Wind-Settling Spear

As Xu Wuyi's words fell, a moment later, a gentle, neutral electronic voice sounded:

[Command received. Analyzing user data... Analysis complete.]

[User life energy level: 10.2. Basic Body Tempering Method: minor mastery. Combat style: identifying openings, defensive counterattacks... Recommended C-rank spear art: Wind-Settling Spear.]

[If the user's life energy level rises above level 11, you may attempt to comprehend the true meaning of martial dao and practice the B-rank spear art Eight Directions Soul-Suppressing Spear.]

"Spear?" A flicker of understanding flashed through Wang Wenhai's eyes. "The king of all weapons. It excels at control, is good for thrusting and stabbing, and integrates offense and defense. It really does fit your steady nature and your knack for seizing battle opportunities."

"Especially with a defensive counterattacking style. When executed with a spear, it can often produce miraculous results."

He operated it a few times. On the light screen, the phantoms of the other weapons faded away, leaving only images of various long spears, along with a row of spear-art martial arts names and introductions listed below.

"In Battle Net's basic armory, there are seven spear arts suitable for beginners. You can read the introductions."

"The Wind-Settling Spear recommended by the AI is indeed quite good, but you need to have your own judgment. You can use it as a reference, but you can't become dependent on it."

Xu Wuyi did as he said and carefully read through the introductions to the seven spear arts, but in the end, he still shook his head slightly.

Without exception, these seven beginner spear arts were all primarily offensive. Their styles differed, but none of them met his requirements.

He tapped the light screen with his finger. The phantoms of the other spear arts dimmed, and only the image of a simple, ancient-looking long spear with a perfectly straight shaft lit up. Detailed text appeared beside it:

[Wind-Settling Spear: C-rank martial art. Core concept: unmoving as a mountain, invading like fire. Emphasizes a stable foundation, using defense as offense, the spear striking like a dragon. Excels at seeking the enemy's openings amid defense and deciding victory in a single blow. The moves are concise, valuing intent over form, and place high demands on the practitioner's lower-body stability and instantaneous explosive power.]

"Wind-Settling Spear..." Xu Wuyi softly read the name aloud. "Teacher Wang, I've decided to choose this spear art after all."

The concept of this spear art was practically tailor-made for him.

This was not only the AI's recommendation, but also his own choice.

"All right, then choose it," Wang Wenhai said. "It isn't in the twelve-year compulsory education curriculum, so I can't teach it to you directly. Besides, I don't know it either."

"You can buy it directly on Battle Net. High school martial arts students have access to discounted slots, so it's very cheap."

After thanking Teacher Wang for his guidance, Xu Wuyi returned to his private space and chose to purchase the Wind-Settling Spear inheritance.

[Confirm expenditure of 1,000 Federal Credits (student discount price) to purchase the basic inheritance of Wind-Settling Spear?]

"Confirm."

[Purchase successful! The basic inheritance of Wind-Settling Spear has been delivered to your personal space. You may begin training at any time.]

Along with the notification sound, a video on the Wind-Settling Spear began playing. It included the most basic spear-gripping posture, the method of channeling force, and demonstration footage of the first three forms—Army-Settling Stance, Cloud-Piercing Thrust, and Wind-Returning Sweep.

Army-Settling Stance was the foundational posture, requiring the practitioner to be steady as a rock, unmoving and unwavering.

Cloud-Piercing Thrust was a single-target thrust that emphasized instantaneous explosive power, piercing through with one strike.

Wind-Returning Sweep was an area defense, in which the long spear danced and swept through the space around the body.

At the beginner stage, aside from the basic movements, he only needed to learn these three moves.

The moves were indeed concise, but the force-generation techniques and the way blood energy circulated within them were quite exquisite.

With a thought from Xu Wuyi, a standard long spear suited to his height and arm length appeared in his hand.

The spear shaft was cold, carrying a metallic texture, and it was on the heavier side.

The Wind-Settling Spear used a great spear, emphasizing momentum as heavy as a thousand jun, rather than a light spear that relied on agility.

Following the inheritance information in the recording, he took a deep breath, planted his feet in a stance that was neither square nor staggered, straightened his waist and back, gripped the spear shaft tightly with both hands, one in front and one behind, and assumed the opening stance of the Wind-Settling Spear—Army-Settling Stance.

The moment the movement settled into shape, he felt a sense of steadiness similar to when he practiced the Basic Body Tempering Method. In fact, because of the sense of extension from the long spear in his hands, his understanding of "root" became even deeper.

He maintained this posture, carefully sensing the distribution of his body's center of gravity, the circulation of blood energy through his waist and legs, and how to transmit power through both arms into the spear shaft.

Just this single stationary posture contained no small amount of learning.

Ten minutes later, he began trying to practice the most basic thrust—Cloud-Piercing Thrust.

Twist the waist, drive the hips, align the shoulder, snap the arms, release the force!

Hum!

The spear tip thrust out, carrying an almost imperceptible sound of tearing through the air.

The movement was somewhat stiff, and the force had not fully connected. At the very end of the thrust, the spear tip trembled slightly.

Xu Wuyi was not discouraged. He withdrew the spear, assumed Army-Settling Stance again, made slight adjustments, then thrust out a second time.

Once, twice, three times...

He immersed himself in this new training. Just like when he had first polished the Basic Body Tempering Method, he tirelessly repeated the simplest movement, attentively sensing the subtle differences in each release of force, constantly adjusting and pursuing that "standard."

Although, just like with Mountain Crushing Fist, no display related to Wind-Settling Spear appeared on the Martial Dao Diligence Record, Xu Wuyi still did this of his own accord.

One could not rely on external objects in martial practice. From the moment he obtained the Martial Dao Diligence Record, Xu Wuyi had understood this principle, and he had never treated it as something indispensable.

On the contrary, the experience he had gained while practicing the Basic Body Tempering Method was a precious treasure that belonged entirely to him.

For that matter, whether it was the Blood Energy Potion he was about to receive or this newly chosen Wind-Settling Spear, they were only tools.

What could truly allow him to walk toward strength was only perseverance, and sweat into which he poured all his heart and soul.

What he did not know was that within his sea of consciousness, that ancient bronze tome hovered quietly, occasionally emitting a faint glow, as though silently recording all of this.

Over the next few days, Xu Wuyi's pace of life became astonishingly fast.

In the mornings, he practiced the Basic Body Tempering Method, took a Blood Energy Potion every three days, and continued raising his life energy level.

At night, he tempered his spirit. He had already completed nearly half of the second stage of the Mountain Moving Method.

As for afternoon martial arts classes and his rest time, he spent almost all of it immersed in the Battle Net. A small portion of that time went to actual arena combat, where he continued accumulating experience against enemies of different styles; the rest was devoted entirely to practicing the Wind-Settling Spear.

He would hold the [Army-Settling Stance] for half an hour at a time, until both legs were numb and aching as if filled with lead, all to pursue that steadiness of being "unmoving as a mountain."

He practiced the [Cloud-Piercing Thrust] hundreds of times at a stretch, repeatedly studying the technique for exerting force, striving to condense the strength of his entire body into a single point at the spear tip in an instant.

He trained the [Wind-Returning Sweep] until his arms swelled, pursuing the seamless feeling of wielding the spear as if it were an extension of his own body.

With the minor achievement realm of the Basic Body Tempering Method as his foundation, his control over his body was extremely strong, and his rate of improvement far surpassed ordinary people.

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed. After drinking three bottles of Blood Energy Potion, Xu Wuyi drew closer and closer to level 11.0, and on this very day, his Wind-Settling Spear finally reached the entry level.