C13 Heaven-defying Comprehension!
Blazing Air Fist. A combat skill that aided the user by accumulating all of their energy in a single fist. This fist served as a final attack; had the strength of charging wild beasts. This combat skill sat at the peak among the first-grade combat skills.
Combat skills worked by stacking additional strength over the cultivator's base cultivation power. For example, the Blazing Air Fist could give the user extra strength of anywhere between fifty to a hundred pounds. This was the advantage of combat skills.
The difference between a martial artist with a combat skill and a martial artist without was that one had extra pounds over the other, quite literally. And in a battle, even the slightest difference in abilities could change the outcome.
Xiang Shaoyun took note of the Blazing Air Fist's chants and even began memorizing the carvings.
He did not immediately start practicing the combat skill. After the first gazebo, he made his way towards the second one that contained kicking techniques.
Gale Leg was also a peak grade one combat skill. Inscribed on the second gazebo's stere was another first-grade combat skill—Tornado Kick. Unlike the Blazing Air Fist, which gave extra power to the punch, it only strengthened the user's legs. It didn't give additional strength, but it made sure that a kick from the user was as devastating as a tornado. Just like an actual tornado, this skill ravaged everything that came in its path.
In the blink of an eye, Xiang Shaoyun had memorized the formula and the runes for this combat skill.
If someone found out that Xiang Shaoyun had memorized two first-grade combat skills after seeing them once, they would probably be surprised.
After memorizing Tornado Kick, Xiang Shaoyun went to the next gazebo.
In next to no time, he was out of the second gazebo and in the third one.
Moreover, within an hour, Xiang Shaoyun had memorized the combat skills recorded in the five gazebos.
Blazing Air Fist, Tornado Kick, Cloud Breaking Palm, Triumvirate Sword, and the Heaven Slaying Art. Five sets of first-grade offensive skills!
In the eyes of ordinary martial instructors, this would have been a classic example of biting off more than you can chew. They would only allow their disciple to train in one skill. Even for geniuses, three at a time was the limit.
Xiang Shaoyun left the Hall of Combat Skills and returned to his residence.
One might say that Zi Changhe was biased as he gave Xiang Shoyun a special cultivation technique, but in reality, it was nothing unique. Yes, that cultivation technique was common even among outer court disciples.
Xiang Shoayun's residence was in a secluded and quiet corner. It was the only actual special thing Zi Changhe did as this area was reserved for direct disciples.
"Hah! Looks like he at least has a bit of conscience!" Xiang Shaoyun thought as he returned to the yard.
After entering the courtyard of his residence, he could finally concentrate on practicing the combat skills.
During the day, various issues were eating away at Xiang Shoyun's mental finesse. As he sat quietly in the courtyard, runes and formulas for the Blazing Air Fist, Tornado Kick, and all the other skills filled his mind.
He lived through the formulas and ingrained the runes in his mind.
Blazing Air Fist. Gather all your strength, form a simple punch, imbue that strength in that punch, focus, and release. Xiang Shoyun's mind was filled with the essentials of the skill.
Following which, he stood up and the power of the sixth grade Martial Entering Stage gathered onto his fist. The first pattern of Air Flushing Fist appeared in his mind, then the second pattern appeared, and the third pattern appeared …
A few runes, after interlinking, seemed to form a boxing stance. Slowly, various stances began to flash in Xiang Shaoyun's mind.
Blazing Air Fist!
Xiang Shaoyun's eyes widened as he shouted. He stepped forward and swung his fist.
Boom!
His punch, seamless like air, caused the space surrounding his fist to condense and then blast with a loud noise. Without striking anything, this skill created a loud noise.
Xiang Shaoyun used this skill for the first time, yet his comprehension was already about thirty percent. It had to be said that Xiang Shaoyun's comprehension ability was too monstrous.
Blazing Air Fist!
Xiang Shaoyun punched again, and the force of the punch condensed once again.
Blazing Air Fist!
Blazing Air Fist!
"..."
As if borrowing momentum from the punch itself, his comprehension of technique kept on rising. Beaking all common sense, he was could now comprehend eight percent of the combat skill.
Xiang Shaoyun kept swinging his fists and charging forward. Nobody knew how many times he had circled this courtyard, but one this was for sure—he had already broken the sound barrier 1,000 times. His punches had even reached thirty percent of his strength! His punches could even compete with pure cultivation. Now, the punches themselves carried about thirty percent of his cultivation strength.
Yes! Thirty percent; not three percent!t
In terms of combat skills, everything depended on one's comprehension. Poor comprehension meant that the user would be unable to understand the true potential of the skill, let alone being able to unleash the said potential. Understanding the skill and its potential was something that only geniuses could do. A good comprehension allowed the user to unleash the potential and get an absurd boost.
Blazing Air Fist, at complete comprehension, could increase one's strength by a hundred percent. Yes, double! At complete comprehension, the strength of the punch could get a boost of up to 100 pounds.
Comprehending the skill could take anywhere from ten days to several months. Furthermore, for a hundred percent boost, one had to practice the skill for an extended period. Why? Because it required the gradual accumulation of energy.
However, Xiang Shaoyun was able to reach the thirty percent mark in mere two hours. This kind of comprehension ability could only be called heaven-defying.
Even after this, Xiang Shaoyun was not satisfied. He stopped running, sat down, and assumed the meditating posture. "To achieve thirty percent in two hours... slow indeed. For such a low-level skill, I should have touched the forty, no fifty percent mark in two hours. I have already wasted 10 years, so I must struggle 10 times to surpass all those villains. Harder! Better! Faster! Stronger!"
After meditating for a quarter of an hour, Xiang Shaoyun stood up again and flung the Blazing Air Fist once more.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Xiang Shaoyun completely disregarded the fatigue and practiced the skill like crazy. His punches were now faster, stronger, and way more robust. Another hour passed, and he had punched an additional five hundred times.
His comprehension of Blazing Air Fist had also reached seventy percent, and he could similarly display seventy percent of its power.
"Continue!" Xiang Shaoyun's eyes flashed with resolve.
Another hour passed, Xiang Shaoyun's comprehension of Blazing Air Fist had reached ninety percent.
He stopped practicing because he knew that the final ten percent wasn't something that could be reached by practice. One had to be in actual combat to be able to fully comprehend the last ten percent.
Xiang Shaoyun meditated for an hour and consolidated the results of the past six hours.
With the Nine Great Stars as the base, meridians as support, and the circulating star power as a source of energy, the fatigue slowly disappeared.
Ordinary cultivators would not be able to awaken all the stars at will. Only after reaching a certain cultivation stage was one able to activate the stars and store the energy in them.
Yet, here we had, Xiang Shayun, freak of nature. Someone capable of awaking all his stars at Martial Entering Stage. This was a special benefit that only cultivators with nine star talent could enjoy.
Anyone who could awaken the stars from the beginning would at least have a seven star talent.
Cultivators with such talent were born with a special body. Their bodies were outfitted for cultivation, and thus they had ridiculous cultivation speeds.
Xiang Shaoyun could literally shake the world with his talent. If he cultivated with utter concentration, his cultivation speed—not his actual speed—would be blinding.
After Xiang Shaoyun was full of energy, he once again entered the state of practicing combat skills!
Tornado Kick!
Tornado represented speed and strength. His legs were fast, like a whirlwind. There was nothing he could not break.
This was the essence of Tornado Kick.
Xiang Shaoyun's innate comprehension was astonishing. From the Gale Leg Spell, he immediately understood the key to this cultivation direction! Just from the formula, he understood the core essence of the technique.
Xiang Shaoyun kicked, jumped, impaled, lifted... These were the most basic movements of this technique. (E/N:- Just one thing: this chapter was a nightmare to edit.)
