamboo is the perfect example,throughout its lifetime, it continuously absorbs the lightning that strikes it from the heavens, storing that energy within itself ,what I need... is something built upon the same principle—only far more efficient."
Jian Long let out a long sigh before muttering to himself,
"Unfortunately... the Lightning Path is still an incomplete Path."
"It has yet to mature into a fully developed Path, and because of that, it still lacks countless foundations and techniques."
"As far as I know, no Gu Master has yet succeeded in creating an effective method for storing lightning."
"That means I can't rely on the discoveries of others."
He closed his eyes for a brief moment, picturing Lightning Bamboo in his mind.
"If no one has walked this road before me..."
"Then I'll carve it out myself."
"Nature has always been the greatest teacher."
"Everything I need already exists before my eyes..."
"I simply have to understand it."
Jian Long rose from the floor, quickly gathered his scattered books, and headed toward the door.
"If this requires research then I will use the researcher"