One more catty, one more attribute point

The mural was simple, even hollow in description. The center depicted a crimson sun, surrounded by the tumult of white clouds as if buffeted by a great wind, and in the distance, one could faintly make out green mountains outlined by thick black strokes.

In the art of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it was customary to capture both form and spirit.

From that perspective, the mural before him could only be considered mediocre, lacking any particularly outstanding features.

Yet,

whenever he practiced the Pure Yang Skill while gazing at the mural before him, Su Heng would always find himself coming to some sort of realization.

Take the present moment, for example, Su Heng looked at the mural, and though he was basking in the warm sunlight of the afternoon, an inexplicable gust seemed to blow towards him. It was as if he truly stood atop a dark and dreary mountain peak, with howling wind, rolling leaden clouds above, the sun rising, and myriads of lustrous golden rays scattering...

"Huff!"

Su Heng's chest rose and fell. He closed his eyes, slowly coming back to his senses from the artistic conception of the painting.

When he opened his eyes again, rows of grayish text faintly emerged before him, forming an attribute panel.

[Name: Su Heng]

[Height: 1.85 meters]

[Weight: 215 pounds]

[Cultivation Technique: Pure Yang Skill (5th Level)]

[Attribute Points: 10]

This simplistic attribute panel had abruptly appeared after Su Heng began practicing the Pure Yang Skill, and through his own verification, he had largely confirmed that the points in the panel were positively correlated with his weight. In other words, for every pound Su Heng gained, an attribute point would be rewarded.

As for why Su Heng suddenly wanted to practice the Pure Yang Skill...

The reason was quite simple.

Over the past five-plus years, Su Heng had lived a life of indulgence, succumbing to pleasures, growing more corpulent, his resolve wearing thin day by day. He had initially intended to transform his lifestyle through practicing martial arts, to condition his body, and to increase his vitality and vigor.

But he had not anticipated discovering his long-overdue "Golden Finger" just a few days after beginning the Pure Yang Skill.

Ning Zhibai had indeed spoken the truth.

Su Heng's innate talent and constitution were exceptional, making him a candidate poised to become a grandmaster.

In less than three months, Su Heng had already perfected Pure Yang Skill to completion. Although he was not clear about Ning Zhibai's own level, judging from their recent conversation, Ning Zhibai's mastery over the Pure Yang Skill was likely far inferior to his own.

Because,

after reaching the 5th level,

Su Heng increasingly felt his body was like a ball inflated with air, filled with a frustrating sense of fullness that he had no way of releasing.

He could vaguely sense the existence of another realm within the Pure Yang Skill, a completely different new world; yet a thick layer of oil seemed to separate him from it, like looking at flowers through the fog, close enough to sense but unable to step into.

It was for this reason that Su Heng speculated the Pure Yang Skill must have a 6th level, perhaps even more profound realms.

However, to break through to this 6th level, he would need some sort of special "catalyst" to stimulate the process, and Su Heng had come seeking information about this "catalyst" from Ning Zhibai. Unfortunately, their conversation had yielded no substantial leads.

"Ning Zhibai probably really doesn't know, but I still have a second method," Su Heng muttered, his eyes vacant as he stared at the attribute panel before him.

In the cultivation technique column.

A faint gray "+" sign appeared beneath the 5th level of the Pure Yang Skill.

Su Heng concentrated his attention, touching the "+" lightly. In an instant, a suction force emerged from nowhere, and the ten hard-earned attribute points he had accumulated blurred and then vanished without a trace.