Chapter 3962: Already Superior

Lin Mu’s eyes narrowed when he saw the last one.

Spatial principles were exactly what interested him.

The deeper he went into the jade token, the clearer it became that Zhenyu’s thousands of years in the Mad Demon Depths had transformed him into someone very different from the arrogant young cultivator who had entered this place.

He had arrived seeking a shortcut but he had ended up becoming a researcher, a formation master, a cultivator and a historian of his own imprisonment. And somewhere within all those records, Lin Mu suspected there were answers to questions he had not even thought to ask yet.

He continued studying the jade token as the cultivation notes were exceptionally detailed. What had started as a quick examination had already stretched into several hours, yet he found himself increasingly absorbed in the information Zhenyu had left behind.

The old man had recorded nearly every significant adjustment he had made to the Shifting Earth, Churning Sea Dual Refinement Art, along with the reasoning behind each modification.

Lin Mu read everything carefully and he did not simply memorize the finished technique like he did with most. Instead he studied the thought process behind it. And that was where the true value of Zhenyu’s records lay.

The elder had spent thousands of years thinking about the same problem.

Every mistake had been recorded, every successful adjustment compared against previous failures and every discovery tested repeatedly before being accepted. Even though the final technique itself was of limited use to Lin Mu, the process through which Zhenyu had created it provided valuable insight into how an experienced cultivator could modify a cultivation method according to his own body.

Eventually, Lin Mu reached the end of the cultivation notes and he remained silent for several seconds. His expression was strange. There was curiosity in his eyes, along with a faint sense of disappointment.

"This thing..." Lin Mu muttered.

Xukong immediately laughed. "Haha, you were reading it with such great interest. What did you find?" the spider asked even though he knew exactly what had happened.

Lin Mu’s mouth twitched. "The principles and benefits one acquires from the Shifting Earth, Churning Sea Dual Refinement Art?" he said with a wry smile. "I have already exceeded them."

There was a short silence before Xukong laughed even harder. "Of course you do."

Lin Mu sighed. "Senior, I thought I would gain some useful insight."

"You technically did."

"I suppose."

"Your earth and water cores already provide you with far greater control over those elements than this technique could offer. They also influence your body directly. That is merely one part of the Omnicore Ascendancy Technique."

Lin Mu nodded as he knew that very well.

The Shifting Earth, Churning Sea Dual Refinement Art was impressive for what it accomplished, especially considering that Zhenyu had reconstructed it from incomplete techniques while trapped inside the Mad Demon Depths.

For an ordinary cultivator, learning it would probably provide a considerable increase in both physical strength and Qi control. For Lin Mu, however, the situation was different.

His Earth Core and Water Core were already deeply integrated into his cultivation system. They were not simply sources of elemental energy, and had granted him true natural affinity to those elements.

The Omnicore Ascendancy Technique had transformed the way his body interacted with those elements, allowing him to manipulate them with a degree of precision that Zhenyu’s technique could not approach.

And Earth and Water were only two of the seven elemental cores while Lin Mu had already completed four: Earth, Water, Fire and Metal. His Wood Core was extremely close to completion as well, requiring only around three percent more progress.

Though his Wind and Lightning Cores were lagging behind the others, they were still steadily developing.

Thinking about this, Lin Mu could only shake his head. "I was expecting this to give me something I could incorporate into my cultivation."

"You found something else."

"The spatial principles."

"Exactly."

Lin Mu’s expression became more serious as that part of Zhenyu’s notes had actually caught his attention. The elder had attempted to integrate spatial principles into the Shifting Earth, Churning Sea Dual Refinement Art.

His understanding was crude compared to what Lin Mu possessed, yet there was something fascinating about the fact that he had managed to develop those applications without having any natural talent for the Spatial Dao.

Zhenyu had no natural Spatial Dao affinity and he did not possess a special physique either. He had never cultivated a dedicated spatial technique during his youth. Everything he had learned had come later.

Most of it had been obtained through the remnants of knowledge surrounding the Mad Demon and through his prolonged exposure to the compressed space within the hidden inheritance.

Lin Mu continued reading those sections.

Zhenyu had discovered that the compressed spatial environment affected his perception gradually. At first, the space had simply been something he endured. Later, he began studying its properties.

The elder had experimented with using his own physical strength to crack open spatial barriers. He had tried forcing his Qi through tiny fractures in space and had discovered that combining the two produced a more stable result.

Eventually, he could create small spatial rifts. The rifts were unstable and could only remain open briefly, yet they represented an enormous achievement for someone with no innate spatial talent.

Lin Mu’s eyes narrowed as he read the descriptions. "Interesting."

Zhenyu had discovered a crude method of using his body as an anchor while forcing Qi through a damaged section of space. The body supplied the stability while Qi supplied the force necessary to distort the surrounding spatial structure.

It was inefficient and very dangerous, but for a man with limited resources and having nothing urgent to do, it was also ingenious.

A sufficiently powerful body cultivator could crack space through brute force, but doing so required enormous physical strength. Even after cracking it, maintaining the opening was another problem entirely.

Space naturally attempted to return to its original state, and unstable spatial fractures could collapse violently. But Zhenyu’s method reduced the amount of strength needed. He used Qi to weaken the spatial structure first, then used his physical strength to force it open.

The process created a temporary rift.