Mist Sword and Exerting Force

"Boom! Boom!"

Two flying saucers tore through the air, finally leaving the monster-infested town behind.

Bai Yang carried three cases in both hands as he walked out of the meeting room.

He paused slightly after stepping out—the entire area outside was packed with people.

Most of the prospective martial artists who had come for the practical assessment hadn't left; instead, they'd chosen to stay and watch.

To see just what kind of extraordinary abilities that examinee named Bai Yang possessed.

Luo Feng and Yang Wu stood at the very front of the crowd. When they saw him come out, they immediately moved to help.

The "Mount Hua Sword" had to be carried by Bai Yang himself, so he could only hand the other two alloy combination cases to them.

Each of the three carried one case, making walking much easier in an instant.

Some prospective martial artists gradually gathered around, trying to pull him aside to ask questions.

A series of "click-clack" sounds of guns being chambered followed.

General Tie, his face cold, led the stationed soldiers surging out from the surroundings.

They formed two human walls, clearing the way for them.

Anyone who wanted to get close to them had to first get past the armed soldiers—that was no joke.

Under the silent watch of over a thousand people, the three felt an indescribable discomfort all over. They quickly hurried into the train compartment, closed the door, and waited to go home.

"Whew! Finally on board. Bai Yang-ge, that scene was terrifying!" Luo Feng said, still shaken as he looked out the window at the crowd that refused to disperse.

"Indeed, it was dreadful. Brother Bai, rest for a few days. In two days, once our records are updated, we'll come find you in the main city," Yang Wu added.

Bai Yang naturally agreed. Today's gains were truly substantial; he just wanted to get home as soon as possible and take proper stock.

Along the way, everyone was too tired to speak.

At the same time, all kinds of information were being transmitted across the world, stirring up waves of commotion.

--

Bai Yang caught his breath and slumped onto the sofa—finally back at the dormitory!

If Principal Wei hadn't sent people ahead to receive him, it wouldn't have been so easy to return.

Was this the trouble that came with being a celebrity?

Bai Yang felt both secretly pleased and a bit annoyed.

Yeah, this kind of thing really was more trouble than it was worth; better to avoid it when possible.

He got up, opened the fridge, and took out a bottle of iced drink.

With swift movements, Bai Yang opened the three cases.

The "Mount Hua Sword" was for daily use; he couldn't carry the box around all day, so he left it in the dormitory.

Normally, he'd wrap it in the cloth bag that came with it and sling it over his shoulder.

He had no idea what material the cloth was made of, but its strength was terrifyingly high—no need to worry about damage at all.

One case contained a full set of Series 9 Combat Suit, priced at roughly 12 billion Huaxia dollars.

It was said to withstand attacks from lord-level monsters, but to him, it was barely better than nothing.

It also came with some miscellaneous items like a backpack and a watch.

Compared to the other items, these were just extras, so no one had specifically mentioned them.

The other case held the complete text of "Mist Sword."

Unlike the freely exchangeable content, the set Jia Yi had given him was the true complete edition!

Besides the normal cultivation content, it also included some notes from his old friend, the founder Linghu Yi.

Bai Yang only flipped it open for a glance to know it was the original.

The handwriting matched the characters carved on the box exactly.

He first systematically went through the bound volumes, then watched the accompanying video materials.

Finally, he looked at the notebook—and sure enough, the latter was completely unsystematic, full of wild, fanciful ideas.

Basically, none of it had any chance of being successfully cultivated.

But occasionally, some ideas were indeed novel and unique.

The man's personality was probably habitually careless; he'd never properly organized his thoughts before meeting an untimely end.

Bai Yang closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, confirming that there was indeed extraordinary value here, and decided to revisit it from time to time.

Next came the formal cultivation of "Mist Sword."

Though its rating was low, "Mist Sword," as the strongest technique of [Mount Hua], fully included sword arts, body movement, and guidance techniques.

As for the body movement section, Bai Yang glanced at it a few times, recalled the video footage, and considered it mastered.

The expert demonstrating in the video, though an Advanced War God in strength...

But Bai Yang had to admit, his movements really did look clumsy and awkward.

A single glance revealed at least seven or eight flaws—nothing worth learning from.

He checked the instruction manual, which mentioned that this person's movement technique was actually at the "Conceptual level."

Only then did Bai Yang realize he might have misunderstood the current realm system on Earth.

Without realizing it, he had fallen into a narrow way of thinking, and he now understood a bit more why Jia Yi valued him so much.

The basic principle of guidance techniques is to raise the upper limit of cells absorbing cosmic energy.

'Hong' had created nine top-tier guidance techniques, hailed as the strongest in the world.

Bai Yang tried practicing a little, but the effect wasn't obvious.

Because of his freakish transformation, his absorption capacity was already terrifyingly strong, so the benefits of guidance techniques hadn't really shown themselves.

The efficiency of autonomously absorbing cosmic energy was utterly negligible compared to using Spirits of Vegetation, Moya Crystals, and similar medicines.

Relying on this method to grow stronger was far too inefficient.

He'd just practice it casually every night; once he entered the War God Camp, he could exchange for a copy of Hong's guidance technique to use as reference.

His main focus for training still had to be on sword techniques.

Bringing the Mount Hua Sword, Bai Yang headed over to Building 3 in the East District.

The space there was large enough, perfect for him to cut loose.

The entire Mist Sword was divided into seven layers, and even the first layer required the practitioner to learn 81 sword moves.

The second layer doubled that, needing 162 moves.

By the sixth layer, it already required 2,592 moves.

The highest, seventh layer, demanded that all previous 5,103 moves be fused into just thirty-six moves.

But even after mastering the entire sword technique, the force multiplier was only a meager three times.

Bai Yang was secretly stunned—this was totally the style of ancient sword techniques.

It was completely different from the modern style, which emphasized coordination of power and speed.

If ancient sword techniques were more aimed at humans, focusing on endless variation and precise strikes, then modern sword techniques were more aimed at monsters, focusing on force application and thunderous, decisive blows.

It was no wonder this technique had such a low evaluation.

With his photographic memory, Bai Yang picked up the Mount Hua Sword and started practicing from the first layer's 81 moves.

The first time through, he only cared about getting the postures right, not the power at all. It took him just two hours to run through all 5,139 moves.

He sat down cross-legged and began to consider the connections between these sword moves.

Given his level of swordsmanship, many moves didn't even need to be learned.

He could already use them with considerable power right off the bat. What he wanted was to learn, from these moves, how to use hidden force and increase the force multiplier.

He knew the original work well and understood from the start that there were two key secrets.

First, it lay in making the muscles relax and tense appropriately—the so-called balance of hardness and softness. Only release the hidden force when needed, so the body can withstand it.

Second, the hidden force would travel through the bones, tendons, and muscles of the entire body. Every muscle in the body should participate in unleashing the hidden force, not just the hands and feet.

Once mastered, any part of the body could achieve the same force multiplier.