Capital City Storms — Slayer Saber Art

I truly wanted to kill them, but I knew that if I did, my career would be over. I had to endure it—endure it. Yet I also knew that if I kept suppressing myself like this, it would greatly affect my future cultivation. So I chose to come here.

The Secret Manual Pavilion was the least populated place in the National Martial Academy. With good teachers personally teaching you martial arts forms, would you still be willing to come here alone and painstakingly study these difficult manuals and techniques? That was why there were so few people here.

I wanted to cultivate martial arts filled with Killing Intent, to vent all my Killing Intent through them. I had been in this world for quite a long time now, and I knew that among all martial arts, saber techniques possessed the strongest Killing Intent. The most famous was the peerless Hegemonic Way master Xiang Yu of a generation. His Heavenly Wrath Killing Art was the most formidable saber art, and the Heavenly Wrath Saber had become a weapon of slaughter precisely because Xiang Yu wielded it under the command of the Heavenly Wrath Killing Art.

Xiang Yu had killed countless people in his lifetime, and the Heavenly Wrath Saber Art more or less suited my needs. But what I needed to do now was completely vent my Killing Intent, so I had to create an even more powerful saber art.

Back in the Cultivation World, I had never come into contact with saber arts at all, because everyone there cultivated Flying Swords. It had already become a tradition. Who would be willing—who would dare—to break this strange cycle? Thus, I knew almost nothing about saber techniques. That was why I had decided to come here and consult all kinds of saber manuals, take their essence and discard their dross. With my insight and realm, I believed I would certainly succeed.

I entered the small room marked with the character "Saber." For a moment, I was astonished to discover just how many manuals there were here. The saber arts were even more varied and dazzling—Five Tigers Breaking Gate Saber, Mountain Splitting Saber Technique, and countless others. What was I supposed to do? At first, I had thought there would be only a few hundred at most. With my mind, and the speed at which I could read after cultivation, I only needed to sweep them with my Spiritual Sense to completely remember everything I saw. At most, it would take a few days!

But there were at least several thousand, perhaps even tens of thousands, here. Even using Spiritual Sense would take dozens of days. Forget it—I would slowly read them here. Seeing those people when I returned only irritated me anyway. Out of sight, out of mind. Time to start reading!

I began at the very end of the shelves, casually picking up a book. "Wind Feather Saber Technique." Not a bad manual at all...

The days passed one by one, and the saber manuals on those shelves were read by me one after another...

Almost everyone in the National Martial Academy had forgotten that there had once been a fellow named Zhang Xingfeng attending classes there. Only Yuwen Rou and Feng Yu Yan searched everywhere for me each day after arriving at the academy, but they could not find me. They both thought I had already left. Brother Lang Feng and the others also kept my secret for me, and so I practically vanished from the entire academy.

But how could they know that I was in a small room within the academy's Secret Manual Pavilion? Thus, life at the academy returned to its former calm. Only a student named Zhang Xingfeng remained in a small room, painstakingly studying those vast, ocean-like collections of saber manuals...

I turned and looked at the gates of the National Martial Academy. I'll be leaving you for now. When this term ends and it is time for the assessment, I'll return! Farewell, National Martial Academy! Farewell, Li Tianxiang! Farewell, Feng Yu Yan! Farewell, Rou...

I sat in my small secret chamber, my eyes closed and my body utterly motionless...

But who could know that my mind was ceaselessly thinking, ceaselessly creating, ceaselessly revising, ceaselessly perfecting...

A Saber Qi that soared into the heavens shot from the capital straight into the clouds. Peerless masters throughout the land all sensed this aura.

"Has someone broken through that realm?" An old Daoist rushed from his secret chamber and stared toward the capital, his expression holding both amazement and envy...

"There is such an expert in the capital too? How formidable. I truly want to spar with him." A burly man in red stood from his seat within the imperial palace, waves of Hegemonic Way aura radiating from his entire body...

"Someone has finally broken through that realm as well. I have been lonely for over a thousand years. The days ahead will be interesting. Sister-in-law, do you think our future days will become even more splendid?" A middle-aged man spoke to a young married woman beside him.

This middle-aged man was bathed in a peaceful aura, yet the faint sovereign's aura upon him could not escape the notice of true experts. That sovereign's aura came from within his body—it was innate. Only peerless masters could detect that mighty sovereign's aura concealed deep inside him.

Although the young married woman beside him was addressed as sister-in-law, the hidden respect she held toward this middle-aged man was still easy to see.

But who could know that I, Zhang Xingfeng, had merely fused together all the saber arts and created a martial art that surpassed the understanding of the people of the Azure Dragon Continent? It could already be called a cultivation art, except that it only reached the Golden Core Stage, with nothing beyond it.

The reason I was able to create this martial art that had reached the realm of cultivation was mainly because my own realm was high—I was already a cultivator. In the future, I could rely on it to roam the world unhindered.

Fast, ruthless, absolute—after contemplating every saber art, this was the secret I discovered. At first, I created the Slayer Saber Art. It consisted of three moves: 'Saber Splits Mount Hua,' 'Bloodthirsty Thousand Miles,' and 'Hell's Ten Thousand Tribulations.' But I had always felt that this was not enough. Finally, after half a year of deep contemplation, I created this single move that gathered the essence of all saber arts—Heaven and Earth Opening.

This move was actually very simple, yet also very difficult. Its profound meaning lay in, in a single instant, breaking through the limits of the human body with speed, fully excavating one's potential and unleashing it. Following the simplest trajectory, the shortest trajectory, one slashed out with the saber, leaving the opponent no time to react. One had to draw the enemy's will and spirit completely into the saber's momentum, allowing them to die beneath this saber technique filled with the ultimate realm of the Martial Way.

Its most important elements were speed, power, and the potential within the human body—the greatest power that could be excavated.

I had also proven one thing: martial arts could enter the Dao as well. Entering the Dao through Martial Arts was possible.

But who could know that someone had entered the Dao through Martial Arts as early as a thousand years ago? My Martial Way was the Hegemonic Way. What about his? Everything remained unknown.

Yet at this moment, I knew that I could finally hold my head high, because today was the last day before the assessment. Tomorrow, on that assessment stage, I would let them know that I, Zhang Xingfeng, was not some useless person just because I had left the Zhang Family!

Just wait. I will let you know what I, Zhang Xingfeng, am capable of. Though I will only display a fraction of my ability, it will be enough.

Although I disdained to bicker with them, they had insulted my mother. I would make them live in fear—live in terror that I would one day take revenge on them.

I looked at the setting sun about to sink beyond the mountains and silently swore: I will let you know that I, Zhang Xingfeng, can kill you with ease. I will torment you and your families.

I already had a plan in mind. The reason I had deliberately released saber cultivation at the Golden Core Stage when my saber arts reached Great Accomplishment and I emerged from seclusion was to lay the groundwork for my plan.

"Young Master, it's time for dinner!" My personal maid Xia Shui respectfully said to me. She had always held me in great respect; in her eyes, I was an 'immortal.'

"Good. Let's go. Have Brother Lang Feng and the others returned?" I turned and walked toward the door, asking her as I went.

"They have all returned. Young Master's three disciples have come as well. Young Master, they always come here to eat for free—aren't you going to say something to them? What kind of disciples keep eating their master's food?" Xia Shui said from beside me. She was sometimes mischievous around me now, since she knew I did not like her being so respectful all the time.

I smiled. Those three fellows... I shook my head and headed toward the rear hall!

Tomorrow would be a day that made people happy!

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