Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 181. Tempering Their Skills.
“Thundercloud Sword Art, eh?” Yin chuckled quietly as he repeated the name he came up with. “I’ve got to hone this sword art properly now, else Laien will make fun of me for picking a cool-sounding name for a bland set of techniques,” he thought with a smile. However, instead of allowing himself to indulge in those pleasant emotions, he took a deep breath and half-closed his eyes. Then, once a few breath’s worth of time passed, he revealed a slight smile, his pupils shining with calm excitement.
Having made up his mind about the course of action he should take from this point onwards, he slowed down and stopped in place, turned around and proceeded to wait calmly. He hadn’t thought he would do anything similar, but thanks to Casimir, the White Sword unit and some of Julien’s men, the front line was progressing at about one hundred kilometers per hour. That was naturally lowering the time needed for Yimar Maar to surround them all, but it made his and Laien’s battle far easier. Yet, it was exactly because of this lower speed that he was more confident in his ability to catch up to his allies if needed. Thus, while risky, he opted to push himself to the limits right there and right then.
After all, he had already more or less confirmed that if he merely kept attacking those scattered groups, then he wouldn’t make much of a progress. He would need to make mistakes on purpose or use suboptimal tactics like not taking their strongest members out at the very beginning in order to be truly pressured. However, that approach would not only negatively influence his mindset, but would also lower the number of casualties on their enemies’ side. Naturally, when a better alternative existed, he wouldn’t do something he considered to be counterproductive.
So, he waited patiently with his twin swords in his hands. “I wonder how many of them will come,” he asked himself lightheartedly. He and Laien had split their western battlefield into two halves and since he was the more mobile one, he had taken charge of the outer half. So, since a fair few kilometers separated him from Laien, he didn’t have to worry about interfering with Laien’s battles by causing some ruckus. “I should still keep moving north as I fight though,” he reminded himself. He knew that if he didn’t make this clear distinction now, then he might get too absorbed in the pursuit of his new sword art and get more than he had bargained for. He wanted to improve, not to die a foolish death because of one moment of carelessness and thus a silly mistake in his battle plan.
About six or seven seconds after he stopped, he spotted a forty-man-strong group following a path about a hundred meters to his right. “Engaging them head-on can be considered as suboptimal, but oh well. I’ve got to gather more of them one way or another,” he thought and at the same time, stopped suppressing his aura and instead, he roused it alongside his killing intent. He dashed towards the newcomers right afterwards, his heart beating strongly with growing excitement.
The nearby group visibly shook once they sensed Yin’s presence as to them, it seemed almost as if a ferocious beast appeared in the forest out of nowhere. Even the martial master of the fifth rank who was leading their unit came down with cold sweat since the quality and strength of this new aura caused him to feel unbearable pressure. The only other time he had felt like that was when facing Abdain in a sparring session, but even though this beastly aura wasn’t quite as strong, the primal killing intent which had spread alongside it was more than enough to make up for it.
“Kill him!” the leader of the group yelled once he regained his mind, but the distance of one hundred meters wasn’t a long one at all to powerful practitioners. By the time his voice spread, he saw the green-haired youth leap straight into their ranks and take the lives of three men with three smooth sword strikes. Those three might have been only two martial masters of the second rank and one of the third, but for them to be unable to even block the incoming attacks was ridiculous!
“Kill him!”
The leader shouted anxiously once five more of his subordinates fell to the green-haired kid, who he was now certain was none other than the rumored Lightning Devil. With this monster rampaging in their ranks without ever stopping, they would be unable to effectively use broad martial techniques. He didn’t feel confident in facing this thing on his own, even with the aid of his old friends, so he wished that his shout would cause everyone to crowd the monstrous kid and somehow drive him off.
That being said, as fearful as he was, he didn’t think about showing his back to this green-haired Devil for even a second. He might not have participated in many battles ever since he chose to follow Abdain half a century ago, but he wasn’t a coward. He didn’t feel confident in besting this Devil, but he was set on surviving until some of the other nearby groups came over to help. He had, after all, poured as much Qi as he could have into both of his previous shouts for that very reason.
“Djinn Spawn!”
“Devil!”
“Uagh..!”
He wasn’t going to run. He really wasn’t. He wouldn’t be able to bear with the shame if he ran… but the more he looked at this thing that looked like a beautiful boy, the more fearful he grew. He had been standing in the back rows the entire time their thousand-man unit had been facing against Mustafa’s White Guard, but now the death was so close he could almost feel it. This white-clothed youth who danced amongst his subordinates, the youth whose twin swords were shining with fresh blood and whose green eyes had a beast-like craving in them, at this moment this youth truly represented death itself.
Unconsciously, he took a step back, then another. More than half of his regular subordinates were dead by now and his friends were shouting at him to help them, to attack this monster. He saw his good brothers dying one after another too, yet he was unable to move. This pressure, this killing intent… he knew it. He knew that the moment he attacked, he would be killed. At the same time, he felt that if he made any excessive movements or if he tried to flee, he would similarly be killed. So, he did the only thing he could in order to avoid death. He stood where he was, without doing anything.
“Tch.” Just as the remaining dozen or so enemies from the forty-man-strong team started retreating from him, Yin clicked his tongue in annoyance. “I’ve been too influenced by Laien and Mikaela. The same goes for Reian’s fighting style. It was an improvement compared to before, but those smooth water-like movements are too much like Mikaela’s attacks. My all-out attacks are too much like Reian’s slashes and my overall battle plans are too safety-oriented, too much like Laien’s,” he thought vaguely, the ideas passing through his mind rather than forming into proper sentences.
“Their fighting styles are ideal for them,” he thought calmly. He could have dealt with the rest of this group before any other enemies appeared had he wanted, but of course, he had other goals in mind. Thus, he used the few seconds he was given to ponder his path instead. “Merging their three battle styles into one would undoubtedly provide for an exquisite fighting style if done correctly, but that’s not what I should be doing. Thundercloud, lightning… freedom is a part of what I pursue, but unlike Reian’s sword arts, it’s only supplementary. Fluid and unpredictable attacks like Mikaela’s are once again a part of what I want to create, but it’s wrong for me to try and produce them in the same way Mikaela does. And, of course, Laien’s Water Flow Spear Art is domineering, but its strength comes from slowly putting pressure on the enemies like a tidal wave, all the while keeping himself safe.”
“Free and unrestrained. Unpredictable. Domineering,” he muttered, watching how the dozen-plus enemies he left alive regained some of their calm and were now attempting to surround him. Unlike originally, however, it didn’t look like they were about to attack him. Their leader wasn’t shouting anything either and in fact, he looked like he was the most terrified one out of the bunch. “I’ve got to start from the first step. My movements… am I strong enough to pull off something that would truly deserve to be called a lightning dance?” he asked himself, then revealed a wry smile. Before he met Laien, he used to coat his body in lightning in order to marginally increase his battle strength. He had stopped doing so once he realized that it made too little difference to be worth it, but now?
“Hah,” he couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought. “My instincts were guiding me the right way all along. The only main problem was that back then, I was still way too weak, I had too little real battle-experience and my insights weren’t nearly deep enough,” he mused with a happy smile. Half-intentionally, he tensed one part of his body after another before relaxing them right afterwards, thus allowing the ambient pressure to disappear from his muscles. Simultaneously, his Qi started seeping out of his skin and transforming into sparks of lightning that danced all over him. There weren’t that many of them and they weren’t all that large, but somehow, his body felt lighter.
“There they are,” he mused, his smile growing wider at the sight of thirty people rushing over from one side and forty from the other. With that, the danger level would finally reach adequate levels! He was genuinely happy and it showed in his eyes and in his expression, but what he didn’t know what that this reaction of his made many of his original enemies consider running away.
Though, those hesitating dozen-plus men weren’t given a chance to make a decision as he rushed into battle once again. He targeted the leader of the original group and attacked him, thinking that it would be bad if he allowed too many high-level enemies to gather into a team. “He’s attacking preemptively, huh?” he noted once the martial master of the fifth rank started moving. If it was a moment ago, he would have attempted one of two things. He would have either tried to block the first attack and dull its strength, then use a martial technique to finish the man off in one blow, or he would have dodged out of the way of that slash and only then proceeded with the offensive.
“Hah.” Unable to hold himself back from chuckling, Yin felt thrilled as the blood in his body rejoiced. He didn’t try to block and he didn’t try to dodge the man’s attack. To the opposite, he took another step and accelerated significantly without kicking at the ground and without using Lightning Steps. He couldn’t explain it, but his body felt much lighter and everything around him was moving much slower. The reckless and dangerous opening he could exploit, he wouldn’t have seen it if not for this strange epiphany-like-state he was in and surely, he wouldn’t have even looked for it had he not pursued a great change to his fighting style. Yet, as he was at this time, he didn’t hesitate at all.
To onlookers, it most definitely looked as if he jumped right into the sword’s path. Hell, even the martial master of the fifth rank who was holding the sword was likely thinking the same thing judging by the shocked look in his eyes! But, a smile didn’t disappear from Yin’s face as he controlled his body with utmost precision, taking into account the timing of all minuscule movements not only of himself and his direct enemy but also the many men around him and even those only rushing over.
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At the last moment, he lowered his stance and allowed the sword to slash the air millimeters above his head. The blade was so close that the wind-element Qi covering it cut a few strands of his green hair, what made him a little angry. The first try couldn’t be perfect, as it seemed. However, for this martial master of the fifth rank, it was already over.
Since he never slowed down and didn’t exchange any blows with the man, he was able to exploit a huge opening in reward for breaching the danger that led to this spot. Naturally, he wasn’t planning to let the man escape with his life and so he twisted his wrist slightly and slashed upwards. His sword easily sunk into the man’s flesh and practically split his torso in half from below, his lightning destroying the man’s Qi Origin at the same time. Although this man wasn’t the first martial master of the fifth rank he had killed and he wasn’t the strongest one either, his death was quite satisfying.
While blood spurted generously from the falling corpse, Yin could tell that three men, all of them martial masters of the fourth rank, were about to attack him from three different directions. However, much unlike the similar situations he had found himself in the previous battles, he had more time and more space to maneuver. The difference might seem to be a small one, but he had gained about a quarter a second by killing this unit-leader in this new way compared to his old methods. This meant that the incoming attacks were also a heartbeat later… and coincidentally enough, he could see now see a new path which he had been unable to spot before.
Thrilled, he didn’t entertain the possibility of using Lightning Steps to retreat and leaped into the incoming clash head-on. He chose one of the three men to attack, thus delaying the opportunity for the furthest one to slash at him for half a second. The one he did target, however, had apparently decided to be cautious, having just seen the way his friend and leader died. He was slashing at him horizontally, but at a stronger angle, thus making it more tricky to dodge the blow effectively. The second of the three of them was also targeting him from the side, making the whole thing more troublesome than it should have been. Those three knew how to cooperate quite well.
But, it was just that. In Yin’s eyes, the level of cooperation between them was merely superficial. Since killing his original target would be troublesome, he simply changed his goal. One slash coming from in front of him and from the right, the second one from his left, slightly from behind. The corners of his lips twitched slightly as he spotted the opening. The sparks of lightning all over his body stirred and he stepped softly with his right foot, then twisted his body to the left and jumped in the same direction. While he was briefly mid-air, he slashed with one of his twin-swords and deflected the wide slash of the man he had attempted to attack first. As for the second attack, his sudden change in directions caused it to miss entirely.
“Was it five points?” he wondered and stabilized himself on his feet, having completed one full twist of his body. He had fended off one slash with the sword in his right hand and just a split-second later, he had cut off the head of the second of the three ruby-golden-robed men with the sword in his left hand. Coincidentally, although his focus was still at its peak, his mind relaxed enough to allow him to think about the more casual matters. For example, counting his points for the game with Laien.
As he attempted to recall how many people of what rank he had killed so far, he didn’t stop moving. The new batch of seventy enemies was yet to arrive, so he could spare a little of his attention to counting the old kills. In a few seconds, though, he would no longer have this luxury. Thus, he wanted to make the best use possible of whatever little time he had. While counting, he rushed at one of the closest martial masters of the fourth rank, the one to whom he didn’t give an opportunity to attack him in the exchange from half a second ago. The man, as it seemed, chose to focus purely on defending instead of attacking, but this choice caused a look of amused pity to appear in Yin’s eyes.
As If to meet the man’s expectations, he raised one of his swords and prepared to slash at the man’s head or shoulders. This, in turn, forced the man to adjust his stance in order to protect himself. This bait seemed simple, but the man had no other choice but to play into it since once he had chosen to purely defend, he had given up any initiative in this very quick duel-like exchange. Seeing the man move like he predicted him to, Yin immediately gave up on his first attack and used his second sword to slash at the man’s unprotected stomach. The next instant, he shattered the man’s Qi Origin and almost cut his body in two halves. Admittedly, the man wouldn’t die right away, but he was permanently disabled. Even if someone found time to heal his wounds, he would pose no threat.
“Seventy-nine from the first group,” Yin mused quietly. “And sixty-eight so far from this one?” he added in his thoughts, only to rush in-between three ruby-golden-robed martial masters of the third rank. With three blows, he killed the three of them while dodging two of their attacks by a minuscule margin and grudgingly fending off the last one with his sword. “That’s nine more,” he thought in silence. Perhaps it was weird, but all this killing filled him with a very pleasant feeling. Improving was surely a part of it, and the sense of achievement in the little game of his and Laien’s was a factor, too. However, he had a feeling that it was because he was finally fighting in a way he was meant to that his entire body and soul seemed to be rejoicing and edging him on to continue.
“Well then,” he said aloud and let out a merry chuckle. “Isn’t it just what I wanted?” he asked himself, though he no longer spoke the words. The seventy men of the first wave of reinforcements were all around him, so the true honing of his skills would begin now. In his own opinion, he had done a good job limiting his usage of Qi and creating new pieces of his Thundercloud Sword Art. However, to pull off something that could objectively be considered amazing for his own standards, he would need to do much more. But, not for the Shadow Trials. No, for the first time in his life, he could feel his magical beast bloodline boiling in his veins, so he couldn’t possibly not follow through with his instinctual desire! His own unique strength, he would either obtain it here or die trying!
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“I might have overdone it,” Laien thought with a wry smile on his face. A few drops of sweat flowed down his face as he swirled his water-engulfed spear and deflected the blows or two ruby-golden-robed martial masters of the fifth rank that were attacking him with absolute madness. He was under quite some pressure as those two were both wind-element martial masters and their speed far exceeded his, but even then, he spared a little bit of his focus for something else. He controlled the little bits of spiritual energy he had sent into the air a second ago and formed a dozen thin ice needles about ten meters behind the backs of the two martial masters of the fifth rank. Then, almost simultaneously, he sent them at one ruby-golden-robed martial master of the third rank.
However, the man he had targeted managed to react in time and shattered the needles into little pieces with his own martial technique. This caused Laien to click his tongue. He had been using this method quite effectively to deal with all weaker enemies and before unluckily stumbling upon this thirty-man unit with two wind-element martial masters of the fifth rank in it, he had put one thirty-man-strong and one forty-man strong group to their end. However, because those two men kept pressuring him, he ended up using far more Qi and spiritual energy to kill their subordinates than he would have liked. Well, the side-effect of him killing the four out of five ruby-golden martial masters of the third rank in their group was this situation now. Those two were dead-set on killing him.
“Should I try to run?” he asked himself. If it was with Yin, then he would have had confidence in dealing with those two martial masters. However, on his own, he didn’t possess the abilities necessary to kill them when they were working together. It was already hard enough for him to kill a lone martial master of the fifth rank, but two at once was too much. He also had only one-fifth of his spiritual energy and two-fifths of his Qi left, so the situation was getting more dangerous by the second. “Is running really an option though? But, what can I do? My spear arts aren’t improving much in this fight and it’s not like I can improve my insights without a period of cultivation,” he complained inwardly while retreating northwards. He had wished to be under pressure in order to make a breakthrough, but the kind of battle he was having now was far from ideal in this regard.
By this point, having failed to kill him at once with their martial techniques and having repeatedly failed to pin him down, those two had chosen to wear him down little by little. They simply stuck to him like glue and attacked him madly with their swords, forcing him to expend energy and stamina. The problem with a battle like that was that there was little opportunity for a spark of enlightenment to appear. So, Laien had no choice but to give up on using the extreme pressure to make a breakthrough and instead, ended up with two choices. To run or to figure something out on his own. To actually improve his combat ability through his own ideas and attempts instead of relying on a sudden flash of insight. As for those ideas… he had two of them, but both of them were risky.
“If I screw this up,” he thought, a slight frown forming on his forehead. “Then I might actually get killed by those two. They are far too enraged to hope that they will decide to take me alive, after all,” he mused somewhat helplessly. This kind of gamble was different than the ones he had taken in the past. At those times, he had always been forced to make a risky attempt but this time, he was the one who had put the restraints upon himself. Thus, the thoughts of trying to pass the Shadow Trials in some other, less risky way, in some other place, using some other opportunity, kept appearing in the back of his mind. They were like a poison slowly eating away at his concentration and he had a feeling that unless he made a decisive choice, those doubts would end up being his downfall.
Just as he was wavering, unable to choose whether to run or to gamble, he sensed a weak and yet very intense surge of emotions through his Spiritual Bond. This surprised him greatly as even though he had been able to tell that Yin was about five kilometers away from him, he hadn’t been able to tell what his emotional state was up until now. Yet, at this moment, he quite clearly sensed that Yin had consciously chosen to get into a very dangerous battle but was actually excited and thrilled about it.
Once Laien understood this much, he started feeling ashamed of himself. Compared to Yin, who was fearlessly charging forward just like the two of them had agreed to, what was he doing pondering idiotic things and hesitating all the time? If he couldn’t put his life on the line when it mattered, when he himself had chosen to do so, then he could as well cripple his own cultivation and live the rest of his days out as a farmer! He would succeed in both of his gambles and he would kill those two wind-element martial masters, then he would go on to slaughter a whole lot more of those people!
Interestingly enough, the two martial masters paused their attacks for a second, having noticed that the look in the Ice Devil’s eyes changed. They had been feeling pressure while facing him, true, but it was only now that their instincts started acting up and the sense of fear surged from within their hearts. They had no idea what this black-haired monster was intending to do, but they weren’t going to allow him to catch them off-guard. They weren’t going to die and once they tired this devilish kid a little more, they would certainly get the revenge for their dead brothers!
Yet, despite all their rage and despite their strong conviction to keep fighting, the two of them trembled when they sensed the chaotic aura rise up from Laien’s, from the Ice Devil’s Body. Much unlike the skills and spells Laien had displayed so far before them, this thing was far wilder and in a way, more primal. This aura alone was causing them to feel as if they were about to get swallowed whole, but it was only when they saw an illusory mirage of raging flames appear from within the energy Laien was releasing that they came truly close to losing their cool.
“Profound Mystery of Inferno,” Laien murmured in his mind, his eyes blurry, his gaze half-present. Within his soul, his spiritual avatar was sitting cross-legged, surrounded by the blazing flames of inferno as he called upon the full strength of the fire-element insights he had so far comprehended. A small portion of the Soul Imprint engraved all over the surface of his soul lit up at this very time, resonating with the insights he was summoning and causing the wildfire to grow even more realistic. Within split-seconds, the flames exploded outwards and transformed into a raging sphere of fire and at this time, as their power peaked, Laien drew upon them and pushed them outwards.
“Phantasmal Essence, come forth!” he yelled out silently, the eyes of his spiritual avatar snapping open. It was the first time he was attempting to directly control and make use of the Profound Mystery of Inferno in a real-time battle! Whether those chaotic flames would burn him or if he would be able to use them… it wasn’t even a question! He refused to lose to his own insights!
No matter how powerful they were and how much they struggled to break free, he would force them to do as he wished!