Su Yu focused his mind on the plus sign after "Black Stone Body Forging Skill" and activated it.
[The Black Stone Body Forging Skill has Broken its Limit 1 time. 1 Breakthrough Point consumed.]
[Limit Break successful for Black Stone Body Forging Skill. Trait awakened: Formless Flowing Gold.]
"Formless Flowing Gold?"
Su Yu’s expression shifted. A curious look appeared in his eyes as he turned his attention to the new Trait on the panel.
[Trait]: Formless Flowing Gold!
A membrane like mercury, its hardness and softness yours to command! Your Profound Silver Flow Armor has broken the shackles of form, able to rapidly transform between indestructible solidity and a liquid state, and can freely reshape its external form at your will. This membrane of flowing gold is like a living extension of your body, integrating offense and defense, and capable of countless transformations.
’Hmm, it seems the Limit Break affected the Profound Silver Flow Armor.’
Su Yu grew thoughtful, carefully considering the Trait’s description.
’I’m starting to understand Martial Arts Limit Breaks now. They aren’t random. They take certain aspects of the original martial art and amplify them to an incredible degree.’
’Take White Ape Fist, for example. Its Limit Breaks enhanced its speed and power separately, which led to me comprehending a powerful Fist Stance. Each Limit Break followed a logical path.’
’And White Ape Six Transformations, being a Pile Skill, had Limit Breaks that resulted in Heart Monkey Clarity and Violent Ape Blood Fury, which enhanced my martial arts comprehension and active power bursts, respectively, ultimately leading to the White Ape Saint Body.’
’As for the Black Stone Body Forging Skill, it has two obvious aspects: one is the amplification of Qi and Blood, and the other is the effect of the Profound Silver Flow Armor.’
’This Limit Break clearly enhanced the Profound Silver Flow Armor aspect.’
A thought suddenly struck Su Yu. ’Since the martial art has multiple aspects, could the direction of the Limit Break be adjusted?’
’Or could I choose which direction it takes?’
’It’s like when I absorbed the Divine Blood and comprehended Divine Skills—I was given two options to choose from.’
’Or maybe if I keep Breaking the Limit, say, to the fourth time, a Trait for a different aspect will appear?’
Su Yu’s mind raced with ideas for experiments, but he was out of Breakthrough Points again. He had no choice but to put those thoughts aside for now.
’Oh well. First things first, I need to get a handle on this Formless Flowing Gold!’
Su Yu strode swiftly to the center of the Martial Arts Arena. A Black Iron Stake stood there, used for testing the explosive power of Muscle Forging Realm Martial Artists.
"White Ape Asks the Way!"
Su Yu didn’t deliberately gather his strength, simply throwing a straight punch out of pure muscle memory.
However, the instant he threw the punch, something incredible happened!
Without him even needing to consciously channel his Qi and Blood, a strange, dark, liquid-metal-like substance instantly appeared over his fist. Like quicksilver, it instantly flowed over and enveloped his entire right hand.
And deep within the surging black fluid, faint threads of dark gold could be seen swirling!
BOOM!
The heavy fist smashed solidly into the Black Iron Stake.
In the past, an impact of this magnitude would have generated a powerful recoil, and his Profound Silver Flow Armor would have instantly flared up to counteract it.
But this time, the layer of Formless Flowing Gold enveloping his fist merely rippled. The dark gold patterns flashed, and the recoil force vanished without a trace, like a stone dropped into the ocean.
’Such incredible force dissipation! At least seventy to eighty percent of the recoil was neutralized!’
Su Yu retracted his fist, his eyes wide with shock. Dissipating force to this degree was practically a complete immunity to recoil damage from opponents at his level!
His gaze hardened as he dug his feet in and pushed off forcefully.
"Demon Ape Beats the Drum!"
A frenzied storm of punches, like a torrential downpour, rained down upon the stake!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A continuous series of sonic booms echoed through the courtyard.
This time, unhindered by recoil, Su Yu’s punching speed soared to a terrifying new level. Before, without activating his White Ape Transformation, he could throw fifteen punches in the span of a breath at most. Now, aided by the Formless Flowing Gold’s force dissipation, he unleashed a full thirty punches!
’Incredible! This Formless Flowing Gold is a godlike skill! Not only is the force dissipation insane, but it even follows my muscles’ instincts, automatically emerging from my body to form a defense!’
Su Yu’s chest heaved, a sharp light glinting in his eyes, but his brow soon furrowed in thought.
’No, that can’t be it. If it’s just about dissipating force, it would just be an upgraded version of the Profound Silver Flow Armor, not a true Limit Break. After all, a Limit Break is supposed to completely transcend the original martial art; it can’t be judged by ordinary standards.’
Su Yu stared at the slowly swirling, dark golden fluid on his fist when a flash of inspiration struck him.
He abruptly took a step back, putting a distance of nearly three feet between himself and the stake.
"Again! White Ape Asks the Way!"
With a loud shout, Su Yu launched another powerful, heavy straight punch. His fist halted just short of the stake, its momentum exhausted.
In that exact instant, something strange occurred!
At Su Yu’s mental command, the dark gold membrane covering his fist seemed to hear its master’s call, shooting forward in a frenzied surge like boiling mercury!
SHHH—
With a grating sound of solidifying metal, the mass of black flowing gold instantly stretched and hardened in mid-air. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a black arm-blade, its edge glinting with a cold, dark golden light!
PFFT!
The black-gold arm-blade pierced the incredibly tough Black Iron Stake as easily as if it were tofu, emitting a dull thud as it sank in.
Su Yu, still holding his punching posture, sucked in a sharp breath.
’So this is what it means to "reshape its external form" and "extend like a living creature"!’
He abruptly retracted his fist. The black-gold arm-blade seemed to melt in an instant, zipping back into his arm and reforming into the skin-tight membrane of flowing gold.
Now, on the Black Iron Stake that even a Muscle Forging Realm expert would struggle to damage, a terrifying gash was left behind—three inches deep, with an incision as smooth as a mirror!
’It’s for offense and defense... so let’s test the defense!’
With a new thought, Su Yu took out the jade sword he had acquired from the Ancient Water Mansion from his Storage Ring and stabbed it toward his own abdomen.
Of course, he controlled the force; he wasn’t actually trying to disembowel himself.
The instant the tip of the sword was about to touch his clothes...
VMM!
The Formless Flowing Gold instantly liquefied and surged forth, condensing and solidifying in front of the sword’s tip into a palm-sized black shield covered in intricate dark gold patterns.
CLANG! PFF—
The jade sword was an Ancient Divine Weapon, after all, and its sharpness was unparalleled. The condensed, dark-gold shield only held for half a breath before it was pierced clean through.
But in the next moment, the dark gold shield’s form shifted. Like a living creature, it transformed into a terrifying maw filled with dark gold, barbed fangs, clamping down on the jade sword’s blade like a pair of iron pincers!
’Haha, it can change however I want! No wonder it’s called "Formless"!’
Su Yu commanded the Formless Flowing Gold to keep changing. The fangs stretched and morphed, transforming into a crude hand in the blink of an eye! The hand then seized the jade sword’s hilt and, with a flick of its wrist, hurled it away!
THWIP!
The jade sword shot out as a streak of white light, easily piercing the Black Iron Stake five paces away. Its hilt was still vibrating violently.
"Hahahaha, what a Trait!"
Su Yu’s figure flickered as he began experimenting with various moves in the Martial Arts Arena. He threw a punch, and the Formless Flowing Gold instantly morphed into sharp, dark gold spikes!
’If I used this against an enemy, it would be a hell of a surprise!’
’First, they’d get hit with a piercing attack! Even if they block it, they’ll still have to face my original iron-fist strike right after!’
Next, he shifted his footing and unleashed a fierce clawing attack meant to tear through armor.
Normally, that move only worked if he was within half a step of his opponent. But now, the Formless Flowing Gold at his fingertips instantly erupted, transforming into five spectral claws of dark gold!
SCREECH! The attack carved five deep grooves into the bluestone slabs several feet away. Its effective range had more than doubled!
After a series of satisfying experiments, Su Yu came to a stop.
He now had a good grasp of how to use Formless Flowing Gold.
’This Formless transformation is incredible, but it’s not omnipotent. At my current level, with only one Limit Break, I can only form simple shapes like spikes, short swords, claws, shields, or fangs. I can’t create anything more complex.’
’Second, the flowing gold can’t seem to exist independently of my body. Its maximum extension is about twenty inches. Beyond that range, it loses its cohesion and disperses back into ordinary Qi and Blood.’
’As for its attack power and hardness... it should be equivalent to the early stage of the Muscle Forging Realm. It can still be pierced by a Divine Weapon like the jade sword, which cuts through metal like mud. Still, even if it can only block for half a breath, that’s more than enough time for me to react in a fight!’
Su Yu gazed at the dark gold patterns fading back into his skin, a satisfied smile playing on his lips.
’Still, its essence seems to be generated from my Qi and Blood. Perhaps as my own power grows, the effects of the Formless Flowing Gold will become stronger as well.’
’Besides these applications, I have one more idea I could try!’
Su Yu’s expression shifted once more. He flashed over to the stake and pulled out the jade sword, a sharp glint in his eyes.