Movement Technique

"Guen," Chen said, reaching out to pull Guen up onto the Diamond Unicorn.

The Diamond Unicorn's Gem Shield was Diamond Level. Although it could only withstand one attack, it also followed the principle that the stronger the ferocious beast, the larger its body. Even three or four people riding the Diamond Unicorn at once wouldn't feel cramped.

The Diamond Unicorn galloped along, not daring to fly into the sky.

If it flew up, it would be far too conspicuous and might draw the Vajra Ape's focused attacks.

"Who do you think ambushed Uncle Jack?" Chen asked.

Guen thought for a moment. "It might be an enemy Uncle Jack made during a trial he took part in before. You and I are both first-timers, so there's no reason anyone would have it in for us. As for strength, you've only reached Tier 6, the minimum requirement for the trial, and I'm only Tier 7. There's no reason for anyone to try to eliminate us out of fear of our strength."

"Mm." Chen thought so too.

The Diamond Unicorn was incredibly fast, covering more than two hundred meters per second. That was with the dense trees of Starlight Forest slowing it down; in open ground, it could go even faster.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, an arrow shot out of the shadows. The Diamond Unicorn hurriedly dodged, but several more arrows came flying at them, blocking every path forward. It had no choice but to stop.

Chen drew his sword and shouted coldly, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Three young men with cold expressions emerged slowly from the shadows. One of them held a horn bow and eyed Guen and Chen provocatively.

Guen narrowed his eyes.

All three were wearing Diamond-Grade Battle Suits and carrying Diamond Level weapons.

In the Aoyu Empire, all equipment used by ordinary people was called Black Iron Grade. Equipment capable of withstanding attacks from Low Tier Ferocious Beasts was called Silver Grade.

Equipment that could withstand attacks from Mid-Tier Ferocious Beasts was Gold Grade.

And equipment that could withstand High-Tier Ferocious Beasts was Diamond Level. Diamond Level Battle Suits and weapons could hold up even in battles against Tier 9 Ferocious Beasts. Battle Suits were especially useful, as they could also reduce the damage inflicted by ferocious beasts to some extent. They were indispensable in humanity's battles against the beasts.

Although Chen had a Diamond Unicorn, the only Diamond Level piece of equipment he had on him was his weapon. His Battle Suit was only Gold Grade.

Diamond Level equipment was extremely precious. Weapons were one thing, but a Battle Suit was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Diamond-Grade Battle Suits required the hides of Tier 9 Ferocious Beasts to make. But Tier 9 Ferocious Beasts were hardly easy to deal with—not even Super Tier powerhouses could take them on lightly. Humanity had Super Tier experts, but so did the ferocious beasts.

If Super Tier experts wantonly attacked Tier 9 Ferocious Beasts, they would provoke the Super Tier beasts into a rampage.

The territory of the Aoyu Empire was insignificant compared to the lands held by the ferocious beasts.

That was why Diamond-Grade Battle Suits had always been scarce.

Yet all three men standing before them had one.

Chen jumped down from the Diamond Unicorn and said coldly, "Who are you, and why are you stopping us?"

His eyes studied the three men, searching for a weak point so he could take them down one by one.

The three men only sneered. The one with the horn bow drew and fired, while the other two drew their swords and charged.

"I'll take these two. You deal with the one with the bow," Guen said, rushing forward even faster than Chen. He clenched his fists and swung at them without using a weapon.

"You're asking for it!" The warrior facing him was delighted.

The weapon in his hand was Diamond Level, its surface gleaming brightly. Guen had only a drab pair of gauntlets that looked Silver Grade at best. One swing of his sword would be enough to slice through Guen's bones along with his hand.

Clang!

Guen's fist collided with the warrior's sword. But instead of Guen's hand being sliced in half as the warrior had imagined, a crack appeared where the sword had been struck. The sword nearly slipped from the warrior's grip.

Father was right. Most people in the Aoyu Empire have poor force application, so they can't obtain the Transcendence Method and struggle to break through on their own. Their foundations are too weak. Guen even had time to recall Kolong's teachings.

Guen practiced a style of boxing called the Hundred Refinement Fist. It had a hundred moves, and each move he mastered increased the power of his attacks by ten percent!

Kolong called this the Force Multiplier.

Guen had already mastered forty-five moves, which meant his punches were 4.5 times more powerful.

"If you can master eighty moves before reaching Planetary Level, you'll be considered pretty good even among my Norde Race," Kolong had once told Guen.

But compared to Planetary Level, Guen, who had grown up in the Aoyu Empire, was still more used to the empire's term—Super Tier.

One punch was enough for Guen to gauge his opponent's strength.

The warrior was probably a Tier 8 Warrior. In terms of basic strength, he was stronger than Guen.

But his force application was weak, and his technique was poor. His Force Multiplier was barely twice the norm, so Guen made up the difference through sheer power.

Guen couldn't be bothered to use any techniques. He simply hammered away with one punch after another.

His gauntlets and Battle Suit had been "hand-sewn" by his mother, Ina. They looked worn and shabby now, but they were far more durable and effective than any Gold or Diamond Level gear.

His opponent's equipment advantage meant nothing against him.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

How fast was a battle between High-level Warriors?

They could throw more than four punches a second. All anyone else could hear was the constant sound of fists slamming into a sword. All they could see was Guen's opponent, unable to fend off his attacks.

Guen had no form and no technique.

Yet the warrior still couldn't block him. Every time he swung his sword, a fist would strike it and knock it back into him.

The warrior was going mad. He was an outstanding young man, good enough to be selected for the Royal Guard. Although he had never taken part in a trial, it had taken him only twenty-seven years to reach Tier 8. He was only thirty-five now, so he still looked very young.

But he had never before been pushed to this point.

"Argh!"

The warrior swung his sword with all his strength, using his fastest swordplay and strongest moves. All he wanted was to land a hit on Guen, but even that was beyond him.

His enemy just punched, punched, and punched again, dismantling every move he made.

While parrying his sword, Guen could still land blows on him.

Although a Diamond-Grade Battle Suit could withstand attacks from High-Tier Ferocious Beasts, that didn't mean it absorbed all the force. With every strike, the impact still passed through the suit and into the body.

Normally, the force of an attack was reduced once it passed through the Battle Suit, making it easy for the human body to withstand.

But for some reason, this man's fists felt like drills. It was as if his Battle Suit barely helped at all.

He was driven back step by step.

"Third Brother!"

The other warrior had originally meant to stop Chen, but when he saw what was happening, he couldn't help rushing over and thrusting his sword toward the back of Guen's head.

A Tier 8 Warrior could sprint nearly four hundred meters in a second.

In the blink of an eye, he was behind Guen.

Guen didn't even turn his head. He nimbly shifted a short distance, making the warrior's attack miss. Even when the warrior changed his move, he couldn't keep up with Guen's evasive movements.

"I don't believe it! I'll slash, chop, thrust, cut..."

The warrior attacked Guen frantically, but Guen remained calm, attacking the other warrior while dodging his blows.

From time to time, he even made the two warriors' attacks collide, canceling each other out.

He was actually using their attacks against them.

Both warriors felt an inexplicable panic rising within them.

Guen naturally noticed their expressions, but he didn't think much of them.

In Kolong's eyes, Guen's movement technique was still only at the basic level, which could be divided into four stages.

The First Stage simply gave the technique the ability to evade attacks. It was the most basic of the basics.

At the Second Stage, a person could dodge efficiently with only small shifts of movement. This was a sign of meticulous control.

At the Third Stage, a person could use the surrounding environment, making it part of the fight through their movement technique.

The Fourth Stage was complete mastery, using it effortlessly without the slightest trace of deliberate effort.

Kolong was currently at this stage.

According to Kolong, the next step after that was to use a domain, weaving it into the movement technique. Only then would the technique break beyond the basic level.

Before that, it could only be considered a Basic Movement Technique at the Fourth Stage—and the gap between practitioners at that stage was enormous.

As for domains, even Kolong said that mastering one was almost impossible without centuries of practice. It was certainly impossible at Planetary Level.

Guen understood even less about that, but his own movement technique had reached the Third Stage of the Basic Movement Technique. He could already make use of his surroundings.

That was why the two warriors' attacks couldn't hurt him and could even be turned against them.

With two Super Tier powerhouses—or Planetary Level powerhouses—as his parents and teachers, it was hardly surprising Guen could do this. Kolong was especially gifted, and even among the Denno Ape-men, he was somewhat famous.

"Warm-up's over." Guen suddenly widened the distance between them. His back curled like a great dragon, then snapped open.

The punch was fast and fierce.

The two warriors couldn't block it.

This was Kolong's signature technique. Guen knew how to use it but didn't understand its intricacies. Even so, its power was immense.

The two warriors saw only a fist strike their faces. Their noses broke at once, and their faces caved in.

Even their Battle Suits couldn't protect them there.