I, the Lord of the Fifth Throne, am the source of all things!

After all, Duanmu Lian knew that she was not like Reinhardt and Fujii Ren, who could soar to the level of combat power above the multiverse in a short period of time.

He is very strong now, but if he wants to fully control this power, he must learn some skills.

Prior to this, Duanmu Lian cultivated her martial arts skills to the Gang Jin level by absorbing the memories of her former self to aid her training.

Afterwards, in the training space, he received training from the heroes of Liangshanbo in "Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple", and his hand and foot skills are now at the level of "Master".

To reach the level of "unbreakable spirit" in Chinese martial arts, and the master level in "Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple in History", one must...

Duanmu Lian must find her own path and transform her soul.

Finally, one must integrate essence, energy, and spirit to achieve perfect control over one's body.

"Buzz!"

After Isshin Ashina disappeared, the training space switched to another opponent based on Duanmu Lian's memories, which also changed the battle scene in the entire space.

The environment that appeared before Duanmu Lian seemed to be at the base of some giant tree.

Sunlight streamed down from directly above the treetops, illuminating the roots and branches of the giant tree.

The space here is not narrow, but rather quite spacious.

The space was filled with blooming white flowers, creeping roots and branches of the sacred tree, and red leaves falling from the branches that grew from the twisted roots, almost completely filling the semi-enclosed space.

What appeared before Duanmu Lian was a woman sitting on an antique chair.

The other person appeared to be very tall, with long red hair and wearing golden armor.

The slightly faded holy gold armor was covered by a deep red cloak, and where the right arm should have been, through an opening in the armor at the shoulder, one could vaguely see the blackened, shriveled limb inside.

The long legs revealed beneath the armored skirt were also a pair of prosthetic feet covered in golden armor.

The red-haired woman tilted her head slightly back, her left arm gently resting against the roots of the giant tree, appearing as if she had become one with it.

Seemingly sensing Duanmu Lian's utterly calm gaze, the disabled woman slightly turned her head to look at the blue-haired man holding a sword and staring at her.

In Duanmu Lian's eyes, the other person's eyes were covered with a tangled, flower-like pattern of decaying marks, indicating that the other person was unable to see.

The red-haired woman slowly rose, her deep and ethereal voice echoing in Duanmu Lian's ears.

"...I had a very long dream."

"His body lost its golden luster, and his blood became stagnant and putrid..."

"Countless corpses were piled up..."

"Just to wait for that person's return."

As if talking to herself, or perhaps in a dream, the tall, red-haired woman reattached the golden prosthetic arm with a sword to the severed limb, and then put on a golden helmet with wings attached.

The woman, who resembled a Valkyrie, now had her limbs intact, her tall body standing straight, and she began to release a sharp aura that subtly surpassed that of Isshin Ashina before.

She turned to Duanmu Lian with her sword in hand and stepped towards her.

"Feel it well... I, Malenia... the reason for my invincibility."

"I feel a strong sense of déjà vu. Although my soul cannot recall the memories, I deeply remember the feeling of fighting with you!"

Duanmu Lian also stepped towards the red-haired woman who was taller than him. After closing the distance, he suddenly swung his katana and slashed at her.

He had no memory of fighting the woman in front of him, but he knew her background and identity.

Marlenia is a character from the game "Elden Ring".

She is the younger of the twin demigods born to Marika and the second king, Fladagan. Therefore, she has a nature completely different from that of a demigod and is called a god-man. She possesses the most sacred runes.

Born with the law of corruption, because gods and humans are self-fertile, they have congenital physical deformities and defects, and use golden prosthetics to complete their hands and feet. They possess extremely high swordsmanship skills.

One generation of Duanmu Lian had been to that world and fought a battle with the Valkyrie in front of her.

clang———!

Duanmu Lian and Marlenia clashed, their blades striking each other, the sharp, cold light rubbing together fiercely, sparks flying.

However, this stalemate was only temporary.

In the next instant, Duanmu Lian's arm muscles suddenly clenched, and the enormous force was transmitted to the sword, directly sending Marlenia flying.

The golden armor trembled violently, and the towering Valkyrie tumbled several times in mid-air before dissipating the impact, finally landing firmly on the roots of the giant tree.

Duanmu Lian's sword flashed and struck before her opponent could even regain his footing.

The sword technique, the secret technique Dragon Flash, unleashed a wide-range, sharp vacuum wave that flew towards Marlenia like a continuous rain.

Marlenia also paid a heavy price to break through the encirclement of the slashing waves and launched a desperate counterattack.

Water birds are dancing!

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang—"

In an instant, Duanmu Lian seemed to hear the sharp sound of clashing blades, as if it were the chirping of birds.

The illusory image of sharp blades, barely visible to the naked eye, swirled and surged around Marlenia, approaching Duanmu Lian like a storm.

The seemingly chaotic and disorderly waterbirds danced wildly, each strike deadly, each one calmly and mercilessly aimed at his vital points.

Despite the sharp energy that grazed her cheek, Duanmu Lian remained unfazed.

Secret Technique: Lotus Heart!

He abruptly stepped back, sheathed his sword, and then his right arm holding the sword became a blurry phantom.

"Clang clang clang clang clang!!!!!"

Duanmu Lian and Marlenia's blades began to clash fiercely at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, and the storm of sword energy created a tangible vacuum between them.

Sheathing the sword, drawing the sword, sheathing the sword, drawing the sword, sheathing the sword, drawing the sword...

Duanmu Lian's blurry right arm continued this movement, seemingly making a cut, but with each strike and retraction, countless continuous sword energy slashes appeared.

The dense array of sword lights and sword energy had already formed a tangible lotus-shaped slashing network in front of Duanmu Lian.

Despite the opponent's chaotic waterbird attack, the attacker fiercely suppressed the opponent and ultimately defeated them, forcing them into the second phase.

This is a sword technique adapted from the secret technique of Ashina-ryu swordsmanship, Isshin. It was created by Duanmu Lian imitating Vergil's rapid sword draw and combo attacks with the Yamato sword in Devil May Cry.

Therefore, the heart is called the lotus heart.

Marlenia's swordsmanship style is completely different from Japanese Kendo, making it a completely different kind of combat for Duanmu Lian.

Although it was novel, it didn't feel novel at all.

The best training is through combat.

He honed his skills by throwing punches and wielding swords.

In order to transcend the bondage of eternity.

Duanmu Lian, a nihilist, believed that it must be the most meaningful thing, so he was very positive and motivated!

But focusing on the memories of countless individuals is a rather distant goal.

He is challenging the "infinite" beyond human reason.

So no matter how many times he is reborn or dies, he still cannot see the end.

"I don't feel a real sense of constantly getting stronger or continuously researching; it feels so empty..."

After finishing her battle with Malenia, Duanmu Lian sighed helplessly as she stepped out of the training space.

Objectively speaking, there is no doubt that Duanmu Lian has become many times stronger than she was at the beginning, and she is even getting stronger every day.

But so what? In his soul and even in his spirit, he felt that everything was as it should be.

It wasn't like he was cultivating to become stronger; it was more like he was slowly reclaiming the power that was rightfully his.

Duanmu Lian was also aware that this was a side effect of his premonition. After his soul became stronger, he also gained some insights into the things that his 'self' had done in the past.

His current experience of cultivating and becoming stronger is something that many Duanmu Lians have already gone through.

Doing the same thing a thousand times, ten thousand times, a hundred million times, a trillion times... anyone would feel a nauseating sense of disgust.

Although Duanmu Lian did not feel nauseous or disgusted, she did feel a sense of emptiness from her efforts not yielding results and not feeling any real sense of becoming stronger.

"There's nothing we can do about it; you just have to be patient during this phase."

In response to Duanmu Lian's reaction, Dalian sat on a magic book with her legs crossed, and shrugged helplessly.

Previously, his soul lacked the capacity to perceive the sense of awareness, but now that Duanmu Lian has become much more powerful, he should be happy about it.

No, or perhaps Duanmu Lian has already been happy.

This feeling wasn't something Duanmu Lian had experienced for the first time, so he couldn't truly grasp its uniqueness.

“That’s true… Dalian, now that I’ve completed this stage of my training, I need to choose which path to take. I’m somewhat inclined towards the path of spiritual martial arts.”

After a day of practice, Duanmu Lian began her meal-based practice according to the schedule arranged by Dalian.

This refers to the food ritual practice at the Shokurinji Temple in the world of Toriko.

Duanmu Lian held a bowl and chopsticks, eating rice with a rice-wrapped egg inside. This kind of rice was very special; each grain of rice was a tiny egg, and after cooking, it would become a rice-wrapped boiled egg.

However, because the eggs inside are too small and too fragile, it is best to carefully pick them out one by one with chopsticks.

Of course, skilled people can eat large bites of the egg without breaking it.

If you accidentally break one grain, the surrounding grains will also break in a chain reaction, affecting the overall taste.

Now, Duanmu Lian has enough control over his body to eat large mouthfuls of rice.

"The path of spiritual martial arts...?"

Hearing that Duanmu Lian favored this path and did not choose the path of magic, Dalian was not disappointed. Instead, she lowered her head and pondered for a moment before continuing:

"Your predecessors have walked this path for a considerable time, and their accumulated knowledge means you don't have to start from scratch. There are indeed many directions this path can extend in."

Duanmu Lian chose this path because, in the world of the God Throne, the human heart occupies a very important position.

It was also repeatedly mentioned by the first Lord of the Throne, the True Self.

Everything is a tapestry woven from the colors of the human heart...

The desires within the world of gods are what people yearn for.