After a moment of silence, he summoned Wang Lin and gave a few instructions.
About half an hour later, Kang Min, still harboring reluctance and burning ambition, left Black Dragon Stronghold with a few people.
Casually placing a chess piece, Li Daoqiang continued to focus his mind on the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.
He left all other matters, like the marriage arrangements, to his subordinates.
A few days later.
In the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.
Li Daoqiang's figure appeared there silently, each step crossing dozens of zhang of empty space.
A faint, illusory shadow emerged on his body.
As he moved, a diagram of the sixty-four hexagrams of the Yi Jing, spanning one hundred and eight zhang in diameter, appeared spinning in the void.
The vast power of heaven and earth surged wildly with its rotation.
Like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, it entered the diagram.
Then, from the diagram, it poured into his body.
At the same time, his form became ethereal and elusive.
More and more, it exuded a transcendent, immortal-like aura.
It seemed as if he could traverse the void, appearing at every corner of the diagram without any pattern.
There was no eerie or sinister quality; instead, it displayed a carefree ease and a subtle, unrestrained dominance.
After a dozen breaths, the diagram vanished.
But his movements grew even swifter, and with each step, the spiritual energy converging into his body accelerated.
Yet, his aura showed no change, as if he expended no energy, always maintaining a state of fullness.
After a while longer, Li Daoqiang stopped.
A faint hint of joy appeared between his brows.
The Wave-treading Step had reached mastery.
In recent days, though he had devoted almost all his energy to the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, the Wave-treading Step had been nearing mastery. Just now, in a flash of inspiration, it was achieved.
His movement speed had improved significantly.
For his combat power, this was a notable boost—about half a percent.
Given his current level of cultivation, this was a considerable enhancement, rare and valuable.
He silently pondered the essence of the Carefree Truth he had comprehended.
Li Daoqiang shook his head inwardly. It was drifting further from the true carefree nature of the Wave-treading Step, and there was no need to continue down that path.
He was a worldly man.
He loved beautiful women, enjoyed pleasures, and quite liked lively company.
He had no taste for the Daoist ideals of seeing through the mundane, roaming freely between heaven and earth, or retreating from the world.
The carefree essence he now understood was about replacing the true meaning of the Wave-treading Step with a mindset of unrestrained dominance and bold action.
It was no longer the original, genuine carefree essence.
This was, in fact, inevitable.
To cultivate martial arts of this level to a certain degree, there were only two outcomes.
Either be changed by the martial art, or change the martial art itself.
By mastering the Wave-treading Step, he had chosen to change the martial art.
Of course, this meant a deviation from its core principles.
To go further would be far more difficult.
This was what they meant by it not suiting him.
Advancing further would require several times the effort.
And the final power gained might not even match its original potential.
As for not needing to go further, that touched on the issue of his own path.
Under normal circumstances, after comprehending a true essence, one would integrate it into their martial soul.
Li Daoqiang had not integrated this forcibly altered carefree essence into his martial soul.
After cultivating the eleventh layer of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art, he had condensed his martial soul.
In essence, the martial soul was like a piece of iron.
To make it more powerful, one could forge it into a blade or sword.
True essence was the best tool for this forging.
He still leaned toward the Dragon Subduing True Essence.
He wanted to forge the purest Dragon Subduing True Essence.
Why were the ways of the blade and sword the most offensive?
The greatest reason was their purity and steadfastness.
If he didn't integrate the carefree essence he had comprehended into his martial soul, then advancing further would be even harder.
It might even be unnecessary, as it could affect his own Dragon Subduing True Essence.
This was why experts at this level almost always created martial arts most suited to themselves.
All other martial arts were merely for reference, to extract their essence and integrate it into one's own.
Not to be directly cultivated.
Unless one could be ruthless enough to reshape their foundation, cultivation system, and path.
Or unless it was perfectly suited to them, helping them advance further.
In short, at this stage, everyone had their own path.
To walk another path was to abandon the root for the branch, to deny oneself.
As he cultivated the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, Li Daoqiang had now formally established his own path.
It was the Dragon Subduing True Essence.
It encompassed the essence of overwhelming force from the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art.
It included the battle intent of the innate War God.
It held his determination and confidence to dominate the world.
It was the most suitable path for him, the owner of the Great Bandit System.
With the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art as his foundation and the Dragon Subduing True Essence as his blade and core, this was the path he had confirmed over these days.
Thus, he would not be tempted by the combat power brought by the perfection of the Wave-treading Step.
Moreover, creating a set of movement techniques most suited to himself, centered on the Dragon Subduing True Essence, would be the best choice.
Wasting time, effort, and bandit points on the Wave-treading Step, only to potentially affect his own path, was simply not worth it.
With a thought, he looked at the Great Bandit System.
Host: Li Daoqiang Realm: Grandmaster Martial Arts: Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art (Eleventh Layer), Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms (Minor Mastery), Wave-treading Step (Mastery)... Talents: Immunity to All Poisons, Innate War God, Top-Tier Aptitude. Bandit Points:
He studied it carefully, his path ahead becoming clearer and more resolute.
Suddenly, a sense of enlightenment struck him.
"Roar~!"
Abruptly, a majestic and commanding dragon's cry rang out from his body, carrying a joy akin to growth.
Li Daoqiang's lips curled into a slight smile, pleasantly surprised.
The Dragon Subduing True Essence had advanced further, and mastery was not far off.
With a step, he headed back to Black Dragon Stronghold.
In the blink of an eye, another month passed.
One day.
"Roar~!"
A high-pitched dragon's cry pierced the clouds, sweeping across most of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.
An overwhelming, unmatched aura descended, as if to crush everything.
Everyone in Black Dragon Stronghold felt oppressed, turning their gazes toward the rear mountain.
That was where the Great Chief resided, and only he could possess such an aura.
Instantly, almost everyone understood.
Their Great Chief had grown stronger!
Ding Dian was startled at first, then his expression turned to awe, followed by a smile of genuine happiness.
The stronger Li Daoqiang became, the more stable Black Dragon Stronghold would be, and the more stable his own life.
At the same time, he felt a sense of urgency.
He had thought his own cultivation speed was fast enough, but Li Daoqiang, who had been at the same level as him just over a year ago, had now reached such heights in such a short time.
He couldn't remain indifferent.
Elsewhere.
Duan Yanqing's face was grim, his grip on his twin crutches tightening.
The stronger Li Daoqiang grew, the harder it would be to kill him.
After a few breaths, he fell silent and closed his eyes.
In the rear mountain secret chamber.
Li Daoqiang sat cross-legged, a faint golden light radiating from him.
An illusory golden dragon, about a zhang long, circled his body, its roars growing louder.
After a dozen breaths, it shrank and flew back into Li Daoqiang's forehead, vanishing within.
Li Daoqiang opened his eyes, a smile spreading across his face.
The Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms had reached mastery.
The illusory golden dragon just now was his current martial soul.
It had two forms: one was his own appearance, and the other was this golden dragon state.
The strongest power he could unleash had directly increased by about thirty percent.
His overall combat power had also grown by about twenty percent.
For him at this stage, this was a massive boost in strength.
Naturally, he was in high spirits.
He stood up and walked out.
Without bothering with other matters, he enjoyed some time with Qi Fang.
It wasn't until the next day that he began handling stronghold affairs.
From then on, he no longer devoted himself solely to secluded cultivation.
The Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms had already reached mastery.
There was no need to shut himself away for bitter training. To achieve perfection, mere hard work wasn't the best approach.
True essence was one's own path.
At his level, progress required time, experience, opportunities, and so on.
Bitter training wasn't necessary.
Under normal circumstances, progress wouldn't be much slower than through intense cultivation.
As for directly using bandit points to force an upgrade, he didn't do that.
Bandit points were hard to come by; if he could improve on his own, it was better to do so.
Compared to the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art, cultivating the Dragon Subduing True Essence himself was more cost-effective and simpler.
Every day that passed, he saved a considerable number of bandit points.
There was no need to waste them.
After handling some stronghold affairs, he also carefully reviewed the matters concerning Qiao Feng and Kang Min.
Over the past month, Qiao Feng's experiences had diverged significantly from the original story.
However, the battle at Juxian Manor still occurred.
That battle was even more intense than in the original, with more experts involved, including several grandmasters.
In the end, Qiao Feng was rescued by a mysterious figure and remained missing.
As for Kang Min, perhaps because she had visited Black Dragon Stronghold, she avoided many events.
Thus, she didn't die. She had already planted some of Black Dragon Stronghold's people into the Beggar's Sect.
She was still inserting more, doing a good and diligent job.
Li Daoqiang felt quite satisfied after reviewing it.
After a few days, once he had sorted out internal stronghold matters, Li Daoqiang left Black Dragon Stronghold and first visited He Qinghua.
Dressed in a purple gown, her hair coiled up.
He Qinghua looked even more beautiful.
Her icy skin and jade-like bones, her peerless beauty, were irresistible.
Even her fiery personality was highly appealing to Li Daoqiang.
So, after a few words, they engaged in a fierce battle.
"Bastard, is this the only reason you came to see me?"
"If you didn't come to me, I'd be thinking of you for over two months. Isn't it normal to do this?"
(Chapter 1, still haven't recovered from the cold, it's really uncomfortable. Still begging for subscriptions.) ·······