Dian Clan Eight Methods of Twin Halberds, Skill Fusion Complete (1 / 2)

Zhao Er did not return straight to the village. Instead, he bought a considerable quantity of poisonous herbs used to relieve pain.

Although he wanted to try cultivating with metal shavings, the price gave him pause. After doing the sums, he decided the poisonous pain-relieving herbs were still a better bargain.

Of course, he also bought two short halberds.

Considering that he would eventually need to venture into the Mountain Range to fight large wild beasts or exotic beasts, Zhao Er passed over the lighter halberds and chose the Twin Iron Halberds, forged entirely from iron.

Ready-made Twin Iron Halberds were not easy to find. Zhao Er visited several shops before he finally bought a pair. Each weighed around seventeen jin, and he found them slightly strenuous to wield.

But that was all right. As Dian Zhang had said, a man chose his weapon, and the weapon trained the man in turn. Besides, once he broke through in the Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art, his strength would surely soar. By then, they would feel natural in his hands.

With all his purchases gathered, Zhao Er returned home and immediately took out the Dian Clan Eight Methods of Twin Halberds manual to read.

There were many ways to wield a halberd, particularly a pair of them. The Dian Clan Eight Methods of Twin Halberds brought together the eight most practical methods.

Those eight methods were: cleaving, chopping, lifting, thrusting, parrying, blocking, snapping, and sweeping. Though there were only eight, they covered both attack and defense, and wielding a halberd in each hand made them even more flexible and varied.

He could also choose which moves to use against an enemy according to the weight of his weapons.

Zhao Er practiced with Heavy Halberds, so he should focus more on cleaving and thrusting. With their own weight added to his strength and the reinforcement of his blood energy, a direct cleaving strike could deliver ferocious smashes and chops of tremendous power. A thrust could strike straight at a vital point, driving forward with the unstoppable force of splitting bamboo.

Combined with the Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art, they could give him every advantage, whether in single combat or against a group.

The only difficulty was that wielding them required dexterity in both hands and exceptional comprehension. Otherwise, simply using a saber would be more straightforward.

Merely leafing through the manual and reading its explanations of the various moves already set Zhao Er's blood boiling.

[Dian Clan Eight Methods of Twin Halberds (green): lv.1 (1/100)]

As the panel recorded the art, Zhao Er gained a basic proficiency with the Twin Halberd Art. The requirement for dexterity in both hands ceased to be an obstacle altogether. As for comprehension...

As long as his proficiency increased, Zhao Er would naturally gain the corresponding insights. That was the source of his peerless comprehension.

The Dian Clan Eight Methods of Twin Halberds aren't just moves. To reach perfection, I need to coordinate them with the blood energy inside my body. Only by perfectly combining the basic moves with my own blood-energy force, making my power fall with the halberd, can I achieve perfection.

Zhao Er did not know the art's maximum level, but that did not matter. He could simply start practicing.

When Zhao Er picked up his newly purchased weapons, an inexplicable sense of familiarity left him eager to try them.

Unlike the Five Poisons Fist, the Dian Clan Eight Methods of Twin Halberds could not be practiced in the Side Room, so Zhao Er chose the courtyard instead.

At first, Zhao Er moved slowly, striving to execute every move correctly. He could only use his physical strength during practice and could not yet coordinate the blood energy within his body.

Still, Zhao Er was already a Blood Condensation Realm martial artist and possessed considerable strength. With a Heavy Halberd in each hand, his practice filled the courtyard with the sound of weapons cutting through the air.

The commotion made Zhao Shan's eyes shine as she sat beneath the eaves. Unable to resist, she picked up two wooden sticks and imitated his movements.

[Experience gained: Dian Clan Eight Methods of Twin Halberds +7]

Zhao Er practiced from when the sun hung high until the moon rose above the branches, stopping only to eat. The speed of his progress in the Halberd Art exceeded his expectations.

Over the course of the day, the proficiency he gained himself, combined with the experience awarded at settlement, increased his Halberd Art progress by a full fifteen points.

But the cost was equally substantial. Zhao Er took one of the pills he had obtained from Luo Yu, leader of the Longwind Gang, just to keep himself from collapsing with exhaustion.

I still haven't cultivated my cultivation art today. I can't slack off...

Looking at the waning moon on the horizon, Zhao Er gritted his teeth, swallowed another pill, and dragged his weary body toward the Side Room.

Only late that night did Zhao Er crawl out of the Side Room and onto his bed, drenched from head to toe. The moment he lay down, he fell into a deep sleep.

No, I need to exercise restraint. Cultivation has to proceed step by step, and I need to put more effort into making money, too.

Excited by his newly acquired art, he had overdone his training on the first day. As a result, Zhao Er woke very late the next morning. Feeling the lingering soreness and swelling in his arms, he reflected on his mistakes before finally getting up.

When he had gone to County Town to buy poisonous herbs yesterday, he had also asked about the price of the pills he had obtained from Luo Yu of the Longwind Gang.

They were called Blood Condensation Pills and were best suited to martial artists in the Blood Condensation Realm. Each cost one tael of silver, and he had taken two in a single day yesterday.

There had been twenty pills in the bottle. Zhao Er had previously used four, then another two yesterday. The remaining fourteen would only last him seven days.

He had roughly forty taels of silver left. The cost of the Blood Condensation Pills alone meant that would not sustain him for even a month.

"Into the mountains! Time to make money!"

After eating plenty of meat, Zhao Er's arms had recovered considerably. He had no intention of resting. Taking the two leather baskets his mother, Zhang Xuan'e, had recently made, he headed into the mountains.

Time was like the wind, always brushing past unnoticed. By the time you sensed it, the wind was already far away.

Six days passed in a flash. Immersed in cultivation all day long, Zhao Er did not notice them slipping by.

When the village roosters crowed, Zhao Er opened his eyes in bed. Today, however, rather than getting straight up to cultivate, he immediately opened his panel:

[Cultivation: First Martial Realm—Blood Condensation]

[Five Poisons Returning to Origin Body (blue) lv.2 (135/500)]

[Nine-Turn Golden Body Art (blue) lv.1 (48/80)]

[Dian Clan Eight Methods of Twin Halberds (green) lv.1 (54/100)]

[Five Poisons Fist (white) lv.2 (113/500)]

[Poison resistance (passive): lv.2 (7/500)]

The Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art and Yin Body Art have finally finished fusing. They've become the Nine-Turn Golden Body Art, but the art's grade hasn't increased. Is that really because this art can only be cultivated up to the third turn?

As Zhao Er looked at the Nine-Turn Golden Body Art displayed on the panel, information surfaced from the depths of his mind, revealing the changes in the fused art.

Perhaps because the original Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art was already a top-tier body-tempering art, fusing it with the Yin Body Art had not greatly improved its effects.

Its form, however, had changed somewhat. Breaking through each layer still brought a tremendous increase in strength, but when employed, it was no longer purely rigid. Instead, suppleness now lay within its hardness. Although its defensive power had not increased, its flexibility had improved considerably.

What delighted Zhao Er, however, was the change in the cultivation process.

Originally, it had followed the standard method of external body conditioning: striking the body to make metal shavings cling to the skin or even penetrate the flesh, then absorbing them through a circulation method.

Now, however, it had incorporated the characteristics of the Yin Body Art. Simply circulating the art would allow him to absorb nearby metal and yin energy to temper his body.

"Let's try it!"

Zhao Er digested the information that had surfaced in his mind and understood how the art had changed. But he would only know its actual effects after cultivating it.