Chapter 64 - 56: Traceless Breaking Realm, Cyan Lotus Mastery

Chapter 64: Chapter 56: Traceless Breaking Realm, Cyan Lotus Mastery

Luocheng, October 11th.

Lu Chen remained entirely unaware of what was happening at his home. During this time, his mind was wholly focused on the Dungeon, where he was being utterly crushed by Outer Path Fang Heng’s Traceless Sword Technique.

Exactly three days had passed since he first entered the Dungeon—three days in reality, which equated to thirty days in the game.

If he were just undergoing Cultivation for thirty days, Lu Chen probably wouldn’t think much of it. However, throughout these thirty days, he had been constantly engaged in high-intensity combat. Even though he would occasionally take short breaks in between to soothe his tense nerves, he still ended up fighting Outer Path Fang Heng tens of thousands of times over that period.

In Lu Chen’s own words, he could now predict Outer Path Fang Heng’s next move even with his eyes closed. Aside from knowing his opponent like the back of his hand, Lu Chen’s various Skills had also seen significant improvement after so many life-and-death battles.

The greatest improvement, without a doubt, was the Traceless Sword Technique he had secretly learned from Outer Path Fang Heng, as well as the Cyan Lotus Flower Pupil he had used repeatedly in combat.

[Traceless Sword Technique: Breaking Realm (Cannot be upgraded)]

[Effect: The ultimate fast sword. A hundred strikes per second, swift as lightning, leaving no trace behind.]

The Realm-Breaking Level Traceless Sword Technique allowed for a hundred strikes per second. This wasn’t the technique’s limit, but rather Lu Chen’s current limit. As long as he could improve his Cultivation and physical body in the future, his drawing speed would become even faster.

Aside from the increased drawing speed, the Traceless Sword Technique and the Water Dragon Roar could also be executed simultaneously. However, because the Water Dragon Roar lacked sufficient charge time in this state, its power would be severely compromised.

Even so, the emergence of the Traceless Sword Technique made up for many of Lu Chen’s shortcomings. After all, executing the Dragon Roar Heaven-Breaking Strike was a massive gamble for him. It was an all-or-nothing situation: either the enemy died, or he did.

It was only because he possessed Infinite Resurrection in the Dungeon that he could use it repeatedly without any reservations. If it were in reality, unless he was truly pushed into a desperate corner or had absolute certainty of success, Lu Chen would never rashly employ such an all-or-nothing Swordsmanship like the Dragon Roar Heaven-Breaking Strike.

The acquisition of the Traceless Sword Technique perfectly compensated for this weakness. For the majority of the enemies Lu Chen currently faced, the issue wasn’t whether his Swordsmanship was powerful enough, but whether his strikes could actually hit them. In many cases, the destructive power of his Swordsmanship was actually overkill.

But with the Traceless Sword Technique, this would no longer be an issue. If one strike couldn’t kill the target, then he would use two, three... As long as his instantaneous drawing speed was fast enough, relying on the sharpness of the Ink Flood Dragon Sword and the concussive power of the Water Dragon Roar, Lu Chen truly couldn’t think of many people below the Foundation Establishment Stage who could withstand his blade.

Thus, the Traceless Sword Technique perfectly remedied his current problem of having outstanding attack power but lacking sustained combat capability and precision.

Aside from the Realm-Breaking Level Traceless Sword Technique, his other massive improvement was the Cyan Lotus Flower Pupil reaching the Mastery Level.

...

[Cyan Lotus Flower Pupil (Eight-Petaled Cyan Lotus Pupil): Mastery 1/6000]

[Effect: Eyes bloom with Cyan Lotuses. When activated, the user can observe their surroundings with no blind spots. Can temporarily memorize witnessed Techniques, seeing all methods at a glance. Can observe the essence of objects, remaining clear and unhindered.]

The Mastery Level Cyan Lotus Flower Pupil had an added Effect on top of its original ones: the ability to see through the ’essence of objects.’ In practical terms, this functioned very much like X-ray Vision.

To be honest, Lu Chen was slightly disappointed with the Effect of the Eight-Petaled Cyan Lotus. After all, what use was a mere X-ray Vision to him right now? It wasn’t like he was the type of person who enjoyed turning on X-ray Vision to peek around everywhere.

However, once he reached the Foundation Establishment Stage and mastered the basic abilities of a Sword Cultivator—the Sword Control Skill and Spiritual Sense Lock—the Eight-Petaled Cyan Lotus’s Effect might truly reach its maximum potential.

X-ray Vision, targeting lock, and long-range striking capability.

Individually, these three abilities might not seem like much, but once combined, the result would be completely different. By then, taking an enemy’s head from a thousand miles away might still be impossible for him, but killing someone without a trace from a thousand meters away would be quite easy.

After all, a little X-ray Vision isn’t cheating, and a small hack isn’t hacking... right?

...

Aside from these, Lu Chen had also gained a few minor improvements, such as his Talisman techniques.

[Immortal Alliance Five Elements Basic Talisman (Cannot be upgraded): Great Success]

[Ten Thousand Talisman True Understanding - Fragment (Cannot be upgraded): Proficient]

Perhaps due to the inherent traits of the Basic Talisman, Lu Chen was unable to continue upgrading this Skill after reaching Great Success. Aside from allowing him to proficiently master all the Talisman Techniques within the Basic Talisman, this Skill had no other particularly special features. At best, it simply made his talisman-drawing speed a bit faster.

As for the Ten Thousand Talisman True Understanding becoming un-upgradable after reaching Proficient, Lu Chen wasn’t surprised at all. After all, what he currently possessed was only a fragment of it. Without the specific Cultivation method, it was fully expected for the Skill Level to stagnate.

With so many improvements, Lu Chen no longer had any doubts about his ability to defeat Outer Path Fang Heng. Failure was the mother of success, and having failed tens of thousands of times, it was high time he succeeded.

"After spending so much time, it’s finally time to finish this Dungeon."

With that thought in mind, Lu Chen pushed open the Sword Pavilion doors on the second floor and once again saw Fang Heng kneeling on the ground.

Unlike before, Lu Chen didn’t casually chat with Fang Heng this time. Instead, he pulled two flasks of fine wine and a plate of delicacies from his Storage Pouch. While it was true that the vast majority of items from reality couldn’t be brought into the Dungeon, food and alcohol were exceptions. Even though they were merely Copies of the real items, they tasted exactly the same.

This was yet another new discovery Lu Chen had made about the Dungeon’s functions. He planned to test whether he could bring real-world Elixirs into the Dungeon next time. If that worked, it would open up a massive range of possibilities for him. After all, he had Infinite Resurrection inside the Dungeon. Although some Elixirs had terrifying side effects, as long as their Effects kicked in, the results would be equally tremendous. Lu Chen could fully exploit this to ensure a 100% activation of an Elixir’s Effect.

Inside the second floor, Lu Chen set down the food and drinks and sat on the floor.

"Please."

Faced with Lu Chen’s invitation, Fang Heng didn’t immediately take the wine placed beside him. Instead, he asked in confusion, "Fellow Daoist, what is the meaning of this?"

As Lu Chen uncorked the wine in front of him, he calmly replied, "Nothing much. I just wanted to share a drink with you, and then... send you on your final journey."

Fang Heng froze for a moment before seeming to understand. He picked up the cup from the floor, a carefree smile surfacing on his hollow, rotting face.

"Then Fang thanks you, Fellow Daoist.

"Being able to enjoy this drink before I go means I’ve finally gotten my wish.

"As for what comes next... I’ll have to trouble you, Fellow Daoist."

With that, Fang Heng drained the wine in his cup in one gulp. Then, his head slowly drooped, and his body began to tremble.

Lu Chen merely continued to eat the food in front of him calmly, acting as though he hadn’t noticed a thing.

Before long, Fang Heng stood up, glaring at Lu Chen with a vicious light in his eyes. Then, Outer Path Fang Heng stared at the wine on the floor and unexpectedly reached out to grab it.

However, an ink-black Spirit Sword instantly leveled in front of him, blocking his movement.

"This wine wasn’t prepared for you."

Saying this, Lu Chen also stood up, staring expressionlessly at Outer Path Fang Heng.

"A crooked and evil thing like you thinks it’s worthy of drinking Lu’s wine?"

...

PS: A little late, but it’s not a big deal!

Please keep reading this coming Monday; it will be Pang Hu’s last chance to make a final sprint! Pang Hu will update with an extra Chapter next Monday.