Divine Drum Cloud Thunder Sound

The movement was slight, as if he had merely flicked his wrist and given a push.

Yet the effect was like an old bear rubbing against a tree. Even the trunk, as thick as a large bowl, began to sway. Leaves fluttered down, and even a few broken twigs fell.

"You... You've mastered Hidden Strength?!"

Sha LiFei stammered, his eyes filled with disbelief.

In this world, the hallmark of Peak of Manifested Strength was the trembling of the major tendons and the simultaneous ringing of sinews and bones. Every move could mobilize the strength of the entire body.

When ordinary people struck, they did not know how to exert their strength, and at least half the Martial Power they sent out was lost. As for those who practiced martial arts year-round, the same amount of force inflicted far greater damage.

The human body had bones connected by tendons and fascia, like a wooden mortise-and-tenon structure. It looked simple, yet was ingenious and sturdy. Only by training a proper framework and understanding how to exert strength could one make use of it.

Ordinary people only needed to train diligently to reach this level. It was merely a matter of time.

But upon reaching the Hidden Strength stage, the focus was no longer on the bones, but on the fascia.

The fascia was like a dense great net, linking the tissues throughout the body.

Through the surging of the breath and resonance between the inside and outside, the tendons could be made to contract and tremble with extreme speed, taking Martial Power to an even higher level.

This was the hallmark of Hidden Strength: the qi membrane surged, wrapping the tendons into a sphere!

Once Hidden Strength was mastered, one could produce astonishing killing power with only a small range of motion. Some experts merely patted a person lightly, yet the victim would return home and vomit blood before dying.

That was far from its only benefit.

Hidden Strength wound and turned through a thousand twists, making techniques even more varied. Moreover, the same destructive power required less force, making heavy things seem light and allowing one to fight for longer.

To master Hidden Strength, talent alone was not enough. One also needed a master to test and listen to one's strength every day, carefully studying its changes before success was possible.

No one had taught this little tiger along the way. Could his talent really be as monstrous as an Evil Creature?

Sha LiFei found it hard to believe, then was seized by wild joy. His thoughts stirred, and he lowered his voice. "Before the arena match, don't reveal it no matter what. I'll place a bet first..."

Li Yan nodded slightly. "Place some for me too."

Looking at the excitement on Sha LiFei's old face, Li Yan remained calm.

This breakthrough to Hidden Strength had been purely coincidental.

All these years, he had practiced every day, through winter and summer without pause.

But during the days after his grandfather's death, he had been dazed and distracted all day long. How could he have had time to practice?

If not for the Great Luo Dharma Body, even the spirit he had just preserved would have dispersed.

On the road to Xianyang, he had begun practicing again.

At first, perhaps because he was anxious, he had seemed almost mad and had injured his sinews and bones again.

But this time, things were somewhat different.

After preserving his spirit, he had become increasingly sensitive to his body. With the Great Luo Dharma Body protecting him, he no longer needed to divide his attention and could preserve his spirit while practicing at the same time.

He had already reached Peak of Manifested Strength. It was only because his father had died and his grandfather was old, leaving no one to test his strength and feed him techniques, that he had become stuck at this stage.

Preserving his spirit at the same time had happened to help him break through.

Of course, he had only just mastered Hidden Strength. It was impossible for him to use it constantly, and he was even less like those Hidden Strength experts who made every move seem effortless and whose Martial Power changed in countless ways.

But with the Great Luo Dharma Body assisting him, at worst he could trade injury for injury.

As long as he touched his opponent once, he could cripple them!

The disturbance immediately startled quite a few people.

When Wang Dao Xuan saw it, he was visibly relieved.

His cooperation with Li Yan was not merely because of the latter's Nose Mystical Power.

There was one thing he had not exaggerated in the slightest that day.

On the day before Li Yan arrived, he had dreamed of evil ghosts entangling him and awoken in fright.

In Dream Divination, this was called a ghost dream, an inauspicious omen. Among the oracle-bone divinations of ancient merchants, there was even a line that read: "On the Dingwei day, divined: the king asked, many ghost dreams—will there be no coming hardship?"

One had to understand that divination was mysterious beyond measure, especially when it involved the even more intangible workings of fate. Even masters of numerology were not necessarily accurate.

But people of the Xuan Gate were different. After preserving their spirits, their minds were tranquil most of the time. If an omen arose, there was certain to be something amiss.

It was somewhat like a martial artist sensing the cicada before the autumn wind had even stirred.

After getting up, Wang Dao Xuan had felt uneasy, so he performed a divination before the Grandmaster Statue. Yet several hexagrams in succession all showed misfortune turning around and great auspiciousness.

Then, after rising in the morning, he had seen a magpie carrying a flower to his door.

This was an omen divination, a kind of auspicious sign.

But when his thoughts stirred, he cast several more hexagrams, and they showed extreme ill fortune.

Wang Dao Xuan understood something from this. Perhaps the moment of change had arrived, but whether it would bring fortune or disaster was impossible to determine.

That was why he had originally intended to go out that day, yet had stayed home to wait.

When he saw the appearance of Phoenix Eyes and Dragon Eyes in Li Yan, he had already made his calculations. After testing him through their conversation and finding that Li Yan seemed worth befriending, he had passed on the method.

Sure enough, events afterward began to change.

First came good fortune, followed by an encounter with Bandits, exactly matching the omen that fortune and disaster were impossible to settle.

As for Li Yan's decision to fight a life-and-death battle in the arena, although Wang Dao Xuan felt there was no problem with it, Li Yan was still young, and he could not help feeling uneasy.

Only after seeing Li Yan break through did Wang Dao Xuan finally relax.

Troupe Leader Zhou of the Spring Breeze Troupe was likewise somewhat shocked. He stared at Li Yan's youthful face, hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and turned back into the room.

He stepped onto a stool and carried down an old wooden chest from atop the wardrobe. After blowing away the dust on its surface, he stroked it several times with trembling hands, then carried it outside.

"This Brother Yan..."

Troupe Leader Zhou began, "Do you have a method for training Hidden Strength?"

Li Yan nodded. "My father passed one down to me."

To wrap the tendons into a sphere and master Hidden Strength, one could not simply practice martial arts. After all, ordinary training could not reach the fascia, let alone penetrate into the five viscera and six bowels.

If one wanted to improve, one needed another method of training.

Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound, Toad Fishing Skill, the Two Qi of Heng and Ha, Crane Cry Sound, Daoist Thunder Sound, the Buddhist Lion's Roar, Great Cloud Thunder Sound... all were like this.

Although every lineage had different inheritances, the principles of the world were the same: using the vibration of sound to drive the fascia to surge, letting it seep into the marrow, viscera, and bowels.

Red Fist likewise had a secret method passed down: Thread Penetrating Sound.

A fist proverb said: "With each breath in and out, qi is as fine as silk; it passes through the intestines and belly, and qi threads through the meridians." It perfectly suited Red Fist's qualities of being light as a feather, heavy as Mount Tai, and striking people as though pinching out a flame.

Just as he was wondering why Troupe Leader Zhou had brought this out, the latter lifted the wooden chest and stroked it reluctantly before speaking. "Brother Yan can probably tell that this old man has practiced a few days of martial arts too. I learned my family's Pigua Fist."

"My own skill is mediocre, but my ancestors passed down something good."

"My ancestors once came from Xianyang and learned the Qin Han War Drums. They were not only the drum king of their time, but also renowned throughout the martial world. Unfortunately, they later provoked an enemy and had no choice but to flee to Huayin for refuge."

"An extraordinary man taught my ancestor Great Cloud Thunder Sound. He combined it with the methods of the war drums and created this Great Cloud Thunder Sound of the Divine Drum. It is a superior training method, so I'm giving it to you, little brother."

Li Yan was moved when he heard this. "This... it's too precious, Troupe Leader..."

He had heard his father speak of Great Cloud Thunder Sound. It was a secret transmission of Buddhism.

The Buddha's Great Cloud Thunder Sound was louder than ordinary thunder sounds.

To use this as its name was enough to prove that the method was extraordinary. It was rarely seen by ordinary people, yet Troupe Leader Zhou actually possessed it and intended to give it away, leaving even Li Yan somewhat stunned.

But before he could finish speaking, Troupe Leader Zhou waved his hand and cut him off.

He shook his head slightly and sighed. "This old man's aptitude is mediocre, and that worthless son left this world before me. Keeping this thing hidden is useless now. If I sold it carelessly to a villain, I would only bring shame upon my ancestors."

"You could have withdrawn yesterday, little brother, but you chose to fight in the Life and Death Arena. Was that not also a way of shielding my Spring Breeze Troupe from disaster? Besides, with your aptitude, you won't bring shame to this method."

With that, he directly held out the wooden chest.

Seeing this, Wang Dao Xuan thought for a moment, then added, "Brother Yan, just accept it. Troupe Leader Zhou, the fee we discussed earlier will be waived."

This ritual was not cheap. Given the Spring Breeze Troupe's current circumstances, they would have to sell everything they owned to gather the money, and afterward they would still go hungry.

This arrangement was beneficial to both sides.

When Troupe Leader Zhou heard this, a smile appeared in his eyes. He called for his disciples to continue listening to Wang Dao Xuan explain the taboos of the ritual.

Meanwhile, Li Yan sat to one side and opened the wooden chest.

Generally speaking, methods like this came in a thin booklet. Some were even passed down solely by word of mouth from master to disciple. Yet inside were three yellowed books.

One was the Pigua Fist Manual, one was the Qin Han Drum Rhythms, and only the last was the Divine Drum Cloud Thunder Sound.

Li Yan flipped through them casually several times, then felt startled.

This method required more than breathing techniques. It even needed to be paired with specially made iron drums...

The autumn sky after the rain appeared even higher and farther.

The afterglow of the setting sun illuminated the clouds remaining across the heavens, foreshadowing another clear day tomorrow.

The Official Road was a muddy mess, and more than a dozen people trudged forward with difficulty.

Aside from Li Yan and the others, more than a dozen members of the Spring Breeze Troupe had come as well, including the shadow-play handlers, musicians, singers, and even several apprentices.

As for their families, they had remained in Xianyang City.

Before long, they saw the Mass Burial Grounds.

There was a man in the group who was somewhat pudgy and pale. He was an acquaintance of Sha LiFei's, the musician who played the suona, "Old White Face."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the Mass Burial Grounds in the distance, his eyes full of worry. "Daoist Wang, I heard that the mountains are still a den of the West Traveling Beggar Gang. Those people aren't easy to deal with. Could they ruin our plans?"

"It doesn't matter."

Wang Dao Xuan shook his head. "The place we're looking for is where yin and Baleful Intent gather. It isn't suitable for people to live in. The Mass Burial Grounds are so large, and we're performing the ritual in the middle of the night. We won't alarm them."

After saying this, he took out the compass in his hand. He looked left and right for a while, then pointed toward a mountain hollow on the western side of the Mass Burial Grounds. "The White Tiger Biting a Corpse is extremely inauspicious; the Black Tortoise Lowering Its Head is greatly auspicious. I never expected the Mass Burial Grounds to possess such a strange terrain. We'll go up from here!"

Although none of them understood geomancy, they firmly remembered Wang Dao Xuan's instructions. After arriving at the foot of the mountain, everyone tightly shut their mouths, helped one another, and climbed up the steep, muddy slope.

In the distance, the last trace of the setting sun vanished, and night shrouded the earth...