Ten-Thousand-Year Mutant Sub-Dragon (Part 1)

Bang! Bang!—Bang!!

Heavy sounds of collision echoed incessantly along the coastline.

At this moment, Wang Chuan had his eyes tightly shut, engaged in a sparring match against Redfield, who was also wielding a wooden staff.

Every time Wang Chuan swung his staff, Redfield parried it with ease, offering constant guidance as he did so.

"Your comprehension is good; you've stopped clinging to the rigid forms of sword techniques so quickly."

"But that is not what matters. Put away the little excitement in your heart. What you need to focus on now is not finding me with the sword in your hand."

"Instead, use your hearing to locate me, your sense of smell to detect the subtle changes in the air, and your sense of touch to feel the weak points in my staff during the clash of wood against wood."

"Even your sense of taste, which seems the most useless in battle, must be kept sharp to strengthen the condensation of your sixth sense beyond the five senses."

"Once you can achieve all that I have said, you will have mastered the basics of Iron Cutting."

Although Redfield claimed to be self-taught, as the possessor of the strongest Observation Haki, every word he spoke was far more precise in teaching Wang Chuan how to specifically draw out his own Haki than any training from the Marines.

And as someone who had mastered Life Return, Wang Chuan already possessed an extremely fine level of control over his own body.

Therefore, as Redfield continued to feed him attacks, Wang Chuan began to rapidly grasp the techniques of Observation Haki.

Soon, even with his eyes closed, the world began to appear clearly in Wang Chuan's mind in an entirely different form.

Redfield, sensing Wang Chuan's transformation through his Mind-Reading Observation Haki, smiled with satisfaction, accelerated the frequency of his attacks, and continued.

"Very good. You have mastered the initial stage of Observation Haki; now, we must go deeper."

"Remember, higher-level Observation Haki is all about will."

"This will refers not only to your own, but also to that of your enemy."

"As long as your enemy is alive, every move they make must contain their will."

"As you become capable of sensing more through your own will, you will naturally be able to detect an enemy's malice toward you from a great distance, allowing you to take precautions in advance and even seize the initiative in battle."

As he said this, Redfield paused, then sent Wang Chuan flying with a single strike of his staff.

"Finally, training this ability to its peak is what you think of as foreseeing the future."

At this point, Redfield stopped attacking. His expression turned complex, but soon, a playful laugh curled his lips.

"Hahaha, it seems I was a frog in a well."

"Even inanimate objects have a will? No wonder I always felt that Roger's Observation Haki was a bit strange."

"And this Observation Killer—I've never seen this ability on Roger or Newgate. To think there is an ability in this world specifically designed to counter Observation Haki."

"Red-Haired Shanks, is it? That brat from Roger's ship."

"Hmm? Bat-Bat Fruit Mythical Zoan Vampire Form? Sleepy Town?"

"Hahaha, interesting, truly interesting, kid!"

"To think that by merely giving you a few pointers, you've told me so much information. It seems I might live long enough to witness that new era."

"I am truly looking forward to it. To think that besides Roger and Newgate, there will be such powerhouses in the future. I am full of anticipation for the future once again, hahaha!!!"

Wang Chuan stood up speechlessly, rubbing his numb arm, though his face did not show the displeasure one might expect from having his secrets forcibly extracted.

He had anticipated this long ago. It would have been fine if the other party hadn't been using that Mind-Reading Observation Haki, but once that ability was activated during training, there was no way his own intelligent brain wouldn't leak such information.

After all, the heart is hard to deceive.

However, this also indirectly confirmed that the other party could not access his memories from his previous life, so he didn't need to resort to the "infinite monkey theorem" to explain whether his reality was true or false.

Picking up the wooden staff from the ground again, Wang Chuan closed his eyes once more and said, dampening the mood, "Alright, sir. If you don't let me finish my training first, all your thinking is useless. Come on, I feel like I can keep going for a while longer."

Redfield's laughter ceased instantly. His lips twitched involuntarily, and a flash of annoyance crossed his eyes, but he soon resumed his instruction of Wang Chuan.

Because, as Wang Chuan had said, if he didn't finish his training, all of Redfield's musings were pointless.

However, despite being dampened in such a way, Redfield wasn't truly angry; instead, he began to look at Wang Chuan with the genuine gaze of a master watching a disciple.

Because through this period of teaching, he had long since seen the purity of Wang Chuan's heart.

And for a pure person like Wang Chuan, he did not dislike him.

Eventually, once Wang Chuan had accumulated enough exhaustion, he returned to reality, carrying with him a massive harvest.

#

Inside the cave, Wang Chuan's eyes snapped open, shining with startling brilliance as he felt fully revitalized.

Although he could see nothing in the pitch-black darkness, as the feedback from the Strongest Haki Inheritance surged into his body, his Observation Haki activated immediately.

At this moment, through the thick rock layers, he was viewing the world within a radius of about a dozen meters from a strange perspective.

Through his sense of smell, Wang Chuan detected that the rock wall outside the cave was slightly warm, yet not scorching, which indicated that the time had already reached evening.

From the jungle not far away, the rustling of small insects and animals could be heard from time to time.

It was faint, yet it could not escape Wang Chuan at this moment.

Naturally, Zhao Wuji, who radiated a strong life force, was the first thing Wang Chuan perceived.

Seemingly afraid that the noise of cooking would disturb Wang Chuan, Zhao Wuji was currently gnawing on some dry rations he had kept at the bottom of his pack, his eyes fixed seriously ahead.

He was faithfully executing the task of guarding the path that Wang Chuan had given him.

Wang Chuan watched this scene with gratification; it showed that he truly hadn't chosen the wrong person.

As the heavy rock was pushed aside, Zhao Wuji looked at his boss, who appeared no different from usual, though his subconscious told him that the man before him seemed to have undergone some fundamental transformation.

But to this, Zhao Wuji had only one reaction, saying honestly, "Boss, did you succeed? Then let's be a little extravagant! How about we celebrate with some barbecue! Or a hot pot would work too!"

Wang Chuan smiled helplessly, secretly laughing at this foodie.

However, his body was very honest, and he prepared both delicacies at once; after all, surviving a disaster was indeed worth celebrating!

Just like that, after the small crisis brought about by the cheat was resolved, Wang Chuan returned to his routine life once again.

Subsequently, through diligent cultivation, the level gains brought by the thousand-year Spirit Ring, and the nourishment from eating Spirit Beast meat year-round.

Under this dual reinforcement, at seventeen years old, Wang Chuan reached the level twenty bottleneck he had originally expected to reach only at twenty-two.

In addition to this, under the nourishment of a large amount of Spirit Beast meat, Wang Chuan's height also broke through to two point two meters.