Silk-Winding Force

[Martial Dao Diligence Record]

Martial Art: Wind-Settling Spear

Current Realm: Minor Achievement (0.1%)

Martial Art Trait: Silk-Winding Force

Evaluation: The spear art is rounded and harmonious, its intent newly born.

With a thought from Xu Wuyi, the method for using [Silk-Winding Force] naturally surfaced in his mind.

It was not an independent killing move, but a technique for channeling force, mainly used with [Wind-Returning Sweep].

When using [Wind-Returning Sweep] to block an enemy's weapon, he could attach a strand of soft, threadlike hidden force to the spear shaft.

The instant it clashed with the opponent's weapon, that hidden force would transmit over like winding silk threads, causing the enemy's weapon to vibrate violently, making it difficult for them to maintain steady control for a short time and creating a fatal opening for a counterattack.

If used directly on an enemy's body, that hidden force might even jolt their internal organs out of place.

Although it was not as fierce and brutal as the triple burst of [Cloud-Parting Force], its advantage was that there was no need to stab the enemy. Even if it was blocked, the force could still be transmitted over, at most a little weaker.

"While defending, I can break down the opponent's weapon and create a chance to attack... This 'Silk-Winding Force' really is worthy of a Minor Achievement-level method!"

A burst of joy surged through Xu Wuyi's heart.

This undoubtedly made up for one of his major shortcomings: when facing an opponent who was too powerful to meet head-on, he had no effective way to strike back.

If he only passively took blows, then even if he found an opportunity, it would be very hard to deliver a killing strike. Defense like that was no different from a slow death.

But with [Silk-Winding Force], things were different. Every defense could transmit this hidden force to the opponent.

Once enough hidden force accumulated inside the enemy's body, it would inevitably affect their condition. Their strength, speed, and circulation of qi and blood would all be weakened, which was equivalent to attacking.

This was "offense and defense as one"!

He could not wait to begin practicing [Wind-Returning Sweep], trying to integrate [Silk-Winding Force] into it.

At first, it was rather awkward. Condensing and transmitting that soft hidden force was far harder to control than the forceful, fierce [Cloud-Parting Force].

But he had the panel's precise feedback, as well as the deeper understanding of spear arts that came with having just broken through to Minor Achievement. His progress was rapid.

At the same time, in Yingang City, at the Li family villa, inside a luxurious training room specially built for Li Mo.

Bang!

Li Mo slammed a punch into a specially made alloy force-testing pillar, producing a dull, thunderous crash. The pillar shook violently, and an astonishing number appeared on it, but he did not even look. His face was so dark it looked as if water could drip from it.

In reality, Li Mo's features were not as fierce as they were on Battle Net. Instead, he even had a somewhat simple and honest look.

"I actually lost! I shouldn't have lost at all..." he growled, his voice full of frustration.

He had been careless!

If he had not let his guard down and attacked without holding anything back, if he had not underestimated the other side's desperate counterattack... that spear strike never could have pierced him so easily!

That instantly erupting force... even now, when he thought back on it, his chest seemed to ache faintly.

"Mo'er."

A steady voice sounded.

At the entrance to the training room, a middle-aged man in gray training clothes had appeared at some point.

His features bore some resemblance to Li Mo's, but his bearing was more restrained. Sharp light flashed in his eyes whenever they opened and closed. He was Li Mo's third uncle, the martial master Li Yaoshan.

"Third Uncle." Li Mo restrained some of his anger, but his face was still full of defiance.

Li Yaoshan walked in and said mildly, "Losing one match is fine. It lets you know that life energy level isn't everything. There are crouching tigers and hidden dragons among the Federation's martial artists. Don't look down on the people of the world."

"It's not that I can't accept losing!" Li Mo said, neck stiff. "It's that the loss was suffocating! That kid only knew how to dodge, and that last move was pure gambling with his life!"

"Gambling with his life? If he won the gamble, then he won. When you're truly on the battlefield, the ones who survive are all people who won their gambles."

Li Yaoshan smiled, opened the micro optical computer on his wrist, and pulled up a processed combat recording. It was the key segment of Xu Wuyi's battle with Li Mo, especially that final spear strike that reversed defeat into victory.

"That spear was too close, so you couldn't avoid it. Next time you run into him, don't give him the chance to get close. Just attack his weapon directly."

Li Yaoshan said it casually, but he immediately found a direction for Li Mo.

Li Mo was tall and powerfully built. Although his great saber was slightly shorter than a long spear, the two of them had roughly the same actual attack range.

As long as Li Mo focused solely on striking the weapon rather than the person, forcing Xu Wuyi into a contest of strength with him, the latter would soon have no defense left and would have no choice but to take the initiative to attack, thus exposing an opening.

"Right!" Li Mo said in pleasant surprise. "Third Uncle, how did I not think of that?"

Li Yaoshan shook his head slightly. What he did not say was that this method was not hard to think of, as long as one had even a slightly higher sensitivity to combat.

Unfortunately, though this nephew of his was extraordinarily gifted, he truly did not have much talent in martial skill. He only knew that straightforward style of fighting.

Still, that was not necessarily a bad thing.

Fighting humans required all these twists and turns, but when he went to the battlefield in the future to kill other races, martial artists like him would be the most welcome.

"The premise for fighting like this is that you're suppressing him by 1.2 life energy levels," Li Yaoshan said again. "If the other side fought you with equalized energy levels, how do you think you should fight?"

"Huh?" Li Mo was a little dumbfounded again and could not help scratching the broad back of his head.

He thought again of the guy on the virtual battlefield who defended like a turtle tucked inside its shell.

With such a huge advantage in life energy level, he still hadn't been able to quickly punch through the other party. If their life energy levels had been the same, could he have won?

Li Yaoshan looked at his nephew's expression and couldn't help smiling a little.

Usually, if he said something like this, Li Mo would definitely retort, "My energy level is just higher," "Let's not talk hypotheticals," or "Just tell me whether I won or not."

Li Mo's lack of refinement in martial arts was partly because his own talent wasn't enough, but in truth, his usual lack of seriousness in training was also a factor.

After all, if painstaking martial arts training couldn't improve him as much as casually taking a few medicines, then wasn't all that training for nothing?

This time, it hadn't been easy for him to lose a match—and to someone 1.2 energy levels below him—so he could finally take some of it in.

Li Yaoshan continued his analysis. "Your opponent this time was extremely good at defense and counterattacks, and his mindset was very steady as well. Your attacks, on the other hand, were too straightforward and lacked variation. At the same energy level, there's no way you could do anything to him."

"Against this kind of defensive opponent, you can't let him drag you into his rhythm."

"Either you crush his defense in an instant with speed far beyond his reaction time, or you use trickier, more continuous attacks to pressure him nonstop, forcing him to scramble until he exposes an opening on his own."

Li Yaoshan looked at Li Mo. "Your Mountain-Severing Saber Technique has more than enough ferocity, but not enough variation. Starting tomorrow, I'll teach you the Layered Wave Slash—one move with three changes, made specifically to break this kind of stubborn turtle shell."

Li Mo's eyes suddenly lit up, and he nodded hard. "All right, Third Uncle! The next time I meet him, I definitely won't give him another chance!"

He clenched his fist, and fighting spirit reignited in his eyes.

Xu Wuyi... In the three-school joint exam, just you wait!