CHAPTER 676 WEAPON COMMAND SKILLS

To reach the Holy Realm was the unfulfilled lifelong dream of many of the wisest and strongest of

warriors.

Yet this runty old man claimed that he had only become a holy warrior by accident. In fact, he said that

he used to be a farmer. Such an unlikely claim piqued Darren's interest.

"I was nothing special," the old man began when asked to explain. "One day I was just minding my own

business, plowing my field, when I dug up a red fruit. I was hungry and thirsty at the time, so I just ate it

without thinking twice.

As soon as I'd done so, however, I started feeling very strange—like the earth was collapsing in on

itself, or time was unraveling. Ah, but there's no real way to describe the experience. All I know is that it

scared the hell out of me at the time. So much so that I hid myself at home for a month. Ha!

In time, however, I came to understand what had happened.

When I ate that fruit, I directly acquired a superior Life True Rule, and my cultivation base reached the

Holy Realm as well."

Hobson's eyes shone with fascination as he listened to this. "Wow, that's lucky. Such a boon to your

abilities, and all you had to do was eat a fruit."

"Indeed, I am fortunate," said the old man, smiling. "After investigating the matter later on, I became

convinced that the fruit had in fact fallen from the outer space. It would be accurate to call it a divine

fruit."

"Tell me, sir, where are you from? Does that land still exist?" Hobson couldn't keep the excitement from

his voice.

Hearing this, Darren rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Hobson. You are a seven-star grand warrior, not a

little boy. Don't start getting your hopes up over this."

"Why not?" asked his companion. "What if there are more divine fruits out there, waiting to be found?"

The old man shook his head as the two young men bantered. "Stop daydreaming, young man," he said

with a chuckle.

Before it could go on, Darren smoothly changed the subject. "But sir, by the way, if you're a junior holy Belongs © to .

warrior, why is your fighting power weak? You haven't explained that yet."

"It's very simple. I don't have any attacking skills—never bothered to learn them. I don't care much for

fighting and killing. So on the rare occasion that I might need to, I have only my physical strength to rely

on.

On the other hand, I'm very good at keeping myself alive. If even a senior holy warrior wanted to kill

me, he couldn't do it without his full strength. Can you guess why?" Saying this, the old man raised his

eyebrows. He was quite proud of his power.

"Of course," replied Darren. "You have the Life True Rule, so your ability to recover from injury must be

incredibly strong. Besides that, you have a Space True Rule, which cannot attack others. So you must

be an expert at survival and escape."

The old man nodded. "Quite so. My Life True Rule can almost make me immortal. As long as there is

any flesh and blood left of me, even a trace, I can recover on my own from grievous harm. What's

more, once I escape into space, even a senior holy warrior will not be able to catch me."

After explaining all this, he looked intently at Darren and said, "Would you like to learn such powers

from me?"

Darren froze.

Something like an electric buzz went through his head.

Did he want to be able to use this powerful true rule? What kind of question was that? Of course he did!

Hobson easily guessed what his friend was thinking. No less excited, he addressed the old man with

utmost respect. "Sir, please teach me. I want to learn this as well!"

The elder man pursed his lips. "I'm afraid that is impossible, young man. You haven't even awakened

your Spirit Power. There is nothing you can learn from me."

"Don't say that, sir!" Hobson stammered. "Please. I can do that as well, if you will help me."

But the other man remained firm. "No one can help you to awaken your Spirit Power. That depends

entirely on you. Besides that, I've studied you thoroughly, and you don't have any potential to be a rule

cultivator. Don't waste your time chasing what is beyond you."

Hearing this, Hobson sighed listlessly, and his head sagged. He had no words to express his

disappointment.

"This, on the other hand, may be of use to you. Here, accept a present from me." Saying this, the old

man waved his hand, and a golden scroll appeared in the air and fell into the hands of the crestfallen

young man.

Hobson lazily opened the scroll. As he read it, however, his eyes looked ready to pop out of his head.

"Go and find a place to cultivate," the old man said.

"Yes, sir!" With that, Hobson flew off excitedly.

When he was gone, the old man looked at Darren again and said, "Your Spirit Power has reached level

twenty-six. If it increases by four more levels, I can teach you two true rules. How does that sound to

you?"

"It sounds great," Darren answered. "I'll learn whatever you're willing to teach me."

The short old man looked very pleased. "Then I finally have a successor whom I can pass on my skills

to. This is good! First, then, I should help you increase your Spirit Power. I believe you should be able

to reach level thirty after, oh, eight thousand years at the most."

Darren flinched as though he had been slapped. He couldn't believe what he had heard. "Eight

thousand years?!"

"Yes, hardly any time at all," said the old man cheerfully. "Because I have a special awakening skill.

Now, let's get a move on."

"No, sir! Wait a minute," Darren protested. "We can't do that."

The old man frowned at him with what appeared to be genuine puzzlement. "What? Have you changed

your mind already, young man?"

Despite himself, Darren was a little irritated that he had to explain the problem. "Eight thousand years

is a very long time, sir. And I still have a lot of things to deal with outside of this place. Why don't you

teach me the cultivation method instead? That way, I'll be able to cultivate myself after I wake up

enough Spirit Power later on. How does that sound?"

"But there isn't any cultivation method!" the old man explained. "After I transfer some Life True Rule

into your soul, it will be used as the seed of Life True Rule. But it will be difficult for you to withstand the

process with your Spirit Power being what it currently is."

"Ha, well, why don't you just transfer less Life True True to my soul than you normally would, then?"

Darren suggested randomly. He would feel very foolish indeed if he let himself walk away from this

encounter empty-handed, especially after expressing such eagerness beforehand.

"As a matter of fact, that could work," replied the short old man. "A person's ability to comprehend the

true rule is important. If I pass on a smaller amount of Life True Rule to you, you may be able to handle

it yourself, as you are. Let us do as you say."

Hearing this, Darren rolled his eyes, a little puzzled that his suggestion was being taken seriously. He

hadn't really thought it through before saying it out loud. In fact, he wasn't sure what he could do about

his Spirit Power at all, besides spend eight thousand years increasing it, as the old man had said.

The mere thought of investing so much time seemed to put him into a daze. As he came out of it, an

inexplicable shiver passed through him.

"Well," he said at last, "let's get started, sir."

"Get started?" asked the other man. "It's finished already. Didn't you notice?"

Darren shook his head, stunned and confused. "No, I didn't feel anything. What are you talking about?"

Patiently, the old man said, "Release your Spirit Power and feel it with your 'blind eyes.'"

Darren did as he was told, and his eyes went silver. Sure enough, he saw what looked like tiny green

silk threads, suspended about himself and connected to his body.

"These are the Life Rule threads," the other man explained.

Nodding, Darren tried to communicate with the glowing threads, and a shallow life energy enveloped

him. All around himself, he felt a crackle of vitality like that of a jungle in the early morning.

Then, without warning, he felt something slice across his arm.

Switching back from the silvery eyes, he looked and saw blood flowing from a fresh wound.

At once, Darren understood the old man's intention.

Concentrating, he gathered his Spirit Power, once again feeling the vitality that surrounded him. As he

did so, a warm green light gathered about his wound.

In mere seconds, his arm was healed and good as new.

Watching closely, the old man nodded with satisfaction. "Not bad. You're quickly mastering the

elementary skills. But you'll need to work hard and put in a lot more practice in the future. In time, you'll

be able to turn what you've learned into a true rule. Then you will go on to achieve great things indeed."

"Thank you very much, sir!" Saying this, Darren cupped his hands and offered a solemn bow.

"You're welcome," answered his teacher. "The Space True Rule is much more complicated than this,

however. Since I can't guide you to learn it, I won't attempt to transfer it to you."

Darren nodded. "Yes, that's fine."

The old man went on, "There's one other thing you should know. If you truly master the Life True Rule

and reach its maximum potential, supposedly it will render you unable to die. Even then, however, a

strong master could still chase you down and beat you, and give you a very unpleasant time. As such,

you would be wise to learn the Weapon Command Skill. Such a thing will make a rule cultivator more

powerful, for certain."

Darren was confused, as he had never heard of this before. "What is this skill of which you speak?"

"Simply put," his teacher explained, "it allows you to use the divine weapons as if they were your own.

More exactly, you can channel the powers of the heavens through your weapons. For rule cultivators,

this method is the single most powerful means of attacking. As for arrays and illusions, they are

insignificant by comparison, and should only be used for auxiliary purposes."

Darren listened to all this very thoughtfully. It reminded him of the mighty immortals he had seen on the

wall before.

He realized then that they had been attacking with the power of thunder, channeling it through their

seemingly ordinary weapons. In a reverent tone, he said, "Sir, can you teach this art to me?"