Chapter 173 - 169: Recognize Yourself, Recognize the World
In the era of martial arts, what we call the change of power is nothing but the metamorphosis of martial forms.
Before the rise of the saints, humans lived in hardship, yet empires stood. They ruled over the pitiful people, some of them even colluding with monsters, regularly offering children as sacrifices for their own safety. They reveled in the adoration and worship of the human race, while sending the population into the jaws of the Demon King. Such occurrences were not unusual.
At that time, these so-called “Emperors” were all martial artists. Some from large countries were in the Fierce Realm, while those from smaller countries were in the Mortal Realm. Having one individual ruling over a country was commonplace.
To the people of that era who didn’t understand martial arts, those who could produce the enormous strength of the Mortal Realm were already unconquerable, and those capable of flying in the Fierce Realm were like divine beings.
However, after the rise of the saints, Xu Sheng inscribed his works on the monument of Tianan, and effectively managed to usher in a period of martial arts prosperity after his ten-year guard.
The era in which one individual could rule a country was over. Because now that everyone was capable of practicing martial arts, it meant that they had the ability to resist, and to transcend.
With the emergence of the Combined Attack Technique, ordinary noble families and royal families were brought onto the same level. The stifling suppression of realm differences no longer existed. The incident of one person in the Fierce Realm slaughtering tens of thousands in the Mortal Realm would no longer happen.
This martial arts innovation led to the true end of imperial rule. Those arrogant and self-righteous royal families discovered their powerlessness when facing the combined forces of hundreds of small families.
Only empires with King Realm martial artists could sustain themselves. The rest were lost in the dust of history.
However, even King Realm martial artists could not live forever. Unless such strong individuals never ceased to exist, or no King Realm master emerged from ordinary families, any empire would inevitably be overthrown one day. It can be said that the emergence of the Combined Attack Technique truly changed all power structures on the continent, formally collapsing the autocratic systems like the empires, and transitioning into family power structures linked by bloodlines. The control of power gradually shrank from hundreds of cities to just a few cities, which were already considered major powers.
Therefore, as soon as Tang Hongtao saw this set of Personal Fusion Techniques, he seemed to smell a sign of another shift in the power of the continent, and this time, it should be his Tang Clan that leads the trend!
Unless… Tang Hongtao, destined to be seated in the position of Secret Arts Pavilion Elder, would not be a foolish person. But if his conjecture was correct, it was too horrifying that he had not received any news.
Seeing the disbelief on the other person’s face, Tang Luo felt it was better to clarify some things: “The Personal Fusion Technique is not my own creation.” And I believe that I’m not the only one who has researched it. I suppose that not only the major sacred grounds but also the various sects should have their research results. As for the sacred grounds, they should already be ahead.” The most brutal thing is not lies, but reality. Tang Hongtao was stunned and could not help asking, “How could this be?”
While noble families were scratching their heads for a bit more power and resources, little did they know that the sects and sacred sites have completed the transformation of martial arts in secrecy. Anyone would feel terrified at this prospect.
Tang Luo’s face was grave as he solemnly said, “Perhaps it’s because the continent has been too peaceful for too long, and some sacred sites are unwilling to remain detached from the world.”
As Elder Xu Sheng said, with mastery of martial arts and methods of research, many noble families would easily equate themselves with the sacred sites after achieving success, and believe that the so-called sacred sites were just quicker in their research.
With the sacred sites hiding away from the world and showing no interest in worldly affairs, some minor noble families even developed the delusion that they were the best in the world. The Tang Clan was the same. If it weren’t for the competition with the Mi Clan, how could they have achieved their current foundation?
Just look at the cities around you, even though they have substantial resources, their strength still grows slowly under the rule of families.
But sacred sites are like dragons: they only coil, they do not die. If the dragon feels that After sweeping away the monsters, it should come out to play? What would one do then?
Just by looking at Elder Xu Sheng’s might, one can understand how terrifying the Fierce Realm of the sacred sites must be!
His initial joy was diluted by this bad news. Tang Hongtao’s face was troubled, and his mind was filled with thoughts.
Tang Luo watched Tang Hongtao’s emotions fluctuating dramatically and tried to comfort him, “The situation is not as bad.”
From what I know, the Personal Fusion Technique is not invulnerable. If you want to make this a standard method, a profound Qi recovery method is essential. You also need to have a secret technique to reduce the consumption of spiritual power. Ideally, you should also have a fierce body refining method to speed up the absorption of spiritual power. Otherwise, this single fusion technique is just a killer move.”
“So for the time being, you don’t need to worry that hundreds or even thousands of martial artists in the sacred sites can easily perform the Personal Fusion Technique. As for solving these problems, with the foundation of the sacred sites and sects, it’s just a matter of time. So we have to hurry!” As a son of a noble family, he didn’t want to see his family beaten and destroyed because of arrogance. If he had to start from scratch in the mountains for revenge after his family was ruined again, that would truly be a dog’s life.
With so much resources at disposal and his own ability to research martial techniques, he should make his family stronger, or at least have the ability to protect themselves, and not to be defeated without knowing why in the end.
Tang Luo looked straight into Tang Hongtao’s eyes and said, “I also have three sets of more advanced personal fusion techniques here, which will be handed over to the Secret Arts Pavilion. I hope that in the future, everyone in the pavilion will focus on researching the Personal Fusion Technique and put aside all other work for now. At present, our Tang Clan does not lack excellent martial arts techniques, but lacks killer techniques and strategies for turning the tables.”
Tang Hongtao nodded heavily, showing his full agreement. With the recent explosion of the Secret Arts Pavilion, the existing martial arts techniques are sufficient for the martial artists in the Mortal Realm of the Tang Clan to improve by one or two levels. But what they really lacked was the killer techniques, which is the basic reason why the teams of Tang Clan martial artists are like dragons, but the individual martial artists are not as excellent.
Like martial artists like Tang Sen, their uniqueness cannot be replicated. Only by improving the combat power of all the martial artists in the clan can Tang Clan reach a new height.
After eagerly waiting for the personal fusion technique, Tang Hongtao wasn’t excited at all. Hearing what Tang Luo had said, he understood why the child didn’t show any pride at that time.
Because he had already seen a bigger sky, while the Tang Clan was still mired in a small sense of achievement, unable to extricate themselves. Recalling those intense debates he had with the other members of the Secret Arts Pavilion these past few days, he didn’t know how to face Tang Luo.
Tang Luo hadn’t thought that much. In his view, the arguments and quarrels among researchers were not offensive at all but just passionate discussions regardless of identity. So he went on to ask, “Master, is there anything else you need from me?”
Tang Hongtao recovered, remembering the task entrusted to him by Tang Siyuan. The most important purpose of this visit was of course to inquire about the Personal Fusion Technique, but there was another issue as well. He said, “The Great Elder wanted me to persuade you to focus more on promoting your own martial arts and researching the exercises, rather than letting your mind wander off and getting distracted..”