“I don’t know how but you must have learnt that move from a consummate shaman master. Ah this must be fate.” Du-Bai muttered enthusiastically, he couldn’t stop his body from shaking. It was like he found an irreplaceable treasure.

“Ryu, the succession technique… the phantom ninth stance of the Drunken Dragon Fist was lost three Great Wars ago. It’s not so much as a stance as it’s like a transformation. It utilizes a cross between Soul Weapon Creation, Beast Fusion, Spirit Fusion and a few other minor techniques. It’s was a taboo method that can give humans strength beyond what they should be capable of. Do you know any of the techniques?” Du-Bai asked as he let go of Ryu.

“I don’t know how to do Beast Fusion or Soul Weapon Creation, I’ve only learned the basics of its cultivations. I know that a person can be permanently fused with a beast through a special process. Afterwards that person will have two Qi reservoirs and have the ability to partially or completely transform into that beast. As for soul weapon, once a person forms one then it can’t be changed. If the soul weapon is damaged, then so is your Qi reservoir.” Ryu replied as he recalled the information he got from manuals Alexis stole.

“Correct. However, both are risky processes. There are a lot of things that could go wrong. One of it being that the fusion or soul weapon created is for life. If the beast decides to rebel and take over your body, the result would be disastrous. If your soul weapon is destroyed or damaged, you’ll be harmed too. Also your cultivation rate would be vastly slower than other people’s since you have to refine two different types of Qi. Lastly there are the side effects… I won’t go into the details but they are not pretty. Then there’s Spirit Fusion, something that only master shamans in the past could do. I believe you know that already.” Du-Bai said as his eyes shone with anticipation.

“I…” Ryu said with clear confliction in his voice.

“Relax, I know that it’s a closely guarded secret that can’t be leaked out. I won’t ask you for it. Although both the Drunken Dragon Fist and Spirit Fusion are unranked skills, the Spirit Fusion is much more precious.” Du-Bai said with assurance.

“Unranked skills?” Ryu asked in surprise. He hadn’t heard of those.

“Unranked skills are skills that evolve and have a wide range of ranks depending on the user’s skills and cultivation. If you take an ordinary rank 4 skill, even if a level 80 user uses it the results would still be relatively weak. An unranked skill will scale up accordingly to your level! If I am not mistaken, your unusual stick technique and other odd shaman arts you used are probably unranked too. Their full potential could be rank 15 or even 20.” Du-Bai explained.

“So about the ninth stance…” Ryu said slowly.

“Right. The transformation… It’s a way for a person to reap similar benefits from Spirit Fusion and Beast Fusion without actually going through the hassle and suffering from the side-effects. It was a forbidden method that one eccentric predecessor discovered through crazy experimentation. Can you guess what that is?” Du-Bai asked with a smile.

“No.” Ryu said as he shook his head. He was extremely curious himself.

“Dragon Morphism! Knights use their Qi reservoir to create a soul weapon. People of the Frozen Continent use cold Qi to strengthen their Qi reservoir. People of Infernia use Beast Fusion to strengthen their body. Shamans use Spirit Fusion to use another spirit to enhance their abilities. What if you can use your own Qi reservoir as a spirit and instead of creating a soul weapon, you use it to enhance your own body? This eccentric predecessor was a martial art nut, he travelled across the world to develop this method through a combination of other arts.” Du-Bai explained.

“What? How come I’ve never heard of this method?” Ryu said in surprise then another whack came his way.

“Because it’s a secret dumb one. Sadly… after participating in the third last Great War, the method was lost after that generation’s Drunken Master died. My predecessors tried to recreate the method by visiting each continents. They only needed to learn from or consult an expert shaman for the last piece. However, during the second last Great War the Sky Continent suddenly became reclusive to the point of being an outcast. Trade and travel with the continent had dramatically decreased, no one knows why. They refuse to let foreigners into their land and even if you are able to get in, the citizens are hostile. Then there’s the problem of finding an expert that actually knows Spirit Fusion. That’s why my master and his master had no luck solving the last piece of the puzzle.” Du-Bai said miserably but his tone instantly changed to a happier one, “Ryu I’ll pass on all the research that we’ve gathered so far and if you could solve the mystery and recreate the last technique then I’ll be forever in your debt. No, the School of the Drunken Dragon Fist will be in your debt!”

Du-Bai instantly kneeled down and bowed to Ryu.

“I’ll try my best, you don’t have to do this!” Ryu said frantically as he tried to pull Du-Bai up.

“Ryu… the art of the Drunken Dragon Fist has always had a two person rule. The master can only have one disciple! My last disciple that strayed only learned three of the stances so he cannot be considered to be a successor. You’ve easily learned the first stance and I plan to pass the rest to you. Actually I wasn’t going to tell you this but… in ten months, I’ll have to fight another master whose strength is probably above my own. If I do perish then I would’ve arranged to inform you that you are the next successor of the art.” Du-Bai said solemnly.

“Senior Du-Bai, I’ll do my best to help you figure out this last missing piece for the ninth stance but I really don’t dare succeed you. Please don’t give up!” Ryu said as he kneeled down.

“Ryu, in order to comprehend and start deciphering the phantom ninth stance you have to learn all eight stances. After doing so, you’ll be considered the next successor! I’ve lived for over a million years and I haven’t found anyone more worthy than you. You are still inexperienced but your heart is in the right place. Honestly, even with the ninth stance I’m not sure if I’m able to overcome my opponent. Please don’t let the Drunken Dragon Fist end with me.” Du-Bai said with his face against the ground.

“Ok, I’ll do it. Please get up senior Du-Bai. Why do you have to fight if you don’t think you can win?” Ryu asked.

“This person… is from an ancient school of martial art like mine called the Divine Tengu. Previously we had a mutual relationship. Both of our schools had the two person rule. We don’t interfere with the mortal world nor kingdoms and train in seclusion. However, an altercation occurred almost a million years ago when the master of Divine Tengu, Chi-Bian, murdered my master’s family and nearly killed me for unknown reasons. My master sought after Chi-Bian and fought him for over two months. In the end it was my master that lost. The difference between me and Chi-Bian was like heaven and earth, he didn’t even put me in his eyes and gave me a million years to polish my skills to fight him. Ten months from now is our arranged date. I’ve hit an impasse in my cultivation since many millenniums ago and didn’t have any hope until I met you.” Du-Bai said as he slowly got up.

Hearing Du-Bai’s plea, Ryu couldn’t help but feel for him. Ryu agreed to earnestly learn the eight stances and see if he could decipher the ninth stance for Du-Bai. Days flew by like the wind. The two didn’t even realize that a week had passed because training was so enjoyable. Sparring with Ryu had sparked something within Du-Bai that made him feel younger and more motivated. During this time Ryu gained even more experience fighting an unarmed expert and using each stances of the Drunken Dragon Fist himself.

“You really are a freak did you know that?” Du-Bai said as he saw Ryu mastered the last stance from the Drunken Dragon Fist. The original eight stances of the Drunken Dragon Fist took Du-Bai centuries to grasp the basics of each stance. However, Du-Bai wasn’t surprised seeing how easily Ryu learnt the first stance. There was something special about Ryu that made him pass him the technique. “Here’s all the information that I have regarding the ninth stance.”

“I’ll do my best.” Ryu said as he received an information crystal from Du-Bai. He quickly injected a bit of Qi inside and the massive amount of information was instantly absorbed by his Infinity Tomes. Du-Bai meditated from the side since he knew that there was a lot of information to go through.

Ryu browsed through the information and couldn’t be more surprised at what he’s reading. A short summary was listed in the start before the details.

· A powerful Qi reservoir is required for this endeavor. The Frozen Continent practices such arts by disciplining their minds and in return strengthen their reservoirs.

· The ability to morph the reservoir into something tangible is also required. This is Britannica’s specialty.

· Next is the ability to augment your physical traits. This is done by the people of Infernia through Beast Fusion.

· To bring all three previous skills together, you’ll have to understand the process of fusing spirts which are like soul weapons. This is done by supreme shaman warriors.

· Lastly you need large quantity of blood of a divine dragon.

· Drink the dragon blood and allow it to fuse and reinforce your body, your Qi channels should be altering at this point. Traces of dragon essence should be entering you now.

· Absorb the essence of the dragon but do not refine it, allow it to morph your reservoir.

· An alternative is to absorb a dragon essence if you are able to get your hands on one.

· Next semi-materialize your reservoir which has bits of the essence of a dragon.

· Fuse the semi-materialized reservoir power with your body. Your body should now temporary contain the power of the dragon as its base.

Having a dragon’s raw strength instead of a human’s as the base before Qi is taken into consideration… if you reinforce with Qi then your power will be many times stronger! Ryu thought to himself as he imagined the possibilities.

The specifics for each step was extremely detailed. The only part missing was how to stabilize the Qi reservoir and actually fuse with a fake soul weapon. Ryu was surprised at how insane this theory was. It was completely different from Spirit Fusion but Ryu did his best to fill in the blanks. He had a great understanding of how Qi reservoirs worked since he has four himself.

Actually besides the theories and research on the ninth stance. A brief history on the past practitioners of the Drunken Dragon Fist was also included. Ryu was surprised to learn that the founder of the Lin Empire was actually one of them. This explained how the legends of him slaying dragons, absorbing its powers and even transforming into a dragon came to be.

Another week passed before Ryu finally opened his eyes. Du-Bai sensed the slight movement and quickly opened his own.

“Senior Du-Bai, I’ve done what I can and I believe… it should be possible to attempt the ninth stance safely now.” Ryu said as he handed the information crystal back. The look on Du-Bai’s face was priceless. Never in his wildest dreams could he have guessed that Ryu could accomplish this task that countless before him spent millenniums on and making no progress. Du-Bai informed Ryu that he does indeed have dragon blood and he’ll attempt this method in seclusion later.

“You… You are a Saint?” Ryu said in surprise. He had his suspicions already. Cao’Po’Li’s companion Flampy wasn’t a pure dragon and was only an infant one but it’s already a Saint level beast. To be able to defeat one or obtain its blood, Du-Bai’s level must be very high.

“You really aren’t simple are you… however, you should not mention that word casually. It’s taboo. Only a handful of people should know about Rebirth and what comes after that, you need to stop showing off your knowledge.” Du-Bai said quietly as he eyed Ryu. Even though he delirious with joy that Ryu might have recreated the ninth stance, the topic regarding immortals was generally forbidden. Ryu nodded. It’s true, Alexis was one of the executives at the Death Origin organization of the Dark Continent and he had no idea about Rebirth and the Saint Domain that spans from level 100 to 199. In his organization, there is the chairman, the president, the vice-president, the nine heads of departments and then the executives. Alexis was an executive at the Sovereign Domain but he wasn’t privy to the Rebirth process. Actually Na’Vi was reluctant to tell Ryu what a Rebirth is, saying he’ll tell him when the time comes if needed.

“Ryu, I would suggest that you don’t participate in this event for Musashi’s blade and just spectate. By doing so you can gauge the difference between yourself and the rest of the world. Although you are a genius, I’ve seen other monsters like you around. There are some that reached Emperor Domain within a hundred years, although it was someone from another continent.” Du-Bai recommended and warned at the same time. Actually between sparring with Du-Bai and Na’Vi’s group, Ryu already realized how small he is.

Ryu already put Du-Bai to be on par with Na’Vi’s group. After his initial victory against Cao’Po’Li, he never won again. In fact, he never won against Na’Vi, Cao’Po’Li or Vi’Ta’En at all during any of the sparring matches even after they used the same cultivation. The same goes with Du-Bai. After knowing what Ryu’s capable of, Du-Bai unleashed the full potential of the Drunken Dragon Fist and completely dominated Ryu each time even though they had the same cultivation restriction. This just shows how much Ryu is lacking, it takes time and experience to truly master martial art skills.

There’s also the problem with cultivation. It’s been weeks since he left the Han-So tribe and he had always perpetually cultivated, even if it’s not a lot, on the side. There was virtually no progress. With his internal Qi channels rearranged by the latest tomes, all the reservoirs will receive the equal amount of Qi and level up at the same time. Since he has four reservoirs, his progress is already slowed down by one fourth. However, he has three tree-like objects inside his additional reservoirs granted by the tomes. They take up to ninety-five percent of his cultivated Qi, this leaves Ryu with just over one percent of his real cultivation rate. Ever since he entered King Domain, the gap between each level was so large that Ryu wouldn’t even dare say he could cross to the next domain in the next decade.

“I’ve lived longer than you can imagine, my family and friends have long passed away. My word of advice to you is think about an end goal. I was blindly spending all my time getting stronger but after training for endless years and gaining the strength I desired, I felt empty inside. Friends will die on your or maybe even betray you. Power becomes meaningless after a certain point. Think about it. If I manage to come out of my dual alive in ten month, I’ll come find you.” Du-Bai said somberly. Ryu looked at Du-Bai with teary eyes as he realizes the moment for parting was upon them. “I hate how I can’t hate you. Thank you Ryu.”

Du-Bai’s figure slowly disappeared over the horizon.