I will eventually become a god through sheer hard work.

He then closed his eyes and examined his current physical condition.

Yesterday's fierce battle with the last guardian dragon depleted my life force considerably, and I haven't fully recovered in just one night; my life force is still somewhat weak.

However, after Lv9, the [Health Preservation] skill also makes the life force recovery speed much faster. At this rate, it should be able to recover to full strength by tomorrow.

After assessing his own condition, Xue Jing calmed down and activated his consciousness simulation after a long absence.

Within the consciousness space, a pixel storm swept through, rapidly coalescing into a vast wasteland.

Xue Jing himself then appeared on the wasteland.

After checking his body data internally and confirming that it matched the actual data perfectly, he immediately took a deep breath and began circulating his internal energy.

Within the sound of the dragon's roar, a lifelike and almost realistic dragon of energy was born from within the body.

At this moment, Xue Jing's Hidden Dragon Force had reached Lv8. Combined with the talent that surpassed human species brought by Lv9 level combat, his control over force was now incomparable to what it had been before.

"Well then, let's give it a try..."

With a thought, Xue Jing's internal energy dragon underwent a sudden change.

The original structure of the force, which combined strength and gentleness and harmonized yin and yang, began to change, and all the gentle force was drawn away from the true dragon at an extremely fast speed.

Before long, the powerful dragon's eyes became glazed over, and its entire body remained motionless.

At this moment, there was no trace of 'softness' left in his body; instead, he was a 'True Dragon of Extreme Strength' composed entirely of hardness!

Compared to the rather difficult extraction process before, the formation of the True Dragon of Extreme Strength was quite smooth at this moment, requiring almost no effort from Xue Jing.

"Very good." Xue Jing's spirits lifted.

He has reached the most crucial step in the Ruyi Force of the Vajra Ruyi Hand, condensing a truly pure hardness that contains no softness whatsoever!

Next, it is crushed into powder, then integrated and kneaded into any shape at will, called "Ruyi Shaping".

Xue Jing thought for a moment, and relying on the confidence that he would not be truly harmed in the consciousness simulation, he unleashed a burst of force without any scruples.

"Crack-"

The hardness had increased to the extreme, like glass. The extremely hard dragon was shattered into countless powdery particles by Xue Jing's shake.

"Puff, puff, puff -"

Countless bloody holes immediately burst open all over Xue Jing's body, and crystal clear, viscous blood shot out in all directions, even spraying dozens of meters away.

Countless raging forces surged wildly through his body. In just an instant, two-thirds of his blood was expelled, his flesh was mangled and torn, and he was critically injured and on the verge of death.

Despite enduring inhuman pain, Xue Jing remained unmoved. With a thought, countless tiny pixels coalesced around him, filling his shattered body and repairing his injuries.

"The shattered, extreme force is uncontrollable... Let's try again."

He felt no frustration; after summarizing his experience, he immediately began to experiment again.

"Crackling—puff puff puff puff—"

Another burst of energy left Xue Jing covered in blood, but he quickly recovered from his injuries and continued.

……

Having experienced countless near-death moments, each time Xue Jing tried to control the shattered, extremely powerful force.

Each time, he makes a little bit of progress.

The injuries on his body gradually decreased, from almost completely bursting apart at the beginning to just minor tears, and then to no wounds at all.

Countless opportunities for error and an unwavering will to never forgive himself allowed him to observe his shortcomings in the most extreme and comprehensive way, resulting in a terrifyingly rapid pace of progress.

after an hour.

"Crack-"

The True Dragon of Extreme Strength shattered, and countless powdery forces scattered and ran rampant.

So-called strength is nothing but kinetic energy generated by the movement of the body itself.

At this moment, Xue Jing controlled his body's internal forces with near-perfect composure, counteracting the rampage of energy, much like a tamer patiently calming a wild beast, gradually soothing it down.

Under his control, the rampaging, extreme energy gradually became obedient and compliant.

Until one moment, Xue Jing had a sudden inspiration, and all the powdery energy was brought under his control.

The powder gathered together, began to combine and shape, and transformed back into a 'true dragon'.

This dragon was no longer the motionless, lifeless creature it had been before. Instead, it was incredibly agile, with bright, intelligent eyes. It leaped and bounded freely within Xue Jing's body, displaying remarkable flexibility and agility, even surpassing the previous dragon in its balance of strength and gentleness.

"Ow—"

The pure, primordial dragon unleashed a powerful roar that made Xue Jing's body tremble, seemingly expressing its joy at being reborn.

"It's done!"

Xue Jing opened his eyes, his gaze filled with joy.

With a thought, countless tiny pixels appeared in front of him, coalescing into the shape of the Flame Crying Dragon.

As soon as it appeared, it immediately turned its gaze to Xue Jing, its vertical pupils filled with anger, and let out a dragon's roar.

"Roar--!!"

The roar that shook the void carried a powerful airflow that blew Xue Jing's hair back, creating a slicked-back look. However, his expression remained unchanged, and he stood firmly in place like a javelin, unwavering.

The Flame-Cry Dragon lowered its head and lunged forward, its dragon head opening its massive mouth to bite Xue Jing.

Xue Jing clenched his right fist and placed it behind his right waist, assuming a starting stance for a straight punch.

The True Dragon of Ultimate Strength split in two. With Xue Jing's thoughts, one part entered his blood, igniting countless sparks, while the other part entered his muscles, stirring up wind, clouds, and thunder.

The two most diametrically opposed killing moves in the Hidden Dragon Style, Windstorm Thunder and Shaking Starfire, have now merged together.

"boom--"

The fist collided with the dragon's head, and both were eerily frozen in time.

A few seconds later, Xue Jing withdrew his fist.

Suddenly, the dragon's head began to shake rapidly, and then its skin swelled up in all directions, as if it were boiling water.

"boom!!"

The dragon head exploded, splattering blood and flesh everywhere.

In reality, Xue Jing suddenly opened his eyes.

[You have achieved enlightenment in the consciousness simulation; Hidden Dragon Strength experience points +2062]

[Specialization conditions have been met; Hidden Dragon Force has been specialized into Hidden Dragon Ruyi Force]

……

Thank you again and again and again and yet again for another generous reward from the Lord who doesn't care! Lord, you're so confused!

Chapter 163 Ultimate Killing Move: Thunder Flame Boiling Cauldron, Supreme Martial King, Seventh Urban Circle (4K)

[Hidden Dragon Ruyi Power Lv8 (2426/11000)]

Xue Jing blinked as he watched the changes in the Hidden Dragon Force.

He had experienced the 'specialization' phenomenon in the skill panel twice before.

The first instance was when the cockroach monster at Ruizhu Hotel was defeated, at which point [Yun Jin] was specialized into [Cang Long Jin].

The second time was after using [GOD-508·Hundred-Foot Pole], [Visualization] was specialized into [Visualization·True].

Both of these specialized skills are more powerful than ordinary skills, and the experience points required to upgrade them are also significantly higher than those for ordinary skills.

This time, the already specialized skill, [Hidden Dragon Force], has been further specialized...

Xue Jing looked at the experience points required to upgrade the newly created [Hidden Dragon Ruyi Force], and it had not changed from before, still being 11,000.

"From this perspective, specialized skills, like regular skills and divine skills, require a fixed amount of experience points to level up."

he thought to himself.

"Then, let's try something different..."

Xue Jing took a deep breath and began to circulate his energy.

This time, his body seemed to have undergone some kind of strange change, and the feeling of generating power was completely different from before.

The true dragon was born from within the body, no longer in the previous form of yin and yang harmony and the combination of softness and strength. Instead, as soon as it appeared, the strength of its body was composed of 'pure hardness'.

He doesn't need to perform any gentle withdrawal of force at all.

"This is..." Xue Jing was somewhat surprised.

With a thought, he disintegrated the 'Extremely Strong True Dragon' within his body and began circulating his energy anew.

The true dragon reappeared, but its body no longer possessed the hardness of the previous true dragon. Instead, it was as soft and relaxed as cotton soaked in water.

The newly born dragon roamed freely within Xue Jing's body, yet its movements were completely silent. Xue Jing could hardly sense its presence; wherever it went, it was as if flowing water or a gentle breeze had passed by, leaving only a faint, almost imperceptible, soft touch.

This is 'pure softness', a true dragon of ultimate softness composed entirely of soft energy!

"Hidden Dragon Ruyi Force... The generated force is completely at your command, it can be hard or soft as you wish."

Xue Jing jumped off the head of the Flaming Dragon, picked up a stone from the ground, and looked around. His superhuman eyesight allowed him to easily lock onto a small deer on the plain several kilometers away.

Or rather, it is a creature from the border region that resembles a small deer.

The gentle dragon flowed silently towards his right arm. Xue Jing assumed a throwing stance, took the stone, and threw it towards a deer several kilometers away.

The stone flew toward the deer at incredible speed, but strangely, it made no sound at all.

The stone hit the deer without the fawn noticing.

Strange things happened.

As if defying the laws of physics, the stone stopped immediately upon hitting the deer and landed lightly on the ground.

The fawn, as if hit by a speeding truck, flew dozens of meters away before landing gently, completely unharmed.

Only after landing did it realize that it seemed to have been knocked away, and immediately showed a frightened expression, turning around and running away into the distance.