Chapter 1153: Pros and Cons of Secret Arts (Part One)
The Crippled Elder could guess Yang Haoran's purpose in using his Ghost Eye on him, yet he was helpless, unable to stop it at all. In that instant, Yang Haoran saw through the Crippled Elder's entire life with his Ghost Eye. After digesting the information for a few brief moments, he dispelled the activated Ghost Eye. "Heh, do you have anything you want to tell me now? " Yang Haoran broke the short silence between them. He took a puff from his cigarette, then asked the Crippled Elder with a faint smile. "Hmph, do as you please, whether you kill me or flay me. Don't think this old man is easy to fool! " This time, the Crippled Elder didn't remain silent. Instead, he let out a cold snort and spoke to Yang Haoran with an icy tone. Yang Haoran nodded with a smile upon hearing this, saying nothing more as he waved his hand, once again bringing the Crippled Elder back into the independent space. Judging from the Crippled Elder's reaction, Yang Haoran believed that the reason the Crippled Elder dared to face him with such an attitude was not because he had any bargaining chips or means to change his current desperate situation. Quite the opposite, he felt it was highly likely that the Crippled Elder simply couldn't think of a solution, and thus, had given up entirely, preparing to confront him head-on one last time before his Soul Transformation, hoping at least to appear more dignified. Yang Haoran's judgment, of course, was based on evidence, and his final question to the Crippled Elder just now was the best proof. In his opinion, if the Crippled Elder wanted to preserve his soul under the current circumstances, he could only beg for mercy or offer useful bargaining chips to negotiate. This was a common practice for many. From the Crippled Elder's attitude, he showed no intention of begging for mercy. Perhaps he knew that begging for mercy would be useless anyway, so he either had genuine bargaining chips or he had completely given up. But if the Crippled Elder truly possessed such chips, when Yang Haoran finally asked if he had anything else to say, the Crippled Elder shouldn't have said "do as you please, whether you kill me or flay me. " Instead, he should have immediately produced his chips and negotiated with Yang Haoran. The fact that the Crippled Elder did not do so could only mean he had no such chips at all. If the Ghost Eye couldn't ascertain the experiences of the deceased after death, Yang Haoran wouldn't have had to guess this problem; he would have known it at a glance. But for him, it wasn't a big deal anyway. It was something he could figure out with just a few words, requiring little thought and taking hardly any time, so he naturally didn't care. As for why he didn't torture the stubborn Crippled Elder to extract more information, it was because the information he wanted to know from the Crippled Elder had already been obtained from the Crippled Elder's soul the instant he activated his Ghost Eye. The reason Yang Haoran was interested in the Crippled Elder's soul, and why he was now dealing with it separately, was actually to gain a detailed understanding of the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art that the Crippled Elder had previously used. He desperately wanted to know the origins of this Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art and whether it could work on him. If he could cultivate this art, he would have another shortcut to rapidly enhance his own strength! The transition from peak late-stage Grand Spiritualist to the Spiritualist King realm seemed like just one step, but Yang Haoran knew that this difficulty was no less than his current challenge of breaking through to the Life Soul realm. The Crippled Elder was able to break through to the Spiritualist King realm in a short time through the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art, and at the time, Yang Haoran was naturally tempted, in addition to being shocked. Although he had also improved his strength at that time through the Rising Yin Pill, he had only entered a pseudo-Life Soul realm, not truly stepped into the Life Soul realm. After all, even the most representative third Soul Armament hadn't appeared, so how could it be considered truly entering the Life Soul realm! In contrast, the Crippled Elder was completely different. The Crippled Elder had genuinely stepped into the Spiritualist King realm at that time. If it weren't for the fact that the Crippled Elder was too severely injured before entering the Spiritualist King realm, coupled with a massive consumption of his Communication Power, then it might not have been the Crippled Elder who was slain at that time. And all of this was due to the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art that the Crippled Elder had unleashed. Yang Haoran understood this point, which was why he was so tempted by this Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art, and his temptation was far more than just a little. After opening his Ghost Eye on the Crippled Elder, Yang Haoran successfully gained a detailed understanding of this art from the Crippled Elder's life experiences through the Ghost Eye's special ability. However, upon understanding this art, he wasn't as happy as he had imagined. Before retracting the Crippled Elder back into the Soul-Gathering Bead, he didn't show his true emotions on his face. But once the Crippled Elder was brought into the Soul-Gathering Bead, the smile on his face slowly receded, replaced by a hint of helplessness. According to what Yang Haoran learned from the Crippled Elder's soul, the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art was originally a secret art of the Demon Cult for rapidly raising one's realm of strength. However, when this secret art fell into the hands of a Spiritualist, this Spiritualist was greatly tempted by it, but as he was not a member of the Demon Cult, he couldn't cultivate it at all. Yet, this person did not give up hope because he couldn't cultivate this secret art. He consulted a great deal of information, hoping to modify the secret art, transforming it from a Demon Cult secret art into a Spiritualist Secret Art that even Spiritualists like him could cultivate. This idea might seem incredibly impossible to some, and some might even find it amusing, because turning such an idea into reality, if not absolutely impossible, was incredibly difficult. Unless one was a genius in this field, it would be utterly unattainable. When some of this person's friends learned of his idea, they directly poured a large basin of cold water on him, bluntly stating that he couldn't succeed because they didn't believe he was a genius in this area. However, the facts proved that his friends were wrong. This person used facts to give his friends a resounding slap, because after investing a massive amount of time and effort, and enduring failure after failure, he actually succeeded in realizing his idea, modifying this Demon Cult secret art into a Spiritualist Secret Art that Spiritualists could cultivate. Regardless of whether this person was a genius, he indeed succeeded in doing so, proving himself to those who underestimated him, and he also benefited from it. He then renamed this secret art the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art! It was precisely because the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art was originally a Demon Cult secret art, merely a finished product after careful modification, that it appeared so remarkably similar to the Demon Cult's secret arts. Early on, the Crippled Elder slew a Spiritualist adversary and was fortunate enough to burst open the opponent's independent space, thereby acquiring the collection the person had stored within it. It was at that time that he obtained this Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art. As for how the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art came into being, this matter is recorded within the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art itself, but whether this story is true or false, the Crippled Elder himself couldn't be certain. He merely listened to it as a story; after all, whether the story was true or false wasn't important to him. What mattered was whether this Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art was useful to him. After some research, the Crippled Elder's reaction at the time was largely similar to Yang Haoran's present one, because this Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art was not something one could cultivate or use whenever one pleased. Moreover, once successfully cultivated and activated, it left lifelong, incurable sequelae. Hence, the Crippled Elder wasn't particularly happy when he first obtained this Spiritualist Secret Art. To cultivate the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art, one first needs pure Communication Power. That is to say, one must be a proper, genuine Spiritualist to be qualified to cultivate this Spiritualist Secret Art, and the same applies to using it after successful cultivation. This point is unlike most Spiritual Arts or Spiritualist Secret Arts. The vast majority of Spiritual Arts and Spiritualist Secret Arts do not have such a requirement, because most of them can be cultivated even by Underworld officials who lack Communication Power. It's just that if an Underworld official cultivates too much, their Spirit Power will undergo a qualitative change, becoming impure, and eventually, their Spirit Power will completely transform into Communication Power. Similarly, apart from some special Ghost Arts, other Ghost Arts can also be cultivated by Spiritualists. Of course, if a Spiritualist cultivates too many Ghost Arts, their Communication Power will likewise undergo a qualitative change, gradually transforming towards Spirit Power. The requirement for the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art to be cultivated only by Spiritualists with pure Communication Power was not an issue for the Crippled Elder at the time, because never having cultivated any Ghost Art, his Communication Power was the purest, without any impurities, making this rigid condition virtually useless to him. What gave him a headache was not the need for pure Communication Power to cultivate the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art, but rather the problems that arose after successfully using it! Once this art is successfully activated, it can devour the target's flesh and blood, as well as their realm, within a certain timeframe, thereby enhancing the user's own strength and realm. The degree of enhancement depends on the number and realm of the targets devoured; the more people and the higher their realms, the greater the enhancement, and vice versa. But the problem is that this art can only be used once in a lifetime. Once successfully activated, no matter how much the practitioner's realm improves—even if it's just a tiny bit—the practitioner will not experience any further improvement in realm afterwards. This is the art's greatest drawback and side effect! Provided the conditions are met, this art can cause the practitioner's power to surge immensely in the shortest possible time. This is the art's advantage and its domineering nature. However, its side effects and drawbacks are also extremely apparent: after using this art, one's realm will not improve by even a fraction. This is tantamount to completely cutting off the practitioner's path forward, and the cost is exceptionally high! When the Crippled Elder obtained the Realm-Seizing Blood Refining Grand Art, he was merely a Spirit Master, not even at the Grand Spiritualist realm. Moreover, he was still very young at the time, his leg wasn't crippled, and his ambition was great. He didn't believe that his life would stop at the Spirit Master realm; he firmly believed he could climb to a higher position. He was naturally unwilling to cultivate a Spiritualist Secret Art that would cut off his own path forward once used. Therefore, when he first obtained this Spiritualist Secret Art, he wasn't particularly happy. But this unhappiness was only at the beginning. Later, as he grew day by day and his knowledge and experience broadened, his attitude towards this art slowly underwent an earth-shattering change.
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