Earth Rend

Wielding the Moon-Slasher Greatsword, Arnold began practicing the sword's basic techniques—chopping, slashing, thrusting, and other fundamental movements.

With every swing of Mooncleaver, Arnold contemplated how to increase the sword's power.

Mages used their spiritual power to communicate with earth elements and form incomparably powerful spells, while warriors could only attack with the battle qi within their bodies. It was not that warriors could not communicate with earth elements and add them to their attacks, but their spiritual power was far weaker than that of mages, and they lacked magical power within their bodies.

Thus, Arnold's ultimate goal was to integrate Earth Law into his attacks. However, this kind of cultivation was more difficult for warriors than directly communicating with earth elements was for mages, so it required a bridge.

After devoting himself wholeheartedly to it, Arnold discovered that relying solely on his battle qi produced decent power, but it lacked that truly striking quality.

Then, deep within the Warcraft Mountain Range, Arnold gained some insight while watching a waterfall plunge from above.

The water in a waterfall fell from a great height, and its force was especially immense. Yet this was simply because gravity gave the waterfall gravitational potential energy. Falling from such a height, its gravitational potential energy was naturally enormous.

But when Arnold used his sword, he could hardly stab down from the sky every time to increase its gravitational potential energy. Besides, his Moon-Slasher Greatsword was not a heavy sword, so its gravitational potential energy could not become very great.

Still, using gravitational potential energy to increase power was a direction worth pursuing.

To apply that so-called gravitational potential energy to Mooncleaver, Arnold began cultivating directly beneath the waterfall.

Boom! Boom! Boom!...

The waterfall, over a hundred meters tall, plunged from above and crashed into the deep pool below, sending countless splashes flying.

Within that deep pool, a young man practiced his swordsmanship beneath the crushing waterfall.

The water fell from a height of a hundred meters, producing immense gravitational potential energy. Yet Arnold's sword seemed completely unaffected as he continued swinging it through all kinds of basic drills.

After practicing for a while, Arnold left the deep pool and put on his shirt on the ground nearby.

Arnold had been drenched from head to toe, but the moment he put on his shirt, it dried completely. Naturally, he had used a little fire magic. Although his fire affinity was low, Arnold occasionally refined some fire-element magical power.

"If I can swing Mooncleaver normally beneath a waterfall, then the next step is to treat earth elements like the waterfall and add them to Mooncleaver. Such an attack will naturally be incomparably powerful," Arnold muttered.

As he walked outward, Arnold sensed a magical beast a hundred meters away and immediately grew eager to test his strength as a warrior against it.

Without concealing himself, Arnold walked directly into the magical beast's line of sight.

One look told him that it was a Firewing Pegasus. The Firewing Pegasus was lying quietly on the ground, basking in the sun.

A Firewing Pegasus was a sixth-level, fire-element magical beast. It was a horse with vividly red wings that loved soaring through the skies.

What a fine opponent, Arnold praised inwardly.

Holding the Moon-Slasher Greatsword, Arnold rapidly approached the Firewing Pegasus and brought his sword straight down at it.

But with a flap of its wings, the Firewing Pegasus left the attack's range and rose three meters into the air.

This only made Arnold more excited. Directly drawing upon earth elements, he swung his sword at the Firewing Pegasus in the air.

Arnold's sword never left his hand, yet with that empty swing, a wave of air rapidly slashed toward the Firewing Pegasus. The Firewing Pegasus turned again and flew to another position in the air.

Having failed to kill the Firewing Pegasus, Arnold seemed quite pleased. He slashed at it through the air again and again, while the Firewing Pegasus dodged time after time.

Of course, the Firewing Pegasus eventually grew angry and occasionally launched sneak attacks at Arnold. But how could Arnold possibly allow himself to be hit by it?

With each successive attack, Arnold became increasingly familiar with the pressure created by borrowing earth elements.

However, Arnold could not bear to kill such a fine opponent that had helped him cultivate. He left the Firewing Pegasus's territory and continued slaughtering other magical beasts.

Through constant practice, Arnold slaughtered sixth-level and lower magical beasts again and again. He even clashed head-on with a Seventh-level magical beast and killed it with this sword technique.

Arnold felt that his use of the sword should be called wielding lightness with the force of heaviness. Arnold's Moon-Slasher Greatsword was extremely light, yet when Mooncleaver struck a magical beast, its power was immense. This was because Arnold guided the earth elements within a certain range onto the sword.

Too lazy to think of anything elaborate, Arnold casually named it Earth Rend.

Earth Rend was a combined application of battle qi, strength, and earth elements.

The pressure of earth elements was incredibly intense; Mooncleaver alone could not withstand it. Arnold naturally needed to reinforce it with battle qi and his own strength to maintain a balance between Mooncleaver and the earth elements.

Being able to slaughter Seventh-level magical beasts as a Sixth-level Warrior was no small improvement, yet Arnold remained dissatisfied.

Arnold had another idea. If Mooncleaver struck an enemy and the enemy raised a weapon to block it, what if Mooncleaver's weight suddenly increased a hundredfold? The enemy would definitely be unable to block it, and Mooncleaver might even cut them down in one stroke.

Arnold actually wanted to combine the Gravity Spell with Mooncleaver's attacks. But even the most basic, primitive Gravity Spell was a fifth-level spell. Arnold's spiritual power was far from sufficient, and he could not cast it instantly.

Moreover, once cast, a Gravity Spell was fixed within a certain range. If he applied it to the area occupied by Mooncleaver, then Arnold, who held Mooncleaver, swung at an enemy, he would naturally move Mooncleaver out of the spell's range, rendering it meaningless.

It was a fine idea, but Arnold did not yet possess the strength to make it a reality. He could only leave it for future development.

The idea of combining the Gravity Spell with Mooncleaver was merely an interlude. Arnold put it aside and continued his arduous cultivation.

During those grueling days of cultivation, Arnold gained new insights every day into adding earth elements to Mooncleaver, and the power of Earth Rend increased by the day.

Another three months soon passed. As his spiritual power increased once more, Arnold continued researching the Greater Gravity Spell and reached tenfold gravity, though his own physical body had only just adapted to fourfold gravity.

Arnold's physical strength had reached the level of a Sixth-level Warrior, matching his battle qi, while his spiritual power had reached the upper-middle level of the Eighth-level.

Arnold had now realized that on the path toward the Saint Domain, his comprehension of Earth Law was already profound, with no obstacles remaining. As long as his spiritual power slowly increased, he could break through directly. Arnold's most powerful trump card was actually the tenfold Greater Gravity Spell.

Under the effects of such immense gravity, even Eighth-level magical beasts with exceptionally powerful physical bodies were greatly affected. Arnold, however, remained unaffected. With one side weakened and the other strengthened, Arnold could easily kill Eighth-level magical beasts.

Of course, once in the inner reaches of the Warcraft Mountain Range, Arnold encountered the Ninth-level magical beast, the Sacred Rune Divine Dragon. After a bitter battle, neither could do anything to the other.

Arnold's terrifying Greater Gravity Spell had a major effect even on the Sacred Rune Divine Dragon. Taking advantage of that, Arnold unleashed many sufficiently powerful spells, inflicting numerous wounds upon it. But as a light-element magical beast, the Sacred Rune Divine Dragon knew countless healing spells.

Before even two or three of the wounds Arnold inflicted could remain, the Sacred Rune Divine Dragon had already healed completely. Meanwhile, all of the Sacred Rune Divine Dragon's attacks against Arnold were blocked by the Earthquake Sacred Armor.

Even when Arnold cast Spiral Sphere and dealt severe damage to the Sacred Rune Divine Dragon, it simply healed itself directly.

It was an unwinnable battle. Arnold had no desire to continue fighting, so he immediately used the Wind Escape Technique to leave.