Bei Bei was stunned for a moment, then erupted with joy, tossing the half-eaten fruit in his hand into the air. "Haha, Boss, I knew you'd definitely break through within three hundred years! See, I told you so — it's only been three years and you've already broken through that bottleneck!" Fusing profound mysteries only grew harder the further you went.
A single breakthrough meant a soaring leap in strength!
"That's right, I broke through — right before the great battle," Lin Lei said, his heart thrumming with excitement. Going from fusing three profound mysteries to four was a massive improvement. On this plane battlefield, he was no longer bottom of the pack. He could actually hold his own against a powerful commander now.
A commander who truly feared no challenge had to have no obvious weakness. In the past, Lin Lei's soul defense had been lacking. Now, with four fused profound mysteries working in concert with his innate azure glow and the damaged soul-protecting divine artifact, his soul defense was no longer a weak point. Lin Lei no longer feared soul attacks from figures on the level of Reskin and Montello.
Of course… if he ran into a Highgod who had reached Grand Completion, Lin Lei still had to flee. Never mind Lin Lei — even Reskin and the others were helpless before a Grand Completion Highgod.
"I've been dying to go out there and tear things up. Now that you've broken through, Boss, let's head out!" Bei Bei looked immensely pleased with himself. "We've been stuck in this godforsaken place for almost six hundred years. It's about time we brothers made our presence felt!" Bei Bei was brimming with confidence.
Lin Lei just smiled and shook his head. "No rush."
"No rush? I'm in a rush!" Bei Bei deliberately pouted. "Your strength has gone up, and you still want to keep cooped up in here?"
"Not at all. Even though I've successfully fused the profound mysteries, I haven't yet developed a signature attack that suits me best," Lin Lei explained with a smile.
Different combinations of fused profound mysteries led to different ultimate techniques. Some people excelled at supportive abilities, some at soul attacks, some at physical strikes, some at stealth and escape. In short, after fusing your mysteries, you would develop whatever worked best for you.
In the past, Lin Lei's best moves had been "Blackstone Space" and "Round Void Tear."
But now that he'd leveled up, his ultimate moves had to change.
"Oh, developing your signature moves?" Bei Bei plopped down on a rock at the side of the cave with a grin. "Go ahead, Boss. I'll just sit here and watch — I won't say a word! By the way, it won't take too long, right?"
"I already have a rough idea in my head. It should be fairly quick," Lin Lei said with a smile.
And so Lin Lei began his days of researching his ultimate moves. He experimented over and over, but feared he might damage the cave, so he set up a small Blackstone Prison. He conducted all his research inside it — even if energy leaked out, it could only damage the interior of the prison.
Inside the Blackstone Prison, shrouded in absolute darkness without a single ray of light, Lin Lei stood and visualized scene after scene in his mind.
"Physical defense should be modified based on the old Pulsing Armor…" In the past, Lin Lei hadn't prioritized physical defense, because his dragon-form body was tough enough. But now that he'd fused four profound mysteries, if he channeled a Highgod's power into a defensive ultimate technique, its defensive power would rival that of his dragon body. Lin Lei certainly wouldn't mind having an extra layer of protection.
In the dark prison, Lin Lei continued his research ceaselessly.
"Hssss hssss~~"
Earth divine power churned constantly over Lin Lei's body. Method after method of construction flashed through his mind, and the earth divine power on his surface shifted and reorganized accordingly.
His main body and his Earth clone worked in tandem. After eleven days of effort, Lin Lei finally developed a defensive technique he was satisfied with.
"This armor — if constructed with earth divine power alone, it's not as strong as the dragon body. But powered by a Highgod's force, it actually surpasses the dragon body. Hmm, I'll just call this earth divine power armor the Earth Armor." Lin Lei couldn't be bothered to think up anything fancier. After casually naming it, he moved on to researching soul defense.
Soul defense was something Lin Lei took very seriously.
After all, the soul was the most fundamental part of existence. Within Lin Lei's soul sea, vast quantities of soul power surged and rolled. He tested one application method after another.
The profound mysteries of the Earth law were extraordinarily deep. Splitting the six aspects apart and mastering each individually only gave one a surface understanding. True depth came from fusing them together.
Take "Earth Pulse" for example — first you refined it, studying all two hundred fifty-six layers, then you fused them together step by step until they became one. Only then did you truly comprehend it. By the same token, the deeper the fusion, the more thoroughly one understood the Earth law. Now that Lin Lei had fused four aspects, his soul defense and physical defense had both improved dramatically.
"Continuous and relentless, wave after wave… This soul defense is sufficient."
After nine days, Lin Lei had pushed his soul defense to its absolute limit. Unless he could further improve his profound mysteries, this application method was as good as it got.
"Twenty days for soul defense and physical defense — both complete. Now comes the most important part: the physical attack."
Lin Lei was well aware that the four mysteries he had fused — Earth Pulse, Earth Element, Force, and Gravitational Space (Geomagnetic Force) — were most suited to physical strikes. And with a dragon-form body as powerful as his, not using it for combat would be an utter waste.
Without hesitation, Lin Lei immersed himself in developing his attack technique.
This attack ultimate was by far the most complex.
Soul defense didn't involve the Earth Element aspect at all. Physical defense didn't touch Gravitational Space. So researching those had been comparatively easier.
But the attack technique drew on all four aspects.
Time flowed like water, slipping away in silence. Before Lin Lei knew it, he had been researching inside the Blackstone Prison for a full two months.
Back in the cave.
"Tch!" Bei Bei wrinkled his nose and glanced at the still-intact Blackstone Prison. "The Boss said it'd be quick. It's been sixty-three days now and he still hasn't finished."
Suddenly —
Without a sound, the Blackstone Prison collapsed and disintegrated, its energy returning to the world. Standing there in its place was Lin Lei, dressed in a blue robe, eyes still closed, with the影留神剑 held in his hand. Since he hadn't channeled any divine power into it, the sword's appearance was clearly visible.
"Haha!" Bei Bei leaped to his feet.
Lin Lei opened his eyes and looked over, a smile on his face.
"Boss, you did it?" Bei Bei asked with a grin.
"Yes, I did," Lin Lei replied, nodding with a smile.