95: limit

“First, I can rule out the Slow Qi Art…”

Xiao Shi thought to himself.

The main function of the Slow Qi Art is to reduce Qi Strength consumption.

The reason Xiao Shi currently has high Qi Strength consumption is mainly because he has opened too few Qi Vortexes.

Once he opens more Qi Vortexes later, the Qi Strength reduction provided by the current Slow Qi Art will be completely sufficient.

There's no need to upgrade it.

Bewildering Shadow Step can also be ruled out.

Although this movement technique can create illusory afterimages while moving, making it difficult for people to distinguish the true body,

it ultimately lacks destructive power.

Even if an upgrade allows for the creation of more illusory afterimages, without enough power, it's impossible to achieve a kill.

Xiao Shi also felt there was no need to upgrade the Nine Refinements Vajra Body.

After all, the Nine Refinements Vajra Body has already reached Heaven-Rank, and while it might not be the strongest Heaven-Rank, even the current Nine Refinements Vajra Body, once cultivated, allows the physical body to reach a strength comparable to the Blood Martial Realm.

Xiao Shi mainly considered the Devouring Expansion Vortex Technique, Qi Severing Blade, and Absolute Severing Blade Technique.

Upgrading the Qi Severing Blade might make its two forms stronger, and it might even lead to a third or even a fourth form!

Moreover, possessing a powerful peerless weapon can often compensate for differences in cultivation.

The Absolute Severing Blade Technique, on the other hand, is a powerful blade technique. Its only drawback is excessive Qi Strength consumption.

If he chooses to upgrade this blade technique, based on Xiao Shi's experience with upgrading the Crimson Tiger Art last time, the drawback of high Qi Strength consumption for the Absolute Severing Blade Technique will surely be rectified, and the power of the blade technique will also become even stronger.

The Devouring Expansion Vortex Technique, as a Secret Skill, is also worth upgrading.

This Secret Skill is already so powerful at just Earth-Rank.

If it were upgraded to the strongest Heaven-Rank Secret Technique, it would undoubtedly be even more terrifying!

Secret Skills themselves are rare.

Heaven-Rank Secret Techniques are even rarer.

Additionally,

Xiao Shi had also considered searching among the many items he had acquired this time for more suitable items to upgrade.

However, although many items were acquired this time,

there were none worth upgrading.

After some thought and deliberation,

Xiao Shi decisively chose to upgrade the Devouring Expansion Vortex Technique.

He thought very clearly.

The Qi Severing Blade and Absolute Severing Blade Technique need to be used together to unleash their maximum effect; if one is strong and one is weak, and they are unbalanced, their power will inevitably be limited.

Furthermore, once he chose to upgrade either the Qi Severing Blade or the Absolute Severing Blade Technique, he would only be able to use a blade during the Qi Martial Realm stage.

This would undoubtedly impose a restriction on him.

For him, who is proficient in various weapons, there's no need to limit himself to blade techniques.

If he could upgrade both at the same time, then upgrading the Qi Severing Blade and Absolute Severing Blade Technique would be worth considering.

Given that he could only upgrade one item,

Xiao Shi felt that upgrading the Devouring Expansion Vortex Technique yielded the greatest benefit.

After all, this was a Secret Skill!

Once he made up his mind,

Xiao Shi immediately unrolled the entire Qi Martial Upgrade Scroll.

The method for using this scroll was the same as the Cultivation Technique Upgrade Scroll from before.

With both hands simultaneously pressed onto the corresponding palm prints on the scroll, Xiao Shi's mind began to recall the contents of the Devouring Expansion Vortex Technique.

As he recalled,

characters immediately appeared on the blank scroll, filling the white scroll.

After the recording was complete,

the entire scroll automatically rolled up.

He waited quietly for five seconds.

After the scroll made new additions and modifications to the Devouring Expansion Vortex Technique, it then unrolled.

As Xiao Shi placed his palm back on the scroll's palm print,

these characters all surged into his palm, and a brand new Devouring Expansion Vortex Technique appeared in his mind.

Xiao Shi discovered that

the upgraded Devouring Expansion Vortex Technique didn't change much; there was only one alteration.

That was... the expansion of each Qi Vortex would no longer be limited; it could continuously expand until the Qi Vortex reached its limit!

The original Devouring Expansion Vortex Technique allowed each Qi Vortex to expand only once.

But now... each Qi Vortex could continuously expand until it reached its limit!

“If that's the case, then just one of my Qi Vortexes might be comparable to ten or even more Qi Vortexes of others!!”

Xiao Shi's mind trembled.

After expanding a Qi Vortex once, the strength of just one Taiyin Qi Vortex was already comparable to eight ordinary Qi Vortexes.

Of course, these were just ordinary Qi Vortexes.

If they were special Qi Vortexes,

it would at most be comparable to two special Qi Vortexes.

However, if it could continue to expand... the strength of this one Taiyin Qi Vortex of his would reach an even more terrifying level!

And once he opens one hundred Taiyin Qi Vortexes and expands all of them to their limit... his strength in the Qi Martial Realm will undoubtedly be an invincible existence!!

Just this point alone

made Xiao Shi feel that this upgrade was worth it!

This is what the strongest Heaven-Rank Secret Technique should be like.

As long as he can open one hundred Taiyin Qi Vortexes and expand all of them to their limit, then he won't even need to cultivate other cultivation techniques; he will directly become the strongest Qi Martial Realm practitioner!

Xiao Shi's heart instantly burned with excitement.

However,

although the expansion of the Qi Vortex no longer had a limit on the number of times,

there were more requirements for the items needed to expand the Qi Vortex.

For the first expansion of a Qi Vortex,

only one item was needed.

For the second expansion of a Qi Vortex, two items would be needed.

The third time would require three items.

And so on.

Xiao Shi could imagine that... the number of items required to expand a Taiyin Qi Vortex to its limit would certainly not be small.

Even if an ordinary person obtained such a Secret Skill, it would be difficult for them to produce so many items.

However, this was not too difficult for Xiao Shi.

He currently had quite a few Qi Warrior Grade items on hand.

“Let's try it!”

Xiao Shi impatiently took out two Qi Warrior Grade items.

He directly used the Taiyin Qi Strength within his body to devour these two Qi Warrior Grade items, transforming them into an energy that could expand the Qi Vortex.

Typically, the more powerful an item, the greater the expansion it would bring after being devoured.

Whoosh!

After devouring these two Qi Warrior Grade items,

Xiao Shi could clearly feel the Taiyin Qi Vortex within his body expanding, but the extent of the expansion was not as great as the first time.

Clearly, with continuous expansion, the range of each subsequent expansion would only become smaller and smaller.

Xiao Shi pondered thoughtfully.

He then took out three more Qi Warrior Grade items and devoured them.

Just like that,

as he continuously took out and devoured one item after another,

after devouring fourteen Qi Warrior Grade items consecutively, the Taiyin Qi Vortex within his body had already expanded by an entire circle beyond its original size.

But... it still hadn't reached its limit!!

Xiao Shi took a deep breath.

There was a hint of determination and decisiveness in his eyes.

He wanted to see... where the limit of this Taiyin Qi Vortex truly lay!

Whoosh!

He once again took out six Qi Warrior Grade items.

And devoured them all.

By now... the Qi Warrior Grade items he had devoured, not counting the first time, already amounted to twenty!

But even after devouring so many, it still hadn't reached its limit.

“Continue!”

Xiao Shi's eyes gleamed with a hint of madness.

The seventh time, the eighth time... until he had consecutively devoured thirty-five Qi Warrior Grade items.

Boom!

This Taiyin Qi Vortex of his finally reached its limit!

“Counting the item devoured during the first expansion, it took a total of thirty-six Qi Warrior Grade items to expand this Taiyin Qi Vortex to its limit!”

Xiao Shi's heart was filled with emotion.

It was fortunate that his two previous kills had allowed him to accumulate quite a few Qi Warrior Grade items.

Otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to produce so many Qi Warrior Grade items to devour.

At the same time,

when this Taiyin Qi Vortex expanded to its limit, it immediately began to vibrate violently, and under this vibration,

the Taiyin Qi Vortex, which had already expanded to a very large extent, actually began to shrink at this moment!

“No...”

“It's... compressing!”

Xiao Shi watched closely.

Although the range of the Qi Vortex was continuously shrinking, its depth was continuously deepening during the compression.

This led to the entire Qi Vortex rotating faster, and the Taiyin Qi Strength within it also increased.

Even Xiao Shi's body also underwent some subtle transformations!

These transformations were not obvious, very faint.

But Xiao Shi clearly perceived them.

He had a premonition... each Taiyin Qi Vortex expanded to its limit would cause a subtle, minute transformation in his body, and as these minute transformations continuously accumulated,

in the end,

it might form an unexpected, alternative kind of upgrade.

“It seems that the ultimate Taiyin Qi Vortex still holds some secrets I don't know about!”

Xiao Shi's eyes flickered slightly.

He looked up at the Grand Yin Qi not far away.

He didn't know if it was the effect of his body's transformation, but he felt that his perception of the Grand Yin Qi was much sharper and more intense than before.

He didn't even need to get close.

Just by reaching out from a distance,

the Grand Yin Qi in the distance automatically floated towards him.

A total of three clumps of Grand Yin Qi had formed here.

After Xiao Shi grasped one of the clumps of Grand Yin Qi, he smoothly absorbed it into his body and guided this clump of Grand Yin Qi to wander before the many Qi Locks within his body.

He was contemplating which Qi Lock to break this time.

Since these Qi Locks were not uniform,

some Qi Locks were more firm, while others were looser.

Xiao Shi felt that some of the firm Qi Locks could not be broken with just one clump of Grand Yin Qi.

“Since I currently have three clumps of Grand Yin Qi, should I try to break a firmer Qi Lock?”

Xiao Shi thought for a moment.

He still gave up on that idea.

He felt it was best to open as many Qi Vortexes as possible for now.

After all, he had opened too few Qi Vortexes at the moment.

So he chose a relatively loose Qi Lock.

Boom!

He controlled the entire clump of Grand Yin Qi and crashed it into the lock.

Under this violent impact,

Xiao Shi's body trembled.

And the impacted Qi Lock shattered with a 'crack'.

A brilliant and dazzling speck of light immediately shone brightly at the location where the Qi Lock had shattered, forming a deep black vortex!

The second Taiyin Qi Vortex was successfully opened!

——————

Thanks to 'Han Feng _' for the reward!