The rain was a torrential downpour, with fat drops the size of soybeans pattering down.
Dark clouds rolled across the horizon as if heralding the apocalypse. Jagged bolts of purple lightning, like writhing dragons, plunged into the vast mountain range in an instant. The deafening ROAR of thunder was overwhelming, and one could even faintly hear the startled howls of countless Desolate Beasts echoing from within the mountains.
But the might of heaven and earth was terrifying beyond asure. How could re mortals or Desolate Beasts possibly stand against it?
KABOOM!
A massive bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky, striking the entrance to a valley.
The intense flash of lightning illuminated the entire valley, revealing a pool of water. By the pool's edge, Hong Yu was wielding his long spear in the torrential downpour.
A year for the saber, a month for the staff, a lifeti for the spear!
This saying was an undeniable truth, whether for the Ancient Martial Grandmasters of Earth or the powerful Martial Artists of the Cyan Cloud Continent.
Hacking, piercing, swinging, thrusting...
Hong Yu repeated the most fundantal movents of his spear technique over and over. With each repetition, his motions grew more fluid, his speed increasing. Amidst the relentless rain, his figure beca a blur, the afterimages of his long spear fading into the darkness of the night.
At first, Hong Yu could create over twenty afterimages with his spear in a single instant.
But as his practice deepened his understanding of the spear, each of his strikes now only produced eighteen afterimages.
Seventeen...
Sixteen...
The number of afterimages continued to decrease.
However, as the number of afterimages dwindled, the power behind each of Hong Yu's thrusts steadily increased.
At first, a single thrust from Hong Yu's spear could only scatter the falling sheets of rain.
The longer he practiced, the more focused Hong Yu's attacks beca.
And naturally, so did their power!
BOOM!
With this thrust, the surrounding raindrops were blasted away, creating a montary vacuum. He had now condensed the afterimages down to ten, and the strike's power was far more focused and potent—a full fifty percent stronger than when he had first learned Destruction. This fifty percent was not to be underestimated. Hong Yu's base strength was over a thousand pounds, and his original Destruction technique could amplify that power threefold.
In other words, a force of over three thousand pounds.
With the additional fifty percent, Hong Yu's Destruction Strike could now unleash a force of a full four thousand pounds. This already surpassed the all-out attack of a Half-Step Earth Soul Realm expert. For soone at the Late Ninth Layer of the Essence Realm to command such terrifying combat power, this Destruction technique could rival a Low-level Mortal Skill.
However, even this level of power was not enough to satisfy Hong Yu.
'No, that's not it.'
Hong Yu shook his head, his brows knitted together. 'The power of this move can be raised even higher.'
Hong Yu had deconstructed and adapted the spear technique, Destruction, from the fragntary moves he had seen Feng Xue Xin use. Especially with the analysis perford in the Shadow Martial Space, he knew the Destruction Strike was capable of imnse power. Hong Yu had a hunch that if he could completely master this technique, he could hold his own even against an Early-stage Earth Soul Realm expert.
Unfortunately, the technique was incredibly difficult to grasp, and Hong Yu wanted to comprehend it completely.
'Back when I fought Lin Hai and his partner, the Destruction Strike I unleashed was at its absolute peak. At that mont, I was watching their attacks and had a sudden flash of insight, executing the move subconsciously... Wait a minute...'
A sudden glint flashed in Hong Yu's calm eyes, and he shut them.
In his mind's eye, Hong Yu replayed every single detail of his clash with Lin Hai and his partner. He pored over their every word and action, focusing on the exact mont their attacks had triggered his flash of insight. Abruptly, Hong Yu's eyes flew open, a trace of wild joy flashing within them.
'That's it. The combination of ice and fire, the fusion of fast and slow...'
'So that's why I always felt that Destruction had a major flaw, even when I brought it to the Realm of Perfection. I never truly grasped the essence of the technique shown in the Shadow Martial Space. The most crucial part of this strike is actually fusing it with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.'
Hong Yu muttered to himself.
An image surfaced in his mind: the spear technique Feng Xue Xin had used to slay the Tier Two Wild Beast, the Dominating Demon Ape.
Hong Yu finally understood. Beyond the wrist vibrations and Dark Force techniques, the most crucial elent of Feng Xue Xin's spear technique was the fusion of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. Mortal-Level Martial Skills—why were they called "Mortal-Level"? At its core, the na ant Mortal Transformation. But what did it an to undergo Mortal Transformation?
It ant channeling the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi!
Without the amplification from Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, the power of a Mortal-Level Martial Skill would be drastically reduced.
'Lin Hai is a Half-Step Earth Soul Realm expert. Given Hong Hu's talent, he's undoubtedly stronger, not weaker. My earlier guess that he might already be a true Earth Soul Realm expert isn't impossible. I have a premonition that Hong Hu will make a move against here in the Abyssal Mountain Range. I absolutely cannot let my guard down.' Hong Yu's eyes flashed with resolve as he gritted his teeth. 'I must learn to sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.'
Hong Yu had already mastered the chanics of Destruction; if he wanted to increase its power further, his only path was to sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
By amplifying the Destruction technique with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, its power would multiply. It might even surpass the five-thousand-pound mark, becoming a trump card that would allow him to contend with an Earth Soul Realm expert!
'Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi... It's the essence of the world, an energy that perates everything between heaven and earth. If I want to sense its existence, I have to completely rge with my surroundings, to try and beco one with its source. Only then will I succeed...'
Hong Yu began to empty his mind.
He entered a state of deep, relaxed ditation. Spreading his hands open, he let the cold rain continue to beat down upon his body.
SPLASH. SPLASH. SPLASH.
The rain beat down relentlessly, but Hong Yu still couldn't find the feeling of rging with the world, let alone sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
KABOOM!
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning as thick as a water bucket crashed down from the sky, striking the massive, ancient tree where Hong Yu had been taking shelter just monts before.
The tree, over a hundred feet tall with a canopy spanning nearly a thousand square feet, exploded under the lightning's power, erupting into a raging inferno. The firelight illuminated more than half the valley, making it as bright as day. Despite the drenching downpour, the flas on the tree showed no sign of diminishing.
As the tree burned, sothing stirred within Hong Yu, who had been unable to find even a hint of the path forward.
He could feel a faint warmth spreading through the air, emanating from the burning tree. A thought struck Hong Yu. He realized that despite being a good distance from the tree, the aura of the flas was exceptionally clear. The flas seed to be fond of him, like tiny Fla Elves swirling and dancing all around him.
'Flas? This... this is the Fire Attribute of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi! The Fla Elves!'
Hong Yu was ecstatic.
He could finally sense the presence of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
'This... Is this fire? Is it all fire?'
Hong Yu's gaze sharpened, his shock palpable.
He discovered that as the surrounding temperature rose, the number of Fla Elves he could faintly sense also grew. They danced around him, sending out waves of goodwill. He felt no disharmony with the fire whatsoever; instead, he felt a deep affinity, as if they were two parts of a whole.
These Fla Elves were the very manifestation of the Fire Attribute of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
Though inwardly thrilled, Hong Yu suppressed his excitent and began to slowly make contact with the Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi. At his touch, the Fla Elves were startled and fled a short distance, but after sensing no malicious intent from him, they slowly drew near again.
The aura emanating from Hong Yu was simply too alluring for them to resist.
Once the Fla Elves had cald down and no longer resisted him, Hong Yu began to slowly circulate his Profound Skill.
As the Profound Skill circulated, the Elental Power within his Primordial Veins coursed through his body. When it reached his skin, the Elental Power seeped outward and began to capture the Fla Elves. With this capture, streams of Fla Elves entered Hong Yu's body. They followed the flow of his Elental Power for one full circulation, ultimately arriving at his Lower Dantian.
'Huh? It's going this smoothly?'
Hong Yu had never expected that the step Tiger Instructor had called the most difficult—channeling Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into the body—would be completely unobstructed for him.
But then, it hit him. 'I rember now,' he thought. 'After consuming the Fiery Fla Vermilion Fruit that day, I attained a Fire Spirit Body. The Fire Spirit Body is the most suitable constitution for comprehending the Path of Fla. What I lacked before was the ability to sense Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. Now that I can sense the Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi, channeling it into my body is naturally no problem. If I just keep this up, breaking through to the Earth Soul Realm is only a matter of ti!'
With this in mind, Hong Yu slowly closed his eyes and focused on circulating his Profound Skill to absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
As the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi flowed into his body, Hong Yu could feel his Lower Dantian growing steadily warr. The Spiritual Qi slowly gathered, eventually filling a third of his Lower Dantian. Once his Lower Dantian was completely filled with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, he could attempt to condense his Primordial Spirit and advance to the Earth Soul Realm.
Hong Yu let out a long breath. A sharp light flashed in his eyes as they snapped open, and the corners of his lips curved into a satisfied smile. "The first ti absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is truly the most effective. I've filled a full third of my Lower Dantian. At this rate, it won't be long before I can advance to the Earth Soul Realm!"
"But first, the most important thing is to test the power of Destruction now that it's fused with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi!"
The re thought of a Destruction strike infused with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi made Hong Yu's blood boil with excitent.
In the battle against Lin Hai and his partner earlier that day, he hadn't even sensed the existence of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, yet a Montary Enlightennt had allowed him to unleash an attack that heavily wounded a Half-Step Earth Soul Realm expert. Now that he had actually absorbed Spiritual Qi, the results would surely be sothing to look forward to!
"Destruction!"
As he thrust the spear, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in his Lower Dantian surged into the body of the weapon.
VMMMM! A burst of red light flared, piercingly bright in the darkness. Wherever the spear passed, the pattering raindrops instantly vaporized into steam. The tip of the spear struck the pool ahead with a BANG! A cloud of white mist rose with the HISS of boiling water, followed by a deafening BOOM as the entire pool of water exploded violently.
A pillar of water shot a hundred feet into the air before crashing back down, turning the entire pool into a churning ss.
Hong Yu sucked in a sharp breath.
"Holy cow," he gasped. "A single strike is that terrifying? With this kind of destructive force, it must have added five or six thousand pounds of power. It definitely broke the ten-thousand-pound mark." Awestruck, Hong Yu clenched his fists, his eyes flickering with excitent. 'Now, I wouldn't be afraid even if I had to fight an Early-stage Earth Soul Realm expert!'
Glancing at the pitch-black sky, Hong Yu put away his long spear. 'It's not a good idea to travel through the mountains at night. There's a cave over there, so I'll rest there for tonight. Starting tomorrow, I'll go out and hunt Desolate Beasts for points. I must take first place in this competition!'
With that, Hong Yu entered the cave in the rock face and closed his eyes to rest.
「anwhile...」
Hundreds of kiloters from the hidden valley, a group of people had made camp and were sitting around a bonfire. The firelight reflected on their faces, revealing sinister and cold expressions...
"Where the hell did that damned Hong Yu go?"
"With this downpour, he definitely won't risk traveling at night. We'll rest here tonight and start searching again tomorrow. Besides, with our team's strength, killing him will be child's play!"
"You have a point. Wang ng will arrive at dawn. When he and Lin Hai, two Half-Step Earth Soul Realm experts, team up, that Hong Yu is a dead man even if the rest of us don't lift a finger!"
"A pity. It's rare for a genius like that to appear in a branch of the Hong Family, only for his life to be cut short so soon."
"Enough talk. Get so rest. Tomorrow, we get to enjoy the grand spectacle of snuffing out a prodigy..."
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