High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

As Xu Wuyi walked out of the testing area, Lin Lan immediately came up to greet him, his face filled with excitement and gratitude.

”Martial Artist Xu, that was incredible! The data you provided is crucial! Especially that final injection-style attack...”

”As long as it was useful.” Xu Wuyi removed the spirit stabilizer from his temples and handed it back. ”These ’Graymares’... are there many of them on the front lines?”

Lin Lan took the stabilizer, his expression turning serious. ”According to intel from the front lines, in that newly controlled sector, these kinds of Spiritual Bodies aren’t isolated incidents. They’ve formed a unique ecosystem.”

”’Graymares’ are just one of the more common types. There are other spiritual lifeforms with different forms and abilities.”

He paused, then lowered his voice. ”The top brass in the military and the research institute suspect that region might be connected to some kind of ’energy plane’ we don’t yet understand. These creatures are ’overflow’ products from that world.”

”If that’s really the case... the trouble that follows could be significant.”

Xu Wuyi’s brow furrowed slightly.

’A new plane? A spiritual dimension?’

This sounded like it went far beyond a simple Star Beast invasion.

”This ’Graymare’s’ Life Energy Level... no, that’s not right. It shouldn’t have one of those. I should ask, what’s its Spiritual Strength Level?”

Only beings with physical bodies have a Life Energy Level.

Hearing this, Lin Lan said, ”Around Level 36. There are also Spiritual Bodies above Level 40 on the front lines, but we haven’t been able to capture one yet.”

Xu Wuyi couldn’t help but frown slightly.

In terms of Energy Level alone, this ’Graymare’ was only equivalent to a Middle-High Tier Martial Artist, but it was already quite difficult to deal with.

Of course, perhaps the Federation just hadn’t developed the right methods to counter them yet.

”Are there more tests like this later?” he asked.

”Yes, of course!” Lin Lan nodded eagerly. ”Besides the ’Graymare,’ we have several other captured specimens, all with different Traits. If you’re still interested and have the time...”

”I am,” Xu Wuyi said decisively. ”These kinds of targets are also helpful for me to hone my Heart Image. We’ll stick to the same arrangement. I’ll contact you when I’m free.”

”That’s wonderful!” Lin Lan was overjoyed. ”I’ll apply to settle the merit payment as soon as possible and have it deposited directly into your account.”

Xu Wuyi nodded, said no more, and turned to leave Sector D.

Walking down the corridor back to his quarters, his thoughts were not as calm as his expression.

’Spiritual lifeforms, a suspected connection to other dimensions... The situation on the front lines seems far more complex and bizarre than the average person knows.’

After eradicating the Celestial Wolf Civilization, the Federation’s territory on the Star Realm Battlefield had expanded outward again. Perhaps that was how they first came into contact with these creatures.

’Still, this might not be a bad thing.’

’At least here, I can get a head start on encountering these future threats and finding ways to deal with them.’

Back in his room, Xu Wuyi sat down cross-legged and began to review the battle from earlier.

The Golden Crow Heart Fire was extremely effective at suppressing Spiritual Bodies, and the ”Suppression” Intention of the Heavy Water Heart Image could also effectively defend against Spirit Shocks.

But the subtle use of the Gravity Field at the end, combined with the precise injection of Heart Fire, was the key to the instant kill.

”Dealing with Spiritual Bodies requires finer Energy control and confrontation on the spiritual level,” Xu Wuyi summarized. ”This is actually a good direction for my Cultivation.”

He closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank into his sea of awareness.

...

Over the next few days, in addition to cooperating with Ye Guanlan to complete the foundational structure stability tests for ”Heavy Water Ball,” Xu Wuyi accepted Lin Lan’s invitation to go to the Sector D testing area and conduct three more live combat tests against Spiritual Bodies.

The test subjects were designated ”Phantasm-Spider-7,” ”Shadow-Assault-2,” and ”Polyhedron-4.”

These three types of Spiritual Bodies shared the same origin as the ’Graymare,’ all coming from the Energy Field in that newly controlled sector, but their attack methods were all different.

”Phantasm-Spider-7” specialized in creating spiritual illusions, capable of projecting terrifying images into a target’s consciousness and using the opportunity to bind them with energy threads.

However, the illusions were limited in strength, and their effect was greatly diminished against a strong-willed Martial Artist with a Spiritual Strength above Level 20. Xu Wuyi dispersed the illusions completely with just a single tremor of his Golden Crow Heart Fire in his sea of awareness.

”Shadow-Assault-2” was more inclined toward physical-level sneak attacks—if a Spiritual Body’s attack could even be considered ”physical.”

It could disperse itself into dozens of paper-thin shadows, simultaneously launching cutting Spirit Shocks from different angles. Their trajectories were tricky and their speed was extremely fast.

However, once they were hit by the area-of-effect burn of the Golden Crow Heart Fire, the scattered shadows would all be damaged simultaneously and quickly gather back into their core form.

”Polyhedron-4” was the strangest of the three.

It could transform to display six different geometric faces, each representing a basic emotion.

Anger, sorrow, fear, malice, desire, and shock. It attempted to disrupt its opponent’s state of mind through emotional resonance.

This attack was rather interesting. Xu Wuyi deliberately let it continue for a while, carefully sensing the frequency and intensity of the emotional fluctuations.

The final conclusion was basically consistent with Lin Lan’s previous assessment:

Although these Spiritual Bodies had varying forms and attack methods, their core weakness was high-purity Spiritual Energy attacks, especially those with ”Purification” or ”Annihilation” Attributes.

Their spiritual erosion Trait posed a limited threat to strong-willed Martial Artists with sufficient Spiritual Strength. They were more focused on manifesting Spiritual Energy into tangible attack forms.

”They aren’t formless and intangible like the ’ghosts’ of folklore, making them impossible to defend against,” Xu Wuyi said to Lin Lan after the third test ended.

”Instead, they’re more like... Alien Race Priests without physical bodies, just with more bizarre attack methods.”

Lin Lan recorded this analogy seriously. ”That’s a very precise description. The frontline analysis department has a similar view.”

”They believe these Spiritual Bodies might be a type of highly specialized energy lifeform. They possess basic hunting instincts and combat intelligence, but they lack the tactical thinking and creativity of truly advanced intelligent beings.”

”So, as long as we find a way to counter them, their threat level can be lowered?” Xu Wuyi asked.

”Theoretically, yes,” Lin Lan nodded. ”But that’s contingent on the frontline troops being able to popularize the corresponding equipment or Martial Arts.”

”Right now, only Martial Artists with prominent Spirit Attributes or specific Heart Image Powers can handle them effectively. It will take time to mass-produce and deploy a countermeasure.”

Xu Wuyi said no more.

This was no longer a problem he needed to worry about. What he could do was provide more combat data during the tests to help the research institute find a universally applicable counter-strategy as quickly as possible.

Time flowed by steadily, filled with tests, Cultivation, and optimization projects.

The foundational structure of ”Heavy Water Ball” was becoming more and more refined. With the help of Ye Guanlan’s team, Xu Wuyi’s mastery over the rhythm of Heavy Water Breathing grew increasingly proficient, and the compression ratio steadily improved.

On the seventh day, he could stably compress 10% of the Great Marsh’s total volume.

On the eleventh day, this number increased to 15%.

On the evening of the fifteenth day, during a deep Cultivation session, the dark golden Great Marsh in Xu Wuyi’s sea of awareness suddenly rumbled and shook.