NOVEL WEB Chapter 450: Quantitative Change Leads to Qualitative Change
"Splash!"
Fang Zhou's head emerged from the river, gasping for air in huge breaths.
He opened his eyes and looked around, but there was no long dark river; it was clearly the familiar interior of the gourd space.
Fang Zhou was breathing heavily when he realized his body was wrapped in Sword Lake Water, with the terrifying injuries on his body already curbed.
The recent experience seemed like a dream, and Fang Zhou let out a deep sigh of relief.
But then he was startled to find that his body was covered in clear handprint marks.
This sent chills down Fang Zhou's spine, realizing it wasn't just a dream.
Could that place be where one goes after death?
With deep confusion, Fang Zhou forced himself to take a healing elixir, and then once again fell into a deep sleep.
His injuries were too severe, and he was too exhausted to even stay awake.
Fang Zhou didn't know how long he had been asleep before he woke up again.
His entire body was still immersed in Sword Lake Water, with all the burns fully healed, except for the sword wound on his chest.
On the wound, the magic power left by the Abyss Watcher continually tried to corrode his body, preventing the wound from healing.
The quality of the Abyss Watcher's magic power was too high, and Fang Zhou's body kept resisting it with True Qi, but could only avert deterioration, unable to heal the wound.
Fang Zhou looked down at the Sword Lake Water on him, recalling that he had fainted immediately after escaping into the gourd and hadn't used the water for soaking.
The only thing capable of doing this while he was unconscious was the Xuanyuan Sword, which possessed its own intelligence.
Fang Zhou glanced at the Xuanyuan Sword lying beside him and softly said, "Thank you. I won't say you were fished out of a latrine again."
The Xuanyuan Sword gave a slight tremble, as if saying, "I was never from there to begin with!"
Fang Zhou couldn't help but laugh out loud, though there wasn't much joy in his laughter.
This time, it was a total wipeout, barely stopping short of complete destruction. If it weren't for his luck exploding at the last second, he would've been done for.
Fang Zhou finally recalled the identity of that dark river.
There is a legend in the Cultivation World about what happens after death, saying that the dead enter the Nether River, and if they killed someone while alive, they would be interrogated by their victims.
If the heart holds guilt, even a trace, one is dragged into the Nether River to suffer, unable to reincarnate until all sins are atoned.
If the heart is guilt-free, one can safely traverse the Nether River.
Unexpectedly, the legend was true, and Fang Zhou felt grateful that all he had killed were those who deserved it, without implicating the innocent, thus escaping the Nether River, narrowly avoiding death.
Of course, it also helped that he had the Sword Control Technique.
Fang Zhou closed his eyes slightly and, upon reopening them, a trace of golden light flashed within.
The next moment, countless golden sword shadows appeared around Fang Zhou, dense and numerous, in the hundreds or thousands.
These sword shadows were purely outlined in golden light, somewhat ethereal.
Fang Zhou's Sword Control Technique realm appeared to finally loosen, still in the Sword Control Realm but glimpsing the potential for a breakthrough.
Chang Kong was indeed right; only the pressure and stimulation of near-death could uncover one's understanding of the Sword Dao, while a peaceful environment only leads to slow progress.
Though numerous, these sword shadows lacked the power of the Xuanyuan Sword's real weapon, and couldn't rely solely on this to deal with the Abyss Watcher.
Thinking of the Abyss Watcher, Fang Zhou's expression became as uncomfortable as having eaten something vile, acutely feeling his own smallness, pitiful, and helpless, like a level 10 character running into a level 100 boss.
This enemy was too terrifyingly formidable. Fang Zhou had encountered powerful enemies before, such as the Tree Demon.
But with Ling Xiaoyue taking the main attack, Fang Zhou was merely assisting.
Now Fang Zhou had to face the Abyss Watcher alone, with no hope of winning, and even escaping was extremely challenging.
Though he finally used the Nuclear Leveling Technique against the Abyss Watcher, Fang Zhou didn't expect to take the enemy down with that move.
After thinking for a long time without a solution, Fang Zhou could only choose to take one step at a time, solving the immediate problem first.
The first thing to solve was the sword wound on his chest; the contaminating magic power within the wound was continuously consuming his True Qi and would become a greater threat if left unchecked.
He had no clear idea how to tackle this, having already taken many healing elixirs to no avail.
After much thought, Fang Zhou suddenly remembered something and quickly opened his attribute panel.
Strength: 89
Speed: 86
Body: 90
Spirit: 39
Manliness: 72
With manliness at a full 72 points, Fang Zhou had habitually saved it to upgrade skills; perhaps he could now use it to resolve the chest injury.
Fang Zhou considered for a moment and added points to his body attribute until it reached 100.
Instantly, he felt a warm stream flow through his entire body, filling every corner from head to toe, making him feel as if soaking in a hot spring, warm and comfortable.
When an attribute hits or exceeds 100, Fang Zhou's body underwent a magical transformation.
Vigorous and endless life force surged from every cell inside him, wiping out all fatigue and hidden injuries.
His body, tempered after advancing to the Innate level, further strengthened under the powerful stimulus of life force.
Fang Zhou found his vastly increased immunity and recovery abilities starting to heal the wounds left by the Abyss Watcher, simultaneously attacking the magical contamination on the wound.
Whereas before, Fang Zhou could only contend with the magic using Innate True Qi, now he overwhelmingly drove off the polluting magic and healed the wound at a visibly fast rate.
Fang Zhou exhaled deeply, not expecting such a qualitative leap upon reaching 100 in any attribute.
With his current abundant life force, regrowing a limb was no longer an issue.
With 62 points of manliness remaining, this time Fang Zhou didn't hold back, adding the points to both his strength and speed attributes, raising each to 100.
With all three stats hitting one hundred, Fang Zhou found it difficult to describe his sensations; he felt like a powder keg of explosive power, ready to ignite at a spark.
This gave Fang Zhou the illusion that if the Abyss Watcher appeared before him now, he could pin it down and thrash it.
Granted, both would fight barehandedly and not use other abilities.
With 37 points of manliness left, Fang Zhou decided to allocate all of it to his spiritual attribute, boosting it from 39 to 76.
The spiritual attribute didn't enhance intelligence but purely strengthened spiritual power, including willpower, stress resistance, and more.
After spending all his manliness in one go, Fang Zhou felt better than ever before, and his chest wound was fully healed.
The Mirage Dragon Robe, possessing self-repair abilities, was also restored to pristine condition.