42 - Shock

Killed in a single shot!

Su Tao was shocked at how much this skill raised his power, and he had only just used it for the first time ever and was not used to it.

However, Su Tao knew that this beast he had just killed was smaller and weaker compared to other high tier beasts, so it might be a little different when facing one of them. But regardless, the power of that arrow was comparable to a high tier one star silver rank, which made him extremely happy.

The pure energy contained within that attack was comparable to a high tier one star silver rank, while the power of the bow and arrow itself also allowed it to kill the beast in one strike. A high tier one star silver rank definitely couldn't do so.

At this point in time, his long range attacks were actually stronger than his closes combat attacks. This surprised him, because this was something that wasn't supposed to be achievable. It was only at this moment that he realized just how odd this skill was.

Of course, this was more common with people who specialized in the bow, but he didn't specialize in it. He was just really good with the bow. He didn't actually know that much about it and wasn't familiar with all the skills and ways to use the bow.

He was extremely happy with this result, and he knew that this was only the first level, and he could get even more familiar with the skill and use the higher levels of it and increase the power even further. After all, a one and a half times increase in power was very low for a limit peak tier rank four skill like the flowing bolt arrow.

Normal peak tier rank four skills could increase the power of an attack much more than that.

In reality, the power of the attack itself was not what made it so strong. Rather, it was the fact that it was shot in an arrow from a bow, which had a considerable ability to pierce through defense. This combined with the power of the attack made it stronger than his close range attack by a little bit.

However, this was under the case that Su Tao was still using the crackling palm, which was a high tier skill that was quite strong. He had just not gotten fully used to using it, and he was at the low tier himself, which was not enough to use its full power.

He then decided that if he could manage to get a bit more familiar with the flowing bolt arrow skill, he could possibly be able to take on some weaker peak tier rank four beasts without the power of his right eye.

After all, he figured that he should at least be able to break through the inner energy barrier of a weaker peak tier rank four beast with the help of this skill, and as long as he could break through the inner energy barrier of a beast or cultivator, he would be able to kill them as long as he put in some effort and they didn't reach him before they died.

This was the deadly advantage of the bow. It was hard to guard against and if it could break through your inner energy barrier, then you would build up injuries quickly and lose fighting power before the true fight even began.

But despite the possibility of increasing his power further, Su Tao went up into a tree and cultivated.

He then spent a whole day trying to break through to the middle tier.

He had consumed the resources of the water and lightning element that were equivalent in value to the water moon lotus and the piece of charred wood.

At a certain point in the day, Su Tao felt that his inner energy was about to undergo a change. It was as if his current inner energy was at the limit of what it could achieve and it needed to change into something else to progress any further.

In reality, this was exactly what happened when one broke through to a higher tier. The inner energy of their tier would hit a limit that it could not surpass, and it had to evolve into another power in order to grow stronger.

Of course, it was still inner energy. It was just the inner energy of that higher tier now, which was why the tiers were based off of the energy of the tier that the inner energy released rather than how strong it was or how much of the barrier to the two star silver rank they had ground down.

As Su Tao felt this feeling of hitting a limit, he suddenly felt the inner energy undergo a transformation of some kind. It started with a small portion of it, but it quickly started to spread to every bit of inner energy in his watery inner energy.

A few minutes later, the lightning inner energy also broke through, and they were both now at the middle tier of strength.

When one broke through to a higher tier, their strength did not actually increase by a large amount. Rather, the ability to get stronger had been strengthened, and their base level of strength had risen.

This meant that Su Tao's inner energy should not have gotten much stronger. However, his inner energy's quality, density, and purity had all reached the limit of the middle tier for average people, while the density had already exceeded that and went into the high tier before he even broke through.

As such, when he broke through, that minor increase of strength was enough to push his quality and purity both into the high tier for average people. This meant that his strength had completely reached the high tier level, and his body was comparable to a peak tier.

After all, his physical strength had been seventy pounds stronger than a peak bronze rank while at that rank, which was equivalent to two tiers of the one star silver rank.

As such, now that he had reached the middle tier, his physical strength was comparable to a peak tier at three hundred ninety pounds of strength in each muscle. His resistance was the same way in which he would receive the same amount of damage as a peak tier when his physical body got hit with an attack.

Su Tao was extremely happy with this progress.

He figured that with his skill, normal high tiers would not be a match for him, while he had the ability to defend himself against peak tiers with a bit of the power of his right eye.

As for his arrow skill, he figured that he could now most likely be able to kill some peak tier rank four beasts while not using any power of his right eye.

As for the flowing bolt arrow skill, he could now use the level that was suited for those at the middle tier. Although he could probably use the level for the high tier, he didn't want to right now since there was no need.

Even though he was probably able to, it also required a larger amount of inner energy, and Su Tao did not want to use it since although he already had a density at the high tier, it was still not enough to use this skill constantly since this skill was of very high level and used a lot of inner energy, even for the ranks it was intended for.

This was precisely why he hadn't used the middle tier level at the low tier even though he likely could have.

And besides, if it came down to a moment where he had to unleash that level of power, he could just use the power of his right eye to make up for it and even far exceed it.

Plus, he just didn't want to spend the time to learn it right now. After all, the different tiers of the skill were different to each other, with each harder to learn than the last.

But even though Su Tao could learn the middle tier right now, he decided to instead just go into town. After all, he had only just learned the low tier level and he needed to get that perfect first before moving on, and that would also take time.

He did not plan to go to the city to buy anything, but he still was going to kill some beasts before he went so that he could sell them.

The next day, Su Tao went around and killed some beasts. He tested out his strength, and he was now capable of killing weaker peak tier rank four beasts without using the power of his eyes, but there were a few close calls while a few managed to reach him.

When the beasts managed to reach him, he was still able to kill them without relying on his right eye's power, but he got several wounds in the process. However, they weren't super severe and once the inner energy within his body was dissolved, he could heal them quite quickly.

Su Tao's clothes had been ripped open quite badly from the claws of some beasts, but he had previously bought several pairs of them, and they were disposable, so he was able to just change into new clothes after.

He spent quite a while doing so and primarily targeted peak tier beasts, and by the time he was done, he had killed about thirty peak tier beasts and twenty five normal beast.

While doing this, he was experimenting with using spark step. After all, now that his inner energy's purity had reached the high tier by other's standards, he was able to cultivate it. By trying out the spark step skill, he managed to increase his speed to one and a quarter times his normal speed.

However, the disadvantage was that, while his speed would increase while using this skill, his aura would be left behind inside his body, which would allow others to track him. As such, he would only use it while in a fight, not to just normally increase his speed.

What Su Tao decided to do was pelt the high tier beasts and keep the peak tier beasts whole. Taking them, he went into the city.

When he got there, he sold them under the greedy eyes of others, getting sixty gold pieces for the peak tier beasts and ten for the high tier pelts, which totaled seventy.

He was previously too lazy to calculate the value of everything, but he realized at this point that each peak tier beast on its own was worth two entire gold pieces, while the complete and perfectly preserved bodies of high tiers were only worth eighty silver pieces.

It was worth more than double the price, which surprised him.

But since he had this money, he decided to go into the martial arts library and pick out the misty ripple body. After all, this was almost exactly what it costed, which was sixty eight gold pieces.

He then exchanged it with the attendee, which was not only shocked to see Su Tao return the flowing bolt arrow so quick, but also take a skill that was also only of slightly lower value right after.

And what confused him even more was that they were both of different elements, as were all the other techniques he had rented. But he had noticed that they were all either of the lightning element or the water element, but he had only seen Su Tao display the power of water.

'Could it be that he has both the power of water and lightning?' The peak tier attendee couldn't help but think to himself.

He was a peak tier one star silver rank, so he was obviously more knowledgeable than Su Tao, who hadn't looked for any information on the world since he was a kid. He knew that there were people out there that had multiple elements of inner energy that were separate from each other, being two or even three or four types of inner energy in a single person.

Of course, the ones who had four or more elements were all extreme geniuses only from the highest level in the strongest sects and families that he knew of. These sects and families were all far stronger than even the Yin Moon Sect, and they all had at least a few platinum rank martial kings.

If it was merely two elements, he could bear with it. After all, he had heard the rumor that someone had seen lightning sparks on the body of the defensive woman when he killed her in the arena.

Of course, this was only a rumor, and it was only able to be confirmed by those of the second silver star or higher, so he didn't know for sure, of course.

But Su Tao interrupted his thoughts and spoke.

"I would also like to request a change in rank."

Then, he displayed his watery inner energy, which exuded the aura of a middle tier one star silver rank and the pressure of a high tier. The attendee felt his mind stop working as he looked at this cold and calm youth in front of him with a blank expression and a slightly open mouth.

Su Tao had only broken through recently, and although he had no clue how recently, it couldn't have been more than three months ago since he had to come to the city to get a refinement technique two months ago.

However, Su Tao was already at the middle tier, which meant that his talent was extreme. He would be even more flabbergasted if he knew that Su Tao had only broken through two months ago. Let alone the fact that his inner energy was comparable to a high tier's in every way.

A few moments later, he closed his mouth and wrote in the book next to him with a slightly shaky hand. Of course, this did not escape from Su Tao's eyes, but he just ignored it. Not many people would dare to believe it if the news spread, so he didn't care in the slightest at the attendee's shock.