Terrifying Talent

Lin Quan-meng was a young girl dressed in pale green silk, while Fang Du was a young man in his twenties with a conspicuous X-shaped blade scar on his face.

Both were at the ninth level of Qi Refining. Whatever their talent might have been, they displayed exceptionally keen awareness in combat.

And both had spirit insects.

Lin Quan-meng even had a mid-grade spirit stick insect with an incredibly hard body as long as a forearm.

Fang Du controlled a millstone-sized low-grade spirit ground spider that hid underground, appearing and vanishing like a ghost.

The two fought neck and neck. Lin Quan-meng even possessed a fine command of supple martial techniques, wielding her flying sword as though she were dancing.

She was beautiful, and so was her fighting, making the spectacle a feast for the male disciples' eyes.

The disciples beside Lin Ke were all eagerly discussing Lin Quan-meng.

"I heard Lin Quan-meng comes from the Mengzi Great Tribe, one of the thirteen great tribes of the Poison Tempering Mountains."

"That's right. Her dance technique is called the Axi Moon Dance. They say its inheritance has three stages: technique, method, and intent."

"Intent? You can comprehend intent from a dance technique?"

"Of course. The Three-String Dance Technique, the Three-String Dance Method, and the Three-String Dance Intent all belong to the same lineage."

Axi Moon Dance? Three-String Dance?

As Lin Ke watched the girl twisting and leaping across the arena like a merrily dancing flame, admiration shone in his eyes.

It really was an impressive movement technique!

If his guess was right, Lin Quan-meng probably had quite a background.

Not only did she possess a martial movement technique like the Axi Moon Dance, but she also had a mid-grade spirit stick insect. For someone at the Qi Refining Stage, that could certainly be called extravagant.

Just as he was thinking this, the battle seemed to be approaching its end.

"Strike!"

With a sharp cry, Fang Du sent the spiked hammer on his chain whistling toward Lin Quan-meng's head.

He gripped one end of the chain and hurled it with all his strength. The spiked hammer at the other end glowed faintly purple, presumably coated in some kind of poison.

He had made this sort of throwing attack many times already, but none had managed to hit the nimble Lin Quan-meng.

This time, however, was different.

The ground spider, which had been trying to pin Lin Quan-meng down all along, finally caught the Spiritual Power Barrier around her legs in its two great pincers.

Lin Quan-meng could not move!

High in the air, Rain Spider True Person watched the pair closely, particularly Lin Quan-meng, ready to prevent her from actually being smashed to death.

Cries of alarm rose throughout the arena.

"It's going to hit! It's going to hit!"

"Looks like Fang Du is going to take first place."

"What a shame! Fang Du's spiked hammer can attack and defend. Unlike Lin Quan-meng, who can't do much with a single flying sword."

"The top three this time will be Lin Ke, Fang Du, and Lin Quan-meng. Speaking of Lin Ke... Dao Foundation! When will I ever reach it?"

"This Fang Du is no ordinary fellow! He's incredibly skilled in mortal martial arts!"

Everyone had a discerning eye. They could see Lin Quan-meng's strength, but they could also see Fang Du's seasoned cunning.

His combat awareness had been honed between life and death, far beyond anything Lin Quan-meng, who had experienced few battles, could match.

Yet just when everyone thought Lin Quan-meng was about to lose, and even Rain Spider True Person was preparing to descend and stop the fight, something unexpected happened.

Lin Quan-meng suddenly closed her eyes, and an indescribably profound sensation spread around the arena.

"What is this?!"

Rain Spider True Person's expression changed drastically, and he immediately raised his hand and waved.

Fang Du's spiked hammer flew away at once, and Lin Quan-meng's legs broke free of the ground spider's grip.

With her eyes closed and her body light as a swallow, she touched her toes to the ground and landed.

The next moment, she began to move.

Like a merry blade of grass drifting joyfully in the wind, she moved her body in wide, sweeping motions, yet retained an air of profound, mysterious sanctity.

Axi Moon Dance!

It was the same Axi Moon Dance she had just used, a dance technique also known as Three-String.

Yet when she performed it now, it was utterly different from before.

Primal, wild, vibrant.

Even the knowledgeable and experienced Lin Ke stared, spellbound.

He had never seen such a dance, not even in his previous life.

Neither the finest dancers nor the greatest artists could have performed a dance like this.

If he had to put it into words, all those dancers possessed the form, but not the spirit!

Yet Lin Quan-meng had actually brought forth that "spirit" through her dance!

"I know! I know! This is 'intent'!" someone beside him suddenly shouted. "This is 'intent'! This is 'intent'!"

Intent?

Lin Ke raised an eyebrow.

Someone nearby asked curiously, "Brother, what do you mean by 'intent'?"

The man who had shouted was flushed, seemingly beside himself with excitement. "Intent! Above technique is method, and above method is intent!"

Understanding dawned on everyone's faces. Clearly, they immediately understood what he meant.

Technique, method, intent!

Lin Ke nodded slightly, unable to help admiring Lin Quan-meng in the arena.

That was intent!

At the Qi Refining Stage, one could master "techniques," such as the Fireball Technique among the five-element Spell Arts.

After building a Dao Foundation, one would have enough Spirit Power to use "methods," such as Lin Ke's Moisture-and-Egg Transformation Method.

And the next step?

The next step was "intent"!

This was something mostly mastered by Golden Core Stage disciples, because mastering "intent" required not only powerful mental strength to sustain it, but also considerable comprehension.

Sword intent and saber intent, for instance.

"Intent" was mostly mastered at the Golden Core Stage, but that did not mean only those at the Golden Core Stage could master it, nor did it mean reaching the Golden Core Stage guaranteed mastery.

It was like how most people who earned a million from nothing were adults. That did not mean only adults could earn a million, nor that becoming an adult meant one could earn a million.

Among all the Golden Core Stage Personal Disciples of the Golden Wing Sect, only one had mastered "intent": the eldest senior brother among the sect's Personal Disciples, who possessed a sword intent called Flowing Water Intent.

This also proved that anyone who mastered "intent" would become immensely powerful.

Someone who mastered "intent" at the Golden Core Stage was already a genius. Someone who mastered it at the Dao Foundation Stage was a genius among geniuses.

And the person before him?

Watching Lin Quan-meng leap and dance across the arena, Lin Ke actually felt a trace of envy.

Mastering "intent" at the Qi Refining Stage... she was unquestionably a prodigy!

A prodigy... Lin Ke had felt a little envy, jealousy, and resentment, but then he remembered his own terrifying Dao Foundation, a full thirteen-tenths in strength, and immediately felt at peace again.

No one could directly examine his Dao Foundation, and he would not reveal it himself, so others would never know just how terrifying it was.

A prodigy?

Even half his Dao Foundation would qualify him as a prodigy.

Just as he was thinking this, a powerful aura instantly spread across the entire arena.

"Silence!"

An aged voice rang out, triggering a chain of reactions.

"Humm-"

The air trembled faintly.

The Scorpion-Tail Stinger Origin Artifact above the plaza, together with the mountains standing guard around it, cast down streams of radiance, suppressing the void.

The entire plaza, along with the sect's territory for hundreds of miles around, fell into stillness. Everyone was immobilized, unable even to move their eyes.

Even Rain Spider True Person could not move. Like an insect trapped in amber, his body froze motionless in midair.

The next moment, an old man appeared in the sky. He seemed to be one of the Grand Elders from earlier.

The old man had red hair and a red beard. His arms were bare, with a fiery red centipede crawling on each. The antennae on the centipedes' heads waved about like water weeds.

"Haha! I haven't returned to the sect in a hundred years, and came back for this year's Year Festival, only to encounter such a fine disciple! Hahaha! This disciple is destined to study under me!"