Formless Sealing Art

Bang!

As the steel whip in his hand brought down ten feet of earth, Li Hai used the recoil to soar into the sky. In the blink of an eye, he shot hundreds of yards upward.

Then, following the vague guidance of his Level 3 Wildness instinct, he turned to face southeast. His pupils narrowed to pinpricks as he gazed into the distance, ten miles away.

There, a blurry figure had his back to Li Hai and was racing madly into the distance at dozens of yards per second.

That panicked figure fleeing for his life was undoubtedly Zhou Hu.

"Heh, you're pretty quick. You've already gotten so far in such a short time. Too bad... it's all meaningless."

With a sneer, Li Hai spread his arms and swung his whip, using Flood Dragon Overturns Water once more.

Boom!

With a deafening sonic boom and surging waves of air, he shot toward the direction Zhou Hu had fled like an arrow.

"Faster, faster, faster!"

Zhou Hu's eyes bulged as he gritted his teeth and ran for his life. He didn't dare look back, not even once, afraid that if he slowed down by a hair, he'd lose all hope of survival.

"Thousand-Army Defying—it has to be Thousand-Army Defying! Only a Thousand-Army Rank martial artist could unleash such a savage, overwhelming force! But that... that's a realm only Master has reached!"

As he ran for his life, he roared inwardly, "Li Hai... He's so young. How could he have cultivated to such a terrifying level? I have to, I have to get to Master as fast as I can. Now, only he... can deal with that bastard Li!"

Whoosh—

Just as Zhou Hu continued to flee, a long, crimson steel whip shot toward him at tremendous speed from behind. With a sharp swish, it pierced through his iron-hard back and chest, pinning him firmly to the ground.

"Ahhhhhh, Li Hai!"

Fixed fast to the long steel whip like a pitiful grasshopper, Zhou Hu struggled to move his legs, which had gone completely numb, then twisted around to glare at the newcomer and bellowed, "You're one ruthless bastard, Li Hai! You crippled half my body right off the bat! Just you wait—my master will avenge me!"

"Your master?"

Li Hai strolled over from behind, looking perfectly at ease. "From the sound of it, he must be quite impressive."

As he spoke, he raised his eyes to Zhou Hu's personal interface—

Character Name: Zhou Hu

Rank: Orthodox Martial Arts → Steel Tendons and Iron Bones

Skills: Four Directions Fist Poison-Embedded Finger Mystic Turtle Precious Body Formless Sealing Art Spring and Autumn Blade Technique

Traits: [Soul Strengthening Level 2] [Strength Level 2] [Toxicity Level 1] [Iron Body Level 2] [Skill Level 1]

Stronger Fragment: None

Zhou Hu had learned quite a few techniques, but the only ones of real value were Mystic Turtle Precious Body and Formless Sealing Art.

The former was somewhat like Iron Barrel Bell-Coiling Manual. It was a defensive cultivation method, but it went deeper and reached further along the martial path. If cultivated to its peak, it could even reach the Thousand-Army Defying realm Li Hai had attained.

As for the latter, it was a cultivation method that increased neither attack nor defense, nor even agility.

The method's principles ran throughout: formlessness against form, nothingness through form, form through nothingness, and the formless and colorless. It had only one effect.

When fighting someone, its practitioner could use the collision of fists, feet, blades, and weapons to forcibly disrupt the circulation routes of the force within their opponent's body, at every level. This threw the enemy's power into disarray and greatly reduced their combat strength; in severe cases, it could even cause their realm to regress.

It was worth noting that once this secret martial art was cultivated to its peak, it too could reach the Thousand-Army Defying realm.

Yet Zhou Hu, who possessed these two Thousand-Army Rank cultivation methods, had not reached that rank himself.

From this, it was possible to infer that the person who had taught him these two techniques was the master he'd mentioned.

"Pah!"

Zhou Hu spat fiercely and sneered. "Little punk Li, you think I'll tell you? Just wait and see. My master will beat you to death!"

At that, Li Hai crossed the dozen or so yards between them in an instant and slapped Zhou Hu hard across the face. Then he laughed coldly.

"Zhou Hu, Zhou Hu. You're in this sorry state and still trying to act tough. Who are you trying to scare?"

With half his face swollen, Zhou Hu spat out half a mouthful of teeth and gave a sinister laugh.

"Heh heh heh. I've been fierce for half my life. I've had more than enough. Do whatever you want—beat me, kill me, it's all the same. If I so much as furrow my brow, I'll take your damned surname!"

"Fine, you've got guts!"

Li Hai gave him a thumbs-up and grinned. "But I've always been a generous man, so I'll give you a chance. Tell me everything you know about Zhou Ruigen, and I'll let you live."

"You want to know about that old bastard?"

Zhou Hu was taken aback, then scoffed. "Heh, dream on. We may not get along, but I'd never help an outsider. Go eat shit!"

"Fine, fine. So you don't want your last chance to live."

Li Hai's smile faded, and he said icily, "Then I'll 'entertain' you my way."

At his words, an inexplicable fear rose in Zhou Hu's heart.

It was as if something terrible was about to happen to him.

"First, I'll have to cripple your martial arts."

As he spoke, Li Hai slowly raised his right hand before Zhou Hu. He curled his fingers and turned his palm, forming a seal Zhou Hu knew all too well. A profoundly mysterious ripple trembled faintly around it.

"Formless Sealing Art! How is that possible?!"

Zhou Hu cried out in shock. "That's my master's ultimate technique! Only he and I have ever learned it! Where did you learn it, you little bastard?!"

"Where else?"

Li Hai smiled without the slightest hesitation. "From you, of course. I just learned it. Anyone who appears before me, I can learn every one of their ultimate techniques at a glance."

"Impossible!" Zhou Hu roared, eyes bloodshot. "What nonsense are you spouting?! What the hell are you talking about?!"

"The fact that I'm even telling you this is already generous of me."

Li Hai chuckled. "As for the rest, you can figure it out yourself."

With that, he pressed his palm against Zhou Hu's shoulder.

Vmmm—

In an instant, Zhou Hu felt a cold, uncanny force burrow into his body. In a very short time, it spread through his fascia, muscles, and bones, striking apart and severing every current of force circulating through those regions. They became countless disorderly clumps of different sizes, like scattered coal briquettes in an underground chicken coop, no longer connected to one another.

And so, a catastrophic chain reaction, like a row of dominoes toppling over, instantly spread throughout Zhou Hu's body.

In the space of a moment, Zhou Hu was gravely injured.

"Ugh!"

He vomited a huge mouthful of blood that was almost boiling. His eyes bloodshot, he stared at Li Hai and shouted in disbelief,

"You... you sealed my martial foundation completely with one move?! Th-that's a miraculous ability only the highest level of Formless Sealing Art can possess! Only my master reached that level! Y-you said you'd only just learned it... How is that possible?!"

His thoughts fell into utter chaos.