239: Holy qualities

Advance simulation!

This was undoubtedly an extremely valuable experience.

By experiencing it in advance before reaching that stage, one could avoid many mistakes when truly stepping into the relevant realm in the future, making the path to breakthrough smoother.

As thoughts swirled in his mind, Qin Jin’s gaze fell upwards; the entire [Tower of Supremacy] had ten floors at a glance, and the mist on the second floor had completely dissipated.

The patterns on the three routes were all of clashing swords and sabers, clearly indicating combat-related content.

Since all three were the same, Qin Jin did not make a specific choice.

He followed his current route, stepped onto the crystal staircase, and continued forward.

Just as he stepped onto the stairs, behind him, the Blood Moon swayed, and moonlight spilled down, reflecting on the crystal staircase, turning it into a brilliant red crystal.

The heavy pressure from all around him continued to increase, and at the same time, the burden from the Blood Moon also rapidly increased.

Holding his breath, Qin Jin did not try to mobilize his strength to dissipate this pressure, but instead began to feel and adapt.

He took steps one by one, and on this crystal staircase, with the pressure combined with his own factors, each step he took left a direct footprint.

It seemed that the pressure from the Blood Moon and the inherent heavy pressure on the crystal staircase worked together.

Ascending the stairs step by step.

With each step taken, the pressure became more intense, but Qin Jin’s pace did not stop; instead, it continuously quickened.

This was the self-adaptation of the essence of life.

This feeling was extremely subtle, like a human finding their own flaws and then searching for ways to gradually Supplement them, just as a Martial Artist, after forging a Martial Saint Body, also needs to perfect its shortcomings.

It was a dual process of spiritual guidance coupled with self-adaptation.

With the last sound of footsteps, Qin Jin stepped in front of the giant pattern.

He reached out and gently touched the pattern.

At this moment, the overlapping sword and saber began to extend, transforming from a flat state to a three-dimensional state.

Qin Jin entered the space related to this pattern.

During the rapid expansion of the entire space, the ground continuously churned, and brilliant streaks of light streaked across the sky.

Amidst the churning, crystals were exposed and rapidly piled up, forming structures.

There were lifelike beasts and warriors in battle armor holding weapons.

In the sky, intertwined streams of light even gave birth to strange winged creatures.

Within a few breaths, extraordinary aggregates constructed from crystals filled the space above and below.

Everything was still; after being generated, they remained motionless.

During the continuous generation, in front of Qin Jin, shattered crystals gathered, eventually forming a ‘Forbidden’ character, which floated towards Qin Jin and directly merged into the Blood Moon.

The Blood Moon birthed a forbidden character.

As the ‘Forbidden’ character entered the Blood Moon, Qin Jin’s expression subtly changed in an instant.

He sensed the feeling of a restriction.

Under the effect of this restriction, his primordial power completely subsided.

Furthermore, as time passed, a sense of obfuscation also came from outside his Dao Foundation Spirit Ruins, and the transmission of power was obstructed.

“This restriction—”

Qin Jin carefully experienced it, his eyes lowered slightly: “It feels somewhat familiar.

This doesn’t seem like a pure formation restriction; rather, it’s like a [Rule] existing within this space.”

“Do all trial-takers who come here lose the ability to use extraordinary power?”

Qin Jin murmured to himself.

Rules!

After leaving Tianhuang Star, he had personally felt the power of [Rules], and now, by cross-referencing, he quickly confirmed everything.

Primordial power, named after its origin, was inherently a part of a Martial Artist’s self.

For a pure restriction to completely block it was extremely difficult.

Only suppression from the rule level could achieve such a perfect effect.

“If I can’t use extraordinary power, then I can only fight with pure physical strength.”

A thought flashed, and he looked ahead, clenching his fists.

As the restriction took effect, the static state within the space was broken.

The crystal aggregates of various forms swarmed towards Qin Jin at the same time.

Qin Jin did not hesitate.

With a stomp of his right leg, as the sound of rushing wind rose, he already shot out like an arrow from a bowstring, clenching both hands into fists, directly confronting the enemy!

Boom!

His heavy fist first struck a humanoid aggregate.

With one punch, even without the augmentation of extraordinary power, immense force erupted, and the opponent’s body shattered with a crash, scattering across the ground.

In terms of pure physical strength, Qin Jin was equally formidable, even excellent!

That was the result of breaking through the essence of life and the back-feeding from the Spirit Ruins during countless breakthroughs; it was one of his true foundations that surpassed other Martial Artists!

Without the augmentation of extraordinary power, Qin Jin could not fly with just his physical body.

He simply fought on the ground.

His past experiences made him no stranger to this kind of one-against-many group combat.

Using both fists and feet, engaging in close-quarters combat, the aggregates shattered in an instant.

Another punch was thrown, destroying an enemy, and at the same time, a whooshing sound came from above.

A flying crystal aggregate swooped down, its sharp claws slashing through the air.

At this moment, Qin Jin’s body lowered.

While dodging the attack, he reached out his hand and grabbed its ankle.

The next instant, its wings flapped, and Qin Jin was lifted to a certain height by it.

As he gripped its ankle with one hand, Qin Jin’s body rose.

The moment it soared upwards, his other hand had already struck, directly smashing into its chest.

Boom!

Amidst the explosion, crystals splattered.

After destroying it, Qin Jin’s body fell downwards due to inertia.

He stabilized himself, and moments later, like a heavy hammer descending from the sky, he directly smashed into the group of aggregates.

His feet stomped the ground, a booming sound rang out, and while the surrounding aggregates were directly shattered, a wave of air swept out, spreading in all directions.

That was the manifestation of a powerful physical body!

The next instant, his body darted out, continuing to fight.

This was an extremely rare experience.

After embarking on the path of martial arts, he initially used life force, then primordial power, and then spiritual energy.

All along, Qin Jin’s combat style was inseparable from the augmentation of extraordinary power.

Now, without extraordinary power, fighting with a pure physical body, Qin Jin had a clearer opportunity to understand himself.

In the continuous battle, gradually, a white light began to emanate from Qin Jin’s body.

That was not a Field.

The Field, due to the dormancy of primordial power, had ceased its cycle and was also shut down.

This manifestation was the self-expression of an extraordinary physical body after the essence of life reached a certain level.

Initially, it was a bit unrefined, but as the battle progressed, Qin Jin became more and more familiar.

After the number of crystal aggregates he killed reached a certain point, new things began to condense beside the Blood Moon behind Qin Jin, unnoticed.

That was an hourglass, constructed from crystals and quite ornate in appearance.

Both ends of the hourglass were empty, but as the number of aggregates Qin Jin killed increased, a glowing, quicksand-like light emerged from the connection point of the hourglass, as if out of thin air.

It flowed from the top to the bottom, accumulating and gradually increasing.

At first, Qin Jin fought with his fists and feet, but later, he simply picked up the remnants of the aggregates, using them as weapons.

While fighting, he was also practicing martial arts.

The battle continued.

Qin Jin did not feel tired.

Through countless transformations and evolutions, he could already be called extraordinary.

In this purely physical combat, some inner potentials that usually did not need to be used or consumed were stimulated.

Time passed.

Until—

Bang!

After a dull thud, the upper body of the humanoid aggregate in front of him exploded with a crash.

Its powerless lower body fell to the ground, turning into shattered crystals, no longer moving.

Qin Jin’s movements stopped, and he looked around.

Visibly, there were no more aggregates on the ground or in the sky; instead, the ground was covered with layers of shattered crystals.

Behind him, the glow within the hourglass was abundant, suspended beside the Blood Moon.

The entire space remained still for several seconds.

The next instant, it was as if an abyss appeared beneath the space; the shattered crystals formed a vortex, continuously disappearing downwards, being rapidly swallowed.

Qin Jin did not feel like he was being swallowed, because as the shattered crystals vanished, he had already left this trial space and re-entered the top of the crystal staircase.

The mist on the third floor gradually lifted at this time.

The familiar sword and saber combat icon, and the [Crystal Well] icon, which Qin Jin speculated was for recovery and healing, were arranged on either side, while in the center was a never-before-seen special icon.

Its edges were two curved arrows forming a loop, connected head to tail, and the inner pattern looked somewhat similar to the symbol for federal currency.

“Trade, or a market?”

Qin Jin speculated in his mind and immediately made a decision.

In this trial tower, on this path of trial, from the moment he chose that strange eye pattern and gained the Blood Moon’s attention, he was destined not to choose the conventional route, but to go to the most mysterious and special trial space to strive for the highest potential.

He ascended the crystal staircase step by step.

During the process, the ‘Forbidden’ character within the Blood Moon began to dissolve, and primordial power awakened from its dormancy.

Although it had not increased, Qin Jin felt a sense of fullness in his heart, and wielding it became more effortless.

With each step he took, this feeling became more pronounced.

After reaching the third floor, everything completely returned to normal, and the rules’ shielding of extraordinary power completely dissipated.

The pattern in front of him changed.

Under Qin Jin’s gaze, a bonfire rose before him, and on the opposite side of the bonfire, a figure appeared silently.

That was a mysterious figure wearing a black robe and a black hood.

It sat behind the bonfire, its arms resting on its legs.

Judging from the exposed skin, it looked like an ordinary human, afflicted with a disease similar to [crystallization].

On the human flesh, there were thin crystal flakes, like scales, tightly adhering to the skin.

As Qin Jin appeared, it raised its head.

Its face under the hood was obscured, only its eyes, like protruding crystal spheres, looked towards Qin Jin.

In their gaze, light bloomed within its eyes.

The bonfire in front of it seemed to be guided; as the flames flickered, they actually formed a display stand.

On top of the display stand, different rune patterns were arranged, about a dozen or so at a glance.

After doing all this, the mysterious figure lowered its head, clearly having no intention of communicating with Qin Jin.

“This is—”

Qin Jin withdrew his gaze from it and looked at the display stand formed by the flames.

Each rune pattern was distinctly different; some were in a bright state, while others were dim.

As Qin Jin’s gaze fell upon them, relevant information arose in his mind.

[Life-Death Restriction]: When your own state is extremely poor, you can enter a super-dimensional state for a final struggle.

[Heroic Spirit]: In certain specific locations and under specific opportunities, you can communicate with [Spirits].

[Secret Fire]: All things in the world related to fire are extremely compatible with you.

[Flash of Insight]: A flash of insight, its meaning self-evident.

Information streamed into his mind one by one.

Qin Jin slowly exhaled.

On this display stand were completely different abilities; some were passive, some were active, truly imaginative.

It seemed like an enhancement phase of this trial journey, helping participants improve to cope with subsequent trials.

However, combining Qin Jin’s conjectures about the trial with the cultivation of the Martial Saint Realm, Qin Jin recognized the essence represented by these abilities.

[Martial Saint Traits]

Forging a Martial Saint Body with Martial Saint Law, named after ‘Saint,’ how could it be ordinary?

When a Martial Artist forges a Martial Saint Body, they will develop Martial Saint Traits.

These traits are truly rare and provide astonishing improvements to Martial Artists.

It is often said that every Martial Saint will embark on their own path, and this is closely related to that.

While browsing, the information continuously arising in his mind allowed Qin Jin to understand everything.

Here, just as he guessed, was a place of transaction.

The goal of the transaction was these extraordinary traits, and the currency for the transaction was the glowing light within the hourglass behind him.

Those on the display stand that were dim represented that his [currency] was insufficient and he could not purchase them, while the bright ones were available for trade.

After understanding everything, Qin Jin deliberated for a moment and made his choice.

[Heroic Spirit].

He did not choose combat-type traits because he had enough confidence in his own strength.

In this trial journey, he was more inclined to try mysterious-side traits, as such opportunities were rare.

The choice was confirmed.

The rune representing [Heroic Spirit] was a complex, ethereal blue, looking like a tangled ball of yarn at first glance.

At this moment, as it shot out from the display stand, the glowing light within the hourglass behind Qin Jin rapidly decreased.

The [Heroic Spirit] flew forward, and after arriving in front of Qin Jin, it suddenly imprinted itself on his glabella.

Amidst a roar, Qin Jin’s eyes slightly closed.

His own power seemed to be activated, suddenly erupting.

As the air currents swept, the display stand in front dissipated, and the flames below flickered.

The [Heroic Spirit] imprinted on his glabella, similar to before, was performing some kind of guidance.

Both his power and his self were changing under its guidance, constantly surging, ultimately producing a result.

“This is the process of giving birth to Martial Saint Traits?”

Even though the specific process differed due to individual variations, Qin Jin was certain that this already held great reference value.

“It really is an all-encompassing experience.”

Qin Jin opened his eyes.

The mysterious figure and the bonfire in front of him had disappeared.

He looked at the fourth floor, where the mist had lifted: “By the time I break into the tenth floor, I fear all aspects of breaking through the Martial Saint Realm will have been experienced here.”

“I just don’t know—”

“What the final reward of this Supreme Trial will be.”