Testing the Techniques! Setting Out for Fuyu Commandery! A Black Tortoise Blocks the Road!
Night fell.
Yang Xiao decided to find a suitable place to try out his newly acquired martial arts techniques.
The skill proficiency is perfected, but there is still a gap between "knowing" and "being able to use" it.
The manager said that a single Mystic Core martial art could be studied for many years.
He doesn't need to study for many years, but he always has to go through it at least once.
Yang Xiao got up, walked to an open space in the courtyard, and first demonstrated his sword skills.
The strength of gold and jade lies in their appearance.
It's easy to crack its surface, but difficult to sever its interior.
The ability to shatter gold and break jade is all about cultivating that penetrating, deep-seated vibration.
Two old stone locks used for strength training were piled up in the corner of the yard, and a thick wooden stake, about the size of a bowl, stood against the wall; both were old items from the yard.
He first walked to the stone lock and drew his Shadowless Blade.
The blade is narrow and thin, entirely black, and doesn't even gleam in the night.
Yang Xiao casually slashed down with his sword.
He used only 30% of his strength, the blade grazing the stone lock at an angle, barely making contact.
The next moment.
Click!
The force wasn't heavy, but the sharpness of the blade penetrated the stone lock from the inside, causing it to shatter into pieces with a crash.
Yang Xiao looked at the pile of rubble, his eyebrows twitching slightly.
When encountering Demon King with a powerful physique, the defenses that used to require close-quarters combat and painstakingly breaking through with spears can now be destroyed with a single strike.
Another gunfight.
The "Blazing Sun Evil-Splitting Spear" only teaches how to activate the Fire Pattern and circulate the Qi according to the techniques to unleash the power of the blazing sun to destroy evil; it provides no explanation of the specific moves.
Compared to the martial arts moves I had learned before, this was more like a unique skill.
He picked up the Army-Breaking Spear and walked towards the wooden stake in the courtyard.
With a thought, a burst of burning white stars condensed on the tip of the spear.
It wasn't the crimson flames spreading Heaven-Burning Fire Pattern, but rather a single, intensely concentrated, blazing white Solar Flame, nailed to the tip of the spear, like a tiny sun.
The Army-Breaking Spear was thrust forward and sank into the wooden stake with a thud, the Solar Flame drilling in along the spearhead.
Boom--!
A muffled thud exploded inside the wooden stake, instantly charring and cracking the surrounding wood. Sparks mixed with sawdust burst out from the cracks, and half of the stake was burned through from the inside.
Yang Xiao drew his gun and returned.
The Solar Flame at the tip of the spear still shone, making his eyes appear blazing white.
But the wooden stake has no soul; what is burned is only half of its "physical body."
If this spear were to pierce the Demon King's body, the Solar Flame would enter, scorching his soul and flesh—a sensation that would surely be unbearable.
Finally, there's the Bone-Transforming Cotton Palm.
Yang Xiao walked to another stone lock and gently pressed it down.
When they returned, the stone lock was completely intact, without even a white mark.
He extended another finger and gently pressed it on the stone lock.
Click!
The hard stone lock, like a shortbread, collapsed into a crisp.
Sinew-Extinguishing, Bone-Melting.
A palm strike enters the body, its continuous force spreading. If it lands on flesh and blood, at best it will cause the bones to ache and the limbs to become exhausted.
To put it bluntly, it could even instantly dissolve the opponent's bones and muscles, turning them into a skeletonless "lump of flesh." Even a powerful Demon King would feel weak all over and temporarily lose the ability to fight back.
Yang Xiao stood in the courtyard, looking at the rubble and half a charred stump, and suddenly realized something different.
In the past, what did he rely on to take action?
Enveloped in the Five-Pattern Power, his body was hardened, and the Army-Breaking Spear pierced through him again and again.
That's how the Mountain Ridge Demon King was carved open, and that's how the two tigers were killed.
Ultimately, it's a head-on collision, a battle of wits where the opponent's strength is the deciding factor.
What about those three strikes just now?
A knife strike, a gunshot, a palm strike—the power is mostly restrained, relying entirely on "effect"!
The moves, characterized by their shattering force, Solar Flame heat, and bone-melting power, all carry the essence of martial arts techniques.
Because of their comprehension, even without the innate talent of Demon, humans can comprehend martial arts of extraordinary power. Perhaps this is why humans are able to surpass Demon.
From now on, he should be careful not to overlook the existence of the cultivation technique.
Yang Xiao let out a long breath, finally sorting out all his current insights.
This is what he truly obtained during his trip to the Technique Pavilion.
It's not three martial arts techniques.
The playing style has changed.
A night breeze swept through the courtyard, stirring up a few grains of stone dust.
He took the Qi-Gathering Bottle out of his pocket and tapped it lightly with his fingertip.
Several scorching auras rose and fell in the bottle, like several lurking ferocious beasts.
The knife, the gun, and the palm strike have all been sharpened.
Time to go out.
On the third day after leaving Qingzhou, the official road plunged into the mountains.
Fuyu Commandery is mountainous.
Mountains rise one after another, and the official road winds its way through the valleys until it is only wide enough for a single horse-drawn carriage to pass through.
The Qi-Gathering Bottle in Yang Xiao's arms hadn't been quiet since they entered the mountain.
Of the several scorching auras Pei Xuance distributed to him, one resonated with the aura of this mountain.
At the crossroads at the county border, a Captain waited with his horse for two days.
He had looked out over the deserted official road countless times over the past two days, and this time he finally saw the person coming.
The newcomer rode Demon Horse, clad in black armor and a red cloak, with a nine-foot-long spear lying across his back.
Although the faces were unfamiliar, there were only fourteen people in Qingzhou who wore this familiar attire, and the latest one had already spread throughout Qingzhou a few days ago, so it couldn't be fake.
He quickly stepped forward, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "I Captain of Fuyu Commandery, here to await General Yang on the orders of Iron General."
"Iron General not in the Commandery City?"
"At the mountain pass," the Captain answered readily. "The Black Tortoise has been blocking the road for six days, and Iron General has been driving it away for six days as well, but it hasn't returned to the city yet."
Yang Xiao nodded, indicating that he should lead the way.
The sound of horses' hooves echoed through the valley.
This mountain road is half the lifeline of Fuyu Commandery; grain transporters, medicine deliverymen, and passing merchants and farmers all rely on it for transportation.
The Captain explained the situation from horseback: six days ago, the Black Tortoise moved out of its cave, revealed its true form, and blocked the entrance to the mountain, remaining motionless. Ordinary people dared not approach it.
The Captain's attempts to drive it away from a distance were futile; thanks to its extremely tough armor, almost no one could affect it.
Even if Iron General is present, he can only drive them away temporarily; once the general leaves, they will return.
When they were still a few miles from the mountain pass, the official road was blocked.
A medicine cart was parked by the roadside, with several wooden boxes stacked on the deck, and the bitter smell of herbs emanating from the cracks in the boxes.
The driver stood beside the medicine cart, talking to the other driver in a low voice, repeating the same few sentences over and over.
"Is it possible to go through that mountain path to the south?"
"It's possible, but it will take six more days. The carriage can't cross the Eagle's Beak Cliff section; we'll have to hire porters to carry it section by section, and then switch to a carriage after we get across..."
The driver was visibly frustrated and anxious, but there was nothing he could do about the mountain road blocking the way ahead; he could only wait.
Further ahead, a group of merchants was squatting outside the post station.
A dozen or so people stood guard beside the carriage, which was covered in coarse cloth, dressed like bodyguards.
The middle-aged escort leader was talking to a captain, looking at the mountain pass in the distance and pointing, and he didn't know how long he had been waiting.
Yang Xiao rode his horse through the middle, and no one paid much attention to the group.
His gaze swept over the medicine carts, the procession, and the post station, and he got a sense of what was going on.
This Demon King is quite interesting; he doesn't kill people unprovoked, yet he still manages to bring down an entire prefecture.