Chapter 197: The founder

When a soul becomes strong enough to break the barrier into the grandmaster the level, there comes a qualitative change in the person's soul space. The changes appear in the form of increased soul space capacity and a spike in quality and density of the soul Qi. Some practitioners who are lucky enough to possess a suitable body type or a natural talent in soul energy gain massive benefits from this change.

Lu Ming's case was a similar one. Since he practiced the Heaven Pestle art, soul-nourishing formula, and the soul calming mantra, his soul space was embedded with ancient runes. These runes underwent a drastic morph when he crossed the boundary of the soul grandmaster. It has managed to catapult not just his soul space capacity, but also the control and manipulation of soul Qi.

"I could easily refine all the pills recipes I was practicing with." The ecstasy of managing to overcome a great barrier like this improved Lu Ming's mood.

"Finally, someone managed to overcome the tests and reach this point. I hope you don't betray my expectations from you?"

Lu Ming instantly jumped back and began inspecting the surroundings. He saw the scenery around him to have changed back to the first one and a man was standing in the middle. He had a commanding demeanor and even from this far Lu Ming could feel the pressure emanating from him. 

The man raised his hands, and Lu Ming immediately got transferred to the ground.

............…

"I bow to the senior." Lu Ming immediately understood the gap in strength between them. Even his master didn't give out such a high amount of pressure. Even the sensation of this pressure was quite different. It felt as if the man in front could control the whole world around him. He had definitely surpassed the boundary of the Emperor.

"It's good to see that the behavior of the younger generation is adequate. Although the quality of people appearing in this test has greatly decreased over time, some characters can outshine others. The last time someone could enter this place was around a century ago."

"Three people entered this domain consecutively. But none of them were powerful enough to cross the first test. It's such a shame that the force created by me couldn't even produce someone who could bear the pressure of the first test."

Lu Ming's back was drenched in sweat. He could understand the reason behind people being incapable of passing the test. Even if their affinity and fire control was good enough to enter this domain, the test present here corresponds to the soul strength of the practitioner. What Lu Ming found to be unusual was that the test was presented while testing the participant's control over the fire element. Why not present this test in the second round, where soul strength was being checked?

"I am sure you have multiple questions in mind regarding who I am. If said in a brief sentence, I was the creator of the force called Pill Valley within the central plains."

Lu Ming bowed once again: "Disciple greets the founder of Valley."

"You can stop with the attempt to butter me up. I am not going to provide any additional benefit, except for what you deserve. On top of that, I think you have already gained lots of benefits."

Lu Ming's face instantly turned red. He didn't expect that the figure in front would be able to understand his motive. He was trying to coax him up to gain some additional secret art, but nevertheless. The words spoken by the figure were true. The two arts he learned were already heaven-defying. One could help him open up the acupoints, while the other enhanced his refining technique to a whole new level.

"Before going any further, I would like to understand your current achievements. Show me your strongest attack."

Lu Ming decided not to hide his capabilities this time. He took an awkward stance he created to execute the second step of the Dominator's fist. Even the founder was surprised to see this position. There was no art which he had heard of that required this kind of stance.

After closing his eyes, he concentrated all his Qi and executed the Dominators' fist. The method used to circulate his Qi was the one he just learned. He used it because of the obvious boost the art presented to his Qi output.

.........

When Qi started spilling out of Lu Ming's fist, the atmosphere seemed to have changed suddenly. The art exerted huge pressure on the surrounding area. When the Qi blasted out, the whole area went through a phase of destruction, until the Qi was finally dissipated by the founder.

There was a huge crater around Lu Ming. The last time he used Dominator's fist, it was to kill the Blood general. Compared to back then, the amount of destruction caused by the Dominator's fist had quadrupled. Although some of it could be attributed to his body and Qi cultivation, the most significant boost was brought by the newly inculcated circulation art.

The founder was standing dumbfounded. The attack just now was enough to decimate an intermediate Qi King. Yet the boy standing in front of him was just an advanced Qi general. Just what sort of technique was this?

"I hope my power lives up to the standards of the ancestor." Lu Ming said with a respectful tone. If he could gain pointers from a practitioner who was beyond the emperor's boundary, he could easily advance his technique to a new level.

......….

Lu Ming's words brought the man out of his daze. The shine in his eyes had reached a whole new level. 

"I guess the force gained a monstrous talent this time. I would like to know the name of the technique which you just executed."

"The technique is called Dominator's fist. What I executed was the second fist of the arts."

"Did you get this technique from some ancient ruins? This is a technique created by an exceptional individual."

"Answering to the ancestor, I created this technique. I merged all my learnings in creating the two parts of this technique." 

An expression of genuine shock was visible on the face of the Valley founder. This brat could not just fight way above his cultivation level, but even the technique executed was his own creation. This was no longer a conversation with someone of the younger generation. This brat was a demon in the domain of martial arts.

Just from the very release of this technique, he could already see the complexity of its structure. This execution of this power required a harmonious usage of at least three elements. The first step was footwork, the second was a Qi circulation technique, while the third one was a breathing method that could sync the two elements together.

Although he was unfamiliar with the breathing technique and the footwork, the Qi circulation used was the same as what was presented in the second trial. The boy managed to implement a technique he just learned into the art and even executed it.

"Even someone of my stature has to complement your incredible talent. I am happy that someone like you can be considered my descendent and an inheritor of my techniques. I still have doubts in mind, which I would like to clarify."

"The techniques used by you are incredible, but even if they were heaven-defying, you still need to own two things to extrude this amount of power. The first one is a strong body that can bear with the technique. I am assuming that you are also walking the path of body refining."

"I am, ancestor." Lu Ming was surprised by the deduction capabilities of this man. He could easily deduct every element just by looking at it once.

The founder was extremely satisfied with knowing this fact. Finally, someone was sensible enough to practice martial arts the right way.

"To what step have you managed to improve your body?"

"I have opened all the primary, secondary and tertiary meridians. In the case of acupoints, I have already managed to open more than 100, including both elemental and non-elemental." Although the founder had prepared himself, the answer still gave a huge shock to him. To have a refined body to this stage while just being on a general level.

"Your talent is an unworldly boy. Never in my whole life have I met someone as talented as you. I hope you can support the valley and take it to new heights in the future. Since you did accept me as your ancestor, I will not be ashamed enough to not give out any benefits to you. Someone of your talent deserves it."

Lu Ming's eyes sparkled with expectation. A presence who was most likely in the Qi monarch realm was someone way beyond his current level. The benefits given out by him should also be extraordinary.

"But before that, answer my second question. You must have a QI cultivation technique which should be extraordinary. I could feel just by looking that the art is something way better than the cultivation practiced by me. Also from what I can deduct, you seem to practice more than one kind of method."