Mage Adam-Chapter "370"
The phenomenon of Yuan Qi Resonance was merely Adam driving his own cells to devour energy with all their might. It seemed that within the power system of the Third Epoch, the innate strength of one’s cells played a major role in the early stages of cultivation. This was similar to how mages required innate mental strength as their foundation.
As for the so-called “talent of a Martial Saint,” Adam paid it no mind. There was no way he would ever truly abandon his identity as a mage to pursue martial arts. Everything about this body — and everything in this mission — would be discarded once the task ended. It was like a healthy person entering a quarantine zone: before leaving, one had to undergo layers of decontamination to ensure no pathogens were carried out.
A genius identity was useful anywhere. Adam felt that if he had been reborn at a major Yuan Qi convergence point, he would have already been classified as a prodigy and showered with resources.
But that would also mean his every move would be under constant scrutiny, which was unfavorable for completing his mission.
Even now, Adam felt rather uneasy.
News that Zhu Mi (Adam’s current body) possessed Martial Saint aptitude quickly spread throughout the small Panda Tribe. Aside from the clueless cubs, all the adult pandas looked at Adam like he was a walking miracle. One by one, they came over to pat his back and rump, ruffle his head, and mumble words even they probably didn’t understand.
But the meaning was the same across the board: Little Zhu Mi is amazing — we must celebrate!
Pandas were omnivores with peculiar diets. Beyond bamboo, they also ate meat. During the two-day-long celebration, Adam tasted more than a dozen different foods — nearly all of them contained a certain amount of Yuan Qi.
The plants in particular were noteworthy, some even including raw ingredients similar to primitive fermentation starters for alcohol.
This was yet another peculiarity of the Primal Origin World. In the mages’ records, these same plants had been catalogued, but in the Mage World their equivalents were nothing more than common weeds and wildflowers, completely useless. Yet here, they were treasures of heaven and earth.
The chip recorded all of their traits in detail and transmitted them to Garfield’s mind. The forest elf’s next task would be to locate these materials in the mountains and then find ways to cultivate them in bulk.
Adam realized that cultivating martial arts was inseparable from working with medicines. Whether in the form of liquor or something else, at their core they were still medicinal concoctions. Pill-popping cultivation — it reminded him of the distant, ancient days of the Mage World.
The pandas’ enthusiasm finally subsided. Even the clingy cubs stopped pestering him once Adam deliberately lost control a few times, causing destructive surges of energy. Their mothers sternly scolded them to keep away during his training. Life slowly returned to calm.
Adam connected his soul with his personal chip, combining his computational power with its data-processing ability to analyze the Liquor-Swallowing Inferno Art. The core principles remained obscured in mist, but optimizing the operational pathways was simple enough.
Three days later, a new cultivation method — which Adam dubbed Liquor-Swallowing Inferno Art, Version Two — was born.
Compared to the original, the new version tripled the absorption, conversion, and aggregation speed of Yuan Qi. While the old version could only form a single martial core, the improved one could form three.
On the fourth day, Smoke Pouch summoned Adam — who had already grown to two-thirds the size of an adult panda — deep into the bamboo forest.
“As a martial artist, simply training in a cultivation method is not enough,” Smoke Pouch explained. “You must also have refined martial techniques, so that the Yuan Qi within you can unleash its greatest destructive power.”
In front of him stood a bamboo-thick long staff four meters long, two broad-backed sabers that gleamed coldly, and a pair of short-handled twin hammers thicker than his own waist.
“Staff, twin sabers, twin hammers, and bare palms — these are the weapons our panda clan excels at. Each has a set of powerful martial techniques designed for us. Zhu Mi, which do you want to learn?”
“May I look at them first?” Adam asked politely.
Smoke Pouch nodded and first picked up the long staff, demonstrating.
Martial techniques were something Adam always looked down upon. Back when he first entered the Mage World, he had worried that if this world had only knights and battle-spells, it would be terribly boring. His opinion now was much the same.
Any martial technique could ultimately be broken down into a mathematics problem — more specifically, a geometric one. Whether Euclidean or non-Euclidean, such geometries were trivial for Adam. Even Euclidean space posed no challenge to him.
As for the more complex varieties — differential geometry, intrinsic geometry, fractals — they required heavier calculations, but were hardly insurmountable.
Indeed, even as Smoke Pouch’s weapon displays roared with momentum, Adam saw through the principles at a glance. With his personal chip recording and scanning everything, it instantly deduced the breakdown of motions and methods of force application.
The panda clan’s martial techniques emphasized one concept above all: the circle.
“The more structured and impenetrable your technique, the stronger it is,” Smoke Pouch intoned solemnly. “We pandas don’t pursue overwhelming might in our techniques. What we seek is simple: that our enemies cannot kill us.” 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
“Have you decided which to train in?”
Adam asked, “Can’t I learn all of them?”
Smoke Pouch shook his head. “A bear’s energy is limited. Only by specializing can you become strong. To dabble in everything is meaningless.”
Adam walked forward and picked up the staff. He flawlessly repeated the exact routine Smoke Pouch had just shown. Had he not been concerned about startling him, Adam could even have patched up the flaws in the sequence. He did the same with the sabers and hammers.
Smoke Pouch’s hands trembled as he stuffed tobacco into his pipe, inhaling deeply. In his heart he cried: Genius… this is what genius truly is! Just once — only once! — and he remembered and mastered it all! No… I can’t hold him back. But I also can’t let him grow arrogant. I must bring out something to humble him!
He smoked the entire pouch in a single draw, coughed twice, and then put on a serious face.
“Cough, cough… those were only the basics. Learning them is nothing special. Now, I’ll show you the panda clan’s true secret techniques.”
The moment his words fell, Adam saw Smoke Pouch’s body swell by five percent. Yuan Qi burst from him, briefly manifesting as flames before vanishing into the long staff in his hands.
“Chip, record all data and Yuan Qi fluctuations!” Adam commanded instantly.
“Careful!” Smoke Pouch roared, switching to a new set of movements. This time, every sweep of the staff brought scorching heat — by mage calculations, at least the equivalent of fifty Fireball Spells.
“Basic martial techniques are only to coordinate the body. The essence of a martial artist is always Yuan Qi. Only secret techniques can truly unleash its might!”
“Blazing Fury Staff!”
Smoke Pouch leapt high and smashed his staff down on a ten-meter boulder. Fire burst forth in waves, pulverizing the rock into dust. The point of impact even melted.
