Chapter 73: The Tinder Body-Tempering Art vs. the Lightning Emperor Body-Tempering Art!
Chapter 73: The Tinder Body-Tempering Art vs. the Lightning Emperor Body-Tempering Art!
Such great defense prowess! Even Uncle Gui’s attacks can’t do anything to it!
Shen Tian revealed a small smile as he thought happily and processed the extent of the Black Tortoise Armor’s defensive capabilities.
Although Eunuch Gui’s cultivation level was peak 7th Firmament of Qi Refinement, remember that he had cultivated the Demon Book of Hyuga. As such, all his attacks were comparable to 9th Firmament Qi Refinement experts’ attacks.
The fact that the Black Tortoise Armor was able to fend off Eunuch Gui’s attacks showed that this was an absolutely strong defense skill!
Not only that, but it also had severe Lightning Repel Damage effects.
If Shen Tian covered himself entirely with the Black Tortoise Armor, he would be the absolute Blade Mail in the cultivation world!
Ha! I’d like to see who dares to attack me when I wear this Black Tortoise Armor! I will concede defeat to the person who can force me to take just a single step back! After all, with my repel damage, I will be able to electrocute almost anyone to their deaths!
Wait a minute!
When looking at the tortoise shell-like armor on his right arm, Shen Tian’s eyelids twitched again.
If this thing formed a full body armor, then wouldn’t I be like Master Roshi[1]**?!
Just imagining that was enough to put off Shen Tian.
Forget it, let’s not do that!
Shen Tian felt very tired.
When other people cultivate, the more powerful they get, the flashier they will appear.
Yet, why must I deal with all these kinds of tortoise nonsense when I have a chance to master the advanced lightning arts?
Upon seeing the unhappy expression on Shen Tian’s face, Eunuch Gui asked puzzledly, “Your Highness, you have attained such great battle arts. Why are you still sulking?”
Shen Tian replied, “Well, it’s true that this set of skills has great defensive capabilities, but... they look really unsightly!”
Eunuch Gui couldn’t decide if he should laugh or cry at that comment.
All cultivators would kill for such majestic skills. But his Highness here was still complaining that the battle arts turned out ugly, despite mastering them in just a few hours?
Eunuch Gui chuckled and said, “Your Highness, do not worry. All battle arts are formed with your Spirit Qi. Since you do not like the appearance of the Black Tortoise Armor, why not try changing it?”
Oh, that makes sense!
Eunuch Gui’s advice lifted Shen Tian out of his depression. He was previously too focused on exploring the IX Divine Lightning skills until he lost sight of such trivialities.
Indeed, all battle arts and skills in the world, no matter how majestic, were created based on the creators’—and therefore the wielders—Spirit Qi.
Since he had now captured the essence of the Black Tortoise Armor, why couldn’t he just optimize its appearance?
Shen Tian immediately shifted his gaze to the Spirit Stones underneath his seat, and he was satisfied to see that not all of them had been used up.
Once again, he sat down and closed his eyes to imagine the new design for his very own Black Tortoise Armor.
I want something black, something cool, and it mustn’t be too weak in its defensive capabilities...
In his mind’s eye, Shen Tian kept changing the design of the armor.
An idea struck him soon, and he exclaimed in excitement, “Okay, that’s it!”
Shen Tian drew in a deep breath and started going through the Five Heavenly Lightning Cultivation Technique’s hand gestures slowly.
Under normal circumstances, cultivators didn’t need to re-enact the battle arts’ hand gestures when conjuring up attacks.
This was because during the time one made all the hand gestures, others could easily strike them down.
However, this did not mean that battle arts’ hand gestures were totally useless.
From enacting the hand gestures of a battle artl, cultivators could summon the natural Spirit Qi around them to combine forces with their own Spirit Qi, and hence make the attacks more powerful.
Shen Tian was trying to redesign the Black Tortoise Armor’s appearance for himself now, and this move required an extensive amount of Spirit Qi. His own reservoir of Spirit Qi wouldn’t be enough. As such, he had to make use of the battle art’s hand gestures to hasten the absorption of Spirit Qi from the Spirit Stones he was sitting on.
This was the only way to carry out the process smoothly.
As Shen Tian started absorbing all the surrounding Spirit Qi he could by making the hand gestures of the Spirit Qi Gathering Art, he felt the reservoir of Spirit Qi in his body getting filled up to its brim.
Meanwhile, his body was already fully covered in black lightning.
The minute he felt that he had gathered enough of the lightning-type Spirit Qi, Shen Tian patted the area on his body where his kidneys were located and huffed out. “Black Rhino Armor, combine!”
Amidst the amazed stares of Eunuch Gui and Qin Gao, all the black lightning gathered up and gradually transformed into an ultra-cool black armor, wrapping up Shen Tian’s entire body.
His chest, back, and shoulders were covered up by thick, black lightning-aligned armor, while four silver rhinoceros’ horns adorned the armor’s forehead and shoulder blade areas.
Shen Tian had purposely affixed those rhinoceros’ horns on his armor with the First Essence Heavy Water.
In summary, this was a super cool armor.
Compared to the tortoiseshell lookalike armor previously, it looked much more majestic.
Shen Tian took out a mirror and was satisfied at his own reflection.
Now, this is the befitting armor for me! I cannot accept myself becoming Master Roshi, no way!
Well, but this IX Divine Lightning Black Rhino Armor’s powers still need to be tested.
Shen Tian couldn’t help but feel excited at that thought. However, just when he was about to tell Uncle Gui to attack him, a heavy feeling of exhaustion and emptiness washed over him.
The next second, the ultra-cool and thick lightning armor ‘crashed’ and dissolved into pieces!
Shen Tian couldn’t even have time to shout, “Black Rhino Armor, dismantle!”
Following which, Shen Tian appeared in front of Eunuch Gui and Qin Gao again, wearing his normal attire.
There was resignation written all over his eyes, and he looked disappointed.
Aish, that was too fast—I haven’t even enjoyed my time in it!
However, Qin Gao was full of envy when he commented to Shen Tian, “Your Highness, the armor you designed was amazing!”
Eunuch Gui nodded and also praised Shen Tian, “Indeed. It was very intimidating and majestic. I bet even real fairies will fall for Your Highness if you wear it in combat!”
Hearing all that made Shen Tian let out a sigh of relief secretly.
Well, it seems like both of them did not realize I was forced to dismantle the armor, phew. Aish, how frustrating all this was!
This set of Ren Water Black Rhino Armor indeed looked way better than the Black Tortoise Armor. Unfortunately, all of that required huge amounts of Spirit Qi.
Shen Tian had gone through a rough estimation of his Spirit Qi reservoir just now. He could maintain a full-bodied Black Tortoise Armor for 15 minutes, but only a full-bodied Black Rhino Armor for less than three minutes.
There was a difference of almost five times the time between which both armors could be maintained. That was way absurd to accept!
Just imagine: when your opponents were at their best, you were already over and done with your best.
In terms of long-lasting capabilities, this Black Rhino Armor would be overpowered!
And Shen Tian suspected that the reason for it using up Divine Lightning powers so fast was way more complicated than the fact that it required more of them.
After all, the Lightning Emperor had created the Black Tortoise Armor based on the Xuanwu Beast’s physical structure. With the same amount of Spirit Qi available, the Black Tortoise-shaped armor would definitely be stronger in defense capabilities.
This was mainly due to the fact that the Xuanwu Beast was renowned for its defense. Should one require the Black Rhino Armor to reach the same kind of effect, they would need to use much more Spirit Qi.
Such was the price to be paid for trying to look suave—exerting five times more of the amount of Spirit Qi!
Normal cultivators wouldn’t even have dared to think of using that much Spirit Qi!
Even so, Shen Tian was determined to use the Black Rhino Armor instead of the Black Tortoise Armor. He would never allow himself to carry a tortoiseshell on his back!
So what if it requires five times more Spirit Qi? I have enough Spirit Stones to last me!
I will only use this skill as my final defensive skill... Or if I am really, really in a critical situation, I can just switch back to the Black Tortoise Armor. Aish!
After completing his cultivation of the IX Divine Lightning (Water) skills, Shen Tian turned his attention to another heritage skillset.
To be honest, Shen Tian had anticipated this skillset even more—it was the Lightning Emperor Body-Tempering Art.
If one classified the Five Heavenly Lightning Cultivation Technique under the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground’s Qi Refinement heritage skills, then the Lightning Emperor Body-Tempering Art would be its core Body-Tempering heritage skillset.
Shen Tian was previously cultivating the Tinder Sutra.
He was genuinely curious as to how this body tempering art, which only cost two taels of silver, would compare to the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground’s almighty Lightning Emperor Body-Tempering Art!
[1] 龟仙人 (hanyu pinyin: guī xiān rén) is the iconic fictional character from the Dragon Ball anime series created by Akira Toriyama. Known for his lechery, this character sports a thick van dyke beard, and wears sunglasses, beach clothes, and usually carries a turtle’s shell on his back.