Ding Hao's eyebrows twitched furiously.
At that moment, he could not suppress the sense of extreme danger that crept up on him.
Was this faint red light the so-called 'Dark Force'?
"According to the memories I've absorbed, the human martial artists in in this world are able to control a supernatural force known as the Dark Force, and use this Dark Force to refine their 12 meridians and 108 acupoints…
"The faint red light that appeared from his body earlier was probably the manifestation of the dark force. However, Song Jiannan's strength is just average. He probably would not even be able to last a second against a first aperture martial disciple so I've got nothing to be afraid of."
Ding Hao thought quickly and soon figured out their individual strengths.
"Little scum, today, I shall take your life," Song Jiannan said as his eyes sparked with killing desire.
He had arrived like an esteemed emperor, not expecting to face such a terrifying oddball in this cave of civilians. It was clear to him that this man had not cultivated any form of dark force, and did not even have the seed to kindle dark force, but yet he had managed to send him flying with just one punch.
This was an absolute disgrace for someone like him.
It was unforgivable!
"Little scum, I will let you experience how it feels like to die under the power of the true sword," Song Jiannan laughed as his killing desire surged.
Immediately after saying that, he stretched out his long sword and molded a sword tactic as he prepped for his initial move.
Instanteously, Song Jiannan's entire aura experienced a significant change. He slowly started to exude an indescribable aura that could cause one to develop mental stress.
"Hm? This is.... interesting."
Ding Hao frowned, then suddenly smiled.
An idea suddenly came to him and he used his palm to grip the hilt of the rusty sword as he mimicked Song Jiannan's moves. He used his sword to make an identical starting position.
Similarly, an indescribable aura slowly emanated from Ding Hao's body and filled the air.
He was obviously just mimicking Song Jiannan, but for some reason, Ding Hao's moves, sword tactic, aura and bearing far surpassed that of Song Jiannan, as if he had spent decades perfecting this initial move. He managed to convey every nuance of the move to perfection.
"Idiot, do you really think you would be able to pick up a swordsmanship technique just by imitation? Ha ha, you must be dreaming. Little scum, time for you to die!”
"Whoosh!"
His long sword vibrated and cold light filled the surroundings as Song Jiannan suddenly made his move.
This set of sword technique was known as the 'Cross Fast Sword', and it was a lower human level swordsmanship.
After he displayed his sword technique, it was like howling winds and swift rain and its speed was like lightning. It was said that once this technique had been cultivated to the grand completion stage, one would be able to slash a fallen leaf into ten even pieces cleanly before it even touched a drop of water.
"Bring it on," Ding Hao said, his starry eyes shining brightly.
The rusty sword in his hand vibrated and he suddenly slashed out, once again mimicking Song Jiannan's move to a tee.
"Clash! Clash! Clash!"
Sparks flew everywhere as the long sword and the rusty sword clashed together violently.
With every move Song Jiannan made, Ding Hao would follow with the exact same move the next instant.
They were engaged in an extremely bizarre battle and it was just like a person practicing swordsmanship in front of a mirror with both the figures on the left and right executed the exact same swordsmanship technique in the same swordsmanship path.
Ever since that miraculous encounter in the mountain cave, Ding Hao had become ridiculously powerful, so even though Song Jiannan's long sword was reinforced with dark force, he managed to hold his own with his rusty sword.
In a blink of an eye, they had traded dozens of blows.
Within this small fenced yard, sword Qi crisscrossed the compound and sword light blinked rapidly with the clang of metal.
Dozens of minutes later, Song Jiannan's face started to change.
"Impossible! What is going on? How could this little scum of a bitch also wield my 'Cross Fast Sword' technique? Only Swordsmanship-seeking sect disciples on the waiting list would be worthy of learning this sword technique. Furthermore, is he or is he not just a beginner? How could he wield this technique with such deftness and sureness? His comprehension of his technique seems to be even….higher than me?
Song Jiangnan looked like he had just swallowed a rat, as he grew more and more astonished, for Ding Hao's mastery of this technique only grew with time.
If Song Jiangnan's skill was on par with Ding Hao during the first round, then the second time they deployed the same swordsmanship technique, Ding Hao was at least twice as skillful and deft in his control of the swordsmanship's context as compared to Song Jiannan. His sword strength became faster and faster, to the point where Song Jiannan was finding it hard to keep up.
Finally -
Clang!
There was a clear ringing sound as both swords met.
Song Jiangnan felt his palm shake violently and his arms go numb as he lost his grip on his long sword. His long sword was sent sailing.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ding Hao did not stop but slashed out with his backhand.
Before Song Jiannan could even react, the rusty sword's side had already slashed across his face three time at lightning speed.
"Puff..."
This disciples on the waiting list from the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect was sent flying like a ragdoll as blood flowed freely from his mouth.
Zhao Xingcheng and the others who were watching this shocking scene from the side felt a chill run down their spines, as if their soul had left them, or if they had been struck by lightning.
"Pfft...how dare you..."
Song Jiannan landed heavily on the ground, a disheveled mess. His face was flushed and he could not help but cough out another bout of fresh blood. His embarrassment turned into anger and he was just about to get to his feet to give Ding Hao a piece of his mind....
However, when he saw that Ding Hao coming at him without pause, swiftly slicing a fallen leaf into pieces with a wave of his sword, Song Jiannan was suddenly unable to utter a word, as if he was a duck held by its neck.
Ding Hao did not stop there.
He was completely immersed in the world of the sword and his sword momentum continued to evolve.
Soon, he fell into a mysterious state where he was just comprehending the way of the sword.
The rusty sword in his hand kept undergoing changes. It resembled a crimson light ball and rolled around his body in orbit as it flickered in and out of view. The sword wind howled and tore the air apart, a shocking sight to behold.
This was Ding Hao's third time displaying this 'Cross Fast Sword'.
However, his sword radiance was already to the point where it was hard to track with one's naked eye. It was like a red mist that wrapped itself around Ding Hao until finally, the sound of the sword whistling through the air could no longer be heard. Only a faint trace of sword radiance remained.
This was the highest stage of this 'Cross Fast Sword' technique - slashing a leaf into 10 parts, without allowing a drop of water to land on it.
Song Jiannan's spirits fell to rock bottom as he witnessed this scene, looking as if he had just seen a ghost.
He had always thought of this technique as his highest achievement in swordsmanship.
Ever since he entered Swordsmanship-seeking Sect, he had trained hard for more than a year and his dark force had not increased by much. However, this set of swordsmanship techniques had already reached an acceptable level. He had planned on relying on this set of swordsmanship technique to gain fame in the sect and remove the words 'in-training' from his current status in the upcoming year-end appraisals to become formally recognised as an outer gate disciple.
Who could have predicted that this young man who looked like a beggar could attain grand completion stage after just practicing this technique thrice. Was he a monster?
This was a massive blow to Song Jiannan and caused him to go mad with rage and hatred.
Buzz buzz!
The red sword radiance immediately disappeared and Ding Hao finally kept his sword away, standing tall and straight.
White steam rose from his body, and he stood as tall as a javelin. Although his clothes were torn and tattered, he seemed to give off a light that no one could stare directly at.
At that moment, a ray of golden morning sun shone through the mountains and the fog, casting Ding Hao in its golden glow. This highlighted the lines of his muscles, his tall body and the sculpted features of his handsome face. He looked like a perfect piece of work sculpted by a master sect master. "Phew..." Ding Hao breathed out a breath of murky air and felt his whole body relax. He had not expected his comprehension ability to be so astounding. He had been able to mimic Song Jiannan's swordsmanship technique just after watching Song Jiannan display it. Not only that, he had managed to grasp this swordsmanship technique's nuance and essence in after just practicing three times. Ding Hao reckoned that although that encounter at the cave cliff stone cave had caused his body to undergo extraordinary changes, Song Jiannan was far too weak and his swordsmanship technique of a lower level, which was why he managed to mimic it so easily. If he
It was rumored that extreme experts, who dominated their races, could move mountains and defeat millions of soldiers with a single strike like gods. Even lower level martial artists could become terrifyingly powerful by practicing magic skills. However, Ding Hao was of a low social status and not very bright, so he knew very little about cultivation. He only vagely remembered that martial artists were ranked from the lowest Apprentice Realm to Artist Realm, then Master, Grandmaster, and Genius Grandmaster. He could not remember what came after that. Generally speaking, the first step of cultivation was exercising one's physical strength to the extreme. Then, one could cultivate Qi manipulating magic skills by stimulating a "Magic Qi Seed" inside their dantian. An amorphous magic Qi would arise in the body and enter into the meridians. Unfortunately, Ding Hao had no instructions on how to stimulate his Magic Qi Seed. This was currently his
As for basic magic skills manuals that were peddled in the black market, mysterious remaining copies of original texts or those of high quality aside, as long as they were ordinary copies recorded manually, there would ordinarily not be any reason to suspect that they were fake. It was one of the unwritten rules of the trade. The Qi Guiding Formula was a method of the lowest level for practicing mystical skills. It was not even considered as mainstream but just an ordinary skill. As such, it could not be classified as either of the four major ranks - Divine, Heavenly, Earth or Human. Naturally, there was no risk of counterfeit copies of it existing in the market. Even if it were so, its price was also not cheap for ordinary folk. Ding Hao browsed through it once, and paid 500 taels of silver to buy the manual after discerning that there was nothing wrong with it. With this Qi Guiding Formula manual, coupled with his otherworldly understanding capability,
"Qi, Qi is an incredible thing. The strength given off by the limitations of the physical body is an invisible force. It can crack steles of stones, move mountains and seas. It can defy the heavens and change fates; it can prolong life and make things appear out of nothingness... This incredible Qi, it attacks the 12 main meridians of the human body in order, and refine the acupoints. In that way, supreme power is produced and this is the foundation of a martial artist..." Ding Hao quickly became immersed in the contents of the book. So the humans on the Land of Infinity all had 12 meridians in their body. And within each meridian, there were nine main acupoints. Once martial artists activated the seed of Qi and grasped Qi, they could then use it to refine their physical body. The Qi would rush through their meridians and refined their acupoints. This was the most basic way of cultivation. The Martial Arts system had been perfected according to the evolut
Under the silvery white moonlight, a group of red sword light twinkled in and out of existence. They rolled back and forth, and the sword whistled. It was free and casual. Ding Hao's movement grew from slow to fast and then slowed down from rapid to extremely slow. He was immersed in a mysterious state. Four hours passed in the blink of an eye and the moon hung in the middle of the sky. Ding Hao's movement was so slow that it could not slow down any further. It was like the slow-motion in films but had a certain charm to it. If someone had been staring at the trajectory of the rusted sword by the side, they would definitely feel exhausted, dizzy and faint within moments. The power of the sword had far exceeded that of regular sword skills. What was even rarer was that Ding Hao did not sweat as profusely as before. Instead, he only had a few drops of fine, crystal clear sweat. "Whoosh!" Ding Hao kept his rusty sword an
Ding Hao could not help but secretly sigh. Based purely on appearance, this woman was indeed startling. However, her cold and arrogant expression looked like an unmelting ice glacier. Even her profile felt as if she held herself several thousand miles aloof from others. This made Ding Hao feel rather uncomfortable. This young woman had to be the handsome young man's cousin whom he referred to as Li Yi Ruo. There were two maidservants wearing light armor standing beside her. Their expressions were just as cold and stern. Ding Hao glanced at them casually and discovered that the horses that these people rode all had hair that was as black as ink. The horses were more than two meters tall and their four legs were strong and nimble, just like ferocious beasts. They were Dark Cloud Lion Beasts which were also called half-demon horses. It was said that they possessed a demonic bloodline. They could travel 5000 miles in the day and 1500 at night. They wer
Except, the mysterious tanned teen had too much filth on him. Upon meeting the pond water, dark wisps quickly spread through the pond water. "Sister, sister, Ding Ding is thirsty. I want to drink water too!" A tender young voice of a little girl suddenly sounded from the basket. When the "young man" heard the voice, he quickly climbed up from the water. He scooped up a handful of clear water and lifted the tattered cloth from the basket. There was a seemingly pale jade-carved little girl in it. She looked to be only two or three and had her hair tied up like goat horns. Her large eyes were filled with innocence and were as clear as black pearls. Her pale and chubby cheeks and dazed expression made her look extremely adorable. Ding Hao could not help but immediately think of his sister Ding Ke'er when he saw the intelligent and cute girl. The little girl shrieked in joy and lowered her head to take a few sips of wat
Of course, Xiao Chengxuan's cheers also meant to embarrass Li Canyang and those from Xiyang Town. Ding Hao's attack had angered the arrogant and cold Li Yiruo. "Who are you? How dare you hurt my maidservant?" Li Yiruo had already changed into her boots. Her white female warrior costume showed off her curvaceous and sexy figure. It was unlike a body possessed by a 14 or 15-year-old girl. She had a cold smile on her face, looking proud and mighty like a peacock. Her eyes were sinisterly cold. "We are not allowed to be noisy or fight by the Sword-cleansing Pond of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect." Ding Hao was also a stubborn person. He laughed coldly and said, "If she dares to make another move, she would not just be simply hurt." The pale-faced young man Li Canyang heard this and felt weak as he thought of something. He frowned and asked, "Are you a disciple of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect?" Ding Hao l