Chapter 91: Breaking the Skin-Refining Limit!
TL: Etude
Ye Tian moved at incredible speed, closing in on the Black Armored Bear within two instances of teleportation. He stopped about 500 meters away from it, concealed himself in a large tree, and restrained his aura. He chose not to hunt down the bear immediately. "First, copy!" With a mere thought, Ye Tian duplicated the Black Armored Bear's high-tier defensive talent and immediately began the process of integration.
Merging the high-tier defensive talent wasn't painful for Ye Tian; his consciousness remained clear. Even if a ferocious beast attacked him at that moment, he could counterattack in time, ensuring his safety.
Ten minutes passed. Ye Tian broke into a light sweat but successfully completed the integration of the high-tier defensive talent. "I can feel it. I'm close to making this high-tier defensive talent evolve. My previous speculation must be correct. As soon as I collect three high-tier defensive talents, they can be merged into a top-level defensive talent," Ye Tian muttered to himself.
At this moment, he was only missing one high-tier defensive talent to acquire a top-level one. Once he had that, he could attempt to break the "Three-Nine-Three" limit of skin refining.
"According to the data, Black Armored Bears usually live in male-female pairs. The one I just encountered was male; there must be a female nearby. If I follow it, I might find the female and copy another talent. Then the first top-level defensive talent will essentially be within my grasp!"
Thus, Ye Tian sensed the location of the Black Armored Bear. It had already run more than 4000 meters away and was currently locked in combat with a gigantic serpent.
This enormous serpent was a top-level ferocious beast, albeit a weaker one among its rank. While it was faster than the Black Armored Bear, it didn't focus on constricting it.
However, against a Black Armored Bear with high-tier defensive talent, its strength was akin to tickling. In the end, the serpent was torn apart by the bear and died on the spot.
The Black Armored Bear then dragged the serpent's corpse in a particular direction. "That serpent was unfortunate. Despite being a top-level beast, it got killed by a high-tier beast like the Black Armored Bear. If it had tried to escape, the bear wouldn't have stood a chance. Choosing to engage in melee was simply suicidal," Ye Tian mused, frustrated at the serpent's lack of wisdom.
"Follow!" Ye Tian teleported again, trailing the Black Armored Bear.
The bear had run several dozen kilometers before finally entering a mountain and a huge cave. Ye Tian didn't go in but used his copying ability to completely envelop the other Black Armored Bear inside the cave.
Species: Black Armored Bear
Bloodline Talent: High-tier
Strength Talent: High-tier
Defensive Talent: High-tier
"As expected, there is a female Black Armored Bear!" Excited, Ye Tian wasted no time in duplicating the female bear's high-tier defensive talent.
After successfully copying it, he didn't rush to integrate it but entered the cave. "I apologize, but I'd like your high-tier strength talents too. Since I can't copy it right now, I have no choice but to kill you both and keep your corpses to copy it in a month," Ye Tian mentally conveyed to the bears.
Killing beasts didn't make him feel guilty; humans were the real innocents here. Once living peacefully on Earth, they had their lives turned upside down overnight when spatial rifts appeared and unleashed countless ferocious beasts, killing untold numbers of humans. Over the past century, even more had died.
Therefore, he felt no sympathy for the beasts.
"Kill!" A one-sided battle ensued.
The Black Armored Bears were neither as strong nor as fast as Ye Tian. In a flash, Ye Tian pierced one's eye and shattered its brain, killing it instantly.
Gazing at the corpses of the two Black Armored Bears, Ye Tian stored them in his portable space.
By now, his portable space had expanded once more with the advancement of his cultivation, reaching a capacity of 200 cubic meters.
In addition, over these two months, Ye Tian had made several trips to the Wuge, selling many treasures. The space he carried with him had also been cleared up substantially, enough to accommodate the bodies of two Black Armored Bears.
After storing the bodies of the Black Armored Bears, Ye Tian began to merge with the high-level defensive talent within the den of the bears.
"Merge!"
With a thought, a powerful force surged forth.
In an instant, Ye Tian felt as if his skin had been torn apart countless times and then healed countless times, a sensation of excruciating pain.
Merging the high-level defensive talent into top-level defensive talent was more painful than Ye Tian had imagined, but he could still bear it.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Ye Tian felt the pain subside, leaving him in a state of extreme exhilaration.
"Phew~"
Ye Tian exhaled a turbid breath and promptly checked the status of his talent.
[Defensive Talent: Top-level]
Seeing that his defensive talent had become top-level, Ye Tian grinned widely.
His next goal was to elevate his strength talent from high-level to top-level. This aim was almost within reach, as he had already obtained the bodies of the Black Armored Bears. In a month, he could replicate two more high-level strength talents, transforming his high-level strength talent into a top-level one, subsequently skyrocketing his own capabilities.
With his defensive talent now top-level, breaking the skin-refining limit would be the next test.
"I hope Typhoon King's guess was correct!" Ye Tian hoped.
"Defensive Talent!"
Ye Tian activated his defensive talent, and his defense instantly increased by twenty-fold. Even most Grandmasters wouldn't be able to breach his defenses easily.
"Begin practicing Purple Blood Body Refining Technique!"
Ye Tian adopted a series of postures, drawing in massive amounts of worldly essence to temper his skin, a tingling sensation flooding his senses.
"This feeling..." Ye Tian was immediately elated.
This was tempering!
Yes!
He felt his skin being tempered, and the effect was excellent. The skin, which had reached its tempering limit, was being tempered again, proving that Typhoon King's guess had been correct.
Top-level talents could indeed help break bodily limits!
"This pace is too slow; at this rate, breaking the bodily limit would take at least two months," Ye Tian estimated.
He then drank a mouthful of high-level ferocious beast blood and resumed practicing the Purple Blood Body Refining Technique to temper his skin.
Now, his cultivation speed had doubled, allowing him to break the skin-refining limit within a month.
"One month is about right; I'll cultivate here for this month. My sister has grown; it's time for her to live independently. I can't take care of her forever!"
Having reached this conclusion, Ye Tian set his mind at ease and continued his cultivation.
Day by day, he practiced, tempering his skin daily.
With each passing day, Ye Tian could feel the transformation of his skin. Although his defensive strength didn't increase, the fundamental quality of his skin did, which was the most important aspect.
On the 26th day of his practice, Ye Tian finally felt a certain invisible constraint within the realm of skin refining.
After gulping down dozens of portions of high-level ferocious beast blood, Ye Tian desperately practiced the Purple Blood Body Refining Technique, madly tempering his skin and challenging the invisible constraints.
He didn't know how many times he had tried or how much time had passed.
Suddenly,
The constraint broke. Countless amounts of worldly essence flooded into Ye Tian's body, tempering his skin and completing the final step of transformation.
At this moment,
Ye Tian realized that he had completely shattered the limit, elevating his skin refining to a new level.