Chapter 8: Late to the Party

Shang Xia tried to recall the feeling he had when he comprehended the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm in the past.

Naturally, he wasn’t planning to record his own experience for others to comprehend the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm. Instead, he was planning to include some methods to make it more difficult for others to comprehend the martial intent. If they were to use his method, they would be in hell when they tried comprehending the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm.

Most importantly, the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm they comprehended would be a little weaker than his!

When Shang Xia reincarnated into the world and took over the owner of the original body, he managed to gain a complete understanding of the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm! The comprehension didn’t come from the original Shang Xia. In fact, the original Shang Xia was killed because of his lack of knowledge!

Thinking back, the current Shang Xia felt that the previous owner of his body probably used the resources of the Scripture Depository in order to form his martial intent. Because of that, he was killed by a lightning bolt that brought the current Shang Xia into the world!

What a shame…

One had to know that there was a lot of luck involved in comprehending the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm. It was a miracle that there were people still trying to learn the way to form the martial intent.

…

Thinking about the insights he gained when he reincarnated, it seemed as though the original Shang Xia did a lot of research. Otherwise, why would he risk everything in order to comprehend it?

It was too bad the original Shang Xia lost control of his inner qi. Because of that, his soul was destroyed by the bolt of lightning that fell from the heavens, bringing the current Shang Xia into the world.

For the current Shang Xia, it could be said that he was also an unlucky loser. He was playing around with an antique weapon he managed to purchase at the market in his original world! When it started raining, he hid in a shelter nearby, but the antique weapon in his hand attracted a lightning bolt that dragged him through time and space and into this body!

The moment Shang Xia arrived in his current world, he was too shocked to do anything. Noticing the damage to his physical body, he couldn’t help but curse. The bolt of lightning that struck the original Shang Xia caused the inner qi in his body to go on a rampage; if he failed to condense the wild energy running through his body, his fate was sealed. He, who had just reincarnated, was going to die immediately!

As the knowledge and experience of the original Shang Xia’s soul merged into his own, he realized that there was absolutely nothing he could do! At the last moment, Shang Xia discovered a blood red tablet in his sea of consciousness. There seemed to be a diagram of a golden finger on it, and without any choice, Shang Xia focused all his energy on the object.

Since he was going to die anyway, there was no harm in trying out anything that might work.

The instant his consciousness touched the blood red tablet, his body started to tremble and a weird sensation filled his mind.

A wave of comfort washed over his soul, and he noticed something peculiar about the blood red tablet. It had expanded to the size of a giant mountain, and there was something poking out from the bottom of it.

Wasn’t that the ancient weapon he bought in the antique market back in the world he came from?!

How in the world did it appear in the giant tablet?!

Shang Xia eventually discovered that the ancient weapon he had bought previously wasn’t as massive as it looked. Instead, his soul was comparable to a grain of sand as he stood before it!

As the tablet shook lightly, a row of words appeared on its surface.

Martial Intent: Chaos Essence Lightning Palm.

Secret Art: Chaos Essence Manual

Martial Arts Required: Chaos Essence Palm, Lightning Palm.

Three massive rows of words appeared on the surface of the tablet.

However, Shang Xia noticed that that wasn’t all. He turned the tablet over to the side, only to see another three rows of words recorded on its right face.

Assistive Treasures Required: None

Useful Treasures: Lightning Wing

Effective Medicine: Soul Clearing Dust, Snow Condensate

Turning it again, Shang Xia noticed something different recorded on the third face of the tablet.

Secret Art: None

Looking at the final face of the tablet, Shang Xia gasped in shock.

Success Rate: 35%

When he looked through all four faces of the tablet, Shang Xia seemed to understand what it was trying to describe.

It was no wonder the original Shang Xia’s inner qi went wild. He had only comprehended 35 percent of the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm!

However, Shang Xia didn’t have the luxury of caring about the success rate. The only thing he needed to do now was to save himself!

He didn’t want to die the moment he appeared in this world!

As though the tablet knew what he was thinking about, the words on its surfaces started to change once again.

Martial Intent: Chaos Essence Lightning Palm.

Secret Art: Chaos Essence Manual

Martial Arts Required: Chaos Essence Palm, Lightning Palm.

Assistive Treasures Required: Core of a 500 year old Lightning Tree, Fine Peach Wood

Useful Treasures: Lightning Wing, Heavenly Lightning Rocks

Effective Medicine: Painkillers

Secret Art: Lightning Collection Blood Technique

Success Rate: 45-65%

After reading through the words on the tablet, despair filled Shang Xia’s heart.

He urgently needed a way to calm down his raging inner qi, but the tablet seemed to be giving him an upgraded form of the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm!

Even though it was an impressive upgrade to the martial intent, he had no use for it if he died right there and then!

As he continued to think about ways to save himself, the words on the tablet changed once again. It returned to its original form.

Martial Intent: Chaos Essence Lightning Palm.

Secret Art: Chaos Essence Manual

Martial Arts Required: Chaos Essence Palm, Lightning Palm.

Assistive Treasures Required: None

Useful Treasures: Lightning Wing

Effective Medicine: Soul Clearing Dust, Snow Condensate

Secret Art: None (Heavenly Lightning Refinement in progress)

Success Rate: 43%

…

In the instant the words changed, Shang Xia managed to feel a slight difference. The success rate seemed to have increased by 8 percent!

Looking at the number in disbelief, it once again increased to 45 percent!

That seemed to be the lowest success rate recorded in the upgraded form of the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm!

Turning away from the success rate, Shang Xia’s gaze turned to the third face where the words ‘Heavenly Lightning Refinement in progress’ were written.

He didn’t know what it meant, but since the upgraded form of the Chaos Essence Lightning Palm required the Lightning Collection Blood Technique, the Heavenly Lightning Refinement definitely had something to do with it.

‘Heavenly Lightning’...

When Shang Xia was brought into the world by the sudden bolt of lightning, some of its power still remained in his body. Perhaps, it unknowingly allowed him to complete the final step where his body would be refined completely.

When he reached the realization, the completion rate increased to 48 percent!

It became clear to him that the more heavenly lightning he refined, the larger the success rate.

Calming himself, he quickly focused on circulating techniques recorded in the Chaos Essence Manual.

Due to his inner qi going on a rampage earlier, Shang Xia failed to focus on controlling his techniques. From what it seemed, his inner qi was experiencing some sort of transformation.

Desperately trying to control his inner qi with the Chaos Essence Manual, Shang Xia forced a strand back to its original flow. A single strand might seem like it was too little when compared to the raging sea of inner qi, but it was like a beacon that guided more strands of inner qi to their original flow.

The completion rate increased once again to 54 percent!

As the refinement process continued, Shang Xia finally regained control over his inner qi. The moment that happened, the success rate increased to 57 percent.

With his newfound knowledge, Shang Xia changed the way he circulated his inner qi.

Flashes of lightning emerged from his body and it took a long time for them to return.

When that happened, the success rate increased to 60 percent.

As intense pain wrecked Shang Xia’s body, he no longer bothered with the success rate on the tablet. One of the Lightning Wings in his hand shattered, and rays of light entered his body.

On the blood red tablet, the success rate increased by 2 more percent.

Forcing himself to remain conscious, Shang Xia opened a jade box before swallowing the Soul Clearing Dust contained within.

Tossing it to the side, he took out yet another bottle. He sucked up the Snow Condensate contained within, and the pain in his body slowly started to subside. As his thoughts started to clear, Shang Xia felt his body recovering.

The success rate reached the threshold of 65 percent, and it seemed as though it was the maximum amount reachable by the original Shang Xia’s cultivation technique.

When he was done, Shang Xia realized that he had used up every single treasure the original owner of the body prepared.

Using the techniques contained in the Chaos Essence Manual, Shang Xia could only continue to circulate his inner qi to consolidate his foundations.