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Though Yang Kai was tempted by the power of these martial techniques, he couldn't bring himself to abandon his humanity for their sake.
He cycled through seven or eight more in succession, and each time the human face grew more and more terrified, while Yang Kai sneered coldly.
"Young hero, everything I know is this kind of martial technique, I swear I'm not lying to you."
"If this is all the value you have, what use are you keeping you around?" Yang Kai's voice carried a chilling edge. From the techniques the face had described, Yang Kai could already tell that this person had been a demonic cultivator who'd committed every evil imaginable before his death.
"Young hero, please calm down! Let me think more carefully. I just woke up not long ago and my memories are muddled. I can't recall much at the moment — just give me some time, give me some time and I'll definitely satisfy you!"
"You only get one chance. Make the most of it!"
"I will, I promise I won't disappoint you."
Yang Kai stopped paying him any attention. The space was already sealed off, so he could focus on healing in peace. As for the human face — even if he'd been a powerful expert and a great demon in life, he couldn't stir up any trouble now. Yang Kai had nothing to worry about.
He didn't have any decent healing medicine on him, but injuries like these shouldn't take too long to mend on their own.
He reached into his chest and pulled out the remaining small stone figurine. Then he circulated his Yuan Qi, feeling the movement pattern of the golden threads within, probing the secrets hidden inside the stone figure.
The Blazing Sun Burst alone wasn't enough. Yang Kai wanted to use this healing time to cultivate a second martial technique.
If he didn't get stronger, he'd just get bullied again once he got out.
This small stone figurine contained a great many golden threads — a full seventy or eighty of them. There was a very good chance this was a heaven-grade technique, or even mysterious-grade.
It took a full day before Yang Kai had committed every detail of the golden threads' circulation pattern to memory. Just like the previous stone figurine, the moment Yang Kai withdrew his Yuan Qi, it crumbled to dust.
Over the course of that day, the human face had also been racking its brain, trying to figure out what bargaining chips it could offer Yang Kai to earn its freedom. It had thought of a few things, but without Yang Kai speaking up first, it didn't dare open its mouth unprompted. It could only hide inside the Golden Body in a state of trembling fear.
Yang Kai ignored it. His entire focus was devoted to the martial technique he'd extracted from the stone figurine.
He sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, following the routes laid out by the golden threads, and let his True Yang Energy circulate through his meridians.
After completing one full cycle, Yang Kai realized that unlike when he'd obtained the Blazing Sun Burst, he felt absolutely no impulse to unleash the technique. Instead, the back of his hand twitched faintly.
Is the circulation path wrong? Yang Kai frowned.
That couldn't be it — he was following the golden threads' pattern exactly, without the slightest deviation.
He ran another cycle. The back of his hand twitched again.
What was going on? Wasn't this a martial technique? Why did he feel no urge to deploy it? When he'd been learning the Blazing Sun Burst, it hadn't been like this at all.
What was the trick behind this technique? Why was it so different from the others?
He thought for a while but couldn't figure it out. The only option was to feel it out through practice.
He relaxed his mind and circulated his Yuan Qi again and again. With each cycle, the same sensation came from the back of his hand, and that throbbing pulse grew more and more pronounced, more and more distinct — as if something were trying to burst out from within.
He didn't know how much time had passed. Yang Kai had completed no fewer than eight hundred cycles, possibly close to a thousand. Then, after one particular cycle, an intense pain suddenly shot through the back of his hand, and that restrained pulsing sensation broke free of its restraints and erupted outward.
Yang Kai's eyes snapped open. He looked down at the back of his hand and found that a pattern had appeared on his skin.
The pattern was somewhat strange. Yang Kai stared at it for a good while before realizing it looked like a night sky. It covered a small portion of the back of his hand, dotted with countless stars. When he wasn't circulating Yuan Qi, it didn't look particularly remarkable, but the moment he did, the star map seemed to come alive, each pinpoint of light shimmering brightly.
Moreover, Yang Kai could clearly sense that beneath this pattern, within the flesh, a space had been carved out — one he couldn't see with his eyes.
When his Yuan Qi flowed through, it was stored inside that space.
After much experimentation, Yang Kai managed to channel the entirety of his Yuan Qi into the star map on the back of his hand. Then, in a casual motion, he tapped his finger against the ground.
This tap used absolutely none of his own strength. If there had been an ant under his fingertip, it wouldn't have killed it.
But the moment the Yuan Qi from the star map erupted, brilliant starlight rolled across his fingertip, illuminating the cave as bright as daylight.
With a crack, Yang Kai's entire arm plunged into the ground, and the earth shuddered violently. Dust and gravel rained down from the ceiling of the cave.
Yang Kai couldn't help but be stunned.
This single finger tap had consumed all the Yuan Qi in his body, just like a full-body explosive release, yet the destructive power it produced far exceeded a normal burst. It was nearly double the damage!
Yang Kai estimated that if he'd simply detonated all his Yuan Qi without any technique, he wouldn't have achieved anything close to that result.
This martial technique was truly bizarre! Yang Kai's brows furrowed as he realized he was starting to grasp its underlying principle.
"Young hero, young hero..." A voice drifted from within his body, carrying an obsequious and cautious tone.
Yang Kai's brows remained knitted together as he contemplated the thoughts in his mind.