Preparations

The three towers weren't far from each others and Ye Mo arrived quickly to the one pertaining to battle skills.

Every newcomer in the institute had the right to pick one for themselves but they couldn't go further than the second floor.

Ye Mo showed his own token at the entrance with his name on it and was allowed inside.

He directly climbed the stairs and came to the second floor where resided all the mid-tier Yellow Class battle skills.

It didn't take long for Ye Mo to get one in hand but he still stayed the whole hour reading others, knowing which battle skill your opponent is using could turn useful in a fight.

One of them was the Red Diamond Fist, a battle skill that would make the user fist shine brightly in red becoming hard like a diamond and would release a force that would send the opponent flying upon contact.

"Looks the same as Wang Yue's strike back then, if he mastered the skill completely he would have broken my hand... It wouldn't prevent me to deal with him though." Ye Mo placed the book back on the rack.

When one hour passed, Ye Mo left the tower after the attendant unsealed his battle skill.

He returned back home and layed both martial arts on his bed.

One was the Black Vortex cultivation technique while the other was the Stone Breaking Punch battle skill.

A simple name for a simple battle skill but its power couldn't be underestimated. Upon completion even the weakest of cultivator could break a boulder with his fist alone.

Moreover it's advantage was that it was easy to learn. It didn't require a strong comprehension and could be mastered with time and repetitions alone. The rate at which you learn battle skills was fundamental for cultivators as it could quickly increase your battle strenght and make the difference between life and death.

"I already have the Wind Flow for movement. What comes first now is offense. My body is not enough currently and i lack the means to destroy my ennemies. With such a battle skill coupled with my physical strenght i wouldn't have needed to go through such lenghts to deal with Ha Jun, i could directly penetrate his defenses and end the fight. The Stone Breaking Punch will unable me to quickly grasp another card in my hand." Ye Mo chose his martial arts with something specific in mind. This time he needed to increase his attacking power.

"Although the power is great it remains just a punch, it's easy to anticipate and guard against it however i always fought with punches and kicks so far and never had a problem with it and i believe the limits of an art lays in the individual abilities, not in the battle skill in itself. Nonetheless, the most important point about the Stone Breaking Punch is that it lower the difficulty of learning the mid-tier Star Rank Mountain Shattering Fist." Ye Mo's heart burst forth ambitious and determined feelings.

The Stone Breaking Punch was a battle skill created by a demonic cult leader in ancient times but his name wasn't retained by the flow of time. The cult welcomed many members in its good days but a lot of them were muscle heads with very low comprehension and had a hard time learning battle skills.

As such the strenght of the cult as a whole grew slowly. The cult leader spent years researching and studying battle skills relentlessy. In the end, from the Mountain Shattering Fist he derivated a whole new battle skill, the mid-tier Yellow Class Stone Breaking Punch!

Unfortunately, good times doesn't last and not long later the cult was ambushed and destroyed by righteous forces and the battle skill fell in their hand.

As a creation from the Mountain Shattering Fist, the Stone Breaking Punch contained a part of the essence of the Star Rank battle skill. Their users would feel familiar with the Mountain Shattering Fist and would be able to grasp it more easily than someone who started from nothing.

It must be known a Star Rank battle skill could take years or decades to train in before it could be mastered.

Ye Mo's faith in himself and resolve was displayed through his objectives. Star Rank battle skills were practically non-existent in Azure Water City, peak-tier Yellow Class arts were barely present and in very limited numbers even for institutions.

To obtain the possibility to learn a battle skill like the Mountain Shattering Fist, he would need to enter one of the great sects of the central lands, but how many wished to join one? Was it enough to become a member?

No, it was hard, extremely hard. In institutions, rank 2 talents were in the low average but in sects they were nothing more than trashes.

For Ye Mo, Azure Water City was too small, it couldn't contain his ambitions. He wanted to roam the world freely, using the various opportunities offered to him to gain strenght as this place would be his first step, bound to become a vague memory of his past.

Instead the Tiger Martial Institute felt like a prison, although he was trapped inside unable to leave at his own will, it also offered a stable and propicious environment for his growth until would come the day for him to go.

"This one is the priority, in my current state i wouldn't be able to throw one punch before running out of Qi." Ye Mo picked up the Black Vortex cultivation technique and read the other half before sitting cross legged at the center of the room.

Inside his dantian, wisps of Qi fluttered gently in this mysterious and unusual space when they started to gather together. The wisps of Qi turned into a small thin cloud that rotated clock-wise, at first slowly but it quickly gained in speed and became faster and faster until at its center, a black hole the shape of a spinning star took form.

Quickly Ye Mo felt waves of heavenly Qi assaulting every part of his body, passing through the pores of his skin and rushing madly in his meridians.

He felt like the gravity suddenly multiplied tenfold and something was crushing him from inside.

Ye Mo gritted his teeth while beads of sweat trickled down his forehead.

The surrounding Qi was crashing like tidal waves on his body, circulating at fast pace through his meridians.

He held on for more than an hour but the flow of Qi in his meridians was too massive and he felt they would tear if he kept going.

The Black Vortex quickly lost shape and the cloud that visibly gained in mass dispersed in multiple wisps of Qi.

"... It's better than i thought." Ye Mo took a few hard breathes before calming down but when he looked inside his dantian he was short of breath once again.

In this hour of cultivation, 23 new wisps of Qi wandered with the others. Two more hours and he would have surpassed his whole week of night cultivation with the breathing technique.

"Incredible! Just as i expected of the Black Vortex technique." Ye Mo was contented.

"It's time to take this one now." Ye Mo retrieved a small wooden box from his pouch and gently opened it.

Inside layed a fiery red medicinal pellet. It was the well known Meridian Purifying pill, a creation of superior quality that allowed the owner to increase his potential.

Ye Mo ingested the pill and sat down. It had a sweet taste like candy but it quickly melted in his mouth turning into a hot stream of energy flowing in his body. Everywhere it passed a burning sensation arised and his meridians slowly expanded while the flow of energy slowly reduced in size.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, it disappeared but the transformation rendered to the meridians was tremendous.

If before they were akin to a small stream now they were a great river swallowing boats and hiding creatures of all kinds in its depths.

"Let's see the changes..." Ye Mo closed his eyes and used the basic breathing technique to cultivate. He realized compared to before, he was 40% faster in creating a wisp of Qi, not far from the same level of a rank 3 talent.

"I can understand why Fang Jishen and his friend wanted this pill so much, something that can modify your meridians and increase your cultivation speed is nothing less than a life-changer. Too bad its effects works only once." Ye Mo thought as he opened his dark eyes.

After washing himself and dressing up, he decisively left his house, a mysterious glint lingering in his black pupils

The talent you had was something defined from your birth.

There weren't many ways to improve it and the most common one was the Divine Regal Flower, a priceless treasure that was coveted by every cultivators of the world.

What the heavens created, only the heavens could change. This plant had the power to raise the rank of someone's talent upon ingestion without any side effects but their creation was the work of nature alone and you could only depend on your luck to find one.

A simple mortal could stumble upon one without ever hearing of them while the strongest of cultivators could search their whole lives and not even seeing their shadows.

Even rank 5 talents would desperately try to obtain them at times, after all didn't they have parents, children, brother and sisters that could benefit from this herb? Also if they had the strenght, using this plant as bargain was enough to exchange with anything.

Currently only the strongest sects of the continent after thousands of years of accumulation preciously guarded the few they were able to gather in their treasure vault. That was the only place you were sure to find the Divine Regal Flower without exploring the wilds.

The Meridian Purifying pill took a roundabout approach about this instead as it didn't directly raised your talent but instead improved your meridians making them wider and sturdier, able to absorb and circulate more Qi at once, increasing your cultivation speed.

Raising you cultivation talent was something that obsessed cultivators from all times and after millions of years the Meridian Purifying pill was one of the result of this obsession but of course it couldn't compare to the Divine Regal Flower.

First it was very hard to make one, it necessited the best alchemists and many ingredients each try for a low percentage of success so only a small number of them were reserved for the best members each years.

Also the increase in cultivation speed couldn't compare to the talent raising Divine Regal Flower.

But the main point was that the Meridian Purifying pill could only be used once before it would lose all effects while the flower could raise your talent each time until you reached the best possible.

Ye Mo returned home deep in the night when the moon was high in the sky.

In the meantime inside the Liu Clan Estate, Liu Hao was sitting on a throne in the main hall pondering, his right hand stroking his chin.

The hall would be in complete darkness if it wasn't for the moonlight penetrating through the windows on the side but it only accentuated the dismal atmosphere of the place.

Suddenly the doors were knocked three time before a man entered.

"Patriarch, you have a visitor." The man bowed down respectfully before notifying Liu Hao.

"A visitor at this time? Who is it..." Liu Hao asked as he looked at the man, his brows wrinkled.

"He's a student of the Tiger Martial Institute, he said it was important."

"Hmm... Alright let him come." Liu Hao accepted with a wave of the hand.

The man quickly walked around the hall lighting up the torches before leaving the room. He returned shortly after, escorting a young man with auburn hair and a sleeveless martial suit.

"You're... the kid from the Fang family?" Liu Hao looked at the young man's face and tried to recall.

"Yes, sir. My name's Fang Jishen." The young man calmly raised his head as he presented himself.