Ye Wudao looked at the "Flower Leopard" before him. He had no idea what these demon beasts were called.
According to Great Master Qin Tianlong, he had to sense the strengths and weaknesses of the demon beasts for himself. Only then would he know how to break through their weak points when surrounded by them.
This was also a form of training for him, so none of his three masters had told him any specific information about the demon beasts.
"Kill!"
Ye Wudao barked and charged at the "Flower Leopard."
"Roar!"
The Long-Claw Leopard seemed to sense Ye Wudao's killing intent. It let out a furious roar and charged at him.
"Life-Taking Four Blades!"
Ye Wudao barked again.
He had discovered that during actual combat, calling out the name of his martial technique gave him a boost of confidence without him even realizing it.
Watching the "Flower Leopard" leap high into the air, he narrowed his eyes and used Roaming Dragon Step to dart forward, then slid into a low tackle.
The "Flower Leopard" was already high in the air, so his sliding tackle couldn't affect it at all.
But his real aim was to slip beneath the Flower Leopard.
After training in so many martial techniques, he had developed several ways to identify an enemy's weak points.
Basically, every martial technique had its own method of finding weaknesses, and no two techniques did it the same way.
Palm techniques, fist techniques, blade techniques, spear techniques—each used different attacks, and each had a different way of pinpointing weaknesses.
The instant he saw the "Flower Leopard," he spotted its weak points.
Its head and belly were its main vulnerabilities.
The "Flower Leopard's" neck was hidden behind its head. Trying to get around its head to attack its neck would have been unwise.
So the moment the "Flower Leopard" leaped into the air, he reacted instantly.
The "Flower Leopard" had jumped two or three meters high. He could leap just as high, but his body would hang in the air, leaving him open instead.
So attacking the "Flower Leopard's" soft belly was the best choice.
As he slid, the first blade stabbed toward the Flower Leopard's stomach, then he yanked it back hard.
The next moment, foul-smelling blood sprayed across his face.
Without even wiping it off, he spun around and thrust his great blade at the "Flower Leopard's" rear.
The blade pierced its excretory opening, and a third of the broad blade sank into its body.
He followed through with the third strike, pulling the blade from the "Flower Leopard's" body and sweeping it sideways, smashing the beast hard against the ground.
He didn't need the fourth strike. The "Flower Leopard" lay motionless, already dead.
Only then did Ye Wudao wipe the blood from his face. Looking at the Flower Leopard's corpse, he muttered, "This first-tier demon beast isn't as strong as the three masters made it sound!"
He could clearly feel that he'd had everything under control, whether fighting the "Plum Blossom Deer" or the "Flower Leopard."
He hadn't even used the Houtian Realm martial technique Four Seasons Blade Technique. He'd only used the Body Tempering Realm technique Life-Taking Four Blades.
Just observing the enemy's weak points with Life-Taking Four Blades, planning his attacks, and striking those weak points accurately had seemed more than enough.
On the slope, Qin Tianlong had been about to sit down. When he saw Ye Wudao take down the Long-Claw Leopard in three strikes, he stopped halfway into bending his knees, straightened up, and stared at Ye Wudao in disbelief. "That can't be right!"
"This kid's ridiculously strong!"
"With his current fighting ability, he could probably go toe-to-toe with an Initiate Houtian Realm martial artist, couldn't he?"
"And from the looks of him, he doesn't seem to have gone all out!"
He was completely dumbfounded!
There was no doubt about Ye Wudao's talent for the Martial Path. With his cultivation technique running automatically, he was destined to become a grandmaster-level powerhouse, perhaps even opening up a whole new path in the Martial Path.
But talent in actual combat and talent in the Martial Path were two entirely different things.
Simply practicing martial techniques wasn't enough. You had to adapt in real time to the situation during a fight.
Without combat experience, even someone who had mastered a martial technique would struggle to unleash its full power.
Yet Ye Wudao's movements as he killed the demon beasts had been utterly crisp and decisive. He was more seasoned than some old hands who had spent years in the Rift World.
And Ye Wudao showed no sign of fear. Every strike was precise and lethal.
"So his martial techniques don't just cultivate themselves—they feed him experience, too?"
"But how did he learn to find a demon beast's weaknesses so quickly in the middle of a fight?"
"That's not the kind of fighting method someone with zero combat experience could use."
Qin Tianlong furrowed his brow, turning over the question of Ye Wudao's combat ability in his mind.
Anyone could look for weaknesses. Everyone knew these demon beasts were vulnerable at the throat, belly, and head.
But finding a weakness didn't mean you could exploit it.
Demon beasts weren't targets that stood still and let you hit them.
To attack a demon beast's weak points, you had to figure out your move in the instant it made a move of its own.
Otherwise, all you could do was use brute force.
Humans weren't as strong as demon beasts, so using brute force against them was bound to put you at a disadvantage.
This was Ye Wudao's first time fighting a demon beast. There was no way he could have grasped how to target an opponent's weak points in combat all at once.
So Qin Tianlong couldn't make sense of it.
He hadn't come along just to protect Ye Wudao. He'd also come to observe him in actual combat.
He had planned to identify the flaws in Ye Wudao's fighting and offer some guidance.
But it seemed Ye Wudao didn't need his guidance at all.
Ye Wudao already seemed capable of fighting across realms.
Suddenly, a flash of insight crossed Qin Tianlong's mind. Watching Ye Wudao kill another "Sharp-Mouthed Deer," he seemed to understand.
"Martial techniques! It's the martial techniques!"
"He's practiced so many martial techniques, and each one cultivates itself. He must have reached a decent level in all of them—at least the Initiate level."
"Every martial technique contains a way to detect weaknesses, as well as a way to exploit an opponent's weaknesses and plan your own moves in combat."
"Just one martial technique might not have given him such a strong ability to find weak points."
"But he's practiced more than twenty. Enough drops of water pierce the stone—so he adapted to this style of fighting so quickly!"
Qin Tianlong suddenly understood why Ye Wudao was so strong. He muttered to himself over and over.
Watching Ye Wudao take down the "Sharp-Mouthed Deer," he whispered, "Good heavens! What kind of monster have I raised?"
For a newcomer fighting demon beasts for the first time to run rampant among their ranks—it was more than mere genius.
A prodigy?
A monster!
Those two labels might suit Ye Wudao even better!
Suddenly, his brow furrowed. Watching four people slowly approach Ye Wudao, he murmured, "People from the Four Blade Sect?"
At that moment, Ye Wudao was fighting a "Wild Dog" on the stony beach. He, too, noticed someone approaching from behind.
Without a second thought, he chopped off the "Wild Dog's" head, then turned to face the four newcomers.
At first glance, he recognized the middle-aged man who had forced him down the steep slope with a blade yesterday.
The middle-aged man saw that Ye Wudao had spotted him, so he stopped sneaking forward and strode to within three meters of him.
He raised the great blade in his hand and sneered. "Kid, I didn't expect you to survive that fall from such a height yesterday!"
"You sure are lucky!"
"I'm even more surprised you'd dare come back to the Rift World to hunt demon beasts."
He glanced at the "dog" lying on the ground and sneered. "A Red-Eyed Dog? The lowest-tier first-rank demon beast!"
"Kid, if you took that long to deal with a Red-Eyed Dog, you must have only just entered the Body Tempering Realm!"
"You and your master, Hu Lianfeng, sure have guts!"
"You knew people from my Four Blade Sect were here, and you still sent him here to hunt demon beasts."
"Since I didn't finish you off yesterday, I'll kill you again today!"
Once he finished speaking, the old woman behind him said softly, "A-Tai, be careful. This kid seems to have killed a 'Sharp-Mouthed Deer' earlier. He might be above the Body Tempering Initiate level."
The middle-aged man glanced at the Sharp-Mouthed Deer's corpse nearby and smiled. "Sect Master, you're worrying too much."
"If he could kill a Sharp-Mouthed Deer, he wouldn't have fallen down that steep slope in the gorge yesterday!"
"Someone else must have killed it."
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