Battlefield Saber Art

"Rest assured, General Cheng."

Ding Ling seemed to be psyching himself up as he declared loudly:

"I can definitely do it!"

He had read An Actor Prepares, Acting: Dialogue Delivery Performance, Acting: Facial Expression Guide, and more.

He had leveled the acting skill to the maximum in quite a few aspects!

He might not have reached a godlike level in acting.

But he could absolutely outclass most celebrities in seconds.

It could be said that his acting was exceptionally good.

That was precisely why he had managed to fool Cheng Huan and Gao Lan.

Cheng Huan grew increasingly anxious, nearly taking Ding Ling away on the spot.

Gao Lan, meanwhile, let out a heavy sigh of relief and impatiently asked:

"You've decided to make the bet?"

Ding Ling was a talented man!

If he could be put to use and made into an aide, Gao Lan's future career would surely become much smoother!

"I've decided!"

"Good."

Gao Lan laughed heartily. Whether he was laughing over obtaining a talented man or mocking Ding Ling's overconfidence, he pulled a scroll of silk from his robes and handed it to Ding Ling.

"This is the Battlefield Saber Art. I'll give you only one day. If you haven't learned it by then, you and the saber manual must both come to my Gao Family!"

"No problem!"

Ding Ling nodded solemnly.

"Straightforward!"

Gao Lan nodded, looking at Ding Ling with delight.

"Take your time reading it here. I'm going out to arrange a few things."

With that said.

He left.

Cheng Huan remained in the tent, sighing repeatedly as he looked at Ding Ling with regret and pity.

Ding Ling offered no explanation. He hurriedly opened the Battlefield Saber Art and began studying it carefully.

After consecutively cultivating the Elementary Blade Technique and High-Level Blade Technique to the maximum level.

Ding Ling's understanding of blade techniques could, in a sense, be said to surpass that of many Third-Rate Military Generals.

He was no longer an ignorant martial arts novice.

That was why he understood the value of the Battlefield Saber Art.

"No wonder Gao Lan was so certain I couldn't learn it. The Battlefield Saber Art is dozens, even hundreds of times more difficult than the High-Level Blade Technique. They aren't on the same level at all."

It was like the difference between wood and metal.

There was a gulf between them as vast as the Heavenly Abyss.

"The High-Level Blade Technique may be called high-level, but it is really just an external art for laying foundations."

"This Battlefield Saber Art before me is true advanced martial arts. Once mastered, it can definitely propel someone straight into becoming a Second-Rate Military General!"

The more Ding Ling read, the brighter his eyes became.

Cheng Huan noticed this from the side and asked uncertainly, "You understand it?"

"I'm studying it."

Ding Ling answered with a straight face and continued reading closely.

"Ah."

Cheng Huan sighed in frustration.

"So what if you understand it? You can never learn it in just one day."

Even Cheng Huan, who had great faith in Ding Ling, felt this way. It was easy to see why Gao Lan had been so confident and certain that Ding Ling would lose.

This also proved from the side that the Battlefield Saber Art was famous and extraordinary!

At the very least, within Ji Province, it was undoubtedly a renowned advanced martial art.

"Although I can understand parts of it, with my aptitude, it truly is difficult to learn."

Ding Ling had originally wanted to see whether he could figure it out and learn it through practice.

But after studying it for a full half hour, he still found it strenuous and difficult.

He decisively gave up on that stupid, thankless approach.

He had a cheat! Why should he study and train bitterly like everyone else?

He would never do something so foolish again!

Ding Ling thought this to himself, then turned his attention toward the Library.

As expected.

As he focused on the Library and recalled everything about the Battlefield Saber Art.

In but an instant.

A book condensed within the Library.

Then...

Battlefield Saber Art at Maximum Level

Strength +1.3

Agility +1.5

Constitution +1.3

Crack! Crack!

Ding Ling's bones seemed to let out explosive crackling sounds. Qi was condensing within his body, while the tremendous increase in strength, agility, and constitution caused enormous changes in his bones and muscles.

Ding Ling felt as though he had grown a little taller in that instant.

He clenched his fist.

A clear, unimpeded sense of power surged forth.

He felt that he could now easily defeat two of his former selves.

Not only had his strength increased by more than a hundred catties out of nowhere.

His speed had also risen greatly, and his body had become lighter than ever. It felt as though he could leap dozens of meters with a casual jump.

He knew it was no illusion.

If he gave it everything he had now, he might truly be able to leap that far.

"This feeling..."

It was simply perfect.

It felt incredible.

Ding Ling once again experienced the delight of using a cheat. Others might work bitterly for decades and still fail to compare to this single instant of his cheating!

This was a dimensionality-reduction strike!

"How is that possible?!"

Cheng Huan stared at Ding Ling in stunned disbelief.

"Y-you... Your build and height seemed to have changed just now? How could something like that happen so suddenly?! Unless..."

He suddenly realized something. His eyes widened like bronze bells as he stammered:

"Y-you... You couldn't possibly..."

"That's right."

Before Cheng Huan could finish, Ding Ling said with a smile:

"I've already learned the Battlefield Saber Art."

"...!!"

Cheng Huan's face went blank, as if he had turned into a fool.

How long had it been?!

It seemed like only half an hour had passed?!

"I don't believe it!"

It took Cheng Huan quite a while to squeeze out those three words. Then he added:

"Unless you demonstrate it once."

Ding Ling had originally wanted to say that it did not matter whether Cheng Huan believed him or not. But Cheng Huan had helped him greatly. Without him, Ding Ling's early progress would not have gone so smoothly. Seeing Cheng Huan's probing, curious, expectant expression now.

He nodded, picked up a long saber from the side, and began performing the Battlefield Saber Art.

Boom!

As soon as his aura unfolded, a grim battlefield aura burst outward in all directions. Cheng Huan bore the brunt of it. Startled, he could not help but stagger back three steps.

He stopped only when he reached the entrance of the tent.

He looked at Ding Ling with both shock and amazement. At that moment, he began to believe Ding Ling's claim, because the battlefield fighting spirit naturally generated by the saber art alone was enough to prove that Ding Ling had already attained no small level of mastery over the Battlefield Saber Art.

"That's incredible. How long has it even been?!"

Clang!

With the long saber in hand.

Ding Ling wielded it with increasing ease. Previously, he had felt that using the long saber as a weapon was somewhat heavy, but now it felt just right. As he performed the Battlefield Saber Art, the saber became like an extension of Ding Ling's arm, striking wherever he pointed. At times, it transformed into a mad dragon Overturning Rivers and Seas; at times, into an armored lion charging forward with tyrannical force.

At times, it became a divine blade sweeping through thousands of troops!

An ordinary long saber displayed power comparable to a Divine Weapon in Ding Ling's hands.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

With the final slash, accompanied by the ringing cry of the saber, slash! The entire tent was cleaved through!

"...!!"