Nine Heavens Thunder Blade: First Layer

County-level City No. 0349.

Whoosh! A blade light like flowing fire sliced through the air at an exquisite angle, flashing past the neck of a Green Scale Wolf standing three meters tall and covered in azure scales.

Just as he viciously cleaved open the Green Scale Wolf's neck, Wang Yi's foot seemed to catch on something. He staggered, his body dropping low enough to narrowly evade the pounce of another Green Scale Wolf from behind. At the same time, Wang Yi spun around, and the blood-stained Flowing Fire Battle Blade in his hand turned into a cold flash once more, cutting upward through the soft belly of the Green Scale Wolf that had ambushed him. Blood and entrails immediately gushed out.

"Good!" The members of Storm Squad watched from nearby. As Wang Yi was besieged by a pack of Green Scale Wolves in the street, none of them showed any intention of intervening.

There were more than twenty Green Scale Wolves, each at the Advanced Beast Soldier level. They moved like the wind, coordinated seamlessly, and were vicious and cunning. Even an ordinary beginner Wargod level Martial Artist would be flustered when surrounded by a pack of Green Scale Wolves, but Wang Yi handled them with ease.

In the blink of an eye, over half the Green Scale Wolves had been killed or wounded. The remaining wolves seemed frightened as well. With a howl, they turned and fled, no longer daring to besiege Wang Yi.

One Green Scale Wolf was slower to escape, but a figure had already swept after it like a shadow, clinging to it like maggots to bone. A bleak blood-red blade flash swept by, and in the next instant, the Green Scale Wolf's head flew away.

"Awoo~~" The other Green Scale Wolves scattered in terror.

Wang Yi did not pursue these monsters. Instead, he stood where he was and began cleaning the Flowing Fire Battle Blade in his hand, seemingly unconcerned with the materials on the monsters' bodies.

"This kid." Captain Jiang Feng shook his head. Behind him, Zhao Wei and the other team members had already gone over with grins, efficiently beginning to strip the materials.

Although materials from Advanced Beast Soldier level monsters were far less valuable than those from Beast General level monsters, small gains added up. Together, they were still worth a considerable sum.

The materials from the Green Scale Wolves Wang Yi had just killed could fetch over a hundred thousand if brought back.

Wang Yi had earned only a few tens of thousands a year from tutoring in the past.

And it had only been such a short time.

So it was no lie that Martial Artists were wealthy. The stronger the Martial Artist, the greater their harvest in the Wilderness Area and the stronger their ability to earn money.

However, their expenses for weapons, combat uniforms, medicines, Secret Manuals, and so on were equally astonishing.

Wang Yi was currently lowering his head as he considered the subtle details of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade Blade Technique he had used in the battle just now.

He kept pondering it.

Faintly, some ideas began to take shape in his mind.

He had to admit that actual combat truly helped greatly with comprehending Blade Technique!

Moreover, the majority of Secret Manuals and supreme arts with terrifying power were actually realized and developed through actual combat.

Originally, Storm Squad had intended to bring Wang Yi into the Wilderness Area to temper him.

But later, they discovered that this kid was far more abnormal than they had imagined!

In the end, Wang Yi was the one tempering his Blade Technique in the Wilderness Area, while Storm Squad became genuine babysitters.

Yet every member of Storm Squad was entirely willing.

Seeing Wang Yi seemingly spacing out, Jiang Feng did not disturb him. Only after his teammates had nearly finished collecting the monster materials and packed them into their backpacks did he walk over and say to the thoughtful youth, "Wang Yi, it's about time. We should go."

Wang Yi snapped out of his thoughts and looked around. He discovered faint traces of monsters appearing nearby, all attracted by the commotion of the battle and the thick smell of blood.

Wang Yi nodded. No one in Storm Squad spoke as they moved forward in silence, only occasionally exchanging a quiet word as they quickly left the street that had just witnessed a slaughter.

At night, a bright moon hung high in the pitch-black sky, spilling clear moonlight. The entire abandoned city seemed draped in a layer of silvery white gauze.

In the corner beneath the eaves on the top floor of a fifteen-story residential building in the eastern part of the city, someone sat quietly in the shadows, raising his head to gaze at the moon. Beside him lay two bright battle blades that faintly glowed red.

"I've been in the Wilderness Area for nearly half a month now, and I'll be going back soon. Although I've gained some insight and improved in the First Layer of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade during this time, I still can't figure out how to make my body produce an additional hidden force. It feels like I've found no method at all and am still stuck in place."

Wang Yi felt somewhat troubled.

The Nine Heavens Thunder Blade was the world's greatest Secret Manual and the strongest supreme art among human Martial Artists!

Its creator was the world's second strongest person, Thunder God!

The Nine Heavens Thunder Blade was also known as the supreme art with the hardest entry requirements. To cultivate it required extraordinary talent and comprehension. Even many War Gods might not necessarily cultivate it successfully.

Wang Yi continuously recalled the contents and records of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade.

The reason the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade was so powerful lay in a marvelous method of exerting force.

When an ordinary person swung a blade with all their strength, they might use ten-tenths of their force! But when a cultivator of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade swung a blade, they would use only seven-tenths of their force. Upon releasing the first layer of force, they would strive to make their body release a second layer of force, also seven-tenths. With the two layers combined, that became fourteen-tenths of force!

The Nine Heavens Thunder Blade had nine layers in total. The First Layer allowed one to release an additional hidden force, exerting fourteen-tenths of force!

The Second Layer allowed one to release two additional layers of hidden force, exerting twenty-one-tenths of force!

The Ninth Layer allowed one to release nine additional layers of hidden force, exerting seventy-tenths of force! That was a full seven times one's original physical strength.

It sounded easy enough, but doing it was as difficult as ascending to heaven. Otherwise, the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade would not be called the Secret Manual with the hardest entry requirements!

Even across the entire world, there were not many who had successfully cultivated the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade.

"How exactly did Luo Feng in the original story master the First Layer of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade?" Wang Yi racked his brains, but that memory was too distant and had already become blurry. It was impossible for him to remember every detail of the original story clearly. He only remembered that Luo Feng had comprehended the Third Layer in one stroke after being stirred by thunder while cultivating Blade Technique alone at night in a Wilderness Area city after killing Li Wei. As for the Fourth Layer, he had suddenly erupted and comprehended it fiercely while locked in a life-and-death battle against a certain student in the Virtual Space. Wang Yi did not even want to complain about that protagonist treatment.

Yet no matter how hard Wang Yi thought, he could not recall how Luo Feng had successfully cultivated the First Layer and Second Layer.

"Looks like I really don't have the protagonist's fate..." Wang Yi felt somewhat melancholy.

The golden panel appeared in his mind.

"Sign in."

The golden panel did not move at all.

As expected.

Wang Yi pursed his lips.

Wang Yi picked up the Flowing Fire Battle Blade at his feet and rose, his gaze turning resolute.

Whoosh! He swung his blade, swift as rushing thunder.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Wang Yi's figure shifted across the rooftop. His battle blade continuously hacked out, and the eighteen blade forms of the First Layer of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade, which he had practiced to perfection, unfolded at will. Under the moonlight, it seemed as though streams of pale red blade light had appeared.

Suddenly, Wang Yi, immersed in the Artistic Conception of Blade Technique, inadvertently lowered his head and saw his own shadow. A flash of inspiration struck his mind, and he froze.

"Shadow?"

It seemed he had grasped something, and he thought desperately.

"Blade, shadow, hidden force..."

"Merge into one..."

As his train of thought became clearer, the fog that had always shrouded his mind dispersed, and Wang Yi's gaze grew brighter and brighter.

Whoosh!

He shot forward and leaped high into the air, while the Flowing Fire Battle Blade in his hand chopped down fiercely.

At the instant he delivered the first slash, his body trembled slightly, generating another surge of force. The two forces merged into one, causing the power of Wang Yi's slash to soar violently!

"Hahaha..."

Wang Yi could not help laughing.

After nearly twenty days of cultivation, he had finally mastered the First Layer of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade.

The joy brought by this sense of accomplishment was even stronger than when the Sign-in Panel had first rewarded him with the First Calamity of the Nine-Calamity Secret Manual.