There were many ways to gain energy in this world.
The simplest method was training: refining the body, muscles, skills, techniques, and the soul. Through this process, cultivators used up and then recovered their Theríon, slowly increasing the energy stored in their soul core.
Pushing oneself to the absolute limit during training always gave the best results. Training until you were on the brink of passing out could bring much greater gains than just leisurely practice.
Few cultivators willingly trained this way. Only the most determined training maniacs would devote all their time to such a painful grind.
Another method was refinement: directly absorbing energy from outside sources like monster cores. By refining items filled with energy, cultivators could skip the slow crawl of normal training and gain strength much faster.
However, the world was never that kind.
Monster cores, especially the high-grade ones, came with exorbitant prices. Using refinement as a primary method required wealth that was simply beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators.
Even those who could afford to rely heavily on cores couldn't skip training altogether. Without the "grind" of physical practice, a cultivator's understanding of their own bloodline and Theríon would lag behind, creating bottlenecks that were impossible to break. The best path was always a balance of both: the slow burn of training and the quick boost of refinement.
Of course, other ways to gain energy existed—some offered massive surges of power in a very short time. These shortcuts came at a price, with greater rewards carrying greater risks. A mistake while using a forbidden method could cause damage that lasted a lifetime.
Even Luotian, despite his knowledge from a past life, couldn't escape the law of equivalent exchange. While his unique bloodline allowed him to bypass bottlenecks and advance smoothly, the amount of energy he needed for each breakthrough was staggering.
The mountain of monster cores gifted to him—generous gifts from those who admired his father and the Peacock Lord—contained enough energy to push a normal cultivator all the way to the Talon Realm. Yet, for Luotian, that entire fortune had only been enough to reach the Four Fangs stage.
With each new level demanding exponentially more energy, the difference would only grow. Luotian would need roughly a hundred times more energy than other cultivators to keep advancing—the price of his extraordinary bloodline.
Luotian accepted the problem with a deep sigh: "It seems I'll need to find a way to gather a massive number of monster cores and money, or else this incredible ability will be wasted."
With that thought lingering in his mind, he turned his focus inward, rechecking his abilities.
///// [Last Dance Curse] Level 4: Temporarily increase the user's level by 1 for 8 minutes. However, the user must collect 10 souls within this time. Failure to do so results in a decrease of 2 levels.
///// [Momentum Eyes] Level 4: Allows the user to perceive the momentum and trajectory of objects within a 35-meter radius.
Luotian checked his inherited abilities and shook his head with a wry smile: "Even after becoming a Four Fangs Fighter, the powers of these abilities have only increased this much? At this rate, I'd need to reach at least the late stages of Fang Realm to make them viable in battle."
He rubbed his chin in thought before an idea struck him.
"Oh! That's right. I forgot to check if I've unlocked any innate skills from my new bloodline."
Closing his eyes, Luotian delved into his bloodline's essence, searching for something new. After a moment, his eyes snapped open as a revelation surfaced.
///// [Pinnacle Flash Lightning] Level 1: Wraps the user's body in golden lightning. Speed +200%. Lightning Resistance +2%.
"Pinnacle Flash Lightning?" he murmured, his lips curving into a grin. "A speed-type skill, huh? Let's try this outside."
Excitement flickered in his eyes as he stepped away from the ruins of his home, his heart hammering at the prospect of finally testing his new power. For years, his body had felt like a cage; now, it felt like a coiled spring.
Luotian made his way toward the rugged base of Winterrock Peak, a place where the sharp terrain kept most casual strollers away.
The area was deathly quiet, save for the whistling of the wind through the pines. The cold mountain air brushed his face, cooling his skin.
He eventually spotted his target: two massive, weather-worn boulders sitting on a flat stretch of earth, separated by a distance of about a hundred meters. He stepped in front of the first stone, centering his weight and preparing to establish a baseline for his speed.
First, he activated his Theríon normally, letting the energy flow through his legs without triggering any specific techniques. With a sudden burst of movement, he dashed forward. His feet pounded against the hard-packed dirt in a powerful stride as he blurred across the distance. He reached the second boulder in exactly six seconds.
Stopping to catch his breath, Luotian nodded in quiet satisfaction. Six seconds for a hundred meters on uneven mountain terrain was a respectable feat for any fighter. Compared to his days as a "cripple," when such a distance would have left him gasping and weak, the improvement was nothing short of a miracle.
"Next, let's try using this Pinnacle Flash Lightning," he murmured with a determined glint in his eyes.
[Skills] were the specialized techniques cultivators wielded in the heat of battle, visually indistinguishable from [Abilities]. Mei Yue'er's Aurora Treading Step and Sun Wuji's Stone Transformation might look like the same kind of power, but their foundations were worlds apart.
The true divide lay in their origin and their evolution.
While a cultivator was born with their Abilities at the moment of awakening, they had to labor to learn their skills. Abilities scaled naturally with one's cultivation level, growing stronger as the host grew. Skills, however, ignored the level of the fighter; they only answered to the sweat and repetition of the practitioner.
Yet, every rule had its anomaly. What Feng Luotian possessed was an Innate Skill.
It combined the traits of both: a technique that came with the cultivator's bloodline like an ability, but could be trained like a skill to improve its efficiency and power.
Thud.
A low, heavy thump echoed as Luotian dropped his left foot forward, bracing his stance against the uneven ground. He closed his eyes, shutting out the wind and rustling leaves to focus on one command: activate Pinnacle Flash Lightning.
In an instant, the air around him grew heavy and charged. Golden lightning surged outward, enveloping his entire body in a crackling, jagged shroud that blazed against the faint violet aura beneath it. As the energy hummed through his veins, his perception of the world shifted—the swaying of the distant trees seemed to freeze in mid-air, and the dust kicking up from his feet slowed to a crawl. His speed had tripled.
He dashed out in a blur of golden light, his feet barely touching the earth as he streaked toward the other boulder.
To any observer, he would have been nothing more than a momentary flash. Within four seconds, he reached the far stone, banked off its surface, and returned to his original position. He deactivated the skill immediately, the remaining sparks hissing and fading into the damp air as the world rushed back to its normal pace.
He let out a sharp gasp, his lungs burning. "This skill requires far more Theríon than I expected. The activation cost alone is more taxing than maintaining the flow. I can turn the tide of a battle with this speed, but the price is steep. I'll have to be incredibly careful about when to trigger this until my reserves grow."
He could feel the limits of his current vessel; he could maintain the Flash for roughly twenty seconds before he ran out of energy. It was a weapon for a duel, but a useless tool for long-distance travel.
As the electricity faded, a stream of clarity flowed from his bloodline into his consciousness, the connection growing sharper as his energy depleted.
///// Skill Proficiency +1
///// [Pinnacle Flash Lightning] Level 1 (1/500)
"One out of five hundred?" Luotian's eyes widened at the mental notification. "The level only upgrades after five hundred activations? This... this could very well be a Legendary skill."
In this world, the power of a skill was measured by the repetition it demanded. Skills were classified into five distinct ranks: Normal, Special, Rare, Unique, and Legendary.
The lower the rank, the weaker the output, but the easier the mastery. A Normal skill was simple enough for anyone to learn; it might only require twenty to forty activations to reach its second level. A Special skill required up to a hundred, demanding more focus and energy.
At higher ranks, both the power and the training requirements increased sharply. While a Normal skill could be mastered in a week, a Unique or Legendary technique required such immense effort and soul-stretching labor that most cultivators would break before they ever reached the second level.
Feng Luotian didn't yet know the full potential of the Pinnacle Flash Lightning, but the math didn't lie. A requirement of five hundred repetitions for the very first level was a hallmark of the Legendary rank.
Despite the monumental grind ahead of him, a grin of pure delight spread across his face. Legendary rank, huh? It only confirmed that his new bloodline held unparalleled potential. This was just the beginning.
"Now, let's see if I can use the skills I learned in my past life," Feng Luotian mused, a spark of academic curiosity piqued. If he could still use his former techniques, he would have an even greater advantage.
To test the theory, he chose the foundation of all martial arts—the simplest, most efficient skill in existence. He planted his feet firmly, the earth groaning under his weight as he coiled his power.