Wu Pifu woke up after a sleep.
Although he had been in a coma for one hundred and fifty-two days, upon awakening, his mental fluctuations were immense, nearly overwhelming, so this sleep lasted another day and night.
As for food, there was no need to worry; the carbon-based nano units could be converted into various nutrients consumed by the body.
Previously, the quantity of carbon-based nano units was very limited, making it insufficient for consumption, but now there were many.
Although some was wasted, short-term consumption was not an issue.
Currently, the medical base station had over two thousand one hundred carbon-based nano units.
Wu Pifu and Jiujiao consumed about zero point eight to one unit per day, and this was due to Wu Pifu's own high consumption; otherwise, an ordinary person would only consume about zero point two to three units a day.
With over two thousand one hundred, if future medical issues were not considered, it would be enough to last for over two thousand one hundred days!
However, Wu Pifu naturally could not stay in this Gaia for over two thousand one hundred days; that would be akin to waiting for death, a complete surrender to failure.
Firstly, the negative mental backlash remained a deadly threat.
During the previous battle with the Sound Hearing Body, his mental negative backlash rate had broken through thirty percent.
At that time, he was almost unrecognizable as a human, and even after barely suppressing the mental negative backlash, it nearly drained his Unresting Spiritual Lamp, leading to over a hundred days of sleep.
If it weren't for the Death Rebirth Mark given by Xu Shilan, he truly would not have woken up.
Thus, even if it was merely to survive, he had to continuously grow stronger; otherwise, what awaited him would only be a fate worse than death.
Secondly, he needed to obtain a Level Six Shelter, or even a higher-level shelter.
He wanted to thank Xu Shilan and also express his gratitude to Yamada!
Moreover, if there truly was an afterlife, he… wanted to explore it!
Lastly, the Unborn Old Mother…
It was still too early to think about all this, but Wu Pifu was certainly not someone who would give up.
He was quite vengeful; it would not be an exaggeration to say he would repay any grievance.
Having suffered such a great loss and sacrifice, if he merely thwarted the Unborn Old Mother’s plan to enter Gaia once, that would be too much humiliation!
Therefore, no matter what, he would continue onward, striving to establish more shelters and grow stronger, stepping deeper into the Dream World!
However, the more pressing issue now was to absorb and summarize the gains from the battle with the Unborn Old Mother, and then strive to elevate his own strength to its current limit; this was of utmost importance.
Because…
In the Northern Song Dream World of the Mud Buddha Yaksha, one hundred and fifty-two days had already passed!
Any shelter that went unguarded for more than thirty days would be detected by strange phenomena, monsters, nightmares, or other entities.
Among them, Level Two Nightmares and above could traverse through that shelter to enter Gaia.
So when Wu Pifu heard that one hundred and fifty-two days had passed, his first reaction was the mental negative backlash, and his second reaction was the Nightmare penetration from the Mud Buddha Yaksha Dream World.
Simply put, he wondered why he was still alive?
The negative backlash could lead to Death Rebirth, which was one thing, but why had this baseline reality of zero point seven Dream World not yet been penetrated by nightmares?
Could it be that some powerful being from a low baseline reality was hiding, waiting for him to penetrate through and then control him?
Wu Pifu did not know, but he could not recklessly return to the Mud Buddha Yaksha Dream World.
He had to adjust his state to its best and unify his strength before returning.
"There are a total of four pieces of Yellow Lotus Fragments."
Wu Pifu cleaned up the battlefield, and the first thing he obtained was the three pieces of Yellow Lotus Fragments that had penetrated alongside the Sound Hearing Body, plus the one he already had, making four pieces that had been verified by the mainframe and could be used as fantasy items.
When Wu Pifu placed these four Yellow Lotus Fragments together, they surprisingly fused together like liquid, ultimately forming a single piece of Yellow Lotus Fragment that appeared deeper in color and slightly larger in size.
"Yellow Lotus Fragment."
"… After the sound detaches from the %*#, the body transforms into five lotuses, simulating the five foundational structures of the Heavenly Path, the Buddha Realm, the Sin Prison, the Void, and the Human World, ultimately becoming a vacuum homeland, where the Yellow Lotus serves as the control center of the Human Realm, possessing the power to project the world of living beings."
"The holder will unilaterally pierce through illusions exceeding the baseline reality of zero point seven, reducing the possibility of reverse perception of illusions exceeding the baseline reality of zero point six. This is ineffective against illusions below zero point six, and when held in multiples, the effect will be enhanced."
This effect was already much stronger than that of a single Yellow Lotus Fragment.
The introduction for a single piece was "The holder will unilaterally pierce through illusions exceeding the baseline reality of zero point eight, ineffective against illusions below zero point eight, and when held in multiples, the effect will be enhanced."
Now, it could not only unilaterally pierce through the baseline reality of zero point seven but also reduce the reverse perception of zero point six illusions; this effect was indeed very powerful.
It could be said that this was the greatest gain after the battle with the Sound Hearing Body.
Wu Pifu still tied the Yellow Lotus Fragment with a rope and hung it around his neck, then he looked at his personal information panel.
His progress in national martial arts was significant; his transformation strength had reached 72.8%, and he was not far from achieving great mastery.
However, the real surprise was the Tiger Demon Skill, which had reached an astonishing 97.61%, with less than 3% remaining to reach the final stage of Supreme Manifestation.
Wu Pifu decided to practice the Tiger Demon Skill to the Supreme Manifestation stage.
Although he could not be certain, he had a strong intuition that when the Tiger Demon Skill reached the Supreme Manifestation stage, this technique would undergo a qualitative change.
At the same time, he planned to start cultivating the Iron Refining Record, a technique obtained by Yamada as a designated reward.
It was the original Iron Refining Record.
Previously, he had to rush to the Peace Hotel Dream World, so he had not practiced this technique, but now he had the time.
Wu Pifu intended to at least reach the threshold before considering entering the Mud Buddha Yaksha Dream World.
In the following time, Wu Pifu began to cultivate the national martial arts Tiger Demon Skill and the Iron Refining Record in this Gaia.
The Tiger Demon Skill required practice through both technique and combat, making its progress very slow.
After several consecutive days, he had not even achieved a zero point zero one increase in a single day, which left Wu Pifu quite distressed.
After four or five days of this, he decided to gradually induce the mental negative backlash.
After so many battles, he discovered that the fastest way to improve the Tiger Demon Skill was through life-and-death battles; aside from that, the fastest improvement occurred during negative backlash.
Sure enough, when he entered a controllable demonic state (mental negative backlash rate of ten percent), every time he executed a set of Tiger Demon Skill punches, his progress bar began to grow significantly, even increasing by about zero point five in a single day!
At this rate, he could master the Tiger Demon Skill to the Supreme Manifestation stage in just over a week.
During these days of training the Tiger Demon Skill, Wu Pifu also reflected on and recalled the previous encounters at the Peace Hotel entrance, battling against those seven martial artists.
The most profound feeling he gained was about "Intent."
From that Batulu to the old eunuch, to Du Xinwu and Li Shuwen, all four possessed intent, and their attacks gave Wu Pifu a peculiar sensation.
In terms of physical quality alone, he could easily defeat all of them.
It is known that in national martial arts, there is a saying that if one is three points higher, they are infinitely superior.
How much higher was he than these people?
He was at least three times stronger!
Yet he had been injured by the old eunuch first, then heavily wounded by Du Xinwu and Li Shuwen.
In the end, Sun Lutang did not make a move, but if Sun Lutang could maintain his martial artist's clarity, he might even possess the power of Qi!
This kind of intent was too important for national martial arts.
Although it may not seem so mysterious, it is merely the intent cultivated over a long period.
However, whether one possesses this intent or not can lead to a qualitative change in combat power.
This battle made Wu Pifu feel as if he were a child wielding a giant hammer, while Li Shuwen and the other martial artists were truly the products of countless refinements.
"I also need to start cultivating my intent."
While practicing the Tiger Demon Skill, Wu Pifu came to this realization.
He divided his combat power into two different parts: one was hard power, which included surface strength, national martial arts, human-immortal martial arts, and even controllable demonic states.
The second was soft power, which included on-the-spot combat, response experience, finding weaknesses, and maintaining a stable mindset; all of these belonged to soft power.
And condensing his own martial arts intent was also a part of enhancing soft power, and it could significantly enhance soft power.
There are many types of intent: fist intent, palm intent, blade intent, sword intent, and beyond that, there is killing intent, madness intent, chivalrous intent, or even national intent, revolutionary intent, and fighting intent.
Of course, invincible intent is also included.
Wu Pifu needed to choose a type of intent, practice it regularly, remember it forever, and integrate it into his punches, thoughts, and actions, achieving a unity of knowledge and action.
Over time, he would naturally possess this intent, and as time went on and the matters he engaged in grew larger and more substantial, this intent would become stronger, even to the point of feeding back into his martial arts skills and strength.
By then, even if his intent was not invincible, it would not make much difference.
Unity of knowledge and action!
"Then… what kind of intent should I choose?"
While practicing the Tiger Demon Skill, Wu Pifu pondered what kind of intent he wanted, but for a moment, he could not decide.
Claw intent and palm intent were currently the most suitable for him, but he felt they did not resonate with his heart, which was not acceptable, so he set that aside for now.
Eight days later, Wu Pifu finally completed the last bit of proficiency needed to master the Tiger Demon Skill at its peak.
At the moment he achieved it, his Unresting Spiritual Lamp in his mind suddenly shone brightly, giving Wu Pifu a feeling of transitioning from the virtual to the real…
"Damn!"
Wu Pifu suddenly saw a beam of light drilling out from his forehead, hovering in front of him.
In that instant, the Unresting Spiritual Lamp of the Tiger Demon Skill truly transformed from the virtual into a visible light in the material world!
(End of Chapter)