Chapter 744: Self-awakened Body Cultivation Standing at the Peak of the Body Cultivation Path

As the topics related to the Self-generating Magic Power project spread, many witches also began to develop an interest in it.

It wasn’t that they weren't interested normally, but rather that they usually didn't pay attention to it.

For witches, this feeling was like suddenly paying attention to why they breathe.

The physical talent of Self-generating Magic Power was like an instinct for witches; after promoting to a Transcendent Witch, it was born naturally.

This feeling was akin to being reborn; the magic power born from the body was like a newborn life breathing its first breath of fresh air in the world.

Many witches also gathered privately, calling upon their close sisters to research the topic of Self-generating Magic Power.

After all, the concept of Self-generating Magic Power was a foundational concept within the projects they had studied, such as the Great Witch Project, the Magic Power Project, the Magic Power Source Project, and so on.

However, after many witches pondered and searched for information, they discovered that the physical talent of Self-generating Magic Power was not considered a formal project, nor did it belong as a sub-project under any major projects.

In other words, this was a foundational concept that could not be researched and offered no place to start.

It did not have the researchability of a standard project extended from a foundation—or rather, this project had always existed, but it had been hidden.

Why was it hidden?

Soon, those witches who researched Self-generating Magic Power out of curiosity provided the answer.

It was because they had no way to start on the physical talent of Self-generating Magic Power.

They simply couldn't understand it; they purely didn't know how to comprehend it.

Because many witches couldn't even give a definition for the physical talent of Self-generating Magic Power.

Is this a physical talent?

Its manifestation seemed to be so, but it couldn't be replicated or acquired through constitution research methods.

Since this talent couldn't be replicated, was it an innate talent?

It also couldn't be acquired through innate reincarnation spells...

So it wasn't that either.

It could be obtained upon promotion to Transcendent.

Surely one couldn't say that promotion to a Transcendent Witch was the beginning of a newborn life, right?

Was it a spell?

Compared to similar mana-recovery spells, or rather magic-recovery spells, bloodline-solidifying spell effects... that also didn't make sense.

Then was it a Body Cultivation ability?

Some witches knew that Witchification was essentially a type of Body Cultivation and believed that Self-generating Magic Power was essentially a Body Cultivation power, but they couldn't prove it.

After all, this answer itself was something they had heard from others.

Then what kind of Body Cultivation power did it belong to?

Similarly, no witch could answer.

Only some witches connected it to Xiao Han’s Self-awakened Body Cultivation, and together with the paper published by the Academy Head last year, it could only barely prove that Self-generating Magic Power had a certain “direct” correlation with Self-awakened Body Cultivation.

However, they were not Self-awakened Body Cultivators, nor even Body Cultivation witches.

Of course, the Body Cultivation path of Witchification was not classified as a Body Cultivation witch by witches.

Many witches gave up after reaching this step.

After all, what drove them to this point was merely a fleeting interest.

It was unwise to continue wasting time when they clearly knew they couldn't achieve it.

Yet, there were still plenty of witches willing to continue exploring deeper.

As for why... because witches had eternal lifespans, and witches with nothing to do were bored.

They re-read the paper that mentioned Xiao Han and even prepared to find that Transcendent Witch to discuss it.

But they found that the other party was over in the experimental area... many of the bored witches simply didn't have the permission to enter...

They could only look at that paper again.

It mentioned the “Witch-transformation Reconstruction Metamorphic Spell,” a type of Metamorphic Spell that could limitedly influence the essence of life and was born from the Resurrection Spell.

This Metamorphic Spell currently had almost no ability to resurrect the dead; the spell effect was specifically targeted at the torso, using the torso as a medium to limitedly influence the essence of life—namely, the soul-substance or the soul.

The Metamorphic Spell belonged to a secondary derivation spell, while the primary derivation spell was the Metamorphic Incubation spell.

The main purpose of creating this spell was... to create a suitable constitution for a brand-new Body Cultivation Method.

Currently, this Metamorphic Spell had reached a stage-wise success in modifying the first layer of this constitution...

And that Body Cultivation Method was called the Magic Power Source Body Cultivation Method.

Another concept they had never heard of.

Looking at these incomprehensible concepts, many witches were dazed for a while.

After all, they had never come into contact with this kind of knowledge before, so they naturally couldn't understand what it meant.

Moreover, in their inherent way of thinking... weren't Magic Power Sources used for casting spells?

Has it already evolved to the point where they can be used for Body Cultivation?

***

Inside the Physical Arts Training Hall.

After practicing for such a long time, my mastery over the Secret Manual of Body Cultivation was constantly improving.

I had basically tried all nine branches of these physical arts, but I couldn't master the Martial Path Rune for every single one of them within a few days.

Therefore, my talent in physical arts also had some leanings.

However, these leanings were not obvious, and in the face of my powerful Self-awakened Body Cultivation ability, these gaps were narrowed significantly.

Rather than a gap in talent, in my view, it was merely the distance between liking and disliking.

I was confident in successfully resonating with all the Martial Path Runes, reaching this goal at the latest before the start of the semester.

At this moment.

I threw a punch again, a move from the most basic offensive physical art, “Sky-Shattering Strike.”

Accompanied by the punch, power was condensed to the extreme.

The fist wind did not form the Martial Force effects that used to accompany my punches; only when the punch finished did the air in front of the fist sound out a terrifying air burst, as if it had been compressed by an extreme force.

This was pure physical art strength, rather than standard Body Cultivation Energy.

In the past, I didn't know how to control my own power, so my punches always came with Martial Force special effects.

But now I understood that this was merely caused by an imperfect mastery over my own strength.

Furthermore, the more I practiced Sky-Shattering Strike, the more I found that this physical art had no fixed moves.

From beginning to end, it spoke of the power generation of an attack and the coordination of the torso.

The moves used for the attack depended entirely on the needs of the attack; if there was no specific need, it was the simplest straight punch, but if there was a need, it could basically be any form of attack.

No wonder Big Sis Bai said the physical arts within the Secret Manual of Body Cultivation had no bias; she probably meant this characteristic.

After all, most physical arts started with stances, and one could see the characteristics and style of the physical art from the basic movements.

The price, however, was that the threshold for learning and understanding was also higher.

But these were not thresholds for me.

As I continued to punch, my movements were so fluid they looked like a martial arts performance for observation—if it weren't for the shattering air bursts after every punch, it would look even more like one.

As the movements continued, those near-random punches coordinated with the “Shadow-Treading Step” physical art representing speed.

At this moment, I was like a fluttering butterfly, to the point where I felt I couldn't even fully display my moves within the massive training hall.

Gradually, two phantoms began to surface—the Martial Path Runes resonated by the physical arts.

These two phantoms represented the physical art runes for “Offense” and “Speed.”

Recently, I discovered that if two different Martial Path Runes achieved perfect coordination during execution, then it was possible for the runes to form a “compound rune”!

Of course, this was only a “possibility” I felt after studying Runology.

So I had been verifying it.

Although I hadn't succeeded yet, I firmly believed this was a guess that could be realized.

The reason I hadn't succeeded yet was mainly because I hadn't formed a Body Cultivation mindset.

After all, I wasn't some martial arts prodigy; I just had the Self-awakened Body Cultivation cheat.

In the field of spells, forming a compound rune between runes merely required the characteristics between the runes to be synchronized, and then they could be compounded through a special method.

But the “special method” for Martial Path Runes was the method of resonating Martial Path Runes—namely, achieving perfect coordination between physical arts.

This certainly wasn't something that could be mastered in such a short period of practicing physical arts, right?

After another failed attempt, I sighed and did not continue.

In fact, the path of exploring the compounding of Martial Path Runes wasn't very closely related to the research on Self-generating Magic Power, which was why I stopped at a superficial level.

After all, finding an interesting discovery during research and wanting to try it out was human nature, but this kind of attempt could only be treated as a form of seasoning; I couldn't afford to waste my main energy on this right now.

Focusing on the goal was what I needed to do.

Following the failure of the “Martial Path Body Cultivation Compound Rune” attempt, even more complex patterns began to manifest alongside the physical art runes.

This was the Totem.

The power of the Totem, rather than being called a power, was more like a sublimation.

Initially, the power of the Totem spread into my Body Cultivation domain and could even be added to my five senses.

Or rather, this wasn't a simple “addition,” but a more mysterious form of “resonance.”

Five senses perception belonged to the perceptual pathway, one of the most primitive abilities of Body Cultivation, and it was also a way of understanding Body Cultivation.

Initially, Self-awakened Body Cultivation had no abilities.

Once I became aware of my own torso, I gained absolute mastery over it.

This was both an “extension” of the power of Self-awakened Body Cultivation and an “understanding” of that power.

The more I understood it, the more the Totem could interpret it from another perspective.

It was as if, under normal conditions, I understood the concept of “speaking,” then what the Totem represented were the concepts brought by speaking, such as “sound volume,” “linguistic meaning,” “expressive tone,” “linguistic emotion,” and so on.

The Totem was a derivation on a different dimension based on that foundation.

Understanding it as an “addition” or “extra power” were not the essential forms of expression of the Totem, but rather forms of understanding the Totem from a certain angle.

Since the power of the Totem influenced Self-awakened Body Cultivation and its extended powers, and physical arts could obtain the addition of the Totem, what did this explain?

This explained that the power of physical arts directly influenced the essence of Body Cultivation power—namely, the Self-awakened Body Cultivation above the essence of life.

Furthermore, I had tried it; only physical arts that had resonated with Martial Path Body Cultivation Runes had the possibility of being “added to” by the Totem.

Therefore, Martial Path Runes were the “bridge” that created a relationship between Body Cultivation power and physical arts.

So... theoretically, by constantly practicing physical arts, these physical arts that essentially influenced the essence of life could construct “Self-awakened Body Cultivation” upon one's own life essence!

But this undoubtedly required nearly endless physical arts and resonating Martial Path Runes to construct this ability.

No wonder Innate Self-awakened Body Cultivation was hailed as an ability “standing at the peak of the Body Cultivation path.”

Self-awakened Body Cultivation was called an ability where “the starting point is the ending point for all Body Cultivation paths”...

I seemed to understand some of it now.

Back then, when Academy Head Mei Linde told me about the heaven-defying nature of this ability, I realized just how terrifying it was.

And I had actually obtained this ability in that manner, almost by coincidence, whereas in the eyes of others, it was just “dying” once.

At that time, I couldn't understand why even a Transcendent Witch would be willing to experience death just to gamble on a feat that was almost impossible to complete again.

Looking at it now, even if the odds were low, the price was merely dying once.

But if it succeeded... that was Self-awakened Body Cultivation!

This cost-to-reward ratio was simply too frightening, so it wasn't surprising that Academy Head Mei Linde said things like the price of death was at one's own risk.

Because she knew very well that this success could not be replicated.

While it was nearly impossible for an ordinary person to construct “Self-awakened Body Cultivation,” constructing Self-generating Magic Power had become a possibility.

If Self-awakened Body Cultivation belonged to the “origin point” on the Body Cultivation path that could be constantly extended, then Self-generating Magic Power was a derivation of an ability constructed upon Self-awakened Body Cultivation.

The two had a world of difference in terms of “status” and “difficulty.”

So my current problem was how to use my understanding of these abilities to construct Self-generating Magic Power using the Magic Power Source Body Cultivation Method.

I researched physical arts, researched Martial Path Runes, researched Totems, and so on—these were not without meaning.

I was summarizing foundational laws, constructing foundational cognition, and thereby giving birth to the means to utilize those laws and cognition.

These means were the bridges connecting Self-generating Magic Power, the Body Cultivation Method, and physical arts.

Behind any technique lies countless theoretical knowledge as support.

A technique is merely the integration of this systematic knowledge and its expression and application at a certain level.

Therefore, mastering a technique is essentially inferior to mastering knowledge; this relationship is like that between a “Potion Alchemist” and an “Apothecary.”

An apothecary can prepare potions according to a recipe, while a potion alchemist can explore the root of knowledge based on the knowledge and alchemical techniques they master, thereby constantly creating new potion recipes.

Just as I was thinking, the door to the training hall where I was located suddenly opened.

Hearing the commotion, I was slightly startled.

After all, this training hall was specially opened for me by Big Sis Bai, so only she and I had the keys.

“Big Sis Bai?”

I saw the door open, and the first person leading the way was Big Sis Bai.

Then my attention was drawn to several figures behind Big Sis Bai, and subsequently, a large number of figures followed Big Sis Bai and flooded into the training hall.

There were actually as many as over a dozen of them!

And with just a brief perception, I discovered that these were all Transcendent Witches.

“Xiao Han We have a clue!”

At this moment, Big Sis Bai suddenly spoke to me.

She didn't even have time to explain who the many Transcendent Witch sisters behind her were or what they were here for.

But while I was shocked, these witches who had followed her were equally taken aback.

They were all among the few Body Cultivation Witches in the Witch Academy, or witches who had practiced the Body Cultivation path.

They had naturally heard of this witch named Bai Yu, a powerful newly promoted Saint-stage Body Cultivation Witch who mastered Time Sense.

The Magic Power Source Body Cultivation Method and the idea of utilizing Magic Power Sources to create physical arts she had proposed had attracted them together to work toward this goal.

Now, after the integration of the wisdom of all these Body Cultivation Witches, they had explored some ideas and pathways.

Subsequently, they followed Bai Yu here.

After all, they also really wanted to see the witch who had proposed this magical idea in Bai Yu’s words.

And now that they had arrived here, their gazes were all focused on the multiple Martial Path Runes surfacing on that figure!

And even those peculiar patterns weaving through those Martial Path Runes...

Could this be a Totem?

So many traces of Body Cultivation runes...

And such a rare Body Cultivation Totem...

Those things were simply blinding their eyes!