Heavenly Martial Killing Dao

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Heavenly Martial Killing Dao
Original Name	天武杀道
Affiliation	Secret Martial Arts
Occupation/Role	Tian Dao's most accomplished boxing technique; an elite internal-cultivation martial art
Creator	Tian Dao
Known Practitioners	Tian Dao, Bai Cinan, Liu Tian
First Appearance	Chapter 6

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Level 3	8	Liu Tian's Level 4 Heavenly Martial Fist transforms into the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao after six hours of training. Its listed effects are Stout Body Lv. 3, Light Body Lv. 2, Killing Intent Lv. 2, and Dominating Thought Lv. 1.
Advancement; Heart Severing Path mastered	13	Liu Tian expends 2 Origin Points during his fight with Mantis. His injuries heal, his physique and speed rise, and he instantly masters the First Path, Heart Severing Path.
Level 5	17	Listed effects become Physique Enhancement Lv. 5, Agility Boost Lv. 4, Killing Intent Lv. 4, and Dominating Thought Lv. 3. Liu Tian gains the Art of Witnessing.
Level 5; Severed Head Strike mastered	22	Liu Tian spends 5 Origin Points to master the Severed Head Strike and reaches the physical limit required for a Fighter breakthrough.
Level 6; Fighter realm	47	Liu Tian's status lists Strong Body Lv. 6, Body Lightness Lv. 6, Killing Intent Lv. 5, and Dominating Thought Lv. 5. He is stated to have reached the Fighter level in two martial arts.

Background / History

The Heavenly Martial Killing Dao is the culmination of Tian Dao's lifelong martial-arts achievements and is regarded by him as the most revered of his Secret Martial Arts. Its training room bears years of footprints and traces left by practice, from which a sufficiently capable observer might reconstruct the technique. 6 18

Tian Dao created the Heavenly Martial Fist by simplifying the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao and attempting to remove its more dangerous influence. The derivative fist nevertheless retained a residual urge to strike down opponents, which Liu Tian sensed from the beginning of his training. 6

After the First World War, Tian Dao abandoned his former ambitions and became reluctant to lead others onto the technique's blood-soaked path. He ultimately passed it on to Liu Tian after the latter admitted to killing two armed men and affirmed his determination to pursue strength and see more of the world. 6

Tian Dao otherwise withheld the art from children and ordinary disciples. He and Liu Tian believed that teaching its Killing Intent and Dominating Thought to developing minds could permanently warp their values and leave them unable to control those impulses even after becoming Fighters. 22

Bai Cinan describes the path's ultimate principle as mutual slaughter and devouring among practitioners, asserting that those who take its final step will eventually have to kill one another. Liu Tian later identifies the art as demonic and says that progress requires devouring others. 11 49

Principles and Drawbacks

• The art prioritizes the practitioner's state of mind: the fist must be fast, while the heart must be ruthless and wholly focused on striking down the enemy. 6
• Practitioners are instructed to abandon excessive hesitation, questions, and distractions in favor of total commitment to the attack. 6
• Killing Intent and Dominating Thought bolster strength and stamina by influencing the body through the spirit, but can also drive practitioners into uncontrollable killing frenzies. 8
• Dominating Thought manifests as an urge to conquer, plunder, rule, and command; Tian Dao states that control over it does not come until the Fighter realm. 8
• The technique's influence can persist outside combat. Liu Tian experiences rising irritability, aggression, and reduced self-control as his cultivation increases. 9 17 18

Abilities & Skills

Physical Enhancement

The Heavenly Martial Killing Dao provides broad improvements to physique, movement, combat experience, and recovery as its level rises. It combines bodily strengthening, agility, and explosive killing techniques more comprehensively than most specialized Secret Martial Arts. 17 23

• Its Level 5 effects include Physique Enhancement, Agility Boost, Killing Intent, and Dominating Thought. 17
• Origin Point upgrades can heal injuries while simultaneously increasing the practitioner's strength, speed, and physique. 13 14
• At Fighter level, its practitioners are expected to withstand non-vital assault-rifle fire without losing combat effectiveness and strike through tank armor. 27

Killing Intent and Dominating Thought

Killing Intent allows the practitioner to invest greater spirit and resolve into a strike, while Dominating Thought supplies an instinctive will to conquer and overwhelm. Together, they can raise a technique beyond its ordinary physical limit. 5 7 8

• Infusing Killing Intent into the Heavenly Martial Great Shark Fist lets Liu Tian exert power beyond what his body alone should produce. 5 7
• A technique imbued with “Spirit” can suppress an otherwise identical technique without it. 7
• Their combined influence can make a practitioner overbearing even before combat begins. 8 13

Heart Severing Path

The Heart Severing Path is the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao's First Path. It targets the point where an opponent's power converges, disrupting their core and scattering their blood, energy, and exertion. 7

• A successful hit can leave the target unable to synchronize their strength, reducing them to roughly thirty percent of their normal output. 7
• It is especially effective against opponents without hardened martial arts who commit fully to an attack. 7
• The move is designed to exploit a vital weakness, commonly the heart or chest, rather than merely overpower an opponent. 14
• Liu Tian uses it to defeat Snake after coordinating with Liu Zhengde. 44

Head Severing Path / Severed Head Strike

The Head Severing Path is a later killing move that Liu Tian develops after the Heart Severing Path. Its associated Severed Head Strike condenses power into an instantaneous breakthrough. 18 22

• Liu Tian masters the Severed Head Strike through 5 Origin Points after being unable to learn it through three months of ordinary training. 22
• Against Snake, Liu Tian combines Heart Severing Path with Head Severing Path to sever his own trapped arm and create an opening for a decisive counterattack. 35

Art of Witnessing

The Art of Witnessing is an intimidation technique naturally acquired after reaching sufficient cultivation in the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao. 17

• The practitioner channels Killing Intent and Dominating Thought through eye contact. 17
• Those who meet Liu Tian's gaze perceive a colossal shark-like presence; weaker onlookers are silenced or collapse from the pressure. 17 18
• Its effect causes others to fear approaching the practitioner even when no direct attack is made. 18

Hidden-Weapon Force Channeling

As the crystallization of Tian Dao's martial arts, the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao includes principles for transmitting force through hidden weapons. 34

• Liu Tian can accelerate and accurately throw pebbles at an opponent's vital areas. 34
• His proficiency is limited; the technique cannot overcome an opponent whose physical defense exceeds the projectile's force. 34

Fighter Aura

Tian Dao states that a Fighter-level practitioner of the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao naturally manifests Aura, a trait reserved for the highest-tier Secret Martial Arts. 18

• Aura prevents Psychokinesis from penetrating the body. 18
• This defense is particularly valuable against Heavenly Martial Arts practitioners, whose Psychokinesis can otherwise infiltrate and damage a target internally. 18

Relationships

• Tian Dao — Creator and teacher of the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao. He considers it his life's greatest boxing technique but fears its influence on those unprepared for its path. 6 22
• Liu Tian — Tian Dao's formal disciple and a legitimate successor. His progression reveals the art's physical growth, murderous impulses, and intimidation techniques. 6 8 17
• Bai Cinan — Tian Dao's senior disciple and another successor. He views Liu Tian as a possible future counterpart in the art's eventual cycle of mutual killing and devouring. 11
• Heavenly Martial Fist — A simplified derivative created by Tian Dao. It retains a faint shadow of the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao despite efforts to remove its harmful influence. 6

Trivia

• Tian Dao was the world's number one martial artist for twenty years, while Bai Cinan is identified as the succeeding number one; Tian Dao presents this lineage as evidence of the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao's value. 18
• The technique is described as a “thoroughly demonic path” because its greatest strengths—Killing Intent and Dominating Thought—also threaten the practitioner's sanity and restraint. 8
• Tian Dao states that no one can endure the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao's profound mysteries entirely unscathed, including Bai Cinan. 34