Within the Qianwu Secret Realm, on Wind Thunder Island, inside Ling Yu's manor.
On the spacious training ground, White Eyebrow World Master was guiding Ling Yu's cultivation.
"Highness Ling Yu, your movement technique is growing increasingly formidable. If you display this level of movement technique in the Genius Battle, it will still be of immense help even when clearing the stages of the Trial Tower, securing a higher ranking for Your Highness!"
As a World Master who had lived for millions of years, having witnessed countless iterations of the Genius Battle and even trained many geniuses for the Qianwu Universe Kingdom who placed within the universe's top one hundred thousand, he was naturally familiar with every stage of the Genius Battle like the back of his hand.
He continued:
"However, Your Highness's offensive capability is still somewhat lacking. The arena matches in the final tournament take place in arenas that continuously shrink. If you cannot conclude a battle swiftly, the effectiveness of movement techniques will diminish more and more.
"Therefore, Your Highness's movement technique is already proficient enough. Going forward, you should focus on elevating your offensive power. That way, before the arena shrinks, you can use your powerful movement technique to search for an opening and strike with thunderous force to swiftly dispatch your opponent!"
White Eyebrows wore a faint smile, as though already picturing Ling Yu sweeping through all opposition in the arena matches.
In all his years serving as an instructor, Ling Yu was the most talented disciple he had ever seen...
To achieve this level before even reaching a hundred years of age was truly a rare sight in ten thousand years!
"There is also the secret method for soul defense. The Genius Battle takes place within the Virtual Universe, where bringing soul defense treasures is forbidden. Over the next dozen or so years, I advise Your Highness to dedicate effort to that as well."
White Eyebrow World Master was deeply experienced; otherwise, Silver Moon Marquis would not have summoned him personally. His discernment was sharp, and these were indeed the pressing issues Ling Yu needed to address.
"Teacher White Eyebrow..." Ling Yu sheathed her Wind Thunder Sword as nine illusion bodies slowly coalesced into one. She said, "I will do my best to improve my other abilities, but I will not abandon my movement technique either."
"Your Highness, now that your movement technique has reached this stage, achieving even a sliver of improvement is immensely difficult. Even if Instructor Lu Qingshan possesses heaven-defying skill, I fear he cannot find a better way! Human limits exist. Over the past year, Your Highness has poured almost all your time into movement techniques; moving forward, you should adjust your priorities!"
White Eyebrows held no grievance against Lu Qingshan, even if the movement technique Lu Qingshan taught occupied most of Ling Yu's time.
After all, it had provided genuine, tremendous help to Ling Yu, earning even White Eyebrows' admiration for Lu Qingshan...
What concerned him was the overall elevation of Ling Yu's comprehensive strength. Continuing to exhaustively cultivate movement techniques now would yield half the results for twice the effort.
"Teacher White Eyebrow, I understand everything you said. It's just that I still want to try. Please give me a little more time."
Ling Yu's ethereal voice carried a touch of firmness.
Left with no alternative, White Eyebrows could only nod. "I respect Your Highness's decision. For the next half month, Teacher Lu will be instructing. I still hope that, in addition to cultivating movement techniques, Your Highness will devote more study to the Wind Thunder Sword..."
"Teacher White Eyebrow, I understand. I will take your advice to heart."
Though she spoke those words, anticipation was already welling up in Ling Yu's heart. The one-year deadline had arrived; she wondered whether she had met Teacher Lu's expectations.
The third layer of Thunderlight Flash!
That was a secret method involving the Time Origin Law... She wondered if she would have the chance to master it.
Geniuses all possessed pride. Just like Bolan back then, who discarded the relatively easier Nine Universes Primal Chaos Tablet and stubbornly chose the most difficult Universe Primal Chaos Tablet, wanting to cultivate both time and space simultaneously—even at the cost of offending many major figures who placed high hopes on him.
Ling Yu was the same. If she could not grasp the Time Law, then no matter how ethereal her movement technique became, or how fierce her Thunderlight Sword grew, she would ultimately brush past the top ten spots in the Genius Battle.
Only by stepping across the threshold of the Time Origin Law could she vie for a spot in the universe's top ten and enter the Virtual Universe Company's core secret realms at the Absolute Beginning level or higher through the Genius Battle.
Primal, Absolute Beginning, Heaven and Earth, Doomsday... She whose strength currently only measured up to the Doomsday Secret Realm, with even the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm being an exceedingly slim hope—when someone told her that she had a glimmer of a chance to enter the Absolute Beginning Secret Realm or even the Primal Secret Realm, how could she possibly let such an opportunity slip away?
...
The following day, Ling Yu arrived at the training ground early to wait.
After Lu Qingshan arrived, she demonstrated the fruits of her cultivation—the perfected second layer of Thunderlight Flash.
Nine illusion bodies dodged and darted across the training ground, shifting seamlessly among one another like flowing water.
Compared to Lu Qingshan's other two genius disciples, Ling Yu was so exceptionally formidable she hardly seemed human.
Even Lu Qingshan envied such comprehension.
"Are you certain you want to take that step?" Lu Qingshan asked once more.
Without hesitation, Ling Yu spoke in a decisive tone: "Teacher, I said it a year ago—if I'm going to do it, I will be the strongest!"
"Haha, good! You have ambition, so as your master, I certainly will not let you down. There is no lesson today. I will send you the contents of the third layer of Thunderlight Flash. Ponder it carefully on your own; only after half a month will I answer your questions!"
Sending a wisp of consciousness into the Virtual Universe, Lu Qingshan sent the third layer of Thunderlight Flash, which he had organized in advance, to Ling Yu's mailbox.
"Teacher, I'll go take a look first."
Upon receiving the mail, Ling Yu could not wait to inspect it. After bidding Lu Qingshan farewell, she sat down beneath a tree sparkling with lightning radiance and began to comprehend it.
"So the third layer of Thunderlight Flash actually leverages the Lightning Origin Law to harness the Time Law.
"I cannot understand these time secret engravings at all. Teacher just said he would only resolve my doubts after half a month; he must want me to grasp it on my own first...
"Terrifying. It's just a single movement technique manual, yet because it touches upon the Time Origin Law, it is more difficult to comprehend than any manual I've ever read before."
Ling Yu sat silently beneath the tree for an entire day, completely immersed in studying the third layer of Thunderlight Flash.
At first, she gained nothing, feeling only that the manual was vast and intricate. But as she continued studying, she detected a faint path that probed upward from the Lightning Origin Law... With this breakthrough, she dedicated herself even more wholeheartedly to fathoming the manual.
By now, Lu Qingshan's figure had already vanished from the courtyard. While Ling Yu was engrossed in comprehending the secret method, he had returned to his own manor.
[You have bestowed the secret manual for the third layer of Thunderlight Flash upon your disciple Ling Yu. Triggering a thousandfold return, you have received the secret manual for the fourth layer of Thunderlight Flash!]
The fourth layer of Thunderlight Flash?
Lu Qingshan's expression betrayed a hint of surprise.
It seemed he had discovered a proper way to use the system returns.
Previously, he had obtained the cultivation experience for the third layer of Thunderlight Flash, then reverse-engineered it to create the cultivation method for the third layer himself. In essence, this secret method counted as his own creation. Bestowing a secret method he created upon Ling Yu yielded an even higher-tier secret method as a rebate.
This was effectively creating a nesting doll effect.
However, if I directly hand this fourth-layer manual obtained from the system to Ling Yu right now, it won't trigger a rebate. But if I completely master the fourth layer and recompile its contents in my own way and according to my own understanding, it should count as a secret method I created!
Lu Qingshan had figured out some of the system's rules. For instance, bestowing items directly granted by the system upon disciples yielded no returns. However, one could circumvent this restriction—for example, by selling Life Fruits granted by the system to purchase Lanke Fruits for his disciples, which successfully triggered the rebate effect.
By the same logic, secret methods granted by the system could not be directly passed on to disciples, but as long as he mastered them and recreated similar secret methods, he could bypass this limitation!
"I should first see what direction this fourth layer of Thunderlight Flash takes, and how much of the Time Origin Law it involves!"
Lu Qingshan began attempting to release, bit by bit, the memories he had just sealed away...
Chapter 47