Curved upward, when it bounced on the ground, it rang out resonantly.

Just like striking with an iron rod.

"If it's used for attacking..."

Old Zhang paused for a moment, clenched his hand into a fist, spiritual essence flowed like water beneath his muscles, flashing light, and then he swung at Ji Jue.

Instantly, a fierce wind burst forth, messing up Ji Jue's hair into a bird's nest.

His face stung!

"This is the basis of spiritual attack and defense.

As they say, the fundamentals never change; almost all techniques evolve from this. You're a beginner, so you might not be able to achieve something this exaggerated at first, but there's no rush. What's needed is daily, cumulative training. As long as you maintain it, I believe you'll see results."

Old Zhang reached out to correct Ji Jue's posture, "Next up, take a deep breath, stabilize your spiritual essence, follow me, yes, try to keep..."

It must be said, he truly is a gold-medal coach.

Concise and to the point, no beating around the bush, and he repeatedly emphasizes key points and common mistakes.

Using spiritual essence to stimulate and strengthen muscular power and to weave it into a defense against external impacts are techniques that aren't difficult—in fact, they're unexpectedly simple.

In just a few minutes, Ji Jue felt he'd gotten the hang of it initially, although the results were less than impressive.

This was also within Old Zhang's expectations; such fundamental techniques are valuable because of persistent and proficient practice. Each attempt has its own results, and a thousand attempts naturally bring a thousand gains. It's an incredibly friendly technique for those chosen ones who start off poor.

The rich can simply buy equipment and solve their offensive and defensive needs in one fell swoop, so why bother with all this hassle?

"Don't be disheartened if it doesn't show immediate effects; it's a long, gradual process like water shaping stone. Also, it's not that there aren't shortcuts."

Old Zhang said with a smile, "This is why Wen asked me to teach you this."

You see, the spiritual essence of each of the Twelve Superiors has its characteristics, often more than one. The top tier matrices and special abilities even have various transformations or higher level changes and traits; let's not delve into that just yet.

Followers of the Twelve Superior tend to have spiritual essences that gravitate towards the qualities of the Superior.

Take, for example, the Chosen One of Ascension, whose spiritual essence restores at an incredibly fast rate. Tian Yuan's chosen often have better control power over spiritual essence than others.

The Chosen One of White Deer excels in explosive power. The Vortex Chosen One can directly use spiritual essence for bodily healing and strengthening.

The crowd's Chosen One possesses spiritual essence with stronger erosive and destructive power.

The Mirror's Chosen One can directly hide their spiritual essence, indistinguishable from ordinary people, and if handled properly, can even achieve invisibility.

Ruins represent material; the chosen ones' spiritual essence usually has various material specialties, making this the quickest and most effective training method.

Because of the similarities within a group and differences among groups, each group of chosen ones shares certain techniques and applications.

"What about Embers?" Ji Jue enquired.

"Huh? Aren't you more knowledgeable about that than I am?" Old Zhang looked puzzled, "Alchemy is the common technique of the Embers, and the very nature of its spiritual essence is the adjustment and control of material properties."

Material properties, a general term in alchemy for the properties of objects.

It can simply be understood as the inherent characteristics of an object, for example: strength, hardness, plasticity, toughness.

Unlike Ruins, which can transform their bodies into material, it is inclined towards mastering and developing raw materials themselves.

Therefore, using specific techniques on themselves can significantly enhance certain physical properties—increasing the toughness of bones by multiple times to prevent fractures, temporarily enhancing skin hardness to defend against attacks.

"Sadly, compared to materials that were inherently many times harder than flesh and blood, a most person's body cannot be endlessly strengthened unless it undergoes modifications or is enhanced by abilities. Just like Lao Zhang, who directly transformed himself into a Golden Body, that is definitely a type of skill inherited within the Vortex System, which Ji Jue cannot use at all."

"However, at this moment, after hearing Lao Zhang say this, Ji Jue felt inexplicably moved."

"Isn't this just the basic operation of alchemy? And isn't it also the basic skill that Professor Ye emphasized over and over again that I must master?"

He subconsciously raised his palm and took a deep breath.

He clenched his five fingers.

Pure spiritual material flowed down from his shoulder, converged, and covered the back of his hand, forming six delicate Spiritual Circuits intertwined to create a basic temporary matrix.

Then, from skilled guidance, the emblem of the Ruins appeared right in the center!

Compared to other materials, this body that Ji Jue had used for nineteen years, he was so familiar with it that he didn't need to use the workshop and various complex tools like he would with other materials...

Using oneself as the material, the soul as the Melting Furnace, abilities are the best chisel.

In a flash, everything was completed smoothly.

What the Ruins symbolized was material, its most basic function was material strengthening!

"It seems like it worked?" he was a bit unsure and looked up at Lao Zhang.

At this moment, Lao Zhang was also in silence.

He suddenly understood what Wen Wen had said before, how astonishing this talent truly was.

He had just finished speaking, and Ji Jue, who had no prior foundation, had already instantly gotten the hang of it, and even his first attempt was nearly successful... This talent in the Path of Embers was truly terrifying!

He picked up a metal rod nearby, used for assistance, and gently tapped Ji Jue's hand.

The rod and the hand made a dull thud upon the collision.

It actually... worked?!

Lao Zhang adjusted the intensity, striking with the strength of a full-grown man, but Ji Jue only felt a vague impact, as if he was wearing thick gloves, without any pain.

"In a critical moment to save your life, it seems barely usable, but this is just the beginning. When you practice on your own later, be careful not to maintain it for too long, practice no more than five minutes a day.

"You don't have a Matrix yet, your body hasn't undergone the baptism of the Superior, and still belongs to a mere Fetus; using it too much can affect your nerves and skeleton. Of course, here, you don't need to worry for the moment; even if there are accidents, I can help you correct them."

After Lao Zhang finished the reminder, he tossed aside the rod and slowly stood up from the ground.

"Ah?"

Ji Jue was bewildered, "Is the lesson over?"

"The curriculum I had planned for you to practice for a week, you've already completed," Lao Zhang smiled, "So, let us directly start the second lesson."

Real combat!

He moved his body and suddenly asked, "Do you know what measures are the most effective when the Chosen One of the Embers Path faces an enemy?"

Ji Jue straightened up and listened attentively.

"It's simple."

Lao Zhang raised his finger, solemnly saying, "One word: run!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.