Chapter 37: Ultimate Technique
Beibe was stunned for a moment, then ecstatic. He tossed the half-eaten fruit in his hand upward. "Haha, Boss, I knew you would definitely break through within three hundred years. See, I told you so. It's only been three years, and you've already broken through that bottleneck!" The fusion of profound mysteries only grew more difficult the further one went.
A single breakthrough represented a soaring leap in strength!
"I've broken through. I've broken through just before the final battle." Linley's heart was also surging with excitement. Fusing three profound mysteries into four was an immense improvement. He was no longer at the bottom of the heap on this planar battlefield. He could now fight against powerful Commanders without fear.
A Commander who truly did not fear challenges had to have no obvious weaknesses. In the past, Linley's soul defense was weak. Now, his soul defense would no longer be a weakness. With the fusion of four profound mysteries, combined with his innate azure light and the damaged Sovereign artifact for soul defense, Linley no longer feared soul attacks from figures of the caliber of Leisijing or Mengteluo.
Of course... if he encountered a Paragon Highgod, Linley would still have to flee. Not just Linley, even Leisijing and the others had no ability to resist before a Paragon Highgod.
"I've been wanting to go out and have a good slaughter for a long time. Now that you've broken through, Boss, let's go out." Beibe was extremely pleased. "It's been nearly six hundred years in this damn place. It's time for us brothers to show our might." Beibe was full of ambition.
Linley, however, smiled and shook his head. "No rush."
"Why not rush? I'm in a hurry." Beibe deliberately pouted. "You've improved your strength, and you still want to stay cooped up here?"
"No. Although I've successfully fused the profound mysteries of the laws, I haven't yet developed the attack techniques that suit me best." Linley laughed.
Fusing different profound mysteries of the laws would result in different ultimate attack techniques.
Some were good at auxiliary effects, some at soul attacks, some at material attacks, and some at hiding and escaping... In short, after fusing profound mysteries, everyone would create the techniques they were best at.
In the past, Linley's best techniques were 'Blackstone Space' and 'Void Annihilation'.
But now that Linley had improved, his ultimate techniques naturally changed.
"Oh, researching ultimate techniques?" Beibe giggled and sat down beside the cave. "Boss, go ahead and research. I'll just watch from the side and not say a word! By the way, it won't take too long to research an ultimate technique, will it?"
"I already have a rough idea in my mind. It should be relatively fast." Linley smiled.
Then Linley began his days of researching his ultimate techniques. During these constant experiments, Linley was afraid of damaging the cave, so he set up a small Blackstone Prison. He himself stayed inside the Blackstone Prison to conduct his research. Any energy that leaked out would at most damage the interior of the Blackstone Prison.
Inside the dark Blackstone Prison, without a single ray of light.
Linley stood within, the imagined scenes constantly flashing through his mind.
"The material defense should be modified from the original 'Pulsating Armor'..." Linley hadn't paid much attention to material defense in the past because his Dragonform body was already strong enough. But now, having fused four profound mysteries, if he used Sovereign power to execute his defensive technique, its defensive power would match his Dragonform body. Linley certainly didn't mind having an extra layer of defense.
Inside the dark Blackstone Prison, Linley researched continuously.
"Chi chi~"
Earth-type divine power constantly churned on Linley's body surface. Various construction methods kept appearing in Linley's mind, and the Earth-type divine power on his body surface constantly changed its composition accordingly.
Working together with his main body and his Earth-type divine clone, after spending eleven days, Linley finally developed a defensive technique he was satisfied with.
"This armor, if constructed with Earth-type divine power, is inferior to my Dragonform body. But with Sovereign power, its power surpasses my Dragonform body. Hmm, this armor constructed with Earth-type divine power will be called Earth Armor." Linley was too lazy to think of a better name and casually gave it one before continuing to research soul defense.
Linley placed great importance on soul defense.
After all, the soul was the most fundamental thing. In Linley's soul sea, vast amounts of soul power churned. Various methods of application were constantly tested.
The Laws of the Earth were extremely profound. Separating the six profound mysteries and mastering each one individually only gave one a superficial understanding of the Laws. Fusion... was the true in-depth study of the Laws.
It was like 'Pulsating Pulse'. First, it was broken down into the 256 layers of Pulsating Pulse, and then continuously fused until it returned to one. Only then was it fully understood. By the same token... the Laws of the Earth were understood more thoroughly through fusion. Now that Linley had fused four profound mysteries, both his soul defense and material defense had been greatly enhanced.
"Continuous, wave after wave... this soul defense is sufficient."
After spending nine days, Linley reached a limit in soul defense. Unless Linley could make further progress in the profound mysteries themselves, this method of application had reached its peak.
"Twenty days, and the applications for soul defense and material defense are all complete. Now... the most important thing is material attack."
Linley knew very well that the four profound mysteries he had fused were 'Pulsating Pulse', 'Earth Element', 'Profound Mystery of Strength', and 'Gravity Space (Earth's Core Magnetism)'. These four profound mysteries were most suitable for material attacks. Moreover, his Dragonform body was extremely powerful; it would be a waste not to use it for material attacks.
Immediately, Linley immersed himself in researching attack techniques.
These attack techniques were the most complex.
For example, soul defense involved the 'Earth Element' aspect. Material defense did not involve the 'Gravity Space' aspect. So researching them was much easier.
But attack techniques were different. All four aspects were involved.
Time flowed like water, silently passing. In the blink of an eye, Linley had been researching in the Blackstone Prison for a full two months.
Inside the cave.
"Tch!" Beibe wrinkled his nose and glanced at the still-existing Blackstone Prison. "Boss said it would be quick, but it's already been sixty-three days, and he's still not done."
Suddenly—
Silently and without a sound, the Blackstone Prison directly collapsed and disintegrated, returning to the world. Only Linley, dressed in a blue robe, stood there with his eyes closed, holding the Shadowstrike Sword. It was clear that Linley hadn't infused it with divine power, so the sword's appearance was still visible.
"Haha!" Beibe jumped up directly.
Linley also opened his eyes and looked over, a smile on his face.
"Boss, you succeeded, right?" Beibe giggled.
"Yes, I succeeded." Linley nodded with a smile.
"How powerful is it?" Beibe asked expectantly.
"Of course it's much stronger than before." Linley said with a faint smile. "My 'Void Annihilation' was just a fusion of 'Pulsating Pulse' and 'Profound Mystery of Strength'. At that time, 'Earth Element' couldn't be incorporated into it. But now... combined with 'Gravity Space', 'Earth Element' can also be integrated into it. Now, with all four profound mysteries fused into this one sword strike, its power is dozens of times stronger than before!"
Linley was very confident. In the past, his sword strike relied on his Dragonform body to threaten Commander-level figures.
But now, purely in terms of profound mysteries, Linley's sword strike was not much weaker than a Commander's. Coupled with the immense strength of his Dragonform body and the Shadowstrike Sword, Linley had the confidence to compete.
"Whoa whoa. Boss, demonstrate it! Demonstrate it!" Beibe cheered, his eyes fixed on Linley.
Linley nodded with a smile.
"During battle, I'll first execute Blackstone Space, then follow up with this sword strike." Linley smiled and released Blackstone Space. A powerful gravitational force immediately spread out. Just as Linley was about to execute this sword strike, he saw the earthy-yellow halo spreading out due to the execution of 'Blackstone Space'. Linley suddenly froze, standing there dumbfounded.
Beibe was stunned, then quickly said, "Hey, Boss, what are you doing?"
But Linley acted as if he hadn't heard.
"What's wrong with Boss? He said he was going to demonstrate it for me." Beibe was a bit puzzled.
"Haha..."
Linley suddenly burst into loud laughter.
"Boss, what's wrong? What's wrong with you?" Beibe quickly asked.
"So I can do it too. I can do it too! I was so stupid, so stupid." Linley's face was full of ecstasy.
"Boss?" Beibe called out again.
Only then did Linley remember Beibe. He quickly turned his head and laughed, "Beibe, I just had a sudden idea, that's why I got a little excited."
"A sudden idea?" Beibe frowned.
"Yes!" Linley nodded and laughed. "Do you remember how the Paragon Highgod 'Baie' attacked you? He restrained your movement, right?"
"Yes." Recalling that scene, Beibe felt powerless. "When his attack came, I felt the entire space pressing down on me. My speed dropped drastically. Actually, I could still move, but my speed was reduced too much, more than ten times slower than him. Being that much slower in a fight is just asking to be killed."
Linley chuckled. "When I saw 'Blackstone Space' just now, I suddenly thought that maybe I could also make the enemy feel the entire space pressing down on them, making them like a fish trapped in a swamp, drastically slowing their speed."
"Huh?" Beibe was confused. "Boss, your Blackstone Space's gravitational force is all directed in one direction. How can it press down on someone?"
Indeed, the gravitational force of Blackstone Space was either directed upward, downward, repulsive, or attracted towards Linley.
Just one direction!
For example, if the gravitational force was directed downward, an enemy trapped in it, facing Linley's sword strike, would find it hardest to fly upward. But the enemy could still burrow into the ground. Even if they couldn't burrow into the ground, the resistance to moving forward, backward, left, or right wasn't that great.
A full spatial restraint was different.
It was pressure coming from all directions, squeezing from every side. No matter which direction you moved, the binding force was astonishingly strong. It was like being trapped in a cage.
"Haha..." Linley suddenly laughed. "Beibe, I experienced that feeling of restraint in the Amethyst Mountains."
Linley clearly remembered using Earthwalk in the Amethyst Mountains, encountering Leisijing inside the mountain, and then being trapped inside the Amethyst Space. The immense pressure squeezed Linley, even breaking his bones and causing blood to seep out. It was squeezing from all directions!
"My current sword strike is just like other Laws of the Earth experts, with a simple gravitational field. What I need to do now is to make Blackstone Space no longer centered on me, but to integrate it into this sword strike." Linley knew this was very difficult!
If Linley didn't understand the principle of 'Amethyst Space' and only mechanically used 'Blackstone Space' through the Blackstone, it would be impossible to integrate the Amethyst Space into this technique.
After all, the 'Blackstone' was inside Linley's body. It was predetermined that if Linley relied on the Blackstone, the gravity space would only be centered on Linley.
But Linley had done some research on 'Blackstone Space'.
During the five hundred years in the Amethyst Mountains, Linley had gained some understanding of the 108 divine power circulation methods. Although it wasn't as powerful as the 'Blackstone' itself, the difference wasn't too great.
"Beibe, just wait. Wait until I finish researching this technique! During battle, when my sword strike approaches the enemy, they will be subjected to squeezing and binding from all directions! Even if it's not as strong as Baie's, the difference shouldn't be too great." Linley was looking forward to this technique.
Immediately, Linley set up the 'Blackstone Prison' again and entered it to carefully research this technique.
Because this technique required squeezing centered on the enemy, it couldn't be executed using the 'Blackstone'. It had to be done by Linley himself!
Moreover...
This technique also had to perfectly integrate with Linley's sword strike.
This time, the research took a very long time. Beibe could only hear the walls of the 'Blackstone Prison' constantly vibrating, but fortunately, Linley had soundproofed it.
Inside the Blackstone Prison.
Immersed in his research, Linley lost track of time.
"Pfft!"
Linley thrust his sword out simply. The Shadowstrike Sword shot out an earthy-yellow halo. As the sword struck out, an earthy-yellow sphere about three meters in diameter formed at the tip of the sword. As the Shadowstrike Sword thrust forward, the earthy-yellow sphere suddenly shrank rapidly.
"Boom!"
It exploded, annihilated.