How Do We Play If This Boss Isn't Nerfed?-Chapter 53 - 52: Cloud-Piercing Army

Lin Ye, of course, wanted to control more of the five qi simultaneously.

More qi entering his body naturally equated to higher leveling efficiency.

But performing the various difficult guiding postures while maintaining the Circulation of the Celestial Cycle required immense and resilient Spiritual Power as support!

He needed a complementary Observation Skill that could temper his Spiritual Power!

Or, he needed to adjust his current stat allocation plan.

Previously, Lin Ye’s stats had been allocated for an all-rounder build, balanced between strength and agility. Now that he realized the deficiency in his Spirit, Lin Ye was more inclined to first increase his weakest attribute, Spirit, and then pursue a balanced, all-rounder path in strength, agility, and spirit.

As for endurance, with the Thick Skin skill and the Soul Furnace mechanic, he wasn’t lacking for now.

Having figured this out, Lin Ye stopped aiming too high.

He utilized the terrifying regenerative power of Healing out of combat. Whenever he reached his limit in cultivation and his spirit was exhausted, he would stop and rest for a dozen or so seconds.

The moment he recovered, he would immediately throw himself into the next round of cultivation.

’If the quality of a single session isn’t enough, then I’ll make up for it with quantity!’

Throughout the morning and afternoon, aside from going to the cafeteria to continue freeloading for lunch, Lin Ye spent all his time in the Gravity Chamber.

He went from being clumsy and stiff at the beginning to gradually becoming proficient.

「By evening.」

He could already activate 1.5x gravity, putting pressure on his physical body while barely managing to maintain the operation of the Five Qi Guiding Formulas.

[Ding! You have cultivated the Five Qi Guiding Formulas and gained 4.5 experience points!]

The system notification chimed every ten seconds or so.

’Efficiency, taking off!’

... 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

When the final bell rang, Lin Ye ended his day of arduous cultivation and went straight to Chen Meng’s office.

Lin Ye got straight to the point.

"Mr. Chen."

"I’ve basically mastered the basics of the Cultivation Technique, but I’ve discovered that my Spiritual Power isn’t enough to handle a larger volume of the five qi’s source energy."

Hearing this, an "I knew it" expression appeared on Chen Meng’s face.

"I knew you’d come back to ask me for an Observation Skill."

He leaned back in his chair, but his tone suddenly shifted.

"But this time, I’m going to have to disappoint you."

"I don’t have one either."

Lin Ye was surprised.

Chen Meng looked at Lin Ye and said gravely, "Compared to Cultivation Techniques that temper Qi and Blood, Observation Skills that temper Spiritual Power are the truly rare, secret arts—the true core inheritance of the major powers."

"Qi and Blood determine a Martial Artist’s lower limit."

"But Spirit determines a Martial Artist’s upper limit."

"The reason I’ve reached my current level is through years of grinding. I don’t have any suitable Observation Skill."

"If you can’t handle too much of the five qi, then reduce the amount you guide. Let small amounts accumulate over time."

"If your progress in Spirit is slow, you just have to endure it and wear it down bit by bit with persistent effort."

These words sent a jolt through Lin Ye’s heart.

Only at this moment did he realize that his teacher—a Martial Artist who was orders of magnitude stronger than him—had also struggled his way up step-by-step from a humble background.

If not for his time in the military, he probably would have never even had the chance to encounter the Five Qi Guiding Formulas.

Lin Ye nodded, bringing up several new difficulties he had encountered during his afternoon of cultivation to discuss and verify with Chen Meng.

Chen Meng patiently answered each one.

After their discussion, Chen Meng led Lin Ye to the combat training room.

Then, from a weapon rack in the corner, he picked up an unbladed spear carved entirely from hardwood.

The shaft was perfectly straight, and the tip was rounded.

"Starting today, I will teach you spear techniques."

At that moment, Chen Meng’s gaze became incredibly sharp.

"The staff is the Ancestor of Hundred Weapons. It’s the foundation."

"And your foundation is solid."

"But the spear is hailed as the King of a Hundred Weapons!"

"This set of spear techniques is a fusion of the military’s spear arts and my own understanding of its moves."

"The technique is called..."

"Cloud-Piercing Army!"

Chen Meng stood in the center of the open room, holding the unbladed wooden spear, and his entire demeanor changed abruptly.

He himself was like a spear, his sharpness laid bare, carrying a bloodthirsty, iron-willed aura honed on mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Chen Meng’s gaze fell upon Lin Ye.

"In your opinion, what is the difference between a staff and a spear?"

Lin Ye thought for a moment, combining it with the basic theory he had studied over the past two years, and said,

"The staff is a blunt weapon. It primarily uses smashing, sweeping, and cleaving. It emphasizes wide, sweeping movements and relies on powerful, heavy kinetic energy to inflict damage."

"The spear is a sharp weapon. Its core techniques are thrusting, piercing, and lifting. It seeks to concentrate all power into a single point for armor-penetrating attacks."

"One focuses on area, the other on a point."

Upon hearing this, Chen Meng nodded slightly, a hint of approval in his eyes.

Lin Ye’s theoretical foundation was indeed very solid.

"You’re right."

"But you’re also wrong."

Chen Meng hefted the wooden spear. Its shaft trembled slightly in his palm, emitting a low hum.

"What you’ve described is merely the physical difference between the weapons."

Chen Meng’s voice became deep and powerful, each word landing like a hammer blow on Lin Ye’s heart.

"Remember, the staff is an extension of strength; the spear is an extension of intent!"

"When you use a staff, you amplify your body’s strength through leverage, transferring it to the tip to deliver a heavy blow. That’s why when you see a Staff Skill master, their movements are swift and powerful, carrying immense force."

"But the spear is different."

"With a spear, you twist your entire being—your essence, your qi, your spirit, your intent—into a single rope and unleash it all without reservation through that one point at its tip!"

"That’s why when you face a true master of the spear, they can just stand there without moving the weapon, and you’ll feel as if you’ve already been pierced through."

"Because their intent arrives before the spear!"

"This is what they mean when they say, ’A month for the staff, a year for the saber, a lifetime for the spear.’ The difficulty lies in that one concept: intent. It requires your control over your own power to reach an extremely fine and meticulous level."

"A fraction too much, and the force disperses, losing its penetration."

"A fraction too little, and the power is insufficient to break through defenses. Mastering this balance can only be achieved through endless tempering."

These words made Lin Ye’s eyes light up.

He seemed to grasp the meaning yet not fully understand, feeling as if he had just touched the gate to a new world, but everything behind it was still shrouded in mist.

Chen Meng could see his confusion.

He said no more and turned toward the training dummy in the center of the room, which was made of high-strength alloy.

"Too much theory is just empty talk."

"Watch closely."

"I’ll demonstrate it once."

The moment his voice fell, Lin Ye felt that the Chen Meng before him had completely merged with the wooden spear in his hands.

A bone-chilling killing intent, like a tangible, icy current, rushed toward him!

The next second, Chen Meng took a simple step forward and charged.

But that single, simple step made Lin Ye feel as if the entire floor of the training room was trembling!

Chen Meng stomped his foot, and his waist and hips exploded with power. The force was like a furious dragon that had been gathering its strength, surging up his spine.

It flowed into his shoulder blades, then through his arms, and was transferred to the spear’s shaft!

HUMMM—!

The air let out a low, explosive boom!

That unremarkable wooden spear seemed to come alive at this moment, its tip suddenly thrusting forward at a speed almost impossible for the naked eye to follow!

There was no earth-shattering bang.

There was only an extremely faint "PFFT!" that made Lin Ye’s scalp tingle!

The unbladed wooden spear tip had actually... sunk directly into the hard chest of the alloy dummy!