The Martial Unity

Months passed as Rui patiently adhered to his word. He didn't want to waste any more time in the Garden of Salvation than absolutely necessary. The Elder Tree was thankfully intelligent, learning math and science at a remarkable speed.

I don't understand this problem.

The Elder Tree projected the numerical into Rui's head. It was an elementary trigonometric equation that required simplification.

"It's simple," Rui patiently informed it. "Apply the expressions sine-two-theta equals two sine-theta-cos-theta, and cos-two-theta equals cos-squared-theta minus sin-squared-theta. Once the angles of the trigonometric terms are equal, you can cancel them out, and you'll be left with a simplified expression."

I see. That does indeed solve the problem.

Rui ensured that the quality of the education that he imparted to the Elder Tree was high so that the rate of learning and time period required to learn everything he needed to know was high.

Why have you been circling around the Garden of Salvation over and over for the past few months everyday? the Elder Tree asked, curious.

"Don't mind him," Kane yawned, bored. "He does weird shit like that all the time."

"It's because I am planning to add the Garden of Salvation to my Mind Palace to accommodate the flood of information that you will be supplying me," Rui replied. "My current Mind Palace is not large enough to store the flood of information that you will be supplying me."

I see; that is prudent. It will certainly increase the probability that your mind will come away with its sanity intact.

"In addition, I am studying your domain bending," Rui added clinically. "You may not be able to teach me, but I still certainly have much to learn just by watching you so close. I doubt I will see anything remotely as spectacular in terms of domain bending for a long time."

Though, admittedly, Rui felt equally awed and grim when he witnessed the magnificence of the world-bending of the Elder Tree.

I would suggest not comparing your Flowing Void Style with my Garden of Salvation, it advised him in a friendly tone. Remember, I am a tree. My entire existence is stationary and integrated into the world. My roots are deeply integrated into the earth, while my enormous branches and leaves are deeply integrated into the heavens. Unlike any other species in existence, I have a very specific and extraordinary affinity with heaven and earth.

Rui understood what the Elder Tree was trying to convey to him.

The Elder Tree was to domain techniques what fish were to water. Its very existence at its root, literally and metaphorically, was inclined towards domain bending. In comparison, humans did not have any particularly strong affinity as a species. That was why the Martial Paths of humanity were so diverse and varied.

"You also have powerful hypnosis," Rui noted.

That is by virtue of the primacy of my intelligence and the sheer size of my body and everything in it. Pound-for-pound, your affinity for hypnosis is far greater than my innate affinity for it.

That made sense.

Furthermore, if you break through the Master Realm, I suspect you will exceed my paltry prowess in this regard.

"Mmmm." Rui nodded before raising his eyebrow. "Say, how do you know what the Master Realm is all about? That's not something that is common knowledge."

Over the centuries, I could not help but notice that Martial Artists of the 'Master Realm' had expanded consciousnesses and extraordinarily sophisticated combat styles. I managed to put two and two together. In addition, my flora network extends into the human domain and thus I am able to spy on humanity.

Rui narrowed his eyes. "That's quite the thing to reveal to a human."

It is a gesture of goodwill in regard to our agreement. In addition, communicating will be easier if you are aware of this channel of communication. There are some species of flora for which I have a high affinity for due to our similar genetic makeups. If you plant these in the human domain, we will be able to communicate back and forth directly.

The Elder Tree had an interest in revealing this communication network because if it was to make the best use of the Martial capital that Rui had pledged to dedicate to aiding its survival, then it needed to communicate with him effectively.

After all, its requirements were extremely complicated and comprehensive. Without extensive communication between both sides, there was no way that it could possibly coordinate its requirements with Rui and the Kandrian Empire.

"Oh?" Rui raised an eyebrow. "In that case, are you willing to enter a mutual intelligence exchange agreement?"

Certainly, intelligence exchanges are harmless and mutually beneficial.

Rui grinned. "Nice."

This was an extremely lucrative agreement for the Kandrian Empire. Gaining access to reliable intelligence across the entire Beast Domain was a priceless asset. One of the reasons that the powers that drove humanity had not conducted more extensive operations or a full-scale invasion into the Beast Domain was that the lack of intelligence drastically increased the likelihood of losses and casualties.

The consensus among experts was that the human domain, in its totality, was more powerful but not powerful enough to get away with anything more than a bloody pyrrhic victory. One of the reasons for that evaluation was the startling lack of comprehensive intelligence into everything that could be factored in, including and especially the environment.

In other words, lack of intelligence was why large-scale operations into the Beast Domain were rare. There were too many points of failure for such operations to have any chance of nothing going wrong.

But with the intelligence from a being that was the equivalent of the Beggar's Sect of the Beast Domain, the Kandrian Empire had an enormous edge over the other fourteen Sage-level powerhouses across humanity.

It was as big a strategic advantage when it came to the Beast Domain as the Silas Clan. In other words, Rui had brought the Kandrian Empire a second trump card that could potentially elevate the Kandrian Empire above all other nations!

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