Chapter 247 (1/2)

Chapter 247

Project Beat the Heavens: Day 4, 10:30AM; Apartment 20A, New Hongsheng District, Tiannan City .

A long silence befell the living room after Li Yundong's bold and, admittedly, borderline insane declaration . Zi Yuan seemed pensive, hesitant even, like she didn't know what to make of his new idea .

His heart sank into a sea of disappointment .

Did she not think it would work?

Li Yundong glanced down at the paper in his hand . Zi Yuan had made several other annotations that would allow him to come up with a solid design and put his idea into practice . One in particular was written beside the circle overlapping the stick figure's midsection .

Striking target: Vital Orb

Another one was written beside the stick figure's head .

If on ground (standing vertical) strikes Baihui .

No . This had to be it . He was convinced that this was the answer . Zi Yuan had said it herself that exposure to the Heavenly Thunder would strengthen the Vital Orb . But isn't the Vital Orb just Zhenqi held together by the Essence inside the lower Dantian? The Zhenqi is the stuff that the Vital Orb is made up of . In other words, the Zhenqi is the substance that will absorb the Heavens' spiritual energy; and the strengthening of the Vital Orb is merely a consequence of that .

Now, if he could extrapolate that principle and then apply it to his Qi Probe . . .

”I'm not saying that it won't work . . . ”

Li Yundong raised his gaze from the paper . Finally, Zi Yuan had spoken . Finally .

”But? I sense a but coming . ”

His stomach twisted into a tight knot as soon as those words left his mouth .

”I'm just . . . ” Zi Yuan shook her head . ”I'm just wondering how we can make the idea work . ” Her sharp gaze zeroed in on his face . ”First of all, there's no guarantee that the absorption would occur at one-hundred percent efficiency . In fact, I don't think it's even possible to achieve that level of efficiency . ”

”No . ” Li Yundong held her gaze firmly . ”It doesn't have to be one-hundred percent efficient . I just have to—”

”What? What do you mean it doesn't have to be one-hundred percent efficient?” Zi Yuan frowned . She didn't sound impressed at all . ”Of course the absorption has to be perfect! That's a must!” Zi Yuan took a deep breath, then exhaled . ”Alright, look . In principle, you'll have to utilize at least 50% of the Heavenly Thunder's power to be able to push back or cancel out the remaining half . But that's not going to happen if a portion of the spiritual energy is lost during the absorption . ”

Li Yundong opened his mouth to speak but was quickly silenced by Zi Yuan's raised palm .

”Trying to absorb more than 50% would be a terrible idea . ” Zi Yuan gave him a hard stare . ”The process would take too long if you absorb more than 50% . You'll be struck down before you could even repel it with Qi Kinesis!” There was a pause . ”50% is the upper limit . Any more than that is suicide . ” Zi Yuan sighed . ”Unfortunately, it is impossible to absorb even that much . A portion of spiritual energy will be lost due to inefficient absorption . ”

”What if I turn it into speed, instead?”

Zi Yuan froze, blinking several times . Silence spread between them .

”Instead of trying to repel the Heavenly Thunder with the borrowed spiritual energy, what if I use it to increase my speed?” Li Yundong could barely contain the thrill coursing through his veins right then . ”Heck, I weigh less than 80 kilos! I bet I only need to absorb, like, 1% from each bolt and that's already gonna increase my movement speed by a significant amount . ”

Despite her blank look on her face, Zi Yuan's eyes now held a glimmer of hope . Li Yundong took a step forward and grabbed Zi Yuan's arms .

”Advanced Qi Kinesis, Zi Yuan,” Li Yundong said excitedly . ”That's one of the first things you taught me when I was learning how to fly . ”

”Converting spiritual energy into kinetic energy,” Zi Yuan said .

”Exactly . ” Li Yundong smirked and released Zi Yuan's arms . ”I can apply the same principle here . The only difference is that I'll be converting the spiritual energy borrowed from the Heavenly Thunder instead of my own . ”

Zi Yuan hooked a stand of hair behind her ear and walked over to the couch . She dropped the ap.r.o.n onto the coffee table, then lowered herself onto the couch .

”Okay…” Zi Yuan said slowly . ”So right now, we still have the extended time window for you to react . ” Zi Yuan glanced up at him . ”You can still feel the strike in advance because your Zhenqi will be up there in the sky . ”

Li Yundong nodded .

”But on top of that,” Zi Yuan continued, ”you now have the speed boost from the Jindan's Aura, and also the speed boost from Heavenly Thunder itself . ”

”Yes,” Li Yundong said . ”Basically, I'm combining all of our previous ideas into one solution . ”

Zi Yuan nodded, then suddenly paused in thought .

Li Yundong decided right then that he didn't like the frown on her face .

”What is it?”

”I just thought of another issue that we need to address,” Zi Yuan said, bending down and picking up another sheet of paper from the floor .

Li Yundong stepped forward until he was standing beside the coffee table .

Zi Yuan waved the paper a few times . ”Remember this experiment yesterday?”

Li Yundong nodded . It was one of his failed ideas where he had tried to use Qi Kinesis to slow down (since deflecting it was impossible) the Heavenly Thunder .

”Right . ” Zi Yuan placed the paper onto the table and pointed at something he'd sketched on the paper . ”The problem with this method is that it requires too much mental focus . In the end, you were so distracted with Qi Kinesis that you couldn't even dodge in time . ” She looked up from the paper . ”You might run into the same problem with this new idea . ” She gave him a hopeful look . ”Do you have a workaround for that problem?”

Li Yundong smiled and raised a finger . ”I've thought about that actually . And I think I've figured why that method didn't work . Here . . . Let me just . . . ” He glanced around the living room until he spotted the pencil on the floor . He picked up the pencil and then kneeled down beside the coffee table .

”Thanks,” he said when Zi Yuan pushed the sketch towards him . He flipped the paper on its back . ”The reason why it didn't work . . . ” Li Yundong drew another stick figure near the bottom edge of the paper . ”…is because . . . ” Li Yundong added a long ellipse which stretched from the stick figure's feet towards the top edge of the paper . ” . . . of this . ” He tapped the pencil on the interior portion of the ellipse .

Zi Yuan stared at the paper for a moment . ”I see…” She returned her gaze to Li Yundong's face . ”The volume was too big . There was too much Zhenqi for you to handle, that's why you lost focus . ”

Li Yundong smiled . ”Exactly . I recruited a large amount of Zhenqi to form that ellipsoid yesterday because it was necessary . ”

”Mm,” Zi Yuan said . ”The more Zhenqi you use, the more likely it'd be able to slow the Heavenly Thunder down . ”

Li Yundong nodded . ”But . . . ” He raised a finger . ”Right now we're not trying to slow it down anymore . ” He paused for a beat . ”We're no longer trying to fight force with force . ”

Zi Yuan eyes slid shut as she exhaled lengthily . ”And this is where your Qi Probe comes in . . . ”

Li Yundong smiled and added a tapering rod-like structure inside the ellipse .

”A concentrated beam, like a detector,” he said, finis.h.i.+ng the sketch . ”Which occupies much less volume . ”

”Hence will require a lot less mental focus to use,” Zi Yuan said, completing his train of thought .

”Voila . ” The pencil rolled away after Li Yundong dropped it onto the table .

There was a long pause .

”Li Yundong,” Zi Yuan said, reaching over to pat his shoulder . ”You're an absolute genius . ”

Li Yundong chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck . ”Well . We still don't know if it'll work . ”

”Only one way to find out . ” Zi Yuan glanced over at the jade plate .

Li Yundong followed her gaze .

So this was it, then . Make or break .

Project Beat the Heavens: Day 4, 11:05AM; Apartment 20A, New Hongsheng District, Tiannan City .

Zi Yuan nearly laughed when the Heir all but yelped the moment he saw her appearing beside him inside the simulation .

”H-Hey! Y- You're here!”

”Great observational skills,” Zi Yuan said dryly, then arched her brow . ”You do know that I own the jade plate, right?”

”Oh . ” The Heir blinked a few times . ”It's just . . . You never appeared during the previous simulations . ”

”No, I didn't . ” Zi Yuan smirked . ”But this time, I want to see the simulation for myself . ”

The Heir chuckled . ”Now you're making me nervous . ” Then, he stopped laughing as though he'd just thought of something . He shot her a worried glance . ”Hey . . . Wouldn't you be struck too if you're here?”

Zi Yuan shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt . You're both so alike, Master . Always worrying about other people before yourselves . . .

”Don't worry . ” Zi Yuan smiled rea.s.suringly . ”I'm controlling the whole thing . ” She gestured at their surroundings with a twirl of her finger . ”Besides, I'm not part of the simulation, so you don't have to worry about me . ”

Li Yundong nodded . ”Right . ” He glanced around a few times, then back at her . ”Show time?”

Zi Yuan nodded . ”I'll be watching from a distance . That way I can pick up on things that would help you refine the idea . ”

Li Yundong nodded . ”Thanks . I appreciate that . ”

”Stay put,” Zi Yuan said as she did a hand sign .

Seconds later, she was teleported to a ”hill” that would give her a vantage point of the Heir .

”Ready when you are,” Zi Yuan said .

A moment later, the Jindan's Aura came alive, and the Heir's body began glowing brightly .

The Heir raised his arm to give her a thumbs up .

Alright . Here we go . . .

”In three . . . two . . . one . . . Begin!”

Zi Yuan performed another hand sign, lowered her hand, and then held her breath . The Heir's eyes were glued to the sky, but Zi Yuan knew that his Zhenqi was already up there, ready to detect the first energy spike .

The air was charged with tension as seconds went by in total silence . Zi Yuan bit her lip and balled her fists . Please let it work . . . Please . . .

There was a bright flash . Here it comes! A thundering crackle ensued .

WHAM!

”Waaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!”

Cold dread coursed through Zi Yuan .

Wait, what? Where is he? Where is . . .

Zi Yuan spotted a charred hole on the ground .

The Heir wasn't there .

Dread instantly turned into joy . It worked! He dodged it!

”Waaaaahhhhhhh!!”

The scream came from above .

Zi Yuan looked up and burst into giggles when she saw the Heir cartwheeling through the air .

”Pfft! Hahaha . . . ”

The Heir smashed into a huge boulder far away from the spot where the first bolt had struck .

There was another flash, which was quickly followed by another crackle . The Heir screamed, but this time, it was a scream of agony . Zi Yuan flew closer and watched the Heir's body being engulfed by lighting before disappearing in a bright flash .

Zi Yuan's lips curved into a smile as she performed another hand sign .

The Heir was writhing and groaning on the floor when Zi Yuan appeared inside the apartment a moment later .

As though sensing her presence, the Heir stopped rolling and sat up .

”Well . . . That hurt like a b.i.t.c.h . . . ”

Zi Yuan chuckled . ”But you dodged the first bolt . ”

The Heir's eyes lit up in joy . ”Yeah!” A second later, his shoulders sagged . ”But now we have another problem . I gotta figure out a way to get the dodging motion under control . ” He gave her a wry look . ”You saw what happened just now, right?”

Zi Yuan suppressed a giggle and gave him a smirk instead . ”Let's just say it was one of the worst acrobatic stunts I've ever seen . ”

Li Yundong chuckled . ”I'll have to fix that . ” He paused in thought . ”Maybe change the geometry of the Qi Probe . ”