Chapter 614: The True Bottleneck
A hundred years was nothing in the world of wizards, but for Jie Ming, this century had been exceptionally fulfilling.
Deep within the laboratory, another humanoid Dao soldier stood up from the experintal platform.
Its physique was more proportionate than the first generation, its entire body presenting a deep, muted silver-gray—the result of mixing multiple special materials. The toughness of cold iron, the energy affinity of crimson copper, the agility of void silver, the solidity of teorite steel, all fused together with refined gold as the base, combining the advantages of every material into one.
Jie Ming stood beside the platform, looking at this newly born Dao soldier, and nodded in satisfaction.
Its body was covered with dense formations. In addition to the offensive Trigram Fire Annihilation Divine Light, the defensive Return to Ruins Armor, the acceleration Great Void Step, and the tracking Causal Trace Shadow Technique, there were various auxiliary formations: energy absorption, self-repair, environntal adaptation, spiritual protection… everything one could need. Every rune was the result of repeated deliberation, optimization, and upgrading over the past century.
“What a pity.” Suddenly thinking of sothing, Jie Ming shook his head and sighed.
The yield of Imperial Flow Paste was too limited.
Although the concept of the moon had grown stronger with each generation of black giants reproducing, and the collected Moon Essence had increased, it was still far from enough for mass production of Imperial Flow Paste.
In this hundred years, he had only managed to accumulate ten bottles. Ten Dao soldiers—that was the sum of his achievents over an entire century.
If they were to be used as cannon fodder units, this number was a bit too small.
Fortunately, within the Incense Fire Divine Dao system, Dao soldiers were never ant to be produced in bulk.
They were squad leaders, elite units, trump cards capable of turning the tide of battle at critical monts.
Moreover, as long as there was sufficient Incense Divine Power, Dao soldiers were undying and indestructible.
A smaller number was not a big problem.
More importantly, Dao soldiers could grow.
The earliest refined gold Dao soldier had easily broken through to seventh-rank several decades ago.
Jie Ming had watched it climb step by step from sixth-rank, from early seventh-rank to mid seventh-rank, and now to late seventh-rank.
Its efficiency in cultivating the Body Forging Art was even higher than that of so black giant priests.
At this rate, in another few hundred years, it might even touch the threshold of eighth-rank.
“However, this is basically the limit of my current technology,” Jie Ming murmured.
After over a century of study and research, he had thoroughly integrated the parallel world’s wizard civilization’s biological modification techniques, the present world’s wizard civilization’s rune system, and the cultivation world’s Dao soldier refinent thods.
To go further, he would need deeper knowledge.
Knowledge about the essence of the soul, the origin of laws, and the fundantal logic of life’s existence.
Those things could not be learned simply by reading a few more books.
While Jie Ming was feeling troubled, the laboratory door was pushed open.
A black giant priest walked in quickly, the silver-white patterns on its body gleaming under the light.
The mont Jie Ming saw it, the frustration on his face vanished, and his eyes lit up.
“Completed?”
The black giant priest bowed deeply. “My lord, the spatial teleportation array inside the grotto-heaven has been fully installed. It has successfully connected with the plane and undergone repeated testing.”
Jie Ming smiled.
Its presence here was the best proof.
This ant a stable spatial channel had been established between the grotto-heaven within his body and the Infernal Sulfur Plane.
He had actually had this idea for a long ti, but previously he had no use for a spatial teleportation array.
Because every ti before going to war, he would bring the most elite combat forces from the black giant community with him.
Ordinary black giants were of little use when taken out—low-intensity wars did not require them, while high-intensity wars would only send them to their deaths. But things were different now.
Because the Dao soldier system was complete.
As a combat-specialized subsystem within the Incense Fire Divine Dao, its role was not limited to producing elite Dao soldiers.
It could also grant combat power enhancents to all believers in the Incense Fire Divine Dao, allowing ordinary black giants to achieve a qualitative leap in a short ti. More importantly, believers who were on the verge of death could be automatically teleported back to the core area of the Incense Fire Divine Dao—that is, the Infernal Sulfur Plane.
Considering that the black giant race itself possessed an exaggerated recovery ability, as long as they did not die, they could rapidly heal their injuries in a short period. Once this spatial teleportation array was established, it ant Jie Ming could possess a true “infinite army.”
As long as the intensity of the battlefield did not exceed a certain limit, relying on the black giants’ healing speed and the near-death teleportation chanism, this army could ensure a continuous surge of combat power.
In other words, as long as the Incense Fire Divine Dao existed and the Infernal Sulfur Plane remained, his army would never truly suffer permanent losses.
“Well done.”
Jie Ming waved his hand, dismissing the black giant priest.
The laboratory fell quiet once more. He sat cross-legged before the experintal platform and sank his consciousness into his spiritual sea.
Deep within the spiritual sea, the Ring of Truth rotated slowly.
Encircling it were several fine golden threads, each representing a law he had grasped.
The longest one was naturally the Spiritual Qi Law he primarily cultivated.
Jie Ming looked at that golden law thread and sighed helplessly.
After a century of learning and research, his law comprehension had finally reached fifty percent.
It was neither fast nor slow.
The problem did not lie there.
The problem was… he was stuck.
It was not that his law comprehension could not increase at all, but he could clearly feel that after researching all aspects of knowledge to a certain depth, he could no longer proceed.
Those deeper, more essential things were like being separated by frosted glass—he could see the vague outlines but could never clearly discern the details.
Jie Ming opened his eyes, his gaze falling on the newly born Dao soldier on the experintal platform.
The reason he could not continue improving the Dao soldiers was not due to a lack of knowledge or textbooks, but because with his current wisdom, he could not learn those deeper things.
This was the bottleneck.
Only it was not a bottleneck of the wizard system, but a bottleneck of the cultivation system.
In the wizard system, law comprehension depended entirely on the amount of knowledge. Although he could not conduct deeper research, he could still continue improving by studying other subsystems of the Incense Fire Divine Dao.
But on the cultivation side, his path had been severed.
In terms of cultivation, his spiritual power was still increasing, his ntal power was still growing, and his body continued to strengthen under the support of the Body Forging Art, seemingly without end. But the Dao… he could no longer seek it.
Jie Ming leaned back in his chair, gazing at the ceiling, and suddenly smiled. “This… is the true bottleneck of the Spirit Transformation Stage.”
It was different from the previous levels.
Qi Refinent, Foundation Establishnt, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul—each stage had paths paved by predecessors for those who ca after.
Those artificially created bottlenecks could always be overco as long as there were sufficient resources, suitable cultivation thods, and decent luck.
But the Spirit Transformation Stage was different.
From Spirit Transformation onward, every step was an exploration of the “Dao.”
And exploring the Dao required comprehension, innate talent, and that inborn insight into the myriad things of heaven and earth.
It was like learning mathematics.
So people found it strenuous by junior high, so only began to struggle in high school, and so would collapse when facing advanced mathematics in university. But unless one was a genius capable of leaving a na in the history of mathematics, everyone on the path of mathematics would eventually encounter a bottleneck they could neither learn nor even understand.
Cultivation was the sa.
So people were born with great wisdom. Even at the Qi Refinent stage, they could complete their exploration of the Dao through their own comprehension and directly achieve the Dao Fruit—that is, the so-called “enlightennt into immortality.”
Others, even if they continuously raised their ranks through various ans, would ultimately remain forever stuck on the path of seeking the Dao because their comprehension was insufficient.
Jie Ming sensed the spiritual power, ntal power, and physical strength still growing within his body, then looked at the stagnant golden law threads in his spiritual sea. His heart beca clear.
He was one of the latter.
Of course, Jie Ming did not belittle himself. Compared to ordinary wizards, he could indeed be considered a genius, but there were differences even among geniuses. Just as so people could learn calculus at fourteen and were undoubtedly true geniuses in the eyes of those around them.
But in the eyes of certain great figures, these so-called geniuses had rely just obtained the qualification to be called “human.”
Undoubtedly, Jie Ming knew very well that he was not so peerless genius.
And judging by the average wisdom level of a fifth-rank wizard, he could only be considered a rather lucky “ordinary person.”
“Good thing…” Jie Ming stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the gray-red sky outside. “The predecessors of the cultivation world have already found a new path for .”
For the sake of his own Dao path, Jie Ming had made preparations “very early” on.
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